The funniest post on this thread is definitely Mr. Papertrade. LOL. Until your ass is on the line and you are trading for a living (as your only income), you don't know what it is like to trade. Every trader in here is chuckling at that one, I'm for sure. It's not until you are using real money and trading for a living that you realize how tough mentally it is to be a trader.
There's a lot of truth in that post ... not to mention that trading isn't necessarily the most sociable activity that one can do. But traders are driven by more than just a desire to acquire wealth, alot of them have EGOs to match their desire, and there really is something to be said for succeeding at a task where it is considered that 90% fail. Good luck with your new career, you can be just as happy (if not more so) pursuing it. Regards, JJ
"if you want ot INVEST for the longterm, it is relatively simple *assuming the world does not end* there is not a single 20 yr period in HISTORY of the stock market in the US (well over 100 years btw) where a simple dollar cost averaging every month into a stock index (which is easy to do now with ETF's) wouldn't have provided good returns over that period - better than most other asset classes in most cases, and in every case a positive # this is ONE of the portfolio strategies i use. peter lynch was right. if you want relatively safe, longterm investments, buy what you know. good companies, on balance, tend ot go up. grandmothers in oklahoma know this." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What about 1960 to 1980? or better yet, 1927 to 1947? I guess it depends what your definition of "good returns" is...
It's been only 4 months, just realize that. 1 year, minimum, before you can even start to see whether you can do it or not. Maybe a year and a half in this environment. Took me 8 months to actually "get it" and I had to run down my account 10k to learn it the hard way since I was being taught crap. 9 months to actually turn my account positive. But that was 2003, whole nother market. Even if someone was teaching me to tape read from day one and not scalp with an outdated strategy, I say minimum 5-6 months before I would have turned a profit. Chances, you would have done better in another profession, assuming you picked wisely. So unless your heart is set on daytrading US stocks & US stocks only, you might be better off throwing in the towel cause there are tons of other markets to trade that are easier & more lucrative, let alone other opportunities. Otherwise, it's wayyyy too early to pull the plug.
Have you considered trading futures ? Less games played there. Good system, some tape reading, some technical analysis and with some patience and perserverence you should be golden.
There was a vender on ET a few years years back who use to post a lot of useful articles. He said he had had over 5000 people take his (expensive) courses. I asked him and his associate how many of his students were successful full-time traders now. He couldn't give any names or data, and after the honeymoon period most stopped even writing to him. I wonder if any of the vendors on this thread could give us some statistics.
Man, I already refuted you, still keep bringing it up: I guess if you consider zero or negative returns as good ones: (absolute value): 1966 to 1983 (OK, not 20 years but close enough) (relative, inflation adjusted value): 1954 to 1985 (definiatelly more than 20 years) also : -- 1920 to 1943 period -- 1928 to 1949 period And let's not forget between 1912 and 1932 So please, stop spreading missconceptions...