You have to lose before you can win ...

"Trading is so simple, and learning to trade is simple too. It is just that we tend to make it so complicated.

There is only two things in trading, Make Money or Lose Money. The only way to really learn how to Make Money is to Lose Money. No one can tell you to do that or do this etc; yeah they can tell you those things but it will never sink in, like it would if you felt how it would be to be bulldozed over.

So, you will have to scrape up (cash) that you really cannot lose and jump right on in, and lose it all while trying to not lose it, and wonder and wonder why you lost it all and eventually you'll figure it all out."

(stolen from elite trader)

Dunno about that,
you defnitely learn by losing, but not everyone learns fast enough. I've not actually lost since I swapped to TA from funnymentals, I was a 'growth investor' in 1999/2000 and finding TA in 2000 sorted things out <g> (I'm still waiting for VOD to hit its 'fair value of £5' like that nice man in Inventors Chronically said....

Honestly I think it takes all sorts - many indeed come to profit by circuitous and painful routes, but I bet there's the odd one who's done no wrong since slapping it all on black 20 years ago...<g>

"the odd one" maybe.

The reason I posted this (pasted from Elite trader) is simply becaus it struck a cord.

Let me explain:
I suffered big losses when I first started trading.

Scorched earth was all that was left!

3 years of toil (at trading) later, I am seeing some green shoots on that scorched earth.

I make a tiny profit on my trades, but they more often work than don't.

Maybe it's just my personality, but my greed and ego NEEDED to be completely burnt to the ground before I began on the slow learning process towards becoming a trader.

IE, speaking for myself, my losses were an essential part of my own evolution.

I'm far from being a 'successful trader', but i'm a lot closer than when I first walked into the traffic wearing a blind fold and a set of headphones!

I'm not trying to say here that losing is your passport to future winnings.

Personally I never want to feel the disappointment and embarrassment associated with loosing a lot of dough again....and my trading reflects this (touching wood!)

Catch the monkey..slowly

Is "loosing" the same as "losing" or is it an entirely different activity ?

Loose \Loose\, v. n. [imp. & p. p. Loosed; p. pr. & vb. n. Loosing.] [From Loose, a.] 1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening; to remove the shackles or fastenings of; to set free; to relieve.

You have to set free (your mind?) before you can win...