I'm new and confused because almost every post I come across here regarding income says it's very hard for a new trader to make money the first year or so. I did some simulation trading when I was interviewing with a firm and it seemed to me so easy to make money there. I had about 5 stocks there on the screen in a small window, I did not even know what the stocks were and I thought one was Washington Mutual when I later found out it was actually Walmart (lol). It was my first time working on a platform and it took me about an hour to figure out how to work it with little help (blackwood pro). I opened the 1, 5, and 15 min charts for the stock I was following. Next I just kep my eyes fixed on the price of the stock as it changed every second. WHen I saw that it was on a consistent uptick, I bought in 500 shares and kept watching the price rise about 30 cents before it started going back down and I made 125 bucks selling it at 25 cent return. It took about 1-2 minutes for me to buy in, the price to rise and for me to sell at a profit. Another stock I shorted for 100 shares, and it went up instead. But I was a newb and forgot to look at its chart as there was an uptrend established, but what I did was foolishly just look at the price and where it was going second by second. It went on to make 1 dollar and if I had bought 500 shares of it I would've made a profit of $500 in an hour. I covered when I saw it was already 10 cents up so I lost 10 bucks. I did a few more trades, and at the end of the trading session (which was about 3 hours for me), I was positive 160 something bucks, and this is the first time I've ever traded or even handled a platform before with no guidance or explanation of how it works. So maybe I was mislead or am wrong in some way? I would really appreciate it if someone please explained to me why theres widespread opinion that its so hard to make money trading? The total money that I used on simulation was 15K max for a trade.
Dont become over-confident, always remember market has you by the balls - that way you will not lose money, like I and many others have.
I appreciate your advice....you're absolutely right! But if we just focus on how the market has got us by the balls and fear to make a move just in case we'll be wrong, we'll never make any profit. When I was simulating and I saw an opportunity materializing itself in a stock, I once waited because I feared I would be wrong but lo and behold it went on to make a 50 cent move in the direction I was thinking it would go. It could go the other way but I was absolutely convinced that it wouldn't but I had this irrational fear that stopped me from acting on it. Maybe I had the advantage of being unemotional as it was just simulated trading, but the other newbs like me there were trading simulation and they lost money in hundreds so I could see the point a lot of posts here were making. knock on wood, maybe I just have an inclination for trading or am really lucky. I really hope that when I trade it goes the same way as my simulation trading. I'll be much more careful and wary of risk of course and have the knowledge of charts and all the technical stuff unlike when I was simulating. knock on wood.
I made money the first 3 days I traded at a prop firm (not sim). I thought I was a super star. I didn't take home my first pay check til almost a year later.... Had to spend a few of those profitable months making back all the losses to get in the green. Had 8 losing months in a row before that.
Thanks for the input!! Do you reflect and see why it was that you made money the first 3 days and then your trading went south? I would really appreciate it if more traders would chime in and share their experience. I have this funny feeling that I'm so totally wrong that I got no idea what trading really is and will probably lose money the first year as many people say they did. Hoping to God that I won't be sharing the same exprience, lol!
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=154220 Try this - I don't think Joe will mind
http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=99283&perpage=6&pagenumber=1 Read it, Learn it, Love it. Then read it again until you memorized every line and answer in that journal. It will help.
It was just luck. I was fooled by randomness. I knew absolutely nothing then. It's not a knock on you, but it's easy to think you knew which direction the market was going but to place a trade and make money on it is a totally different thing. Yes you could have taken 500 shares for a dollar but trust me, it ain't easy holding that. As a newb you'll want to take those profits any time it comes back even slightly so you'll end up making less. And trading 100 shares is very different than trading 500 shares mentally. You'll know what I mean when you have to do it. Just keep trading but keep it small so you can last as long as possible. You'll learn new things everyday and once you figure it out it'll be a breeze. gl, peace
Thanks a lot, neveral! Will do. I've got quite a few books about technicals and trading actually so I've got plenty of reading to do in addition to the training I'll be getting at the firm.
Thanks a lot for the advice, bespoke!! I'll definitely keep that in mind! Like I said before, I'm having these thoughts that it was all probably just pure luck and it's not nearly as easy to make money in trading.