Brian Lund: 5 things you need to know before starting trading

You Won’t Find Answers in Books
Books on trading, with rare exceptions, are for entertainment purposes only. It does no good for you to read about how someone else trades because you will never be able to trade the way they do. In addition, any ideas, concepts, or techniques that are taught in books are usually outdated by the time they are published because the markets are dynamic. They are constantly changing, and like a flowing river, you can never step into the same one twice.

I can say for certain that my trading progress took a massive leap forward the day I stopped going to my local bookseller looking for answers on how to make money in the markets.

The Reality is, You Just Don’t Exist
Everyone has an ego. We all suffer to an extent from illusions of self-importance. Problem is, the markets don’t just consider us unimportant, they don’t even acknowledge our existence. Nothing about our lives or what happens in them means anything to the markets.

Good person or bad. Flush with cash or scraping by just trying to make your rent. Tall, short, pretty, ugly, it doesn’t matter one bit.

It’s Okay to Ask for Help
At first glance, trading seems like an activity for loners. For people who want to sit in a room and stare at charts for hours on end. And to be fair, there are quite a few of us out there that wouldn’t look too out-of-place on the front of one of those most wanted posters you see at your local post office. But if you scratch the serial killer surface of most traders, you will find someone who not only is willing to talk trading, but actually craves it.

You Will Be Wrong, a Lot You will be wrong. You will be wrong a lot. A whole lot. Embrace it. Learn to accept it. As long as you cut your losses quick and maintain good risk/reward ratios on your setups, you will make money over time.

Work on Specialization Get good at one asset class, one instrument, or one issue, and once you master it (read: make money consistently), then incorporate something new into your repertoire. Or don’t. I know people who only trade AAPL and make a good living doing it.