Before getting into something in General, One MUST have the idea what he/she'll be into.
The basics are the MOST important thing to have. Especially when just starting, a lot of newbies tend to skip this as they feel that they don't need it. Being intelligent is not that important, but to be able to understand the nature of trading is enough to succeed. Knowledge, Data gathering, patience and many more are part of the Basics. That's how important to have the basics before entering the world of Trading.
A lot of newcomers don't last as they taught when they trade that's it, They see a low investment entry they'll grab even without proper data to support every decision. As I see it, it seems that only about 30% of the new comers are willing to start from the very beginning no shortcuts and everything.
This is the reason why traders now only exist for short term and after that, they are gone eventually in the market. Too different from those early traders wherein until now they are still active in trading because they learned trading through a step by step process and with experience follows their own strategies that have made them keep into trading until now.
In addition, having a positive mindset before getting into trading is also very important because that will motivate you to keep even better from those frequent losses you might experience as first timer.