I thought it would be nice to have a FAQ for new traders who visit ET. Maybe a list of advices everyone can contribute, to help open-minded new traders. I guess the mind set for this thread would be practical advice to new traders which you wished you would have known when you first started trading. Reason why is I recommended the site to a friend and he told me ET's full of A-holes. Also, he couldn't find anything legit in the forum. I hope this helps some new traders or some new to ET. (Mods... please be ready to censor stupid posts... He he he) ===================================
I started this thread so I'll start first... First, I would read the following books: Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom - by Dr. Van K Tharp Reminiscense of a Stock Operator - by Edwin LeFevre Market Wizard - by Jack Schwager The New Market Wizard by Jack Schwager A Complete Guide to the Futures Markets by Jack Schwager These are the books I would first read. I do have more books I can recommend but for a new trader, I think this more than enough information. First, category a new trader sees with analyzing the market is Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis. Both analysis is important in their own terms. Fundamental Analysis has a strong prescence in long-term trading. Technical Analysis has a strong prescence in short-term trading. Generally, long-term trading is trades that you hold for over 2 weeks. Short-term trading is any trade shorter than that. But this depends on each trader. For a trader who trades moves within a day (day trader), holding one position for 2 hours would seem long. For a so called Buy-and-Hold "investor" holding a position for a week is very short. One thing to determine is which time frame you would like to trade with. In another words, how often do you want to follow the market? If you would like to follow the market every minute then you'll be a day trader. If you would like to follow it daily, you would be a swing or long-term trader. If you want to follow it on the weekly basis, then you definitely be a long-term trader. Basically, the basis of determining the time frame is the time length of each bar of the chart you use.(This is if you are going to go technical. If you don't like charts then you should stick with long-term buy-and-hold). Based on your time frame you should determine the what kind of moves you want to trade... =============================== Little ET FAQ: When you post a question make sure you are specific with the question. First, write where you stand as a trader. Are you new to trading? Have you been trading on your own? Any details about your experience would help answer questions. The reason why is depending on the situation of the trader, the answer would differ. Usually most replies from other ETers are based on the replier's proficiency. You may be asking from a beginner's point of view but the reply might come up to be very psychological or philosophical which would not exactly help new traders. ET is pretty conservative to new posters. You might get some harsh and thoughtless posts but those guys are always around in any group you get into. Just keep an open mind to helpful people. If you have respect towards helpful people, they'll respect you and eventually the whole group (or at least most) will respond to that. From my experience, ET is one of the most harsh forums in the net but also the most legible forums. A lot of active posters here actually trade and actually make a lot of money. Some are hedge fund managers, some are independent traders. If you know who to listen to and where to find posts, it'll help you a lot. Posting a journal would be one way to start. Explain how you trade and post the trades you made for the day. You can find sound advice but also you'll find who trades like you and who's helpful. Last thing is, find some humour in harsh and stupid posts. Don't be too uptight...