FB
Sorry, this may be a bit OT. There does not seem to be another place to post this stuff. Please continue your thread as it is still proving very helpful. :cheesy:
Helenqu and TBS
(and of course anyone else who wishes to join in)
Firstly thanks for the references to PT thread. I have been working through it, it’s good stuff and just the sort of thing I need right now.
I have been thinking long and hard over these questions. Here is my first stab at defining what I wish to do with trading. Sorry it is a bit long
How much time do you have to spend on this?
At present a few hours a day, medium-term I expect to have about one hour a day during the week and a few more hours over the w/e.
How much money are you prepared to lose learning?
If this is for learning purposes only (i.e not trading for a living) then I would guess around £1000 for the trading account. If a few hundred more will allow me to use a different trading method/style then I am open to suggestions. I do not envisage earning a living from such a small capital base and would look to start ‘real’ trading with several thou.
What is your level of risk tolerance?
I am not sure what you mean by this. The amount I am prepared to lose on a trade, on setting up trading as a business, etc :?: :?:
Can you monitor prices during the day?
I could, but to be practical not constantly with a full-time day job. So this would have to be a
no during the day but
yes in the early evening.
This question may be leading on to day-trading, which I am not sure I am ready for, or indeed would suit me. Then again does one learn/train into the desired trading style you intend to go for :?: :?: :?:
At my stage, as I am not certain of the trading style, I would rather get to know the ins and outs of the various styles, methods and markets and what is required to trade in these circumstances before I make this decision
Do you want to trade and fit it in round a job?
Initially yes. Ultimately, once trading proves it has the potential to replace the day job (this sounds terrible,-so you have a NIGHT job, really now, what can THAT be I imagine
), this will hopefully become the day job.
And more to the topic, looks to me like Spreadbetting UK stocks with a D4F account and a swing trading strategy would stand you in good stead. A subscription to Sharescope and later on Pfscan would be all your would need to do a good job, you can monitor prices for free on ADVFN.
How does that sound?
Mostly sounds OK. I know what SB is now, I have a good idea what D4F is, although I have yet to look at the site, but PLEASE what is a swing trading strategy when it's at home :?:
Some other questions:
1. What do you want to get out of this? - I know you have a target of replacing the day job, but in purely physical terms, how much hard cash do you have to make per year?
I reckon as a minimum I need to earn about £150 per day on average. This would sustain an existing lifstyle and anything more than this would not go amiss, I assure you!!
2. Time/risk/reward - Understanding this ratio is part of the mey to deciding what markets you can trade (rather than want to trade). This includes the physical time you can spend in front of the screen and the specific hours of the day that you have available. It would be no use trading fast moving Dax futures if all you have is an hour at lunchtime. Helen has already mentioned risk levels. With £1000 you would not be able to trade futures, but would be able to use a spreadbetting firm - which has its own pitfalls.
I now realise the risk/reward/time dynamics as even spending a few hours here and there on the T2W competition have proven frustrating. There are several other factors, I guess :idea: , which come into play here. Not least of all family pressure for time and reliance on steady income.
However, one of the questions I have for full-time traders relates to the point at which you gave up your day jobs. At that moment did going full-time expand the market, your trading strategies, your methods and trading styles at all???
Ignore for now the £1000 for trading. As I’ve said, I would view this as money spent on setting up a business (training, equipment, etc), or as Les would say on ‘education’ costs.
Now, I can answer what I regard IMHO as the most significant question. Reason being is that I feel if I am not sufficiently motivated enough I will not see out a 2 – 4 year learning period. And, I guess, this may be a main reason why 95% of traders give it up.
Once you have come back with those answers then you can start to put together a plan of action which will start to form around these sorts of questions:
a. why have I decided to play the markets?
For several years I have been trying to find the opportunity to start my own business. One in which I am my own boss and the success or failure of the business is down to me and me alone. My current profession has been a mix of boring, stressful (NOT due to hard work) in terms of being away from family for long periods of time, and not least the type of shysters that I have had to deal with. (Yes, I know they are in all traits of life, but with particular concentrations in my industry
).
So, it is like having an itch in the middle of your back. One you cannot reach and one that is intensely annoying, a Nasty Itch if you will.
Dear Bruv
had been fiddling around in trading for some time and it got me thinking. I had always had shares using the LTBH method, but this was not mentally very stimulating, certainly very little fun and did not yield enough income (unless of course you had £0.5 M++ to play with). I have always been curious, and perhaps a little afraid of the markets (still am !), and have shied away from anything more than shares, unit trust, PEPS and the like. Hence my ‘investigation’ into more serious trading.
If you have reached this point, well done and thank you for persevering this far.
Cheers
