Q&A  |  JUN 2007

Q&A by Don Bright

Stocks & Commodities V. 25:6 (43): Q&A by Don Bright SINCE YOU ASKED Confused about some aspect of trading? Professional trader Don Bright of Bright Trading (www.stocktrading.com), an equity trading corporation, answers a few of your questions. To submit a question, post your question to our website at http://Message-Boards.Traders.com. Answers will be posted there, and selected questions will appear in a future issue of S&C. FACTS OF (TRADING) LIFE I just started my second year of trading, and while I’m not making any money yet, hopefully I will be soon. Would you say that a negative state of mind and the psychology of trading are why so many fail? —pamjoey As I tell all my traders, “Trading is simple, but the psychology involved is murder.” And the “trading is simple” part only applies if you have taken the time to learn what the heck you should be doing. I can’t believe that I still get people who think that “trading” is either “picking stocks” or “choosing market direction” — and I have to explain the facts of trading life to them. Most “trainers” and “book writers” want to make the masses believe they can run their $25,000 account into lots of money with a system of some kind or another. The working strategies tend to be “lower risk, higher reward, but capital-intensive” for the most part. Market-neutral strategies have been working well in recent markets, and made for hardly a hiccup on the February 27th selloff (down 400-plus points in the market).

by Don Bright