fair. have you tried Dollar Cost Averaging on individual stocks before?The reality is that buying an ETF on any exchange is essentially the same as buying the 3 to 5 largest weighted stocks within that ETF. If an investor isn't making money on those individual stocks, it's unlikely he'll make money on the ETF too. Conversely, if someone can profit from buying an S&P 500 ETF, whether in the long or short term, he should also be able to profit from, e.g. THE "big-7" stocks too, given that these stocks are over 80% correlated (possibly even more than 90%) with the ETF. This principle applies to all index ETFs and their major component stocks. I think the key to survive is to create a well-defined trading or investing plan, which should include the following elements: 1) Your Objectives: Are you aiming for short-term quick profits, or long-term steady growth, or something in between? 2) Your Buy-Sell Style: Your objectives will determine whether you engage in short-term speculation, mid-term trading, or long-t (more...)