Today's Quote: “It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.” Arnold J. Toynbee

There are several good books out there about trading that should be on every trader’s must read list. If you were forced to choose one and only one, the only possible pick would be “Tools and Tactics for the Master Day Trader”. We are going to run a series of excerpts from the best selling book for the next series of lessons. Now in the words of the master trader himself, Oliver L. Velez…

Thomas Edison, one of America’s greatest inventors, was known for saying, “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.” When it comes to trading the market, I must admit, I feel exactly the same way. Despite the fact that trading delivers a never-ending mixture of delight and frustration, it is only when I am sitting in front of my real-time charts and my point-and-click execution system that I feel the most alive, and time seems to stand still. Even when the market environment becomes more difficult and favorable opportunities are in scarce supply, I still feel a thrill each morning I awake. My love for the game compels me to view any rocky periods of time as thorns that do not in any way, take away from the beauty of the rose. This game we call trading is one of the most difficult endeavors an individual can ever attempt. But despite the hardships, I still love it with all my heart and soul. In fact, I love it for the very reason that it is hard. I love it because most people can’t and won’t last, and my survival provides me with a sense of accomplishment that I don’t believe I could derive from any other endeavor. Like everyone else, I don’t like to lose, but even when I do, the love for trading still flows out freely in a thousand ways. I truly believe that if more people loved trading just for the sake of trading, and not just for what trading can deliver, skill would replace greed, carelessness would give way to prudence, and intelligence would stand as the cornerstone of all actions. I honestly believe that I possess a secret weapon, one which forever keeps me ahead of the greedy crowd who would love to have my head on a platter and my spoils in their pockets if they could. My secret weapon is my sheer, unadulterated love for trading. And when I speak of this love, I do not refer to the weaker form of love that is often used in conjunction with things like pizza and sunny afternoons. No. When I use the term “love” here, I refer to that condition in the human spirit that is so profound that no power or presence on Earth can quell it or quench it. The love I speak of is that that deep love, that agape type of love. This is my secret weapon and I wouldn’t give it up for the whole world. My love, my secret weapon, helps me survive. It guarantees that I outlast the crowd. It ensures that I overcome every obstacle in the way of my success, and it gives me the strength to endure every frail, every tribulation, and every dark moment the market and/or my personal stupidity can muster or conceive. Again, I say to you with the greatest pride that I love trading. And during especially trying times, I love the fact that I love trading, because if I didn’t, I’d be history by now. If you try to love trading the way I do, it may just decide to love you back. And let me tell you something, when trading and the market decide to love you back, life truly becomes grand.