1. Decide how much you will risk – Open your trading account with an amount of money that if you were to lose it all, it would not ‘break the bank’, so to speak.

2.   Use proper money management – To avoid the above scenario from playing out, make sure that when you are buying stocks you only risk a small amount of your account per trade. This amount varies according to who you ask, but I don’t ever like to risk more than 1% on my main account.

3. Learn what kind of trading will work for you – You might decide that long-term, position trading is best for you, or that you just want to swing trade, holding positions for a few weeks at a time. Maybe you realize that day-trading is right for you.

4. Paper trade it first – Before you ever take a trading system to the real market, make sure you paper trade, or use fake money, first. Let the system prove itself, then begin with smaller amounts of money.

5. Have a second, more aggressive account (optional) – This one truly is optional, but something I have done, and have really liked, is having a second trading account where I started with about 25% of the amount of the original account. In this account I take the exact same trades, but am twice as aggressive. I risk 2% per trade here, but the rewards of course are twice as much.

6. Take profits from time to time – Buying stocks is not all about saving up for years or decades down the road. Use some of your earnings for living expenses, or for fun. It makes you realize that you really are dealing with money, and not just a virtual account of ‘nothing’. Treat yourself.

7. Be smart, always test – Continue to fine tune your trading abilities. Buying stocks is all about staying ahead of the markets, but know that things change. Sometimes the market is bullish, other times it is bearish. Make sure you are always aware of what is going on when you are buying stocks, and before you sell them as well.