Your stock market results will depend on several factors: picking the correct time to enter the market, choosing the correct instrument, and having a sound trading method.
The first two are relatively easy to manage. If you want to buy stock it’s best to do it when the market is rising. Don’t laugh — there are many traders/ investors that don’t grasp this concept. The adage of buying low and selling high is a wonderful old saw, but it implies picking bottoms and tops. That isn’t so easy.
Choosing the correct stock or ETF is also a function of your particular trading method. Let’s leave the trading method aside for a moment. One way to find stocks or ETF’s to trade is by screening-out those that fail to meet minimum price and volume requirements.
Finding or creating a sound trading method takes study, hard work, and lots of trial and error. If you’re new to trading and want to learn correctly try and find a successful trader willing to take you under their wing, so to speak. This is by far the best way to learn the trading profession.
If you think that mentoring is too expensive — try ignorance! I’ve seen many potential traders blow their capital because they didn’t know what they were doing.
Most of us who trade full-time have done it for years. I’ve heard, from where I don’t remember, that it takes 10,000 hours to master a profession — that surely applies to stock market trading!
The results you achieve in the stock market are related to the time and effort you devote to learning. Try and learn all that you can before you risk your trading capital. Follow along with someone who has trading experience and learn from them. This is not a profession that rewards intuition, luck, hope, or good intentions.
A wise and successful woman said, “Success doesn’t come to you — you go to it.” — Marva Collins
