Learn to trade successfully in 3 weeks!

Evening,

I'm always getting message from newbies who've found someone or something to help you learn to trade in a few weeks! Lets think about that for just a few seconds.

Lets look at some very intelligent, determined people and see how long it took them to become profitable:

Linda Raschke - 3 years
John Carter - 4 years
Mark Fisher - 3 years
Hubert Senters - 2 years sitting by the side of an experienced trader before trading

Hubert did it the smart way, he didn't he even put in a trade for a year. We have people join our site and ask me if they will be making steady income in a month. No one wants to hear the truth:

Oh yes, I get it. It takes 11 years to become a doctor. OK it takes 4 years
of College ball before you even become a rookie in the NFL. Marcel Link took
7 years before he became profitable, I get it.

OK, I followed Alex's calls for a week, how come I am not on the cover
of Super Trader magazine? I am started to get annoyed, Dr. Smithers, I read
the section on scalpels, but damn it, I have been a whole week here at
Harvard and where is the flipping brain surgery patient? OK Mr. Jones, I
have installed Microsoft Flight Simulator, I read the chapter on the
Bournouli principle and the power and speed relationships, so how come you
guys here at Delta won't let me fly that 757 to Houston?

Sorry, experience only comes with time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll help you minimize that time, but not by leaps and bounds.

6 months to 2 years should be the minimum amount of time you commit to this endeavor. If you can not do that, please save of your money.

End of rant for the evening

Alex L. Wasilewski
Administrator of PureTick Trading

A worthwhile rant.

And most should expect to be at the 2 year end not the 6 month version. In the mean time you will provide liquidity and profit for traders who have put the time in and mastered themselves.

Get a Plan - the Song

Is that you with the guitar?

Wrong accent.

No, I just saw it posted on the other forum and felt it put the message across unusually sweetly.

CajunSniper said:

Evening,

I'm always getting message from newbies who've found someone or something to help you learn to trade in a few weeks! Lets think about that for just a few seconds.

Lets look at some very intelligent, determined people and see how long it took them to become profitable:

Linda Raschke - 3 years
John Carter - 4 years
Mark Fisher - 3 years
Hubert Senters - 2 years sitting by the side of an experienced trader before trading

Hubert did it the smart way, he didn't he even put in a trade for a year. We have people join our site and ask me if they will be making steady income in a month. No one wants to hear the truth:

Oh yes, I get it. It takes 11 years to become a doctor. OK it takes 4 years
of College ball before you even become a rookie in the NFL. Marcel Link took
7 years before he became profitable, I get it.

OK, I followed Alex's calls for a week, how come I am not on the cover
of Super Trader magazine? I am started to get annoyed, Dr. Smithers, I read
the section on scalpels, but damn it, I have been a whole week here at
Harvard and where is the flipping brain surgery patient? OK Mr. Jones, I
have installed Microsoft Flight Simulator, I read the chapter on the
Bournouli principle and the power and speed relationships, so how come you
guys here at Delta won't let me fly that 757 to Houston?

Sorry, experience only comes with time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll help you minimize that time, but not by leaps and bounds.

6 months to 2 years should be the minimum amount of time you commit to this endeavor. If you can not do that, please save of your money.

End of rant for the evening

Alex L. Wasilewski
Administrator of PureTick Trading

Click to expand...

Not so much of a rant (great post).. As a newbie (been trading live for under a year) I find posts like this inspiring. Keeps you going for a while longer. nothing worth while happens overnight.

belflan said:

nothing worth while happens overnight.

Click to expand...

As my parole officer once said " If it was easy, every Tom, Dick and Harry would be doing it"

It's taken me 9 months to start earning a 'salary' from trading, and I'm still learning something new EVERY day !!

"nothing worth while happens overnight."...arguably everything worth remembering happens overnight especially as you get older.

7 years of learning before I got any good.... I think 2 years is nothing in this game to learn how to make money worth talking about.

chump said:

everything worth remembering happens overnight especially as you get older.

Click to expand...

I agree wholeheartedly Chump, my best ideas arrive in the middle of the night - don't always remember to scribble them down though.

Kiwi said:

In the mean time you will provide liquidity and profit for traders who have put the time in and mastered themselves.

Click to expand...

Are we ever going to run out of newbies ?

This is worthy of a poll.

10 years plus before I was happy.

I look at it like this. The better the rewards, the longer the apprenticeship.

Worst thing that could have happened to me?

Making a 350 pound profit in 5 mins on my first ever futures trade late on a friday afternoon.

That was it baby. I had arrived, the king of traders...Yeah right!

What Hubert Senters fails to disclose, is that he learned to trade and then became profitable during the internet boom, where all anyone had to do is go long and hold and internet stock and make money.
We should all be so lucky to come out of training and hit a market that can build confidence with little or no effort.
Like they say "I'd rather be lucky than smart" and Hubert is definitely lucky and definitely not the later!
He has that, I don't give a damn what you think attitude. Wonder if he cares that while people may envy his money and position, they still will always see him as a hillbilly with one foot still in the mud. Probably not, too dumb!

options said:

This is worthy of a poll.

10 years plus before I was happy.

I look at it like this. The better the rewards, the longer the apprenticeship.

Worst thing that could have happened to me?

Making a 350 pound profit in 5 mins on my first ever futures trade late on a friday afternoon.

That was it baby. I had arrived, the king of traders...Yeah right!

Click to expand...

I have been trading since the early 1980s. And I've had to learn, relearn, adapt and change so many times, I really doubt anybody can say they are "competant traders" forever, only in a relatively similar trading environment.

Let's say that like me, you spent a few years clerking on the floor of an exchange. You learned about how to detect order floor, how to monitor the stops, and finally how to read the faces of the big players. Finally, you got your "badge" (membership) and learned those ropes. So you spent time really perfecting your floor technique, building your profits and personal physical stamina, etc. You learned the "poker face" and how to
manipulate other traders' emotional states.

Flash forward twenty years. You sit down in front of a computer. You no longer have peoples' faces and voices to help you determine order flow. You feel blind and helpless.

So, just because the floor trader has felt competant after many years of honing his skill as a floor trader, he is now a relative newbie. He has good understanding of trading "concepts" and feel and the mechanics, but little ability given the new tools.

If you are like me going from the floor upstairs, you get bored easily. You find your mind wandering. Back when you were in the pit, you had the discipline. But you had tons of input. Not now. So you start surfing the web --- and not focussing. You now have to learn a new sort of discipline.

Or, we can discuss what happens when a market "changes". A good example I think is sitting in a trading room for many years: the big players change and what people pay attention to, changes, too. When trading bond basis in the 1980s, we would sit around after the market waiting for the all important Money Supply numbers. Now these numbers have little significance.

It used to be possible to limit your day to eight or so hours. No more. Now you have to adapt to 24 hour markets and multiple new influential areas of the world.

My point is that trading in any form is a constant learning process. Even if you have been trading for 25 years, it is no guarantee that you ever "master" trading.

Things change. Adapt or die.

Such a small sample and anyway when it comes to making money in this business I never believe anyone unless I see their audited results. Far too many people faking it is my experience.

Take 100 people, give them all 2 years in the trading game and then see how many pass the litmus test. Maybe 5 - only proves the point that 5% at most make money over time and that's the key phrase 'over time' - anyone can be a bullmarket genius as we're starting to see right now. I was a broker for over 10 years and back this figure (give or take) with hard facts.

Of course though there are always exceptions to the rule.

Anyway, whether it's trading, bricklaying, computer programming or becoming a master at picking up girls it takes on average 5 years to be a real pro. Of course though every year within the 5 you're getting better.......

anley said:

or becoming a master at picking up girls it takes on average 5 years to be a real pro.

Click to expand...

I found the release of £300 from my wallet significantly reduced that apprenticeship

UTB

the blades said:

I found the release of £300 from my wallet significantly reduced that apprenticeship
UTB

Click to expand...

UTB - you woz robbed mate!
Judging by the images on our TV's of young women rolling around your city centre in the early hours, you could have cut your 'expenses' down to a couple of Vodkas.
I think I might be confusing Sheffield with Nottingham - but to a southern softie like me, the gritty north is the same all over
Tim.

CajunSniper said:

Evening,

I'm always getting message from newbies who've found someone or something to help you learn to trade in a few weeks! Lets think about that for just a few seconds.

Lets look at some very intelligent, determined people and see how long it took them to become profitable:

Linda Raschke - 3 years
John Carter - 4 years
Mark Fisher - 3 years
Hubert Senters - 2 years sitting by the side of an experienced trader before trading

Hubert did it the smart way, he didn't he even put in a trade for a year. We have people join our site and ask me if they will be making steady income in a month. No one wants to hear the truth:

Oh yes, I get it. It takes 11 years to become a doctor. OK it takes 4 years
of College ball before you even become a rookie in the NFL. Marcel Link took
7 years before he became profitable, I get it.

OK, I followed Alex's calls for a week, how come I am not on the cover
of Super Trader magazine? I am started to get annoyed, Dr. Smithers, I read
the section on scalpels, but damn it, I have been a whole week here at
Harvard and where is the flipping brain surgery patient? OK Mr. Jones, I
have installed Microsoft Flight Simulator, I read the chapter on the
Bournouli principle and the power and speed relationships, so how come you
guys here at Delta won't let me fly that 757 to Houston?

Sorry, experience only comes with time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We'll help you minimize that time, but not by leaps and bounds.

6 months to 2 years should be the minimum amount of time you commit to this endeavor. If you can not do that, please save of your money.

End of rant for the evening

Alex L. Wasilewski
Administrator of PureTick Trading

Click to expand...

Hear! Hear!

As a newbie that's been trading just under a year, I couldn't agree more. My initial expectations of making a small fortune & retiring within a few months were laughable!

But it took me 6 years in medical school to be a doctor & it will probably take me that long to be a consistent;y successful trader. (or at least that's what I tell myself on my bad weeks!!)