By Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent

Bryan Ong made his first million last year when he was only 28, mainly from his mortgage consultancy business, but he lost one-third of it in the stock market within nine months.

He was doing contra trading, which is a short-term trading method in which the investor aims to make a profit without stumping up any capital. This is possible because brokers here offer three days' grace for stock traders to pay for the shares they have bought.

Now wiser, Mr Ong said: 'I learnt that making money is not easy and you need to understand your own greed and fear. I realised that stock trading is very addictive. You can get glued to it.'

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