Thanks for the suggestion but I must respectfully disagree. Leverage is the last thing I need. Price action techniques I have already tested and in simulator they work just fine. I just need to test my execution with live trading to see if I can handle the disciplinary requirements. As far as trading goes I believe can do a pretty good job, the area where I need tremendous help is the one where I'm getting the least amount of input; what to do with the excess cash ? Joe
Start with a no margin account as you are just starting out and you need to get a "feel" for trading both the profits and losses. Give yourself 3-6 months before you consider the 'margin'.You may find you can do without it. Review ALL your trades each day starting with the profitable trades first and then the losses. Why losses second?...the emotions of reviewing the positve results will evaporate. Keep the allocations at a bare minimum for the time being. You appear to have a winning edge...your wife, so please keep her FULLY informed ...warts and all...and, even better, let her 'participate' in some manner. If one of the kids is old enough enquire if they would be interested in following what you are doing. Kids come up with gems, trust me. PetaDollar's advice is excellent. Please take heed. All the best. NiN
Thank you for your insights, all valid and logical although I think I'm required to have a margin account to short securities. Joe
Just checked both, lendingclub looks very interesting but as I was doing the research found out my state is not listed as one of the accepted ones, bummer, cause it does look like a good option for a portion of the capital. Thanks for your links, learned something new, wonderful advice. Joe
Sorry Joe if I mistook you for a beginning trader. Your plan with your wife sounds great. Maybe if the unfortunate case, your starting account got blown, you could come to an agreement to try again maybe after a set time, say a year , with the same starting amount or depending.
If your house aint paid off first, do that before you place that first trade. Good luck and stay small.
For longer term investments i'd take a look at AAII.com They've got good research and screening tools for stocks picks that outperform. Having said that my personal opinion is being long stocks now is risky. Bank CD's at least don't go down in value. For a 5 -10 yr horizon then a portion in stocks could be good. Or long and hedged. No easy one fits all answer.
Glad to hear you got everything worked out with your wife, Joe. I almost dare not utter these word on EliteTrader, but if you are looking for long term investments, an excellent complimentary activity would be the fundamental analysis of stocks or commodities. The key is to pick a market or industry that interests you.