Getting off on the right foor

What advice would you give to a novice trader? Understand that learning the markets can take years. Immerse yourself in the world of trading and give ip everything else. Get as close to other successful traders as you can. Consider working for one for free. Start by finding a niche and specializing. Pick one market or pattern and leam it inside out before expanding your focus. My favorite exercise for novice traders is pick one narket only. Without looking at an intraday chart, jot down the price every five minutes from the opening to the close. Do this for an entire week. Be in tune to the patterns. Where are the support and resistance levels? How does price act when it hits these levels? What happens during the last half-hour? How long does each intraday price move last? You won't believe how much you can leam from this exercise. Never fear the markets. Never fear making a mistake. If you do make a mistake, don't complicate the mistake by trying to hedge it, just get out. Stay actively involved with the market. Don't just sit passively in front of a monitor, or simply stare at charts. Notice how many old-timers who have been successful for years still construct their own point and figure charts by hand intraday. They keep the same routine day after day. Develop your own routine for making periodic market readings. Never be greedy. It's OK to leave money on the table. If you can&'t get in at a favorable price, let the trade go and start looking for the next trade. Finally, remember that a trader is someone who does his own work, has his own game plan, and makes hiS own decisions. Only by acting and thinking independently can a trader hope to know when a trade isn't working out. If you ever find yourself tempted to seek out someone else&'s opinion on a trade, that's usually a aure sign that you should get out of your position. Linda Bradford Raschke, responding to a question in Jack Schwager's "New Market Wizards" book.