please think for a moment about the following: when a new trader starts trading, he will make certain losses and blow at least a few percent of his starting capital in the trading account. the more he learns about the markets and about what works best for him, he should (hopefully) be able to make back those initial losses and return back to the break even area of his trading account. so after trading for a few weeks, months, or whatever, he is back where he once started. except that one should now be able to start making money by doing just the trades he feels comfortable with and which already made it possible to make back the first losses. but what obviously often seems to happen at this critical point is, that it turns out to be very difficult to conquer the land of gains and stay there for ever. there are gains - there are losses - and suddenly trading seems to be much harder than it was before. though it should actually become a easier - considering that at this point a trader already knows much more about trading than he knew when he started. so - what makes it so difficult for a break even trader to become a real profitable trader???
The reason its so difficult to make money is because trading is one of the MOST difficult professionals in the world. As you become more experienced, you begin to realize how hard it truly is to become successful. But don't be discourage. Profit will eventually come if you persist at it and continue remaining objective about the market. Try not to worry so much about making money. Just focus on making good trades. The money will follow.
Htrader - thanks for your words. i guess that's one part of becoming a good trader: to concentrate on making good trades according to a precise trading plan. that's probably much better than trying to reach a certain dollar amount every day - cause the market just won't give you the same gains on every single day - right?
break even is the worst place to be. When you make money, you are done. When you always loose money, you may consider reversing what you do. When you are break even there is no place to go.. not really.. imo, you could put extra efforts in money management, risk control and position sizing. These often makes the difference. neo