Trading stocks on the stock market is a skill that you never really master. It falls in line with that old saying “It takes a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master”. The thing about trading stocks is that you don’t need to be perfect in order to make money. Every trader that has any experience knows that you are going to make bad trades. It’s part of the business. Learning to cut your losses and move on to a new trade is a skill that pays enormous dividends. For some of us that are entrenched in our current system for trading stocks, it is hard to approach trades in a new way. Think of an old dog trying to learn new tricks. It’s not easy to continue your stock trading education when you have had some success in the market. That’s why everyone should set up a new practice trading account.
By taking one simple step of separating your standard trading account from your experimental account you will have more freedom to try new things. I have found that I don’t put in the necessary effort into my trading experiments if I’m not trading with a little bit of money. I have a separate practice account set up that I keep a small fraction of my trading capital. I don’t expect to turn a profit with this account, but I do expect that the knowledge I gain from using that account will show me greater returns. If you are able to put in 100% effort using a trading account that has no money, by all means do that. It is much cheaper to test out a theory when you aren’t risking your money. I have tried using a practice trading account in this manner, but I realized that I was just randomly making trades without diligently researching anything. If you chose to use a paper money account, keep tabs on whether you are actually learning from the process.
