Real Tears,Sweat and Blood! (Paper trading with money!)

Dummy fake trading (without money) where we just record our trasactions on a paper (or in mind) is called Paper Trading.

Many traders opt for this to test the water, wet their feet before actually jumping into REAL trading where the sweat, blood and tears are REAL!

But traditional paper trading has many short comings.

Often, traders don't take it seriously.

The discipline required to paper-trade is often missing.

Following shortcomings have been seen:-

1) Psychological seasoning (ups and downs and dull periods) doesn't happen

2) Patience is not learnt

3) Performance under pressure is not tested.

4) Method is not truely tested due to lack of seriousness without money at the stake!

5) Consistency is not tested (rarely have i seen a trader paper-trade for more than one day or one trade!)

6) Real pain of losing is not experienced!

7) Slap of the stupid decision is not experienced!

8) Hidden traps and minor but crucial points are not learnt!

9) Self-confidence doesn't come. Fear of losing money still remains.

10) Real feeling of triumph is not experienced after big and earned profits!!

All fighter pilots have to be trained on a sub-sonic Trainer Jet before flying a Sukhoi.

Can't expect the lieutinent to fly the monster after just "paper-flying"!

So, what is required is : a trading training with minimum or no risk of losing
and yet with real experience with real tears, sweat and blood!

So, what to do? How to do?

Trade real but tiny.

e.g. Buy just 1 or 2 shares of a company.

And mentally multiply with 100.

e.g. I bought 1 Ranbaxy share in 2004 for 980/- and assumed that I had bought 98,000/- worth of these!

If profited 12 rs., i took it as 12x100=1200/- profit. similarly, for loss.

I held on to it for more than 1 month and experienced every thrill, every lesson, every setback i could have!

An unmatched learning without burning my fingers and yet experiencing the emotions of losing and gaining money.

If we can spend thousands on seminars and diplomas and certifications, why not a few hundred in brokerage for training!