Advice for new trader

Hi TraderZones,

1. You bet. I realize the value of a community and I would never spam this board with blog advertisements. It was just a business idea I was throwing around.

2. I'm still of two minds when it comes to trading. My belief regarding working in finance centers around value - i.e. are you creating value for a third party which allows you to derive income? I do believe that scalping drives liquidity in futures markets, and most scalpers unwittingly play a similar role to market-makers. In addition, I know many scalpers personally who have done quite well for themselves at places like Refco (now with different firms). Given how much capital I have, I'm not sure other strategies make much sense for me. Let's see what happens.

3. I'll test out different things and see what sticks. I try to do a blend of fundamental and technical analysis. I usually have a view on how an event will move a market (fundamental) and I understand the basic technical concepts as well.

4. Agreed, this is an area of improvement for me.

5. Also agreed, that's why I intend to do some serious practice. Trading is pretty humbling, so I know I have a long road ahead of me.
 
Quote from deb_shaw13:

Hi TraderZones,

I do believe that scalping drives liquidity in futures markets, and most scalpers unwittingly play a similar role to market-makers. In addition, I know many scalpers personally who have done quite well for themselves at places like Refco (now with different firms).
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large "scalpers" also usually get very very low costs. A man with a $25,000 account is not one of them. I have met very few small scalpers who are successful, longterm. The ones I have met who claim success, are usually paper traders and only scalp "in theory" or along with other strategies.

The rake - the costs of trading are like the house advantage. You have to make continuously make 10s of percent annually just to break even. The more you trade, the less likely you are to make or keep profits.
 
My advice is get a job with a trading firm, and get paid to learn for a few years. You will make more, have less stress, and learn faster in most cases.

Only go solo if you see a really great market inefficiency that you can exploit for decent 6 figures or more, or you literally cannot bear working with other people.
 
I've noticed you know that education is going to be key to your success. I fully agree.
My advice is in line with what has been mentioned before.
So here is it is: if you can't get a job with a trading firm, get a 5 to 9 job instead of a 9 to 5 job.
Why? A very important part of the eduction will come from learning from people who have been in the business for many years. It is not easy to find people you are able and willing to help you out. These people exist but I am sorry to say by far, most of them are based in the US. Plus, they are active during US trading hours.

To be able to discover a trading style that suits your personality you will have to start by learning from at least 3 or 4 different masters. You will have to study their work for at least half a year each. Some might disagree with this point, but for me it was essential step in becoming a well rounded, confident trader.

I live in Europe, have a daily trading window of 14 hours and I have looked for great traders/teachers that are active outside US market hours. With the exception of 2 that don't teach in English I have not found any. (Europe is not known for its level playing field:-)

This is something to keep in mind.
Good luck with your venture. On your road to success do not believe in magic, there are no short cuts. Whatever is said on this forum, you can make it but don't expect to get there within one or two years (those are full time years :-).
 
Quote from deb_shaw13:

Hi everyone,

I've decided I'm going to try out trading futures as a part-time career. I want to play with a simulator for 6 months before I start trading with my own capital. I have about $25k saved up for this business venture. I was a part-time research analyst for Refco while in university, so I do have a basic understanding of how this works (I used to cover equities). I also intend to fully document my trading experiences in a blog with ebooks, and I have an ad network lined up that can push traffic to any digital products I publish. I have extensive experience in the internet space, so this is one of my strengths.

I've installed NinjaTrader, signed up for a practice account with Velocity Futures, eSignal and Trade The News. I intend to spend quite a bit on training. I also have a 9-5 job, so my goal is to trade after-hours. I don't want to quit my job and trade full time until I can sustain a basic standard of living.

Here is my dilemma: I know that most of the action is news-driven that occurs during market-hours. What securities should I trade after work? Are there any that display good volatility that make it "fun" to trade? And maybe more importantly, if you were in my position, what would you do to learn futures trading after 6PM Eastern Standard Time (North America)? Thanks for your help everyone,

Deb
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You should really consider dividing your capital into five small parts or whatever portion and see what u can trade with that less money. When i first started out, I blew up super quick. At least reserve some spare ammo along the way for blow ups etc.

Your behavior when u go live can be very different from what you think now and when you sim trade
 
You should first consider what broker do you want to use in live trading. Then see if u can get a trial account from them. As such, you will get used to the trading constraints, such as amount of leverage, lot size, transaction speed etc.

Try to reduce your trial/demo account balance to your real live account size. If you don't have $100,000 no point paper trading such huge sizes.
 
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