I am 21 year old who lives in Baltimore, Maryland and I want to be a trader. I have mildly studied stocks and options and I have paper traded a few. I am trying to study trading in general and I just need somewhere to start to learn it. I would like to work with a prop firm oneday. Also there is a friend of the family that is about to start a hedge fund. He of course knows how to trade very well. He is willing to teach me, so I am hoping he will come through with it. He is just busy all the time, which he should be, and I do not want to wait around to learn what I need to learn. I would like to get ahead start on it so that he would give me an opportunity trading with him. I just need some advice on where to go to get some training. Thank you.
The Path to Heaven or Hell http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=236628 Passionate Futures traders http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=232163&perpage=6&pagenumber=4
Don't miss out on the opportunity to have a mentor like your friend at the hedge fund. I would go that route. Bob
Pick an instrument, and study the price action of that instrument. Make sure you chose only one instrument. Don't go skipping around to different instruments looking for that 'holy grail'. Choose one and study it until you're blue in the face. Be a master of that instrument. For example, say you choose the ES. Take a chart, throw up 15 min bars with NO indicators, and study how the ES moves. After 6 months of studying it, you'll learn of a few intraday patterns that repeat every now and again. After 2 years, you'll have a decent idea of which patterns to trade, and which to stay away from. Just make sure you study these charts live every day. If you don't put in the time, you'll never make it. Having a mentor helps also !
Let me warn you about thieves on this site. Many posters are disguised vendors, trying to sell books, webinars, brokers, prop firms, etc. They are here to make money off you. Be careful about what you read on this website.
Listen Kid , Nobody will help you here , they all want your money. Learn to play black jack and you'll be better off.
yep, we all want your money! Your hedge fund friend, who is busy running a ponzi scheme, wants your money too. Be careful when your hedge fund friend asks your family to invest in his hedge fund. Ponzi starts with people close by.
Finally: WE are the 95%! http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=228628 Without Higher Education degree and working in "the house" result to: More than 90% of small traders lose. They just lose! Never ever start trading as a Small Trader (Ghettos). Otherwise, u will always be a loser in this game. LOSER!
As a fellow young trader (23) I've been trading equities for a few years, have tried many different approaches, time frames, and considered different mentors and teachers. Everyone here posting that everyone else wants your money is right - you're in the business of money, and the only way to profit is to take it from others. Whether that be from actually trading or tricking those around you into thinking they can TEACH you to trade is a business in itself. The sooner you find your niche (whether it be futures, equities, forex) and your timeframe (day trader, swing trader, investor) the sooner you will ACTUALLY begin to make progress in your career. Took me probably 2 years to finally figure out where my personality fits into what I'm trading, and I'm still finding new things to advance what little I already know. Best advice I can give is to make your market tuition as low as possible - a great once told me to paper trade for a year, and only do that after you've "watched" a specific trading vehicle for a decent amount of time, obviously it varies. Don't open up like a $5k account on margin and blow it up. Commissions will kill your account and kill your confidence - because remember, brokers are just trying to steal your money too. Also, trust no one. I say this all the time, but always be skeptical. I've never bought one educational product (excluding some of the classic books, 'Market Wizards', 'Reminiscences of a Stock Operator', etc.) nor have I ever signed up for a 'Premium Service', like so many paper trading scam artists claiming to teach you have on the internet nowadays. Don't even trust my word, whether I have my own website or not, I'm still a random person on the internet, even if I'm not anonymous - you'll have to learn on your own. However, if you know a PERSONAL mentor that is obviously successful, I do recommend following that person. The second they ask you for money, however, you should deeply question their true motives. That's about all I got.