About time I said hello!

[S_D]

Hi all,

Have been browsing this site and forum for a few months now and thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself, and ask my first question whilst I'm at it.

I've been in IT for 7 long years now, and am at last trying to work towards becoming a trader.

I've read Toni Turner's 'Beginner's guide to day trading online' (a birthday present from my very sceptical wife!), and am now wading through 'Reminicance of a Stock Operator'. I've been paper trading since October last year and am trying to learn from my mistakes without obviously commiting any money to it yet. I'm prepared to wait as long as I need to 'get good' before I risk (or lose!) real money.

The next couple of books on the horizon are 'Come into my trading room' and also 'The disciplined trader', based on the fact that they both seem to be quite well regarded on here.

I'd like to do spend a few hours in the evenings doing my research on stocks, and setting out entry points for shares which I can trade the next day in my day job if those points are hit. Is that the correct terminology? To this end I'm looking at ShareScope EOD for my analysis, and am using quotetracker to monitor the prices during the day. I'd welcome and comments and thoughts on this proposal.

And that, in a round about way, was my question. 'Where do I go from here'. I seem to be reading a lot of information, but I'm not sure how to really start using it all. I supposed I need to start looking at a trading plan, but really I'd like to get some cheap software to backtest my strategy and also to scan for potential opportunities in the markets, and for stocks that meet my entry criteria. Can anyone point me in the right direction, or can ShareScope EOD do any of this? To re-emphasis, the cheaper (or free) the software, the better at the moment, as my wife is currently out of work, and unfortunately may not be returning to work in the short term.

I'd like to day and swing trade the FTSE for the moment.

Many thanks, and hello all!

Simon

 

[DaveJB]

Welcome aboard -
as for terminology, heck, your meaning was obvious so why care about the secret handshake?
I'd think twice about Sharescope, it's primarily fundamentals based and I'd suggest you find yourself a cheapish TA program and maybe a cheap datafeed - if you want to daytrade I'd tend to look at an RT setup myself, you could probably get a fairly inexpensive practise setup going combining something like Sierra Chart with the Mytrack feed - no doubt others will know of better combos, I tried that out a year or so back when I wanted to check some RT stuff out and it did for me for a few months... I've moved upmarket since, so to speak, but I was happy enough with that for checking ideas out.
Hopefully you'll get lots of ideas as people see this post - mine is just to get the ball rolling. Have you looked in the software guide on this site? Lots of good pointers on these threads - good luck!

 

[EK1]

Simon,

open a spreadbetting account with CMC or Finspreads and learn to trade in the live market with real money - different psychological emotions come into play with real money on the table.
With Finspreads you can trade for 1p a point for the first 8 weeks. Any losses (and gains) are minimal, but the learning curve is massive.
Give it a go, and initially, use free charts available from Yahoo etc.

Good trading and welcome to t2w: you've come to the right place.

EK

 

[LittleWhiteBull]

Hi Simon

I am very new to this game too, and like you doing lots of research at the moment. Have also just read Toni Turner's Beg Guide to Day Trading, am currently reading her followup book 'Beg Guide to short Term Trading which is also very good, it repeats alot of the first book's stuff but is good revision with lots more - one thing that is useful is her list of most popular websites for Traders. The first on the list is

www.bigcharts.com

I have to admit I visited it last week to have a look and have been addicted to it ever since - good freebie charts in every timescale you can think of with most indicators you can think of, you can view as an interactive chart or a java chart, java allows you to draw your own trendlines etc. I think there is a 15-20 minute delay for Intra-day charts but as it's all for free it ain't bad at all.

www.stockcharts.com has a Chart School which is useful, they also do free charts but not as comprehensive as Bigcharts - you have to pay approx $30 per month to get a simiar service it seems.

Another good chart training website which I visited today and was recommended by 1Karl on this forum (and praised by others) is www.incrediblecharts.com - loads to learn here.

I have booked a training day with Naz as he seems to come highly recommended - will let you know how this goes.

LWB

 

[S_D]

Thanks!

Thanks for the welcome guys,

Dave;

I have downloaded SierraChart and am looking at myTrack based on your recommendation. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to look at it in further details when I visit the in-laws this weekend!

I've also had a cursory look at the software guide on this site, but will take a more in depth look when I get a mo! Thanks.

EK;

Am interested with what you say about FinSpreads - when I get comfortable with my strategy I'll look at opening the '1p a point' account that you recommend. A few months ago I opened a demo account with Capital Spreads, although I confess it's been pretty dormant recently as I've turned my attention to studying and research. I'm sure it'll be different as you say, when real money is at play. Thanks for the pointer.

LWB;

Good to talk to another 'fresher'! I might get the second book that you mention. It can't do any harm to have more books than shelfspace!

Coincidentally, I have all the links you recommend in my favourites already! I must be doing something right. I too like the look of Naz's course, although I doubt I'll be able to afford it for the moment. Perhaps I'll ask for it as a chrimbo present

Thanks people.

Simon.

 

[LittleWhiteBull]

Simon

One point about the cost of a day's training with Naz - as one other Trader on this site put it ' you could lose more in one trade!'

Yes for me it's also alot, but I would have to put at least 10 times that into a fund to start Day Trading so it's about investment really. If you intend to go into business then it's just part of the set up costs.

Well that's my reasoning anyway.

LWB

 

[Trader333]

If you want to be a Pattern Day Trader you will need to put in 35 times the cost of the course ($25,000 or £14,200) which is a little more than you have said.


Paul

 

[EK1]

T333,

pattern day trading: what is it exactly and.........

for US stocks is it true that you need a minimum $25k to be lodged with your DA broker before you can trade?


Thanks
EK

 

[Trader333]

EK1,

Pattern Day Trading (PDT) is where you open and close stock trades in US equities on the same day.

Yes you need a minimum of $25K to be able to do this but anyone should really consider at least $30K in an account. The reason for this is that in any trade you cannot allow your account to drop below the $25K minimum or you immediately lose your PDT status.

This means that you would need to be immediately profitable in your first trade if you have only started with the minimum $25K balance. There have been many discussions on how to get around this ruling but for all practical purposes I have not seen any truly viable alternative.


Paul

 

[EK1]

Thanks Paul,

it's much clearer now

EK

 

[S_D]

LWB,

Oh, I'm sure it's money well spent, no doubt. I'm just trying to get as much 'cheap' research in now whilst I save up to be able to afford making a stab at trading.

Trader 333,

Good point, but I'm saving up for this. Also I don't wish to trade US stocks, for the moment at least... I'm looking to invest a moderate amount of money and compound until my account is large enough to trade and live off.

Thanks,

Simon.