I don't think that badly of him, and I too would totally ignore the setups and 'these stocks lead the market' stuff as it's old and wrong, but the head game stuff and how the market acts is really good stuff for a total newbie.
$400 a day is about 88K a year trading. That is not remotely realistic for most people until after they have put about 5 years of hard hard hard work and study into trading. $200 is not realistic for most people. Here is something realistic. DONT LOSE MONEY IN ONE YEAR. If you can not lose money in your first year, your are doing way better than most people who are just starting to trade, and are stupid enough to start trading money immediately.
As a former business owner, trying to put in the time to learn trading and run a business will only multiply the difficulty. This is a huge mistake for this person. He is not looking to become a trader, he is looking for a source of exta $$$. The odds are greatly he will find this true: If you are looking to make a small fortune in the futures market, start with a large fortune."
bryan you've gotta remember three basic things when you trade: know your entry price, exit price, and stop loss price. get to know about options trading as well so you can protect and hedge in case a trade goes against you. also, learn money management, the most important item in your trading plan. money management, money management, money management. stockteacher.com has educational materials for around $250, both downloadable books on the internet. that's pretty much all you need really when you daytrade or swing trade. then study up on your money management skills from another trading source like pristine.com or whatever.....i don't work for any of these sites, i have used them and they know what they are talking about. besides using that xtrader simulator mentioned, you can use the cboe.com virtual trading as well. anyway, good luck bryan.
where do you get these numbers from? The same goes for makloda's guesses - despite very good post/advice. I am hearing these statistics day in day out - is there any scientifically unbiased research on how many people really make it? What does "make it" mean? People like to repeat what they've heard around the corner like parrots until everybody believes that....
Go back and read Steve0617's posts in the earlier portions of this thread. Obviously the guy has learned the hard way, as have most successful traders, myself included. I personally would advise a new trader NOT to focus so much on the dollar goals/outcome, but to focus on having the mental fortitude to take each and every one of your setups that presents itself and follow your rules like a robot. Very easy to do when the last several were winners, extremely difficult to do when the last several were losers.
yes i agree with bh prop, good advice!! Follows your rules, don´t think money, the money will ccome alone. Of course that is not easy but it is important that you know it as all the other advice. Good luck!!