BEST post I've seen on ET in a long long time. Kudos & Thanks!
Quote from TD80:
I was going to say this earlier, as I thought this was would display a high level of trading wisdom, but alas I chose to step back and think about this topic in greater detail.
After some deep thought I would say one major key is simply:
Money.
I know I thought when people talked about how you needed to be well capitalized when I started trading 10 years ago that they were being ridiculous (at the time people were saying 50-100K at a bare minimum just to survive), but sadly it is true. Your 1K to millionaire type of dreams should remain in the dream box for those of you who are serious about making a lifetime out of this speculation business.
You need risk capital, and a lot of it if you are going to make a go. If you don't have it yet, try to learn as much as possible while getting your living expenses to a bare minimum and your income to a maximum.
I can't stress enough how important it is to have not only a good grubstake, but also steady non-trading cash flow during your formative years.
This may sound over simplistic and ridiculous but YOU NEED MONEY. Say you have a great ability and you could make 50% annual returns with a Sharpe of 2. None of this matters if you don't have any money to trade, and even worse you have no cash flow to protect the money you do have to trade until you are way ahead (think years) of your living expenses before going to full time speculation.
Money. Discipline. Edge. Risk. Patience. Money-Management.
Make your 100K checks payable to your favorite charity.
