@MRPaulson Mark, I'm really sorry for you. The wife of a close friend of mine is in a similar situation and her life has been living hell for some time. When it comes to trading, I'm not advocating against it but please do understand that what you are trying to do is similar to a carreer in professional sports when it comes to success rate as well as physical and mental pressure. If you aren't working as a fund manager who can fall back on management fee when the market isn't delivering you are constantly under stress. Stress to research for the next trade (which is a lot of work), stress when you have a drawdown, stress when your method isn't working anymore, your workday is at least 10 hours each and every day and once you slack, you will underperform. This is just not a job that you can work from home like any other job. This is a 100% performance based competition against other people who want your money as bad as you want theirs...and you have to deal with the pressure. I suffer from chronic abdominal distress and have to stick to a special diet just because of this "job". It's not severe but years of permanent stress doesn't go by unnoticed, just saying. Depending on how competitive you are and how well you deal with anxiety, stress and the fact that your money (and your financial security) is on the line, I wouldn't do it right now. Think about how you'd feel if you lost a big chuck of your net worth due to trading....I'm not sure that would help with your health situation either... So I'd suggest doing something that doesn't constantly challenge you. Just from my personal experience I would say every day off puts me a week behind the competion, so I'm not sure if I would be capable of doing it when I wasn't sure when the next attack is going to be. I'm getting goosebumps when I just think about a situation when you are in a big ass trade you'd have to monitor and then you get an attack... If you really want to do it, focus on really long term stuff...like dividend investing, portfolio construction (bonds+stocks) because it doesn't matter when you are out of the game for a week due to health issues. I'd consider even swing trades too short term. But since swingtrading is the max timescale I work with, the only starting point I can give you is this website: https://stockbee.blogspot.com/ There is a lot of stuff and you should probably start by reading "most read posts"...but you know, this stuff works (momentum trading lowfloaters that is) and the knowledge is condensed in one place so no need to search over a 1000 websites and forums. When it comes to mentoring, all I can say is this: You are entering a profession and try to learn a new craft. The only way to make money is to find a niche and learn it inside out....and that will take years. A mentor will be very hard to find, because there is just nothing you can give him back besides a personal relationship. He doesn't need your money and you have no skillset he can use (or do you?). So be realistic about finding a mentor. Whatever you do and however you decide, take your time and take it slowly. I wish you the best of luck!
" ," while staring at that very boring candlestick chart for hours and hours." When you having money on the line or waiting for an opportunity to trade it is never boring.
ok lol what I am saying is that if you do sports betting for example... other than the thrill from the money win/loss, you also get to watch the game from a whole new perspective.... friend's kid, has been pulling 7 figures per for the past 3 years, from basketball handicapping... I'd go out on a limb to say that studying team/coach/players and their match ups are a bit more interesting than the candlesticks lol
Life is short, and the fun positive moments are even shorter. Do the stuffs that you love. Forget about trading, because you know very well that it is not something you are passionate about. Go do those exciting stuffs in life! In addition, you just can't get a mentor because the kind of mentor you are looking for doesn't exist. Mentor might exist in the workplace where you are working in a hedge fund, but they don't exist publicly in a forum or in YouTube. These so-called mentor are trying to make money off you either through selling you their services or through earning a referral fee from brokerages. What you need is not a trading mentor but a life mentor. The funny thing is that the mentor is real and he exist! He is eager to help if you let him! He is inside you! Let him out by putting a pen on a blank page in a journal and let him give you the sound advice that you need. PA
If you are serious (it turns out that most people are not) let me know. I’m very different from a lot of contributors to this forum in that I’m much less pessimistic. Consequently, though many here insisted I was doomed to failure, I continued developing a day trading strategy to its completion that appears to work just fine. However, I am not a licensed professional, so I would not be seeking compensation for financial advice. Rather, I am a career educator who enjoys facilitating growth in others. It might very well be that all the gloomy scenarios painted by others truly do apply to you, but I’m more inclined to process what it is you have in mind, and then see if it isn’t possible to work collaboratively to get you there—no financial advice, just possibly helpful information. If it then turns out that day trading is not right for you, there is nothing to prevent you from going ahead and trying one of the various alternatives listed in other posts. What MrMuppet said is true. “A mentor will be very hard to find, because there is just nothing you can give him back besides a personal relationship. He doesn't need your money and you have no skillset he can use.” So again, I would primarily be trying to help you expedite the learning curve associated with day trading based strictly on the principles I myself use. (If you are interested in other systems, I am definitely not someone who can help in that I do not believe in them since I’ve seen no evidence they work better than what I do personally.) In any event, best of luck to you. I hope everything works out in the end.
There are many adjectives I can come up with for trading. 'Fun' has never been one of them. Nor, is it likely to be for you.
I’ll be glad to share what I have learned with you. You can take a look at it and if it fits your style of trading then run with it. I think it’s great you’re wanting to learn something new. If we aren’t learning we aren’t living. PM me and I’ll send you my email.