Is trading only a hobby or job for the rich?

[Kfseadog]

rather, begin trading as you study.

 

[kut2k2]

rather, begin trading as you study.

You really should develop a trading plan before trading, even in a demo account. Otherwise you're just practicing bad trading habits even as you struggle to develop a plan with an edge (positive expectation).

 

[dbphoenix]

Want to learn how to ride a bike? Get on one and start trying. Swimming? Gotta get in the water. If you want to be a writer, start writing. If you want to be a trader, start trading. Better to fall on your face, over and over, and over, and over, and over, when you're dealing with a small amount of real money. Don't do the demo, use real $$$, it hurts more, lessons stick better.

If you want to be a surgeon, start operating on people without any preparation.

If you want to be a pilot, start flying a plane without any preparation.

If you want to be a racecar driver, start driving without any preparation.

If you want to build homes, apartment complexes, office buildings, jump right in.

If you want to be an electrician . . .

 

[dbphoenix]

Fair argument. It goes without saying that study is essential to become proficient at anything. But to study only, disassociated from the actual doingness of the subject will wind up with too much theory that cannot be related to. Having some skin in the game, no matter how small, can give the proper relative importance to what is being learned about. You can read about risk management all day (and one should!) but nothing is going to drive it home like losing something real.

If you do it wrong, you're absolutely right, just like learning to be a surgeon by using Operation.

As with most things, there's a right way and a wrong way. Jumping into something you don't understand and thinking that losing money is the best way to learn is how Vegas has done so well over the past 70 years.

 

[Kfseadog]

If you do it wrong, you're absolutely right, just like learning to be a surgeon by using Operation.

As with most things, there's a right way and a wrong way. Jumping into something you don't understand and thinking that losing money is the best way to learn is how Vegas has done so well over the past 70 years.

Believing you're going to study, work out a plan, practice on a demo account, then NOT lose money when you actually start trading is simply naive. Everyone loses money at some point. Is it better to practice on a fake account, build yourself up with a false sense of confidence, THEN start out with a "well capitalized" account?

 

[dbphoenix]

Believing you're going to study, work out a plan, practice on a demo account, then NOT lose money when you actually start trading is simply naive. Everyone loses money at some point. Is it better to practice on a fake account, build yourself up with a false sense of confidence, THEN start out with a "well capitalized" account?

Depends on whether you do it right or not. Most do it wrong. So most lose. That doesn't mean that doing it correctly is a waste of time.

 

[Gringo]

Believing you're going to study, work out a plan, practice on a demo account, then NOT lose money when you actually start trading is simply naive.

There's a difference between the concept of losing money on a string of trades, and the concept of losing money after a long series of trades. One is inevitable, the other an outcome of design.

Everyone loses money at some point.

Everyone loses money. The trick is to know how to lose it well.

Is it better to practice on a fake account, build yourself up with a false sense of confidence, THEN start out with a "well capitalized" account?

Does making real money give one a true sense of confidence? Can that also not lead to the same downfall?


All the best.

Gringo

 

[Kfseadog]

Everyone loses money. The trick is to know how to lose it well.


Does making real money give one a true sense of confidence? Can that also not lead to the same downfall?

Precisely, everyone does lose money. Except for those paper trading. They may be missing out on the relative importance of every mistake they make, because they are quite literally not invested in it. These lessons are valuable.

And do not misunderstand, I certainly haven't said one will be making money. My point is actually the reverse, they will almost undoubtedly lose some if not all of their capital. They will have the blunt reality hit them in the face, and any fantasies or preconceived notions they have about how easy it is to make money in the market is thrown out the window.

My entire point is that it's better for someone to have that experience at the very start, when working with small capital. It's a relatively inexpensive, but very valuable experience that every trader will have. Why not have it as early as possible? At the very least, they'll have second thoughts about continuing trading, which may be for the best for that individual. And if they do decide to continue, they'll have a much better sense of what they're getting into. How can you possibly get that from a demo account?

 

[Wach80]

I think what the guy said above about the trading plan is true , i need to start to create this plan now but im kinda confused how to begin , i plan to invest in knowledge but i dont want to overdo it because from my experience you tend to find the same things again and some of them are ineffective too or effective for the wrong reasons , i want few but very solid books. A guy recommended a book *trading for dummies* i plan to buy this , what else should i buy to help me create this plan? also my platform doesnt seem to have a backtesting option , is there any good platform where i can backtest any plan? btw keep in mind that im more interested to learn about forex since i plan to begin with this.

Anyway i would like if someone could show me some if not all the parameters of his plan to get an idea what is considered a serious trading plan , i mean is it only strategy? do you follow certain indicators or chart reads? do you mix a lot of stuff?

When im thinking about trading plan , i can only think about strategic parameters and not anything else , a guy said something about picking the correct broker , well i think this is obvious that i have to find the best broker just like i would need to find the poker room who offer the best rake deals but i would rather pick a more expensive broker if i think its more safe for my money and trades , i mean if i make any money , i want to actually get them.

 

[dbphoenix]

Precisely, everyone does lose money. Except for those paper trading. They may be missing out on the relative importance of every mistake they make, because they are quite literally not invested in it. These lessons are valuable.

And do not misunderstand, I certainly haven't said one will be making money. My point is actually the reverse, they will almost undoubtedly lose some if not all of their capital. They will have the blunt reality hit them in the face, and any fantasies or preconceived notions they have about how easy it is to make money in the market is thrown out the window.

My entire point is that it's better for someone to have that experience at the very start, when working with small capital. It's a relatively inexpensive, but very valuable experience that every trader will have. Why not have it as early as possible? At the very least, they'll have second thoughts about continuing trading, which may be for the best for that individual. And if they do decide to continue, they'll have a much better sense of what they're getting into. How can you possibly get that from a demo account?

And even better is to develop the trading plan first so that the losses are minimal. Believing that one must lose all his capital in order to learn anything is unsupportable.