Hi, I'm a complete novice in trading. I don't have age, experience, just some money that I'm willing to risk for some hands-on education. I've read and heard alot about online trading, but being a freshman in college I don't have alot of time to spare during the day. I wanted some advice, how and where to begin educating myself in the world of trading. Futures? Stocks? Options? Knowing that people on this site are extremely knowledgeable and helpful, I look forward to any advice. Thanks
For Daytrading. Read the ET threads and check out books from the public library on trading strategies that are recommended here. Open a Scottrade account but don't trade with them cause their broker fees are too high but their maintenance fees are zero. Then you can transport their quotes to the Medved Quote Tracker, so you can paper trade. Study all of the technical indicators until you find at least two that complement each other. Its a lot of work but its worth it. When you are consistently profitable with 75% winning trades, you can close your Scottrade account and open a margin account with Interactive Brokers. Now you are on your way.
The best thing you can do for yourself at this point is to start taking economics and finance-related courses in your school. Being a freshman, you still have time to decide what you'd like to focus your studies in. You said you have an interest in trading, so look at econ, math, statistics, and finance courses. Although you'll likely only learn about the markets through taking the finance and econ courses, but if you decide on math or statistics or engineering and do well in school it will put you in the best possible situation to get right into trading directly after graduation or before. Good luck
Learn to write computer programs. You might want to write computer programs to test your trading ideas. Alternatively you might buy a trading simulation program and learn how to use it.
So what math do you really need here, besides in quantitative finance? I already did calculus, stats and algebra, mostly 1st year courses. And soon I'll do Econometrics. Are there other courses you need, and where will it help you?
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1202767#post1202767 a thread similar to this one.
Wow, thanks guys for all your help! I had a concern though: as much as I'm interested and eager to get into trading, I don't want it to become my main source of income. Rather a hobby to delve into. Have any of you been able to trade part-time and be successful?
just a question..why do you think Scottrade is better for backtesting/practicing, while IB is better for trading? I have a account with tradeking, maybe its time to switch.