Article Before you start, have you got what it takes?

[tcksee]

Very good and well worth reading a must for all newcomers

 

[Zenda]

would they ever admit it?

I wonder how many people do look up gullible in the dictionary!

They would never admit it - ??

 

[commanderco]

If I told all the Newbies to link up to a free charting service and begin by manually calculating 2 or 3 indicators and learning the relationship between HLOC on different time frames, I am sure that within a matter of days most of them will have spent money on courses, packages, books etc.
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Commanderco - great comment.

Do you or any other experienced traders out there have any recommendations to newbies on a good free charting software to opt for? Plan to progress onto a subscription-based charting package once the vast profits roll in :cheesy: but for now I have to keep within my (rather modest) means.

You will need to be specific ie forex, futures, stocks, indices etc
If I may make this observation, it is that when we all start out most of us simply just want to make money.
It is not that simple.
You need to find your interest in a corner of the markets and become at one with it.
Anyone who tells you to diversify across different markets is dead wrong. ( You can figure out why)

Start with broad macro approaches and narrow down until the final step is entry / exit.
I started with a programme to trade stocks. I had never liked stocks and yet that is where I started.
I took a hit in a fast falling market and that is when I learned about shorts.
From there I move to forex because my research ( yes, I was begining to think for myself at that stage) showed that fear (shorts) was a lot faster and deeper than greed ( longs)
I bought a fancy arsed programme that worked in points not pips.
I had never heard of a point before.
Being to pissed off to ditch the programme I changed to forex futures.
Eventually, after ditching the programme I began to follow the markets and became good at shorts. Now I take both sides comfortably, but they are quite quite different in behaviour.

I digress, back to your question.
State your markets and google for the appropriate free feed or ask the forum.
Never wander into Tiger country loaded for rabbit ... you will be eaten alive.

 

[frugi]

do not expect that my journey is any different from any other Trader.
It began with information overload.
It continued with information & technical overload.
It began to develop as I reduced the vast pile of information.
It became profitable as I focused and listened to the message of the markets.
It will hopefully continue as I become a "market whisperer"

There's a quote in a book I just read about a sculptor whom, when asked how he creates his masterpieces replies that he merely chips away all the bits of stone that aren't required until what remains is an object of beauty. The author then notes the obvious parallel with a trader's journey.

 

[TheSpikeyCrow]

Commanderco - thanks for your response. Dug a little deeper and found the answers I needed in a more relevant thread within the First Steps forum. As a novice, T2W is proving to be a highly valuable resource - I hope it proves as useful to others just taking their first tentative steps out there.

(Would have responded sooner but it has taken me this long to trace the trail of breadcrumbs back through the maze of T2W forums and threads and weblinks out to the starting point!)

 

[commanderco]

Commanderco - thanks for your response. Dug a little deeper and found the answers I needed in a more relevant thread within the First Steps forum. As a novice, T2W is proving to be a highly valuable resource - I hope it proves as useful to others just taking their first tentative steps out there.

(Would have responded sooner but it has taken me this long to trace the trail of breadcrumbs back through the maze of T2W forums and threads and weblinks out to the starting point!)

Happy to be of help Spikey.
Goodluck on your journey.
Drop us a message from time to time to let us know how you are going.

 

[RUDEBOY]

Good read, but that Somerset accent really got to me in the end, just kidding JB.

 

[Phenyo]

I like the recommended reads.

 

[Ardorm]

Took the time to answer all the questions. I think they are indeed important, plus the books solve the problem "where to start". Thanks a lot