"Absorb what is useful..."

[esscubed]

"... Discard what is useless."

My favourite quote from my favourite icon, the late great Bruce Lee, and highly relevant I think.

I'm just starting out on T2W so thought I'd track my progress with a journal.

Partly to help me to stay disciplined, and also to make sure I don't miss any important steps. I will add more background info on me when its relevant but really just want to note my starting point, what I am reading, and what I haven't so I know where I'm up to.

At the moment I am existing on a pretty poor excuse for a laptop, and using delayed data from Google finance and their portfolio tool to keep track of a few shares I own (disastrous details later...), so I'm going to be starting from near scratch, choosing hardware, software, data feed and broker, as well as learning how to trade proficiently.

To date, threads I've read;
What are the pros and cons of Spreadbetting versus CFDs?
Can you recommend a data feed, charting software, & broker?
Realistically, how much money can I expect to make?
I'm new to Trading - where do I start?
How much money does a trader need to start trading? (short ans)
Essentials of 'first steps'

And I'm going to start having a look at some articles, first steps threads, and other threads next.

In the past I've read a few relevant books, I studied some market basics in an international finance module of a business MSc, did an IFS Diploma in financial markets and management whilst working at a corporate bank and I'm part way through self-studying the IMC at the moment.

The best books were;
Nasim Nicolas Taleb - Fooled By Randomness
James Surowiecki - The Wisdom Of Crowds
Robbie Burns - The Naked Trader

And I certainly feel like a starving artist so thats a good indication right? (joke)

I have the time at the moment to do this properly so the next couple of months should be interesting ones. Like most people tho, its very hard to spend lots of time on theory and feel like I am constantly delaying the action, I'm champing at the bit so to speak. I also read a lot of business books, ultimately my goal is self-employment of one form or another, so there's a fair chance I will be considering other entrepreneurial activities simultaneously, and we'll see what wins!!

Diligent academic hat on :smart: check
Ignoring multitudes of distractions :innocent: check
Enthusiasm in abundance :cheesy: check

Vamanos!

 

[Doomberg]

Good luck

 

[esscubed]

Thinking about platform and hardware setup

Thanks Doomberg and hroiwer, and thanks Doomberg and timsk for starting me off with the recommends

So it was a heavy weekend, I havent done too much since my last post. I've had a look at Metatrader 4/5 and at NinjaTrader today, the NinjaTrader website is ten times better so I'm swaying that way at the moment. It sounds like it has everything I need, lots of tools/functions I dont know how to use yet but also loads of things to help me learn like a free End Of Day service (from Kinetick) and backtesting functions. It has built in simulation so I can test strategies without needing a demo acct with a broker (can't be bothered looking for one at the moment), they boast about execution direct from charts and one click execution for forex, and they have lots of educational webinars about using the platform and about trading. So I'm sold (and its free) for now at least.

It also mentions being able to program your own indicators and other stuff in a language based on C#, does anybody on here do much of that? I doubt I'll be doing much of that soon but I do like customising things as much as possible.

First hurdle, my craptop probably wont be able to handle it! It runs on Vista (urgh) and just doesnt have the processing power, I only bought it to be able to browse and use Office. So I need a PC(/mac) of some sort... and considering building a PC myself to get more for my money. Obviously that is slower and I won't get a warranty but it should be ok.

Any preferences here between AMD and Intel, or PC and mac (contentious!)?
How about desktop vs laptop? It would be nice to be mobile... but more expensive. Also have to take into account whether I will need more than one screen.

Thank jeebus for the internet!
S

 

[Martinghoul]

Good luck...

 

[esscubed]

Just reading...

I've continued reading on the site, so far though all the beginner stuff seems to be drilling home the same 5/10 points, about what to do and what not to do. And obviously a lot of differing opinions in the threads as to whether x or y is true and if that is because a or b. Hoping to find more technical pieces now so I will start getting to grips with the theory.

Anyway I've now read:
Checklist for successful trading article, and
Seven deadly trading mistakes article, both from the essentials of first steps thread (3 more left there but hundreds highly rated on the Articles section itself! whoa)

Also, Lessons from successful traders (v good)
I want to learn...,
The best the internet has to offer,
Why you are failing and what you need to do, (really liked this one)
and £10k wipeout, all from Best threads in First steps.

Re: £10k wipeout, even tho it was culled that thread is a monster! A lot of the responses echoed each other and clearly hadnt read the other responses (understandable at 47 pages I think) but I was surprised at just how many posters there were who had also wiped out lots of funds because they had little clue! The OP is hopeless, I hope for his sake he has finally given up...

I have an abundance of bookmarks and sites to look at now, enough to delay me buying any books in the short term. I should really start making notes as I go because it will be easier to look back at rather than trying to track down references to bits and bobs across 20 different websites!

Installed NinjaTrader on my laptop now, albeit very slowly and going to run it shortly to see if it works ok. I am somewhat reluctant to start building a PC to trade on! A lot of the early stuff I read was in favour of top notch hardware for obvious reasons, but I dont want to make the outlay just yet... see how my TA & other learning goes first I think. If I am going to start by using EOD data for paper trading it will not really be very useful if I decide I am going to be making very short TF trades (unless I can replay in real time I guess), so will wait til after I have chosen an instrument at least, then look at feeds, then factor that in to a build.

I also hate Windows with a passion so would love to use Linux but this might stretch my abilities esp. while trying to learn the trading element as well. Plug and play does have its benefits, time-saving being the greatest!

Initial thoughts on instruments, I like the lack of tax on spreadbets, but the idea of slippage is completely unacceptable to me! So maybe I could start with CFDs (usually looked at as alternatives to each other...). I don't envisage tax being a problem in the first year, but it would certainly be a welcome one. Dont really know the pro's or cons of forex or futures yet tho. Also I have lots of questions about tax-bearing instruments and what the tax man expects to see? Effort required will be a major factor :cheesy:

Next stop - reading Econtrader's Technical Analysis pages end to end. Actually looking forward to it!! Very strange...

Hasta la proxima,
S

 

[esscubed]

More reading

Woo, no longer a Rookie! Altho... in reality... yes, yes I most definitely still am. :|

Anyhoo, my reading list continues, now read;
Everything you always wanted to know about trading by Dante,
and the first 10 pages of Algorithim Trading Experiences (phew!)

I got through all pages on Econtrader in one sitting. Turns out they are not that helpful, or too well written. Good heads up on the topics, but very little actual detail. (What did I expect from one page per topics normally covered by a whole book?)

Now also enrolled in School at Babypips.com, seems very useful, whether I end up trading forex or not.

Main problem at the mo is spending too much time reading other peoples journals, dont think they will help me at all until I know most of the theory. Another major distraction is the abundance of free comedy on BBC iPlayer. (Beats 'lulz' blindfolded with hands tied to its feet.) Namely Peep Show series 7 yesterday and Frankie Boyles Tramadol Nights the day before!!! Do many traders have this problem?? I bet they bloody do.

Back to School, see you next break.
S