Day Trading Advice: Trading Is A Mental Game
Check out this video from Lightspeed Trading's Trader Talk Series. A real trader gives insight on what it takes to become a successful trader. Visit http://www.lightspeedtrading.com/tradertalk.aspx for more unfair advantages!
Step 1: Mentally Strong
Trading is a hundred percent mental game. There's no dirt on my fingers, there's no physical labor involved; it's a hundred percent mental. And I think that one of the biggest problems of what happens when traders come into the marketplace is that they believe they can make money just like everybody else does. If this guy can do it, I can do it. Well, what you don't know is that this guy has been doing it for 10 years professionally.
Step 2: Start Small
I myself have been trading for 18 years professionally, and when you really think about it, you can't just sit down with these guys; meaning traders in your room or traders that you find in a forum or a chat room.
You can't trade for Solo or Bidu or Sunpower right off the bat. You have to start off small and you have to start off with a hundred shares. And you really have to try to play the market-making game by trying to buy a hundred shares on the bid shares or trying to sell or shorting a hundred shares on the offer and really taking a look at gathering information.
Step 3: Learning Curve
When you gather all this information, and you see that stock x,y,z is going up and meanwhile you put stock on the bid and you automatically get hit you learn something. You learn that there are sellers around.
Step 4: When To Buy
When you can't buy it on the bid is when you know the stock is going up. And when you immediately come into something and you immediately buy it on the bid, you really have to ask yourself a question; and that question should be is: Why is it so easy to buy? And when it really is so easy to buy, most likely you're going to lose money.
