Don't tell your friends that you're interested in trading?!

Don't tell your friends that you're interested in trading?!

Do you find that people in general are not very receptive to discussing trading? I have an accountant friend who even told me he was interested in trading but when I started talking about techncial analysis and speculation instead of basing trades on the fundamentals of a company, I basically got the 'cold shoulder' and some very bad advice.

I'm starting to realise that I should just keep my mouth shut about trading. I'm only a newbie studying it for the last two months.

I was just wondering if it's just me and my situation or if this is a more common thing when learning about trading? Were your friends really supportive or did they keep telling you about the 95% failure rate?

This friend of mine just suggested that I 'give it a go' with a small about of money. That may work for some people but for me it was a very bad idea. I don't even have a criteria set up for determining when to enter and exit a trade let alone a fully specified trading plan or paper trading.

From now on I'm just going to keep my mouth shut about trading

Have you generally had positive experiences when discussing trading with your friends?

When my friends ask what I do I don't tend to mention trading I just tell them that I am a "Professional Gambler"


Paul

Trader333 said:

When my friends ask what I do I don't tend to mention trading I just tell them that I am a "Professional Gambler"


Paul

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Haha, that sounds cool.

But what about when you were first learning to trade. Did conversations not come up with your friends about you learning to trade?--or did you just keep your learning to yourself and not mention it?

I mean, this issue isn't a big deal really but I'm just curious about how trading and traders are perceived by the general public.

alwayslearningtrader said:

Don't tell your friends that you're interested in trading?!

Do you find that people in general are not very receptive to discussing trading? I have an accountant friend who even told me he was interested in trading but when I started talking about techncial analysis and speculation instead of basing trades on the fundamentals of a company, I basically got the 'cold shoulder' and some very bad advice.

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Mostly everyone I know gives me that look of "I'm sorry, you appear to be insane". Until you're reliably making a profit, my advice would be to tell no-one; not only will they be really negative, you'll probably find yourself pressuring yourself to make profit to prove them wrong, and that never ends well.

On trying with a small amount, it's not as bad an idea as it sounds. Having a tiny (£100-ish) spread bet account with IG Index or Finspreads (who offer very low minimum bets during an intro period) might be a more practical way of learning than trying to paper trade/learn from books. Gives you a much more active investment in how the trades go, might help focus you. OTOH, spread bet companies are (relatively) high commission...

Its always best to be aware of who your speaking with and what there qualifications in life are along with their experiences. It sounds like the people you are talking to dont have a clue and just throw up comments like 'it's a losers game' and 'if it were that easy every one would be doing it'. This is where chat forums like trade2win come in handy and is a place where you can chat to like minded people who if you dont at first succeed you get comments of warmth and help as appose to 'I told you so' type comments you'll likely get off your mates.

Trading is not a disease and you shouldn't feel ashamed of giving it a go and failing.
You sucesses and failures would be better recieved with like minded individuals.

My name's Darren... and... and... erm... I'm a trader!

This is why you should come to meetings. Sorry, meets. Meetings are for addicts.

Oh and get a demo account with Tradindex.com. Don't give them real money, though. They're crap. Risk real money with IG Index.

I don't usually bother mentioning it to people who don't understand - that's most people!

Typical reaction is "oh! it's a bit dodgy at the moment isn't it?" - and they say that be it bear, bull or any other kind of market (not that they would know the difference). You get the kind of look that says: "the markets are only for the experts not people like you and me". This always annoys me because I resent being likened to your average punter who thinks the world's best investment is the national lottery - gave up explaining that lotteries are a mug's game ages ago.

Sometimes, after a few sharpeners at a party or the like, when asked "what do you do now that you don't work ?" I say that I follow the stockmarket. I then get (from them, who know bugg*r all about it) the standard lecture on how you need so much capital to make a worthwhile return etc etc. They don't understand leverage, or frequent trading allied to compounding and most fundamentally: that volatile markets are good for making money if you know what you're doing. Being a reasonable sort of bloke once I've had a few glasses, I sometimes try to put them straight but it's usually like trying to get your average Sun-reader engaged in a conversation not involving football or the size of a woman's tits.

So, it's just like most things in life: speak with those who want to learn and have at least half a brain cell, but leave the prats to do their own thing while you get on with doing something worthwhile.

I always remember my old maths teacher at school. When teaching us calculus, he would look round the class, pause, then utter "and some fell on stony ground !". I think he may have been looking at a particularly Iberian individual.

0007 said:

This always annoys me because I resent being likened to your average punter who thinks the world's best investment is the national lottery - gave up explaining that lotteries are a mug's game ages ago.

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Some on Pistonheads refer to the national lottery as a tax on stupidity.

0007 said:

I always remember my old maths teacher at school. When teaching us calculus, he would look round the class, pause, then utter "and some fell on stony ground !".

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shadowninja said:

Some on Pistonheads refer to the national lottery as a tax on stupidity.

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'ere, ninja, I bought a lottery ticket today, you callin' me stupid? Roll on tomorrow when I've won the jackpot, you won't be callin' me stupid then, I bet. Oh no, you'll be real nice to me, telling me how great I am and giving all my posts loads of rep' points. Just you wait and see, I'll have the last laugh.
:cheesy:
Tim.

The next worst thing is those premium bonds. At least you get your money back.

I have tried both the national lottery (I'm breakeven at the moment so not so bad!) and premium bonds (I have a significant amount; this year I've won £100).

0007 are you actually suggesting that there may be worthwhile conversations that don't centre on football or women's tits ??
sheer blasphemy !!!!

shadowninja said:

The next worst thing is those premium bonds. At least you get your money back.

I have tried both the national lottery (I'm breakeven at the moment so not so bad!) and premium bonds (I have a significant amount; this year I've won £100).

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Anecdotally there seem to be different results from Premium Bond holders despite the theory that this shouldn't be so (but do you believe everybody's trading results - or intimations ?).

I've just looked at my PB spreadsheet because Postwoman Pat (that is her name) brought a divi today. Over the last 18 months that me and Mrs 0007 have held them, we have had 4.3% net pa. (winnings) which to me is acceptable for guaranteed cash deposit. There is also the possibility that you might get a big win.

I seem to remember that this hasn't been the case for other people in a previous discussion. Must be influence from my uncle Ernie who is a civil servant up north somewhere!

rathcoole_exile said:

0007 are you actually suggesting that there may be worthwhile conversations that don't centre on football or women's tits ??
sheer blasphemy !!!!

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In a former life I knew of blokes that not only could hold an entire conversation on the subject of football and women's tits, but could also conduct it using the f-word for 99.9% of the time. Now that's not easy.

****in' RC,

The ****in' weather, ****in' property, and 'ow ****in' 'ard someone is. The ****in' King's Head on Tiviot Dale has ****in' closed down. Where can I go for a ****in' fight now?

****in' Grant.

sorry grant, can't rep you, so here it is .....

grantx said:

****in' RC,

The ****in' weather, ****in' property, and 'ow ****in' 'ard someone is. The ****in' King's Head on Tiviot Dale has ****in' closed down. Where can I go for a ****in' fight now?

****in' Grant.

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Far too wordy.

Suppose you were trying to describe to your mate (in concise and meaningful terms) that a piece of kit doesn't work (or maybe you should have got out at your stop?) and you want him to get the gist fairly quickly. The opening conversation would be something like:

****in L, ****in ****er's ****in ****ed ****me ****in L

Isn't this the sort of thing that floor traders used to do by hand signal?

007,

That's too wordy. What's wrong with "It's/I'm ****ed"?

Grant.

grantx said:

007,

That's too wordy. What's wrong with "It's/I'm ****ed"?

Grant.

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As a model in the purest academic sense that's 100%. However, all the experts that I knew who used this language never spoke that short - just one of those customs

I believe the Sun holds the record for short, pithy headlines - do you think perhaps the editor might have done his training in that language school ?

Apparently, before the days of clever communications I understand the Navy subs used to receive bulletins from the Daily Mirror because it was considered the most concise news giver, ie it used 1 (short) word where 10 would have been perfectly ok.

Now, wasn't this thread about telling your mates how to trade? They've got a barbe on next door tonight, and I know he has this expensive go-kart habit. Let's see if we can help..........

shadowninja said:

My name's Darren... and... and... erm... I'm a trader!

This is why you should come to meetings. Sorry, meets. Meetings are for addicts.

Oh and get a demo account with Tradindex.com. Don't give them real money, though. They're crap. Risk real money with IG Index.

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Thanks for the tradindex link. I'm going to sign up for their demo account and have a go :clap:

Do you guys also get the impression that if the person you talk to about trading has a finance (accounting/economics) background then they tend to be the most abrasive?--maybe because they learn about and emphasis fundemental analysis so much in their university degrees?--Ofcourse, I only generalise .