Online Trading Courses for Novice

Hello T2W,

I'm thinking about becoming a trader, but I don't know how to get started. I suppose An online trading course should get things going. Since there are plenty to choose from, I'd like to know what are your recommendations.

do the school over at babypips.com.
gives a great grounding in forex.

I had in mind something more general. For example right now I don't even know if Forex is right for me. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in order to make money in Forex, you would have to be better than most other Forex traders?

You have to be better than most other traders in every market, no?

So what you are saying is that novice traders have absolutely no chance and I should play poker instead?

Hi covarrubia,
Welcome to T2W.
No need to go elsewhere. Everything you need by way of an introduction to trading is right here. Start at the beginning which is here: Essentials Of First Steps Sticky.
Enjoy!
Tim.

covarrubia said:

So what you are saying is that novice traders have absolutely no chance and I should play poker instead?

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Depends on how good you are at poker

Anyhow, you are very likely to lose money for several years whilst you learn so, for that reason, start by trading small so you only lose small. You have to start somewhere, so don't be ashamed if you can't make money to begin with and don't get discouraged.

Regarding the training front, there are a lot of charlatans who will take your money off you and you will get little or nothing from their training course. So be careful.

Ultimately, trading is a skill and you will get better with practice and perseverence.

timsk said:

Hi covarrubia,
Welcome to T2W.
No need to go elsewhere. Everything you need by way of an introduction to trading is right here. Start at the beginning which is here: Essentials Of First Steps Sticky.
Enjoy!
Tim.

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Wow, thats quite a read, Timsk. I hope that should give me the basics. It is really hard to ask any questions (or meaningful ones at least) if one does not know anything about the subject.

Jaydee said:

Depends on how good you are at poker

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My poker skills are probably as good as my trading skills, meaning I don't have any. Playing poker sure is much more fun though. Fun factor aside, the reason why I posted this thread is that I'm looking for a way to make some money and trading looks like a good way to do that.

covarrubia said:

...I'm looking for a way to make some money and trading looks like a good way to do that.

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It's also a bad way to lose money. Like I said, start out small and don't get disheartened.

covarrubia said:

Wow, thats quite a read, Timsk. I hope that should give me the basics. It is really hard to ask any questions (or meaningful ones at least) if one does not know anything about the subject.

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Hi covarrubia,
Yes, it is quite a read - and it's only the tip of the iceberg. If you follow up the links - you'll at least have an insight as to where to start. If you think that you can just spend a month or two learning about trading and then start earning money from it - then you're likely to be disappointed. Is it possible? Yes, in theory it is. Is it likely? Absolutely not. Put it this way, I've never, ever, heard of anyone who has ever achieved it. Sure, I've heard of lots of people who have doubled their accounts in their first month / week of trading, but then lost everything in month / week two. I too have that particular T shirt! Unless you're a very exceptional individual, (you may very well be), if all you're wanting is a way to generate a second income, then I suggest you look at a whole host of other avenues - including poker - before deciding on this one. People are attracted to trading because of the size of the potential reward - which is unlimited. What they fail to do (and I was guilty of this myself) is to consider carefully and objectively the probability of them becoming one of the 2% - 5% that ever make any money at all - let alone lots of it. Without doubt, if all you want is a few extra quid at the end of the month, then almost anything else will achieve this more easily and more quickly than this business will.

Other members will say I'm being negative and that anything is possible. Furthermore, there are people here who started within the last 2 - 3 years who are, allegedly, doing very well for themselves. I try and tell it like it is, based on the experiences of the majority of members, rather than the minority who find themselves at one extreme or the other of the bell curve. The 2% - 5% who excel will (probably) do so whatever they do - be it trading or something completely unrelated. Make no mistake, for most people, making consistent money month in month and out from trading is easily the hardest thing any of them have ever tried to do.

I'll close on a positive note: millions are made (and lost) in the markets every day. There's nothing to say that you can't be one of the winners and live the dream life on the beaches of the world, Indeed, I hope you do!

Tim.

Like others have said don't be disheartened if you loose money. I've conditioned myself to view losses as a positive event. Sounds crazy but basically a loss motivates me to research and try to understand why the trade didn't work out.

Nothing will motivate you to be a better trader more than a loss.

I'm pretty certain all the guides will tel you to start with a demo account. At present I still swing trade with a demo account however I do fundemental trades (long term trades) with real money.

when you do use real money make sure you take advantage of the many free money and no lose offers out there, plenty of them are advertised on here.

covarrubia said:

Hello T2W,

I'm thinking about becoming a trader, but I don't know how to get started. I suppose An online trading course should get things going. Since there are plenty to choose from, I'd like to know what are your recommendations.

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Free and may give you some direction.
http://www.21stcenturyinvestoreducation.com/page/tce/courses

Carl

My advice is that you need to hang on to the tails of someone that can actually do it. Virtually 99% of the material out there is useless, I know because I spent 4 years reading most of it. I distilled the essence of trading down to one thing and that is all you really need to know. Thats the trend, everything else is smoke and mirrors, elliot waves, fib levels, patterns are all subject to failure. Start trading in the direction of the trend and no matter what entry method you use, you cannot but make money. Counter trend trading is the mother of all accont killers, I know I used to do it.

I will let you in on something, when I started trading in the trend direction all that happened was my account filled up, in former time it just emptied. You have to be able to work out when the trend might end, because you don't want to be the last buyer as the market get pulled out from under your feet, or the last seller. I managed to do that using a form of wave calculation theory that would leave a rocket scientist scratching his head, thankfully I reduced it down to a very simple calculation that a monkey could work out.

My advice to you is learn to do something else unless you are prepared to spend about three years learning the ropes yourself, or get someone to teach you and pay them, as it will be money well spent. Looking back at my time and the losses I made in the past, I would have been better to pay someone £20,000 and I would be getting off cheaply as my losses exceeded three times that not to mention the time I lost, or the weight I put on sitting staring at charts for 14-20 hours a day.

Trading is not an easy way to riches, all the broker will tell you that to sign you up. Trading is like anything you need at least three years to understand it and make money from it.

a book I would suggest is

Beat the forex dealer, he does not know everything but he knows a nice couple of moves well worth adding to your weapons. Also remember the market is not a computer game, its real people that you are against, and they are a clever bunch. Most retail traders are wrong, so think like a broker and you won't go to far wrong.

All the best


Mike

Don't fail the test like this person. Listen to those on this thread who urge caution and advise lots of practice.

The Basics of Online Stock Trading
Someone somewhere is making a fortune trading stocks. Why shouldn't we be that someone who is raking in the money? Today trading stocks couldn't be simpler. All you need is a little initiative; a little know how, a computer, and the Internet. It also helps if you have good nerves and lots of money. Good luck with that.

Many people enjoy the benefits of online stock trading. Thanks to the Internet, you can now trade stocks on your own without the assistance of a broker. The first step if you want to get into online trading is to understand the basics of how the process works.

Trading a stock basically means you are either buying or selling. You can trade as few or as many shares as you like. No matter what stocks or what volume you're trading, your goal is to buy low and sell high. In order to be successful in the online stock market world, you'll need to understand which stocks are good picks and which ones are not. You'll also need to understand when it pays to hold onto a stock, and when you should sell.

There are many factors that cause a stock's price to rise or fall. A company's earnings is probably the most prevalent factor when it comes to the value of their stock. All public companies are required by law to report their earnings once every quarter, which equals out to four times per year. These periods of time are commonly referred to as earnings seasons.

Luckily, there are lots of resources out there to educate you on how to choose good stocks. Some of them are free, and some of them are not. One such product that comes highly recommended is Online Trading for Financial Freedom (http://www.truetrend.com/?hop=0). This product can teach you how to trade like a pro, whether you're interested in short term or long term trading.

With this in mind, it helps to also understand trading durations. There are investors who purchase stocks to be held for years. This is known as long-term investing. Then, there are investors who hold on to stocks for days or weeks, then trade. This is commonly referred to as swing trading. And you've probably heard about day trading, the most volatile method of stock trading. Day trading involves trading large quantities of stocks throughout the course of one day. Fortunes have been made, and lost -- with day trading.

The best advice to anyone who wants to enter the world of online stock trading is research, research, research! By understanding as much as you can about the stock market, how it works, and how to make informed choices regarding your trades, you can be on your way to financial success.

Hi covarrubia,

I am rather late to the this. I see that you have already got quite a few recommendations/links already. Here is my two cents worth - I hope you find it useful.

First of all though, you did not state which markets you were thinking of partaking in. If you are considering trading the equity (i.e. stock) markets, I would recommend following Neil Osborne on twitter @neilosb. Alternatively, you may read posts to his blog directly.

He has just started a series of posts aimed at self directed traders and investors who want to make their monet work hard(er) in the financial markets. The emphasis is on the equity markets, but the general principles of successful market trading/investing are applicable to all markets.

Disclaimer: Neil is a personal friend of mine (so I can vouch for his experience/integrity). We used to work together in an investment bank, many years ago.