Trading is hard, very hard, damn hard

double the number of entries you make, but halve the size of your entries. if you're trading 1000 shares, make it 500 for each.

 

travis,

if you had spent 12 years struggling, u should say trading is hard, very hard, damn hard.

 

Well, but you didn't read my whole post(s) then... I differentiated between discretionary trading and automated trading.

It's as hard for an automated trader to fail, as it is for a discretionary trader to succeed.

All the efforts you put into automated trading pay off in terms of profit, because both the quantity and quality of your work are rewarded. For discretionary trading, instead, quantity of work (how hard you try) doesn't matter at all, and it usually hurts. Only a high quality of work is rewarded, much like it may be for spear fishing (patience, precision, alertness). Automated trading instead is like net fishing. You cast your nets, come back in a few days and you're always going to find some fish. The more nets you have cast, the better.

 

One needs to clarify that trading and investing are not one and the same.

Investing is indeed hard, as an investor starts out with the objective of leaving the money at risk for a long period of time.

Trading is easy, if you shorten the time the money is at risk.

Instead of the market controlling your money, you are in complete control and the one who is in control will achieve better results.

The old saying that "Time is Money" is very applicable to trading.

Trading is easy, very easy, damn easy, but only if you know how to trade correctly!

Good thread BPtrader, btw.

 

OK, i agree with u, MrCharts. Trading is easy, very easy, damn easy.

u win.


PS: Am i the only one who thinks MrCharts and BPtrader are the same poster?

 

well, surely you'd Know!......

 

You are truly talking from YOUR PERSONAL experience. Luckily YOUR experience is YOURS alone...actually there are probably many that share your story except that they didn't have the perseverance (or money) to stick with it for 50 months.

However, with the right guidance it shouldn't take anyone that long to succeed unless they have a problem with asking good questions or taking direction -- or they're not as hungry/persistent as they think they are (which I recently found out to be the case with a student that I took on recently) before they begin trading.

Trading is a tough job. It can be a lucrative job. Whether you succeed or not, you will learn a whole lot about yourself during the process of learning to trade. Are you as disciplined as you think you are? Are you as audacious as you think you are? Are you as composed/emotional as you think you are? Are you as humble as you think you are? Do you have the psychological fortitude to lose day after day in the begninning and yet still TRULY believe that you will figure things out and achieve success?

One of my friends who is a trader as well, sums up our career pretty well, "Trading is a tough way to make an easy living."

 

It is not all about winning, it is all about losing correctly!

I do not win when I lose, but I win because I lose,

correctly.

 

All true I am sure, but I have a slightly different opinion in relation to how a person learns the ropes.

1. A mentor is not required, at all.

2. The only money a person should pay out is for good hardware - make sure you have a fast PC with the best graphics card avaialble and a good few high resolution 20" LCD monitors (or if you feel like a yuppy you can go for the HD 47", but not required).

3. Put aside $2,000 in the account for initial learning, and this money is gone, kaput, adios, etc, but work out exactly how many losing trades this $2K will allow you execute (as best you can as the market will not always let you get out when you want to).

4. Ask some thick old egits for a bit of advice in how to select the best stocks to trade.

This is all based on stock trading (doh, that is obvious) which again, imho, is what most people should start off doing.

Messing with Options & Futures unless you have learned a bit about reading charts, market sentiment and institutional money flow, well, lets just say that very few newbies make money in that area!

 

TrueProp,


It is easy to ‘blame” others – example this student's failure


Did this student truly fail….

Due to their lack of hunger/ persistence…., their lack of ability to ask good questions

Or

Due to your lack of ability to stimulate their drive/ motivation, (you put them off for some reason), or your inability to listen, decipher, and respond to their question – in a way they could understand


Now Sir PLEASE know

I am not attacking you…. and this is a purely rhetorical question

I applaud your effort in fending them off from trading as you did…….



I’m merely pointing out the greatest deficiency in mentorship, and why it so important we each become our own mentor

No one person truly knows another….. And I would go so far to pose – most truly don’t even know themselves – very well



Who knows in a time yet to come this person may yet rise to be the greatest trader ever – or not …. Who’s to say but that person?


Apologies Mr. Charts

I did what I must, as I told you I would... now I’ll return to doing what I must – as I am sure you will also Sir

eta - oops wrong thread Mr. Charts please ignore - but the rest stands

Respectfully

RN