Guidance

Hi All,

Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

I've managed to stumble upon this site a few days ago and it looks like a great resource.
A few weeks ago I've decided to take up a new challenge/hobby. Currently I’m an IT security
consultant as my full time job but need a new challenge to keep my occupied. My motivations for
choosing trading is to learn something new, and challenging. I don't expect to make buckets of money,
nor is it the main attraction for me at present.

Firstly, my knowledge of stocks/markets is very limited thus i need to start right at the beginning.

This is what I've done so far.

Ordered the following books:

The Naked Trader - Robbie Burns
The Candlestick Course - Steve Nison (Ordered this after browsing T2W and saw a lot of these charts)
A Beginner's guide to Day trading - Toni Turner
Reminiscences of a stock operator – Edward Lefevre
Come into my trading room – Alexander Elder
Trade your way to financial freedom – Van Tharp
Trading for a Living + Study Guide – Alexander Elder
How to make money in Stocks - William J O’Neil
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends – Robert D Edwards + John Magee
Investing in Shares for Dummies - ( Not really impressed with these)
Investing Online for dummies - ( " )

I've started reading some of the beginner threads here, but I think I need to get some more theory behind my back before I can even attempt these, as they are discussing basics that I don’t know yet.

Now I thought my first question would be which book to read first, however that’s a tough one, so i think my first question is

(1) What type of trading is recommended to start out with (Spread betting (Seems a bit like gambling), CFD's, Forex, Equities, Futures, Etc ?)

(2) Are there any other books that are recommended to get ?

(3) I've got a demo account with IG Markets, the services looks pretty good, will this be sufficient for my training as I progress ?

Any input and guidance will be greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks,

Jacques

Most of the stuff in those books is available in this website (look up) and elsewhere online. Good reading, mind.

jacquese said:

Spread betting (Seems a bit like gambling)

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Why?

And what is wrong with professional gambling?

Start small, work your way up. Spreadbetting; depends what company - execution speed etc & spreads.

As for gambling: http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/31264-spread-betting-gambling-not.html
or search "are we all just gambling".

Books: you have all the classics, I'd just recommend keeping up to date online with news/news releases.

IG are very good, no idea about their customer services. If you have 2 screens (with one without being used), i'd recommend keeping a chart open on one. After a while you'll get a feel for it.

That has to be one of the most level headed newbie posts ever! Good luck!

Thanks for the reply's ! Nothing wrong with gambling at all, but that was my initial impression (from very brief looking into it).

Thanks for the advise, I'll start reading then =)

I seem to be in the minority in this but, IMO, a chart is a far better thing to read than any book.

Hi jacquese,

jacquese said:

Ordered the following books:

The Naked Trader - Robbie Burns
The Candlestick Course - Steve Nison (Ordered this after browsing T2W and saw a lot of these charts)
A Beginner's guide to Day trading - Toni Turner
Reminiscences of a stock operator – Edward Lefevre
Come into my trading room – Alexander Elder
Trade your way to financial freedom – Van Tharp
Trading for a Living + Study Guide – Alexander Elder
How to make money in Stocks - William J O’Neil
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends – Robert D Edwards + John Magee
Investing in Shares for Dummies - ( Not really impressed with these)
Investing Online for dummies - ( " )

Click to expand...

Seems like a real mixed bag there. They pretty much cover the basics but you may find the conflicting information may actually hinder you more than it helps.

jacquese said:

(1) What type of trading is recommended to start out with (Spread betting (Seems a bit like gambling), CFD's, Forex, Equities, Futures, Etc ?)

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Start out with spread betting. Why? Because you can alter your stake precisely to fit your risk management criteria and you are largely protected by things like "guaranteed stops" that you don't get in the direct markets.

jacquese said:

(2) Are there any other books that are recommended to get ?

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In my opinion you missed some of the essentials.

You simply MUST read:

How I made $2,000,000 in the stock market - Nicolas Darvas
Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager
The New Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager
Stock Market Wizards - Jack D. Schwager
Bulls, Bears, & Brains - Adam Leitzes and Joshua Solan
Trend Following: How great traders make millions in up or down markets - Michael W. Covel
Technical Trading Online - Jerold Roth
High Probability Trading - Marcel Link
How To Trade In Stocks - Jesse Livermore
Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds - Charles Mackay

jacquese said:

(3) I've got a demo account with IG Markets, the services looks pretty good, will this be sufficient for my training as I progress ?

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I would say yes, for now.

Thanks for the input dante, I'll get them ordered, if nothing else they will make my bookshelf look impressive while i read them all.

Tempted to add a few more for your studies. They might not come in handy at the beginning but you may want to refer to them later:

The Beginners Guide to Spread Betting: Michelle Baltazar (only read if you have no idea how spread betting works as it is very basic)

How to Read the Financial Pages: Michael Brett (very helpful for a basic overview of EVERYTHING financial)

The Futures Game: Who wins, who loses, Why?: Tewles &Jones (Excellent read but hard going in parts)

Trading in the Zone: Mark Douglas (Because sooner or later you will find that psychology is KEY to making money)

Economics Explained: Heilbroner & Thurow (Because a grounding in economics is useful and this book provides it in a very simple and understandable way)

The Trading Athlete: Murphy & Hirschhorn (Required reading at our prop firm - compares winning in trading to the mindset of a successful athlete - bit too much of an emphasis on day trading for my liking but worth checking out)

The Art of War: Sun Tzu (nothing about trading but its all in the analogies)

jacquese said:

Thanks for the reply's ! Nothing wrong with gambling at all, but that was my initial impression (from very brief looking into it).

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And so what if it is exactly like gambling? Just interested in hearing your thoughts. What is gambling to you?

shadowninja said:

And so what if it is exactly like gambling? Just interested in hearing your thoughts. What is gambling to you?

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Well, Gambling to me is losing money in short. It’s more like a fun past time when you are in Vegas and there is nothing else to do. However, there seems to be some method's to calculate the outcome of your "bet" to some extent with financial spread betting, so it’s less like gambling in that sense.

My opinion of it is changing already, I guess I jumped to a uneducated conclusion to quickly!

Indeed. We've all been in that situation.

Trading with a broker can be like losing money if you think you have a system and it doesn't actually work. The same skills are required whether you're with IG Index or IG Markets.