Hi - My first Post - Any Advice?

Hi everyone,

My name is Steve (30) and I live in the UK now based in Scotland. I have been working in IT and now an IT specialist since I left Uni.

I have recently been more and more interested in stocks in particular "day-trading" and trying to self educate so I can start trading myself. I suppose I could pay for a course anything between £500 - £2000, that would be my last resort. Was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for a getting started guide. I am a complete noobie!

Any books that you guys recommend?
Tools/Applications you use or would recommend?

Reading I have done I see there is a lot of choice and I feel I need to start at the beginning getting an understanding so I can make informed decisions later on rather than just following a script someone has told me.

Any help is much appreciated and hopefully as i get experience I can give back to this forum!

Thanks very much in advance...

Steve

After 15 odd years of 'trading' I still feel that I know nothing....but then my wife tells me I am generally slow...!!....At times an advantage...!!

It will be fine balance of knowledge, ability, time scale......guts.....and at times 'lucky strike'....

Whatever you do and however you do it - DO NOT TAKE EYES OFF 'STOP LOSS'...and you will be fine...!

Books.....J J Murphy...a door stopper but still a good read.....
Amazon.co.uk: jj murphy technical analysis

scar1 said:

Hi everyone,

My name is Steve (30) and I live in the UK now based in Scotland. I have been working in IT and now an IT specialist since I left Uni.

I have recently been more and more interested in stocks in particular "day-trading" and trying to self educate so I can start trading myself. I suppose I could pay for a course anything between £500 - £2000, that would be my last resort. Was hoping someone could point me in the right direction for a getting started guide. I am a complete noobie!

Any books that you guys recommend?
Tools/Applications you use or would recommend?

Reading I have done I see there is a lot of choice and I feel I need to start at the beginning getting an understanding so I can make informed decisions later on rather than just following a script someone has told me.

Any help is much appreciated and hopefully as i get experience I can give back to this forum!

Thanks very much in advance...

Steve

Click to expand...

How much time do you have to dedicate to learning and what kind of times of day?

here is a list of books from a semi-professional trader:

Oil Trader`s Blog: Best Trading And Investing Books

I have read myself "blablabla lizard brain blabla" (can't remember the exact title) and it made me understand why 95% of the new traders lose everything in the first year of trading.... surviving to the first year is critical, and I promise you if you have no experience there is nothing easier than become too bullish when the market is bullish and too bearish when the market is bearish.... road to perdition.

....Trader Dante, if he wants to learn then he will have to FIND time....or 'MAKE' time.......!!

steve

read the sticky threads in the First Steps forum - here's one http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/8332-t2w-first-steps-guide.html and there are four others

cheers

jon

scar1 said:

I have recently been more and more interested in stocks in particular "day-trading" and trying to self educate so I can start trading myself.

Click to expand...

the probabilities for a trade becoming a success will increase, as you increase your trading timeframe.

Profitability also decreases with timeframe.

jiggly said:

the probabilities for a trade becoming a success will increase, as you increase your trading timeframe.

Profitability also decreases with timeframe.

Click to expand...

Lets not make the mistake of thinking that probabilities INCREASE when the timeframe does.

I do not believe that is the case at all.

There are high probability opportunities on every single timeframe out there.

However, I maintain that cutting your teeth on the low timeframes (sub 4hr) is a recipe for disaster. The reason I say this is because, for the most part:

Your ANALYSIS has to be QUICKER
Your have to THINK QUICKER
You have to ACT QUICKER
You have to REACT QUICKER

A new trader hasn't learnt the simple analysis or have an understanding of the market that is good enough to be able to simply SPEED things up.

I think of it something like playing Chess (even though I'm not a Chess player). If you were playing Chess for money (e.g. capture a piece and get rewarded financially - lose a piece and lose money) and you are new to the game, don't really have a good understanding of what pieces can move in what directions and for how many squares and don't know what tricks your opponents know - would you want 4hrs or even a day to think about and plan each move and react OR would you rather move every 5 minutes?

The simple answer is that new traders get into day trading because they either think its cool and exciting or that the more you get in the market the more money you can make. And that thinking is a ticket to the poorhouse right there.

Of course there are people making a killing on the 1m, the 3m, the 5m - hell, even the tick charts! And there are the odd people that learn on those timeframes and become skilled without ever moving higher but the fact of the matter is, for the majority of newbies, its the road to ruin.

Learn the daily. Get proficient and get consistent. Move down to 4hr. Get proficient. Get consistent. Move down to 1hr. Get proficient. Get consistent. Move down to 30m....rinse and repeat until you find the timeframe you are happy trading.

I honestly believe that.

Hi,

Thanks for your response's much appreciate!
To start with I will be self educating in the evening and weekends. My 9-5 allows me to work from home most of the time and I have little interest in TV. Generally spend my spare time learning and apply, this is my new project! Hopefully one that will get some financial reward from.

Thanks again
Steve

scar1 said:

Hi,

Thanks for your response's much appreciate!
To start with I will be self educating in the evening and weekends. My 9-5 allows me to work from home most of the time and I have little interest in TV. Generally spend my spare time learning and apply, this is my new project! Hopefully one that will get some financial reward from.

Thanks again
Steve

Click to expand...

To get a good grounding you need to watch the market live and get a decent amount of screen time in. If you have a 9-5, I would suggest taking a look at your preferred markets on the daily and weekly TF - don't make the mistake of watching FX (in particular) move in the evenings on the lower timeframes and trying to trade it. The major moves take place in the London and European sessions. The evening is usually quiet.

Get a demo account with Global Futures, download X-Trader and watch and try to understand the "ladder". This will give you a good feel for the inner workings of the market - the buyers and sellers transacting and the way it moves price. Do this for the more active evening sessions e.g. The S&P500 and the Dow are still active after 5pm and offer good opportunities. These are both good starting points.

You can get FXPro (Google it) for live charting feeds for both these markets. I'm not going to be around for a while but if you don't understand any of what I've written, Google it or ask some of the other helpful members on here.

All the best,

Tom

Hello SCAR1

You have come to the right place.

T2W members are very helpfull.

I am learning also.

Good luck with your venture.

PEP

Lets learn and practice but never use demo, trade real money in micro account if you are still in learning process.

Hi all - Id just like to thank everyone for this fine advice.
I am going on holiday at the end of the week and when I get back I will be sure to take take actions on the above advice.

Thanks again
Steve...