Invest in a systematic trading strategy with proven backtesting and live test on a paper trading account until one gains the confidence to use it live.
Geezus, so many damn gurus and their sage advices. Kid, the best thing you can do is to not listen to any of the above nonsense (other than to stay out of the market).
After blowing up 4 accounts the best advice I've got (it took decades for this to sink in and 2019 is my first profitable trading year): - Don't risk more than 1 to 2 percent of you account on anyone position - especially while you are learning - Learn to take a loss - I would get your portfolio house in order first - buy and hold, dollar cost average, rebalance at least once a year (do a search for "Warren Buffett SP500") - Learn to trade using only a fraction of your portfolio (10 to 20 percent) - 3 to 5 years of hard work before getting to profitability is very realistic number
'Buying the dip' is still a form of bottom picking. It can be profitable with the correct risk management. But by no means is it the holy grail. Except in hindsight. But then nearly everything looks like the holy grail in hindsight.
Risk management is ignored by a lot of traders. By risking only 2% or even 1% on each trade, you minimize the risk of blowing up your account. This applies to all traders. Limit your number of trades too, I limit myself to 5 trades. That is 10% of your account at risk on a worst case scenario if you lose all those 5 trades. Still, you live to fight another day. Most times, you will lose less than 2%. Your gains should be several multiples of your losses. That way, you can cover those small losses then, make monies on top of that.
OK so nothing is the holy grail. But what gives you good odds? Going with the market or assuming that you know when the market will turn? Of course the earlier you're in the trend the better which is why most people want to top and bottom pick,because they're too late and a market turn let's them get in earlier. But generally, the trend keeps going until it doesn't. By the way absent the PPT (which is a huge problem for going short) the market behaves very differently when it is turning vs when it is dipping. Turn is usually slightly flat then violent and sudden. Dip is usually confusion. Usually of course. But now that the PPT is a market manipulator.... Even violent downturns like in Dec 2018, are not allowed to complete https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-treasury-explainer-idUSKCN1ON0WG