Quote from benwm:
I guess I could comment on survival.
My #1 advice would be to join a gym with a jacuzzi/sauna. Then however much of a beating the market gives you, you have a vehicle to get away and see the big picture and put things in perspective.
You need to immerse to yourself in the markets, of course, but it's not going to happen overnight. I don't believe there are shortcuts, although wasn't there some quote, "the easiest to way to get a million dollars is to start with ten", so obviously it helps the more capital you start with!
Luck will inevitably play a part in the beginning (unless you have already backtested some strategy - I hadn't), and you kinda have to roll with the punches to get sufficient screentime. Cut your losses, duh! I think the inevitable ups and downs are something we all need to go through, but you have to live another day...so that is really the only rule that matters.
You probably want to work the psychology side as much as anything, have a trading psychology book by your bedside. I usually fall asleep after reading a chapter, but that's a good thing, right?! You need SOME sleep!!
Buying a car last year with some winnings was a good moment...
Let me despond back.
I was using a system within 40 days and never looked back. Losing was a wash 1 out of 8 trades in position trading. Keynes (algorithms), Carnap logic), Boole (Algebra) and Mandelbrot (fractals).
A had 300 bucks in "57 to start and in '60 I bought a 190SL MB in Kopenhagen. I went to Europe each summer with time off from IBM. My salary did not cover my commissions by '60. I quit work in '62 and moved to Greenwich then Switerland (66) then Bucks County (68) then AZ in '87.
I did competitive sports: sailing, skiiing, gliding, rock climbing, hiking, extreme exploration. Trading is not a full time thing.
I am finishing my ATS's and keeping the next 10 million for personal needs the next quarter. I am 80. (HI, AZ, ME)
QED.

