I have shelves lined with books on trading. As I sit here looking over the titles, I would have to say that 95% of their content is useless. About half of them are devoted to "daytrading". I lost a lot of money trying to practice their principles. Scalping, off the floor, is reserved for a few gifted souls, imo. I started doing a little better when I began to read some of the "old timers" and extended my time frame. It pays to listen to someone whos been trading for 10 or 20 years. Psychology, money management, all these things are necessary AFTER you find your niche. Cut your losses and let your winners run is good advice but first you HAVE TO FIND SOME WINNERS!! The first thing any trader has to do is find a way TO MAKE SOME MONEY. If you make it, then blow it, then is the time to start studying psychology, etc. but nothing will help you if you can't find a strategy that works. Its obvious that there are a lot of things that work. There are a lot of good traders out there making money and I doubt that any two of them do the exact same thing. So what is one to do? If you are lucky enough to find a mentor with a style that suits you, thats the way to go. Most of you that dont have a mentor will move from one strategy to another until you wipe out. My advice for those of you that must go it alone: Stop searching! Stop trading! Put the indexes and futures up on your screen and watch them all day every day. When you get a feel for the swings, and you will if you stick with it, its downhill from there.