Practicing is Different Than Playing

Spending 1000 hours on the driving range won’t necessarily mean you’ll be a good golfer. After all, you have to be able to take your game from the range to the course! Although practicing is a requirement, you’ve got to get out there and play the game in order to really improve. Trading is similar when it comes to backtesting or trading on demo mode. I’ve mentioned before how I feel about trading on demo mode, and I would definitely relate that to practice in golf. Lots of beginning traders will attempt to “make money” on demo mode and expect to be able to take their method into the market with real dollars and achieve the same results, but it doesn’t work that way. Similarly, it would be unrealistic to hit a bucket of range balls well and expect to go shoot under par on the course without having played many rounds of golf. Although there is such a thing as beginner’s luck in trading, the odds of lasting success coming from demo mode into live trading just aren’t very high. You’ve got to trade with real money before you fight the real battle in the market: your emotions. Ranger Rick isn’t necessarily a great golfer, and Demo Mode Dan isn’t necessarily a great trader. Take your game to the course and then see how good you are.

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Jeff White
President, The Stock Bandit, Inc.
www.TheStockBandit.com

[tags]Golf, Trading, Demo Trading, Trading Psychology[/tags]