As we enter the new year, I thought I'd give myself a piece of advice to look back on and also advice that other traders should find helpful. To begin, I know 2017 just rang in and every body is excited to trade in the start of the new year. But before you go dive into the markets, you must ask yourself a few questions such as, "Am I fully prepared for any scenario that could play out in the market today?" "Do I have a defined set of rules that I RELIGIOUSLY adhere to or do I tend to break them?" "Do I have the metrics to even be a profitable trader such as say a 60% win loss ratio where my average risk/reward is 2:1 or better?" If you answered no to any of these questions, YOU ARE NOT READY TO TRADE. 

           Look, I know how exciting is to start trading and how easy it is to ignore these important questions and just hop in. But I promise you if you answered no to any of these questions or other vital questions you can think of, you're just not ready. And when you're not ready it's honestly just gambling. This includes myself. If you look at my trades, I have only taken 6 trades since beginning to study with Tim in October (I've been studying the markets since July but didn't know anything about PS or Tim's strategies whatsoever until October so I consider myself to be about 3 months in). Even just one month since I took those trades, I can tell you exactly why they were terrible trades to take, although 2 of them were mechanical errors on my part which just continues to prove my point of why you need to study and paper trade constantly to get these flaws out of the way. Everybody is going to mess up. Nobody is perfect. But I promise you will feel better about those errors if they are done in a paper trading account with fake money and then can be corrected for the future.

          I see many people tweet Tim every day saying something along the lines of "First trade since watching trader checklist in_____ out______" Fill in the blank with whatever tickers. While this is great because it shows people are studying, just watching trader checklist is not enough. Not even close. I don't blame these people who jump in so fast because I know that it can look relatively simple at first but the reality is trading is extremely meticulous like Tim says you are always acting as a scientist testing different methods and this couldn't be more true. If you truly want to be successful you need to take plenty of time for study. I have it a bit easier than most people I'd say because I am a 20 year old college student at Penn State. Although college courses are rigorous, (finance major) I do have a decent amount of time in between classes/ and on weekends to study. As trading has become my passion and what I am positive I want to do for the rest of my life, I don't think of it as studying anymore at all. It is truly what I want to be doing. I cannot wait for my alarm to go off at 8AM on Monday morning so I can get up and start analyzing what's moving premarket and planning trades EVEN WHEN ITS ON A PAPER ACCOUNT which it usually is seeing as I only have 6 real trades show here on Profit.ly. The fact that I can't wait to wake up early on a Monday being a college student is something i would have never thought possible. 

        To wrap this up, if you truly want to be successful in trading, you have got to take it slow. Remember it is a marathon not a sprint. I would rather wait until I am at peak confidence and ready for absolutely anything. People think I'm crazy for saying this but I would honestly rather make $100,000 over the course of a year of trading than make $200,000 in a single trade. Is this a dumb thing to say? Maybe it is, but I would rather be able to consistently profit each day/week/month to build up to that amount and feel confident that I can keep doing it every day than to hit it lucky once and not be sure if I can ever match it or even keep up consistency after the fact. Like I said, I know it's hard to stay away especially when you go on twitter and see everybody cashing in on $IDXG or whatever the new play is, but I promise you that no early monetary gain will outweigh the knowledge you gain from CONSTANT study and being meticulous/testing different strategies. I have been an absolute sponge these last 3 months and honestly believe I have learned concepts and strategies that take some people YEARS to grasp. This is all thanks to most importantly Tim Sykes, along with @ArickRussell @eatsleepprofit @kroyrunner89 @thehonestcroock, @DayTradeWarrior and more. So to end this off, take it slow don't try to cash in millions all at once, become an absolute sponge soaking up every bit of knowledge possible, paper trade until you have the metrics combined with stats to be a profitable trader & then go out and get it!