Yes, it's no secret I "believe" and seriously speculates in oil and gas and tech- top e-payment industries since last year, the peak allocation of all my dimes started 2015. The cause for my views is not based on technical analysis or a black box, but rather than a simple reality that oil, tech and other traditional trading assets are subject to financial, political and cultural manipulation on a grand scale. 

Despite the importance of understanding the nature of speculations, not one in a thousand can accurately answer that question. Can you make money trading stocks? Yes. Will you make money trading stocks? Probably not. Not everyone on earth has the brain or balls to make it in the market. 

Even the kids now know, the essential habits of success for any business. There are no plug and play investment models for normal investors that will give you an infinite stream of cash. 

There is no secret formula for instant success, but there are some basic guidelines that will make you a successful trader. Remember to pay attention to the number one rule. " There are no golden rules.

The most memorable scenes I'm the film adaptation of Glengarry Glenn Ross is when Alex Baldwin character a hot shot real estate broker from the prestigious Mitch and Murray agency tells a group of struggling real estate agents that it takes --- brass balls to sell real estates.--- There is probably some truth to that but it takes a bigger cojones to buy what everyone hates.

Jim Rogers, Warren, Soros all make fortunes by going against the crowd. Of course, being a contrarian is about much more than buying stocks with low price to earnings ratio and when the blood is filling the street. Impeccable timing is what really separates contrarians from the average investor.

A successful trader would never make a dime if the market never saw things from his perspective. To generate alpha, one must identify trends first. --- but not too early, which is the same thing as being wrong in the investment world. That's easier said than done. In fact,  it takes a different breed to see opportunity when everyone else sees crisis. 

Sure, a life of a successful trader can be lonely, but the intellectual and financial rewards make it worthwhile. Unfortunately there's never been a tougher time to be a contrarian. Value, by traditional measures at least is practically non-existent. Central Bank meddling has push stocks and bonds beyond reason. And yet, the market should continue to defy odds as long as Central Banks support it -- on borrowed time.

Modern, future traders and speculators must do more to buy Unlove assets to be successful. And must understand the crowd mentality. That the herd is irrational -- that people overreact to bad news. One should develop one's own opinions and accept that fighting against the trend is often an unwinable battle. The market has made fools of many respected investors who tried to go against the trend. 

This is what all about future and modern -traders and speculators. Whether it is positioning ourselves of the next money printing scheme or preparing for inflation, while everyone is obsessed with deflation. Finally, we aren't trying to win a popularity contest. We would rather make a ton of money. 

The modus operandi is to look for the next game changing trend while others digest yesterday's news. Admit that you are powerless to biases that even if you stick to your golden rule, your decision making will become irrational. Biases come in many different ways, but generally fall into categories: cognitive and emotional. 

Cognitive biases are rules of thumb or heuristics. Human has been evolved to rely on lmental shortcuts to expedite decision making. These same natural tendencies can also impede judgment and lead to irrational decision neither of which is good for investing. Emotional biases on the other hand, occur when feelings get in the way of logic.

While cutting my teeth as a trader, my worse enemy was psychological barrier known as confirmation bias. I will only seek out information that aligned with my the bearish outlook. I rather ignored or rationalized away any data that conflicts with my thesis.

Loss aversion is another common impediment to successful speculations. Investors that are badly burned by the tech bubble of the early 2000s have probably avoided internet stocks like the plague ever since. One look at Facebook two year chart reveals how costly this type of thinking can be.

Our core believes make us what we are, but it can also make us hang on to losers longer than we should and become gun shy when opportunity stares us in the face.

Investing isn't science. More often than not purchasing a stock or any other asset come down to your gut. Still, if there are one thing that all great investors have in common is discipline and great charisma. Stick to them, you will wind up richer for it. 

Nobody wants to be heroic at this all time high situation, and there are no golden rules in stock selection, other than one's personal hidden agenda, and to stay alive in the stock market, you definitely need a pair of "brass balls" to trade in the stock market. 

Trade with caution.