Rob, I agree that trading is one of the toughest things to do successfully, and I seem to remember having read somewhere that only about 1 of 10 or less than 20% can do it. Also, I've heard of success stories that only became disasters later on. (Hey, my story is one of those! At least in a relatively small way.)

I have a book, "Intelligent Futures Trading", by Chick Goslin, Windsor Books, 1997. Goslin was once a "top producer" for E.F. Hutton. Also he says, "I have gone through periods of trading my own account where my success was so consistent I rarely had any losing days ..." but "Unfortunately, I have also suffered through periods of devastating failure during which I have lost basically everything." Another book I have (not directly at hand, and I can't remember the title or author), has individual chapters devoted to stories of successful traders. If I remember correctly, the title of the chapter on commodity trading is something like "We Who Are About to Die, Salute You!".

But, like Erich and this forum (including you, Rob, I think), I believe that (although certainly there's no guarantee) it IS possible to overcome the odds against us. Two major keys, I think, are having good rules and an ability to control our emotions. For example, Goslin writes in his book, "During my successful periods, I approached trading with great passion and consistently acted in a sane, rational, intelligent manner persistently following certain rules experience had taught me to respect. My periods of failure, on the other hand, have always been marked by lack of passion, chronic breaking of these same rules and far too much stubborn, obstinate, opinionated trading ... The truth is the markets do not obey my commands." This description pretty much describes my experience as a trader. I think I know what I must do to be successful, and I certainly know that the reason for many of my bad trades has been as Goslin describes. What keeps me going is my resolve to be more disciplined, so that I can henceforth keep bad trades to a minimum.