Help Need Advice From Traders

[matts128]

Hey guys.. Well I am new to this forum as a matter of fact this is my first day here. I started trading a few months ago and I absolutely love it love it love it... The problem is I am still learning a hell of a lot. I dont have the $25K margin acct because I simply would put up all my savings if I did that however I currently have $6K invested and made about +$2K on equity. I have not gotten into option trading as I am still confused by that which is ok as I know it takes a bit to learn.

So far my experience has led me to actually want to quit my $55K Job to daytrade... I AM FING SICK OF CORPORATE AMERICA.... I am still back and fourth in college so havent fully completed it and I really want to go back and finish while I can and I still have a bit to do. I am 30 yo and miss freedom in my life. I think this is why I see a light at the end of the tunnel with day trading. Oh and I plan on getting married in the next year or so...

I have learned to hold onto my emotions with trading as I did what everyone does and sell on panic completely forgetting why the hell I invested in the particular company.. I'll take aapl for example I bought them back at $132.. a while back and sold on panic because I saw the price dropping ... well now I would have made that up and a nice chunk of equity. I currently have my full $8k in LDK Solar which is probably a Gold mind. I would invest all my money but I am too chicken sh** to do that even though I know there is no way I am gonna lose on thier earning's and fundamentals, and Company facts. I did alot of thinking as to why invest in them.. First off Our money is in china economy which is where this company is and thier growth rate is insane. Investigations against the company have all been proved false and wrong and the stock is bringing equity again.

So in short I am very strong positioned on fundamentals and probably about 40% technical. so If I can do this for one company I know I can do this for another but I am just so scared of quitting my job to trade full time. PLEASE ANY ADVICE I cant even sleep over this. Its like being a day trader I get completely psyched up about... Is something wrong with my thinking or is this a natural aspired process in giving up job for daytrading. Hell I could go back to school full time and provide a family which is my goal. Thanks for reading... Please comment

 

[mp6140]

MP -- didnt i just answer this one folks ?

Hey guys.. Well I am new to this forum as a matter of fact this is my first day here. I started trading a few months ago and I absolutely love it love it love it... The problem is I am still learning a hell of a lot. I dont have the $25K margin acct because I simply would put up all my savings if I did that however I currently have $6K invested and made about +$2K on equity. I have not gotten into option trading as I am still confused by that which is ok as I know it takes a bit to learn.

So far my experience has led me to actually want to quit my $55K Job to daytrade... I AM FING SICK OF CORPORATE AMERICA.... I am still back and fourth in college so havent fully completed it and I really want to go back and finish while I can and I still have a bit to do. I am 30 yo and miss freedom in my life. I think this is why I see a light at the end of the tunnel with day trading. Oh and I plan on getting married in the next year or so...

I have learned to hold onto my emotions with trading as I did what everyone does and sell on panic completely forgetting why the hell I invested in the particular company.. I'll take aapl for example I bought them back at $132.. a while back and sold on panic because I saw the price dropping ... well now I would have made that up and a nice chunk of equity. I currently have my full $8k in LDK Solar which is probably a Gold mind. I would invest all my money but I am too chicken sh** to do that even though I know there is no way I am gonna lose on thier earning's and fundamentals, and Company facts. I did alot of thinking as to why invest in them.. First off Our money is in china economy which is where this company is and thier growth rate is insane. Investigations against the company have all been proved false and wrong and the stock is bringing equity again.

So in short I am very strong positioned on fundamentals and probably about 40% technical. so If I can do this for one company I know I can do this for another but I am just so scared of quitting my job to trade full time. PLEASE ANY ADVICE I cant even sleep over this. Its like being a day trader I get completely psyched up about... Is something wrong with my thinking or is this a natural aspired process in giving up job for daytrading. Hell I could go back to school full time and provide a family which is my goal. Thanks for reading... Please comment

================================================================

COMMENT --- forex, options, futures, commodities are all CHEAPER than equities and make a whole lot MORE !

because you lack the 25k to be a pattern day trader youre very stuck in how you trade, how often you trade and whether or not you can go short as needed, while you have NONE of those restrictions with forex, let us say.

some new rules to learn that makes forex slightly different than trading equities, but theyre learnable for most anyone who is ( 1 ) -- breathing and ( 2 ) -- breathing !

as they often say, DONT QUIT YOUR DAY J0B till you can paper trade like the veritable whiz im sure you are, but at least if you do it on a demo account, you "may" be able to do it with the reality of real money.

not gonna give you all my usual warnings, but it takes a good year for most to get to competent and a whole lot longer to get to very good !

enjoy and trade well

mp

 

[matts128]

Thank you very muxh for your response. Perhaps I need a mentor really as I am sure they are just as eager to help out newb's like me. I would consider myself pretty intuitive with this whole thing. I am currently a Network Engineer but I am so eager to get on this new path. Any recommendations on how to find a mentor in my area? I am in South Florida.

 

[mp6140]

Thank you very muxh for your response. Perhaps I need a mentor really as I am sure they are just as eager to help out newb's like me. I would consider myself pretty intuitive with this whole thing. I am currently a Network Engineer but I am so eager to get on this new path. Any recommendations on how to find a mentor in my area? I am in South Florida.

=============================================================

mentors are a little in short supply in south florida these days, and especially as hurricane season approaches quickly (THAT DOESNT MEAN TO STOCK UP ON HURRICANE RELATED STOCKS), but if you walk down the road 25 feet, make a left at the hot dog joint and head for the rentals just behind, behind door J6 you should find Bob Williams, and hes pretty good, as long as hes sober anyway !

OK, returning to reality --- i dont know of any mentors, to be honest --- BUT JUST FOR TODAY, IF YOU ACT RIGHT NOW, have i got a deal for you !

theres a guy by alias name "trader_dante", and while he seems to be a young feller, has either stolen or gained access to some rather interesting concepts of trading that work nicely for newbs (and not so newbs also) and he gives em away for free --- pretty lousy capitalist, id say !

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/first-steps/26947-making-money-trading-224.html

hop over there, read the first page to understand whats happening (which is pretty simple) and welcome to the whacky and wonderful world of forex, where money is the object and 100 foot yachts fall from the heavens !

yeah, im trying to get you into forex because equities are way too risky, expensive and take too long to increase in value based on only holding 1000 pounds of stock --- forex is MUCH faster.

mp

 

[Rhody Trader]

I'm not going to follow mp's path and try to push you away from stocks because frankly maybe they're the best market for you. That's something only you can decide - not someone here.

As for quitting the job to trade for a living, do some math. To make sense you'd need to replace your current salary - not just the take home pay, but all the taxes and healthcare expenses, and everything else your company pays for. That all gets put on your shoulders, so you'd probably need to make more than $55k per year gross to offset. So lets call it $5k per month.

You said it would take all your savings to get your account up to $25k. In order to make $5k/mo from $25k you'd have to earn a 20% monthly return. How realisitic is that? The answer is not very. In fact the chances of you being able to do that are so small as to not even be worth measuring - especially being relatively new to trading. And you'd actually want to make more than that to build your trading account over time, otherwise you're getting nowhere at all beyond just paying the bills.

 

[nine]

I would support Rhody Trader's view of you chances of leaping quickly to that capability.

Find a way to trade while you work (swing trade say) and build up enough skill to cover your costs and then a bit. When you can do that successfully and consistently you could look at moving but its pretty unwise to do it from your current position. You will have to be exceptionally lucky or talented to make the break and survive the skill building period with so little capital.

 

[mp6140]

I'm not going to follow mp's path and try to push you away from stocks

==========================================================

now rhody --- understood within the message is the difficulty of achieving a living wage in a short period of time without a second income --- bank robbery comes immediately to mind as something that wouldnt intrude into learning to trade by very much !

my suggestions on forex (or other derivitive style instruments) is a direct result of trading stocks for many a year --- the price increase divided by the number of shares you can purchase is usually of very little value as compared to even 50 - 75 pips on forex.

all i speak about is which trading vehicle returns MORE per $1000 put at risk, and while I was considered rather good at trading stocks, i came to forex for the speed of MONEY GROWTH !



mp

 

[Rhody Trader]

all i speak about is which trading vehicle returns MORE per $1000 put at risk, and while I was considered rather good at trading stocks, i came to forex for the speed of MONEY GROWTH !

And is equally capable of losing more per $1000 risked as well. But that's a leverage question. There are ways to increase leverage in stock trading, even to the point of exceeding the potential gains from forex.

My point, however, is that if you don't trade a market that makes sense for you - and forex doesn't for some people - then potential means nothing. You'd end up with worse results, not better.

 

[mp6140]

And is equally capable of losing more per $1000 risked as well. But that's a leverage question. There are ways to increase leverage in stock trading, even to the point of exceeding the potential gains from forex.

My point, however, is that if you don't trade a market that makes sense for you - and forex doesn't for some people - then potential means nothing. You'd end up with worse results, not better.

=-=================================================================

well, pshaw rhody, of course thats true !

but do we have that information to plug into the equation yet ?

since this is kinda hypotheoretical kinda stuff, starting from point A which we shall say is $25K USD (allows you to be a PDT) and where im pretty danged good with stocks, and only competent with forex, i could double the $25K easily within a month in forex, but i do not think (because of the higher amounts of money needed to hold a position, and the geometrically lower profits) that i could do that with stocks !

is he a complete newb, who just picked stocks because theres a big market in london and ny for them, or does he wish to learn to trade, which could mean any vehicle --- i dont know till he tells us ! I just made a suggestion of a quicker profit route, all things being equal !

if all things AINT equal, then the route will present itself (thats zen like enough to get crap buddhist in on this soon !)

given that, one then makes a choice of trading vehicle, and since the OP has not yet spoken on the matter, we have to await his majesty arising from his bed chambers !

LOL

NO arguement here rhody, just a bit of a super silly hyper theoretical kinda fun !

mp

 

[matts128]

HI Guys thanks again and I am taking everyones postings into considerations. Unfortunately right now I believe I am limited to non-daytrading of stocks so I can do my only 5 trades or whatever it is a week. I really am eager into learning option buying and putting. I have started to do research on it however it is still very daunting and confusing to me. Maybe by the time I can open my $25K I will have enough education under my belt to start persuing my dream. I dont want the quick rich scheme I want to learn to do this the right way. For me its certain technology sectors and alternative energy sectors outside of the US which I am eagerly awaiting being able to get into new postions.
I would like to say in about 1.5 years I can actually start living my dreams. I think also for now I am going to try to take a course or 2 and find a mentor to work and grow with.

 

[matts128]

Oh yea I will all also be looking into stocks under $5 for now in hopes to make some nice smaller returns.

 

[mp6140]

HI Guys thanks again and I am taking everyones postings into considerations. Unfortunately right now I believe I am limited to non-daytrading of stocks so I can do my only 5 trades or whatever it is a week. I really am eager into learning option buying and putting. I have started to do research on it however it is still very daunting and confusing to me. Maybe by the time I can open my $25K I will have enough education under my belt to start persuing my dream. I dont want the quick rich scheme I want to learn to do this the right way. For me its certain technology sectors and alternative energy sectors outside of the US which I am eagerly awaiting being able to get into new postions.
I would like to say in about 1.5 years I can actually start living my dreams. I think also for now I am going to try to take a course or 2 and find a mentor to work and grow with.

with a non "pattern day trader account" you can only make 3 trades in a 5 day working period, not 5, before you run afoul of the SEC rules !

tuck my words away as you progress thru traders academy --- forex returns more, faster and (imo) easier than most any stock will do --- to add proof to that, since youre based in the USA, take a look at any of the financial channels and see how much they now talk about currencies, where a year ago they might mention "treasuries" but not the forex market --- forex is BIG, and growing like a week. Heck, one day we probably even have real oversight of brokers, sb's and most of the others handling our money !

whatever you choose, enjoy and trade well

mp

 

[mp6140]

Oh yea I will all also be looking into stocks under $5 for now in hopes to make some nice smaller returns.

======================================================

LOL -- understand, that while i now very much love forex, for 30 years stocks were my baliwick and i did nicely ---- the stocks in the 2.75 to 5.00 range can be very enjoyable as long as you follow the rules and dont consider everyone to be a pet, that you bring home to dinner with momma --- some (if not most) should be a very termporary dalliance, lasting no more than 2.5 days, of intense affection and lust, but then allowed to go their own way.

WHICH IS INVARIABLY DOWN -- in many ways very similar to a mans ardor both in appearance and result !

THATS more than enough of that

mp