[launchcodemexico]

Sevensa:

Thank you. Your rather short comment not only teaches me about the limits I'm up against, but the mentalities I'm contending with.

I know I want to see net positive returns in the least time possible; over many gains and losses of course. I'm not sure what the reasonable metric is for a beginner like me and maybe others can chime in. A few cents a day? A few dollars a week? A few pennies a month? A few dollars every 3 months? Or would this vary, completely determined by my personality and experience? The shorter the evaluation time the better of course.


Rectav:

This could be a few lines so I hope some of you will stay with me.

My current knowledge and feel for the markets, is probably that of the general public: I enjoy the news, paying attention to global dynamics, keeping channels like CNN or CNBC on 24/7, etc. So I have this broad feel of the trends hypothetically suited for general long term low-risk investing; run of the mill Mom n' Pop type Investor trading.

If I were to classify and prioritize my familiarity with the markets it would probably be something like this:

1. Popular Tangibles (real physical products) and Technology
2. Commodities (tied to products)
3. Popular Service products (credit industry, etc.)
3. Intangibles (ForEx, futures, funky indices of all sorts, etc.)

But with only 5000 to start with, I feel any stock that I even think I know anything about (popular ones like Nike, Google, Visa, oil, gold, etc...) will just be too expensive for me to learn anything substantial before I blow my bankroll. I really want my 5000 initial capital to last as long as possible, so I'm perfectly happy making pennies as long as I'm making more than I lose, and that knowledge can eventually be scaled up to dollar amounts. I'm not a rich individual by far, and this money was a gift to me which I'm using for educational purposes. So I'm not here to make money just yet.

I also want to familiarize myself with the mechanics of trading as fast as possible (stops/limit orders, shorts, etc...), and long term trading just won't teach me enough in a short enough amount of time. I need routine daily practice.

One thing I know for certain is that I have an obsession over trends of any kind (economic, socio-political, ones that exist in pseudo-virtual game worlds, or even fashion) which I think many of you can relate to. So independent of what I may know about a market, I will endlessly pore over the numbers, and research, just to test if my forecast was correct, which theoretically can also suit me for shorter term swing trading or even day trading; which I think is what fits my needs and limitations at the moment.

From what I hear about day trading, it's essentially as much about playing the traders themselves as it is the market values.

[bakrob99]

From a fellow Canadian Trader (also with a Economics Degree), here's my advice.

Your account is too small for most commodities. You could setup a micro Forex account, or trade the new CME FX-Micro Futures. They would be about the right size.

In this way, you could swing trade currencies with the 6 primary currencies available through the CME without having too much leverage. And they tend to trend well over time. I recommend setting up an account with a SIMULATOR. Spend some time on it and take 20 trades treating it like you would your real account. After you have successfully managed 20 trades and their results fit with your profit expectations, then take the next 20 live. But start with small size. Max of 2 Micro Contracts on no more than 2 symbols at the same time.

If I were you I'd open up an IB account as they have a very good Canadian presence and they have an excellent platform (I don't use them myself but only becuase I have already opened accounts a other US based companies)

Good luck. Let us know in another 6 months how it's going for you.

[bakrob99]

Oh ... one more thing.

Sign up at Free Dan Gramza Trading Videos and get Dan's free daily videos. Go back over the past many months day by day to get a feel for how his work performs in various markets. I think this will open up some swing trading ideas which you could employ.

[sevensa]

Originally Posted by launchcodemexico »

Sevensa:

Thank you. Your rather short comment not only teaches me about the limits I'm up against, but the mentalities I'm contending with.

I know I want to see net positive returns in the least time possible; over many gains and losses of course. I'm not sure what the reasonable metric is for a beginner like me and maybe others can chime in. A few cents a day? A few dollars a week? A few pennies a month? A few dollars every 3 months? Or would this vary, completely determined by my personality and experience? The shorter the evaluation time the better of course.

My advise would be that your only goal should be to be positive over several months. This is pointless to come up with daily goals if you don't even know what markets and methodology you are going to use. This is like asking how big a house you can buy after you sell your hollywood script to a producer, without even having an idea what your script is going to be about or if you even can write one.

Figure out what you want to trade and how you want to trade and only then will you have a better idea of what targets you can realistically expect from the market and methodology you use.

You also keep saying that you want this timeframe to be quick. Forget about that. This is not going to be quick. This is going to take you years to learn the profession. Keep in mind that if you are going to treat this as a part time hobby, then you should expect the results to be like a part time hobby. I am not aware of many hobbies actually being profitable and most of them cost money and this is what you should expect from a part time hobby.