Toms Thoughts on Paper Trading

Greetings folks.

First of; speaking of this site; I really like what I see here so far, wanna thank to all of our contributors and also wanna thank for all the feedback we are getting from YOU. Please continue asking questions. We love getting questions…

We are getting a lot of questions on paper trading; is it really necessary for a newbie… yes it is. Yes it is.

Even though I have said it didnt work for me, I have been there. I have done that. I believe paper trading IS NECESSITY. It is a must for beginners, to check their ability of predicting future price movement, and it is a must for the experienced trader when he tests a new trading system.

But.

Many beginners go thru their initial learning period, by trading on paper, and then become very excited about their great success. Little do they know that the next step, trading with real money, is the more difficult step.

Paper trading, without having traded with real money, is like learning how to play tennis from a book. Without having experienced the shattering impact of a hard ball on your racket. It is like learning how to fly an airplane by reading a book, without having experienced the mushiness of a planes controls during the touchdown flare.

Yet many newcomers marvel at their success in paper trading, and, from time to time, we see ads that solicit the investor to give their money to a trader who claims great success with his secret trading method, even though he has never traded himself with real money. Its like stepping into an airplane piloted by a person who has never flown before.

Ironically, those paper traders think, they alone have discovered the Holy Grail of trading. They do not know that the majority of their fellow paper traders have great success in their make-believe game as well.

Learning how to predict market movement is really easy to learn, and from my standpoint, really easy to teach. Yet, once you step up to the real world, you will find trading to be one of the most difficult things you will ever do. Because trading involves two adversaries; the market, and yourself.

The *yourself* in the sentence above is the one that can, and often will, ruin the greatest theoretical trading plan.

Trading commodities is a very subtle art. It is so subtle that many traders never see where they are going wrong.Trading commodities is a very subtle art. It is so subtle that many traders never see where they are going wrong. Their solution is to buy one expensive *system* after another, without ever finding the desired success with any of them…

It takes a lot of insight to recognize ones strenghts and weaknesses. Once you have realized who you really are, you can take the next step; find a trading approach that is best for YOU.

What works for others, may not work for you and me. The answers are all within yourself…

Tom out

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