Is there a book that explains it all?

Create your own trading journal. While Sim trading, Write down every entry , reason, target and loss you took. After two years , this book will bevery valuable providing you learn from your mistakes.
 
Quote from JoePaterno:

If the above boils down to "what book(s) will explain how I can start making money so I can retire soon or make lots of money in the near term", you are in for a very very very very cold & painful reality shock.
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No, I wanted a general outline on how the money is made with trading, so that I can research the part that appeals to me the most later.
 
Also, if you don't mind, please let me know the anticipated expenses for a new trader. What software (if any) is absolutely essential.

Lastly, knowing what you know now, and presuming you only had 10K for trading, how much would you be able to make in a year from this 10K?
 
Quote from vk60546:

Also, if you don't mind, please let me know the anticipated expenses for a new trader. What software (if any) is absolutely essential.

Lastly, knowing what you know now, and presuming you only had 10K for trading, how much would you be able to make in a year from this 10K?
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10K will limit you to Futures, Futures Options and Forex. To day-trade stocks you need at least 25K in our account.

You can limit your book search to futures as there are Forex futures.

10K

For ES my broker requires 2813 margin per account. You can by 3 contracts with your 10K. Each tick will give you $37.5 per tick.

If you can make 20 ticks (5 points) per day you will make $750 per day. If you do 200 trading days per year you will make $150,000

If you can keep some of the profits in the account you can buy more contracts and make more $$$.

Now this is the idea. It does not work like that 99.99999% of the cases.

IMO you will lose the 10K at least 3 times.
 
Quote from ivanbaj:

10K will limit you to Futures, Futures Options and Forex. To day-trade stocks you need at least 25K in our account.

You can limit your book search to futures as there are Forex futures.

10K

For ES my broker requires 2813 margin per account. You can by 3 contracts with your 10K. Each tick will give you $37.5 per tick.

If you can make 20 ticks (5 points) per day you will make $750 per day. If you do 200 trading days per year you will make $150,000

If you can keep some of the profits in the account you can buy more contracts and make more $$$.

Now this is the idea. It does not work like that 99.99999% of the cases.

IMO you will lose the 10K at least 3 times.
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Thanks for the ideas. In your example, if I loose the ticks, can I loose more than 10K and actually owe money with your example?

I guess that's where more education (for me) would come in handy, but I'd like to know this now if you don't mind.
 
Quote from vk60546:

Thanks for the ideas. In your example, if I loose the ticks, can I loose more than 10K and actually owe money with your example?

I guess that's where more education (for me) would come in handy, but I'd like to know this now if you don't mind.
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Yes!!!!

The margin is there to protect the broker. If you start loosing money and the total is less than the margin required your broker will sell the contracts to protect themselves.

But...

If they fail to sell them or if there is a flash crash and you go under your 10K, let say you lose 20K on the trade, you will be liable for 20K. 10K you already lost you will have to send them another 10K.

If you don't they will come after you.

This is my understanding. I could be wrong.

P.S. you can use options to set your maximum exposure to the market. With options you can NOT lose more than the amount you have already paid. Unless you sell neked options.
 
Quote from vk60546:

Is there a book that explains in some details how traders can make money, ranging from a simple buying and selling stocks to options, shorts, etc...?

If you are pro, I'd be interested in knowing how you made your first money trading (don't need the specific numbers, just info on how you made your first check)

Thanks,
VK

edit - also, it would help if you could estimate the start up costs that are required. Are there absolute must have subscriptions, feeds, etc... ?

edit no. 2 - is there a platform that I could trade with funny money (not real money) similar to forex platform? That way, I could similate trading without actual real losses.
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* Random walk down Wall Street

* Fooled by randomness

* The black swan

* crgarcia words of wisdom on ET
 
Quote from ivanbaj:

10K will limit you to Futures, Futures Options and Forex. To day-trade stocks you need at least 25K in our account.

You can limit your book search to futures as there are Forex futures.

10K
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What nonsensical advice is this, please? How can someone advise a newbie to go ahead and trade futures instead of stocks or ETFs? I am assuming that you want to urge him into day trading, instead of easier, less active approaches. Hence the minimum requirement of 25k. Of course you can trade stocks with less than that!

Matter of fact is, you do not need that amount to trade profitably with stocks (this includes index funds, ETFs). And you do not need to erase your account with the severe leverage of futures. The solution is to keep away from day trading because a newbie will not succeed in it anyway. Newbie traders tend to trade in a way that is not advantageous while the experienced trader trades in a way that is advantageous. By being very active, one will make many mistakes. It is something that experienced traders have learned.
 
Quote from vk60546:

Also, if you don't mind, please let me know the anticipated expenses for a new trader. What software (if any) is absolutely essential.

It depends on what you're trading and what broker your with (some offer extensive tools).

Lastly, knowing what you know now, and presuming you only had 10K for trading, how much would you be able to make in a year from this 10K?

Apart from being undercapitalized with 10K ... Something like 90% of new day traders blow out their accounts. Think you're special? :)
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