looking to get into trading

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by adonos, Jul 2, 2003.

  1. adonos

    adonos

    Hi all, I am an engineer who is looking to get into trading. There seems to be a lot of helpful people on here, so hopefully someone will have some good ideas for me.

    I am interested in the personal freedom that trading can give you, but understand that it takes months or years of hard work before you can attain that freedom.

    I want to learn day-trading of NASDAQ and NYSE listed stocks. I hope that some of you can give me some advice on good books, resources (aside from this website) and ideas on how to get started.. maybe even talk about how you got started.

    I think my trading discipline will be solid.. although its probably impossible to know for sure until you actually start trading. However, I have less of an idea on how to develop a successful trading methodology.

    Thanks in advance for any help.
     
  2. Adonos,

    Here are just a very few suggestions;

    1) Write out a "trading Plan", like you would treat any business.

    2) Read everything...lol Mark Douglas's book "Trading in the Zone" is a good place to start for getting your "head' right. Some others I've read books by Martin Pring, McMillan on Options Trading, Elite has an excellant section on somemore book reviews. I also am partial to Larry Pasevento books on pattern recognition and fibonacci retracements.

    3) Trade - some will think I am just suggesting this from my relationship with my B/D but for me the "rubber met the road" immediately when I traded for real...it taught me lessons only the market can teach you.

    4) If your lucky you'll find someone who take the time to "mentor" you, I've *finally* landed at a firm that has some "real" traders and one in particular has taken me aside and shown me some real "gems" of information that only in the last few weeks have really made a huge difference for my trading.

    Good luck to you...

    rttrader
     
  3. Why trade stocks? Get yourself a good broker like IB and start trading ES/NQ. You won't get exposed to any MM tricks, order routing BS or any company related surprises. Make sure that you only trade one contract and always obey your stops. Good luck.
     
  4. if you are serious plan more on the year(s) side vs. months to learn and maybe profitable... also there are a lot of style sout there, learn as many as you can and see what fits you best, lotta guys willtell you yeah you should trade the e-minis, or you should scalp or swing, or listed only or nasdaq only blah blah blah, et... its what you find suits you best
     
  5. Uni

    Uni

    I am by no means an expert but I do have some trading experience. This has been said before but it bears repeating.

    -You must decide the type of trading you will be doing (intraday, swing, long-term position trading, etc.) This will allow you to identify the timeframes you will use to assess market trend, specific setups and entry/exit. There are many strategies out there but only a very few will fit you personally. Don't try to shoehorn yourself into a strategy that is not right for youl

    -You must have a written plan detailing trading vehicles, money management strategy, risk/reward rules, stop-loss placement (deciding when you are proven wrong, setups you will trade, entry and exit criteria.

    -You must backtest this plan to see if it is viable. Backtesting is only the start, however. You must trade it in realtime with real money.

    -You must trust this strategy and nevery second-guess it or deviate from it. If it's not working out, stop trading and evaluate every aspect of your plan and try to isolate what's not working.

    -You must keep a trading journal complete with charts detailing the exact times of entry and exit. This will make it much easier to analyze your mistakes.

    -Before you enter a trade, you should already have determined your entry point, maximum stop-loss, and price target should the trade work in your favor.

    There are many other aspects and details, but following these basic rules should put you ahead of the pack before you even place your first trade.

    Write every in your journal, including how you felt when you entered as well as during the progression of the trade. If your system is sound, you should barely feel any emotion because you will have the confidence that you are following a proven system developed by you that fits your particular personality.

    Use the best equipment possible as well as the best platform and data feed you can afford.

    Your ultimate goal is to get to the point where trades jump out of you from the charts and you do not hesitate one bit when it comes time to enter and then exit.

    Realize that taking losses is a part of trading and accept them with no more emotion than taking a nice profit.

    Strive to produce a nice, smoothly rising equity curve with normal, shallow pullbacks (drawdowns).

    Good luck. Only hard work and perseverance will allow you to attain these goals and the road to consistent profitability may take 1-3 years or more.

    Make capital preservation your main goal, especially during the learning phase. Do not risk more capital than is prudent and never let one trade have the potential to devastate your account. Even a string of small losses can be a normal occurence, especially at first. Use these opportunities to learn and strengthen your trading plan.

    Above all, make sure you are passionate about this and are having fun. Work towards being able to devote the majority of your working time to trading. The most successful traders would trade even if they didn't get remunerated.

    For a good starter's primer on the business of trading, I would suggest picking up Dr. Alexander Elder's latest book: <I>Come Into My Trading Room</I>

    Hope this helps. If your <B>really</B> want to do this, you can be successful.



    Uni:)
     
  6. Digs

    Digs

    Dont trade ES/NQ they can be a bitch over the long term, trade stocks with 100 lots. Stocks give you more variety to choose the best pattern

    Trade mornings btw 9.30am and 11.30am..DONT trade lunch time, wait till trade the close (2.00pm to 3.00pm) when your'e good.

    Watch PRICE patterns, volume, trendlines, forget anything mathematical cause thats all lagging...

    Read ELITETRADER extensively...

    Thats it ..to millions
     
  7. Hook up with somebody who is making money at it. Only way to go, imo.
     
  8. Digs,

    Some traders make a very good living trading JUST the ES & NQ. I found futures to be MUCH easier that equities, (for my style of trading), no specialist to mess with you, fast fills and good liquidity.....works for me...I think it would be better to just say that equities are an instrument YOU are more comfortable with than just saying "Don't trade ____ (fill in the blank)....just my .02 worth not trying to slam you or anything.

    btw - I think your other comments were right on especially price action.

    rttrader -
     
  9. Ditto...
     
    #10     Jul 3, 2003