Starting from scratch

dtrader85 · Jul 22, 2009

I am 24 and I have just set aside about 7200 for a trading account and the appropriate computer systems. I have been reading a ton of books on the subject ( I have some market experience as I have been following stocks since I was young).

I was going to start using tradestation to trade SP Mini Futures as my initial focus.

Can I have any advice from people who already do this for a living?

Thanks!

Vespasian · Jul 22, 2009

Quote from dtrader85:

I am 24 and I have just set aside about 7200 for a trading account and the appropriate computer systems. I have been reading a ton of books on the subject ( I have some market experience as I have been following stocks since I was young).

I was going to start using tradestation to trade SP Mini Futures as my initial focus.

Can I have any advice from people who already do this for a living?

Thanks!

Do NOT trade futures !

Especially the ES

They are the hardest thing to trade and should be left to only the most seasoned traders.

Start with stocks.

Join a prop firm and get trained properly

Dustin · Jul 22, 2009

Quote from Vespasian:

Do NOT trade futures !

Especially the ES

They are the hardest thing to trade and should be left to only the most seasoned traders.

Start with stocks.

Join a prop firm and get trained properly

+1 listen to this guy

GCSICLRBC · Jul 22, 2009

Yeah, bud, don't do it.

You'll probably wind up like most amateurs (i.e. losing traders) looking at a host of indicators yet never quite making any money.

Paper trade support and resistance for a while. You'll get it eventually.

GL

academic · Jul 22, 2009

Trade SPY instead of ES. With all the leverage you will blow your little account in a couple weeks.

dtrader85 · Jul 22, 2009

thanks for the help so far-

I have been paper trading for a few weeks now and have had a very sizable return. Granted, paper money is easier to part with than real money =)

I am pretty determined to make a living out of this and will put in the necessary work to do so. I have looked into prop trading, but something about some of those firms sound a little "boiler room" to me.

TheROTrader · Jul 22, 2009

All props are shady in some aspect, but if you can find one that you dont have to put up money in at, go for it.

R. Raskolnikov · Jul 22, 2009

Just make sure you have enough money to live on (or a place to live for free) for at least 2 years. This sounds like a long time but you will definitely need to see many mkt cycles and experience 100's of hours of live data before you'll find a way to exploit the mkt consistently.

Quote from dtrader85:

thanks for the help so far-

I have been paper trading for a few weeks now and have had a very sizable return. Granted, paper money is easier to part with than real money =)

I am pretty determined to make a living out of this and will put in the necessary work to do so.

henderson · Jul 22, 2009

Quote from Vespasian:

Do NOT trade futures !

Especially the ES

They are the hardest thing to trade and should be left to only the most seasoned traders.

Start with stocks.

Join a prop firm and get trained properly

Futures aren't a bad place to start; what causes your bias to start with stocks....risk aversion, leverage? It is hard to say if most prop/arcades firms are the best place for training. The ES is not a good place to start on the other hand; a highly correlated futures spread market would be a better place to learn the basics in my opinion.

Thunderdog · Jul 22, 2009

Quote from R. Raskolnikov:

...at least 2 years. This sounds like a long time but...

It does? It took me much longer to develop anything resembling a clue. I know I'm a slow learner, but you guys are evidently speed demons.