Is this the post you are refering too?
OK one important point with your first account, when you put that money into your account for the first time, please remember to kiss it goodbye. Because more than likely you wont see it again! I lost my first account, infact I lost my first 2 accounts they were not big accounts by anymeans but boy did it hurt. I was in such a hurry to implement what I had learned and to start rolling in the money that I made typical emotion filled mistakes, like revenge trading, over leveraging in order to make back a loss, moving my stop so that my loss would be 3 times bigger than my potential win, on the hope the trade would turn around. Silly emotion filled mistakes.
That is when I decided I have to be successful on the sim for 3 straight months first before going live again, I also read Trading in the Zone and listened to seminars on trading psychology,
But for sure! Going to real money is where you make it or break it.
I had spent quite a while working on 3 months straight profitability. This time had helped me work out my method and importantly it made me very efficient with my trading platform (very important I think). I approached sim trading very seriously and thought of it as my money (its never quite the same but you have to try to make it as real as possible.) I have always been very competitive so I believe this created a level of emotionalism in the trade as close as I could get to trading real money.
By the end of the sim period
1. I was very efficient and quick with my trading platform
2. I knew my method very well, and had developed the necessary skills to trade that method
3 i had built my emotional tolerance as high as I could without using real money.
4. I had developed confidence in my ability
5. i was no longer in a race to make money.
Now when I moved over to the real $$$ from my reading, talking to other traders and my own blow out experience I realised that one of the biggest problems facing traders is undercapitalisation. If your risking 5%+ of your account in a single trade you are on a road to ruin. That the kind of leverage that has major psychological implications. I NEVER risk more than 1% of my accountin any trade. So if you have a $5000 account you should only be trading 1 contract at most.
That helps keep the demons at bay and also because you are building your contract size slowly but steadily you really ease into the increase in contract size, it has fewer emotional implications as the process is gradual.
With regards to things I had not considered before going live. I was really scared in my first ever trade. I wasnt risking a large amount, infact I would spend more than that on a good night out. But for me this was the start of something big, and it had to start on the right foot. My first trade couldnt be a loser! That was a really tough trade.
Its very important to view trading as a marathon.... take your time. As I have said many times before, anyone can do this. You just have to keep focused when things get tough.
