Is trading that hard? Or are people that stupid?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by CaptnDustball, Feb 17, 2008.

  1. lindq

    lindq

    LOL.

    It seems like...if you're 6'8", have great hands and lots of speed, and work your ass off, you can play pro basketball.

    It seems like...if you're born with an IQ of 180, have an apptitude for math and physics, and have the time to think, you can be an Einstein.

    It seems like...if you're born into a political dynasty that has inherited wealth and worldwide connections in the oil industry, you can become President of the United States.

    Yes, if you are able to fulfill each requirement you listed for a trader (and a number of others you neglected to list), you may have a shot at successful trading. But those requirements are not easily met. Not by a long shot.

    (For the record, you left out the two most important requirements of learning to trade. (1) The Capital, (2) The time to devote to developing a strategy/system while continuing to pay living expenses. These two alone keep most out of the game.)
     
    #11     Feb 17, 2008
  2. Allen3

    Allen3

    It'll seem easy until you have read 100 books on trading and after the first 6 months of looking at the market and saying to your self I know what the markets going to do jeesh this is easy. Then you get to the point of realizing all the crap you've been shoveling into your brain is just that. If you used their ideas you'd loose everything. Then you realize you can't quite figure out where to get into the market move that you just know is coming without being stopped out or having such a wide stop that the account your thinking of using isn't big enough to cover. Then you freeze and spend the next 6 months looking for exact rules and different scalp techniques or maybe position trading or blah blah blah (as you would say). I'm still in this process so this is about where I have to end my commentary. Yeah. I guess I'm just an idiot. I hope what you've chosen to study first and almost geniously will work from the moment you start to pull the trigger and you don't end up blowing your account away with confidence. But then again you are to smart for that... Good luck. Your not likely to make friends this way. Sometimes your friends give you the key to your next level. Learning to trade seems to be just a series of locks. Hopefully you get into some of the good rooms before its to late and your done.
     
    #12     Feb 17, 2008
  3. Is trading that hard? Or are people that stupid?

    Trading is the hardest thing anyone could ever try and many, many, extremely intelligent people fail at it everyday.
     
    #13     Feb 17, 2008
  4. Let us know how its going.
     
    #14     Feb 17, 2008
  5. The other day I heard an advertisement from e-trade, stating they open 1000 accounts everyday....

    also heard half of all futures brokerages accounts open in a given day are wiped out in 6 months.

    then you have about 90000+ former elitetrader skeletons buried in the pages of this site since inception.....

    trading is a piece of cake......and yes your money will be very appreciated.....:)
     
    #15     Feb 17, 2008
  6. selecto

    selecto Guest

    The answer to both questions is "yes."
     
    #16     Feb 17, 2008
  7. The word I got this weekend for the failure rate on the retail (independent) level was:

    95% Futures (all)
    65% Equities (stocks)
     
    #17     Feb 17, 2008
  8. Well if I read more posts like this then I will definitely learn something! Thank you so much for the sage advice!
     
    #18     Feb 17, 2008
  9. You have to weed out the Idiots from the traders.

    ET is one of the only "Market" sites that have decent topics, so it draws 90% of the shit.

    There are plenty of traders, scalpers, swing traders, in all kinds of instruments such as options, equities, futures, currencies, etc.

    The market is not easy to trade and its getting harder.

    Morons do trader, for a real short period.

    Just read and fig. out who is full of shit and who is not.
     
    #19     Feb 17, 2008
  10. As Curly Jo once said I resemble that remark.<p>My background is that of sports gambling. The psychological traps facing traders are not that different from those faced in sports gambling.<p>I have traded for a living for over ten years, but I understand that on any given day the market is capable of humbling me.<p>The tests that the market hands out are generally not passed by the knowlege acquired through working hard and doing your homework.<p> When people often ask if anyone can make make a living in the market, I offer the same response, it is a matter of psychological contstruction, some people have the psychological construction to be traders and some people don't.
     
    #20     Feb 17, 2008