If you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently to learn to trade?

Handle123 said:
My method is based on deep retracements with overall trend of being up and use weekly data, I never trail my stops after I get a nickel beyond breakeven stops. All my back testing shows trailing stops hurt overall profits. Longer I have traded stocks, for longer term systems, where you get in matters much less than I use to think, being the case, why not just enter at a SMA?
I use options and debit spreads instead of stops. I generally trade stocks but also like SPY and couple other ETFs cause of heavier option volume of selling options around my Long ETF or stock positions.

I do sell short stocks/ETFs but only on Non dividend stocks, but my entries have to be more precise since overall market is in Bull run.
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Thank you, I must research this further for the instruments I trade.
 
I'd say that margin is the biggest contributor for losing accounts , you can make money in stocks , if you keep adding to your position and don't day trade , and keep investing in dividend paying stocks.
 
tickmagnet said:
margin is the biggest contributor for losing accounts , you can make money in stocks , if you keep adding to your position and don't day trade , and keep investing in dividend paying stocks.
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100% agree, margin & leverage is the main reason why novice lost their account.
Too many snake oil bucket shops in today's market, 10 years ago you rarely heard someone are able to trade forex with $500 starting capital, and loss 80% in a week.
 
I was the one who asked this question in my thread and my answer to this question is trade stocks beause you can control your risk better, also you can always find a stock in play. Theres just day when the indices are not tradeable. When your trading stocks you can trade really small until you learn how to trade.
 
I would have listened damn bear blindly to the guy who introduced me to trading instead of taking his words and then going on my own so-called knowledge quest. Why? Because when I finally learned the info that made me profitable, it was the info that the guy had given me in the first place.
 
"If I knew what I knew in the past. I would've been blacked out on your ass."
"I'm aware I'm a wolf. Soon as the moon hit. I'm aware I'm a king'"


All joking aside though, to answer this post...don't bet directionally blindly. Think pairs or two, or have backup. Two is a very feng shui earthly lucky number...alot of things in this world revolve around the number two, or pairs.

"All movement in the universe is caused by tension between positive and negative furies." -- Big Trouble in Little China, 1986 movie
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learner2007 said:
Someone asked this question in a thread. Thought it might make an informative thread for some traders just starting out.

I guess that after studying TA (price & vol.-not indicators) for 2 or so years I would have focused on only 2 or 3 setups that worked well in my plan rather than having spent so much time trying to find a setup to fit every single price movement under the sun, or the 'perfect' setup, in order to create the perfect trading plan. All that study took time away from real time trading that could have been used to reach my financial goals much much sooner. But at the same time I've truly enjoyed these 40 years of study, and will continue studying TA until that morning when I go face first into my pancakes!
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Never looked at charts or gone down the TA rabbit hole. That's what i would do over. surf
 
After learning to read stock charts to a certain degree,
I would have ignored any charts that didn't have a
recognizable TA indication that stood out like something
jumping out of a 3D movie, learning later that the farther the
indication is from the textbook drawing, the less chance of it
working out. And I would have never, ever attempted to apply
TA to a given chart, as it's too easy to bend the lines and
see what's not there. So with the limited choice in futures,
it's 3D or pass.

When I worked for a major investment bank I was forced to
write TA comments in the analysts reports. Really had to bend
the lines in order to say something for a given chart.
 
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