im going to have to refer you to my journal and ide like to close this thread entirely. If your interested in keeping up with my progress see my journal.
As you can tell by my numerous posts, I am a lurker. I would only ask that you don't look at the number of posts I submit and judge my advice by that number. I don't post for a living, I trade. And while I don't think myself ready to be a mentor, I may be able to offer some advice that was valuable for me. First of all, the best lesson that you will ever learn is that of failure. Until you learn that and feel its sting, you will never have the full respect of the markets or this profession. It's one thing to understand the market, but it's another to understand it after it just shoved its boot up your @$$. As painful as this lesson can be (and was for me), it made me a MUCH better trader now versus when I started, and that is a lesson that can't be taught. Second, finding a trading style is like finding a wife; you have to have an open mind of what is out there and then find something that interests you. It's not enough to say "I want to make money" as nearly any method will work. To illustrate, I once said "I want sex" and once woke up next to something that had less teeth than my kids Jack-O-latern; better know what you are looking for. To that end, read..read a lot at first while you have the time. I went to a library and read all I could until I found something that worked for me. You'll know when you find it, I can't explain why, but you just will. In my case, when I found it, I was able to find a mentor, but not for free. But I found one and this was a person who did not mentor for a living. "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". Third, save your money either to trade or to offer a willing mentor. The money is more of a symbol of your commitment and I doubt anybody who is good enough to mentor would need any amount that you would be offering. You could say all day that you'll be this and that to whomever, but that won't cut it for somebody in terms of taking you serious. Gordon Gekko said "if you want a friend, buy a dog". As long as you're willing to offer anything but money, I'd get a little more creative as to what kind of arrangement I'm willing to make to get help. Of course, there may those out there that would do it for free, but that search might take a little longer. Fourth, be persistent and focus on what you want. The rewards are great in this trade because there are so few that can do it. I swear, there are days where I question what I think I know. Just when you think that you have it figured out, reality will come back and humble you again. I don't care who reads this, this has got to be a universal law for everybody. And when these things happen, refocus, take what you learned, and go at it again, but this time do it better. And last, read as much as you can on this site. It's free, there are a lot of good traders on here and many of them will mentor you for free, but only to the extent that you are reading what they are posting. Often times you'll get a much better answer to your question by reading posts versus asking the question; or to restate, I have received better answers when somebody was writting/shooting from the hip versus when they had to think about and then articulate a specific answer to a question. I may very well get lambasted for what I wrote - but I don't care. It's been what I have learned through my direct experience. There is no timeline to success and the markets will be here. First, find the game you want to play, don't just say "I want to play". Then look for a uniform; one that fits. And when you do, suit up. Good Luck!
<i>"As you can tell by my numerous posts, I am a lurker. I would only ask that you don't look at the number of posts I submit and judge my advice by that number. I don't post for a living, I trade. And while I don't think myself ready to be a mentor, I may be able to offer some advice that was valuable for me."</i> <b>Toucan</b>, it sure would be great if you posted more often. That is one of the finest posts I've ever read in this forum... extremely well written, honest and informative. Brilliant wordsmithing, period
I have been trading for 3 years and I have been making money in every year 2008 included + 30%. Everything about finance/stocks/trading etc has been already written in books. No book will tell you specifically how to make money consitently on Wall Street. I paid a mentor who pointed out the direction, but in truth I learned by doing it, if I learned was only because of I spent a lot of time on this and lost some money. No one with a real edge never ever shared anything with me. What makes you think that he/she will share hard work and research with you ? I am sure there are better traders here than me but here is the deal...if someone has the skills to make money in up or down markets he will be busy making money. When someone wants to " give it back " as you say, he can always donate money to charity instead of writing 100 messages on ET for your convenience or take you by the hand and show you the way. If it can be of any help to you getting something for nothing does NOT work. The only arrogance I notice in this thread is yours, unless you really think that your mentor/guru will magically appear and show you how to make money. Also if I may say, I notice a distorted reality on your part. If you don't have enough money, 50 k or more don't trade, period. Maybe one day you will wake up, till then good luck to you. You are going to need it, because right now, hope is all you got.
bb701 IMO you are not ready to learn to trade just yet. The biggest part of trading is leaving the old manipulative world behind and opening your mind to the purity of the trading process....... usually the great mentor here is pain pain and more pain. The actual process of trading something like ES rth is relatively straight forward, once you open your mind to the concept of risk management and leverage. good luck regards f9