lol it was like a year ago when i started this thread. I've been through alot of shit and learned alot as well. Many good traders here on ET. JM, where'd you go? cm69
I have become a broken record by now on this message board. Many of you younger guys look at trading with your mouths wide open thinking that your going to make a million. You get right on the scott trader thinking that all this is about is pushing buttons and letting it rip. Guys, here is the simple fact of life. In your teens and twenties, all you have is time. Open up an account on www.sharebuilder.com under a ROTH IRA and choose a long term portfolio of 5-7 different stocks. Dividend producing large cap. You can get some good names off of www.dividendachievers.com. You can also go to www.fidelity.com or www.vanguard.com to buy some mutual funds. You will thank me in the future sometime 20 years from now for this wise advice. The stock market has been in bull mode 2-3 years now and that might change at any second. The market never continues in the same mode for long. One year its small caps, the next year its large caps, the next year its foreign. Now what I am saying probably goes against your strategy of trading the markets. As some have stated, they have lost money. If you are going to lose money, dont blow your last 10k. You need to lay the foundation before you build a house. Im not telling you the wrong advice, open up that ROTH IRA now. Once you have funded a ROTH, then we can talk about trading.
Heres some followup question for you cm69. What advice did you use from everyone who posted here? are you trading futures? stocks? swing trading? are you up/down on your account? and any additional advice you wished you would have gotten before trading? The reason Im asking is because I am just starting off like you were a year ago and will possibly be going through what you and everyone else had gone through =).
dont know whehter its well developed there in the US, but CFDs are a lovely way to go if you have limited trading capital
Just on this thread or in general, because there has been a lot of advice. A big problem on forums is that different types of traders will give different advice on the same subject.1) I think the biggest piece of advice was to take off all indicators, which I have done, however from time to time I might look at volume and Bollinger Bands to help me in my gap plays. 2) Another thing to learn is that there's a difference in reading the news, and doing the research, and "trading the news". I took it the wrong way...I thought that if I dont want to trade the news, then I need to stop listening/ reading to the news..BIG mistake. I found myself trading on fed days, ahead of earnings, and other key market factors that I had no clue were happening..and i lost money because of it. Just recently I lost 730.00 in less than a minute, because I didn't read the news on FLSH, which is owned by SNDK..SNDK reported a bad quarter, and flsh tanked, if I had read the report, i'd have known. Gordon Gekko in "Wallstreet" says that information is the most important commodity. He's right. Now before I make a trade, I check my charts, and the news for earnings, fed meetings, mergers, important economic reports, and breaking news about the company i'm trading that may affect price. 3) Dont day trade as a beginner. One reason is your expenses. You got platform fees (level 2, maintence fees, ECN fees...etc), you got your streaming news feeds, that can be expensive, commissions/ slippage adds up, charting software fees..its just too much, then after a winning trade...you get to pay taxes. Swing/ position trading is free of all these burdens. I dont pay a platform fee, ecn fee, news fee, charting or anything. Really just commissions. Once you learn that, then you can move to something faster like day trading stock, or futures. 4) Find a niche. Just because you day trade or swing trade whatever, doesn't mean thats your niche. It can be broken down even more, for example, they're some day traders that are scalpers, some that are momentum traders, and others are intra-day swing traders maybe doing only one or two trades. I used to try and pick tops and bottoms...like shorting RIMM..lol, but now I swing trade gaps (5-10 days). This is my niche, and one I would like to try and specialize in. A niche will help you very much, because it will save you money and time. When it comes time to scan for stocks, you'll KNOW what you are looking for..like myself, i look for stocks on the nasdaq that have gaped up or down at least 1.00 on an average volume of 400k or higher. You could call this, your "Edge". 5) Have patience. I hate patience, but all traders must have it. Wait for confirmation before a trade, such as a break through a trend line before shorting or a rise in volume...Sometimes, if I had just waited a few hours or a day or two, I would never have taken some trades. 6) Trading on impulse. My worst problem because of my lack of patience. Just dont do it . 7) Dont forget to have fun. Many say that trading should be boring. I disagree. Reading about interest rates isn't exactly my idea of fun, neither is losing 7.00 a share, but try to think of it in a different way.....maybe like a battle between good and evil, a game of how much $$ I can make in a day, whatever makes you happy. A happy trader is a profitable trader. cm69
Great reply cm69, definately good points I will use in my trading. especially point #4 about finding a niche. I will be position trading commodities. I have been following the grains for some time now and will be starting off with 1 contract. Happy trading