Realistic Strategy

[jkelland]

Right I am as new as you can possibly get in this game, and already my mind is messed up with all the choices!

I have tried to avoid all the geniuses in the market offering to make me £1million out of peanuts.... if it were that simple they wouldn't be writing Internet websites would they...?? I bet however they 'scalp' plenty fools out there at £200+ a shot.... OUCH !!!!

Right so now that I got the gripe off my chest the aim of this request is to find out exactly where I should start with all this. There seem to be many trading types, rules, strategies, tools and so forth. I am sure over time I will get to dabble in most of these and scalp myself in the process, but right now I need to get started with a low risk approach.

As far as I can tell SB seems to be about the best way to go (with a Stop Loss). I also think trading only indices, and top 100/30 blue chips may be a good idea.

Please correct me at anytime as I may be dreaming up a heap of rubbish.

Is it feasible to set myself some goals, or is the industry that pot luck that I'll be lucky to exit with a shirt on my back?

I am very happy to make several small wins here and there and slowly build the kitty.... unless anybody else has a better idea?

Anyone know where I can get my hands on a virtual trading account (using the same instruments I would like to start with, i.e. SB)?

I will stop annoying you all know and go back to staring at some graphs that keep doing the opposite of what I would like them to do...

 

[TBS]

first port of call:

1. What hours of the day can you trade?
2. How many days per week can you trade?

This will help to narrow down what markets you are actually able to follow, and start to give some ideas as to what type of trading you have an evens chance of making work.

 

[jkelland]

Time

Well I guess I can trade whenever (although not constantly glued to my monitor).

I do work fulltime, but I can run stock tickers or whatever on my monitor to keep updated on what is happening.

In terms of looking for good investments I think I probably have a fair amount of time depending on what is involved. I am tired of the race and would like to get out. I am in no way pinning my hopes on stock trading. I have done many other things, even arbitrage (talk about thin chance of success... hehe)

I will do what it takes, in investing the necessary time and resources to make it work. The industry is very exciting and I find it enjoyable, although perhaps when I start losing my money I may change my mind on that!

You know what I mean... I am in 'test phase' now to see if this is something I can actually do, and make a realistic go of.

 

[mombasa]

try www.capitalspreads.co.uk for a demo account

u get 10K to start of with - see how long u can make that last

 

[jkelland]

Demo Trading

Excellent, this is exactly what I have been looking for.... might give me an indication of whether I will remain married or not!! hehe

Any advised books on this topic that are relevant to what beginners.... ?

 

[mombasa]

suggest u look thru Chartmans trading the dow series - there are links to a summary somewhere by Neutron Bomb.

 

[rossored]

you might find this useful if you havent already read it

http://www.trade2win.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8332

 

[iainpw]

Don't know about staying married when you are trading as my wife keeps threatening to divorce me because i spend too much time on the computer!!!!!
If you open an account with Finspreads you can place real bets for 2 months with amounts as small as 1p/pt.

Iain