Please help a newbie? Really need advice!

d.weglarz13

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Hey guys. I am going to try to make this a simple as I can. I have no experience of any kind, nor a financial backround of any type. But, trading I feel is the right path for me, as i can't seem to stop being obsessed with everything about it. I am reading as much as I can everyday, especially on these forums, and can't stop thinking about trading all day and all night long. Well, the bottom line is that my dream is to be a successful trader, and I need a bit of advice.
I am going through a rough part in my life right now, and I need to get everything together. My girl is getting frustrated with me right now, because its been a little while since I have been working, due to a back injury. If I would have realized about trading a few years ago, I could have been coming out of college with a financial degree or something and hopefully go into a bank or trading room fresh out of school, the way most traders on Wall Street start getting coffee or whatnot.
But, the truth is, my whole life I have pretty much been a bum. I screwed up college a while back, and since have been working crap jobs that I just hate. So, here comes the part where I need your advice.....
I called a job on craigslist the other day, about trading/stock trading sales type of work. Now, like I said, my dream is to be a trader, but I am not sure if this is the best way to go or not. The job seems to be more sales than anything else, as the boss told me that we would be on the phone all day long making call after call. Now, I have done this type of thing before with mortgage modifications, but due to the all the fraudulent activity at the time, I got out. So, I need to know what you guys feel about this "boiler room" type of "trading"? The boss said he pays for us to take and learn the Series 7, and I think the 63 also. Then, after that he pays like 200 a week salary to get us started until we start opening our own accounts. Now, like I said, I need your advice because I know pretty much nothing about the industry except what I have been reading, and want so bad to get into it, but do not want to go into it the wrong way, especially with the stress in my relationship already. Plus, the training is 4 weeks no pay. So, if you guys tell me that there is a better way to learn and get into this industry, then great. I will not feel too bad about not taking this job. But, if this is the only option for me right now, since I have no backround degree in anything important, than perhaps I will need to figure things out and try once again to ask my girl to bare with me some more. And, I don't mean to sound silly, but I really need some opinions on the matter, as the job starts this Monday. I am currently 28 years old, just got my associates degree in liberal arts, and am now attending Stony Brook part time while wondering if I should take classes on this financial stuff, or just make my life easier and work a couple more crap jobs or whatever for now, and keep reading until I can learn open my own account and start trading for myself successfully. It seems to me what I have read so far, that this might be the best bet for me, as I am not 20 years old anymore, fresh out of school with some MFE degree or something. I guess the only way to get to Wall Street is to do it right out of school. Or am I wrong? I really need some guidance here. The last thing I want right now is to end up making hundreds of phone calls everyday in the hopes of getting a client or two, and struggling to make another "salesman" commission unstable pay, unless the rewards are really great for my hard work. But, a trader that I asked a few days ago, said that i would probably just be braking my back to make the broker money, and if i get a rough spot, they will probably let me go anyway. Is this your guys' opinions too on this? Is this my only option? Or is there a better more solid way of going about this? Like i said, i am just starting Stony Brook University so if some classes and a degree are what i need, perhaps I can start looking into that. If you guys say that it doesn't matter how to get into the industry, as long as i get into it, then like I said, it will add a lot of stress to everything in my life right, now, but it is the type of stress I CAN deal with, as i said this is my dream to do this eventually. I can do it down the road a bit, if you guys tell me its possible, but i am not sure if this job i landed is a once in a blue moon opportunity, especially for someone like me who screwed up in college before this. But, if i can always get this job, than it makes things easier. Just please, the more opinions the better. I am truly confused, and would hate to not take a great opportunity, even with my fiancee losing her patience! And, please understand that I am a real newbie at this, but I DO want to eventually pursue this as either a career or a lucrative hobby.(but rather a career eventually I think.)
Thanks for taking the time to read this whoever does, and again, any and all opinions are welcome. I truly need some advice here, as the day of truth is the day after tomorrow. Thanks again very much for your patience and understanding.
Dave Weglarz
 
No replies? I know I may sound silly because I am just learning, but can assure you that I truly want to pursue this as a career. The job starts tomorrow, and would like a few opinions to guide me in making my decision, because it is an important one for right now due to other matters. Thanks again for your time.
Dave
 
I recon a lot of people are thinking about what the markets are going to do on opening tomorrow to read such a long post. I recon, edit the post its very long and re-post it edited when the markets have chosen directions and volatility has eased.

For the time being go along with the job if you have nothing to lose and can easily leave it.

btw I only skipped over your post, so don’t take my advice.
 
hi d.weglarz13
First spend a lot of time reading this site and others.
Trading is not as easy as it looks
Stick to one market with a low spread if in UK 1 pip with etx/ig
Trade no more than 1/2 % of your bank so if you have 1000 your risking £ 10/20 per trade
always use a stoploss to limit your risk.
Read up about Pivots,stochastic,exponential moving average,bollinger bands , support and resistance etc
Feel free to contact me if you need help after doing this.
Between 93 and 95% of traders fail as they either don't learn,won't learn or get too greedy all of which
i have done during the last 10 years trading.
good luck
 
Okay thank you guys. And, yes, I do have my other crap job(that i hate btw) that I would be leaving if this job is a good step, so there comes in the stress with my fiancee part.
I do appreciate all the help so far. And, this is what I am trying to do, learn. But, the job seems to call for more of a call center/sales type of person, which I care not to really be. I want to learn the markets, not learn how to solicit calls. You know what i mean?
But, again, I can be wrong about this and I hope Im not.
Dave
 
By the way, I am from the states. I haven't found as useful a forum in the US as this one. Thanks again.
Dave
 
Cool Thanks. Its a Forex trading site, but cool anyway. i like this site because of all the basics that are covered.
 
I think you should be grateful that you've landed yourself a job in the first place. It's highly unlikely you'll get your dream job working on wall street when it's such a competitive environment out there and there'll be loads of candidates more qualified than you. Stick to doing your day job for now no matter how tough and boring it is, save up some money and sort your life out. When life becomes less stressful and more stable for you, then start thinking about maybe starting a small trading account. Opening a trading account is the last thing you wanna be doing when you've got so many stressful things going on in your life.
 
I didn't take the time to read through your whole essay, but I will give you some advice since you're starting out. NEVER PAY TO LEARN HOW TO TRADE! In other words stay away from scammers on the internet. Here's a thread in which scammers are listed on personal experience of traders: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=212110&perpage=6&pagenumber=77 Scroll to mid-section of the page. It's a living document so new names are added all the time.

Besides that read the attachment. Lot of scammers try to learn you how to trade on the basis of TA, don't go there. Quit dreaming about trading for a living, this is mentally the toughest job on the planet!

If you want more to the point advice on your issues, then I suggest you write that down in one sentence. Makes it easier for others instead of reading through that whole story you wrote ;)!
 

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there s nothing more eye opening than watching your money disapear at an alarming rate in front of your s in fact so f---- fast that by the time you realised you ve lost your a few hundred or even a few thousand uk pounds in the shi-

go and do the boiler room job pay attention learn and more important be good at what you do and when you ve became good then become great then go start trading ( unless your got an extremly wealthy family to support your **** up)
 
Cool Thanks. Its a Forex trading site, but cool anyway. i like this site because of all the basics that are covered.

Hi dave,

How's it doing?...:D...ahm, you know what I have to say that I really admire your effort of soliciting ideas from experienced traders, coz indeed it will really help you...a lot...and I'm pretty sure that whatever you have learned from them ( long time traders) and from their expert advise really gives you an edge in trading.right?..I'm also new in trading and it took me a lot of effort and money just to arrive in my let's say a little bit stable situation that I am savoring right now, however I am not taking it for granted. I always have to stay careful and vigilant to the latest trend of the market or else I will be loosing all my money and especially my effort in wanting to make it big. When I started, I used to also ask for an advise from friends and well known traders, like I am spending long time reading and scrutinizing information in forex sites and forums like this. Also, I always watch videos uploaded in you tube to help me understand more easier what I have to learn, and it really pays!.. I suggest that you watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/user/tradeartist?blend=8&ob=5#p/u/0/0DugrE4NZyA

and some other related links for that, I'm certain that it will give enlightenment to your "confused" and may I say "hesitant" mind?..:)...I personally believe that if you badly love what you are doing then there is no way for you to lose and give up..all you have to do is to continue learning and take time to weigh things out and more importantly value all your experiences, may it be bad or good, for sure it will bring you to success..best of luck...

Cortney,
 
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