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1. What personality type are you - So I just took a personality test and here are my results.
My Personality Type is = Architect
Interact with our Environment - 89% Introverted
Mental Energy - 52% Intuitive and 48% Observant
Make Decisions and Cope with Emotions - 51% Thinking/ 49% Feeling
Approach to work, planning and Decision Making - 89% Judging and 17% Prospecting
Confident in our abilities and decisions - 57% Assertive / 43% Turbulent
2. What time do you have available - I am 39 years old. I have been self-employed for 13 years and I work out of my house. I pretty much have my business on autopilot now so I have tons of time.
3. What funds do you have - I have around $30,000 that I could start on or other words "Don't Mind Losing" if it comes to that.
4. What is your current skill set - I'm the type of person who can build just about anything you need. I can fix just about anything. I'm an AUTOCAD Draftsmen/Structural Steel Connection Designer so I work on computers all day and build and tinker in my shop when I'm not at Baseball or Soccer practice with my 2 boys.
5. What are your economic beliefs - I'm not sure, economics is not my strong suit.
Trading: The one I'm creating in the present....Index Futures mini/micro, ZF
Posts: 2,311 since Nov 2011
Thanks Given: 7,341
Thanks Received: 4,518
I have only read the first 33 posts here so far so I don’t know if anyone has already said this.... but.... don’t worry so much about “learning to trade” a method, a paradigm for understanding the market.
By way of comparison that’s the easy part. Infinitely harder is acquiring the psychological skills to be a consistently profitable trader.
This means learning about YOURSELF.
Whatever way(s) you end up approaching the market will work as long as it has a statistically valid edge.... meaning the probabilities are in your favor and you like it enough. This will be about 10-20% of the battle.
The other part is going to be dealing with YOU. Your beliefs.
One example:
If you are taught as a kid that the only way to make it in life is to work hard get good or great grades get those questions on the midterm exam correct ace the final exam...... make your boss happy by doing things right, adding value to the business .... this way you are rewarded with promotions etc etc.... AND apply these same exact principles to dealing with the market.... trading the market.... YOU will be the absolute worst trader on the planet.... become a VERY frustrated person and lose a great deal of money.
Another example:
If you are taught as a kid, by say your dad or grandfather, that to make money in this world you spend time working. You put your nose to the grindstone and this way you can build a good life for you and your family. AND apply these very same qualities to the market you will...... fail.... BIG TIME. Because (in part) the beliefs you hold about money will have you sitting behind the screen to long (nose to the grindstone) taking way way to many trades etc etc etc etc etc etc. There are a plethora of other ways this can manifest.
Examine the totality of your life find out what you believe.
If someone told be exactly these things contained in this post when I was just starting out in this business I would have just brushed it aside, said to myself “not me, he doesn’t know me at all!”
This is the reason John Grady says what he says about starting out in trading.
In the end I have realized it is the development of spiritual qualities that makes one a great trader.
Patience
Assertiveness
Self-restraint
Intuition
Discipline
Emotional awareness
Generosity
Respect
Detachment
Accountability
Confidence
Determination
Creativity
Attentiveness
Assurance
Humility
Enthusiasm
Moderation
Truthfulness
Perseverance
Reverence
Trust
Courage
Tolerance
Discernment
Diligence
Contentment
Devotion
It is very hard to say if it is "worth" it for someone else. So if you were asking about become an electrical engineer then there is more of a chance to answer the question of investment to likely earnings.
I don't think there is a known path for the retail trader.
So people who are honest cannot just say "learn this and this and this."
Another important factor is the enormous govt manipulation of the markets. The distortion is so enormous no one knows what it going to happen next. Jim Rogers feels there will be a tremendous crash worse that what anyone has ever seen in their lifetime.
One person replied to a question similar to yours:
If ......(insert a complicated setup)... buy the SPY
Oh to H with it just buy the SPY
Should you decide to proceed, the best collection to free videos I have seen is here:
Sometimes people ask what to learn when starting trading. It's a tough question to answer.
Adam Khoo
When he was 14 his dad sent him to a NLP seminar. He started with mobile dance studios made money and (then something else?) then got into trading …
(FWIW - I do not care for Brooks and have seen some burn their life on him).
I know this might be another loaded question. Which platform should I start looking at using? I don’t like using or purchasing things that is limited. So would there be a platform that you could trade all markets on that would be great on all of them?
As I read all these posts I was trying to think of some great answers to give, but if you just take all that have been given so far you will have a good start. That's sort of how it works on this forum -- read all you can and see where it leads you.
You asked some really good questions. The best way I know of to find answers is to start reading as many of the posts and threads here on the forum as you can, ask questions when you don't understand something, and take in everything and try to weigh what makes sense and what does not. (And be aware that if it doesn't make sense now, it may later .)
There is, unfortunately, no authority or source to turn to in order to find out how to trade. I assume that if you are an "AUTOCAD Draftsmen/Structural Steel Connection Designer" that there is a clear educational and career pathway to follow in your field, but there's not really one in trading.
Why? Well, one answer is that the markets are extremely competitive, where all the participants are acting to obtain the best price. This means that in order to profit, you must be faster or better or more right, more often, than people who may know more than you, which is not going to be easy. It also means that there are, and always will be, an enormous variety of approaches -- some of which will work, some not, and (maddeningly) some of which will work for one trader but not another, due to individual differences of application or understanding, or just style.
You certainly will find different opinions about everything, even among people who are well-meaning. You will also get a ton of advice and suggestions from people who just want you to buy something from them. You will also get well-meaning people who will tell you "This book/method/course/guy is no good, try that one," and then someone else will tell you exactly the opposite. The confusion is something that you may need to be able to tolerate and even accept for a while, until you can sort it all out for yourself.
So, my best suggestion is to start reading threads and posts here. Most of the people who have responded to your question turn up responding to other people's as well, and often have their own threads and trading journals. You might look for other posts they have made, or their journals.
The trade journals on FIO are, collectively, an invaluable resource. Traders will record and honestly discuss their trades, explain their methods, and show their charts. Generally they are posting in order to improve their own game and hold themselves to their own trading rules and principles, and they're doing it publicly in order to be accountable. It's like watching over someone's shoulder. If they are new-comers, you can watch as they learn. If they are experienced, you can perhaps get a handle on what they are seeing that you can use.
If you look at the extreme lower left corner of any post, you will sometimes see a little icon that looks like this:
If you hold the mouse over it, the text that pops up is "Visit my nexusfi.com Trade Journal." Not everyone who has a journal will have this, but if they do, it will take you there. So you could go back to any post you particularly liked, and if the poster has entered his journal address there, you can go over and see something about how he trades. If you do this for a lot of people, you will find out a lot of stuff.
You will also find totally different opinions about what is important. Sometimes, two people who are both making money come at the market from completely different perspectives. Although this is confusing, it is also good. Thinking about the differences can be informative.
You can also check the current posts on the home page of FIO. Just scroll along and look at anything that sounds interesting. (Sometimes it won't be, sometimes it will.) Or, if you have gotten something good from a particular poster in the past, you can check out what they are saying now:
Another resource is the enormous library of videos. Be warned that they, too, may not agree, and that the information overload may be temporarily overwhelming. But picking a few that catch your eye will help you start. Also, there is a link to a more complete list of New Posts that you may want to look at:
Also, use the Search box in the upper right corner of every page. Put in a topic, see what pops up.
So my suggestion is to use FIO to crowd-source your search, and start to digest what you find, as you roam around. You may find out your own way to do it all, and also answer your basic question of whether it is worth it to you, which only you are going to know.
If you do continue, at some point start your own trade journal. (You can start while you're trading in simulation, although you will need to be live at some point.) That's when it gets very interesting....
Good luck. Ask more questions. Read more stuff. See if it captures your imagination.