Learning how to daytrade has very bad odds. Most people will fail and lose money. And, if you need to depend on others' picks, you have already lost the game, set, and match. As someone else pointed out, you have to study a small number of stocks and learn their daily characteristics intimately to be able to trade them effectively. No other method will work. This isn't an area where you can get away with the 'hunt and peck' method. And the limit for most of us mere mortals is three markets traded at one time. As soon as I put on that fourth trade, I can pretty much guarantee that I'm going to lose focus on at least one of my trades. No amount of training can prepare you for the mental rigors of daytrading. The lessons you learn will come from actually doing it. Coming from an area of the markets where daytrading is common, I would suggest that you take a fixed amount of money that you're willing to pour gasoline on and set fire to. Use this as your 'tuition' for learning to daytrade. When you've burned this initial amount down, close the account and take a very hard look at yourself and your trading and decide if it's what you want to do. If you can take the boredom with out putting on trades just to trade, the all too frequent episodes of terror, and the loneliness of perhaps one of the most solitary of jobs, maybe you have a shot at becoming a successful daytrader. Maybe. Here's an excersize to see if you have the psychological makeup to succeed daytrading. Take a thousand dollar bill outside and collect some firewood. Use the thousand dollar bill as tinder for your fire. You, and only can you, build and light your fire. Brew your morning coffee on your fire. Repeat this daily until you can drink your coffee and not spit it up thinking about your thousand dollar bill. Then go up to 2 thousand dollar bills.
And since you joined all the way back on 3/23/2002 I'm sure you are quite an experienced forum reader *nudge* G *nudge* e *wink* e *wink* T know what I mean? know what I mean? *nudge* O *nudge* 6 *wink* 9 *wink*
I agree, this idea that you should go out and burn money is the trick to learning the mental frame of mind for trading seems pretty overdone...On the one hand, it is supposed to teach a trader to not obsess about money and to feel an indifference to losing $1000...On the other hand, it could have the exact opposite effect, complete and total complacency to losing...I don't know what the trick is to having the proper mindset, but I never believed the hype about throwing money into a fire would resolve any sort of internal conflict...
I went out in the back yard and tried to do it with a one dollar bill but all those ads about how much you can do with a buck came to my head and I blew out the fire.
Trying to conduct this experiment, but my bank tells me the largest bills they keep in stock are 100's. Hmm.. just wondering if a person would get the same results burning 100 dollar bills rather than 1000's. Wait... I need coffee!
today i started lighting my cigars with a $100 dollar bills, and guess what..... i had my best day ever today! it weally weally works! today a hundred! tomorrow a thousand! next week who knows maybe a hundred thousand!! i'm going to be rich! rich i tell you!! hahahahhahaha!
It is a federal offense to burn Federal Reserve notes (money). Please send all the money you planned on burning to: Make-a-wish foundation 17992 Mitchel South, Suite 101 Irvine, CA 92614-6813 Or use the following link http://cart.charityweb.net/wish2/cart/giving.htm?DonorIntent=1&Custom4=007-000CA We will find good use for this money and more importantly keep your a$$ out of jail
Say what? What the f__* are you smoking? I have much more realistic exercise for you. Why don't you just _HAND_ me those thousand dollar bills. When you loose money in the markets, it doesn't burn, it just goes in some one else's pocket. I got some of those sitting right here. Depending on how many times you want to try this exercise, I can even accomidate you with even more realistic ways to make you feel like you are really loosing your money. nitro