People on here always tell newbies that the best way to learn to trade is to open an account and spend hours and hours trading. In theory that's true but it's like giving someone a book and dictionary in a different language and have him figure it out...it'll happen but it is so slow... Where do newbies go for basics that they may not even know to ask? i.e...what to trade, what kind of trader they can be...
This is not only in theory so, it really works this way. The nice thing with learning trading is that it is the only business i know, where you can learn the almost everything you need by trading with paper money. The only things you have to learn with real money is the emotional things, like fear and greed VS discipline. But for informations about markets and stuff, there are plenty of cool websides out there, for example investopedia.com or elitetrader.com !!!! Ah, yes, and the rookie should not spending hours and hours with trading paper money, but with backtesting and creating strategies. So the rookie, does not need a Broker account to start, but he needs a Charting Software, for example, Esignal or Qcharts. IMO PEACE
When you hear words you don't undestand, look them up on investopedia.com. It's a helpful site. Take everything you hear with a grain of salt. Trust nothing until you have validated it yourself. The more you try different stuff, even if it doesn't work (and 99% of it won't work), the more you will learn.
That is depending on what markets you want to trade. If you only want to trade mainly FX, do it with Meta Trader 4. The software is free and very good for charting.. Also, many MT4 Broker offer also Futures and Stocks. check: http://www.100forexbrokers.com/ for that. There you can also see which server time the charting software is in, what is very important for shorttime traders, especially for FX and 24h futures. You need the right server time, or you get fucked. What this is, you must find out on your own. If you only want to trade Stocks and Options, then i would recommend Tradestation !!! The nice thing in Meta Trader 4 is that it is very easy to use and you can analyse the markets very quick, what you have not in other charting programms. But it offers not all timeframes, for that you must download a Expert Advisor for custom timeperiods. I prefer charting with MT4, because i learnt it that way and its the most handy plattform for me, because i only trade FX and some Futures. For backtesting other markets, like Stocks and the rest of Futures, i use Esignal and the german tradesignal. PEACE
I'm looking to start a trade consulting venture, but initially looking to take a couple of people to see if this is viable for me. There will be no cost, so anyone looking to get their feet wet and learn from someone who's seen the business along with virtually all mistakes one can possibly make, please feel free to contact me. Just to give you a brief history, I've been in the industry for 12 years and have seen market changes from the 'internet' era to the current environment. I've worked on both the retail and institutional sides of the business and traded with a group for 6 years. I am not looking to call individual names like most services out there. Instead I am looking to help you find out what kind of trader you are and work to mold you from there. It will involve analysis of your daily trade runs to understand your mindset and development of disciplines. Most importantly I will be voice of honesty if I don't believe you should be trading, i.e. - if you can not overcome the 'bad' habits that lead you to constantly spin your wheels.