New Canadian Trader Looking for Expert Advice

[launchcodemexico 10]

Hi, I live in Vancouver, BC Canada and I'd like to start trading with an initial capital of 5000CAD, for just a little extra income on the side. My goals are:

 

- to learn market movements and trends

- 25.00CAD net profit a day (after commissions or any other assorted fees)

- or 500.00CAD a month; no more, but definitely not less-liquid.

 

I'm looking for advice on:

- markets I should examine

- if my goals are realistic for a beginner

- which online broker should I use? (Questrade, Trade Freedom, Scotia iTrade, Interactive Brokers, etc.)

 

I plan for this to be a serious daily routine for me, and not something I'll be doing for fun on the side. I do have a degree in Economics, but I don't use/practice that knowledge at a professional level; yet. I hope my goal is modest enough and 5k will be sufficient to start with, but if not, where should I begin?

 

Advice is duly appreciated.

[rectav 10]

Hi,

 

This is my advice. When trading any markets, profits take care of themselves. Risk Management is the answer to it all. Learn how not to lose money and focus on the trade . I think you are focusing too much on earning money. You can have a Big winner, a small winner, a small loser and a big loser. The path of making money is to learn not to lose it by eliminating the big loser.

 

Hope you do not see me coming to rude on you.

 

Take care....

[Tams 20]

you don't need any money to learn.

there are lots of good books in the library and useful websites on the internet.

 

after you think you have learned, that's when the tuition fee kicks in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

p.s. most people paid over 5k in tuition. pls plan your journey accordingly.

Edited May 1, 2009 by Tams

[rectav 10]

 

after you think you have learned, that's when the tuition fee kicks in.

 

Good one....

[swansjr 10]

You are going to spend a lot of time experimenting with markets, timeframes and trading methods before you narrow down a few things you can relate to.

 

My advice is to read a lot and experiment for the next year on a simulator with live market data. People say simulators are worthless because they don’t give you the feel when you have real money on the line. Well duh, that’s why it’s called a simulator.

 

However, pilots and astronauts use simulators and they don’t throw out that lame excuse. They jump into them knowing they can learn from the experience and they log many hours doing just that. You can learn a lot what doesn’t work on a simulator. Use it. Make your mistakes there because it’s a lot cheaper than the real world. Fact is, if you can’t consistently make money in a simulator you have no hope in the real markets. If you are going to jump in with real money understand what risk per trade is. Also, be prepared to lose.

 

Learn to take losses. Learn to trade well. Consistently executing your trades is vital. Money will follow.

 

Read...

 

Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom

 

Trading in the Zone

 

The Disciplined Trader

 

Market Wizards

 

Trading for a Living

 

Good luck.

[launchcodemexico 10]

This is exactly the type of sobering advice I was looking for and I want to thank everyone for their input.

 

Any suggestions for a Canadian online broker and/or good tools (simulators...etc.) on the internet for me to get started?

 

I hear some sites don't offer very comprehensive features, or even real-time updates. Good graphing tools, for example, and fast real-time updates are crucial to me.

Edited May 1, 2009 by launchcodemexico

[sevensa 10]

Hi, I live in Vancouver, BC Canada and I'd like to start trading with an initial capital of 5000CAD, for just a little extra income on the side. My goals are:

 

- to learn market movements and trends

- 25.00CAD net profit a day (after commissions or any other assorted fees)

- or 500.00CAD a month; no more, but definitely not less-liquid.

 

I'm looking for advice on:

- markets I should examine

- if my goals are realistic for a beginner

- which online broker should I use? (Questrade, Trade Freedom, Scotia iTrade, Interactive Brokers, etc.)

 

I plan for this to be a serious daily routine for me, and not something I'll be doing for fun on the side. I do have a degree in Economics, but I don't use/practice that knowledge at a professional level; yet. I hope my goal is modest enough and 5k will be sufficient to start with, but if not, where should I begin?

 

Advice is duly appreciated.

 

I think you should lower your goals a lot. Do you really think 10% return a month as a beginner is realistic? A more realistic goal would be not to blow out your account in the first 6 months.

[rectav 10]

You are welcome. Maybe you could tell us which market you are looking forward to trade, what kind of trader are you (Investor, position trader,swing trader, scalper). Depending on that, you probably will end-up with a few alternatives.

 

Cheers...

[launchcodemexico 10]

Sevensa:

 

Thank you. Your rather short comment not only teaches me about the limits I'm up against, but the mentalities I'm contending with.

 

I know I want to see net positive returns in the least time possible; over many gains and losses of course. I'm not sure what the reasonable metric is for a beginner like me and maybe others can chime in. A few cents a day? A few dollars a week? A few pennies a month? A few dollars every 3 months? Or would this vary, completely determined by my personality and experience? The shorter the evaluation time the better of course.

 

 

Rectav:

 

This could be a few lines so I hope some of you will stay with me.

 

My current knowledge and feel for the markets, is probably that of the general public: I enjoy the news, paying attention to global dynamics, keeping channels like CNN or CNBC on 24/7, etc. So I have this broad feel of the trends hypothetically suited for general long term low-risk investing; run of the mill Mom n' Pop type Investor trading.

 

If I were to classify and prioritize my familiarity with the markets it would probably be something like this:

 

1. Popular Tangibles (real physical products) and Technology

2. Commodities (tied to products)

3. Popular Service products (credit industry, etc.)

3. Intangibles (ForEx, futures, funky indices of all sorts, etc.)

 

But with only 5000 to start with, I feel any stock that I even think I know anything about (popular ones like Nike, Google, Visa, oil, gold, etc...) will just be too expensive for me to learn anything substantial before I blow my bankroll. I really want my 5000 initial capital to last as long as possible, so I'm perfectly happy making pennies as long as I'm making more than I lose, and that knowledge can eventually be scaled up to dollar amounts. I'm not a rich individual by far, and this money was a gift to me which I'm using for educational purposes. So I'm not here to make money just yet.

 

I also want to familiarize myself with the mechanics of trading as fast as possible (stops/limit orders, shorts, etc...), and long term trading just won't teach me enough in a short enough amount of time. I need routine daily practice.

 

One thing I know for certain is that I have an obsession over trends of any kind (economic, socio-political, ones that exist in pseudo-virtual game worlds, or even fashion) which I think many of you can relate to. So independent of what I may know about a market, I will endlessly pore over the numbers, and research, just to test if my forecast was correct, which theoretically can also suit me for shorter term swing trading or even day trading; which I think is what fits my needs and limitations at the moment.

 

From what I hear about day trading, it's essentially as much about playing the traders themselves as it is the market values.

Edited May 1, 2009 by launchcodemexico

[bakrob99 11]

From a fellow Canadian Trader (also with a Economics Degree), here's my advice.

 

Your account is too small for most commodities. You could setup a micro Forex account, or trade the new CME FX-Micro Futures. They would be about the right size.

 

In this way, you could swing trade currencies with the 6 primary currencies available through the CME without having too much leverage. And they tend to trend well over time. I recommend setting up an account with a SIMULATOR. Spend some time on it and take 20 trades treating it like you would your real account. After you have successfully managed 20 trades and their results fit with your profit expectations, then take the next 20 live. But start with small size. Max of 2 Micro Contracts on no more than 2 symbols at the same time.

 

If I were you I'd open up an IB account as they have a very good Canadian presence and they have an excellent platform (I don't use them myself but only becuase I have already opened accounts a other US based companies)

 

Good luck. Let us know in another 6 months how it's going for you.

[bakrob99 11]

Oh ... one more thing.

 

Sign up at Free Dan Gramza Trading Videos and get Dan's free daily videos. Go back over the past many months day by day to get a feel for how his work performs in various markets. I think this will open up some swing trading ideas which you could employ.

[sevensa 10]

Sevensa:

 

Thank you. Your rather short comment not only teaches me about the limits I'm up against, but the mentalities I'm contending with.

 

I know I want to see net positive returns in the least time possible; over many gains and losses of course. I'm not sure what the reasonable metric is for a beginner like me and maybe others can chime in. A few cents a day? A few dollars a week? A few pennies a month? A few dollars every 3 months? Or would this vary, completely determined by my personality and experience? The shorter the evaluation time the better of course.

 

My advise would be that your only goal should be to be positive over several months. This is pointless to come up with daily goals if you don't even know what markets and methodology you are going to use. This is like asking how big a house you can buy after you sell your hollywood script to a producer, without even having an idea what your script is going to be about or if you even can write one.

 

Figure out what you want to trade and how you want to trade and only then will you have a better idea of what targets you can realistically expect from the market and methodology you use.

 

You also keep saying that you want this timeframe to be quick. Forget about that. This is not going to be quick. This is going to take you years to learn the profession. Keep in mind that if you are going to treat this as a part time hobby, then you should expect the results to be like a part time hobby. I am not aware of many hobbies actually being profitable and most of them cost money and this is what you should expect from a part time hobby.

[srdack 10]

Hey launchcodemexico

 

I run a Prop/arcade firm here in Vancouver. you can start with 5k. it will be tough. software and data is around 300 a month. you will get good bp with your 5k and ill teach you a great risk management system, a watch list system, auction market theory, and hot keys.

 

email me at one.island@hotmail.com

 

Hope to talk with you soon

 

Stephen

[ChinaCommodity 10]

go to read books, journals and others; opinions but not rely on external information. Trust yourself and your winning experience.

 

If you always loss, just step out of it and probably join some funds.