[cowcool]

Kinda desperate here. I lost a lot of money and a house in mutual fund and stock trading since the beginning of 2008 and my small business is not profitable (it was). I have 3 dependants rely on me (wife and 2 children)

During the last 6 months I have been reading a lot of stock trading books but still no success so far, my biggest mistake was ... I jumped into trading without doing some paper trading excersises plus improper psychological and money management discipline.

I paid for the mistake costly. Sometimes I really really feel guilty for my children.

I still have some money left , only $ 42.000,- in my saving account. Can anyone here point me to a very good trading system/online training, I don't mind paying for it as long as it is proven to be good trading system (no scam please).

Thx..

[Tams]

give up trading for now


don't think about trading until you have some solid method/strategy, which might take you ~ 3 years to develop.

[walterw]

Originally Posted by Tams »

give up trading for now


don't think about trading until you have some solid method/strategy, which might take you ~ 3 years to develop.

I have to agree with Tams.. trading should be done as an extra income activity if you are not professional enough... methods can be very good, but if you psicology is under pressure, you most probably will not be able to make money even with good methods... hope helps, cheers Walter.

[JEHs]

This one tugs at my emotions a little bit. I'm thinking I would not wish the journey you are about to undertake on anyone. I have been at it for many years and only recently have begun to think I am seeing the light of day. The most important thing you need to do if you want to be a trader is figure out how you are going to make a living for your family while you learn this. Just like if you were going to go back to school. You need to figure out the personal and financial logistics of how you are going to get from there to where you want to be. And I don't mean looking for a method or system, (there isn't one). You need to figure out how you can get a job that will allow you the time and energy to devote to learning this craft. It is hard. If this is something you really need to do, then nothing anybody says will discourage you, but you might want to think long and hard and have many long conversations with your wife about this and talk to traders who are doing it and ask them how the learning process went for them.
Dude. Seriously.
And don't even think of trading one more dime of your savings until you have a good solid grasp of something. You will need that money to live.
Sorry to take such a negative tone, but I just have to say...Dude...Seriously... there is no way you could possible have any idea what it is you are trying to do and what it will take to get it done. I am not just saying this, I have a pretty good idea what I am talking about.

John

[diablo272]

You should not be trading live right now. You can trade on a sim, but DO NOT use real money. I repeat: NO TRADING FOR YOU until you're sure the people who depend on you won't be affected by your mistakes.

There are loads of traders who would love to take that remaining $42,000 from you, including myself, but I don't think that would be fair to your kids. Keep that in mind.

[Soultrader]

cowcool, the advice provided by Tams, walterw, JEHs, and diablo272 are probably the straight and most honest reply you will receive. Considering your situation, the edge is against you.... guilt will lead to revenge trading with a possibiliy of a major blowout in 1-2 trades. Use only risk capital in trading.... $42k in savings is not risk capital with 3 dependants. There must be other ways to turn your situation around. The market will always be here when you are ready, whether it be 2, 3, 5, 10 years. With the psychological pressure and stress which you may currently be experiencing, trading is not a good option. It must be approached with a clear mind because your emotions will reflect your situation.

[BlowFish]

I have to echo what has been said. Resist the temptation to jump back in to get you out of a hole. Unless things have significantly changed in you and your approach your results will not be significantly different. From your recent questions since you joined here I would strongly suspect they have not.

You are in a particularly difficult place (that I have found myself in on a couple of occasions) and that is having suffered a pretty substantial draw down. Even with a 'winning system' I will bet a penny to a pound that you will have difficulty following it. This is when the fear really cuts in and you (if you are anything like most of us) will start doing things that you know are wrong. The subconscious/emotions call it what you like, will start operating the mouse button for you out of fear of loosing again. You might want to read Mark Douglas' books he explains this quite well and most people recommend them.

I would devote the as much (or more) energy into preparing yourself to trade again as searching for a system.

[Harlequin]

There isn't much I can add to excellent advice already given. So I'll just add my personal experience.

When I first started like most others I thought I'm smart I'll be making money in a few months or a year from now. Well it turned out to be nearer 3 years. I was lucky enough to have enough savings, low outgoings and no dependants to stay in in long enough to finally get there.

Never trade with scared money.

Try and find a regular job to get you through whilst learning all you can about trading.

Best of luck.