Spot-on there Denman. It's not difficult to learn how to trade or even to develop a strategy that has an edge. The difficulty is in mastering the psychology required to stick to a winning formula through the hard times and the good.
97% of traders fail in the long-term due to their inability to master their emotions. This is the difficult part of trading, this is the bit that takes time and experience.
I think with the advent of technical analysis many traders make the mistake of thinking that the learning curve attached to understanding the technical aspects is THE important learning curve in trading.
But ultimately technical analysis is just a means to an end and it's all too easy to get caught up in chasing the "holy grail" of trading strategies, thinking that some magic combination of technical indicators is going to provide a full-proof strategy. In fact, the holy grail doesn't exist.
The successful traders out there - the ones actually making a living from it - are those who have found a strategy with a profitable edge (even if it's only a very slight edge), and mastered the discipline required to STICK to that strategy, even during drawdown periods. Of course, that's not to say that any single strategy will always have an edge - it may need tweaking from time to time.
Trying to find that magic strategy that's gonna pull in 1000s of pips every month and make you rich overnight is just a mug's game. It appeals to the gamblers out there but this kind of approach has very little probability of success in the long-term.
Along with the power of compound growth, a strategy that pulls in an average of around 100 pips a month is more than enough to make some serious money if executed consistently.
Trading is a business, and it should be treated as such. This means careful risk management, preservation of capital, and re-investing of profits to compound up the returns. Steady, safe growth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OGV-RbK2jIs
