Lessons from a beginner...

Britintexas

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By means of introduction, I have been browsing (stalking!) this site on and off for a good number of years. Many thanks to so many people who have made such valuable contributions and have saved me and no doubt others in investing in dubious training courses and setting us on the right path...

The headline lessons I have learnt over the last few years as a beginner are:

1) In many ways until you have blown up your first account you don't realise what a serious business trading is and how much respect it deserves. Just try to limit the account blow up to as little meaningful money as possible! (Im not sure the same lessons are learnt when demo trading - worthwhile as it is vis-a-vis practising entries and exits etc...)

2) Money Management and Position sizing are crucial elements of trading but often underplayed. I have found that these two disciplines alone give big confidence when entering a trade - knowing that the overall risk if the trade goes wrong is calculated and containable.

3) I have moved away from leveraged products and have stuck to stocks - purely for risk management benefits initially. If you start trading leveraged markets make sure you know what you are doing ; the blow out risks are higher.

4) Sufficient capitalisation is important. Enjoyable as it is to play the markets with a couple of grand, the temptation to go beyond recommended % of capital risk per trade becomes immense when you soon bore of making a couple of quid here and there. That was how I blew my first account. I then saved for a few years to have (for me) a decent sized account that would allow for some meaningful profits given the activity that went into trading.

5) By all means dream big, but be realistic. Get rich quick may happen to a few but not generally to most. My original target was simply to beat the returns that a bog standard stocks and share unit trust were returning. Hopefully we'll all do much better than that as we progress, but don't think that will happen overnight. Excessive greed is a killer...

6) The information available is so vast that you can feel swamped by it. Initially - if not for longer - stick to simple trading strategies and build from there. The strategy is one thing; hitting the button is another. I needed a simple strategy with good risk management to give confidence to hit the button with a clear head. Start simple and build from there is my advice..

Finally - T2W is a great ally to have. Thanks to all
 
thats a gratifying and excellent post there B........things are starting to pick up well here at T2W !
 
By means of introduction, I have been browsing (stalking!) this site on and off for a good number of years. Many thanks to so many people who have made such valuable contributions and have saved me and no doubt others in investing in dubious training courses and setting us on the right path...

The headline lessons I have learnt over the last few years as a beginner are:

1) In many ways until you have blown up your first account you don't realise what a serious business trading is and how much respect it deserves. Just try to limit the account blow up to as little meaningful money as possible! (Im not sure the same lessons are learnt when demo trading - worthwhile as it is vis-a-vis practising entries and exits etc...)

2) Money Management and Position sizing are crucial elements of trading but often underplayed. I have found that these two disciplines alone give big confidence when entering a trade - knowing that the overall risk if the trade goes wrong is calculated and containable.

3) I have moved away from leveraged products and have stuck to stocks - purely for risk management benefits initially. If you start trading leveraged markets make sure you know what you are doing ; the blow out risks are higher.

4) Sufficient capitalisation is important. Enjoyable as it is to play the markets with a couple of grand, the temptation to go beyond recommended % of capital risk per trade becomes immense when you soon bore of making a couple of quid here and there. That was how I blew my first account. I then saved for a few years to have (for me) a decent sized account that would allow for some meaningful profits given the activity that went into trading.

5) By all means dream big, but be realistic. Get rich quick may happen to a few but not generally to most. My original target was simply to beat the returns that a bog standard stocks and share unit trust were returning. Hopefully we'll all do much better than that as we progress, but don't think that will happen overnight. Excessive greed is a killer...

6) The information available is so vast that you can feel swamped by it. Initially - if not for longer - stick to simple trading strategies and build from there. The strategy is one thing; hitting the button is another. I needed a simple strategy with good risk management to give confidence to hit the button with a clear head. Start simple and build from there is my advice..

Finally - T2W is a great ally to have. Thanks to all

lovely first post,good luck
 
By means of introduction, I have been browsing (stalking!) this site on and off for a good number of years. Many thanks to so many people who have made such valuable contributions and have saved me and no doubt others in investing in dubious training courses and setting us on the right path...

The headline lessons I have learnt over the last few years as a beginner are:

1) In many ways until you have blown up your first account you don't realise what a serious business trading is and how much respect it deserves. Just try to limit the account blow up to as little meaningful money as possible! (Im not sure the same lessons are learnt when demo trading - worthwhile as it is vis-a-vis practising entries and exits etc...)

2) Money Management and Position sizing are crucial elements of trading but often underplayed. I have found that these two disciplines alone give big confidence when entering a trade - knowing that the overall risk if the trade goes wrong is calculated and containable.

3) I have moved away from leveraged products and have stuck to stocks - purely for risk management benefits initially. If you start trading leveraged markets make sure you know what you are doing ; the blow out risks are higher.

4) Sufficient capitalisation is important. Enjoyable as it is to play the markets with a couple of grand, the temptation to go beyond recommended % of capital risk per trade becomes immense when you soon bore of making a couple of quid here and there. That was how I blew my first account. I then saved for a few years to have (for me) a decent sized account that would allow for some meaningful profits given the activity that went into trading.

5) By all means dream big, but be realistic. Get rich quick may happen to a few but not generally to most. My original target was simply to beat the returns that a bog standard stocks and share unit trust were returning. Hopefully we'll all do much better than that as we progress, but don't think that will happen overnight. Excessive greed is a killer...

6) The information available is so vast that you can feel swamped by it. Initially - if not for longer - stick to simple trading strategies and build from there. The strategy is one thing; hitting the button is another. I needed a simple strategy with good risk management to give confidence to hit the button with a clear head. Start simple and build from there is my advice..

Finally - T2W is a great ally to have. Thanks to all

Great advice, I'd also add:

7) Be consistent and stick to your rules. If you introduce a degree of randomness to your trading, you'll get random results. Know your entry & exit criteria in advance, and repeat it mechanically.
 
Agree almost with the whole post.
But about point 1 in there: I believe that trader will always have different thoughts abut money on the real account and on the demo account. Because on the demo account you really have meaningless money. That is why lesson won't be learned until you blew up your real $100 or more.
 
How much time did it take you to learn all that ??

(I am not asking how much money it took as money is subjective ).
 
I was thinking beginner...learn MM then straight to leader of the NWO. I didn't factor in that he may have wanted to try out hedge fund ownership en route. Lateral thinking.
 
Very good post, you bring up some interesting points which many traders can relate to.

I think the emotional roller coaster of trading can sometimes be overlooked. One minute you over the moon and the next searching for a 9till5.
 
Good intro post. Money management is probably the hardest thing. If you can do this well, then open up a hedge fund and take on clients!

yeah ..........leave it a few days or so and then become a hedge fund manager

piece of cake all this trading lark...not sure what all the fuss is about ;)

N
 
I always set up a primary sell target on any of my stocks; sadly, the more I check them, the more I tend to change my goals again...
 
"Money Management and Position sizing are crucial elements of trading but often underplayed. I have found that these two disciplines alone give big confidence when entering a trade - knowing that the overall risk if the trade goes wrong is calculated and containable."

It always amazes me when people just ignore these factors
 
it's been 2 years since I am in trading.
I spend 6 months to learn the basic concept of forex trading, try different technical technical trading, and find a good forex broker.
I spend a month learning how to use the trading platform and try the demo account forex broker
 
Great post. I wanted to say that I am about to start trading as well. I have been reading over this forum for some while and it has helped me. I have the advantage of knowing someone who runs a hedge fund and he taught me somethings and pointed me in the right dirrection as to where to start. Im only 22, but i have been interested in the markets since i was in high school. I am very humble and understand the odds of me actually being successful. I have been learning how to read the candlestick charts, support and resistance, fibb levels, some indicators, very little elliot wave, and reversal patterns. I believe I am ready to put some money in the market, but i am making sure that i have a solid trading plan that i can stick to. I am probably not well funded, but my goals right now are to build up some capital so that I can one day trade for a living. I am not asking anyone to try and convince me to not to trade and tell me how I wont make it, because I have heard it all and I am for sure going to trade because this is something that I have been wanting to do for a while, so I wont give up . With that being said, my instrument of choice at this moment will be options. I understand the greeks, so i know about deltas, and time eroision. I just wanted you guys and girls opinion as to what plan works for you. Do you swing trade, day trade, trade at the end of the day, look for reversals.....ect? Thanks for your input.
 
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