I Studied Trading for 10 Minutes then Jumped in

[JayPrime 10]

Hi, I'm a young person looking to turn $35k into $2.5 million within 3 years.

 

---Another way of saying that is "Hi, I'm a moron who'd like to risk all his money..."

 

Based on my 10 minutes of actually doing research to try to come up with a good strategy, I realized that there's some gaps in my knowledge that I need some help filling.

 

Please feel free to answer one or all of my questions, or just chip in with whatever tidbit you can. Please just reference (by number) the question you are answering. Thanks!

 

1. Can someone please send me to (what you would consider) an informed article about a) What could cause deflation in general? b) What contemporary economic factors could drive deflation in the next decade?

 

2. Why would Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI:TSE) fall 2% and Yamana Gold Inc. NYSE fall 4% on the same day. The only difference I can see is the exchange (and thus the currency) that it is traded. I don't understand why one would fall twice as much as the other. Is there an opportunity for arbitrage in here somewhere?

 

3. What charting software do you use? I prefer web based, but I find that Google Finance doesn't support candlesticks and other things like commodity spot prices, and gold, etc... I would be willing to pay a small amount (<$30 per month) to get real time excellent charts.

 

4. When some A-hole declares that he predicted AAPL would fall %200 and so I should buy MSFT because he predicts it will go to $100, what is the FASTEST way to check the historical records to make sure the article isn't complete BS. (In general I don't follow peoples stock tips, but there are few economists who I think are ahead of the curve and I just find it is so time consuming to fact check). This could be as simple as me getting a good charting software. (Plus I gotta also make sure to find the dated publications where the predictions were made, but that's probably never going to be fast.)

 

5. An article (or cheat sheet) where the different types of charts are categorized and explained to show how they can be used to make extrapolations. For example, SRI Pivot Chart, Candle Sticks, etc... I just need a quick cheat sheet type thing.

 

6. Where can I get real time TSE? (Toronto Stock Exchange) quotes for free? Or anything better than a 15 minute delay would be great...

 

7. Can someone explain my currency risk exposure if I buy a U.S. stock? I'm a Canadian and right now CAN/USD is trading 0.95. I think CAN is undervalued and I don't want to buy USD at this juncture. So is it impossible for me to buy U.S. stocks then? I believe I am correct and buying U.S. stocks will force the bad conversion rate on me, meaning that if the USD were to fall say -10% then my stock would have to increase by +10% just for me to break even. I've opened positions in options on U.S. stocks because I don't see as much currency exposure with options. Not sure if I am taking the right approach... Basically I have some US stocks I want to buy, but I'm extremely bearish on the USD long term.

 

8. Is this a good forum for the types of questions I have? What are some other forums that are filled with active users who day trade and are friendly and like to give advice. (Please only reference forums with a decent Q/A interface. I don't want to scroll around and search for things because the website was poorly designed and not really designed for a question answer format.

 

9. I need a calendar of important business dates, macro dates, exchange holidays, and if possible also seasonal indicators for when certain commodities are historically in the most demand. For example, when is the quarterly report date for businesses? (Do they all report or the same day?) What dates do the central banks announce that they are going to interfere in the free market economy? (Are their specific dates?) When is Fiscal year end? When does the government announce it is laying off 200 workers? Typical dates for these types of market altering events. I need a calendar that lists both US and Canada.

 

10. What happens if I buy and hold an option until expiry? Is it possible for the damn thing to just expire and die and even if it is ITM and I get NOTHING for it? Or will the market maker give me my money when it expires as long as I'm holding it? Or will I get a phone call from somebody saying "How would you like to excercise" the contract?

 

11. If I am looking at options quotes and I see strikes at $1 dollar increments for a stock below $10 is it possible that my charting software / discount broker is just crappy and not showing me the real list of strikes? I don't get how a stock under $10 could possibly be striked at $1 increments. 50 cents seems much more reasonable...

 

That's it for now folks. Thanks very much for any help you can provide. I have open positions already despite not knowing the answer to these questions, but that is because I'm a moron who likes to jump in and learn the fast way. So far I'm making money because I'm a lucky bastard, but I need to address a lot of problems before I start losing money.

 

Just as an FYI, the only thing I've so far been considering to trade is options and stocks. I'm staying as far as possible from bonds, and I don't think I can devote any of my portfolio to long term yielders like high dividend payers because I want to make millions of dollars not thousands. At this stage I think I need to devote 100% to risk.

 

My goal: 100% every 6 months on average. For the first 2 years.

 

And I really don't like FOREX. I just don't see how to make money there. It's all manipulated and I just don't get it.:crap:

[tradingwizzard 10]

hi there, cheers,

 

for a your person, like you describe yourself, you seem to know a hell of a lot about trading........so I guess most of the questions you are asking have the answer in your head already.......real question is, do you need confirmation from somebody else?

 

anyways, welcome and hope to see more about your ambitious project

[JayPrime 10]

Oh well thanks Wizard I suppose I do know more than I thought I did...

 

Everything I know is just from what I've gathered from reading the first paragraph of financial news. I am seriously new to this stuff and just opened my discount brokerage account Thursday. Then did some trading Friday without really knowing what I was doing.

 

Perhaps some of my questions above are less essential or don't have straight forward answers, but I do consider each of them knowledge gaps. I really don't for certain know the answer to any of them yet.

[Seeker 11]

All of the answers below deserve more detail, but you've asked a lot of questions.

 

1. If you have a lot of time, study economics and get some good books on that. If you don't have the time go to wikipedia, and use the referenced articles

 

3. I use ninjatrader, and my broker's data to populate the charts, and I also have another set of charts from another broker. There are lots of good charting programs, but google finance is not one.

 

4. Get some good charts.

 

5. There are no cheat sheets in this business except for: don't fight the trend, cut your losses, run your winners.

 

6. Get a broker. Many have free trials and demo accounts.

 

7. Yes you have currency exposure. It depends on how you're trading. If you're going to trade some stocks and close out your position same day, your currency exposure is not that great. If you're looking into being a long term trader, then you can look into ways to hedge off this risk. There's always risk though.

 

9. Forex Factory has a nice calendar for economic announcements. If you're trading futures, there are several futures calendars looking at expiry dates etc - go the exchange's site.

 

10. How options are handled on expiry depends on who your broker is and what your intention is. If you are a beginner, stay away from options until you have a much deeper understanding of them.

 

Good luck on your target of 100% every 6 months. You may wish to do more research into successful traders and their returns and money management.

[JayPrime 10]

Thanks for the tips Seeker!

 

3. I'm going to check NinjaTrader out thanks a lot!

 

5. I think my question was unclear. To state it in a different way, I'm asking what types of charts are used for what? Is there a concise cheat sheet that someone knows of? For example if I take a 50 day moving average chart mixed with a 20 day moving average chart and look for where the two lines cross, what is the point of such a thing? As a day trader you have to decide when to get in and get out, so there must be a dozen or so specific types of charts you use to get specific types of info before you figure out your target stop limit, sell limit, optimal buy, etc...

 

7. Thanks for the confirmation. I'm long on gold and I want to own some GLD for potentially 1.5 years. The funny thing about GLD is that it DEPENDS on the US dollar going down. So basically, it seems to me that as I win in the stock, I lose in the currency exchange. A Canadian buying GLD is indeed a loss/loss situation no? Luckily I do know of some Canadian ETFs like CGL, however, its far inferior to GLD in terms of liquidity and thus I can't do covered calls, etc...

 

9. Sweet! This is actually one of my most valued questions. I really must find out all the important dates. I also don't know much about futures, so I will learn about them.

 

10. I could be wrong, but I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of options except for how they are handled if I allow it to expire in my possession. I'm thinking because sometimes I might just want to buy the underlying stock, rather than sell the CALL contract. I know how time decay, implied volitility, etc... relates to the price.

 

Thanks for the help again, and happy trading! I'm just going to do an aggressive portfolio and hope for the best. Setting expectations at 100% every 6 months is at least a goal right?

[SIUYA 11]

I decided to allocate 10 minutes to answering this - rather than just saying to the OP 'spend more than 10 minutes yourself.'

 

1....study Japan the last 20 years....and the reality is even the 'experts' cannot decide.

FWIW IMHO deflation is a combination of factors and one of the largest would be the influence of cash hoarding and saving v recirculating $ by active investments targeting growth as opposed to safety first. (but this is my morning cup of tea theory)

 

2...possible reasons....liquidity constraints, shorting constraints, FX, a couple of poor ticks, time differences, a possible arbitrage does exist

 

3....biggest cost will be likely be exchange fees. Platforms are cheap for what they offer. Possible ones to look at ; sierra charts, multicharts, tradestation, ninja trading, Esignal.....you choose and a lot will depend on the instruments and frequency of trading required.

 

(4 mins up)

 

4....ignore - make up your own mind

 

5...and 6....see platforms and what they offer.....also i suggest you built your own cheat sheet if you can. Others will probably have deficiencies and it depends on what you are after and how responsive or complicated you want them to be

 

7....depends on broker....often you may only be risking your margin + PL, or you may have 100% FX exposure...

 

8...fuck you you lazy git.....

 

9....I also want insider information but hey you cant have it all. Try ...

Forex Economic Calendar @ DailyFX

ZuluTrade - Calendar

 

10....if its ITM and it expires most places have automatic expiration...but hey if you dont want the money i am sure your broker will happily keep it. You must understand the systems /exahnges/ broker processes.....its your money and no one will look after it more than you.

 

11...reasonable and financial markets dont go together.

different exchanges, different rules, and not everything follows rules. See 10.

 

.........

if these Q only took you 10 minutes to understand then you should have only another week of study to understand everything there is in finance and will likely then make millions. I suggest a good book to read.... When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management: Roger Lowenstein: 9780375758256: Amazon.com: Books

 

Welcome

Edited July 7, 2013 by SIUYA

[MightyMouse 12]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLAd4NzuqYM]5 Minute University - YouTube[/ame]

 

You don't need 10 minutes. 5 is enough.

[Kenny1924 10]

Buddy, I started a year ago, and instead of compiling these kinds of questions, I posted them to various traders and got some really good answers. That is when the journey really began. Of course, I had 25 years of investment experience that I am trying to convert to 'trading'. While I was doing this, I also wanted to hit the 'reset' button to learn new tricks of the trade.

 

At the end of 1 year, I can tell you, I know a lot of tricks, have not performed any of the trick solo, but as I watch charts, I am able to interpret them by looking. Also, as the webinars are playing / replaying, I am able to predict a bit of what the trader / educator is going to say about the next thing that is needed before taking a trade. So, finally, I feel somewhat ready to do 'paper trading'. I am able to punt $10k to $25K to lose since I have made enough and lost enough in the markets not to worry about it (no sleepless nights), but I have learned that I need to start making $50 per day from this new venture. If I can do a consistent $50 per day, I think I can quit my full time job and make Trading a Living. I hope this conclusion and path that I have been on is right, cause it incorporates learnings from a LOT of ACTIVE and SUCCESSFUL traders.

 

Now, I need to spend money, get the SW (Ninja probably), get some custom developed indicators (still undecided), and finally get the data feed. Brokerage account is open with $10K at IB and ready to roll.

 

Each selection took me a while since there is a jungle out there now in this information oriented world.......it really is crazy if you open the pandora box of what used to be a simple word "Trading"!!!!!!!

 

Good luck guys.

 

Kenny

[SunTrader 10]

.......

Setting expectations at 100% every 6 months is at least a goal right?

Oh yea.

 

But go to Vegas instead.

 

Throw enough down on the tables to get "comp'd" a steak dinner and you will be way ahead of the game.

[MightyMouse 12]

Oh well thanks Wizard I suppose I do know more than I thought I did...

 

Everything I know is just from what I've gathered from reading the first paragraph of financial news. I am seriously new to this stuff and just opened my discount brokerage account Thursday. Then did some trading Friday without really knowing what I was doing.

 

Perhaps some of my questions above are less essential or don't have straight forward answers, but I do consider each of them knowledge gaps. I really don't for certain know the answer to any of them yet.

 

Let me know what you will be trading and at what times.

[JayPrime 10]

I decided to allocate 10 minutes to answering this - rather than just saying to the OP 'spend more than 10 minutes yourself.'

 

1....study Japan the last 20 years....and the reality is even the 'experts' cannot decide.

FWIW IMHO deflation is a combination of factors and one of the largest would be the influence of cash hoarding and saving v recirculating $ by active investments targeting growth as opposed to safety first. (but this is my morning cup of tea theory)

 

2...possible reasons....liquidity constraints, shorting constraints, FX, a couple of poor ticks, time differences, a possible arbitrage does exist

 

3....biggest cost will be likely be exchange fees. Platforms are cheap for what they offer. Possible ones to look at ; sierra charts, multicharts, tradestation, ninja trading, Esignal.....you choose and a lot will depend on the instruments and frequency of trading required.

 

(4 mins up)

 

4....ignore - make up your own mind

 

5...and 6....see platforms and what they offer.....also i suggest you built your own cheat sheet if you can. Others will probably have deficiencies and it depends on what you are after and how responsive or complicated you want them to be

 

7....depends on broker....often you may only be risking your margin + PL, or you may have 100% FX exposure...

 

8...fuck you you lazy git.....

 

9....I also want insider information but hey you cant have it all. Try ...

Forex Economic Calendar @ DailyFX

ZuluTrade - Calendar

 

10....if its ITM and it expires most places have automatic expiration...but hey if you dont want the money i am sure your broker will happily keep it. You must understand the systems /exahnges/ broker processes.....its your money and no one will look after it more than you.

 

11...reasonable and financial markets dont go together.

different exchanges, different rules, and not everything follows rules. See 10.

 

.........

if these Q only took you 10 minutes to understand then you should have only another week of study to understand everything there is in finance and will likely then make millions. I suggest a good book to read.... When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management: Roger Lowenstein: 9780375758256: Amazon.com: Books

 

Welcome

 

3. Currently stuck on this one right now. I opened up with Questrade only to find that they have a terrible platform, and they don't have a data provider that will work with something like ninja trader.

 

Investigated Sierra Charts: Awful (but functional) interface. I have to figure out a good data provider. I am hoping to get futures, equities, and spot prices of gold all in one.

 

Investigated Ninja: I like the scripting feature. Have same problem with data provider.

 

It could just be me, but I feel like these platforms (especially Sierra) are heavily influenced by Forex. As I indicated, I really don't understand Forex and doubt that I ever will. I'm hoping I can get by without having to understand too much about Forex.

 

2, 9, 10, 11. Thanks for the info it really is appreciated!

[SIUYA 11]

3. Currently stuck on this one right now. I opened up with Questrade only to find that they have a terrible platform, and they don't have a data provider that will work with something like ninja trader.

 

Investigated Sierra Charts: Awful (but functional) interface. I have to figure out a good data provider. I am hoping to get futures, equities, and spot prices of gold all in one.

 

Investigated Ninja: I like the scripting feature. Have same problem with data provider.

 

It could just be me, but I feel like these platforms (especially Sierra) are heavily influenced by Forex. As I indicated, I really don't understand Forex and doubt that I ever will. I'm hoping I can get by without having to understand too much about Forex.

 

2, 9, 10, 11. Thanks for the info it really is appreciated!

 

Yes...most platforms are focused on FX, and some only take futures and FX feeds.....so yes its an issue. Data managament and getting everything you want from a single platform is and probably always will be a pain.

A lot will depend on if you need timely data feeds or can wait for 15-20minute delay on the trades......the cost you wish to incur and what you want to do. (Trust us - the more you find out about the capabilities of certain systems the more you will likely want to do and the more you will find they cant do)

 

Unfortunately you are best to go through and request a free trial as each system is different and will appeal to different people. (I use Sierra Chart and yes its interface is ugly and old school - but works, they fix things quickly and requests are often replied to - I tried Ninja and MC and others and did not like them - each to their own)

 

Esignal is expensive but great for coverage of equities, and even using something like interactive brokers and a live data feed coupled with a really cheap end of day data feed might be enough for you.

 

(Also FWIW - asking ten unrelated questions in a forum might not get the best info reply....tailor make and specify each question in the appropriate forum - after reading the forum as its likely already been answered is best. Plus - ask your broker- if they cant provide satisfactory answers - ask yourself why they cant.....)

Edited July 8, 2013 by SIUYA

[JayPrime 10]

Thanks SIUYA and everyone else. I've been given excellent information and good leads and I am quite happy with the community here.

 

I decided to take the summer off from day trading and just ease myself into it. There's too much information and I need to ease myself into it. I don't have the time to really day trade either since I'm in the process of starting my own company.

 

Someone was interested in my positions, so here is a rundown of what I am in:

 

Options:

 

GLD - 20 x CALL @$117 Aug. 2nd purchased at $3.60

GLD - 20 x CALL @$117 September 21st purchased at $4.45

 

BOFI - 5 x PUT @$45 October purchased at 3.00

 

Stocks:

 

1500 shares of CGL.TO @ Avg. Price of $10.70

1000 shares of YRI.TO @ Avg. Price of 9.70

 

As for BOFI, I plan to buy 100 shares of BOFI when it hits $40.

 

You might find it strange that I bought 5 PUT options against it when I want to own it... Well, because my strategy is aggressive and rather than selling naked puts, I figured... If I am sure it will go down (and hence why I'm not buying now) then why not just profit from it going down?

 

I might trade in and out of CGL.TO, but I think I'll be holding YRI.TO for about 1.5 years. That's it for me. And yes, I'm up a bit on the options right now

[SunTrader 10]

......

You might find it strange that I bought 5 PUT options

......

What I find strange is that you bought options at all if as you say you have very limited experience.

 

Option profitability is heavily skewed towards those who write and sell them than those who buy them. Not always. If you get the right price and what you want to happen happens with time left on them options can pay off big. But if everything doesn't go right it is throwing good money after bad.

[tradingwizzard 10]

What I find strange is that you bought options at all if as you say you have very limited experience.

 

Option profitability is heavily skewed towards those who write and sell them than those who buy them. Not always. If you get the right price and what you want to happen happens with time left on them options can pay off big. But if everything doesn't go right it is throwing good money after bad.

 

exactly my point at the begining of the thread.......too much knowledge for a beginner......just saying

[JayPrime 10]

What I find strange is that you bought options at all if as you say you have very limited experience.

 

Option profitability is heavily skewed towards those who write and sell them than those who buy them. Not always. If you get the right price and what you want to happen happens with time left on them options can pay off big. But if everything doesn't go right it is throwing good money after bad.

 

I agree, I'm being stupid. I really can't defend myself in these positions, except for the ownership of YRI which I think is at excellent value right now.

 

I'm not going to pull out though.

 

If I get burned real badly with these bets, I'll simmer down. (It's money I can afford to lose.)

[SunTrader 10]

........

(It's money I can afford to lose.)

I hear traders all the time say they are playing with house money - their gain from a previous winning trade. Money in their hand or in their account is their money - to use to win more or lose.

 

I know this will seem negative but most likely you will lose.

 

Traders make all kinds of do and do not lists.

 

Top 10 trader mistakes, top 15 trader rules, best time to trade, favorite indicators - book authors - strategies, etc. etc.

 

When it all comes down to one thing - managing risk.

 

Don't manage risk it will overwhelm any amount of big winners.

[JayPrime 10]

I agree with you.

 

I've got my own self-designed system for managing risk. As long as everyone manages their risk to the level that is comfortable with them, then who am I to say they are making a mistake?

 

If you trade, you are a risk taker. Period. Please don't take the high and mighty stance that you are better at managing risk when it is all relative like I say above.

 

If you are over 40, you might not want to take the amount of risk I am taking.

 

But note, that I never mentioned what my stop limit was, so how do you even know what risk I'm taking?

 

I can say for sure that due to my stop loss I will very likely end up in the money on these trades since I'm already deeply in the money.

[SunTrader 10]

I agree with you.

 

I've got my own self-designed system for managing risk. As long as ...........

 

You provide little but expect someone to comment. And my guess only what you want to hear. But again its hard to say.

 

C ya.

 

An over 40 yr old.

[ColoradoRicardo 10]

Hi, I'm a young person looking to turn $35k into $2.5 million within 3 years.

 

---Another way of saying that is "Hi, I'm a moron who'd like to risk all his money..." .....

 

I can relate to your questions and your apparent passion about the subject.

 

I started at trading in 2005 with the "Forex Made Easy" scam. I was hooked. I thought "how great is this?... being able to make money from my computer while working on my tan". Well, it's now about 8 years later and I have lost about $30K trading and spent about the same amount in lessons, indicators, strategies (robot traders) and I am still trading (spoiler alert - it's now working).

 

After donating some money to the Forex, I switched over to futures because I was told (by salesmen/scammers in trader's clothing) that that was where to make the real money - and they had the only way to do it. Unfortunately, that's where most of my losses came in. I decided I did not like donating (for me) losses into the futures markets so I knew something had to change. I decided to go back to the Forex since I could trade real money using only small contracts. That way I would not lose ALL of my money at once and I could learn more about how to trade while still keeping some adrenalin flowing. Also. I finally realized I was risking a lot more than just my account balance with futures if things went really bad so that clinched my decision to leave the futures.

 

So (still loving the idea of trading) I am now back to Forex. I am making between five and ten percent a week on my account using a pretty simple trading method that allows me to be like one of those sucker fish that take little meals (profits) now and then while stuck to a much bigger fish.

 

My method is a Frankenstein-like combination of several things I have gleaned over the years from various forums and from generous traders who feel that by helping others they actually help themselves. Thanks to those folks who help others here and there in these forums! It is by no means the only way to make money. It's just a way that I found that works for me (for now at least). I trade about 4 hours in the Asian session and about 4 hours in the NY session. I avoid the news times and I never take the trades personally - it's just a business. And I don't know how all other successful traders feel, but, I think at least for me, it is pretty boring when I do it right.

 

I should tell you that there are many things in Forex that can sink a trader (not the least of which are criminal brokerages) but I am here to tell you that it can be done if you are passionate about your quest and you learn, learn and learn more until you can't take it anymore and then you do the same thing the next day and the next and so on.

 

Good luck to you.

 

R in Colorado

[SunTrader 10]

......

I am making between five and ten percent a week on my account using a pretty simple

.........

You do realize using simple math this would be approx 200 to 500% per year. Won't be long till you've made $ 2.5 million then.

[ColoradoRicardo 10]

You do realize using simple math this would be approx 200 to 500% per year. Won't be long till you've made $ 2.5 million then.

 

Yes.... I know that would be the case if I took nothing out but I do not have that luxury. I am living on this income.

 

R

 

************************

[MightyMouse 12]

You do realize using simple math this would be approx 200 to 500% per year. Won't be long till you've made $ 2.5 million then.

 

There is a slim chance this can be done, but I don't think he is taking big enough risks to let that slim chance be a slim chance.

[SunTrader 10]

There is a slim chance this can be done, but I don't think he is taking big enough risks to let that slim chance be a slim chance.

Hope you aren't taking my questioning seriously.

 

More importantly, I guess, is I hope Ricardo isn't either.

 

But then I just realized what part of the forum this thread is located.

[henryduncan12 10]

I would suggest you to trade with regulated and trusted broker he assist you in safe trading and also will also make good strategy for you.