[trk08]

I am fairly new at this. Admittedly I have made a bit of money (and sweated it out) but there is a great deal that I am still trying to get a grip on. I have considered two:
1. Larry Levin - Secrets of Traders - relatively expensive
2. M Parnass

The point would be to fill in gaps that I am unfamiliar with.

And of course there is so much 'stuff' around.

Any opinions would be helpful.
Thanks in advance

[brownsfan019]

trk - if you are new and looking for info, I'd suggest a few FREE websites and then start from there.

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/
http://www.cmegroup.com/education/index.html

See what interests you and then maybe get some books. I attached a PDF to this post w/ some of my favorites.

From there, you can decide what courses to consider paying for. Problem buying one right now is that you have no idea how/what you want to trade. If you buy a course that emphasizes lots of trades per day that may not suit you. Or maybe you are an action junkie that would be bored w/ a course that takes 1 trade per day.

I know the temptation at first is to purchase the key to the ATM machine and you'll learn to adapt to it but you'll eventually find out that there is no key and there is no ATM machine just sitting there waiting for you. What you will eventually see is that this is incredibly hard and difficult work that many are not cut out for. You'll see that if someone was truly a good trader and making good money, there's no way they'd be selling it online for a few thousand dollars. Something that produces regular income is literally priceless. If it did as advertised firms like Goldman Sachs, Smith Barney, etc. would purchase it for MILLIONS AND MILLIONS. But it would of course be proven to make money. Which would be a serious problem for most of these vendors.

[CandleWhisperer]

Originally Posted by brownsfan019 »

... if you are new and looking for info, I'd suggest a few FREE websites and then start from there...See what interests you and then maybe get some books. I attached a PDF to this post w/ some of my favorites.

Originally Posted by brownsfan019 »

...You'll see that if someone was truly a good trader and making good money, there's no way they'd be selling it online for a few thousand dollars. Something that produces regular income is literally priceless. If it did as advertised firms like Goldman Sachs, Smith Barney, etc. would purchase it for MILLIONS AND MILLIONS. But it would of course be proven to make money. Which would be a serious problem for most of these vendors.

Would somebody please explain the difference between a person selling a course and a person writing a book.

If the premise is a person selling a course could make 10xs more money actually trading the stuff he is selling and thus the information must be suspect. Why is this not the same for an author? Especially in today's world. Where the net basically makes distribution issues non existent. Who wants to worry about publishers when you can create a site on your own?

Don't get me wrong, most of the stuff on the web is junk. It plays on a newbies desire(human nature in general) to make easy money. But there is no agency that certifies book sellers as honest. I don't believe the difference is price. There is an underlying different prejudice involved. What is it, and why?

[steve46]

Its seems to me that there are many ways to get information about the markets and trading in general. I would suggest the Exchanges first and then books (with caution) and finally when you have some experience to fall back on, look to internet sites (again with great caution).

The majority of participants get involved (in actual trading) long before they should. Generally new traders overestimate their abilities, thus they lose money either quickly or slowly because they are groping the dark, or operating with information that is dated or ineffective.

There is one approach that always works if you can pull it off.

Do what works, and by that I mean....look carefully at the idea or concept you are learning about...Test it in the market by careful observation first, then see if you can execute the strategy or method in a way that gets you in place to profit while managing risk appropriately. Look at the result. If after a short learning process (a month or two at most) you see some promise (meaning you see a way to actually make a profit while limiting loss) then you have something. Apply this to any book, concept, method, any traders advice, and you will have a good "acid test". In my view the rest is people talking and as the old saying goes "talk is cheap".

Hope this helps.
Steve

[DbPhoenix]

Originally Posted by CandleWhisperer »

Would somebody please explain the difference between a person selling a course and a person writing a book.

If the premise is a person selling a course could make 10xs more money actually trading the stuff he is selling and thus the information must be suspect. Why is this not the same for an author? Especially in today's world. Where the net basically makes distribution issues non existent. Who wants to worry about publishers when you can create a site on your own?

Don't get me wrong, most of the stuff on the web is junk. It plays on a newbies desire(human nature in general) to make easy money. But there is no agency that certifies book sellers as honest. I don't believe the difference is price. There is an underlying different prejudice involved. What is it, and why?

Depends on the contents of the course and of the book. Mark Douglas, for example, isn't selling a system in Trading In The Zone. He instead focuses on helping the trader to develop his own. And books are usually available at the library. For free.

The trader who's looking for someone to tell him what to do for a price will have no trouble finding those who are eager to do so. All he has to do is stand still and they'll be all over him. But it's his money, and if he's dumb enough to waste it, it's his business.

[Eiger]

Originally Posted by trk08 »

I am fairly new at this. Admittedly I have made a bit of money (and sweated it out) but there is a great deal that I am still trying to get a grip on. I have considered two:
1. Larry Levin - Secrets of Traders - relatively expensive
2. M Parnass

The point would be to fill in gaps that I am unfamiliar with.

And of course there is so much 'stuff' around.

Any opinions would be helpful.
Thanks in advance

You are taking a prudent approach by asking this question.

I am familiar with neither L Levin nor M Parnass, so can't offer a comment on these.

As you mention, there is a lot of 'stuff' around. There is no real control over the quality of the material (e.g., no peer review panels), so some is high quality, some just stuff.

From my perspective, I can think of two things to suggest:

First, learn how to read a chart. Learn how to read bar-by-bar and how to read the structure of the chart. There are several useful sources on this. Look up the Wyckoff Course, Tom Williams, VSA, Merrill, Neil Humphreys. Even if you like indicators, you still need to know how to read the price and volume action and what they mean.

Second, look for things that have stood a reasonable 'test ot time' and are recognized by most as significant, if not definative, in their area. New stuff is OK, but you would be better served by grounding yourself in the standards in the field first. Keep in mind that the basic action of the markets hasn't changed much from when the markets first began. This is because the markets are essentially an expression of mass human behavior, and that hasn't changed in thousands of years (nor will it change in the foreseeable future). The standards are, therefore, quite valuable. So, if you want to understand the MACD, look up George Appel; Market Profile, see Dalton; Fibonacci, check out Joe DiNapoli; channels and envelops, look to John Bollinger; day trading and short swing methods, Larry Conners; Elliott Wave, Prechter; basic chart patterns, Schabacher; trading the S&Ps, Linda Raschke; applied rocket science, John Elhers.

When you have hit on something that 'speaks' to you, then go take a course on that subject, preferably by the author or someone recognized for that work.

Hope this is helpful,

Eiger

[BlowFish]

Originally Posted by Eiger »

You are taking a prudent approach by asking this question.

I am familiar with neither L Levin nor M Parnass, so can't offer a comment on these.

Originally Posted by DbPhoenix »

The trader who's looking for someone to tell him what to do for a price will have no trouble finding those who are eager to do so. All he has to do is stand still and they'll be all over him. But it's his money, and if he's dumb enough to waste it, it's his business.

Asking the question but doesn't want to hear the answer which was plainly spelled out in the thread about secret of traders.

[brownsfan019]

Originally Posted by CandleWhisperer »

Would somebody please explain the difference between a person selling a course and a person writing a book.

If the premise is a person selling a course could make 10xs more money actually trading the stuff he is selling and thus the information must be suspect. Why is this not the same for an author? Especially in today's world. Where the net basically makes distribution issues non existent. Who wants to worry about publishers when you can create a site on your own?

Don't get me wrong, most of the stuff on the web is junk. It plays on a newbies desire(human nature in general) to make easy money. But there is no agency that certifies book sellers as honest. I don't believe the difference is price. There is an underlying different prejudice involved. What is it, and why?

Difference?

THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS.



You can buy A LOT of trading books for a few hundred or even $1,000. You can get ONE course for $5000+.

Not to mention that it takes a little more substance to get a publishing deal from a reputable house vs. setting up a website in 30 minutes & calling yourself a guru.