Quote from Ripley:
The Million $$$ Quest 2006
Today is the first day of my 50 year trading career, and I am really really really EXCITED. I learned so much over the last two net negative years. I was just an incompetent novice playing around so far, thinking all along that I knew something. I was throwing around 20,000 shares, 20 contracts etc without a clue as to what I was doing.
So, now that I have a clue.. I know that I am in for a LONG LONG LONG journey/quest. Thus, I need to take it easy on myself. I need to earn my right to take the markets for a ride. Thus, I will be trading 1 contract in my $5,000 day trading account. (This is not my whole account, and this isn't my swing trading account. An intelligent day trader would only keep 2x the margin in the account and this is 8x way too much). I will only add more contracts with a net gain of each +$10,000. It is a lofty goal and most likely I will still be trading 1 contract at the end of the year. But, I think it is the right thing to do. You have to respect the markets or you are just another washed up wannabe.
Now, I fully comprehend what it means when people say that the market will always be there. You have to be the one who has to be ready for the market. My sole goal for this year is to finish my year in the green. Make some money. It doesn't matter how much. That's my only goal.
This is a journal to keep myself focused on the ultimate goal, each and every single day. A place to record my daily thoughts and recollections. Yeah, I intend to trade every single day. I need to put in 250 days in this year. This is my work, my passion, umm.. and it is exhilarating.
I need to earn my way around, as well as I need to sit tight. And Jesse Livermore said it best: Men who can be both right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after an investor has grasped this that he can make big money. It is literally true that millions of dollars come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than did a hundred dollars in his days of ignorance.