3 Stock Trading Truths

There are thousands of fallacies about the stock trading discipline that arouse fear in a new trader’s mind and prevent others from even trying their hand at it in the first place. As a proficient trader for over 15 years, I like to be more positive than that and concentrate on the predominant truths that you will find about stock trading. Here are just a few.

1. You will be successful at stock trading if you can keep your trades consistently low risk over time. Sure, you might miss out on some of those too good to be true, windfall trades that all the movies are centered around. However, you will find that, over time, searching for those dream come true trades more often than not results in a fantastic loss that ends up deteriorating the portfolio you worked so hard to accumulate. Better to keep your trades lower risk and steadily profitable over time if you are serious about making money at stock trading.

2. You don’t have to spend all day trading to be extremely successful. This does not have to be a full time job. But please don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting another get rich with no work scheme. It takes time and effort to learn the sustems needed to achieve success at stock trading. But, by using GAP trading effectively, I profitably trade for 2-4 hours a day, plus another hour of pre-market preparation. In fact, I make a great income. With the right system, you can too.

3. The experiences of other successful traders who have “gone before” you can speed up your success tremendously. Don’t start from scratch because it will take you 10 or more years and a lot of money to make all the mistakes others have already made. It is just smart business to use the knowledge of others. How many times do we hear “don’t reinvent the wheel”, then turn around and do just that? Instead, read books by successful traders, take classes, find mentors, and use the wisdom of others to make your road more pleasurable and secure.

Some like to make the “regular guys” think that stock trading is mysterious and complicated and that only a guru in the field can understand it. Take it from a “regular guy”, that is just not correct. With the right systems in place and a good understanding of the basic truths, a prosperous stock trading career is available to anyone who wants it.

Getting to the Truths of Stock Trading

There are a lot of wrong ideas buzzing around about the field of stock trading that arouse new trader’s doubts and keep others from pursuing the field at all. As a prosperous trader for more than 15 years, I am inclined to take a more affirmative attitude and focus on the universal truths that exist in the field of stock trading. Here are just a few.

1. You will be successful at stock trading if you can keep your trades consistently low risk over time. Sure, you might miss out on some of those too good to be true, windfall trades that all the movies are centered around. However, you will find that, over time, searching for those dream come true trades more often than not results in a fantastic loss that ends up deteriorating the portfolio you worked so hard to accumulate. Better to keep your trades lower risk and steadily profitable over time if you are serious about making money at stock trading.

2. You don’t have to spend all day trading to be extremely successful. This does not have to be a full time job. But please don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting another get rich with no work scheme. It takes time and effort to learn the sustems needed to achieve success at stock trading. But, by using GAP trading effectively, I profitably trade for 2-4 hours a day, plus another hour of pre-market preparation. In fact, I make a great income. With the right system, you can too.

3. Taking advantage of the experiences and knowledge of other successful traders can quicken your accomplishments a great deal. It doesn’t make good business sense to start from scratch because it will take you will lose years of time and tons of money making the exact same mistakes others have already made. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Read books and articles by successful traders, take courses or seminars, find counselors or coaches to guide your progress. I guarantee, your road to effective stock trading will be much more enjoyable and secure.

Stock trading is often depicted as mystical and only accessible to the gurus of the industry. Take it from a regular guy, that idea is not correct. With the right processes established and a good understanding of the basic truths of stock trading, anyone can be prosperous.

How to Avoid Slimy Stock Traders

I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of different stock trading experts during my fifteen year career as a stock trader. Most are great, but as with any profession, there are those that really give it a bad name. Unfortunately, they are the ones that can burn a new investor and turn them off from a fantastic pursuit for life. In the hopes of warning you away for some of the slime before you go through what I did, here are a few of my experiences, and a couple suggestions for avoiding the encounters yourself.

I established a core business value through the worst experience of my life with the ultimate in slimy stock traders. The encounter changed my life as I realized that some people are just in it for themselves, no matter if other people are hurt along the way. I learned I cannot be like that, and throughout my life if a business deal required me to hurt someone else I said no thanks and passed it up.

It was a stock trading service that provided the subscriber list a group of recommended stocks to buy or sell short every day. Like many other services of this nature, they provided lots of facts and figures to confirm that their recommendations performed as predicted a large percentage of the time. I was impressed by their presentation and signed up right away.

If you are dealing with a reputable stock trading service, it can be a great way to find profitable stocks on a consistent basis. But, unlike those credible services, this had a different goal that I was not aware of at the start. Turns out, the key management personnel of the service were recommending stocks to their subscriber group for the sole purpose of controlling the prices for their own gain.

Here is an example to explain what I mean. The owners of the stock trading service would first buy a stock such as IBM through their account. They would then recommend to the entire 3000 + subscriber group that everyone should buy IBM stock. The subscriber group would start making these purchases, which would drive up the price of IBM stock. Once the slime was satisfied with their profit, they would cash in the stock they had originally purchased.

It was a blow to realize that the stock trading service I had placed my faith in was using us subscribers to front run their own trades. They could care less about the success of their subscribers as they had led us to believe, but only their own profit. And, on top of all that, we were paying the slime subscription fees to do it! I just couldn’t believe it.

I must admit, most stock services do not subscribe to that slimy form of business. However, less offensive, but more prevalent are those services that convince the new trader that stock trading is way to risky to go it alone. But if you sign on for their monthly program (at a hefty fee, I might add), they will do all the work for you.

True, stock trading is complicated at first, until you have found a system that is right for you. But anyone who tells you that you can never learn enough to handle it yourself at some point, is just trying to milk you for the monthly fees. These systems are typically pretty generic and don’t take into consideration your personal risk tolerance or trading preferences.

There will always be some investors out there that don’t want to trade on their own, and for these folks the monthly stock trading service might be the way to go. They will receive solid trade recommendations that are right some of the time. The return is usually tolerable, but I have found that if you can find a system that works for you and your risk level, you will realize higher returns in the long run and a more satisfying experience.

It does take some upfront legwork to find someone to help you learn the ropes without taking control over from you. But there are plenty out there and you will be pleased with the result as they will take the slime out of the profession and help you help yourself become proficient at stock trading. I guarantee, you will enjoy the results for many years to come.

Stock Trading Slime

I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of different stock trading experts during my fifteen year career as a stock trader. Most are great, but as with any profession, there are those that really give it a bad name. Unfortunately, they are the ones that can burn a new investor and turn them off from a fantastic pursuit for life. In the hopes of warning you away for some of the slime before you go through what I did, here are a few of my experiences, and a couple suggestions for avoiding the encounters yourself.

I’ll never forget my worst experience with a stock trading service, the ultimate in slime and an incident that changed my life. It, finally, taught me the important lesson that some people are just in it for themselves, regardless of who they hurt along the way. It also made clear to me that I would have to be different than that, and cemented my personal creed that if a business opportunity requires me to hurt someone else, I just pass it up.

This service, like many others, provided a daily listing of recommended stocks to buy or sell short each day. And, like many others, they had impressive statistics to prove that, in most cases, the stocks they chose would do what they said they would. I was impressed, and said sign me up!

If you are dealing with a reputable stock trading service, it can be a great way to find profitable stocks on a consistent basis. But, unlike those credible services, this had a different goal that I was not aware of at the start. Turns out, the key management personnel of the service were recommending stocks to their subscriber group for the sole purpose of controlling the prices for their own gain.

To illustrate, the owners of this service would buy IBM stock through their account. The next step was to recommend that the entire subscriber group buy IBM. All 3000 + subscribers started purchasing IBM, and the stock price would increase from the activity. When the slime was satisfied that the price had increased enough for them to make the profit they desired, they would cash in.

I must admit I was shocked to learn that the stock trading service was manipulating its subscribers to manage their own trades. Their objective wasn’t the success of the subscriber base as promised, but rather to make their own money and run. That is just wrong, and it was insult to injury that we were paying the slime subscription fees on top of it.

Now true, most stock trading services would never conduct business in that manner. But many do act in an equally slimy manner by trying to convince the new trader that stock trading is much too dangerous to do alone. They work hard to convince you that in order to be profitable trading stocks you must subscribe to their expensive service and let them do all the work for you.

True, stock trading is complicated at first, until you have found a system that is right for you. But anyone who tells you that you can never learn enough to handle it yourself at some point, is just trying to milk you for the monthly fees. These systems are typically pretty generic and don’t take into consideration your personal risk tolerance or trading preferences.

I know that some investors don’t want to bother trading stock on their own, and are content to buy into a monthly service to tell them what to trade. That is fine, and the return is usually adequate enough to keep these folks happy. However, my experience is that if you can find a process that works for you and structure it around your personal risk tolerance level, you will be more satisfied with the trading experience and will realize better profitability over the long run.

You will have to do some probing to find a resource to help you get on your feet without controlling your trades. Slime free resources are available, however, and you will be happy with the outcome as their goal will be to help you help yourself become successful at stock trading. From a successful day trader to a future one, I am sure you will be pleased the results of finding and working with a reputable resource.