I am by no means an expert but I do have some trading experience. This has been said before but it bears repeating.
-You must decide the type of trading you will be doing (intraday, swing, long-term position trading, etc.) This will allow you to identify the timeframes you will use to assess market trend, specific setups and entry/exit. There are many strategies out there but only a very few will fit you personally. Don't try to shoehorn yourself into a strategy that is not right for youl
-You must have a written plan detailing trading vehicles, money management strategy, risk/reward rules, stop-loss placement (deciding when you are proven wrong, setups you will trade, entry and exit criteria.
-You must backtest this plan to see if it is viable. Backtesting is only the start, however. You must trade it in realtime with real money.
-You must trust this strategy and nevery second-guess it or deviate from it. If it's not working out, stop trading and evaluate every aspect of your plan and try to isolate what's not working.
-You must keep a trading journal complete with charts detailing the exact times of entry and exit. This will make it much easier to analyze your mistakes.
-Before you enter a trade, you should already have determined your entry point, maximum stop-loss, and price target should the trade work in your favor.
There are many other aspects and details, but following these basic rules should put you ahead of the pack before you even place your first trade.
Write every in your journal, including how you felt when you entered as well as during the progression of the trade. If your system is sound, you should barely feel any emotion because you will have the confidence that you are following a proven system developed by you that fits your particular personality.
Use the best equipment possible as well as the best platform and data feed you can afford.
Your ultimate goal is to get to the point where trades jump out of you from the charts and you do not hesitate one bit when it comes time to enter and then exit.
Realize that taking losses is a part of trading and accept them with no more emotion than taking a nice profit.
Strive to produce a nice, smoothly rising equity curve with normal, shallow pullbacks (drawdowns).
Good luck. Only hard work and perseverance will allow you to attain these goals and the road to consistent profitability may take 1-3 years or more.
Make capital preservation your main goal, especially during the learning phase. Do not risk more capital than is prudent and never let one trade have the potential to devastate your account. Even a string of small losses can be a normal occurence, especially at first. Use these opportunities to learn and strengthen your trading plan.
Above all, make sure you are passionate about this and are having fun. Work towards being able to devote the majority of your working time to trading. The most successful traders would trade even if they didn't get remunerated.
For a good starter's primer on the business of trading, I would suggest picking up Dr. Alexander Elder's latest book: <I>Come Into My Trading Room</I>
Hope this helps. If your <B>really</B> want to do this, you can be successful.
Uni
