Arthur Deco, You did well, but he might not. As you know 9 out of 10 people will lose money. If the OP has limited re$ources in my modest opinion he should not trade at all. I tend to doubt that he will double his 2k unless he acts like a gambler. You feel the opposite ( meaning he should start trading ) and that's what makes a market. Good Luck to the OP he IS going to need it.
i am assuming he found amp futures which will let you trade with 2k on 500 intra day margin,you can open the acct and lose the 2k, reinvest 2k,5-10 times til you figure out how to trade,so your education theoretically will cost $10-$20k,and you still are not guaranteed to make any money,or you could sim trade for the next 6 months to 2 yrs,however long it takes for you to be consistently profitable, and then put in real cash. ...you could look into think or swim sim acct,...they have a nice charting package,plenty of live help with 2 live audio features and one chart indicator package during the day and free webinars a couple times a week,good luck
So, my laptop broke down and couldn`t check this thread any earlier sorry guys :\(at local library reading technical analysis books and checking this thread)...anyway back to the topic... I totally agree with you on that 9 out of 10 people will lose money. That`s exactly why I`m only papertrading for now while I learn the ropes, learn how to read the market and try different strategies...I don`t plan to start trading with real money until I have a profitable system that works for me and is consistent, understanding that everybody has losses and that a loss is just a business expense. If I can learn from every loss what NOT to repeat and how to do it differently next time, then I`m on the right path. I understand your point of view though, although I tend to side with Arthur Deco. I know it`s not easy to double $2k especially when you`re new at trading, but hey at least it`s better than never starting. The way I see it is that If I work and trade according to pre-set risk management rules, let`s say to only lose %2 per trade, if I always trade according to my trading plan and system, then my odds on making money are better than just trading as a gambler, which I won`t do. Yes, I`m dying to make money, but my goal right now is to teach myself how to fish so I can later go on fishing all the fishes I want and really make money, if that made sense...lol So yeah, I totally agree with Arthur Deco...better to start with small capital than to not start at all... With all due respect, but I thought this was a TRADING forum, not a market maker, specialist, professional trader nor a "Onlyaskquestionsifyouknowwhatyouretalkingabout" kind of forum...in which the purpose of this forum, to share knowledge and learn from each other, would be defeated of course...the fact that these guys, whose trading experience, knowledge and capital far exceeds mine, are willing to take time and energy to help me understand and clarify some issues so I can learn about trading, that only makes me the more grateful for their sharing attitude...Still, I respect your point of view, and I`m sure there are things I could learn from you too, so thanks for sharing in this thread. @Arthur Deco: once again, love ur analogies and how simply u explain things, and especially ur willingness to share... @ammo: I use the thinkorswim platform, that`s where I papertrade, so far so good, there`s a lot of things I still don`t know how to use but I`m learning something new everyday @HeSaidSheSaid: I`m planning to learn to trade stocks/index futures first before trying to delve into more complex things like time decay and the greeks
rod ,i saw a blacksmith on gunsmoke the other day ,i thought maybe i would like that,kind of anxious to get started, so i bought a barn full of equipment and am putting out the open for biz sign on monday,bought some books to read over the weekend, think i will know enough by monday to start blacksmith trade...... this is an oversimplified version of a bad game plan...idea might work but game plan and money management,skillset, suck
By all means, since you are just starting out, I would recommend you do NOT put a single dime at risk until you've: 1) researched profitable trading methods 2) formed a strategy that you can write down in a sentence or 2 3) traded that strategy on a demo account profitably for at least a couple months .... six or more would be best When you go live, be mentally prepared to make 1/2 (or less) of what you made in sim, at first. Best of luck to you.
Sim trade for the next 2 years. You won't do it, so you must understand your money WILL go into my pocket.
Rod, It will take years to learn how to adapt and trade the various markets and market conditions as they are always changing. Bullish markets, bearish markets, sideway markets. You absolutely do not begin the learning experience with money on the line. First you must learn what when and how to buy stuff with limited risk and great reward and this will take some time. After this you will find yourself breaking rules and will need another set of years to polish your discipline. Once the above is accomplished you can finally begin in cash, cash will make everything harder, because fear and greed will play a greater role than in the simulator. And last but not least you will repeat the above but with greater sizing and this phase could take a very long time. Overall the process takes no less than 5 years to become a seasoned trader, perhaps less or more for others but in my case it took around that. Whatever you do, do not base your trading in adding to losers to make a bad trade a winning one. I wish you well. NAD