Carefully thinking through your goal as a trader is of prime importance, when picking the best stock market price. It is very difficult if not impossible to meet a goal that is ill defined. Is your goal to trade frequently, irrespective of market conditions irregardless of what the stock market price is? Or is it to trade for the excitement of it all. A more sober assessment would probably yield a goal of making money - but how much and at what risk? How do you determine what the best stock market price is? Ultimately, a well-defined trading goal should specify the desired average annual return and the corresponding equity drawdown that a trader is comfortable with, financially and emotionally.

Following a methodology that meets your goal is also of prime importance. This is the key is picking the right stock market price that fits your trading plan. What if you follow a methodology that has the potential to average 30%/year return with limited drawdowns, and that performance level easily meets your goal? Would you continue to follow that methodology? Logic dictates a resounding yes!

But what if that methodology calls for you to limit your trading or to stay in cash for a period of time, say a month or two, due to a lack of high probability opportunities? Or what if that methodology goes into a drawdown period? Then what? Do you have the discipline to stick with your goal and the methodology that could potentially meet your goal, or will you grow impatient and abandon your methodology? It is probably not surprising that the answer to that question is different for professionals (who stick with it) than for amateurs (who often bail out and try something new only to repeat the cycle over and over).

The key to potential trading success and finding the stock market price for entry that is best for you is having a well-defined goal, the methodology to potentially meet that goal, and the discipline to stick with it.