Have $25K.......Best way to begin learning to trade it

3. I have a degree in statistics and minor in mathematics.

There seem to be a few/some knowledgable traders who make a living around here from what I have read so far, and I would be interested in any advice on the best way to get my feet wet. Do I go toward options and read McMillan & Natenberg, do I find a mentor for daytrading stocks, futures??????

I am open to all constructive ideas and thoughts.......

---------------------------------------------------------

Dear Sir

! Not send to broker any cent ...

1. read www.marketzar.com

Try to win some place in contest without(only!) charge

4-7 place would give you a right to play "great" day contest with 1 place price 1500$

If you after some time would win ,that would your risk capital
which you would ready 100% to loose
(if you win ,author can inform you about brokers -pure
agents ,which are some better as another )

2. As you USA resident ,you can try in 5 two month contest's
by http://www.beatthestreetgame.com/

That is with delayed quote (in first contest quote is real )
and skill ,which you can win would very limited ,if any
in real trading .(Stock trading result by first for month some 3500%)
But each first place =100000$

3. Not forgett ,that relevant top result's is only by one operator
from 10000 -1000000 after multiple years of excessive losses .

B.Baruch -four years of consecutive losses
Martin Schwartz -multiple years of consecutive losses
( one year perfomance in modern price's through GDP relation
some 800 % on capital approx 1 mln $)
www.markdcook.com -near bankruptcy ,after that 562% in one year for capital smaller as 1mln $

4. If you would received through multiple years training good skill and will use your math skill (A.Puankare,J.von Neumann,Shannon) ,you possible would go to result
some 50% -100% in one year ,but that would not without
risk and related to full time (10-12 hours per day ) involvement

Woul possible better to find second job as mathematiker
and receive equal money from this job without any capital risk ...

Your respectfully
 
Do I go toward options and read McMillan & Natenberg


If you will present to your social and education group
some matter as "gamma trading" , "limited risk delta neutral",
"delta ad'justement","positive theta" ,why not ,but

great profit related to great risk ,with McMillan your profit
would not more as by Stock trader per year .

In another case ,you would forced accept great (untill 100% )
risk in "limited risk ,delta neutral position as butterfly " ,which
by great volatility would simple going to "0"
 
Don Bright
Bright Trading, LLC

(You knew this was coming, LOL).

Since it takes a $million or more to engage in strategies that work well, and produce a good 6 figure income (M&A, opening only, pairs, market making, etc. etc.) vs. trying to pick a stock or a market direction...you might consider finding out what professional (licensed) trading is all about, from our group of guys.

-----------------------------------------------------

... Each kind of homo sapiens activities related to
motive's

Jason586 make experiment -Try to sell to mr.Don Bright
some (book ,house ,your math skill) and demand money from start . If you would successfull with this task ,you would have
a chance to be a good trader .
 
Lot of decent advice so far. Without knowing how far along you are, it's hard to give anything more than basic advice.

When advising newbies, i think most of us are concerned that they far underestimate the risk involved in trading and how easy it is to lose a lot of money. Options are not for beginners. There are no sure-fire winning strategies, nor are there secret strategies that you only need to go to a seminar to learn. It's all out there, it's all very mathematical and it's arb'd to death.

You need to learn about the practical aspects of risk control and diversification. Leverage may be your friend in real estate, but it will kill you in this business. If you learn nothing else, you can be successful if you can develop enough discipline to avoid letting any one trade turn into a big loser.

You need to develop a methodology. Swing trading stocks is a reasonable approach, but you need to have a method for selecting, entering and exiting them. If you plan on using technical analysis, it is a great idea to invest in some backtesting software and data and run through various strategies to see for your self if they work. You will also get an invaluable education in the effect of stops, profit-taking, trend following,etc.

Good luck.
 
You need to learn about the practical aspects of risk control and diversification. Leverage may be your friend in real estate, but it will kill you in this business. If you learn nothing else, you can be successful if you can develop enough discipline to avoid letting any one trade turn into a big loser.

You need to develop a methodology. Swing trading stocks is a reasonable approach, but you need to have a method for selecting, entering and exiting them. If you plan on using technical analysis, it is a great idea to invest in some backtesting software and data and run through various strategies to see for your self if they work. You will also get an invaluable education in the effect of stops, profit-taking, trend following,etc.

Good luck.
------------------------------------

Jason586 ,in each case not send any cent and not invest any
in any software ,book &
It is best risk management .
 
Start out by opening an account with a brokerage that has very low commissions, and that allows you to trade a variety of markets, such as Interactive Brokers. Start out making very small trades. Learn about various different styles of trading (from reading or what not), and start making different types of trades to see how things work. Don't risk more than 2% of your capital on any trade. Ideally, you want to risk even less than that, as most likely your expectation of profit will be negative, so the smaller you trade the less money you'll lose. The secret to learning to trade is to not lose too much money while you are are learning. Furthermore, the more money you have, the easier trading gets, so losing too much money makes your learning even harder.
 
Quote from ssss:

You need to learn about the practical aspects of risk control and diversification. Leverage may be your friend in real estate, but it will kill you in this business. If you learn nothing else, you can be successful if you can develop enough discipline to avoid letting any one trade turn into a big loser.

You need to develop a methodology. Swing trading stocks is a reasonable approach, but you need to have a method for selecting, entering and exiting them. If you plan on using technical analysis, it is a great idea to invest in some backtesting software and data and run through various strategies to see for your self if they work. You will also get an invaluable education in the effect of stops, profit-taking, trend following,etc.

Good luck.
------------------------------------

Jason586 ,in each case not send any cent and not invest any
in any software ,book &
It is best risk management .
More...

Yes, by all means, do not ever invest time or money in any book, lessons, private schools, learning how to read or write, enter college, start a business, or anything else. Just wait for someone to give you money....yeah, "that's the ticket" LOL.

Don :p (Sorry friends, couldnt' resist)
 
Someone in this thread mentioned they daytrade with $5000. How is this possible? Are there any firms that you can use that let you daytrade without have the required 25k? without paying silly commisions/fees etc?
 
Quote from jason586:

I have $25K sitting in a checking account that only earns about 4% a month that I would like to start trading with at some point in the future. I am new to all kinds of trading and need to learn everything. Here's a bit of info on me that maybe would help in what direction you should think I should go toward:

1. I have a lot of time on my hands as I am in real estate in which I only need to dedicate about 10 hours a week.

2. My wife and I each have Roth IRAs that we contribute the max each year that have been doing 20+% in international funds.

3. I have a degree in statistics and minor in mathematics.

There seem to be a few/some knowledgable traders who make a living around here from what I have read so far, and I would be interested in any advice on the best way to get my feet wet. Do I go toward options and read McMillan & Natenberg, do I find a mentor for daytrading stocks, futures??????

I am open to all constructive ideas and thoughts.......
More...

Going back to the OP's topic. . .

- Raise your stakes higher, preferrably above 50k. While 25k can be a decent amount in your trading account (esp. if you trade futures as supposed to stocks; imo in order to make some serious dough (i.e. six fig.) as a stock trader you'll need about 100k dedicated to your trading account as an independent trader, while with futures, 35-50k will do, thanks to leverage), if you consider the cost of running it as a business, including the inevitable rookie's blowup(s) it requires a lot more capital. Not sure how much cash flow you generate in RE but ideally it (and your wife :D) should be able to take care of your living expenses for a while.

- Paper trade. Many brokers have realistic platforms out there, so keep your feet wet that way for a couple of months (max)before going live. But don't dabble in there too long that you get disconnected from the real trading experience. Expect at least 1-2 years before things start truly clicking after going live. Your objective until then should be to learn as much as possible while keeping your losses low so you can survive up to that point.

Have fun!
 
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