To: exdaytrader76 who wrote (922 ) 8/31/2000 9:40:34 PM From: WaveSeeker Respond to dt76... The nice thing about trading is that you always get another shot, 2, 3, or 4 times, whatever it takes. If you have the will and the desire, then you'll work like a dog to get back into it full-time again. When I started in 1995, I wore a tee shirt to the office that said "World's Worst Trader" because the best use of my capital would have been to hire a chimp as head trader. The great thing about trading is that it is a profession where accumulated experience translates into wisdom and good market feel. So many currently rely on technical analysis, but the first thing I would recommend is to lock yourself into a room for a week and just watch the CNBC ticker all day. Eventually you start to pick up things such as large block trades, and various symbols will start to leap out at you. In terms of evolution, I started out as a scalper, then traded technical analysis systems, but finally settled on good old-fashioned tape reading simply because of the bottom line results. Regarding market direction, the psychology of the market's participants translates directly into price action. Is the atmosphere benign or is there pervasive fear about an impending interest rate decision? I completely concur with previous posters regarding their advice to keep it simple. Assimilate the macro of the market with the micro of the individual stocks to determine your positions for the day, e.g., the first thing I do every morning is to write down a list of the newsworthy stocks from Bloomberg; some go on the long side, the others on the short side. Play those stocks - you can go long on the "best" 3 stocks on the worst possible day and still make money. Finally, control your emotions. It may seem counter-intuitive, but on the best days I am unusually hard on my trading because I want to go into the next trading day with resolve and discipline. On the worst days, and there will always be one where the market is going nuts and you're doing lousy, be extra kind on yourself as long as you're not forcing mistakes. Sorry for the Finnegan's Wake-like rambling, but I sincerely wish you the best in your trading career.
