advice needed

Quote from snooptrader:

A broker is a salesman. If you want to learn more about sales, become a broker. Your day to day activities are focused around production, not learning about the stock market.
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That's what I was thinking too. I don't want to be a salesman. I want to learn more about the markets.

So I would probably should just keep chugging along in my home office on my home computer and keep on trading for myself and reading.

The broker that is going to train me said that I would learn about the markets because I would be watching them all day long. (I watch them all day long anyways). But in the same conversation, he also told me that 98% of brokers fail and quit within the first few months because they can't make a living at it.
 
Quote from goodfellow:

What you said makes perfect sense.

I have a whole library of trading books. I think my trading system is flawed though because I only win 50% of the time. So I thought that if I got a job as a broker trainee then I could make my profits better and win more, because I am around the atmosphere every day instead of trading by myself in my home office.

But your advice is good advice. Thank you.
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IMO there is nothing wrong with 50% as long as avg winner is larger than your avg loser. I would curious to hear other opinioins though.

My mentor taught me a scalp method that wins between 80-95% of the time, but requires I risk sometimes as much as $200 to make $50 per futures contract. Psychologically I am not comfortable with that equation so I am considering more of swing trading style where I win less, but where I am swing for 2 or 3 to 1 reward to risk.

Dan
 
Quote from dandxg:

IMO there is nothing wrong with 50% as long as avg winner is larger than your avg loser. I would curious to hear other opinioins though.

My mentor taught me a scalp method that wins between 80-95% of the time, but requires I risk sometimes as much as $200 to make $50 per futures contract. Psychologically I am not comfortable with that equation so I am considering more of swing trading style where I win less, but where I am swing for 2 or 3 to 1 reward to risk.

Dan
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If you're winning 80-95% of the time who cares that your risk/reward ratio is 4 to 1? I don't get it...

You want to swing trade so that you win less often but can make $200 by only risking $70 - $100 dollars. That sounds alot more difficult than scalping. In addition, by swing trading you're taking directional risk and it's probable that your avg loss per share will be greater than when you're scalping.

If you have a 80-95% method, why on earth wouldn't you just jam it down the markets throat until it doesn't work anymore? Could you explain please?
 
yikes. sorry to offend.

it was meant to be helpful, because when I started, I wanted to spend all this time and energy learning "about trading", instead of actually learning to trade, which requires the real thing IMHO.

I hope it all works out.
 
Do not become a broker. I mean, think to yourself: Would you ever have a need for a broker with all the options out there? The brokers of yesteryear prospered because the investor simply didn't know what was out there. As the public is getting increasingly active in the market and with the proliferation of IRAs, there is literally NO NEED for a human broker.
 
Soon2B,

All I can say is that it I am not comfortable with it. Maybe it's because I new, within first year, but as its been said many times you need to find a strategy that fits your personality.

I find myself trying to cherry pick so I don't get that big loser or 2 and then I miss out on a winner and I don't want to trade for the rest of the day because I believe my probabilities are screwed for that day. It's a vicious cycle on somedays I would cherry pick and beat what I call my perfect play, executing every signal according to my setup. Now with a 2 to 1 reward to risk and lower wins I feel more comfortable trading, that's all I can say.

I don't want to hijack this thread anymore so there you have it.
 
Quote from snooptrader:

A broker is a salesman. If you want to learn more about sales, become a broker. Your day to day activities are focused around production, not learning about the stock market.
More...

I can speak from experience - ex-broker to full-time trader - snoop has it right. As a broker your job is to SELL. There is NO real analysis done (don't even mention technical analysis). Your job is to find someone that has $ and not sure what to do with it. Your job is to find someone not happy with their current broker and then try to take the account. Your job is to get the phone book out and start calling with whatever the firm wants you to push.

If you want to learn about trading, a broker will not help at all. As a matter of fact, you will be so busy making cold calls and doing seminars, that you won't have time to look at your trading.
 
Quote from FaderTraderr:

Do not become a broker. I mean, think to yourself: Would you ever have a need for a broker with all the options out there? The brokers of yesteryear prospered because the investor simply didn't know what was out there. As the public is getting increasingly active in the market and with the proliferation of IRAs, there is literally NO NEED for a human broker.
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Fader - I would disagree. There are plenty of people out there that either 1) do not want to do anything with investing/trading or 2) not willing to take the time to learn. Therefore, people will always rely on another person (even if just over the phone) to tell them what to do. I know this is not a trader mentality, but let's face it, very few have the guts to be a trader.

As an ex-broker, I lived on these people. And there are plenty.
 
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