[trader_08]

gr8 thread.. so inspirable...

[AHAF]

Thank you very much

We have benefited a lot from your post

[Yacob Hassan]

the best post !

[rbt]

I too am a futures trader in Singapore...this is a mental game for sure.

[Pocoyo]

I'm futures trader from Brunei. Very great post!
What he said is all true.

[darthtrader3.0beta]

Originally Posted by bootstrap »

7)Paper trading is ok, but there is nothing that truly tests the strategy like hard earned cash.

I guess I would like to go off on this point, because I really don't understand why "conventional wisdom" is so against paper trading.

I thought it was cool to see around the blog/message board trading world in the past few weeks the idea that you need 10,000 hours and or 10 years to become a master trader(something that was posted here well over a year ago) is making its way around.

Yet "conventional wisdom" tells the fool who comes to this game expecting to make millions overnight that they HAVE to risk their hard earned cash or they are wasting their time. A fool losing hard earned cash does not make them less of a fool, the only way a fool becomes less of a fool is from time and trades to get a feel of how the market breathes.

You need rule #11...go on the 10 year plan.
I have 4 years market experience, 3.5 trading real money but I mark my real march towards becoming a master trader as starting last january, so I don't even consider myself to "actually" have a year of experience yet. Last january was when I started trading futures with real money, had read every book, digested ever idea I could think about the past 3 years.
So far this week I've taken 3 real money trades and 94 paper trades. My avg hold time on my real money trades are 2.3 minutes...if you trade real money with patience you have to do something with your time, what better to do than experiment with paper trading?
Basically, I don't think the problem has anything to do with paper trading...Its simply 99.9999% of people do not take this business as serious as they HAVE to. The only difference to me between a paper and a real money trade is the confidence I have in the setup.
If I wanted to be a boxer or MMA guy, I want to have thousands of reps in practice before I have to throw a strike in a REAL fight.

[eminisafari]

Darth,
I agree with your reasoning. I've been trading 12 yrs and still paper trade before I risk the real stuff. There are definitely different emotions when the green is on the line, but there's plenty of other things to learn without risking the money first.
It kind of makes me wonder who "conventional wisdom" is... probably a self imposed moniker???

[gomesjps]

Brilliant!
Made think!