As part of your tools, you need money too...don't ya? Question: How much would you need to make it "Not Gambling"?
It doesn't take balls 95% of the time, I am extremely risk averse. Consistent, daily profits is what I am after. However, Once in a while you do have to make a bet when the elements are overwhelmingly in your favor, such as yesterday. But it really didn't take balls, I've built up enough profits that I was willing to make a big trade, and I executed it well! Good trading to you! Mike P.S. Yesterday's trade has been 3 years in the making!
By balls, do you mean making large bets with big potential payoff, but if you are wrong you risk taking a huge hit? If so, you had better be lucky early and often or you won't be long for this business.
I disagree.....you need to replace Balls with discipline. Then find a method/model that has a positive expectancy with a reasonable drawdown for your risk profile .... ( I like to keep the DD at no more then 20 %) Then, use your new discipline that you just acquired and trade it without second guessing it. Enter when you have to and exit when have to ....IE: when the rules say you must....! You don't stay in another day waiting for it to come back. If your still doing that you have a long way to go my friend. Your trading without a plan...your pissing in the wind... But hats 1/2 the battle .. What about position sizing.....You could have a great system and get killed if all your eggs are in one basket. If you must trade one vehicle then make it an etf or index futures but STOP trading all of your portfolio on a single or a couple of stocks. Especially If your trading the stock market. If the market is going up 3 % then why buy 1 or 2 stocks. you may even lose money if they go down while the market as a whole advanced. That Ever happen to you...? And I don't want to even talk about adverse news that could cut you stock in 1/2...ouch ...What about your short opening up from 10 to 50 after a halt....you say it can't happen to you.. You may be right but are you trading or gambling....How much of you account will you lose if a stock opens 500 % higher. Try and identify stocks that have a tendency to advance more then the market does when it's advancing and decline less then the market does when it's declining. Reverse for shorting.... Now it's a tendency not an everyday thing. YOu can only see this tendency over weeks and months....This may help you get a leverage effect without leverage. Your thinking why not simply trade trade the Q with leverage....I don't trade the QQQQ with leverage because the leverage is even sided as opposed to my basket which holds stocks that have met my criteria ...... In other words, in an up move I may make better gains then the Q while losing less then the Q when the Q declines. YOu may even see times when the Q declines a little while the basket advances.... Thts why... So shelf the Balls and discover the brain...it will help you find something that works....then use discipline to trade it.... Nick