By the end of this year (2003), I will graduate from an undergraduate institution with an Economics degree. I know for 100%(nothing less or nothing more) that I want to be and that I will be a day trader forever. I have 0 experience in day trading, but I traded with Online Brokerage Houses and is fairly knowledgeable in how the Finance industry works. I know that how much knowledge you have in Finance or even in anything else won't be benefitial for me to be successful trader. I have no capital to put up, or nothing of any significance, ~5,000 dollars I can pull if I want to. I am willing to relocate to anywhere. My living expenses are covered so I don't have to work to earn a living (as I know now). I am thinking about working for a Prop. firm, with as little an intitial capital requirement. I could wait for a while and work/day job for a while to raise the necessary funding to try my hand at some place that has a hefty initial deposit. But I think it would be a waist of my time if I work for ~5-10 dollars an hour at a department store for a year or two while my heart is set on being a trader. You, my friend (if I may call you that), has a lot of experience and it would be wonderful if you could give me some valuable and well versed suggestions and improvements on my way of thinking. so here it is, What do YOU think that I should do? or what would you do if you were in a similar circumstance as I am. Thanks and I will really appreciate any responses of value. Nelson.
forget about it for now. use your degree to earn a living. trade long term or trade at night to satisfy your trading dreams (you can trade almost 24 hours a day now). if you ever get good at trading you can always go fulltime.
1) get a free live quote to watch the market (warning: do not click on Home link) http://fast.quote.com/fq/cts/livechart.html?symbols=&wd=770&ht=570 2) check out trading books from local library and read them all. 3) use freebie snagit to save the chart for further studying 4) open a mocktrading account and perfect your trading skill https://secure.webdsi.com/mocktrading/ 5) come back here and show your trades with reasons behind. 6) if you can answer all question throw at you then move on to next step.
1) get a free live quote to watch the market (warning: do not click on Home link) http://fast.quote.com/fq/cts/livech...=&wd=770&ht=570 I will start watching the market. 2) check out trading books from local library and read them all. I read them all that I want to read to get a basic idea of stuff. Reading stuff about Options traders etc on Market Wizards etc don't matter to me, since I made a choice just to stick with stocks. Plus, what Jesse Livermore did in 1920s etc don't matter to me now, although some of it are useful, so you get the point. I think I will try to some more day trading books. 3) use freebie snagit to save the chart for further studying snagit.com ? I think I will use my Zip Disks to save them. 4) open a mocktrading account and perfect your trading skill https://secure.webdsi.com/mocktrading/ Have tried it and it is utterly boring and since no money is involved, I don't think I am learning anything useful, or I think I have already learned them. 5) come back here and show your trades with reasons behind. I will when I do day trade at a firm as a novice. 6) if you can answer all question throw at you then move on to next step. I am ready for the next step, and your suggestions for the next step is what I really need.
should I take the try to work for the Prop. Firm route? or the work at a minimum wage (or not much higher) place for a year or two and save ~50,000 (I know you would say its impossible, but it is possible for me to save that much on minimum wage in two years.) and get in the game? If I take the saving up the capital route, I will be holding myself back from attaining as much experience as I can. And I have to think that I will still be a n00b with that ~50,000 which could wipe me out extremely fast. So I am really thinking of going with the Prop. Firm route. What you think? Nelson.
going to a prop firm will not prevent you from wiping out extremely fast. i don't know you, but i can tell you that you're gonna have to slow down. the anxiousness is not uncommon, we all had it when we decided to become a trader. what you MUST realize is that you will need to learn how to channel this energy into positive actions. whatever you do, start out trading SMALL. or papertrade to confirm that your strategy will work in the first place. trust me, you aren't gonna become a profitable trader right away. so if you aren't profitable, then you're losing money. if you're losing money, then you better have enough of it to live off and trade until you DO become profitable. and it doesn't happen in a week, or even a month. its hard to think this way when you start, but if you can manage to listen to what I am saying, then you MIGHT realize your dream. good luck!