You talk a lot about when to pick a stock, but that really isn't the most important part. The most important part is RISK MANAGEMENT.
The easiest way to become a profitable trader is to pick a system you like to trade (eg. swing trading, day trading, position trading). Then pick an indicator you like (eg. Ichimoku, CCI, MACD, Stochastics). And paper trade this system for 6 months.
Once you do this for 6 months you will have an idea of what the win percentage is and what sort of risk/reward you have on each trade. With this information you can pick a proper portfolio risk percentage and start making money. It will also help you identify if the system is even viable.
The best book I ever read about trading and turned me into a profitable trader was "My trading bible" by Mark Ritchie. It focus's almost exclusively on risk management and emotions.
paper trading doesnt work because most people do different trading when real cash is involved. i started immediately with money when i was young. i sold my internet business for 7000 and i put everything into stocks. its a different experience. risk management: i can add never have 10% or more in one position. thats pretty much it. for stocks i go for 10% and have 10-20 positions. for forex just one maximum 2 positions at 10% margin. in terms of emotions i totally agree. only observing my own emotions (my spiritual path helped a lot) i was able to distance from greed and fear completely
What do you mean no more than 10% in one position? 10% doesn't mean anything if it is not related to your stop loss. How much of your account is at risk if your stop loss order is hit?
Also I don't agree that paper trading doesn't work. It gives a trader practice using a new system. Yes the emotions are different between paper and real money... but someone who has practiced a system will have an idea of when that system works best. Going straight in with real money without practice will lead a trader to either: abandon the system if it doesn't make money right away, over trade, stop using proper risk management.
Plus intuition is one of the most dangerous ways a trader can trade. There is no repeat-ability and you are super susceptible to emotional trading. I'm all for doing an intuition trade here and there with a small amount of money as it keeps things interesting, but doing things exclusively on intuition will most likely yield underperformance and will guarantee a blown account by a newbie.
I've done a lot of statistical research on trading. You can become very good and very profitable if you can control your money management and emotions. You can even be a shitty timer and still make a lot of money. The key is discipline.
i dont use stop losses. i got stopped out of great positions before. maybe i have an advantage because i recognize the difference between intuition and emotion. so mental maturity i guess is key to doing successful trading and enjoyable trading. what i meant with 10% is if i have 100% capital i will allocate maximum of 10% to one position
but to give you one example why this works... i picked a stock just on this gut feeling and 2 weeks later it got bought by sales force. since switching to intuition only it just works almost all the time.