Everyone has, or will be humbled by the market. It is part of the cost of your education. Get your emotions back under control, and reduce your expectations until you are successful. If you want it bad enough you'll make it in some form of trading whether it is day, position, or swing trading.
pcgeek, been PAPER trading for a few months ? !! think you know what trading is about ? ahaha you shouldn't even be posting on here until you make you first REAL trade. Jeez... Trading IS a loser's game. You can win at a loser's game for a while but a speculator who dies rich dies before his time. Trading is extremely tough and yes very few things work, and they never work for long . That's probably the main reason for NOT getting into trading. Even if you make it , what you give up for it is IMMENSE, your life basically, your health. Hell you may ruin your health just breaking even or getting by, just imagine what could happen to you if you blow up or worse bleed slowly over years. Those who say it takes years to learn a craft and so is it in trading are CLUELESS idiots, you can't compare it to learning brain surgery. Once you have your degree , you have it you only need to practice . In trading you can lose your edge and all your money almost overnight. It ain't like any other business either a trader can never sit back and relax. Stop believing trading is your way out of an average paycheck, you are deluding yourself. Better use your energy to something else ,develop a sound investing strategy and trade as a hobby to perhaps make an extra 5-10 % per year.
<i>"Trading IS a loser's game."</i> Why has such a smart person like you been in this forum since June 2001? Isn't your time over the past six years best spent elsewhere? Trading is only for losers, right?
The best post on ET ever ( well almost ;o) ).... an edge is when you have control of the order flow which we dont...period the end...now looking at the pinkies might yield you something as i have said in the past..only problem is size ...peace
Because I am not one to give up easily and I was consistently profitable at some point , yet undercapitalized, and kept at it until I got a real grubstake which did not really impact my trading since I have been breaking even ever since. I still like trading but would not want to do it full time anymore it really gets at you. Just look at today's and yesterday's index futures actions. Wow Have realistic expectations, see what returns pro's make, small CTA's, hedge funds and if you can compare you are doing very well. But you are not going to become rich in just a couple of years or make a career. Hello ? read the news ? The field is totally overcrowded now.
The best post(s) on ET to date are year-end stats in P&L 2006 thread How about we all read that thread first, before anyone posts whiney-loser talk. Negativity and ignorance (lack of correct information) go hand in hand in the human mind.
austinp, do I really have to tell you this don't you realize some of these P/L posts are BS ?People you'll find are running "prop firms"( looking to drive business), wouild-be gurus, braggers on a good day that lose it all 6 months later etc.... YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET DUDE, take what you read with a grain of salt. allright enough already
"lack of correct information" what is inccorect about the post that kicking made?? trading is a losers game period. That doesnt mean that one cant become a great trader but the fact that very little become profitable and even a smaller bunch stay consistent should tell you exactly what type of game it is.... its not whiny talk its a fact jack...
SlickShal you say daytrading is for fools... however your previous posts were about buying VNT into a halt after Chavez said he was going to nationalize telecom in Venezuela, and another one entitled "Please..help w/ risk mgmt!!" i'm sure after 10 years on the flaw (floor), your read on the market was really good... probably better than most of us who have only traded upstairs. it sounds like your issue was not cutting your losses quickly. i have a feeling that the management at the firm you were trading at probably sat you down a few dozen times and discussed proper risk management techniques with you... and good chance there was a rather handsome trader at your firm who would talk everyday to the group about techniques and strategies to prevent the exact predicament you currently find yourself in. the easy part of trading is identifying proper setups.... the hard part is controlling the inner self destructive demon that lives in all of us who tries to get us to behave in ways that are counterproductive to our ultimate success. sometimes you just have to kick it