...and for as long as you can focus on backtesting, rules and process - not solely gains. When you've become confident on process the profits will come.
Read all posts by, Cheese, WRBtrader, and Handle123. The hardest thing for newbie coming to ET for advice is finding out what advice is credible. Those three mentioned above all have many years of experience and much wisdom. It's a good place to start if your looking for resources via ET. "there is no free pass" you must put in countless hours and work if you want to make it in this business. Regards, Zr1Trader
You really don't know that. Sure it's rare, but that was my road. People do succeed without a mentor. Anyway, I think there is wisdom in limiting losses, starting small, trying to be humble, etc. But the truth is, I think getting severely beat up is undervalued. It's likely that you'll read all of our advice and it won't be what you hoped to hear so you'll ignore it in favor of what you think is a better idea. If the pride of your human nature is telling you that you're smarter than everyone else and that's why you don't need to follow the rules and such, I think the most reasonable course of action is to listen to your slimy prideful heart and try to get rich on the first try. Go ahead and blow up your account. Feel the pain. Blow it up again and again, 5 or 6 times, until the "Mirror" called the stock market shows you a clear image of just how filthy your heart really is. Then have a good cry. Not because you lost money, but because you can no longer deny the essence of your nature. You're a human being just like the rest of us. Just like all those people you want to think you have nothing in common with. Why do you even want to trade? You're trying to prove something to someone or yourself aren't you? Avoiding severe pruning can be a setup for long term failure in the life of a fruit tree; moreso in the life of a person. Every great person I know of who has lived with outstanding emotional stability has come to the same conclusion after a time of gutwrenching failure. They realize "I'm no better than ______." As soon as you realize you're no better than whoever it is you'd love to believe you're better than, the rest of your life will have peace. Trying to avoid being associated or labeled as being of the same essence as another "kind" of person is the root of all kinds of high risk/low probability ventures. Just do what your insides are saying to do. Keep denying who you are until it's horribly, horribly exposed. Then get humble, realize it doesn't really matter and it's not the end of the world, then become a stock market Billionairre over the next 30 or 40 years. It really doesn't matter.
Forget sim trading. No matter how much you sim, when it comes to real money it's a totally different experience, you'll forget everything you learned. Don't read books, waste of time. Open a small account. Use tight stop-losses. Don't use indicators, strategies. Use only trend lines, support/resistance.
People do succed without a mentor,but the guy didn`t start this thread with the line,"hey guys,i want to fuck myself up 2,3 or 6 or 7 times or whatever amount it would take,i`m ready.so,any advice/suggestion/comment/idea/warning?"
I will quit my job and start trading next week. I am going to do it! The market has been very exciting in the last week.