Please help, Is it true?

Hi all,

I have been reading alot of your discussions over the past months and this is my first leap of faith into you community ( please be gentle).

I first found out about trading in a magazine where a chap from London got the boot from his job as a broker and set himself up as a Day Trader working from home and boasting some very high earnings.

After reading this I went to the book shop and purchased many publications mainly written by Alexander Davidson and Alpesh Patel then spent the last 7,8 months studying publications, Trading Methods, Technical analysis, Fundamentals and markets. Now im totally obsessed with the prospect of becoming a full time day trader, I understand the risks, the problems and the financing.I know that I am no master and will probably make many mistakes but we all have to start somewhere!

There is one major area that I need help with, Full Time Traders!!!!

I read that there are aprox 50,000 of them out there in the UK earning 50k plus a year and that number is growing all the time. Is that true?
Some have kept a UK presence and now trade from laptops on the beach in Spain, true?
Did you all start trading with 5 - 15K as i have been advised?
Are all of the full time traders redundant London Brokers from the last crash?

Please help with advise anyway you can

Many thanks

newbrumbloke said:

I read that there are aprox 50,000 of them out there in the UK earning 50k plus a year and that number is growing all the time. Is that true?

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Don't know. Does it matter?

newbrumbloke said:

Some have kept a UK presence and now trade from laptops on the beach in Spain, true?

Click to expand...

Possible. Does it matter?

newbrumbloke said:

Did you all start trading with 5 - 15K as i have been advised?

Click to expand...

There are tons of material on this site on this, run a search on 'minimum capital' , 'capitalisation' etc.

newbrumbloke said:

Are all of the full time traders redundant London Brokers from the last crash?

Click to expand...

Don't know. Does it matter?

newbrumbloke said:

I read that there are aprox 50,000 of them out there in the UK earning 50k plus a year and that number is growing all the time. Is that true?

Some have kept a UK presence and now trade from laptops on the beach in Spain, true?
Did you all start trading with 5 - 15K as i have been advised?
Are all of the full time traders redundant London Brokers from the last crash?

Please help with advise anyway you can

Many thanks

Click to expand...

Trading from a laptop on the beach in spain....hmm. I can't see this is being very likely, more like the kind of thing you'll see on a website - some chap and chapess running down the beach hand in hand, laptop sitting on the sand with a wirless connection to the beach mansion...bit Hollywood I think! Alright, some people might do it for a short while I guess, keeping thier hand in, but not long-term.

It is possible to make a living from trading, certainly. There are many people on the boards here who do - equally there are a lot who don't.

You're going to need more time spent learning about the market/s and instrument/s that you want to trade, either from books or from a tutor.

Regarding startup capital, you can start with under 5k but don't plan on making a living off that. It'll be "learning" money and with some time you ought to turn a profit on it, assuming your money management skills are there.

Read, learn, read, learn, read some more, paper trade, read some more, learn, refine, hone, trade for real with small size, read, learn, read.... you get the idea.

You can ask any questions here, they've all been asked before but a lot of us won't mind answering them again, or pointing you in the right direction.

Oh, and welcome.

NBB, there is a logical way of going about the whole process...but...part of that process involves 'time', 'time' to get to know your preferred vehicles, 'time' to realise your method, 'time' to know yourself and how you personnally 'cope' with what the markets can throw at you...blah...blah...blah. Time can not be bought or sold. So my advice, FWIW, would be to do the homework and maths, then think about it again. Hope it works out well for you! RB.

rossored wrote:

Trading from a laptop on the beach in spain....hmm. I can't see this is being very likely, more like the kind of thing you'll see on a website - some chap and chapess running down the beach hand in hand, laptop sitting on the sand with a wirless connection to the beach mansion...bit Hollywood I think!

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A few years ago I did sit on a beach with a mini Reuters pager. But it felt more like an Ealing comedy!

Hi,
I'm new at this as well. What are the best web sites to look at? I'm looking for a good chatroom with minimum spamming and serious involvement. I'm just about to retire and try my luck at this game on a (semi) serious scale.

Help.

Potty

27wils, 'semi' should only apply to the amount of money you have behind you at the start, not your mind set. If you are only 'semi' interested in trading don't bother, it probably won't work. Commitment and an open mind will prevail. IMHO!

RUDEBOY said:

27wils, 'semi' should only apply to the amount of money you have behind you at the start, not your mind set. If you are only 'semi' interested in trading don't bother, it probably won't work. Commitment and an open mind will prevail. IMHO!

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Thanks for that.

When I say "semi" - I mean that I have no intention of doing it for a living! I have a figure in mind that I am prepared to invest and "play" with, but I don't intend to lose the family jewels!!

Like a lot o other people (I suspect) the prospect of playing the market is attractive, and I have played it in the past with varying degrees of success, but I would now like to take it a bit more seriously and learn to play the game properly.

If this is a good forum I will stay, if not where can I go?

Potty

Stay here, but don't lose the family jewels!

27wilsford said:

Hi,
I'm new at this as well. What are the best web sites to look at? I'm looking for a good chatroom with minimum spamming and serious involvement. I'm just about to retire and try my luck at this game on a (semi) serious scale.

Help.

Potty

Click to expand...

Hi 27

I found this site to be a gold mine!! reading the discussions are very informative.The place where i found you can find good study books is Waterstones. They stock both beginners guides and very in depth books. They all go into lots of detail and history but even in my short space of study when i found this site ( in a book ) i could answer or had a good understanding of what people were talking about.
Good luck

Why the obsession with day-trading?

Why not just be in the game to make money. If you do 10,000 trades in a year and make £25,000 is this not the same as doing 2 trades and also making £25,000?

One thing you may have not realised is just how expensive it is to day-trade and therefore it's very likely that all your profits will be eaten up by the cost of doing business.

Good luck anyway but the odds are against you and anyone else. My advice is simple, go and buy a small business or shop and work hard at building it up, far more money to be made by doing that (for 95% of people) than by getting sucked in to the game of trading.