Hey thanks, I really appreciate it. It's motivating and encouraging to see someone closer to my age involved in trading as first hand as your site can get. (I really have never met anyone in person other than at my local Scottrade branch knowing anything about or being involved in trading, which is quite surprising to me given the city I live in.) Also, was Scottrade a good online broker to begin with? I read a lot of reviews before I decided to go with them, mostly saying they were good with beginners and had reliable service. I chose them over TD Ameritrade because of lower comissions, but from what it seems is that TD Ameritrade's learning and education resources for traders seem to be much more developed than Scottrade's. I also feel similar about their actual desktop trading tools. Perhaps the extra $3 per stock trade is worth it? Unfortunately the nearest tda branch is 31 minutes away in the next city. Scottrade's proximity was useful when I had to go to the branch in person to provide documents to open an account.
Right, sorry, I should have clarified that I'm definitely in school for a separate career path and primary goal like I should. My fascination with the market fuels my desire to familiarize myself with it. By developing skills and a better understanding of trading I hope to use it potentially as a source of side income and am very open to the possibility of using it as primary income. With that said, I believe whatever I learn and do will be beneficial either way to the field associated with my major (MBA) in the end.
Extremely money hungry, opportunistic without regard to the welfare of others, brutally single minded, strong mental arithmetic although tries to hide it, some applied math / stats knowledge, able to sell or influence others to get a better deal, highly aware of asymmetric payoffs. Never ever willing to share anything that will dilute his upside. Good luck Octopus.
To finish this post, learn, and understand, leverage. Do not overtrade. Do not trade out of boredom. Learn a good and objective to determine bias, and stick with it, try ACD. Learn about constant volume bars. Learn about candlesticks and why they form.
Depends on your style of trading. If you do swing trades or investing, then Scottrade would be fine. They can also reduce your commission if you do a lot of trades (got mine down to 6 from 7), however that is counterproductive since in reality you really want to trade, not invest right? However, if you want to scalp, then Scottrade along with other major retail brokers are horrible. Can't imagine Ameritrade being any different. Trust me, I had Scottrade and still do. Although, there is a zero balance now in Scottrade.
I agree with logic_man in general. Find forum posts (here and other sites) that posts the details of their trading system(s). Find one that speaks to you and fits your personality. Sim trade it and practice. In general, don't pay for any education/mentor-ships. Just get market fundamentals information for free and there are plenty of forum posts detailing trading systems/methods that you can learn from. NinjaTrader is probably your best (free) platform for a beginner. Download Futures Market Replay data for free.
I'm pretty sure that when you say "trading" and "investing", and "swing trading" and "scalping" you're noting the difference between as the length of time a position is held right?
Also, I happen to have access to a ThomsonONE analytics account. Is there anyway I can use this to learn about trading or using it in my trading?
Yes.. obviously if you are an investor, pennies on the dollar in price movements don't matter since you are just holding on until you reach your desired profitability. However if you trading and scalping, yes. That is where commissions come into effect. Scottrade has costed me since I try to get in and out of positions quickly in daily trades. Day trading is inherently more risky than investing but could be more profitable too because you're trying to capture all the small movements in everyday. You're looking at a smaller time window. If you are investing, you may not care about a 5% loss in a week whereas you may have a rebound months down the road.