Quote from I Trade 4 Money:
As those of you who trade know, trading can be a very humbling experience. You can throw all your hopes and dreams straight down to the toilet. I've been been getting ripped a new asshole trying to trade on a daily basis, LOL!!! It looks my goal of obtaining $200,000 in 2008 is all but improbable. It's possible, but highly improbable. My first goal should simply be this: survival!!! I have to stay in this game long enough to know how to play this game until i start to "GET" it. The advice I received in this thread was gold. I was an immature, naive dumbass blind kid, having a false sense of hope, ignoring all advice, thinking everyone was trying to get to me and put me to the floor. I guess I had to get my ass handed to me before I started opening my eyes. I had to get my ass pummeled to the floor, experience hungry non-forgiving traders taking my money away from me(like taking candy from a baby) to understand what some of you had to go through and what some of you were trying to get through to me. I apologize for my naivety and ignorance to all who I ridiculed and ignored. With that said, I have to ask you guys a question(preferably those who went the prop route and/or trade on an intraday basis). What did you guys do to start making money(6 figures or more) on a consistent basis? Share me and everyone else your story of the trials and tribulations you faced when you started trading and the key determining factors that contributed to your success, what you learned through this journey, etc. etc. It'll be a good weekend read with all this snow up in NYC!!!
At least you realised all this quickly. Even though you may be a cut above the rest in every field you have ever endeavoured in, confidence and persistence isn't necessarily rewarded in this game. We're all smarter than 99% of the other people you meet but that really does count for sweet FA in this arena. I'd be happy to believe that a retarded person with a rule sheet in front of them could trade better than a PhD Phycisist with the wrong approach/attitude/emotions.
However, the problem with this world is that intelligent people are full of doubt whilst the stupid are cocksure about everything.
Enough of the boring stuff, the thing I learnt which broke the barrier for me in intra-day prop was becoming comfortable doing nothing.
When you start out, you don't want to miss a single move and you screw things up. When you screw things up, dependent on your character you will either try to trade even more to get it back (very stupid) or become more tentative and shy away from the market (which is also not ideal but better than digging deeper.
Higher conviction and more patience is the key- hit it hard when you truly believe you are right. Far more efficient as well as being more profitable. You can't manage a trade properly if you aren't totally at ease with the reason why you are in it.