In-order for me to win you must loseThat's how it works as in for ever 100 who play a stock over 95% will lose,,, some will break[2%] even and the rest [3%] will rake it in
Lots will do very well with this stock but then like it has been said they give it all back on another one of two.
It's how you are doing in the long run overall.
On one stock I play a fellow say's I am just a plagiarizer.He has not sold any of one of his stocks in ten years as he waits it out for the really big payday.In the mean time I have taken my gains and reinvested it over and over while he twiddle's his thumbs.Maybe I am a bit of a plagiarizer but then experience has taught me more of a lesson or two that books could not provide.
Good timing helps a lot but that timing comes from knowing at what point to get in.Example a stock I have played and watched a lot is getting ready to drill.The price is right and the timing is right,so I sold some dollars.If it fails the worse i can do is lose my commission.but I expect 10k profit
The percentage of gain it takes to recover.
% loss of initial capital % gain required to brake even
10 11.1
15 17.6
20 25.0
25 33.3
40 66.7
50 100.0
75 300.0
90 900.0
The cyclical nature of the market is the second most important thing that you have to know after psychology
Thou shalt understand the market and it's psychology buy low sell high