"The essence of knowledge is in experience, and the essence of experience is in independence", this phrase succinctly describes most of what the skill of stock trading is.
Our culture to some extent teaches us to think that for every problem or need there is a product, medicine or service that we can buy and that will allow us to achieve our goals. And although sometimes you really want to rely on someone else's trading ideas, research, recommendations or systems, we have found that for the most part progress happens when you do the analysis yourself, form your own hypotheses and rely on making your own decisions.
Studying other people's work is part of a trader's education, and there are many publicly available ideas that become components of a successful trading plan. But there are no shortcuts. Many experienced traders say that even a successful trading system will not work if it is not executed correctly, and the reality is that it is very difficult to completely trust something else - especially if you do not fully appreciate all the nuances and do not quite understand why this system works and when it may fail.
Such confidence in a trading idea comes, as a rule, after you do all the work yourself and understand the concept from its very foundations. Trade using ideas that you understand and that make sense to you.
