What do you wish you knew...

paulsta · Oct 13, 2003

Hi folks,

as a newbie to trading, i have just started working in a futures trading company in london (trading german 5-year at the moment). I'm sure this has been asked many many times before, but what does anyone wish they knew when they started trading?

All advice and recommendations will be heartily recieved, and prehaps when i get a little wiser maybe i can add more than never chase my losses!

AskSlim · Oct 13, 2003

I wish I knew how important it was to define a healthy role for trading in my life.

The purpose of trading should not be identification of self or to heal something you feel inadequate about. It should be a business, meant to accomplish reasnable goals.

marketsurfer · Oct 13, 2003

Quote from AskSlim:

I wish I knew how important it was to define a healthy role for trading in my life.

The purpose of trading should not be identification of self or to heal something you feel inadequate about. It should be a business, meant to accomplish reasnable goals.

hey slim,

i enjoy your piece in SFO. nice to see you here !

best,

surfer

Tradesmith · Oct 13, 2003

Do you choose to trade Bobl yourself or the company put you there?

Thunderdog · Oct 13, 2003

Quote from AskSlim:

I wish I knew how important it was to define a healthy role for trading in my life.

The purpose of trading should not be identification of self or to heal something you feel inadequate about. It should be a business, meant to accomplish reasnable goals.

Very well put.

Thunderdog · Oct 13, 2003

Quote from paulsta:

Hi folks,

as a newbie to trading, i have just started working in a futures trading company in london (trading german 5-year at the moment). I'm sure this has been asked many many times before, but what does anyone wish they knew when they started trading?

All advice and recommendations will be heartily recieved, and prehaps when i get a little wiser maybe i can add more than never chase my losses!

I wish I did not waste so much time studying and testing so-called "technical indicators." I wish I had spent more time studying the market, itself.

Regards,

Thunderdog

paulsta · Oct 13, 2003

In reply, I am trading bobl as per the company rules, then move on to bund and shatz also later on in my tenure

inandlong · Oct 13, 2003

I wish I had known earlier that simple is better.

Tradesmith · Oct 13, 2003

Your company is great. I wish I had someone told me to start with interest rate futures than with the indices or stocks. IR futures are easier to handle and less risky.

The active trader had an interview with Mart Cook, he also advised people to start with IR first. He said the SP,which so many people like to trade, could easily break your neck. I agree with him! SP is a crazy animal, even you have very sound trading methods and money management, it is still untouchable!

dbphoenix · Oct 13, 2003

I wish I'd heard of Richard Wyckoff. I also wish I'd been given a copy of Magee's General Semantics of Wall Street. (I'd add Sperandeo to the list, but he didn't write his book until long after I started; ditto Justin Mamis' trilogy.)