I am looking for guidance/mentor. I am 24 years old, have traded stocks a little over the last couple years (with some success, but mostly just dumb luck), and am looking to learn as much as I possibly can. Honestly, I am not looking to get rich quick, but rather trying to understand the world of trading. What books are out there that are relevant, and worth reading? What trading platform should I be looking to use. Essentially, what do I need to do in order to become a successful trader? I am willing to put in the work, but there is so many people making money giving advice on financial success, that it is hard to know which ones can be trusted. I know that this may not be the best way to obtain these answers, but I figure that I have to start somewhere. Any insight is greatly appreciated. Regards, T
so many people making money giving advice on financial success, Regarding books, methods, newsletters, etc. I suggest you find the author who's personality, style is most compatible with your own. Someone you can relate to. capeche? Once you have understanding and confidence in this persons method, don't do what they do. Stay tuned.......
first I would say, make sure you have a solid income from a job or other source until you are solidly making trading income. second, realize that most of those people giving "advice" make their money selling advice.
If you were a successful trader, would you bother teaching some one for a wage? The mentor you find should be free. Do some research, and find people who are successful in what you want to do. Have a courier deliver them a very nice letter from you, stating that you would like to have the mentor you, and you would be willing to do something in exchange. Make a nice pitch. Give a follow up phone call two weeks later if you haven't heard back. If you spend some money to have it delivered to them, most will give that some respect.
Good idea actually. A new trader could never afford to pay enough to interest a good trader... but someone to help with the screening, accounting and other grunt work could be worth a lot more than money! What kind of skills or background do you have that you could offer to temp a mentor? There are so many types of trading that offering a book to read is tough. It took me years just to figure out a style of trading and even then it has continued to change as the market reinvents itself. I like to try and help new wannabe traders since it was tough getting started myself. Tons of offers out there and books that all were helpful in some way, but mostly sucessful traders trade, the others write books... Do you have an idea as to what you'd like to trade? Stocks, options or futures? I have a few suggestions for begginers that use a mix of stocks and options. I agree with others, if they want money to help you, find someone else. A couple thousand dollars would never entice a real trader to give up the amount of hours required to teach someone to trade full time. $500K plus & you can have my undivided atention for a couple months though! Mel
Thank you for the advice. I am interested in trading stocks, and options. I have traded stocks before, but I have always been confused by options. I am in a position where I can begin to take trading seriously. Please, tell me more. What steps do I need to take / what do I need to learn?
My advice is mostly relevant if you want to day trade index futures. I assume you live in the States. If so, get a day job and trade Asian markets. This way one of the biggest pressures of making day to day income is gone. One of the best Asian markets to trade is KOSPI 200 futures. You can trade them via Interactive Brokers. It will takes years for you to become consistently profitable, might happen sooner, but it is unlikely. First only trade on simulator. Only when consistently profitable on sim, switch to real account with 1 lot only for a while. Trading for real will be a lot different, but if you can not consistently make money on sim, you will definitely loose $ in live market. Do not pay $ for any data. Interactive brokers will charges you something like $10 per month, if you do not trade. You can also get a great front end Ninja Trader, also free for sim trading. Some of the books you should read: Reminiscences of stock operator Market Wizards 1 and 2 Trading in the zone Pit bull Also, this site has tons of useful info, but it is not easy to find. If day trading, what ever system you choose, pay attention to Market Depth and Tape. Good luck redduke
All the basic technical analysis can be found on the internet, you don't need any book for that. Focus on the basic price patterns, that's enough to start building your own system. You might want to get a book about trading psychology and discipline like Trading in the Zone, etc But the secret is : screen time, screen time, screen time. And more screen time.
Ive mentored a few people. but they must meet my requirements before Ill work with them -ability to trade peak hours -have at least 200k in buying power (I trade higher priced equities) ideally remote prop guys -be able to give it 3-6 months and be able to pay their rent etc -sign legal non complete non disclosure agreement -agree on payout of profits -get along with on a personal level -have access to VNC viewers etc
I love trading options, but I write options NOT buy them. I can't see a way to make consistant money paying someone else all hat premium. Now the downside is the benefit of buying options is the leverage... a few dollars allows you to control a lot of stock. Writing options on the other hand, needs a lot of capital since you have to have the margin to cover if you get assigned. A couple of example are AAPL & GOOG. I wrote 10 calls for AAPL 320 strike, expire tomorrow for $1.05. If it closes tomorrow below 320, I keep $1050. If not I'm short 1000 AAPL at $320. You see the risk?? I was writing PUTs on GOOG for afew months and got assigned on a couple of them. I ended up with 1500 shares andI have been writing covered calls on them which uses none of my margin and I buy them back on dips and resell them on peaks. I will eventually let them get called away. My current share price is about $617 and I have 10 calls at 620 which I recieved 10.95 a share for. The best way to start in options IMHO is to use writing PUTS to buy stocks that you want to own. That way you have virtually no risk beyond that of buying the stock in the first place. Pick a stock that you wouldn't mind owning. Say you want a 100 shares of AAPL since it seems to be continuing up. Write one PUT for AAPL 10Nov20 P 310.000 currently running at 1.75. So you get $175 to say that you will buy 100 AAPL if it is at or below 310.00 on Nov 20th close. If it continues up, you keep the $175 and try again. If it happens to dip to $309 for example you buy 100 shares at $310. Now you already have the $1.75 a share, so your effective price is 308.25. (which is also your breakeven now) Now you can sell covered calls against those for say $330 strike for $1.25. If it goes over $330 you have you shares called away for $330 (effective price of 331.25). So you lost you shares but made $33 a share in one month... Did that help at all or just make things even more confusing??