by Doug West

We have taught nearly 1,000 people how to daytrade the mini-Dow or S&P emini index. Of those traders, nearly all were able to successfully trade our simple index strategy on their demo accounts (we only know of 2 exceptions that reportedly could not even get consistent on the demo. One man claimed that every single trade he made was a loss. In my mind that would be as hard to do as to make profit on every trade).

If your day trading strategy is consistently successful on your demo account, then what is the difference when you go live? Mindset! It all boils down to that in your trading (in my opinion this is true of life in general, but you see the results immediately in trading – especially day trading).

I really hate to call what we do as index traders, day trading. That is only because …

of what went wrong with the MSFT/YHOO deal on WALLSTRIP today. I'm staying away from both stocks, I don't see any edge in getting involved. Here is one of Dr.Brett's Ten Core Ideas of Trading Psychology Practice does not make perfect in trading or anything else; perfect practice makes perfect. Training must gradually build competencies and correct deficiencies in a manner that sustains a positive mindset and optimal concentration and motivation.