even steven

Hi all, I strongly agree with nytt that papertrading for too long is counterproductive. there is no emotional component to papertrading, though it is useful to learn the software platform of your direct access broker. trade small, but trade live. and the quality of your analysis of your trades is very important. don't be arrrogant, like too many traders. respect the difficulty of what you are attempting, and pay attention to your emotional state while trading. some of my early mistakes were: averaging up/down into a losing trade, rather than looking for a better setup elsewhere. so I landed up with more shares than I should have had on one trade. another early mistake. thinking I was a trading boffin after a few successful trades! wanting "revenge" against a stock I just lost money in, so overtrading it, rather than looking for a better setup. good luck to everyone. and remember, slowly slowly catch a monkey.