Transition from Learning....to LIVE Trading

[Mavrik00 10]

Greetings Everyone,

 

In my opinion, developing into a confident and consistant trader takes careful planning and a mechanical approach to this process.

 

I like to use the analogy of a baseball pitcher.

 

The first game of the season you cant go out and throw 200 fastballs, you need to 'ease' into it so you dont

 

a. hurt yourself

b. lose conifdence in your best pitches

c. save soemthing for the season

 

I think the same is true for new traders as well.

 

When learning to trade it seems to be very important to "scale in" with your level of participation and take it slow and steady.

 

here is what ive seen in my own trading:

 

1. Mental Capital is a valuable resource.

 

This means that once you lose your confidence it can be tough to get it back.

 

How many times would it take an 8-year old to be scared of the water if he/she was thrown in 2 times without learning to swim?

 

The same is true for traders. Preserving mental capital simply means that we dont want to go ALL IN and try a million things at once, b/c we will fail, and that complete failure by a new trader will rob you of that valuable confidence in your trading.

 

2. FOCUS on Keeping it simple

 

I tried to do too much when i first started, and because of that, i missed the opportunity to focus on only 1 thing and master it.

 

I now look back at years of trading that i consider wasted b/c of the fact that i was simply trading, i wasnt studying and looking for only the best opportunities, and its no wonder why i didnt succeed, i didnt have a chance.

 

3. Start Slow

 

Should new traders limit the # of trades they take each day?

 

I started off firing off hundreds of trades a day and the only person laughing was my broker!

 

It wasnt until i started taking only 1 trade each day that i was able to develop the discipline to then ADD more trades to my toolbox.

 

 

In closing...

 

The 'art' of becomming a trader is a tough thing to do, this we know, but tell me this... is there a better way to get started?

 

Does anyone have any tips and tricks we could share with the group?

 

Recap...

 

1. Protect Mental Capital (Confidence)

2. FOCUS on ONE thing first, and master it

3. Start Slow...perhaps only 1 trade each day

 

Your thoughts?

[brownsfan019 17]

Interesting ideas.

 

My suggestion is to trade on sim for a bit and then go live. For some sim works nicely and others it's not effective.

 

If you have a system that works, then trade it. Personally I see no value in limiting trades to 1 per day when starting. What if the first trade is a loser and the next 5 are winners? Talk about messing w/ your mental well-being.

 

At some point those moving to live have to give it a go. Once you are ready, then do your best and learn from your mistakes.

[Mavrik00 10]

thanks for the great advice.

 

Does anyone else have anything they would like to add as advice?

[brownsfan019 17]

Note - might have to wait till the markets closed to get more replies since some are trading!

 

[gandalf33 10]

Greetings.

 

Being a new trader who has't traded live yet, my following thoughts only describe what I think is a good approach - and has worked for me and has the potential to work for everyone.

 

I've spent almost a year reading all kinds of trading books and sites about trading psychology, repeating over and over again the rules for which most traders fail, at my first backtest of TF 08Z, I've encountered almost everything I've read of and this was yet a backtest!

 

I've got 13 losing trades in a row - I was immediately dissatisfied, felt the urge to search for new, "better" indicators, change my trading system, etc. But having read about this phenomena 1000 times, knowing that if there are losers, winners will come for sure, I kept on trading following the rules exactly and in a two weeks backtest period, I've despite the losing trades, I've managed to turn $5000 into $10300. If half of this will be true in live trading, I will be satisfied.

 

The key is actively following everything you read about - money management, psychological factors, everything. After many losing trades, I wanted to skip a trade or two when I received entry signals - I've pushed thru the feeling and entered the trade, to see a nice trend develop in my direction, making a profit which washed away several losing trades. I could continue to name further situations but I don't want to make this post longer - it's already long enough.

 

Enjoy and keep up the rules however simple they might sound - if great traders say those are the keys, then they are.