What was the ***last*** thing you had to master before becoming profitable?

I am not a big winner, I'm a consistent winner and I don't always beat the market. In fact, the market has beaten me the last two years but I crushed the market in 2008 and 2007. The only type of trader that will last is the one who realizes trading is a marathon, not a sprint. If you're looking for a get rich quick venture you'll be very disappointed. I've been through the highs and lows of trading and when I started working on myself, as noted above, it was a life changing event in a spiritual, physical, and profitable way. Take it for what it's worth. This is ET after all -- home of the pretenders.

Quote from shakira:

So all the posters in this thread are big winners and their advice worth every second wasted on reading it?.

I wonder who pays for their wins.
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Quote from Arnie:

There are old traders and bold traders, but there are no old, bold traders
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Ah, close enough. :)

Thank You


It seems my point was was missed by most.

Time for plan B:

Quote from stock777:

The last thing was to stop wasting time on these chat boards.
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:)
 
1. Never trade through earnings.

2. Recognizing "hidden leverage". Stacking up option contracts like pyramid to end up losing everything at expiration is never a good idea. Never trade more than you can afford to deliver.
 
Quote from jay21:

1. Never trade through earnings.

2. Recognizing "hidden leverage". Stacking up option contracts like pyramid to end up losing everything at expiration is never a good idea. Never trade more than you can afford to deliver.
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1. If you do not trade through earnings, or some other borrowed money to fund your trading account, what type of money do you suggest using?

2. Dollar cost averaging is always a "good" thing, in the sense that this is the ultimate goal of most traders anyway. I suppose there are different variations of stacking, martingale being the more extreme application of it. Much less extreme version can be used and you still get the results you need.

Fear has a tendency to distort the reality of risk. By taking no action at all, you get no reward either. So take the risk (and responsibility) and make trades. Using logics and a mathematical approach is much easier and scalable over time than chasing the opinions of others.
 
Quote from Cesko:

Let profits run.
Cutting losses? Piece of cake.
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agree completely............longer you are in the game, the better your chances of success. :D
 
That is absurd. I have been here a while and I try to stay in the conversation but I am far from a pro. I am marginally profitable and realize that a guy could register today, write his first post and yet have been profitable in a major way for years.

You evaluate the substance and be wary of it all until you are sure. Hey ... even I have good idea from time to time!

Quote from peilthetraveler:

Make sure whoever's advice you buy on this forum, look to see how long they have been here, so you at least get an idea of how long they have been trading so you know if they know what they are talking about. Like if some guy who just registered on elite trader 6 months ago is telling you how he became profitable, dont trust it. If someone who registered in 2002 is telling you, he MIGHT be a bit more credible as he has withstood a good number of years with the market.

Now with that said...the last thing i learned was not to put a large chunk of your cash in 1 trade and NEVER use margin I dont care if your account is 2000 dollars or 2,000,000 dollars. If you feel like you HAVE to use margin, then you dont have the emotional ability to trade. If you cant be patient with your gains, then be prepared to lose it all.

IMO, the ONLY people that can use margin are the guys that have at least 250k in the bank and are trading 25k accounts. These are the guys that make a couple hundred K per year and are pulling cash out when they get their account to 100k or so.

This advice is easy to give, but hard to listen to. Chances are you will be like the rest of us who had to blow our accounts(or blow a substantial amount of money) to find out what works for us or what trains us the best.
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