| | | | Did We Crank Up the Fear or Is It Just Seasonality?
First, don’t miss today’s Daily Chart Setup trade idea down lower in this newsletter.
Was Friday's drop the results of the giant OPEX, or maybe February OPEX is part of the seasonality that we usually see and this is just normal Q1 price action. Let's take a look
Come join me as we dive in and see what’s moving!
Plus, as always, we have stocks popping and dropping so come find out what is moving this morning as I look for stocks and do some live premarket analysis on SPX, SPY, NDX, QQQ, Russell, IWM and other stocks that are potential plays for the day.
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Paper Trading: The Right Way to Do It Before You Risk Real Money
Paper trading is one of the most overlooked tools in a trader’s arsenal — mostly because people don’t take it seriously. The reality is, if you can’t make money in a simulated environment, what makes you think you’ll do any better with real cash on the line?
The key to making paper trading work is treating it like it’s the real thing. If you approach it with the mindset that losses don’t matter because it’s just “fake money,” you’re setting yourself up for failure when you actually start trading.
Why Paper Trading Works — If You Take It Seriously
I hear it all the time: “Paper trading isn’t the same as real trading.” And that’s true — if you don’t treat it the same way. If you’re just clicking buttons with no real thought process, you’re not learning anything. But if you take it seriously and make every decision as if real money is at stake, it becomes one of the best ways to develop a winning strategy.
Ask yourself this: If you lost $100,000 in a paper trade, would you react the same way as if it were your actual money? Most people wouldn’t. That’s the problem. If you don’t feel the pain of a bad trade, you won’t learn from it. And when you finally do put real capital at risk, you’ll make the same mistakes — but this time, they’ll hurt.
Building a Process That Works in Any Market
Markets go through cycles. Sometimes everything is running hot, and it feels like you can’t lose. Other times, volatility chews up traders who don’t have a plan. Paper trading is where you develop that plan.
The hardest thing to do in trading isn’t finding a good setup — it’s staying in the game. That means knowing when to take profits, when to cut losses, and when to sit on your hands. If you can’t do those things in a simulated account, you won’t do them when real money is at stake.
So before you put your hard-earned cash on the line, ask yourself: Have I proven I can be profitable in a paper account? If the answer is no, you have no business trading real money yet. Learn the lessons now, before they cost you more than you can afford.
Now be sure to join me live at 9:15 a.m. ET for “Morning Monster,” my market-open livestream on YouTube!
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