Blah...It started as luck and took a while. The biotech and greentech markets should turn up and give everyone the opportunity to get their bonus.
I lucked out on a great bull market that made it hard to lose (as soon as I figured out to dump penny stocks when the volume started to dry up), then a great bear market where I could short anything and win, and the by reinvesting all profits until I broke 5m (there's so much room for margin on options at 5m that you can make huge gains on the most tame, predictable stocks out there...very safe...finally moved out of my parent's house at 27, they thought I was broke but actually getting a job instead of playing on the computer all day, LMAO...talk about sacrifice).
For all I know, I could just be terrible at this but lucky, and complete ruin is just around the corner, but once you find a niche that works for you, use it...imo, take losses quickly and be selective about your profits (take what you know you can get, and don't worry about what you miss...there's always another opportunity...if volume is drying up, don't wait for the horrifying death spiral to try to sell), and never give up -- you either get a paycheck or a lesson.
***The biggest thing that's tripped me up in the past has been 'revenge trading'. Stocks are sort of like women -- when I get badly burned by one badly, I now take some time off...I don't trade on the rebound or I'll end up with some scummy one that'll bleed me dry. I always tried to force some kind of miraculous recovery of all my losses with the very next trade and ended up losing more. :)**
Best of luck on your trading. The economy blows...everyone deserves to bank on some stocks these days (although, capital gains taxes get really painful).
