How do I get past the feeling I'm swimming in dangerous and unkown waters

julianep

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I made this trade2win account ages ago as I've been interested in trading for a while but yesterday I finally set up an account with IG index and want to actually get to business. I understand all the basics of how trading works but when it comes to actually making a trade I realise how lost I really am...

So... I'm hoping someone experienced can point me in the right direction. I'm a student and not exactly rich at the moment but I put a spare £100 in my IG account and signed up for Tradesense. But 10p per point only lasts for one week so I rushed into making a couple of trades, no real damage done but made me realize I can't learn how to trade in 6 weeks and I can't rush my learning. It also made me realise £100 is gonna be easy to lose even at 10p per point let alone £1. I can put in more money but if I don't really understand what I'm doing it seems I'm bound to lose it. I did try demo accounts in the past but never learned much either. Any advice to get over the steep learning curve of trading without being left completely broke.

Many thanks,
Julian
 
You could have put £100 into Finspreads. I believe they have a £75 offer, as well. Plus an academy which allows you to trade at 10p per point for a while (longer than a week). Then you can trade as long as you like at 50p per point.

Even then, if you don't know what you are doing, you can still lose it all.

I am not beating their drum for them, just letting you know that there are offers around that you should check out.

Split

PS. If you get interested, write all your questions down on a piece of paper before you ring and get satisfactory answers ie, What strings are attached to the £75 offer? These guys seem to be ok to me, but they are not angels, remember, they are bookies.

PPS :) You should have asked your question before opening the account. Now you are in!

First lesson, as a trader, learned. Don't jump into anything with out looking. :smart:
 
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Hi julianep - You need to plan what you are doing, what you are going to do, and why. You need to identify where and why to get in, what would need to happen to convince you that you were wrong, and commit to getting out at that point. Wherever you do get out should not cost you, at this stage, more than a couple of pounds. If you can't see the exit point, don't go in. If the exit point on a bad trade is so far away that it would eat up much of your balance, stay out. If you keep getting into losing trades, change your plan. When you change the plan, paper trade the new plan before commiting money. Trade small until you are consistently winning. aim to not lose big at this stage, don't aim to win big. There are many fairly mediocre trading strategies that can be made consistent earners if you can just lose small and stay in long enough to refine them so you can win consistently.
 
I understand all the basics of how trading works but when it comes to actually making a trade I realise how lost I really am...

....I can put in more money but if I don't really understand what I'm doing it seems I'm bound to lose it. I did try demo accounts in the past but never learned much either.

Many thanks,
Julian

As Cuotes has already remarked, your appreciation of the situation is a good sign but you're still asking (and I'm sure you really know the answer) how to trade while lacking the necessary skill and capability without losing money: - the blunt answer is that you can't.

Not surprisingly, you don't have the confidence at the moment and that is not a mindset to trade with - any more than over-confidence is. You need to be quietly confident that you have a (1) profitable system and can handle it both (2) technically and (3) psychologically.

(1) is reasonably easy - loads on here (2) is mainly just a case of practice (3) is really hard.

If you haven't at least got a system that you can paper or demo trade profitably under caveats (1) and (2) then you would be wasting your time with real money. That's my opinion of course & there are people who will, rightly say that you don't get the psychological inputs and effects with demo trading and therefore you should get stuck in with real money. That might be right for you or not - you must judge. But be warned: even a cracking demo paper system can quickly turn to disaster under the pressure of real trading due to one's own human failings.

However, the first task is to get a system that works for you - and this also includes deciding what to trade: choice of timeframe and instrument is important but you probably won't appreciate that until you have a half-decent system and try it in varying scenarios. Then you can put the psycho polish on as you progress. "I understand all the basics of how trading works" - don't confuse this with understanding how to trade successfully. I understood the basics after my first textbook but I really hadn't got a clue about safe trading.

If as you say, you are young [actually this also applies if you are old - over 25?:LOL:] then there's no rush - the markets are always there and there's always another trade. Read all you can on this forum - there's loads of good systems / techniques and advice. Hope this helps a bit. :)
 
welcome to the playground, remember you cant control the market except your lot size. so enjoy the tune of the market.. :p

[youtube]LpocrqvP2Yg[/youtube]
 
LOL, Julianep you are swimming in Very Dangerous waters!!!!! I think everyone comes to trading with the intention of an easy lifestyle that entails making a fortune from clicking a few PC buttons every now and then. The reality is, even if you are lucky enough to make some cash at the beginning it will only be a matter of time until you give it back and more….Sad but true!!!!

Just a little advice, 1. Dnt trade with very tight stop losses as you will only be throwing cash away. (no-one knows exactly when they market will move in any direction). 2. Dnt look for the perfect indicator or system as you will not find it, and the other problem beginners face is every time they have a loosing streak (happens to every trader) they think something is wrong with their approach and change the system they use.

Also, most turn to technical analysis as an “Easier” way to trade, this is not true. Technical analysis will only help in certain areas and is very un-consistent in making cash.

The truth of the matter is VERY FEW people start off making cash and continue to do so in trading. For the rest of us it can really be a difficult task. There is no substitute for experience in this game but that doesn’t mean go and spend heaps of cash on some “Trading Course” as this will just be throwing money down the drain. There is no quick & easy way to learn how to trade. Trading is a long, time consuming, emotionally draining endeavour.

Try finding a real trader who is good at his game and pray that he will teach you the tricks of the trade (this is not easy) but will speed up the process dramatically!!!!

Good luck
 
Welcome.

I understand what you mean with being lost. May I ask - which demo accounts have you used before?
I used several and never found any very helpful until someone told me to try a different one - where you can deal with Stocks, Currencies, Commodities, Bonds & Options. You can log in and used either a Player account or an Investor account.
You also have the option to set your "player balance" to a realistic level. So for example instead of having £150,000 to use - you could put it at just £500 to see how things work.

The website is Financial Spread Betting | CFDs | Spread Betting Accounts | ETX Capital

If you are unsure of what you are doing - be careful.
I am a trial and error type of learner and I jumped in with both feet and I made some mistakes at the beginning. I realised my mistakes, stopped and then used a demo account while reading and researching and following the markets and news!

Holly
 
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