I do not think trading is hard nor is it easy. Each of us were programmed to believe and taught many things by our parents, teachers, friends, and society. Almost all of those things make trading hard. If you can block out and change your thought process then you have a decent chance at making some money in the markets.
There are many examples of this. From the day we were born, it was pounded into each of us that we must strive to succeed in everything we do. Failure was not an option and we must stick with something even when things are going against us. Well, all of that is WRONG in trading. Every trade I make has the potential to be wrong but does that make me a "failure?" No it doesn't. Many cannot accept a losing trade or exit a losing trade because they view it as a failure, exiting a losing trade is basically admitting that you were wrong. We were all programmed (especially males) to not admit we are wrong. This is just one example.
Trading is viewed as hard because it requires many different traits. To begin with, one needs to have a trading strategy that has a consistent edge. This strategy needs to be refined from time to time because markets are always changing. Your system may have worked for the past few months but it stop working now because market conditions have changed. Again, there is nothing wrong with you just the trading environment has changed, can you adjust and change along with the trading environment?
Once one has that strategy then one needs to execute that strategy with patience and discipline. One only enters a position when their system says to enter. One takes a loss when their stop loss target is hit. One exits when their profit target is hit. Can you do that again and again and again without any emotion?
Paper trading is good practice for many things, such as learning a new platform or seeing how much margin is required. But paper trading will NEVER be able to replace the REAL TIME emotions of any trader. Until you have real money at stake, you will not be able to gauge how your emotions will be.
I will be the first to admit that I have felt all of those emotions. When I enter a position and see that I am profitable, I am very happy. And I have been concerned when I see that my position is losing money. After taking a loss, I have been mad that the market took my money. After several consecutive profitable trades I have said to myself "this is easy, I will trade twice or three times the volume so I can make three times the money." Control these thoughts and emotions and trading becomes a little bit easier. After 20 years of trading, I still fight these emotions from time to time.
