Please enlighten me! Confused, young, lost. Input from all traders welcome!

Quote from speero:

I try to do this as littles as possible, especially considering I've been browsing this forum for years and have only now made my first post - but check out our website at younggunstrading.com

I bring it up because it caters to younger traders going through school, etc. May have some insight as to where you can begin and what you'll go through. The site is literally a log of our journeys.

Main advice is fine someone who is reputable you can trust and be a sponge to their knowledge.

It's going to take you a while to find a style that is right for YOU, so I can't say that trading one way or one vechicle is right or easier, everyone is different.

- @SpeeroTheKid

Hey thanks, I really appreciate it. It's motivating and encouraging to see someone closer to my age involved in trading as first hand as your site can get. (I really have never met anyone in person other than at my local Scottrade branch knowing anything about or being involved in trading, which is quite surprising to me given the city I live in.)

Also, was Scottrade a good online broker to begin with? I read a lot of reviews before I decided to go with them, mostly saying they were good with beginners and had reliable service. I chose them over TD Ameritrade because of lower comissions, but from what it seems is that TD Ameritrade's learning and education resources for traders seem to be much more developed than Scottrade's. I also feel similar about their actual desktop trading tools.

Perhaps the extra $3 per stock trade is worth it? Unfortunately the nearest tda branch is 31 minutes away in the next city. Scottrade's proximity was useful when I had to go to the branch in person to provide documents to open an account.
 
Quote from lindq:

I agree that Golf holds a lot in common with trading in terms of what's necessary to succeed.

Years of practice. Solid discipline. Capital to support yourself through trial and error. And yes, a bit of natural talent and aptitude for the game.

Remove any one of those factors, and you're a weekend duffer and a lousy trader.

IMO, someone in school should never set trading as a primary career objective. Develop another career path first while you have the opportunity. Then turn to trading later after you've had the time to spend a few thousand hours in practice and on simulators.

Right, sorry, I should have clarified that I'm definitely in school for a separate career path and primary goal like I should. My fascination with the market fuels my desire to familiarize myself with it. By developing skills and a better understanding of trading I hope to use it potentially as a source of side income and am very open to the possibility of using it as primary income. With that said, I believe whatever I learn and do will be beneficial either way to the field associated with my major (MBA) in the end.
 
Quote from IvoryOctopus:

What would you say defines a 'successful' trader?

Extremely money hungry, opportunistic without regard to the welfare of others, brutally single minded, strong mental arithmetic although tries to hide it, some applied math / stats knowledge, able to sell or influence others to get a better deal, highly aware of asymmetric payoffs.

Never ever willing to share anything that will dilute his upside.

Good luck Octopus.
 
Quote from IvoryOctopus:

So pretty much, I'm young, ignorant, and in many cases naive. Even moreso when compared to many of those that have been involved in the market for many many years. But where do I go and how do I shorten this gap?

I've been interested in trading for quite some time, and yet I feel like there's been such a barrier for me when trying to learn about trading or get started and involved.
It's always apparent of how unknowledgable I am, especially in many threads on the forum as terms, ideas, and subjects go right over my head. I feel such a lack of understanding of things, especially of the market mechanics that effect trading, as well as the trading strategies and signs that would cause one to make decisions. The ability to analyze information and know the effect and/or take an action to say the least. Even knowing what information I need in the first place!

But I definitely feel lost as to where I should go to learn what I need to know, I really wish I knew someone personally that could clear many things up but unfortunately thats not the case. I read as much as I can online but that only goes so far, and I've just bought A Random Walk Down Wall Street as well as The Master Swing Trader which I will soon read.

Now, what I believe much of the population does that are less involved are the buy and hold type that invest in something for up to decades for long-term profit, which is definitely not what I'm looking to focus on. I have the desire to go for much shorter terms and hopefully use trading as a source of side or even primary income in the future. But of course, I may be speaking in naivety as I'm not sure if I know what's even realistically possible!

I'm in college right now and am currently taking an economics course which is very informative coming from knowing nothing, and recently talked to my professor who seemed quite fixed that what I'm looking to do is quite unrealistic. He pretty much made the point that most traders who make a profit worth noting are either very lucky, very very well exclusively informed, or very very very smart. That there isn't really any factor of skill and that you can't really be "good or bad" at trading. To sum it up he pretty much said "If doing this is so possible why doesn't everyone do it?" How true is this?

Sorry if it's a long post!
TL/DR: How did you go from how much you knew starting out, to how much you know now?

All responses will be very much appreciated, thanks in advance.

1. Trade FX, with Oanda.
2. Start with one dollar.
 
To finish this post, learn, and understand, leverage.

Do not overtrade.

Do not trade out of boredom.

Learn a good and objective to determine bias, and stick with it, try ACD.

Learn about constant volume bars.

Learn about candlesticks and why they form.
 
Quote from IvoryOctopus:

Hey thanks, I really appreciate it. It's motivating and encouraging to see someone closer to my age involved in trading as first hand as your site can get. (I really have never met anyone in person other than at my local Scottrade branch knowing anything about or being involved in trading, which is quite surprising to me given the city I live in.)

Also, was Scottrade a good online broker to begin with? I read a lot of reviews before I decided to go with them, mostly saying they were good with beginners and had reliable service. I chose them over TD Ameritrade because of lower comissions, but from what it seems is that TD Ameritrade's learning and education resources for traders seem to be much more developed than Scottrade's. I also feel similar about their actual desktop trading tools.

Perhaps the extra $3 per stock trade is worth it? Unfortunately the nearest tda branch is 31 minutes away in the next city. Scottrade's proximity was useful when I had to go to the branch in person to provide documents to open an account.

Depends on your style of trading. If you do swing trades or investing, then Scottrade would be fine. They can also reduce your commission if you do a lot of trades (got mine down to 6 from 7), however that is counterproductive since in reality you really want to trade, not invest right?

However, if you want to scalp, then Scottrade along with other major retail brokers are horrible. Can't imagine Ameritrade being any different. Trust me, I had Scottrade and still do. Although, there is a zero balance now in Scottrade.
 
I agree with logic_man in general. Find forum posts (here and other sites) that posts the details of their trading system(s). Find one that speaks to you and fits your personality. Sim trade it and practice.

In general, don't pay for any education/mentor-ships. Just get market fundamentals information for free and there are plenty of forum posts detailing trading systems/methods that you can learn from. NinjaTrader is probably your best (free) platform for a beginner. Download Futures Market Replay data for free.
 
Quote from sfbayarea:

Depends on your style of trading. If you do swing trades or investing, then Scottrade would be fine. They can also reduce your commission if you do a lot of trades (got mine down to 6 from 7), however that is counterproductive since in reality you really want to trade, not invest right?

However, if you want to scalp, then Scottrade along with other major retail brokers are horrible. Can't imagine Ameritrade being any different. Trust me, I had Scottrade and still do. Although, there is a zero balance now in Scottrade.

I'm pretty sure that when you say "trading" and "investing", and "swing trading" and "scalping" you're noting the difference between as the length of time a position is held right?
 
Also, I happen to have access to a ThomsonONE analytics account. Is there anyway I can use this to learn about trading or using it in my trading?
 
Quote from IvoryOctopus:

I'm pretty sure that when you say "trading" and "investing", and "swing trading" and "scalping" you're noting the difference between as the length of time a position is held right?

Yes.. obviously if you are an investor, pennies on the dollar in price movements don't matter since you are just holding on until you reach your desired profitability. However if you trading and scalping, yes. That is where commissions come into effect. Scottrade has costed me since I try to get in and out of positions quickly in daily trades.

Day trading is inherently more risky than investing but could be more profitable too because you're trying to capture all the small movements in everyday. You're looking at a smaller time window. If you are investing, you may not care about a 5% loss in a week whereas you may have a rebound months down the road.
 
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