How much?

Thank you for the advice safvan, I wish you well in your quest to become a successful trader and to recover your losses, assuming that you haven't already.
I left school at virtually primary level having skipped most of secondary school and failed all of my gcse's through not attending exams or not completing coursework etc. Actually I might have two G grades if that counts lol. I expect I'll need to learn to be quick thinking with figures and work on my arithmetic to help my progress.


Littleknown, I work on building sites, as you can imagine I have a huge vocabulary that can fill in those four stars lol. Ok, maybe luck doesn't play a part in active trading. So far for me it has as I bought my shares at the right time which admittedly was down to pure luck, I don't expect it will continue.
 
No worries, was thinking if you went by what a lot say on forums you'd never go anywhere, give it a whirl and find out for yourself but don't risk anything stupid, to say how much can I expect to earn from £25,000 as a newb is pretty mental like, go steady;)
 
Whatever you do, no matter how much you dislike your job / see no prospects in it / whatever DO NOT pack it in thinking you can trade successfully from the start.

Apart from the fact that no-one can, the pressure of having to earn a living whilst learning will kill you.

If you're serious about it, start learning from the various forums that are around (such as this one, Forex Factory, Elite Trader etc) and buy yourself some good trading books. But do this in your spare time.

Then start observing the markets, keep detailed notes of your observations (they WILL come, and you will be surprised how good they can be), and start demo trading. At that point, consider funding an account with a small amount of money and start live practice.

For what it's worth, all the technique you need is freely available on the two websites I mentioned and in two books. Unfortunately, getting that information is the easy part and is just the beginning.




builderman said:
Thank you for the advice safvan, I wish you well in your quest to become a successful trader and to recover your losses, assuming that you haven't already.
I left school at virtually primary level having skipped most of secondary school and failed all of my gcse's through not attending exams or not completing coursework etc. Actually I might have two G grades if that counts lol. I expect I'll need to learn to be quick thinking with figures and work on my arithmetic to help my progress.


Littleknown, I work on building sites, as you can imagine I have a huge vocabulary that can fill in those four stars lol. Ok, maybe luck doesn't play a part in active trading. So far for me it has as I bought my shares at the right time which admittedly was down to pure luck, I don't expect it will continue.
Click to expand...
 
builderman said:
Thank you for the advice safvan, I wish you well in your quest to become a successful trader and to recover your losses, assuming that you haven't already.
I left school at virtually primary level having skipped most of secondary school and failed all of my gcse's through not attending exams or not completing coursework etc. Actually I might have two G grades if that counts lol. I expect I'll need to learn to be quick thinking with figures and work on my arithmetic to help my progress.


Littleknown, I work on building sites, as you can imagine I have a huge vocabulary that can fill in those four stars lol. Ok, maybe luck doesn't play a part in active trading. So far for me it has as I bought my shares at the right time which admittedly was down to pure luck, I don't expect it will continue.
Click to expand...

If you can add and subtract, you can trade profitably. That is pretty much the math required for it.

Its not the techniques. Its the actual implementation of them which is the hardest thing to do.

For longer time frames it is easier than short term trading. Successful short term traders are another breed.

If you can make one or two big trades a year, that would basically pay for the whole years salary.

Start slow and study success to get clues. There is nothing new to learn in this business. Its the patience to excercise the rules that causes the stress.

Like timsk said do long term trading and you would seriously benefit from it.
 
Thank you counterviolent. 10000hrs? so just over three and a half years full-time, that seems about right for most professions. I'm going to have to see if I can work weekends to give me a chance to help the learning curve, the next two weeks I'm officially on holiday so I can get things started and try to digest the piles of online info.
 
Last edited:
if you are serious and have an interest setup a demo account. Fxpro, oanda, alpari etc. take some trades, read forums, books, youtube. test strategies. people are just being honest there is NO WAY you will make a living off the bat.
 
Pazienza said:
For what it's worth, all the technique you need is freely available on the two websites I mentioned and in two books. Unfortunately, getting that information is the easy part and is just the beginning.
Click to expand...

Which two books is that then?
 
I have both and would agree with you.

I also really like - How I Made $2,000,000 In The Stock Market, Darvas.
The book is much better than the daft sounding title, enough put anyone off.
 
Hi Builderman,

People will probably slate me for this but the Alexander Elder books are quite good for a very basic overview of things. In particular how he talks about money management. His methods etc are a little vague but as a start, the books are ok.

A good first step would be to work out what type of trading you are interested in. This took me the best part of 6 months to work out. jumping around from one thing to another, giving up and trying something new just eats away the time.

The same was true for the software, the trading account, the timeframe etc. It seems just getting started takes a few hundred hours before you even learn anything.

Spend your time working out what you want to specialise in and come back with more focussed questions. One thing people on these forums hate is newbies coming on and asking the same duff questions that they could have answered themselves.

The "how much can i expect to make? " question is the most common. Followed by the how long does it take to be profitable? ". All are answered honestly in the "First steps" area of this website. The answers will however be vague as they are impossible to answer specifically.

Whatever you do, don't quit the day job until either you can afford to be unemployed for a good amount of time (with the chance to go back to work later if needed) or you have a proven track record in trading that makes you confident that you are not winning due to luck. Otherwise, fit the trading around your job.

Getting the money to trade is the least of your problems. Companies will let you trade lots of their money with very little own capital. You just have to be sure that you can pay it back if you lose!

Hope that helps in some way.
 
coopster said:
Hi Builderman,

People will probably slate me for this but the Alexander Elder books are quite good for a very basic overview of things. In particular how he talks about money management. His methods etc are a little vague but as a start, the books are ok.

A good first step would be to work out what type of trading you are interested in. This took me the best part of 6 months to work out. jumping around from one thing to another, giving up and trying something new just eats away the time.

The same was true for the software, the trading account, the timeframe etc. It seems just getting started takes a few hundred hours before you even learn anything.

Spend your time working out what you want to specialise in and come back with more focussed questions. One thing people on these forums hate is newbies coming on and asking the same duff questions that they could have answered themselves.

The "how much can i expect to make? " question is the most common. Followed by the how long does it take to be profitable? ". All are answered honestly in the "First steps" area of this website. The answers will however be vague as they are impossible to answer specifically.

Whatever you do, don't quit the day job until either you can afford to be unemployed for a good amount of time (with the chance to go back to work later if needed) or you have a proven track record in trading that makes you confident that you are not winning due to luck. Otherwise, fit the trading around your job.

Getting the money to trade is the least of your problems. Companies will let you trade lots of their money with very little own capital. You just have to be sure that you can pay it back if you lose!

Hope that helps in some way.
Click to expand...

Thanks coopster, I'm working my way through Trading for a living at the moment and have ordered a couple of other books to get me started.
 
Coopster,
Why would anyone slate you for recommending Elder? The rest of your advice is sound too. Chuck Le Beaus book was a Eureka for me..
 
builderman said:
Thank you counterviolent. 10000hrs? so just over three and a half years full-time, that seems about right for most professions. I'm going to have to see if I can work weekends to give me a chance to help the learning curve, the next two weeks I'm officially on holiday so I can get things started and try to digest the piles of online info.
Click to expand...

Whatever you do don't get fooled into taking expensive training courses by people telling you they'll teach you to trade in 2 days. Likewise anyone selling magic software or indicators is out to rip you off. 99% of people selling trading related products are just experts in marketing and couldn't trade profitably to save their lives.
 
pboyles said:
Whatever you do don't get fooled into taking expensive training courses by people telling you they'll teach you to trade in 2 days. Likewise anyone selling magic software or indicators is out to rip you off. 99% of people selling trading related products are just experts in marketing and couldn't trade profitably to save their lives.
Click to expand...

I agree and disagree oh board grand inquisitor...;) not sure if the percentage figure you quote is accurate, difficult to quantify, likewise the sweeping generalisation that "they're all out to get you" is a touch borderline paranoid..
 
When I first started, I asked myself a question:

"How much can I afford to lose in the first year?"
 
Black Swan said:
I agree and disagree oh board grand inquisitor...;) not sure if the percentage figure you quote is accurate, difficult to quantify, likewise the sweeping generalisation that "they're all out to get you" is a touch borderline paranoid..
Click to expand...

Have you seen how many of these training vendors have disappeared lately with people's money?
 
safvan said:
Here is an excellent article about procedural memory which comes out based on ones experience.

Every trader or investor or for that matter any professional should read this article. It would open up your eyes on how important practice is to a profession.

http://stockbee.blogspot.com/2010/02/understanding-procedural-memory.html
Click to expand...

(y)(y)

Excellent article. This is why I am an advocate study and practice...it definitely works. Ignore anyone who says studying and practicing with historical data is useless.
 
pboyles said:
Have you seen how many of these training vendors have disappeared lately with people's money?
Click to expand...

Er no...have you seen how badly people trade, simply gifting their money to the market/broker/sb firm...? But seriously, do you have a definitive list of these feral vendors who have "disappeared lately with people's money"?
 
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