Introduce Yourself Here - Don't Be Shy!!

[MadMarketScientist 11]

Hello and welcome to TL.

 

You've come to a great place to get answers and share your experiences with trading. Sometimes just sharing your story or posting a question and getting answers is all it takes to start taking your trading up a few notches.

 

There are many very experienced people on these forums who have seen it all.

 

I would suggest a Mark Douglas book on trading psychology/discipline. That's probably the hardest part to trading - having to be wrong so often and dealing with it. Even when you've got a good strategy/system it's going to fall apart at times. Very frustrating no matter how experienced or even profitable you become.

 

The other thing I suggest is really and truly figuring out what type of trader you are. People many times try and force themselves to be day traders, or to trade S&P emini futures, or forex, etc... because they hear that's what everyone else is doing. However, it might not fit your personality, time available, account size, etc.... it's really important you focus on fit for you - not what the crowd appears to be doing - remember the crowd tends to lose.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

MMS

[MadMarketScientist 11]

Hello and welcome to TL!

 

This is a great place to learn and share.

 

I know you have your blog, and after participating for a while we are o.k. with you giving that out but first things first - you have to participate in the community for a while here on TL. Hope that makes sense.

 

Congrats to you though for getting involved in this profession at a young age and committing to the education of it. Don't approach it as get rich quick but instead as a real profession which takes hard work and determination -- the payoff in the end will be there.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

MMS

[WealthFluctuations 10]

I'm new to the forum also. Welcome!! I am a young college student who is trying to learn as much as possible, from anyone that is willing to teach. I currently subscribe to the Fundamental Analysis Long-Term approach because that is what I have been taught, however my mind is open and clear to other ideas.

[cjflorida 10]

Thanks for the feedback MMS.

 

I will check-out the book you suggested.

 

Your comment on figuring out what type of trader I am was helpful.

 

I am still working on that one.

 

I like the idea of being flat on my positions at the end of the day but have failed to turn day trading into a profit.. Swing trading I am able to profit more often but mainly because I am able to wait until the trade goes my way.

 

I can see why successful traders say it takes two to three years before you "may" become profitable. Lots to learn and absorb.

[TDEMT 10]

My first suggestion would be to turn off CNBC. Learn to think for yourself.

 

"Go and tell no man".......

[Snowbear 10]

What you describe to me sounds like swing trading for sure. Not daytrading.

 

With $5K you are looking at either trading call or put options on stocks -- looking for swing moves on those stocks.

 

Or, you can trade forex on a swing basis.

 

That's the two I would look at -- and only swing trading.

 

I would definitely follow a technical approach not try to fundamentally predict either a stocks movement or a forex market - in my opinion anyway way too complicated. You'll likely want to look for something that gives you the odds in your favor maybe 65% - 75% of the time though in the 60s on a percentage basis is fine as long as you can maintain above 1:1 on the reward to risk.

 

That's at least a starting point in your investigation.

 

MMS

 

This sounds like a plan to me. Any thoughts on some good things to read or some learning resources I should start with? I know how the basics of options work and I know a little about the techniques like the collar, the "box" thing, etc. but I don't know the technicals or the specifics.

 

I was looking online and I found this one course that looks like it's talking about swing trading options making small profits with small risk. Called Trading Options Lab: Options Made Easy: Your Video Guide to Trading as a Business

 

I don't like the hype on the site about 'fortunes' and all the bloated claims of success, but from looking at some of the videos, it seems like it's good info at the core. There have been people that have said that if someone was good at trading, they wouldn't make courses, but I disagree. Some people like sharing things with others, some people enjoy teaching, and some people just want to interact with others and not live in a cave and hide their money all day. Now granted who knows if that applies to this place, could be a sham, but what are your thoughts on these mini-courses in general? Are they best avoided, or is there good info on there a lot of times?

 

I did notice this place heavily advocates TD Ameritrade's Think or Swim platform which is a little pricey compared to Options House or that Options Xpress place.

Edited October 30, 2010 by TLAdmin
URL removed

[BlowFish 10]

A couple of my favourite threads are here:-

 

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f208/reading-charts-real-time-6151.html

 

This covers quite a lot including 'price action' which is never a bad thing whatever approach you decide on.(imho)

 

For something completely different perhaps try here:-

 

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f6/trading-market-statistics-links-4803.html

 

The Wyckoff section is not bad too.

 

There are a couple of threads with book recommendations too.

 

People tend to proffer their own favourite approaches (no surprise really) it can make it rather hard to select something that suits you. It is also easy to 'spread yourself a bit thin'. Hunt around and find something that resonates then focus on that.

 

Some topics seem to be less discussed money management, trade management, the discipline required, constructing a plan that provides a framework for that discipline, the mindset. Trade management is talked about in both the threads I linked.

[BradanBrock 10]

Hi Welcome the Forums.

[MadMarketScientist 11]

WealthFluctuations (I like your TL name) - welcome to the forum as well.

 

Starting just like you are is a good place -- at some point you'll probably start looking at technical analysis and see if there's a place for it. You can even combine the two to help you pinpoint better entry/exit points from what your fundamental analysis is telling you.

 

For example you might be focusing on a certain sector, and selecting undervalued high yield stocks from your research -- you can then use some technical analysis to really help you hone in on an ideal place to enter -- or help you manage an open long-term trade, etc...

 

Good success to you!

 

MMS

 

 

I'm new to the forum also. Welcome!! I am a young college student who is trying to learn as much as possible, from anyone that is willing to teach. I currently subscribe to the Fundamental Analysis Long-Term approach because that is what I have been taught, however my mind is open and clear to other ideas.

[MadMarketScientist 11]

While I feel there's a place for day trading - -- after all I spend a lot of time doing it - I think it's easier initially to learn how to swing trade. There's less chance of mistakes, usually you can control your trades better with the additional time and stress tends to be lower. All good things. I'd stay on that track for now especially since you've seen some positive success that way.

 

You can always look into day trading down the road - right now stay with what you are learning and know.

 

 

 

Thanks for the feedback MMS.

 

I will check-out the book you suggested.

 

Your comment on figuring out what type of trader I am was helpful.

 

I am still working on that one.

 

I like the idea of being flat on my positions at the end of the day but have failed to turn day trading into a profit.. Swing trading I am able to profit more often but mainly because I am able to wait until the trade goes my way.

 

I can see why successful traders say it takes two to three years before you "may" become profitable. Lots to learn and absorb.

[Phil-n-Texas 10]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am new to this site but have been trading for about a year.

 

I am struggling with my trading and I am hoping to gain some insight from those of you who have been able to make a living from trading.

 

Over the past year I have read a few books Mastering the Trade, One up on Wallstreet, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Stock market Wizards, and one of Toni Turners. I have take about 800 trades mostly intra-day equities.

 

The reading I have done, everbody talks about taking losses is part of the learning process, as is just learning through your mistakes.

 

My question, for those of you kind enough to share your insight are:

 

What did you do that helped you most to get to the next level of trading??

 

 

Are there any books, videos, or classes you recommend that have improved your trading??

 

 

Thanks

 

welcome! fwiw, and for me personally it was getting a handle on good risk / money management.

 

here's a website that i've referred a lot of folks to that has a ton of free information and free e-books etc. the guy that runs the site is an excellent writer and has done a fantastic job of pulling together a lot of resources... he lays things out with some great examples.

 

Swing Trading Guide | Learn How to Trade Stocks Like a Pro!

 

if nothing else, i would first go to the money management section:

 

Money Management Strategy | How to Reduce Risk and Maximize Gains

 

another good "free" site is Alan Farley's "Hard Right Edge".... a wealth of education... but really, having good money / risk management IMO is key to survival.

 

if one can come up with strategies that have 70 - 80% hit-rate coupled with good MM/RM, a guy can make a buck.

[stevenxcel 10]

I am a full time trader. Try Brooks Price Action - Home Al has a great method.

 

Good Luck,

 

Steven

[cplilqw 10]

I'm new to the forum also. Welcome!! I am a young college student who is trying to learn as much as possible, from anyone that is willing to teach. I currently subscribe to the Fundamental Analysis Long-Term approach because that is what I have been taught, however my mind is open and clear to other ideas.

 

I started trading in college too! Don't underestimate the your own psychology. That was my biggest problem.

[MadMarketScientist 11]

I'm with you on trade psychology. Everyone gets sick of hearing about it but it will be the single greatest killer when it comes to successful trading. The problem is it's all too logical. Stay calm. Follow your plan. Don't get attached. Don't revenge trade, etc, etc, etc.... we all think we're strong enough for the obvious. Ever talk trading with a non-trader? They'll look at you like you're weak if you ever truly admit all the dumb things you did due to your "mind" -- but once you're in the thick of things -- all hell breaks loose for most -- no matter what the level of our intelligence. It's why no matter how good the system, most who try to trade any system are going to fail.

 

But, there's hope! Remind yourself that if everyone could trade system xyz and succeed - it wouldn't work. There has to be failure. Just not you right?!?

 

MMS

[PSUinDC 10]

Hello all. I'm new to this site, and particularly new to trading forums in general. Here's a quick background on me:

 

- 29 years old, male, married

- B.S. in IT, MS in Systems Engineering, currently working as a Systems Engineer

 

What brought me to be interested in stock trading? As cheesy as some of you probably think this is... a silly e-book called "PayTrading" brought me to it. I read that a few years ago and thought that it sounded like a terrible way of trading. A friend of mine thought we should try it on paper for s***'s and giggles, so we did. After 6 month's we were up 50%... not too bad in my eyes.

 

Recently, I've been learning to program in PHP. How does this relate? Well, to improve my skills at coding, I decided to try to implement a system to automatically find and rate stocks based on that silly e-book, since that was pretty much the extent of my trading knowledge. Currently my system does the following:

 

- Grabs all of the stock tickers from the Upgrades/Downgrades list and puts them in a database

- Tracks the price of all of the stocks in that database (now at 700+) every minute of the day by grabbing the price automatically from Google's realtime prices. I store this info in a database

- I have a very crude mock trading page that allows me to trade on paper any stocks with the click of a button (it shows the current price of the stock in question and lets you "buy" how ever many shares you select, then tracks its performance). This system allows for stoplosses and limit orders.

 

I really have no concept of what knowledge is needed to be a successful day trader, but I was drawn to this forum as a place to learn.

 

[uexkuell 10]

As cheesy as some of you probably think this is... a silly e-book called "..." brought me to it.

 

After 6 month's we were up 50%... not too bad in my eyes.

 

Thank you for that not too innovative way of spamming.

 

 

Who do you think believes all these things (even that this is your "First Time Visiting a Trading Forum" though you have been trading for some time and seem familiar with some tools and concepts)?

[PSUinDC 10]

I'm not really spamming, I'm seriously just telling you how I even got into the idea of stock trading.

 

I also have not been trading for some time, where did I say that? I've only ever traded on paper.

 

Way to be hostile. If you mentioned that you got into stock trading because you read a particular hardcover book, would that be spamming?

 

Brutal.

[PSUinDC 10]

Wow, I just looked back and realized that I did not say "paper traded" for that little test.

 

This makes my post quite a bit out of context. But still, Uexkuell, you're still brutal.

[gasdon 10]

just here to say hi. am new to trading and learning what i can.hopefully its all good.:doh:

[markdonrob 10]

Hello all...

Must say look forward to learning, and honing my mind and technique .....

[MadMarketScientist 11]

Welcome to TL Gasdon!

 

My top advice -- read a lot here. Absorb it. Ask questions when something comes up. The community here is very helpful and crazy knowledgeable. I thought I knew a lot but some of these people here blow me away.

 

MMS

[MadMarketScientist 11]

Mark,

 

Welcome to TL.

 

You've come to a great place if you're looking to learn. Read and post. Do that and you'll be golden.

 

MMS

[maximillianvon 10]

Hello - this seems like a nice site. I'm trading Forex - for the second time - 2 years ago I blew my account in a couple of months so I'm back to see if I can last longer this time! After 5 weeks I'm still up quite a bit. After Christmas I intend to devote more time to trading. I normally work alone but feel free to contact me, or make comments, if that's the way it works - I'm sure it doesn't do any harm to discuss ideas with others - I'm based in the U.K. I've studied most of the technical indicators and scoured the Internet for trading ideas. Good luck to you all.

[salma 10]

Hello everybody

 

I'm new in the forum and in trading.

 

At first a little more about me. I have high education in finance and my best interest was financial analysis during all years of my education. However I was always interested in analysing and preparing real investment projects but not financial investment.

What brought me here?

I have rather good offer to join trading team as trainee and then work as investment adviser and portfolio manager.

I'm making my first steps now in trading stocks but I feel totally lost. My coachers speak different language and I'm just lost in translations. And there are some more issues that make me obtain trading information and education by myself.

I was looking for traders community and found this web-site. It seems to be very nice. I'll have questions sometimes and I'll try to share my experience as well. Hopefully it'll not be so bad.

 

Thank you. All the best for everybody and good trades.

 

Regards

 

p.s. I'm not English native speaker so sorry for mistakes if there is any

[MadMarketScientist 11]

Salma,

 

Welcome to Traders Lab!

 

You've come to a great place to discuss trading and you'd be surprised how hanging here with some of the super sharp traders will raise your skills quickly.

 

Participate in the conversation is my top advice to you.

 

Welcome.

 

MMS