This last posts, is exactly why there will a crash. This market has newbies and first timers stock picking stars. Just the way wall street likes it so they can get commissions and do huge deals !
Hey Saxon, I know you from the ES journal, and I am going to answer the question it appears you are trying to ask. I know you're new to this business, and it is easy to think when starting out that those who succeed--the "big boys"--have some kind of hidden, secret advantage, like the Duke brothers tried to get when they hired Clarence Beaks in the movie "Trading Places." The "big boys", I suspect, in general have no secret, fancy indicators to tell them when to buy and sell the ES, or for that matter, anything else. They didn't buy the holy grail, and it is not out there to be found, so don't start searching for it! If it were, someone would have already have it by now and would have won all the chips. Someone here said hard work and money management. I cannot think of two better suggestions. Focus on the ES, and know it inside and out. Become a specialist, not a generalist. It takes time and hard work to succeed in any venture. This is no different. It takes YEARS to become proficient. Everyone loses money at times; everybody plays the fool. Even the most successful traders have losing streaks. Don't let the bravado on this board fool you. Some say that 95% of traders fail. The evidence for this is always anecdotal, but it is probably close to the truth. My guess is that most fail before they have put enough time in the business to be able to figure out how to succeed. They try it a few months, and since one cannot support oneself full-time while learning unless one has a good-sized bankroll to begin with (for living expenses), most probably quit when the riches don't roll in. If you can make it past breakeven, consistently, over time (don't expect it right away), you'll probably make it. Most probably don't blow out; they probably just fizzle out. It takes time, but one can decrease the learning curve by simply refusing to go on the search for what doesn't exist.
He is rather skeptical where I have two other friends in the pit who are more optimistic. Still, a guy may be profitable for a few years and then wash out. So if you include all those perhaps his numbers are not too far off. To become successful you have to really want it. But it can be done (I'm not there yet).
Some verses from Ecclesiastes to remember: 1:9 ...there is no new thing under the sun. 5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. There is certainly nothing wrong with being good at making money or becoming rich because of it, you just need to keep it in the proper perspective of what really matters in life.