Hello to All,
I'm a novice trader who's started to take trading seriously only slightly more than a month ago.
12 months before that, when I was into my 7th year with the police , I hadn't the slightest interest in the stock market. I knew next to nothing about investment (The only thing I knew about the investment world was Warren Buffet...).
Sometime in May 2007, I left the force and joined a bank as a relationship manager. It was during my stint at the wealth management arm of the bank that I realized the importance of taking control of one's finances and how much I needed to know how to invest my money myself.
9 months ago, I took an intensive course to learn the basics of trading. I firmly believe that what a novice trader - and more so, someone who knows nothing about trading - needs is a good foundation that will keep him/her from being slaughtered in the market. The very first thing a novice should learn about is how NOT to lose money - that is, to learn to defend their capital. Sadly, many courses and seminars offer trading STRATEGIES which take an ATTACK approach towards trading. Giving a novice an aggressive step-by-step trading strategy that promises obscenely massive returns without having taught him the basics of trading and how to protect his capital is akin to throwing someone who's never learnt how to swim into the ocean.
I've read on this forum about traders who have made money consistently in 6 months, only to have their accounts wiped out in the months that followed. Something that I can't help but picked up is their "attack" mentality towards the market. They don't seem to have a concept of minimal-risk entry nor a blueprint for exiting a profitable trade. They were taking on risks that they could not afford to take. This shows a lack of proper training in the basics of trading.
My personal belief is that it's not necessary to attend a course or workshop to learn to trade well. Granted that there's an added advantage of having a personal coach, a disciplined (this should be in CAPS - "DISCIPLINE" is a must in trading without which one might as well forget about going into trading at all) person can pick up as much from books at a much lower cost.
For novice traders, I recommend Toni Turner's "a beginner's guide to daytrading online". Toni writes with a heap of sensitivity and hence very newbie-friendly. She teaches no strategy, just very safe techniques that help you manage/minimize your risk and protect your capital as you put your money to work.
Briefly on my trading experience: I scalp the FX and US equities market. I'm scalping GS options almost daily, and keep an online diary about my trades. If you're trading GS too, please feel free to visit my blog at
Jules In Jumbles.
I've visited this forum numerous times before signing up as a member. I would like very much to contribute as much as I can, but as you'd have figured out, I'm also a newbie, and I am here to learn from all of you as well.
Jules
