help

[iriemassive]

Hi Guys,
i recently completed a course in reading charts an indicators, and was farely confident i could succefully make a lot of money in the american market trading options, but some unforeseen circumstances meant i lost some money before i could either start, i know have £700 left and a debt of just over £800, i've decided to wait build up some money and next year start trading with a could amount of capitol behind me, but for know i need some help, i need to at least double the £700 to pay off the credit card, i have a spread betting account but movementes are erratic and the spread means you have to go some points just to get to 0,
Can Some one help, what should i do, is there a short bterm investment i could buy shares in.
At 19 and this being my first journey into trading it kind of came to an end before it even started.
So give a kid a chance at Christmas.
Thanks So Much
Tom Oliver

 

[jklondon]

mm..if your trying to double up to get out of a tricky situation you could (and odds are you will) get depper into debt.

One option could be to switch the debt over to another interest free card for a longer term this will give you more time.

Apart from this I would trade with care and consider fixed return assets such as bonds.

Good Luck dude - you might just have to bite the bullet on this one and put it down to an expensive learning experience, we have all had one !

 

[ewilcox]

Pay off the credit card first before you even think of trading. Going into it thinking i must make x in y amount of time will only mean failure in my opinion. Also there is no such thing as a guaranteed short term investment - if there was there would be no need for a t2w. As JK says - good luck dude.

 

[tomorton]

Hi iriemassive -

Sorry to hear your report of first experiences. Technical analysis is just the start. Good TA can find you good positions, gert you in and out at the right levels.

But even then you will have a high percentage of trades that lose money, at least early in the career. Keep your positions shallow - so shallow even if you have a run of 10 or better 20 consecutive losses, you will still be fluid enough to trade. When you are consistent in wins / losers ratio AND individual profits outweigh individual losses consistently, deepen your positions, raise the stakes.

Money management can be worked out mathematically - eg ensuring you have a stop loss which never loses you more than x% of your capital. Trade on capital, not credit.

Don't rush - there is no compulsory retirement age for traders. There are many ways to win this game but the only way to guarantee you don't win is to get knocked out.

Keep reading t2w for good money management information. Good luck

 

[ardhill]

Hi Tom

Two points - the majority of successful traders lose money before making it, at least 85% of people who try trading loose money and don't make it back.

I am not trying to out you off, just help you realise the wisest next move - don't try and trade to get you out of debt, it doesn't work.

Pay off your debts, and when you have some spare money that you do not 'need', then start trading with cash again if you wish. Sorry man, I wish I could tell you which stock to pick to help you out, but I don't think that many competent traders would be willing to do that. It's hard enough trading without needing to pick a dead cert winner on the next trade.

Keep reading, paper trade and practice and you might find a particular book useful if you can spare the money, or ask someone to buy if for Christmas for you - friends and relatives may be wondering what to get you. Anyway, the book is "Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator" by Edwin Lefevre it's not a high priced trading book, but an old classic with sound wisdom about making and loosing money in the trading game among many other things. You can get it on Amazon and a few other places.

 

[Jumpin]

Be careful,

don't daytrade with spreadbetters,.... the spead is terrible and you need to be a fantastic trader just to break even.

 

[iriemassive]

cheers

Thanks Guys, I'm going to pay off the debt, i'm not going to day trade again, i'm going to use all my knowledge to trade options in the american market next year when i have some capitol behind me.
Thank you for all you replies
Merry Christmas xxxx
Tom

 

[roguetrader]

Hi Tom. would have to say looking down this thread you have received excellent advice and have arrived at a wise decision to take care of the debt first. One of the cornertone pieces of advice on approaching the markets, from any angle, is only to use money you can afford to lose. Obviously by having debt to start off flies in the face of this. Good luck, use the time wisely to build on your knowledge so you are even better equipped for success when you are ready to trade.

 

[Zenda]

Try No limit Texas Holdem!

Hi Guys,
i recently completed a course in reading charts an indicators, and was fairly confident i could successfully make a lot of money in the American market trading options, but some unforeseen circumstances meant i lost some money before i could either start, i know have £700 left and a debt of just over £800, i've decided to wait build up some money and next year start trading with a could amount of capitol behind me, but for know i need some help, i need to at least double the £700 to pay off the credit card, i have a spread betting account but movements are erratic and the spread means you have to go some points just to get to 0,
Can Some one help, what should i do, is there a short term investment i could buy shares in.
At 19 and this being my first journey into trading it kind of came to an end before it even started.
So give a kid a chance at Christmas.
Thanks So Much
Tom Oliver

Hi Tom - Try Poker!

Traders make great poker players - When I have a position open - there is not much you can do - there is a limit to how much research and knowledge you can put away in trading from home - I trade FX and US shares - Try something different and interesting like Learning to play Texas No Limit Holdem poker online - I play with Ladbrokes online poker (By far the best) I've tried most!! You can start with tiny stakes and you can win big - last month I won one tournament online and made $10,110 for an outlay of $11 only. - I was just one position away from winning a trip to the world championships WSOP in Las Vegas last year - all expenses paid -(compensation $3K) where an online player won $5M !!

It is the fastest growing pursuit in world and Traders make GOOD players because they must possess the same qualities - of - Discipline, Knowledge, experience, Money Management and control - Greed Fear Elation & risk are the excitement factors common with trading.- Its not as lonely as trading from home - you are playing with other players from around Europe over 4000 online at any one time (no yanks allowed- (there are poker rooms online with 50,000 players online most of the time - in Europe!) Traders have a very big advantage over the competition - You will lose in tournaments most of the time (same as trading ) but as long as the winners exceed the losers in cash terms it is easy to stay ahead. I find as a trader - that discipline is my biggest asset - I don't play every night maybe once or twice a week - I chose my games carefully - I prefer to enter small tournaments to qualify for the big ones and I dont play more than one game at a time. The similarities are very close! and uncannily the same emotional content! Patience, learning to watch your opponent - Like trading Its putting those odds on your side! Want to try it? there are plenty of demo accounts.

Does this sound familiar!

 

[TheBramble]

Thanks Guys, I'm going to pay off the debt, i'm not going to day trade again, i'm going to use all my knowledge to trade options in the american market next year when i have some capitol behind me.

Why options Tom?

 

[iriemassive]

Options? because that was what the course i took was teaching. Why?what else do you suggest?

 

[ewilcox]

Please avoid options. You have (sorry but true) no idea how any market works. You would be completely crazy to start out trading options. Just because that is what your course told you does not make it right. Most of us find it hard enough trading shares let alone derivatives. I would also say that options are for people who seriously know what they are doing. I.e. not me and certainly (IMHO) not you.

 

[des44]

Not to necessarily promote the game of poker, but I do have an interesting story that happened to me last year while in Scottsdale, AZ playing golf over a winter excursion.

My friend and I were paired with another couple of guys who were professional poker players. Their definition of "professional" is one who plays poker for a living--not needing any other supplemental income.

The two things they said that stood out to me were:
1) Play with strict rules What they mean is, have a set of rules and stick by them. Playing poker as a job means you HAVE to make more than you lose to actually be a professional player. For this to happen one can NOT depend on luck, but rather have a strict system in place that insure survival. They play their hands on online poker tables and use two monitors to play four tables at one time. They said they can only play their games successfully by having a set of rules that they play by. They force themselves to adhere to their own rules with little to no deviations to it or reaction to either winning and losing.

2) Playing poker is boring. Playing poker professionally has virtually no exciting emotional swings that gamblers like to experience while gambling. Gambling is an emotional drug for some. However these guys stay far out of that arena of luck. They know that losses are an absolute and they know that if they stick to their system they will win more than they lose and will be around tomorrow to play again. They know that their plan will take money out of the pockets of those who don't know how to play the game.

A side note: They do not want their whole day ate up playing poker thus the reason they play four tables at a time. They play until they make their daily goal and then go off to play golf the rest of the day.

Draw your own conclusion to the similarities.

d-

 

[TheBramble]

Options? because that was what the course i took was teaching. Why?what else do you suggest?

Why? Because trading options is not for beginners. I started out that way too...

What else do I suggest? Indices and popular stocks. What them like a hawk:- price, volume support, resistance, trends, channels, breakouts, cycles.

All the time you're getting your trading capital together again - do this for as many hours a day as you can. RT if poss - EOD charts if not.