Learning to trade

Blue, from blue-point-trading, made a comment this morning when I was on his trading room at 3am. He said something to the effect that it was evident that I'm a serious trader because I'm up and at my desk every morning ready to go. I responded that what I lack in skill, at this point, I am trying to make for with determination. The concept of trading being a skill set that can be learned is interesting to me. As I was leaving my last appointment of the day I was trying to compare learning to trade to another job, and electrician came to mind. It seems to me that learning to trade is like learning to be an electrician. You can jump right it head first and risk certain (financial in the case of trading) death from the simplest mistake. Some might survive this trial by fire but there probably isn't much learning going on and they are setting themselves up for a devastating blow later on. The difference between learning to trade and learning to be an electrician is the opportunities for learning itself. Electricians, as with every other skilled trade, can go find a company or union to teach them the basics and what not to do, whereas a trader has to find all of this out on their own. There are some trading training programs but their cost or location are usually prohibitive. So we are left to our own devices to learn this business. That's what made Blue's comment so interesting to me. It reminded that while many people have blessed me by sharing of their hard-earned knowledge and experience it is up to me to put forth the effort necessary to grow as a trader. Determination might not be the sexiest way to approach a venture, but its what I have so it'll have to do.