Questions re: EOD vs Intra-day & others

[seadoc]

Hey everyone- Hope you've all had a good week 🙂 I'm brand new to investing (24 yrs old, newly married) and I figure I have about $500 USD capital for short term/intraday trading and $4000 USD for long term untouchable stuff. So questions
1) Am I foolish for trying to get going with such a low amount for short term active trading?
2) Is EOD trading worse/better for starting off as a trader?
3) Are mechanical strategies/programs worthwhile for me in this situation? I figure I can get an old copy of metastock for about $100ish, but $85/month for esignal seems like alot. Ok, gotta go, thanks everyone!
-Brady

 

[andycan]

im new here but not to trading
first and foremost you should not be even considering trading
you need to be learning the absolute basics of what trading is and what is involved once you have done your fair share of reading then you should consider paper trading to get a feel of what the market does and how you react to it then maybe after a year or so you may want to try your hand at trading maybe share or mini futures or even spread betting.
but just to answer the $500 for short term trading would not even get you started maybe the $4k but that would have, especially as you are new to this very limited learning ability
also with regards to what would be better swing trading (EOD) or scalping (intra-day)
this really totally depends on you personality(which you will soon learn that trading is predominantly psychological rather than technical)some people can make quick decisions other need more time there is no better or worse but the scalper will need a lot of small trades to make an income and risk has to be minimal whist a swing trader can hit home runs but will find accurance diminishes with a longer holding period and risk is obviously higher, the higher the risk the more money you need
hope that gives you an idea
and most importantly trading is a profession like a lawyer a doctor, accountant etc you have to go through the learning process dont expect to be proficient in a year or 2 or even 3 these are you learning years expect to make mistakes and the ocassional F*** up

 

[dbphoenix]

Hey everyone- Hope you've all had a good week 🙂 I'm brand new to investing (24 yrs old, newly married) and I figure I have about $500 USD capital for short term/intraday trading and $4000 USD for long term untouchable stuff. So questions
1) Am I foolish for trying to get going with such a low amount for short term active trading?
2) Is EOD trading worse/better for starting off as a trader?
3) Are mechanical strategies/programs worthwhile for me in this situation? I figure I can get an old copy of metastock for about $100ish, but $85/month for esignal seems like alot. Ok, gotta go, thanks everyone!
-Brady

1. Yes. This isn't nearly enough.

2. Better. EOD provides you with more time to think and to plan.

3. Forget about programs, courses, seminars and the like for now. If you are "brand new" to trading, you need to learn what markets are, how they operate, what trading is, what the risks are. You needn't spend a dime on charting software or datafeeds during this stage.

Once you begin trading, you'll be sharing the field with the smartest and best-capitalized traders in the world. If you want to make money, you'll have to be at least as well-prepared as they are.

Db

 

[seadoc]

1. Yes. This isn't nearly enough.

2. Better. EOD provides you with more time to think and to plan.

3. Forget about programs, courses, seminars and the like for now. If you are "brand new" to trading, you need to learn what markets are, how they operate, what trading is, what the risks are. You needn't spend a dime on charting software or datafeeds during this stage.

Once you begin trading, you'll be sharing the field with the smartest and best-capitalized traders in the world. If you want to make money, you'll have to be at least as well-prepared as they are.

Db

Thanks to both of you for replying!
I had a feeling my "plan" wasn't going to cut it 🙂 I'll keep reading as much as I can, then. Take it easy and may you have many good peaks (and valleys for the short-sellers)

 

[daytradingUK]

Lots of study, lots of reading and most importantly none of us has ever stopped learning!

 

[BARLI]

Well said!

im new here but not to trading
first and foremost you should not be even considering trading
you need to be learning the absolute basics of what trading is and what is involved once you have done your fair share of reading then you should consider paper trading to get a feel of what the market does and how you react to it then maybe after a year or so you may want to try your hand at trading maybe share or mini futures or even spread betting.
but just to answer the $500 for short term trading would not even get you started maybe the $4k but that would have, especially as you are new to this very limited learning ability
also with regards to what would be better swing trading (EOD) or scalping (intra-day)
this really totally depends on you personality(which you will soon learn that trading is predominantly psychological rather than technical)some people can make quick decisions other need more time there is no better or worse but the scalper will need a lot of small trades to make an income and risk has to be minimal whist a swing trader can hit home runs but will find accurance diminishes with a longer holding period and risk is obviously higher, the higher the risk the more money you need
hope that gives you an idea
and most importantly trading is a profession like a lawyer a doctor, accountant etc you have to go through the learning process dont expect to be proficient in a year or 2 or even 3 these are you learning years expect to make mistakes and the ocassional F*** up

 

[damianoakley]

Hey everyone- Hope you've all had a good week 🙂 I'm brand new to investing (24 yrs old, newly married) and I figure I have about $500 USD capital for short term/intraday trading and $4000 USD for long term untouchable stuff. So questions
1) Am I foolish for trying to get going with such a low amount for short term active trading?
2) Is EOD trading worse/better for starting off as a trader?
3) Are mechanical strategies/programs worthwhile for me in this situation? I figure I can get an old copy of metastock for about $100ish, but $85/month for esignal seems like alot. Ok, gotta go, thanks everyone!
-Brady

Hi,

The general consensus here seems to be that you should hold back your money and do some learning - I have to agree.

How much do you know about trading at the moment? What markets have you looked at? What trading style do you think would best suit you? What do you ultimately want from your trading?

These are all questions you need to ask yourself before opening any accounts with brokers.

Good Luck,

Damian