Quote from marketdude:
I know its different for everyone but, how long did it take you to become a consistent winner and make a career out of trading?
I'm just starting out and finding it very frustrating. I'm trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
4-5 years sounds about right.... that is if you are dedicating 190% of your time to this. I mean this: You are not going to accomplish anything by going at this half a**. If you just started and are already frustrated, man, I would say hang up the boots and stick to the 9-5.
This is like anything else in life you are trying to accomplish. You need to have an obsessive, stubborn passion to succeed, to reach your objective, toget where you want to go. Without that passion, you will be dissuaded at the troughs where your instinct will propel you to quit. It will be your Passion for this craft which will determine if you stick around or not. Not your skill (if you have acquired any by now.)
Passion and how long you can make your money last.... paper trade, paper trade, paper trade (can't say it enough) until you have something down pact where you can determine a clear edge. (Never go into any game of skill to fin out if you can "make money" for you will surely lose it. Go in only knowing you can win. )
Remember that being succesful is a result of the of two things: 1) making money and 2) losing as little as possible, (Traders who do not lose are like women who do not complain; they do not exist!) The amateur will define success in this business solely by the first and this is where he eliminates himself from the game.
If you understand this, you have 50% of the battle won. The problem with this is that that 50% of the battle is with your most challenging enemy..... yourself.
As long as you can survive the drought, as long as you don't cheat yourself, as long as you are HONESTLY putting in the leg-work ( and the right kind of work at that....) ...it will eventually click.
The road to determining your edge is not easy and once you do discover it you still have to maintain it..... however, the fruit are well worth the pickins.....
