On the radio a few weeks ago, I heard a motto of wilderness adventurers that I think applies very well to all aspects of trading (as well as to other walks of life): "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." So I agree with the last part of your post about "it" not sinking until you do it, and the best lessons being the ones learned the hard way.
If you're like me, you might have to make the same stupid mistake so many times that it virtually becomes a habit to UN-learn before you're able to avoid it. Ditto for all the things I've tried that either didn't work or that for whatever reason I was unable to make work. So maybe the most important thing is to start with enough capital to make yourself able to afford seemingly endless strings of disaster while you're exploring and learning, and then afford likewise seemingly endless periods of despair and self-sabotage while you're settling down and un-learning.
On the other hand, there's no reason to re-invent the wheel - and the axle, and the cart, and the horse. To use your example, if I wanted to learn about ants, I would definitely read some books, and, if I were serious about the study, I'd probably want to take some courses, too. As for tracking "nominal price," tick data, T&S, and so on - might be worth doing, but would certainly depend on what style or approach you were intending to pursue. Unless you knew what you were looking for, gazing at all those squiggles and numbers might be worthless - not to mention rather extremely boring. And I don't see how the beginner is going to make much of SMAs, Fib levels, round number action, tweezers bottom, etc., or even know what they are, without consulting reference works and/or experienced individuals. |
