Do you know what the biggest secret is for the rich trader? The big secret is that they were not born a brilliant trader. They did not just trade and become instantly profitable. No, they are just like any one else. Except for one thing… they never quit. When they blew out their first account they did not throw up their hands and say “Well trading is not for me.” and give up. They got more money up and started trading again using the lessons they learned the first time. Many are surprised to here Jesse Livermore considered to be the greatest traders ever lost all his money at least twice, but made it back and became a millionaire again. Livermore went from zero to a millionaire three times. Nicolas Darvas lost half his money the first time he really tried his hand at trading but came back to be a millionaire. Alexander Elder had to rebuild his account also. So even the best were not born that way their perseverance brought them to success.
They also did not learn how to trade in isolation, Nicolas Darvas read over 200 books on trading even though he was one of the very first systematic trend traders. William O’Neil is said to have read over 2,000 trading books, Paul Tudor Jones had a mentor before he started his money management business. Even Ed Seykota one of the greatest traders of our time worked off what he learned from Richard Donchian around moving average systems. Not only did they have to persevere during difficulties they also needed a teacher or mentor.
There is no big secret to trading, you do your homework, you research what methods work the best, you pick a method, write a trading plan that puts the odds in your favor, and you trade it while managing your risk carefully. That is it. That is the big secret. There are traders that consistently make money with different strategies, there are very profitable traders among the trend followers, macro traders, Can Slim School, swing traders, and option traders, there are profitable day traders and value investors. The key is that the method must fit you and you must have faith in it and continue to use it even when you are losing.
The big secret is that there is no big secret, trading is hard work like any other chosen profession, maybe even harder than most with the irregular income and the potential for losses. One thing is for sure, you will only get out of it what you put into it.