leobust

For a newbie trader, the best analogy would be a trainee soldier. Demo trading: Is when a trainee soldier fires at the "enemy" without the enemy firing back. The soldier is 100% confident that nothing will happen to him as its just a pretend "battle". Live trading: The trainee soldier goes to a real battle for the first time. His mind is pre-occupied with the notion that this time, the chance of being killed is now a reality, as the enemy will also fire back with live bullets. His hands will be trembling and sweating. His heart will be beating faster. His glands will secrete bitter fluids. His head will be sweating corns.:crap: Seriously, demo trading is excellent for testing setups and learning new softwares.:o But there is NO substitute for live trading if you wanted to learn trading. Live trading teaches you how to control your emotion, in which demo trading can't provide. The trick is to start with one contract until you get the hang of it, and gradually add as you gain experience and expertise.:

Like any other trading books, you have to take the setups with the grain of salt. Try the setups, make adjustments, and if still doesn't work - discard it. I found three Carter setups profitable only if you know WHEN to use them, (which was not exactly detailed in the book). You have to do your own experiment, market observation and adjustments to suit market condition on a given day. Every day have different volatility. These setups are Gap play, Pivot play and TICK Play. Pivot play should be renamed S/R play as pivots themselves are only minor S/Rs. There are S/R levels that are more potent and these are the ones that make you money. I leave that to you to discover.

Maybe your colleague is talking about spread-trading. This site maybe a source of info: What is Spread Trading? I haven't actually traded this strategy but I'm thinking of trying it, (paper trade), using index futures (eg. ES/NQ).

From 5pm you can trade the DAX, Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 (FESX), and the FTSE 100 (Z). These markets usually marches to their own drum beat until ES starts trading on RTH.

Systems (I call them trading "setups") are easy to understand but very hard to make a profit when you have limited market experience. You can get trading setups from books authored by "real" traders. Test these setups and observe how they work. Take notes what market condition or price action they work and don't work. Adjust setup criteria accordingly to suit your markets. The EDGE is that you and only you can understand and trade your setup profitably. It is NOT an "edge" if everybody use the same system - that's the FACT.

I'll offer Hugh Hefner to buy his Playboy empire.......OK ok just kidding!!! - I'll help my less fortunate relatives and support some charities. - Spend ew months every year holidaying in some exotic cites / places on earth.

Find some trading setups, usually from books, modify them to suit your markets and make it your own. You only need about 3 or max 5 setups to make a living. Re-invent /discover setups that works on trend days, during consolidation and different timeframes. A setup IS NOT one fits all - each one must suit a specific market condition. Paper trade your setups everyday under varying market conditions and take notes, especially the market reaction to the news of the day. Trade your setup semi-mechanical, ie. with little discretion - that way you let your setup run its course - whether that particular trade was profitable or not. Record your P/L so you can make some adjustments as you go along. You have to be VERY disciplined when trading your setups. Follow your setups religiously. NO SETUP - NO TRADE. When you're ready to trade real money. Just start with very few contracts until you're profitable. Increase the no. of contracts accordingly as you gain confidence.

Yes - You are missing something big and very important part of trading - the emotion side of it. Because you are only paper trading and no real money is at stake, you don't feel the "fear and greed" aspect of it. Start trading few contracts to get the real "feel" of it and see how you go. You'd be surprise its a totally new ball game. If you can maintain a 10 pts gain a week, you can consider yourself a "professional".

Its far from dead.. But the markets says...."Many are invited....But few are choosen"

Trading whout charts: Pit traders does this since the creation of the markets. I used to do this when I still got my day job and cant open a realtime chart. I'm still doing it now whenever I'm not on my trading desk I use my iPhone or my small laptop to trade when travelling. Of course, I have to do all the market analysis on weekends and the night before trading using charts. On the trading day, i dont have to look at the chart, only Support/Resistance levels and the DOM.

Most daytraders who make money do not use indicator signals to trade. They use price patterns instead, ie. price actions on S/R levels, retracements,etc..

Every trading day is different, (market does a series of daily contraction and expansion), so only I allocate the no. of contracts according to the type of setup triggered and signal strength. My trade risk limit is from 1% to 5% of my account. When I exceed my maximum risk limit, I stop trading and take a rest. I go back to my notes and review my setups.