How did you learn how to trade?
- Thread starter Sure Chap
- Start date
Well while waiting for a ride outside a hotel, I overheard a group of taxi drivers how they were making hundreds of thousands trading Futures, Options and Forex. And how they were bragging about these successes on online trading forums. Of course I believed them and so I too started to make my fortune.
Did a couple thousand "trades" but didn't have success in learning to "trade" but got lucky ( in the 90's ) on a few internet stocks and leveraged futures positions ( this before eminis existed ) and held onto the $$ into the 2000s. When ETFs came along in mid 2000s, I switched to quantitative based "investing" with focus on longer holding periods ( months and years ) and making infrequent "transactions" on predetermined dates based on repetitive and repeating behaviors in the equity markets. The only way to go as far as I'm concerned ...
- Don't quit your day job
- Don't use leverage
- Open a Roth IRA
- Sometimes money is made by sitting in cash
- Don't be a hostage to the markets
- let the markets, profitability of the U.S. economy work for you
- Don't quit your day job
- Don't use leverage
- Open a Roth IRA
- Sometimes money is made by sitting in cash
- Don't be a hostage to the markets
- let the markets, profitability of the U.S. economy work for you
You said trade, maybe you'll be okey with my answer if I change the question to 'invest'. (I'm more of an investor than a trader).
1) Read books on how the stock market works (from simple high level things to stuff a little more detailed). Not huge maths, but mostly portfolio theory, diversification, fundamental analysis, market behavior over the long term, how bull/bear runs behave.
2) Do not read *anything* that says 'get rich quick'.
3) Find a brokerage that does not over-charge and has a simple to use interface. Your first handful of trades you will be more worried about how you click rather than what you are trading
4) Try some small investments in things you are confident in. (General rule for investors is an index based fund, then some DOW components, or some good dividend payers).
5) After doing this for a couple of years and building up confidence take a little extra risk if you can do this (maybe some slightly risky companies).
6) After success/failure, try to see what you did wrong, and find out if there is any guidance on how you can improve.
7) Continue to read widely (You are lucky, you got the internet full of materials on the subject. Some of us had only a library... you remember those? )
8) Watch the news, keep up with general market behavior, keep up with companies of interest. Never be a follower (those who follow tend to follow too late).
9) Make each of your acquisitions with care and slowly build up a portfolio you can be proud of.
10) Admit defeat when a choice turns sour and know when to pull the plug (either sell for a loss if you have to, or stop acquiring, or look for an opportunity to exchange it (bear market could cause others to drop 20% but the bad stock only 5%, so a good time to do a shift)).
11) Continue to read topics and books on theory (NOT get rick quick). And continue to dig into the details of the companies you are investing in.
12) Have fun. After doing it for a while *IF* you enjoy it, you will have fun doing this.
This is more or less what I've done and have been sufficiently successful to be happy and I continue to research and learn, even after all these decades... decades.. I'm old.
1) Read books on how the stock market works (from simple high level things to stuff a little more detailed). Not huge maths, but mostly portfolio theory, diversification, fundamental analysis, market behavior over the long term, how bull/bear runs behave.
2) Do not read *anything* that says 'get rich quick'.
3) Find a brokerage that does not over-charge and has a simple to use interface. Your first handful of trades you will be more worried about how you click rather than what you are trading
4) Try some small investments in things you are confident in. (General rule for investors is an index based fund, then some DOW components, or some good dividend payers).
5) After doing this for a couple of years and building up confidence take a little extra risk if you can do this (maybe some slightly risky companies).
6) After success/failure, try to see what you did wrong, and find out if there is any guidance on how you can improve.
7) Continue to read widely (You are lucky, you got the internet full of materials on the subject. Some of us had only a library... you remember those?
)8) Watch the news, keep up with general market behavior, keep up with companies of interest. Never be a follower (those who follow tend to follow too late).
9) Make each of your acquisitions with care and slowly build up a portfolio you can be proud of.
10) Admit defeat when a choice turns sour and know when to pull the plug (either sell for a loss if you have to, or stop acquiring, or look for an opportunity to exchange it (bear market could cause others to drop 20% but the bad stock only 5%, so a good time to do a shift)).
11) Continue to read topics and books on theory (NOT get rick quick). And continue to dig into the details of the companies you are investing in.
12) Have fun. After doing it for a while *IF* you enjoy it, you will have fun doing this.
This is more or less what I've done and have been sufficiently successful to be happy and I continue to research and learn, even after all these decades... decades.. I'm old.
I'm in my 4th decade of researching and learning. Glad to hear I'm not alone. Those who learn all they need to know about trading in 3 days and 2 nights don't know what they're missing, do they? Of course they'll just say we're slow learners!
Checked your profile. You ain't old. Getting old is the pits. But to keep the mind sharp in the declining years, playing the market is a great way, isn't it?
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Some of dis
Some of dat *(although "losing" is now assimilated into my normal / every day trading)
A whole lotta extracting my head outta my ass..., and getting over myself / outta my own way
All in a day's work necessary to achieve a goal
RN
Some of dat *(although "losing" is now assimilated into my normal / every day trading)
A whole lotta extracting my head outta my ass..., and getting over myself / outta my own way
All in a day's work necessary to achieve a goal
RN
I started in 1996. For one to last longer term you have to adapt to the conditions. Over the past 20 years I've used TA for a while, traded Bloomberg/CNBC 'stories' as they broke, traded based on fundamentals. But my best, and most used strategy, is to trade stocks I 'know'. Trading them over and over and over by knowing what is likely a good support level, not getting greedy and taking profits when the profit hits your goal/target. Singles and doubles consistently beat trying to swing for the fences. And always trade size that makes sense to you and your account size. Never chase high flyers -- I saw many potential traders was out in the 90's doing that when I traded in an office.