At present, we are in the midst of huge bull markets. Forget about HFT and picking up a few ticks here and there. From Reminiscences: âAnd right here let me say one thing: After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. Iâve known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying and selling stocks when prices were at the very level which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine â that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance.â
He didn't post here, but I thought Arthur Deco gave some pretty good advice to struggling traders in another thread, which was: "e lamps unto yourselves," which he attributed to Siddhatta Gotama, better know as Buddha. Dr. Brett Steenbarger expressed the same idea in another way when he posed the question of what your trading would be like if you accepted the power of a premise that some of the time you already are the trader you wish to become:<blockquote>What if, at times, you already recognize market patterns, generate solid trading ideas, and manage risk well? What if you don't need to work on your trading problems at all and, instead, simply need to harness the influences that enable you to trade well? What if everything you need to succeed is already part of who you are and what you do? What if the only change you require is to become more consistent with your strengths and competencies? Would you still seek out advice from gurus? Would you still look for answers in the latest indicators and systems? </blockquote>Give up your inhibitions and your beliefs that you canât trade. Open a chart and look at it like it's a part of your life. Know that itâs all right for you to trade well, and let your unconscious take over. Visualize in your mind where positions should be taken and closed and where stops should be placed. Do you need years of practice and losses before you give yourself permission to do it right? Is there some amount of suffering required before you have earned the right to trade well? Maybe you've already suffered enough. If this is really what you want to do, then fire-up up your charts and do it. You don't need approval from anyone else. Don't be like the scarecrow asking the Wizard of Oz to give him a brain. You were born with one. ps: If you think I posted that for you, I didn't. I posted it for myself.