[JPhillips]

Recently I began to educate myself on becoming a trader. I have been reading everything I can get my hands on from the web. I have no prior stock knowledge prior to what I have taught myself. I have been teaching myself since Nov/11. The more I learn the more I realize I don't know. I know I will not become a expert in a couple months time period but it seems as if though that I educate myself on only leads to more questions. My goal is to become a successful trader but the only problem is currently my cash flow is extremely limited and my knowledge of this business seems to be even more limited. So I send out a request to all traders who know how it feels to want to succeed at trading. Any information,advice,tips and suggestions will be received with the utmost respect and appreciation.

[JSChicago]

I think one of the reasons this business is so fascinating is that you are always learning and trying to answer questions so I wouldn't despair over this.

Just from my personal experience, I think new traders tend to set themselves up to lose by investing all their time and energy ( and money! ) in looking for the strategy that is a %100 winner. Forget it, it doesn't exist, the future can never be known.

For me, I turned the corner when I took a disciplined approach to a high-probability strategy.

[pipbanker]

Originally Posted by JSChicago »

new traders tend to set themselves up to lose by investing all their time and energy ( and money! ) in looking for the strategy that is a %100 winner. Forget it, it doesn't exist, the future can never be known.

.

What a great statement, can't say it better.
If you rush to success without a direction that's a way to hell. What direction should you pick..? That's a tough question. Most important point here is this: as long as you trade demo you are safe. Don't think about live trading until you double you demo acc.

There is an article that could help you find direction, but I think I can't post links here. PM me if you are interested.

[RealDemo]

Speaking as one who has floundered around in the pool of 'no direction' for some time, my advice would be to start to organise.

Start defining 'stuff' like 'I want to be a trader'. Trade what? and when? get a plan of attack together. Traders spend their time coming up with plans of attack.

The 'how?' comes later and is really a product of getting organised. There are a million and one 'hows' out there but you only need one. Technical/fundamental it needs to be one that you know inside out, applied to a market you know inside and out.

Do not get side tracked from concentrating on one market at the start. Your skill levels are in the basement and it's a long way up.

Study and apply your market ideas one at a time and keep notes.

At the beginning we're on a search, and we're really in the woods looking for treasure.
This is probably one of the most strange and interesting treasure hunts your ever likely to go on.

Stick post-it notes on trees so you know where you've been........

all the best.

[Bombardier]

Originally Posted by JPhillips »

My goal is to become a successful trader but the only problem is currently my cash flow is extremely limited and my knowledge of this business seems to be even more limited. Any information,advice,tips and suggestions will be received with the utmost respect and appreciation.

The first image that comes to mind of an independent trader is the one who stares at his 6 monitors around the clock with blinking cells all over. Obviously you tend to believe that being a day trader is the only way to live off the financial market. If I can give you one advice: This is a myth, therefore please stay away from day trading. It is the only way for marketers to portray some excitement in this job, so don't get the wrong expectation. Find a time frame that exploits trends in the broader perspective of several days to weeks. It is good to observe the market closely in the beginning of your trading career, but that does not necessarily require you to go in and out every minute. When watching price action, mind the following concept:

The market is a battleground for two opposing parties consisting of bulls and bears, who each fight for control. Bullish participants want the price to rise because only then they will make money, but they will forfeit money if the price falls. Bearish participants, on the other hand, have the exact opposite interest. The price action we are witnessing every day is a consequence of this dynamic fight which gets especially intense at certain zones called "support" and "resistance". If a trend is going higher according to the Dow Theory of higher highs and higher lows, you have bulls in a more advantageous position than bears. Nevertheless, bears counter against this influence at every opportunity of resistance and yield back, then regroup higher from where a fresh attack is more sensible and push the bulls back down to support. They in turn will regroup in larger numbers with the ambition to push prices back to resistance again, and beyond. This explains the frequent setbacks and ranges in an uptrend, but are not a reason to short altogether. The actual shift takes place when support is broken and bulls have lost the fight for control. According to my understanding, these are the best trade entries for short.

Once a trend is in place, it will not easily stop. Think about Newton's law of motion: a body wants to retain its current velocity until enough external force has acted on it to reverse. Imagine a freight train which, once at full speed, will need to bring up a lot of force and time to halt, let alone reverse its direction. Numerous wagons are attached to the locomotive which also need to be halted first, before the train has a chance to change its direction. Inertia does not allow anything else. The same applies to a market which involves so many participants who need to gradually change their bias and position first. The common worry among newbie traders of a trade going against them any time is unjustified. Reversing constantly and setting tight stops leads to an accumulation of losses which by all means could be avoided if the focus was more on the forest than the trees.

[Bombardier]

Originally Posted by RealDemo »

The 'how?' comes later and is really a product of getting organised. Study and apply your market ideas one at a time and keep notes.

I can fully support RealDemo's advice. Make physical printouts of charts and study them vigorously until you seem to understand the underlying market forces. You might want to use the 1H or 4H time frames to really see clear trends in the market, as the daily chart may hide promising entry opportunities with the best risk to reward ratio. Go with the trend, not against it. Enter at the starting point of a trend whenever possible, not in the middle or toward the end. This gives you the relaxed state of mind you need to manage your position properly. If you enter toward the end of a trend, you are forced to fast adjustments. Before you enter a trade, know when to exit. This complies well with Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". The battle is already won or lost before it has even begun. The entry decides upon success, so choose wise entries. Don't trade out of gut feeling.

[teckpro]

I second the below advice. I started to trade a year back and tried too many strategies and markets at the same time.
It cluttered my mind and also cost me in losses (though not significant).
Then I understood its not about the particular strategy or market. Most proven strategies will work if you really understand the risk and money management.

After this i picked one strategy and started to organize the data and interpret it. Backtesting the ideas helped a lot once I started looking at it again and again.

Currently I am using the Ichimoku indicator and Ninjatrader for my charts.
I study the charts everyday for 30 minutes and make notes on the trades based on the indicator entry criteria.

You can use a simple indicator like moving average cross to start with.
Main idea is to be able to look at the chart and at a glance understand support/resistance for the time period (5MIN,15MIN) you are trading on.

Every time you look at the chart you need to note down the parameters you need to enter a trade. You might have 1 or 10, but once you see the chart you need to make the note and then decide the entry.

I am also learning the above process for last few months and it is tough but you start getting the clarity as you spend more time in a structured manner.

P.S. Also you get more information in less time.

Hope this helps.....

Originally Posted by RealDemo »

Speaking as one who has floundered around in the pool of 'no direction' for some time, my advice would be to start to organise.

Start defining 'stuff' like 'I want to be a trader'. Trade what? and when? get a plan of attack together. Traders spend their time coming up with plans of attack.

The 'how?' comes later and is really a product of getting organised. There are a million and one 'hows' out there but you only need one. Technical/fundamental it needs to be one that you know inside out, applied to a market you know inside and out.

Do not get side tracked from concentrating on one market at the start. Your skill levels are in the basement and it's a long way up.

Study and apply your market ideas one at a time and keep notes.

At the beginning we're on a search, and we're really in the woods looking for treasure.
This is probably one of the most strange and interesting treasure hunts your ever likely to go on.

Stick post-it notes on trees so you know where you've been........

all the best.

[bonchi07]

Originally Posted by pipbanker »

What a great statement, can't say it better.
If you rush to success without a direction that's a way to hell. What direction should you pick..? That's a tough question. Most important point here is this: as long as you trade demo you are safe. Don't think about live trading until you double you demo acc.

There is an article that could help you find direction, but I think I can't post links here. PM me if you are interested.

I am interested in the article. Could you please send it?
Thanks