For the past three years, I have been racking my brain over achieving mastery at trading in the stock market.
Here are three main takeaways I've learned after somewhat doing so.
One, you must train the shit out of your eyes and I mean like really train them.
Literally sit down and go through thousands of charts every freaking day.
Winners, losers, all types of stocks.
Each stock has a unique character but almost every stock follows a variation of the same patterns.
Especially the winners.
Don't ask me what the patterns are.
Again, sit down and study thousands of charts and it will be abundantly clear to you what I'm talking about.
It's all supply/demand, human psychology, and laws that govern the way we people function.
Human nature doesn't change and neither does the stock market.
"This time is different" is bullshit.
Look at charts from 100 years ago, same exact shit.
Truly mind-blowing when you think about it.
These mf's were buying stocks through the phone and drawing out charts with a pencil, but somehow the charts look the same as they do today.
So yeah takeaway number one is to just study and train your eye to point out these recurring patterns.
Two, immediately put your money to work in the market.
Do not start with a lot of money.
I repeat.
Do not start with a lot of money.
I can guarantee you that you will lose a large chunk of it multiple times in the first few months and maybe even years.
If you do make it to the other side of profitability, it is extremely worth it but in the meantime, just get started.
Being able to spot these patterns in real time and being able to exploit them for money are two vastly different games.
In real time you have to manage your emotions, test your true conviction, and hold through some insane shit I can't even begin to describe in words.
I tell you now, the market will truly expose and absolutely destroy every small weakness you have.
Ego? Yeah you can forget about that.
Greed? I promise you that it'll be gone.
Any insecurities about your ability? Account down -100%.
That's just the way it goes.
This is why step 1 is so important.
You have to have the utmost confidence in your ability to spot the patterns you can exploit and only then will you have no hesitation of executing in the moment whatever matter the situation.
This brings me to point 3, please for god sakes do not try to find shortcuts in this business.
You must and I mean MUST develop a system designed specifically around your lifestyle, timeframe, and risk tolerance.
I mean how you buy, how much you buy, when you sell, how long you hold, everything.
That all must be extremely unique to you because you are your own individual and nobody else's money is at risk when you are trading.
Buying and selling stocks on borrowed conviction is surefire way to blow up your account.
Please if you plan on signing up for real time alerts or some bullshit like that, just give me your trading account.
I promise I'll be able to do much more with it.
So yeah don't be a bum and actually put in the work.
It's required.
Trading is funny because you have people trading for 3 months acting like they're the best, it just seems to bring out the worst of you in the beginning and the best of you at the end.
Everyone in the beginning thinks they're the shit.
This is partially because of the low barrier to entry.
Anyone can be a trader (or gambler, whatever you wanna call it) almost immediately unlike doctors, lawyers, or any other job ever.
So beware of other peoples opinions because they are just opinions.
Anyone talking in absolutes in trading is a con cuz in reality, we all have no freaking clue what's going on.
In conclusion, don't be a trader LOL.