Mentors?

I think mentors (working with a real pro) are found through personal relationships. I hooked up with a pro only because he liked a speciality drink we had and he came in to get it before starting his day. Only after a period of months did our 20-30 sec. discussions turn to his work. I was lucky enough to get a invite to come to his house and see his operation. Thank god I didn't say something stupid.

Some info. on what I learned. My mentor asked for nothing ($0.00) and taught me no strategies. What he did teach me was how to understand how the ES market works (how a investor hedges using ES, how they place trades, and how to step in front of investor activity). How I used the info. was up to me. He gave me realtime buy and sell signals while showing me how to see the opportunity. I haven't found any books with this kind of stuff. Just the usual here's my strategy and how I used it last year to make millions.

If I were you, I'd use your personal contact and express interest in learning more about the markets. If you're lucky maybe he'll be generous enough to help you out.
 
09-21-06 11:57 AM

I only got the 1998 copy. Looks like he's got a new edition this november.

I suppose the new one would be better?!

The most important concept from the book is expectancy. It's not originated from this book, but it explains it in well.

I saw that many people discuss about what an "edge" is on ET, when in fact it's simply the expectancy. I guess learning about it early is benefitial...


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Quote from laputa:


3) Trade your way to financial freedom by Van Tharp
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I assume the 2006 copy?, there is another by Tharp that was printed in 98.

--

Also I would add

Day trading like a pro second edition - It's a good book for a beginner. Nothing advanced, and easy to understand.
 
ha, I think you're absolutely right. In fact, I think I see more fat tails in trading information than otherwise implied by standard normal distribution.

Once in a while, I see *really* useful ideas popping up from no where, and it could be a public forum or a book that cost only $20...


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Quote from laputa:

The toughest part in trading is that at least 3 standard deviation (99%) of information out there are useless.
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This implies trading information is normally distributed. I'd argue it's more leptokurtic (much like our friend, the stock market)--a few fat tails on the edges, but the vast majority is MUCH more worthless than you'd expect.

I swear there are automated programs which generate financial marketing blurbs like this:

http://www.insideoptionsletter.com/

Too much stock market hype is written using the same language, same font styles, and same tone. "Fin-Hype 2K6"?
 
Quote from onlytronalso:

Any of your mentors project that new all time high in the DOW?
More...


I give the room a buy signal at 11721 today in my live chat room.. The plan for the day was to take the high out, which it did....
 
Your cannot build a house without a foundation.

At your age you should think about the most basic things first.

Go to www.vanguard.com or www.fidelity.com or whatever site you like. Get yourself a ROTH IRA with some mutual funds. Then you want to concentrate on a portfolio of long term stocks. When I say long-term, I mean 5 or more years. Sites like www.computershare.com and www.sharebuilder.com can help you build a nice portfolio of stocks without much expense. Dont forget www.treasurydirect.gov for savings bonds. I have tens of thousands of dollars in savings bonds at any given time for emergencies.

Next you need to hit the libary and read. There are so many aspects to the stock market and you should take a few months to read all of the books you can find.

Next you need to develop a thesis and routine. My current routine is trading on beaten down stocks and playing the rebound. Marvell (MRVL) I believe to be a beaten down stock, but not a bad company. Other companies that I played over the summer were SCUR, CLZR, and CNCT just to name a few.. 20-40% returns on each of them within a month. Do not deviate from your routine. Specialization is key.

You can know everything about something, but you cant know something about everything.

Next you need to practice and mock trade to see if you are doing the right things.

So I suggest a 3-6 month preparation period before hitting buy-sell on the keyboard. I also suggest building a base of investments like I said in the first place. Do not trade on margin to begin or at all. Do not short securities until you have more experience. Do not trade options or futures until you fully understand the process.

In Vegas, once you lose all your cash, then your done. However, if you trade on margin or short securities then you can actually lose more then what you have.

Losing a thousand dollars is nothing. I lost 8000 dollars on a single trade just a week ago. A week before that, I lost another 8000 dollars in a single day. However, each time I stuck with my routine and was able to recoup my losses. Even if I lost all of my risk capital, then I have my 401k and ROTH IRA accounts that I dutifully invest in each year. I also have started building a portfolio of 20-year holding stocks by using www.computershare.com.
 
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