Ice my man, I lost a butt-load of money when I first started. I was able to figure out this style of trading after losing money and going through the pain. But thank you for trying to keep my head on straight!!! I have to say that the only thing now that keeps me from making money is my own arrogrance, and I know how to identify it and stop it from interfering with my trading.
Reitberg: I'm in agreement with your point that one must keep their head screwed on straight. Here are some comments that I'm sure many will bash me for.I am being honest and not trying to be arrogant. I have been swing trading for 4 years and have made money every year.I don't look at swing trading as wanting to make it big,just get a decent return.Funny,this past year I didn't try very hard, and I placed 28 round trips for the year and netted a 46% return.I only traded when things looked very low risk and highly probable that the mkt was going to move in my direction. Day trading has been much tougher.The majority of my trades that have been losers the entry was against my rules. Some of the profitable exits I should have let run much further. I now have written rules for entry and exit and am not so ancy to close a trade just because its profitable.One of the biggest b.s. lines on wall street is "you can never go broke taking a profit".The win$/loss$ has to work. I really want to make it huge and that has been a hindrance.Where with swing trading as long as I catch some of the moves I'm very happy. If I ever get the mental side of intraday trading down 100% I think I could make millions. I'm beginning to believe it is probably a good strategy to chill a little bit and not try so hard.It is a difficult attitude to have though when the potential for huge profits exist.