Serious help needed for eager beginner!

[mikea01]

I think that when I start trading (paper trading firstly), that I should keep a diary of every trade documenting what I thought I did well and what I did poorly on a trade and try and learn from my mistakes. It may not be emmediately obvious to me what I have done wrong sometimes, but by keeping a diary i should be able to start seeing a pattern. Over time, the list of poor things per trade should hopefully start to diminish. Stating the obvious, I guess it also goes to show that you also can't beat experience.

 

[TheBramble]

Stating the obvious, I guess it also goes to show that you also can't beat experience.

Spot on. The trick is to last long enough to get that experience.

Preservation of capital is paramount. And that doesn't just mean on trades themselves. That means for your entire trading infrastructure: hardware, software, feeds, intelligence (the kind you can acquire) and information. Every £/$ spent on infrastructure is a £/$ you're not going to be able to directly put to work to generate profits. Makes sense to keep that as small as possible in relation to your trading capital - at all times.

Which means, you get to upgrade and trade up on your infrastructure as a direct function of your trading success.

 

[reddragon]

Hi,
Can i suggest that you look at www.incrediblecharts.com
there is a lot of info on technical analysis listed in the beige
column on the left hand side.



You've started a long journey - best wishes.

Reddragon.

 

[mikea01]

Thanks Reddragon, I'll have a look today. I think that I now have a hell of a lot of pointers and good advice to set me in the right direction from everyone who has replied. I'll keep you all informed on how things are progressing over the coming months.

Thanks to everyone

Mike

 

[zagreb]

some thoughts

- it is naive to think that part-time trader will take money from someone who does this as a profession. Zero-sum means no money left for semi-dedicated

- great site, but more 'Shakespeare' than 'Soros' attitudes on boards here.

- trading is simple (contrary to majority of posts here), but it is tough to stick to this fact

- first couple of years you will learn. Years after that you will spend abandoning 70% of what you learned (see line above). It will cost you time, money and enthusiasm (most important)

- best way to learn any skill is to look behind pro's back (someone who excells at it). It means that finding right mentor can save you tons of time, effort, money and frustration. They say it takes patience, time and effort, but deep inside we all know that shortcuts exist. Yet they are not availabe to all. As Seykota said everybody gots what he wants.

- years spent on learning and practiting is good proposal for a dentist. He will have respect, money and career. Contrary, majority of traders after same period spent will have hole in the pocket, disrespect from friends, relatives and self-doubt. Nobody has respect for a loser.

- for those that really endure along path, sky is the limit. Btw. intelligence has nothing to do with it.

cheers

 

[t2wjunkie]

IB vs other online brokers

Hi Guys

IB seems like a popular choice on this forum. I would like to trade stocks and so far the online brokers (e.g. self trade etc) charge GBP12.50 for a trade and IB only seem to charge GBP 6. Surely I am missing something as it's unlikely that IB is significantly better (I am afraid I may be missing the point here..??)

Would appreciate any advice.

Thanks!!!

What you've done so far is absolutely correct, at least insofar as you haven't spent anything.

As for brokers, look to the reviews for help, but basically you want somebody who's fast, accurate, and cheap. Many people -- including me -- like Interactive Brokers, and if you're going to trade stocks, or at least nothing exotic, IB might be just fine for you.

As to the wrong choice of reading material, there probably isn't one. This isn't to say that what you read initially won't later turn out to be nonsense, but I suggest you not allow someone to tell you in advance whether it's nonsense or not. If you approach trading correctly, you'll discover for yourself soon enough whether what you've read is nonsense or not.

There's certainly plenty enough to read, from stacks of books on The Nature Of Markets to How To Make A Million Dollars A Day Trading Naked In Your Kitchen By Using This Proprietary Stochastic Setting, Yours For The Paltry Sum Of [$]. You can start with the "classics" a la Livermore, or you can delve into the psychology of it all with Douglas. If you're interested in a list, there are plenty. But you may also want to graze the Knowledge Lab here since many of the contributors -- such as Vad Graifer and Brett Steenbarger -- are authors or traders or both. And it's free. And the threads devoted to each article enable you to ask questions.

That should be enough for tonite . . .

 

[damianoakley]

I think that when I start trading (paper trading firstly), that I should keep a diary of every trade documenting what I thought I did well and what I did poorly on a trade and try and learn from my mistakes. It may not be emmediately obvious to me what I have done wrong sometimes, but by keeping a diary i should be able to start seeing a pattern. Over time, the list of poor things per trade should hopefully start to diminish. Stating the obvious, I guess it also goes to show that you also can't beat experience.

Hi Mike,

This is an excellent idea. Every new trader should get into the habit of doing this.

Being able to look back and critique your own trades will prove invaluable.

Make sure you record as much detail about each trade as possible, including what made you enter the trade and what made you exit the trade.


Thanks

Damian