I live in melbourne australia and I am I am a beginner trader, i have been trading approximately 1yr part time, while i'm at uni. I say the word beginner in all sense of the word, time-wise and profit-wise. (negative beginner!) I have 2yrs left on my degree, and id like to at least be decent at trading so that I can pull in some dough and hopefully do it full time when i graduate. I need a mentor, someone with proven trading experience and profits. I can't exactly offer anything in return, so itll be a charity case. However I'll pretty much be grateful to you for the rest of my life if you mentor me. So consider this a plead for any private, loaded traders in melbourne to take a little apprentice under their wing and teach me something. I cant exactly offer anything in return at teh moment, but hey if u wanna cut of my trading profits when i'm profitable no problem! My capital though small, is virtually unlimited due to the use of extremely small leverage
You do realize that someone that properly mentors you will actually lose his/her own money due to the efforts to freely mentor you??? If you don't understand there's a few clues at the following message post... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32793&perpage=1&pagenumber=7 Possible solution for you that has nothing to offer (as in financial compensation) is to tell the mentor what other assets you may have that may be of interest to the potential mentor. Last of all, don't proceed with trading until you're properly capitalized. Mark
1) Capitalisation is relative. I have small capital, however i use low leverage. with my leverage i can afford to lose 6000 ticks on an index that is trading at 6300 (SPI). essentially that is unlimited trading capital atm. i figured that even at a loss of an average of 1 ATR per day it would still take me upwards of 206 trading days too get a margin call. 2) for a professional trader, any compensation i offer its likely to be tiny and extremely small compared to their payday. However as i mentioned i am happy for them to take as much a cut of my profits as they reasonably wish when i am profitable as payment for my "tuition".
For someone to properly mentor you... You need to be on equal levels as the mentor (broker, fees, software, computer equipement, trading environment, capitalization et cetera). If you are lacking in any of the above areas, it can possibly make the difference between you being profitable or losing at trading while your mentor is profitable. Simply, even if you are lucky enough to find a mentor...you're going to need to spend money to get your trading tools updated so that you'll be on the same level as the mentor. That cost itself can be several hundred dollars up to several thousand dollars. Therefore, most likely, you're still going to need to pay in an indirect way to be properly mentor. My point is if that's your offer to a mentor (he/she gets a cut of your profits)... The mentor needs to ensure you're on the same level as he/she to allow such profits for you to be achieved. Analogy - If you ask a fighter jet pilot to teach you the fine art of air battle...don't show up in a crop plane. If he/she doesn't ensure such prior to actual mentoring... The mentor is at high risk of losing money because you don't have the proper tools to be trading nor have the tools to be profitable. Further, that link I gave you explains that for someone to mentor you they will not be able to trade properly their own trading account. Therefore, they need to ensure you are properly prepared to trade so that your profits compensates for the money they will be lacking while mentoring you... Income that may take weeks or months to earn back depending upon the length of the mentoring and your learning/application skills. With that said, there are two types of Mentors: 1) Those that don't trade or traded in the past (many out there). These mentors will not lose any trading opportunities while mentoring you because they aren't even trading. Just as important, they really do not care if you have the proper tools to be trading and the mentoring will be lacking. 2) Mentors that actually trade (few out there). These mentors will lose trade opportunities while mentoring you along with having other expenses associated with mentoring you. Therefore, they need to ensure you're a suitable candidate for mentoring and having the proper trading tools so that you and the mentor are on the same level is the minimum. Once again, if you are not properly capitalized or have no assets to bargain with... Most likely you're inadequate in other areas to be properly trading. Therefore, don't try to use a mentor as a surrogate mother in hopes of compensating for other things your lacking that is needed for successful trading. Good luck. Mark
read, study, get a trading job somewhere (even if you hate how they want you to trade), above all read, market wizards, reminiscences, trend following, beyond candlesticks, spread trading (abel), new market wizards, optimal f, you can read them all at barnes and noble for free while you have a sandwich and coffee then, develop a system, test it (intuititvely or metasock) develop a rake or scanning filtering system (tc2000, metastock, etc.) emphasize money management (how much to risk per trade) drop your living expenses to next to zero get a job that provides for your full attention to trading (a "widget maker" job that you leave at the job, saving your mental RAM for trading). pay a couple hundred to a trader tax accountant to make sure you are set up correctly with taxes from the get go (IRS hates traders) or whomoever does you from behind in Australia. Find a broker that meets your needs (or get licensed with a pro firm) and TRADE TRADE TRADE You make lose it all the first or second time...so contrary to popular belief trade on the smallest bankroll possible so you can still run your system (obviously it must be scalable) TRADE TRADE TRADE learn more, your lost money in the first few years is your tuition, treat it like and advanced degree. TRADE TRADE TRADE oh also: disciplined TRADER, trading in the zone, read ed seykotas website www. seykota.com, TRADE TRADE TRADE Write this statement each day in a notebook: "I am so happy and grateful now that I earn a great living from trading _________". No matter what your daily result, rehearse this line, learn to feel it, live it, TRADE TRADE TRADE Remember you if you leap over, around, or bust through the walls that are set up to keep people out of this profession, you will have changed yourself into someone and you will be skilled at something FEW people will ever do. Remember this, be grateful for everything you learn, TRADE TRADE TRADE Learn to accept loses with grace, and more importantly learn to accept the money the market will give you (cashing in is easy, money from winning trades is generally so easy you may puke a few times on your first big day, week, month) TRADE TRADE TRADE Become the kind of person that can handle large amount of money, even when you are losing. Manually chart your account equity on a graph (draw it yourself). Observe your cycles. It will help you to adjust your trading as conditions change. And lastly. TRADE......TRADE..... TRADE
For me, I am literally grateful each morning (pacific time) at 615 am. This is when I realize I am about to trade. Trading affords me travel without missing a beat of work. I am in Palm Desert this week, this weekend I go to vegas to play a tennis tournament, and will stay and trade monday. I may be in some of the best locales this time of year, and with all of the surrounding fun, I fire up each day ready and waiting to trade. Yes I have a firm that is okay with my huge leverage and trading remote. That was earned over the years not given. For me, this was what I envisioned 6 years ago when I started. I wanted a great job I could take with me wherever I went. I wanted to be able to do that job until I was old old old. I just think I will get better and I have. I was employed at a hedge fund doing MA, that taught me to short like I was tying my shoe. Now I have part of my accounts that are exlusively short, 100% of the time. Sometimes they are US stocks, many times I use ADRs of foreign companies. But I trade my own capital, leveraged insanely (to some) by the firm and the jbo agreement. I make some serious money certain months, and in certain months, some months I make less. That's okay, the equity curve is positive, and that's the key. The challenge with trading is, for me, the freedom and the choices seem unlimited. I can go wherever I want, be wherever I want, and still work my skills. So where do you go if there is nowhere you HAVE to be? good question I think the key is to find something or many things you love about this, and make up your mind about the kind of trader you wish to become. Trading affords unlimited choices, so be prepared to make good choices when it starts paying you back. At every level there is something wonderful and challenging about this kind of work. If you love that challenge, chances are you will do well.