Hello everyone, Glad to be part of ET. I have been searching this site for days reading up on some threads and learning from members. A little background info about me. I'm 25, have a cell phone repair/export business since I was 22. I do not have a job, I make a living on my own. I have a degree in finance and have been investing since 17. My strategy has been buy and hold and it has gone pretty well for me. My cumulative return in the past 6 years has been 188% compared to the S&P 500 Total return of 99%. I'm a student of the school of Warren Buffett Philosophy. I still own stocks from when I bought back in 2009. I'm here today to learn more about trading. I decided my cell phone business isn't my passion. I enjoy it, but every morning and evening before working I would read about stocks, bonds, finance, economics, etc. My passion lies somewhere there. I have money to invest in trading. Money I can afford to lose if the outcomes turns out that way. I'm opening a account at a prop firm in Miami. I told them I have no experience in trading but I'm eager to learn and surround myself in that environment. The prop firms has bi weekly meetings and I made myself known as a long term investor. But I realize at these valuations there is nothing cheap to buy and hold. Thus, leading me to trading. What I'm looking for here on ET is any professional advice/insight on trading. Any really good articles about options and equities that helped you. Insight that helps you make money and traders everyday. I have already bought several books and reading through those. What interest me is swing trading. Hold my position for 1-4 weeks makes sense. I have No experience in technical analysis. I have experience in fundamentals. I invest in what I understand. Im no troll here. I want to make a living doing this and I'm serious to learn. I'm plugging myself in the trading world. I learned to be detached emotionally in my investments. I have a good instinct. Reading here and listening to traders I picked up a good trader cuts losses early, is unemotional in his trades, is not greedy, and pulls the trigger when they up. Thanks and look forward to the comments.
Always protect your account. Trade small. Until you can make money consistently, I would say don't trade over 100 shares per trade. Watch drawdown carefully. If you can keep max drawdown in the single digits percentage-wise and returns higher, you're doing well. You need a systematic way to come up with the stocks you follow and trade. You also need a couple of patterns that you have tested and have confidence in and can execute flawlessly. Good luck and keep us in informed as you progress.
Trading is about stats. You need to know your win%, your draw down, your average targets and stops. My advice is start with a demo account. See if you can make money in it. Know that trading real money is different and be prepared to blow out your 1st real money account while you are learning. So instead of starting with a big account, start with a small one and consider the money be used for education before you start with a larger account. Once you can keep a small account from blowing up, then you are ready to increase size.
Tommo, I'm having trouble understanding which stocks to find and trade. I sit on my trading desk and I draw a blank as to what to look for. Right now I randomly look for stocks and using those as a start. Do you trade stocks you understand? For example when I buy and hold, I only buy companies I can understand. Is it the same for day trading? Do you trade whats trending on the news? Do you trade stocks that you expect will trend before its on the news? For example, if you think oil prices will go up in the next 1-2 months, would you start looking at oil stocks to day trade now? Thank you for your input Right now Im using demo with $100k BP. I'm trading small,usually never more then $15k in one position. What do you mean by drawdown? The systemic way of finding stocks I trade and follow is what I'm trying to learn now. Do you have any suggestions as to how to do this? Thank you Yep, I have a demo account right now. $100k BP. Right now I'm breaking even. One day Ill make $200-500, next day Ill lose the same amount. I have no technical analysis or strategy and thats what I'm trying to focus on right now. Which strategy works for me. I'm in no rush to trade with my money. The manager of the trading firm is putting zero pressure on me. On the contrary he is telling me to take my time and use the demo account everyday. I think 1-2 months I'll feel more comfortable but right now I'm not even sure what questions to ask. Once I get the gist of it, I'll have a million questions. Thank you for the advice
what books have you bot? I would suggest The art and science of T A by Adam Grimes. That should provide hours of study and point you in the right direction, IMO. good luck.
Well i noticed my insurance co usually makes money on stocks, over a period of years; insurance premiums may or not pay off every 30 days, every year. Congrats on bull market uptrend percentage.The manager will keep your drawdowns from becoming to large.
For trading I bought Stock trader Almanac 2015, swing trading for dummies, all about options by Maccafferty and understanding options by Sincere. I will definitly look into your suggestion. Thank you What do you mean by drawdowns?
%% Good question,Warren B likes GS; buy + hold GS has drawn down from peak$250 to valley $50,[ all data] buy + hold. I am not telling you to buy + hold GS[current price$192/+], but simply an educational example you will understand/remember. Buy +hold Bear Steans CO drew down, buy + hold from over $100/+ to drawn down belly up, bought out for a few bucks /+,by JPM[fire sale] PS Warren B doesnt care for lots of stuff in STA,2015, but its a good study with Jack Schwager TOP Trader Books. Wisdom is profitable to direct.