my 6 cents (or a teenie when the Nasdaq was still in fraction) : Don't think of the gain you could make, but concentrate of the loss you could have (in each trade). Loss is the only thing you could control. Cheers!!
but i've been a prop trader for 6 years and i see a 90% failure rate. if possible and you really want to learn how to trade - try and get on with a prop firm and trade and lose their money. most traders will lose or break even the first 6 months to first year. i know from experience now after 6 years i trade more size and $$ than most of you could ever imagine. size in 5 figures and $$ as much as the bionic man. now thats real trading but it takes time,experience, dedication and a whole lot of luck. good luck and may the trading gods smile upon you!!!
I have heard the 90% failure rate time and time again. What I find interesting is that in an arena where the odds are so stacked against a newbie, so many new people think they can succeed with so little effort. Very few are emotionally and mentally prepared for a career as a trader. If I wanted a career as a doctor or lawyer, I would have years of training ahead of me, thousands upon thousands of dollars spent in gaining that education, and no certainty that I would succeed in that profession upon graduation and passing all the medical boards. Yet for some reason, people think (and some of the blame goes to the prop firms and others for their marketing techniques that indicate "any one" can make money with our "proven system"---AKA, Bright Trading et. al) that they can just get together a few thousand dollars and have a career that pays better than many doctors and lawyers. A newly licensed doctor or lawyer's very first paying job would still be considered the practice of medicine or law, not the perfection of medicine or law, just as professional traders are always practicing their profession. I suggest that anyone who is seriously considering a career as a trader carefully study the lives and results of both the 10% winners and the 90% losers. Ask youself, why am I going to suceed where most fail? Is my emotional and mental makeup more like the 10% or the 90%? Ask yourself, what is it about me or my system that will give me the edge to become successful? Don Bright is out their hawking the Bright system, but for all the greatest systems available in the world, only a small percentage have the ability to execute on those systems. How often have you heard of a firm that does extensive psychological testing to see if applicants are mentally and emotionally qualified before taking your money? Why is that? What is it that really determines success, and why can't it be easily taught? When I first looked at trading a long time ago, my mentor said it will take around 7 years to learn how to trade, and if you survive that long, you will have burned out your greed, fear, and ego emotions that relate to trading. After that it is easy. Perhaps some people are wired from the start with the right emotional and mental framework to have success in trading, but obviously the majority are not. I do believe anyone can learn enough about their own emotional liabilities, biorhythms, etc. and work on them enough to become a professional trader. However, it may take just as much time and money to do so as it takes to become a doctor or lawyer. 777
You mean I probably won't take 5K to 1000K in 18 months trading spoos? wha wha wha wha wha (crying) nitro
Apropos what darkhorse once said: Trading is for those who can't handle reality; Reality is for those who can't handle trading.
the last year maybe year and a half has separated the men from the boys. 1998 and 1999 a monkey with a computer and a keyboard could have made money as a trader - all you had to do was buy the dips - actually no just buy . now you actually need to know how to trade groups, sectors, money flow,etc. - real trading stuff. the market will always exist - it's just that the some will figure out how to exploit its nuances to actually succeed as traders.
Nitro, I have full confidence you could run 5K up to 1000K in 18 months, and equal confidence you could run 10000K down to 5K in less than 18 months. Just kidding, of course. 777