You can read trading, books until you are red-eyed, you can spend thousands of dollars on seminars, you can try to get successful traders to give you the secret sauce of trading or the Holy Grail. But, in the end it is simply you versus the markets. You have to pick your system, your risk tolerance, and take the heat in your own account, it will be your own money you lose.

No one can tell you the right system and method for you. If you can take draw downs in equity mixed with long term capital growth then trend following may be for you. If you love playing the hottest stocks in the market then CAN-SLIM or the Darvas System may be the right systems for you. If you just have little patience and love action then you can join the few who have mastered day trading. There really is no right system for everyone, it depends on what you can handle. However here is what all winning traders must have  to win in the markets regardless of time frame and system:

Trading System

• They trade a robust system or method that wins more money over time than it loses.

• Their system gives them a reward to risk ratio that is in their favor.
• Their system or method is proven to work with a live trading record over many markets and trades or has  historical back testing.

Trading Risk

• They manage the risk of ruin to avoid blowing up their account.
• They risk no more than 1%-2% of total account equity on any one trade.
• They manage risk through proper position size so they do not risk their account on any one trade.
• They do not risk more than 6% of their capital at one time across multiple trades.

Trading Mind

• They have faith in their system or method and continue to trade it so they capture the wins.
• Almost all winning traders have come back from blowing up their accounts or losing a lot of money, they persevered while many others quit before they won.
• Most winning traders have learned to separate their trading from their self worth and ego. They treat it like a business.