Trading Experience - Lessons Learned

My Lessons Learned posts acknowledge blog posts from around the web which illustrate exceptional ideas that are valuable to new traders.  The goal is to assimilate the wisdom of the experienced, instead of learning the hard way.  There is an excellent post by Dr. Brett Steenbarger of TraderFeed discussing elite trader performance.  Here are some critical lessons from the article that are noteworthy:

ELITE PERFORMANCE IN TRADING IS AS RARE AS ANY OTHER CAREER.  LESS THAN 20% OF DAY TRADERS EARN A PROFIT, AND ONLY ABOUT 1 IN A 1000 ARE ELITE TRADERS.  FOCUS ON ACQUIRING EXPERTISE IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL. THE ODDS ARE AGAINST YOU, BUT THAT SHOULD ONLY MOTIVATE YOU AND NOT DISCOURAGE YOU!  THIS ARTICLE EXCITES ME KNOWING THAT THE ODDS OR BECOMING PART OF THE TRADING ELITE ARE VERY SLIM, SUCCESSFUL TRADING IS IMMENSELY CHALLENGING, AND THE JOURNEY IS LONG AND ARDUOUS.  EVERY BEGINNING TRADER IS AN UNDERDOG, SLEEPER, LONG SHOT, AN UNLIKELY WINNER...AND THAT'S WHY YOU CAN CALL ME DARKHORSE.

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