A person who is profitable after 2 months is not a successful trader. There is a BIG diff between that, and doing it for 5 years.
Depends on the timeframe. It's fine for longer term trading, but paper trading won't be able to replicate the results of scalping. Also, it's better to have money on the line. Better learning with a few thousand than paper money. As someone else said, a high IQ isn't necessary, and most with high IQs would fail anyway. It's quite overrated for most activities, and it's quite flawed for measuring overall intelligence.
I have a friend who started with about 1k.. Grew to 5k...I showed him a few things with futures, SMA's and macd... suddenly in 3 months he's up to 45k... How? He's got the perfect mental approach to trading and basically a natural. But since then he's slowed down and no longer risks 100% or pulling crazy trades lol. This scenario is HIGHLY rare. It DOES happen and can...but expect more time. It helps to be in the right place making the right bets at the right time...AKA LUCK (yes, it IS a factor!) So anywhere from 1 day-5 years. dont expect the lifestyle to be all fun and easy either! Some months it's like, wtf, how do I pay the power bill?!? And that's where it helps to have cash reserves and have a budget (no coke or hookers, lol).
If he was a natural, he wouldn't have risked so much. He obviously got very lucky. He certainly wasn't profitable (even if the trades were good, his risk was awful). Why did you not point this out to him? More importantly, why did he not realise this immediately?
Lucky, yes, aren't we all at times? He made 1/3 of it all on this one trade...Dow had sank low, then short covering started where he went all in after it broke a 200 sma. He set his stop and let it roll...900 point day, ALL IN... IS this luck? Ya! Is it skill? YA! Because most traders get "scared" or their emotions control how they trade. He does have a system of trading and always has a stop... Not profitable? Well, um, somehow 40k extra was deposited into his account after many winning trades. And yes, a losing day of 5k. I would have loved an extra cash barrier for my account, anyday! Well I did point it out, but newbie success is dangerous in a way that they think they can always pull home runs. I told him a break is OK...so now he's only pulling 2% ever so often, not 100% or 200% lol. Also, something to note...he's an excellent Texas Hold'em player! So I'm sure this plays into his success to some point. I think it helps to understand various betting games. Good bets, donkey bets, bad beats, etc...Having the "nuts" and going all in, without a flinch... Now you'll probably say, he could have blown out. He's told me many times, "Dude, I could have lost 50% or more on that trade possibly" so he KNEW it was possible. Did he care? I don't think so, mainly because he was starting with 4.5k (originally 2k before trading some stocks). He's in a very stable well paying job...so it was merely risk money to him. I honestly think he's good, but his 900% return isn't something he can continue. He's not even full time so I doubt he'll even trade much. I only tell this story because it is quite baffling what can be done with the leverage of futures and FX...as well as the Danger!
I've been trading for 4 yrs, but in the last 2 months I've been green (15.5%), and starting to feel as if I "got it". If i had a mentor, I think I'd be a winner in probably 2 yrs. Unlike many traders, I never blew up an account.