I lost $10,000 today!

My God, I can't believe it;

I've lost 10 gees today!

What happened? I just couldn't believe it. I'd been frozen, I literally couldn't move, less pickup the phone and call my broker... Impossible to recognize the loss myself - less to another person the hole I'd dug myself into; admit the loss, never...

Tomorrow will be a better day, it'll come back...

It never did...

And of course, I would need years of dancing the Tango to understand that I was playing against pros, guys that had been at it for decades, --you can't just go out there and play against McEnroe because you watched a good tennis video...

So, the golden rule, the first and foremost thing I'm telling you guys, is keep it small, in futures, play with one till the day you consistently have several profitable months under your belt.

Stocks appear to be more forgiving, but nevertheless play it safe, keep it small, at least no margin for a couple of years, and trade the Dow group issues, or something solid, -- no cancer cures, no latest gizmo company.

Michael O'Higgins has a great little method; once every year he ranks the 10 best Dow performers, and sells his holding to buy the 8th ranked stock, - a "Dow dog" stock.

By the way, it may take several years to get to the pro level...

In the meantime, you'll be saving yourselves a lot of pain.