Okay, first, I'm writing this thread for my own sanity. Hopefully, I can look back at this thread in a year or two and laugh. But right now I highly doubt it. You are more than welcome to comment, but please keep it constructive. I need to put my thoughts down on "paper", before I smash my monitors into thousands of tiny pieces: Right now, I'm thinking I can't do this. The Market doesn't make sense to me. Is this a hard time for a newbie to go through "the learning curve"? Is my 130 IQ not high enough? Are most traders smarter than me? Am I wasting my time??? Today almost every trade went bad. Stock is down, TRINQ is pointing to a short, futures are pointing south, market is in a handbasket on it's way to hell, tape is bloody and moving fast, price breaks through early range. That's it. I'm going short. WHAMMM!!!! Straight back up to hit my stop. Huh? Are you friggin' serious? Oh...wait, there it goes back down. I guess it just had to hit my stop first. WTF? I can't trade without stops. What happens if my computer dies? What happens if my internet goes down? What if I am "wrong" about this trade and it flies up a buck fifty in an instant? I'm half tempted to be the 100th member to post a "I need a mentor" thread. LOL j/k It really infuriates me that I've been successful in other business ventures, but I can't be profitable day trading. I've had many winning days since I started, but I've had way more losing days. It seems like all I have to do is the OPPOSITE of what my gut says to do. Maybe that's my "edge". Maybe I'm thinking like the herd and I need to run against the herd? I don't know. Is technical analysis bogus? Has every successful trader gone through what I am going through?