My repost: Lets talk about traders. The topic I love talking about, You see people have the wrong idea of how traders operate, they think they are these people doing all these hand signals and take big bets and start sweating scared shitless (gambling) or you have like if you look around many sites you start seeing amateur traders posting up STOCK picks and explaining why they like the stock etc, bs bs bs. On the surface it may seem like the correct way to be "trading" , I mean how can you go wrong with someone who starts explaining the pros and cons of the business, the financial stats, all that "public" stuff that he's parroting. I guess it does make good reading material. A trader who can exponential and consistently take money out of the market does not operate like this. What you see in this is everyday "public" operation. This is what the public does. As a trader, you want to seperate yourself from the public and include yourself in the private. What is the private, I seriously do not know because I just made that term up right now at this exact moment But the "Private" to me means: Access to private information , As traders we are in the business of 1. Management of risk 2. Management of information (private) Most good traders do 1. Most loser traders don't do 1 or 2 Most great traders do 1 and 2. This is what seperates the big size betters from the amateur 500-1000 share lot size testers. Whenever I bet, I want to bet big, I Want to do 5k, 10k , 15k share lots. Why is this? Why would anybody be insane enough to bet big and lose big? Whats the answer to this question? Because I won't lose. "Thats impossible my friend , everybody loses" You are wrong, because I have private information you don't have, I know something you don't know, I know something 99% of the trader community did not pick up. And that is why I am betting big. Example: When your friend tells you she has a "hot girl" (usually not hot at all) she wants to introduce to you on a blind date and you have no idea who the date is then your consequences are: a) You go out on the date and meet up with the butterface and have to wine and dine her. b) You go out on the date and meet up with the hottie So now you have a 50/50 chance. Lets say you know who the hot girl is from some "hints" your friend has leaked "she went to xxx school" .. I know that girl. I seen her, she's a hot number. Or you have another friend confirm indeed, this girl is money. Friend confirmation is definately money. Then you really have 99% convincition you want to be on this date. You don't even have to think about it, Sign me up for 3 consecutive dates ASAP! The difference between a real trader and an amateur trader is not trading skills. Trading skills can be developed pretty quick through dillegence , But its the information flow that seperates the players from the ehhh. This is also the reason why you find a lot of "traders" who have read so many books, done so much research but where are they? they are nowhere. With no conviction you won't bet big with confidence, With no private info you are at a hit and miss % ratio. Why? Because they know nothing unique, they know what everybody else already knows. All the indiciators are what I use to take a shit on . All their methods are what I use to use back when I was a newbie. Useless. To make a lot of money, You need to think differently. You need to know what few people know. You need to apply risk management to your position if your information is bad. And you need to bet big when the time comes. Hope this helps people understand , I thought this piece was very informative even by my standards