1. Practice - pro traders all did their dues. There aren't too many short cuts in life, and trading's the same. You need to spend time with the charts. You need to get familiar with watching price action and market reactions. If you can't stand to look at charts now, while you still have a day job, what makes you think you'll be able to stomach studying them when you're trying to trade for a living?
2. Risk - you have to have the guts to take the trade. No risk, no reward. It's much easier said than done however. Many people are great papertraders, but when real money is on the line they choke. Why? Chances are they're not trading the same way they were with their paper money, because the papertrading money didn't mean anything to them. Real money needs to be approached with the same attitude or you'll never make it. Remember, as a professional trader risk is your business.
3. Don't take losses personally - this ties in with #2 and is also easier said than done, but imperative if you're going to make it. You have to have the balls to take another trade after the market just knocked you down. One method to help control the angst associated with losing money is to set a limit, similar to a gambling limit if you were going to Vegas. Set an amount you're prepared to risk and stop trading when you hit your limit. For example, if you're day trading you might set a $100 loss target. If at anytime during that day you hit your $100 loss, shut off your computer and go do something else. If you don't have the self control your broker should be able to hook you up to a monetary kill switch, so you couldn't trade again even if you wanted to!
4. Have a profit strategy - if you're going to make it in the biz, you have to have a profit accumulation strategy (similar to the $10k to $100k strategy from the January 5 ezine) Of course you don't need to be that aggressive with your trading, but you should have set goals and not just trade aimlessly. Your goals can be daily, weekly, monthly, etc, anything that helps you keep your edge and gets you where you want to be going.
5. Have a reason - When you ask most wannbe traders why they want to trade full time, they say "for the money". But that's not really what they want. After all money is nothing more than little bits of metal and paper, but it's what you can do with the money that gets people excited. You should have a reason for trading. Trading can be a tough business and having your reason(s) spelled out with help you over the hurdles. So whether your reason is to spend more time with your family, having the respect of your family and friends, or being thought of as a trading genius (all valid reasons), be honest with yourself and decide what's going to motivate you enough to do what you have to do in order to succeed as a trader.
Anyone want to add anything else?
Erich
erich@tradershelpingtraders.com