There are many ways to over or underestimate what's required to be successful traders.

If you underestimate what it takes to be a successful trader, you've set the odds against you, and you've set yourself up to learn the difficult, and costly, way. Most new traders don't know enough to ask the right questions for a successful trade. And that leaves them open to being awakened the hard way. It isn't until losses occur and the stress builds up that the newbie learns to dig deeper into trading. This is a stage that I refer to as being unconsciously incompetent. You don't even know what you don't know.

However, even if you have a good understanding of what it takes to be a successful trader, you can still miss your target. If you over-estimate, or are in denial about your abilities as a trader, you'll also get the painful wake up call.

New traders are especially prone to over-estimating their emotional control. It's easy to assume that because you've done very well in other areas of life, you've got it under control here.

In my own case, I am someone who has always been immune to the allure of casinos. I've gone many times with friends who enjoy gambling, and never had an inclination to gamble.So when I got into trading I assumed I could exercise that same emotional detachment. But, I found myself quite susceptible to the emotional mistakes that are common to both gambling and trading. It seems that the mistakes of emotional control I made in trading actually stemmed from other things that I did. Things that created emotional pressure. It was in these other actions, that I created my own problems. Importantly, I didn't have this very resource in my hands that you have now. If I knew then what I know now, I could have saved over $32,000.

Another problem new traders have related to estimating what it takes, is the idea that you can start off uneducated and "learn as you go."

This mistake is similar to that discussed above where the trader is naive about what it takes to understand trading. But in this case, the trader is aware of what's necessary, and just chooses to put off learning what they know they need. They assume they can pick it up along the way. Meanwhile they dismiss the importance of education and preparation. Or else they minimize the consequences of trading ignorantly. Unfortunately, their education will begin very soon, whether they initiate it on purpose or the markets begin the process--through substantial losses.

Finally, some traders even go ahead and make trades without asking any questions. They assume that they already know everything they need to know to follow their system (if they have a system). They think, "Hey, it's only buying and selling, how tough can that
be?"

It can be as simple as not taking the time to understand the math, even on simple position trades. If you get into trades and you can't even convert fraction-based market scales to dollars, how can you honestly expect to make smart business decisions? If you can't determine the break-even point on a trade, how will you know when you're profitable?

Simply stated, to be a successful trader you've got to be truthful with yourself. The more honest you are about what you know, what you don't know, and what you can do, the closer you are to being a part of the successful traders club.