Best way for novice to learn

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by pokersotck, Oct 4, 2009.

  1. Hello, this is my first post on the site and may turn out to be a long one. I have been interested in the markets for as long as I remember but I certainly do not pretend to know a thing about them. It is quite overwhelming at first and I really do not know where to even start.

    Let me provide a bit of background to shed some light on why I believe that I could excel in the trading world. I graduated college in 04 with a bachelors in marketing, but in reality, I left college with a masters in poker. I have been a professional poker player for the last 5 years. I started out as most players do by depositing 50 dollars at a time and learning the ropes slowly over my 2nd and 3rd year of school. I began senior with 1k to my name and a lot of experience at the tables. I graduated in May with around 200k to my name and never looked back. I worked my way up to some of the highest limits in the world online playing against the very best players in the world (Phil Ivey, Antonius, Matasow, Flack, Hellmuth etc...). To date I have made over 2 million pretax playing poker and I used to play on a level where 5-6 figure daily swings were a regularity.

    So it seems to me that trading and poker have very similar skill sets. The legal environment surrounding online poker is getting worse everyday and I want to have something to be able to fall back on in case it is no longer viable to play online poker from the US. So some of my basic questions are where do I start? Which market/markets are best to start out in? Do I concentrate on a specific market? What are some of the best books I could pick up? Are simulators useful? Do i just start trading with a very small amount of money to get my feet wet or do I just read and study for months until I become more comfortable?

    I am sure I can come up with some more but I will start with those and see what kind of feedback I get. Thanks and hope to hear some insightful input here.
     
  2. Also, what are the names of some of the more respected posters on the site so that I might be able to look up threads they have started or been involved in?
     
  3. 1,2) Stocks -- the ability to read the tape (as opposed to futures which are alot more opaque) is commensurate with your ability to read your opponents at the table. Certain stocks/sectors have certain personalities: liquid names vs illiquid, nasdaq stocks vs listed, etc. Find a group that suits you and start from there.

    3) Reminiscence of a Stock Operator, Market Wizard interviews, Trading in the Zone are all good but not for the reasons you might think.

    4) Simulators are good for learning your keys and getting mechanics of order placement down but any numerical victories there should be largely ignored.

    5) Don't need much to get started these days (look into some prop firms with good reputations) so why start big. The reason you stick with stocks is because the futures market can take everything you've ever made in poker away from you in a matter of weeks. Your stomach for monetary volatility my hurt you initially in this arena.

    6) Read and study voraciously -- not books, but the market itself; it's the best teacher by far. Trade as soon as you get the buys and sells right in your head, cuz again the markets themselves are the best place to start. Figure out what you want to do, then find a way to do it. Good luck.