Looking for mentoring help in futures in general. I currently trade electricity for my job (and have for about four years now). I trade in the Real Time markets which primarily rely on fundamental analysis rather than technical. I'm interested in learning futures and technical analysis, but would like to get some first hand experience with a pro before doing it on my own. I have read several books but haven't jumped in yet - not sure if that's good or bad?! Anyway, I live in the Pittsburgh, PA area and am willing to drive several hours if necessary to do this, if someone is willing. Please let me know if you or someone you know might be interested. Thanks!!! Mike
You have to ask, what is in it for the mentor? It is an intensive energy drain on the mentor. Just asking for freebie help is not exactly likely to attract serious traders. But you are likely to be inundated with peddlers who have little to offer.
if a guy showed up on my door and said, Hello my name is so and so we've met on ET website I would pull out a gun and give them 10 seconds and as the guy is trying to leave, I would accelerate counting of seconds to watch the guy speed up
Thanks for your support!! I guess I am nieve to believe that there are people out there who have done well for themselves and want to help a new guy get started in a profession that they have excelled in for themselves....... The forum is called "hook up" - so that's what I was attempting to use it for. Sorry to upset you so much!?!
Mike, There are people out there who are currently successful trading and who do teach trading but you have to understand the committment it takes. I taught trading a few years ago and I had no idea how difficult it would be -- it was easily harder than learning to trade myself. I started with a small group of traders and after about 1-1/2 years one person out of 5 made it. This person has blossomed into a fantastic trader but I had no idea how long it would take and what a low success rate I'd have. When someone teaches trading the student is always the weakest link. You really have to get to know a person's personality before you can teach them to trade and this takes a long time. Some people are fearless while others are filled with fear. Some people will take too much risk while others aren't willing to take any risk. Most traders will puke out their position at the first sign of profit while others will let profits slip away. Getting through all of these issues takes many months so it's probably unlikely you will find someone who is willing to make that kind of committment. You may be able to find someone to steer you in the right direction but that is probably the best you can hope for. Successful trading is based mostly on intuition and discretion. You can develop these skills with a lot of screen time. What I'd suggest is spend every waking moment you can in front of a screen and try and learn on your own first. If that doesn't work then seek out a mentor. If you don't have time during the day then study the Forex market at night. Find your strengths and weaknesses and then go from there.
Then there are the rules. Don't do this, do do that, but only do this when that happens. I have a long list of rules and I break just about every one of them. The only rule I won't break is "don't chase a move." The rest are open to interpretation. It's all about how much screen time you can put into this to learn the business. Trading is highly intuitive.
ProfitTkgFool - thank you for your insight!! I guess I should have been more clear in my post - I wasn't necessarily looking for someone to teach me - more or less "hold my hand" in getting started. I do understand yours (and others) point of view - it certainly would be an overwhelming task to take on a student. Several of the books I have read have made reference to finding a mentor to help a person get started, so in so many words, that's what I was trying to do I guess. By the way, I didn't mean to imply that I was looking for free advice either!! I just thought that I might find a seasoned pro here who wasn't looking to necessarily get rich off of students like me with the same structured program that they fed to everyone who was willing to pay them. I've heard of so many people in the business world (in general) who have done well for themselves and randomly want to help a new guy out, just for the sake of doing so...and even though a rare occurance, I thought it was worth asking. I really shot myself in the foot with my first post on what seems to be a great resource for traders....:eek: