Most people don't think of themselves as an independent stock trader.
Although they may be purchasing stocks on their own through an online broker and making decisions about which securities are the most likely to perform well and provide an opportunity for making a profit, they probably just think of themselves as dabbling in the stock market.
When you've invested your money in the stock market, it's important to realize that you are no less important than the professional brokers and traders that are responsible for million dollar trades.
And just like those professional traders, you've got to find reliable methods for knowing when to trade and when to hold on to what you've got.
As a stock trader, one of the most important things you've got to become comfortable with is the fact that the market is going to change, and it's not always going to be in your favor.
Sometimes a stock that you hoped would break out of its current price range will plunge instead, and that unexpected move could cost you a lot of money if you're not cautious about how you invest in the first place.
New investors should always have goals and limits in place before they invest in a stock, and know how to walk away if the process starts to get more costly.
Another important skill you should seek as a stock trader is the ability to interpret the fluctuations of the market, not only as natural processes, but also as clues that can tell you whether to hold or whether to trade long in advance.
Many investors use elements of technical analysis to guide their stock market trading, as it is a well developed method for tracking stock price fluctuations and using them to help you predict the way stock prices are going to behave in the future.
While you're working on your knowledge of technical analysis, it's also important not to forget that to the stock trader, there is never anything as useful as purposeful research.
This means that in addition to examining past stock prices for a certain company, you should also investigate the people running the company, the financial stability of their operations, and assess the public demand for their products and services.
All these factors can exert pressure on the market, causing prices to rise or fall.
The more you know in advance, the more prepared you'll be for the changes that are coming.