Like i said before trading is not that hard if you follow the rules. Now go play in your sand box. BTW you like cold cuts?
I don't think it will take that much time. Multiple years definitely seems excessive, I've been participating in the market for about 6 months, of which 2-3 months could be described as active trading, and now it seems like I'm at the break-even point. If you know you want to trade intraday, and you've already discovered the resources on ET and elsewhere, you're about where I was 3 months ago. 6 months ago I was at zero, I thought I was hot shit because I bought into a bunch of funds during the August dip (entirely by chance) and my account went up 10% in a month... gave it all back of course before I'd liquidated everything. It hasn't been all that long but I've personally come a very long way. I'm optimistic that the next few months weeks/months will net some good results for me, hopefully so I can certify myself as profitable. I also think that there's not much value in paper trading, getting used to the emotions of having money on the line is the biggest step, and you can't get that by paper trading. Likewise, 'book learning' is most useful when you can put what you've read into practice the next day and see how it works out: learn by doing. If I'd spent 6-12 months just reading most of it would, frankly, have been wasted time. The best learning resources are also to be found on the internet imo because you can learn from the experiences of actual traders working with current instruments and market conditions. I bought a number of books but mostly didn't read them, they contain too much irrelevant and abstract information, too much theory. "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" is the one book I am reading: it's entertaining, but it also contains a few nuggets of good advice. You can always just trade very small lots, keeping your risk negligible unless you have a tiny account. It's only in the past couple of weeks that I'm finally sticking to the position size limits I set for myself, and in the past I took a number of steep losses due to exceeding these limits, but even so my "education" has only cost me about 5% of my starting capital over three months.
You dont mention being correctly capitalised. By playing conservatively i assume you mean aiming for something like 25% a year in returns. How much capital do you have? You need to start out with 200K to make 50K a year, and then after paying your living expenses and taxes you wont have much left over to grow your account. So more like 400K is what you need if you want to trade conservatively. Do you have 400K in trading capital? Even if you think you can make 50% without much risk, then you really need to be starting with atleast 200K of capital. The majority of the 'stupid' start with less than 50K and stand little chance of making a living, let alone growing the account at the same time. Are you one of them?
Wow... transcendental ecstasy gambling complex. If you are the one, can you send me some cash since it seems like you have unlimited funds coming your way?
The problem with trading is that there's no one to teach MOST of us. There's no "Trading 101" class at the local college, so most of us that want to learn this art, have to teach ourselves. Unlike other students who become great, have mentors and teachers. Back to the Matrix example. Neo wouldnt be sh-t without morpheous
I've got a great idea...why don't you show all of us just how easy trading is. Post your live results on the list for everyone to see. Then you will know for sure if it is easy, or just a misunderstanding you have based on your absolute ignorance of what it is like to actually do it, instead of talk about it.