Do not fail to place risk management first, before anything else. A loss is a gain when taken early. Know in advance of every trade your max loss and NEVER NEVER NEVER violate it.
I owe the fact that I'm still in the game to the ET community, especially the gentleman I latched onto as a mentor, and whose strategy I now trade. The most profitable traders here have answered question after question for me and never once said, "I can't tell you that." I consider these people my second family.
Yes, screen time is the master key to success. If you have a good head for patterns, your hours of screen time will gradually translate to an almost mystical ability to predict price movement.
And your strict risk management will leave you with a "winning loss" should the market choose to play a different game.
What would I do different?
1. Read Market Maker's Edge (Josh Lukeman), and Tools and Tactics of the Master Day Trader (Oliver Velez), BEFORE starting to trade.
2. Paper trade for 6 months minimum before touching my capital.
3. Read The Master Swing Trader (Alan Farley) AFTER 6 months of solid screen time.
4. When going live, implement absolute risk management in advance of every trade, NO EXCEPTIONS.
Wolfgang, consider this:
If you were to begin trading tomorrow, buying a stock as it pivoted up from a pullback, or shorting a stock as it pivoted down from a surge, and you placed a stop just above the top or bottom of the pivot point, and the trade moved in your favor just 50% of the time and you took twice the profit you were willing to risk, you could not lose.
That's how risk management keeps you in the game (barring a black swan event), and that's what I mean by a "winning loss".
Best to you!
Donna
