2nd Follow-Up Email ...

On 8/21/06, Name Blanked Out To Protect the Innocent ;-) wrote:

Thanks again for your reply, its much appreciated. When you say you would like to have over 25k in your account to avoid the pattern day trading restrictions, im not sure what that means if you could explain a little more. Also about the hits class requiring 200k not clear on that either. Just wondered where you got that information if your coach told you or you ask tmtt about it. Sorry if my questions are repetitive and bothering you, im just 20 years old and I am trying to soak up as much of this information as possible I know im not going to have the financial abilities as some people older than me however I believe I have time on my side also though. Also how did you purchase more days with your mentor do you call and ask for that or do they offer it to you, I haven’t heard anything about that. Also I heard that a mentor has to have a million dollars in his/her trading account before they can become a mentor just wondered if you heard that also. Thanks again for your time, Name Blanked Out To Protect the Innocent ;-)

After many amateurs lost their money day-trading a few years ago the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission decided to help protect you from yourself. In general, I'm not a fan of this sort of legislation, but I digress. They now require anyone who shows signs of pattern day trading to have a minimum of $25k in their account. You can read more on the SEC's website: The Security and Exchange Commissions Pattern Day Trading Answers. Also, you can see how Interactive Brokers handles this issue by reading this web page: Pattern Day Traders Criteria and Restrictions. Day trading is not an activity that you want to engage in unless you're well capitalized anyway, so it's probably not a bad restriction. You need over $200k in your account to take advantage of TMTT's Hedging & Institutional Tactics & Strategies (HITS) class, because in order to control the number of stocks and behave like an institution does, you'll need a lot of money.

I don't know about the > $1 million requirement for a TMTT Mentor. That's likely enough to be true, but it's not something I have any particular knowledge of. If you're eager to soak up more knowledge about trading check out the books I'm recommending in the other posts on my blog. So far I've found 3 that I think will are very helpful.

I'm 30 years old and while I wish I could have started trading sooner, I recognize that I have a far greater chance of success now. I may not have been ready for the emotional stresses and been able to contain my impulsiveness when I was younger. I don't mean to discourage you, quite the opposite, but realize that trading has inherent risk and the market is not a place to work out your personal issues. You should not be trying to prove something in the market, nor should you be rebelling against society, your father, childhood, etc... Trading requires a level-headed approach to be in it for the long haul. Putting too much of your account at risk in a given trade or trying to trade your way out of a loosing streak will likely have disastrous effects. Your goals should be to preserve your capital first, achieve steady growth second and third: make a ton of money. It should be a cold, calculated discipline. One where you are constantly reevaluating the market and how you trade to take advantage of any particular market condition.

Mark