Can You Really Do This?

The question people ask me most often is:

Can I really trade for a living?

And I always tell them yes, as long as they are willing to focus themselves, obey money management principles, and engage in a regular regimen of backtesting. Most people ignore everything that I said in the previous sentence, and move on, having heard what they want to hear.

But then, most people still fail at trading. In fact, they fail miserably. The root cause of this is NOT:

1. Because they were raised by terrible parents;
2. Because they have a full time job;
3. Because they were stopped out by an unscrupulous forex dealer;
4. Because getting up early for the London session was too difficult;
5. Insert some other lame excuse here.

The reasons above do not qualify as reasonable excuses why you fail at trading. They are not valid arguments that any rational person would accept in the business world. Can you imagine telling your boss that you didn't finish a huge project on time, for a very important client, because getting up early was too difficult? Or that you could not finish the project because you have a full time job?

You see, if you decide to pursue the goal of trading for a living, you're going to have to give up something else along the way. You are going to have to sacrifice. Don't pretend that it will be easy or that it will even be fun every day. It will be horrendously depressing at times and it will also be tiring, boring, and frustrating at others.

But it's worth it.

So get up early.
Stop making excuses.
Get focused. Trade smaller lot sizes. Test before you trade.

You can do it. Just do the things that the losers are not willing to do.

by Rob