I am the first to admit I am a beginner. I know what TA is but not how to use it. I know about FA but am no economist. However it has been pretty easy to make money since I opened an account back arounfd the end of Oct. I have been up as much as 50% right now up about 27%. Since I know that I am a newb I have been mostly riding the waves, even though I could have made a real killing getting in and out if I had the skill and timing. Some of you pros must be loving this.
Good that you are making money now. However, market conditions are changing all the time, and what works now may stop working in the future. The real skill is in adapting. My hat goes off to anyone who can ride the slippery, insane rodeo bull known as the market in a discretionary fashion, and do so consistently. I can't, so I do 100% automated system trading.
Today was probably one of the easiest day to trade in the last couple of months for me. Made a quick $5/share on Google just now, FCX was a easy short since couple of hours ago. My long term positions are just doing okay, it bounces from -$2000 to +$800 gains week to week. Waiting for the market to dip some more to buy.