viphar I think this is a great time to trade shares but you've...

viphar I think this is a great time to trade shares but you've got to have luck and nerve and good research skills and preferably experience with the stock market! I reckon karma comes into it too :)
I am a novice trader too....only started last November but with losses from hubby's trading that I was determined to get back (LYC) I did lots of research on stocks I thought were good, watched what companies the banks were buying and selling and researched online forums and things like the CTN quarterly reports to see what shares savvy traders were buying... and David Hazelhurst's speculator column.
Through that I found a whole treasure trove of shares and off I went - determnined to catch up the lost 20grand.
What a baby I was!
My problem has been impatience ...along with trying to buy my way out of trouble with one stock (think it's called catching a falling knife!), I am now an extra $7000 down but what a ride it's been... I've actually caught up a heap from going badly astray in the beginning and quitting at low profit or loss because the grass on the other side of the fence looked greener!
And if not for one set of very bad losses (from spitting the dummy when I should have held) I would be WAY in front.
Every single stock I have sold has gone up, sometimes incredibly whether I sold at loss or profit.
I've been focused on the stock market for almost every day since I started trading and now I have got a little pot of $5grand from my son which I am being ultra cautious with... after a few hundred dollas of profit I sell. Once in EXM one click in the right direction was almost $500 and I decided not to be greedy and I am glad I got out. Because money in the hand as someone else said is really the only kind there is.
Learning to sell has been one of my biggest lessons.
Not getting too attached another one
Not being greedy
Not selling at a loss
Understanding everything can change in a moment.
Doing lots and lots of research
Trusting good companies.
Realising that overall the market is almost certainy going to go up so if you don't want to pore over a computer hour after hour day after day and you have chosen one or two stocks wisely you may as well just sleep easy.

I got into SSM without knowing too much about it, on the strength of the confidence of people who appeared to be successful traders, then got out after a 2c profit and got in again very high just before the dividend.
currently it's one of the few stocks showing a loss on my portfolio but this time I am not going to be impatient and I am not going to take umbrage at the red showing.
that being said if I was a few cents in front and there was something tastier and especially cheaper and tastier on offer I would not be able to resist moving into it.
(CNM for instance is one that is bound to get gov funding I reckon regardless of whether the rest of the market dips or falls it has a certain safety therefore, meanwhile cheap shares like EXM at 1c or better still less are likely to be worth more than 1c with patience alone and you get more 'bank from your buck' with the cheapies.... and for trading up and down there seems to be ones like ADY and TAM and possibly CER whcih I don't knw about.
My feeling about the best way to succeed is NOT to be impatient. To always confirm what people say online with your own research and to set an exit price based on the strategy of what your feelings are about the stock.

Sorry for this long post and whatever you decide good luck :)