hello everyone,as a new trader i wanted to ask a simple question,is it definitely a sure thing that every trader has to lose money first in order to win later?im sure u learn by your mistakes but isnt it possible to always have a profit in your account rather than loss?thank you and forgive me for the stupid question
Antonis, trading is a profession which requires highly developed skill sets both technical and behavioral. Think of it as having to get a degree in a demanding field and then getting experience in that field. It takes time. People come into it and lose because they are not ready.
You will hear those who will say "this doesn't work" or "this is the only way to do it" or "it's impossible to do". You have to find what works for you and that takes a lot of experimentation and many hours of observation of price development.
Try pure price action, try price action with studies, try market profile, try candlesticks, kagi, renko etc.. If you are patient and diligent things will start to make sense and you can develop ideas that you can test (back test and forward test). Take ideas from others, read books, spend some time in a trading room if for no other reason to experience the context of trading.
Once you have developed and tested a strategy which has positive expectancy, sim trade it for awhile to get comfortable and show that it works. Sim trading is not the same thing as real money but if you can't make "money" in sim then you certainly won't when you go live.
Read the books on traders psychology, we have all made the same mistakes and you can't learn to not make them until you understand them. We all have emotions and impulses and until one can use them and not vice versa, trading will be impossible.
The point is, it is possible but only if one is extremely patient and diligent in learning and self development. However long it takes is what it takes. I am not a good example as I dove in too early with too large an account made easy early money during the tail end of the tech bull and then got slammed by the subsequent bear. In retrospect, I see how easy it was to make money during the bear but I was not yet a trader and stood no chance.
I don't encourage people to get into the field as it is difficult and most people will not do what is necessary to succeed, but if you do, life is good. Bottom line, dues will be paid in some combination of time, effort and money, the ratio is up to the individual.
