As far as courses go, make sure they're clear about what they're trying to teach you. If they're offering you a 'trading system' and it's promoted in the 'get rich quickly' way, then ask to see contract notes and statements from the promoter's own long term use of that trading system to prove it works. I doubt you'd get any, which probably says it all about such systems.
Even if you could find someone offering a trading system with cast iron proof of its effectiveness, there's still no guarantee that you will be able to trade it successfully. A trading system has to suit you and the best way to make sure of that is to develop it yourself.
If you really want a 'course', make sure it's clear about what it's going to teach you from the outset. You might find, for example, an excellent course about Gann Charting and if that's what you want then it will be fine. If, however, it promises to 'make you a successful trader' then it should be treated with caution.
Books are probably the best place to start. Opinion will always be divided about what constitutes a good book; I quite liked 'Trading Systems and Money Management' by Thomas Stridsman, but there are plenty of good books out there.
The sorts of things you need to be clear about at the outset are money management, position sizing, exit strategies and risk/reward. Without these in place, you simply won't be trading long enough to give any 'system' a decent go.
Once you have all those written down and you're happy you could trade within the framework you've established, pick a couple of securities, indexes, commodities or whatever and have a look at the charts. Apply a few technical indicators to them (but only ever apply indicators you fully understand) and see what they tell you. Can you see correlations between the indicators and the rise and fall in price? If so, paper trade them for a while and see what would have happened. Run some 'what if' situations to see how much you'd be down if, say, the first 10 investments you made ran against you. Would you still be in the game? Experiment with indicators until you're happy that maths works in your favour.
The next thing you might want to do is see if those same indicators work across a broader spectrum of instruments. You don't have to use the same indicators (although that's the aim of an all-encompassing mechanical trading system), you might find that different indicators are appropriate and that's fine too if you're happy with that; some successful traders I've met only trade a handful of instruments with a different set of indicators on each. The consistent discipline they apply to all of those instruments is in the money management and exit side of things.
Perhaps most importantly though, you need to be psychologically 'tuned in' to what you're doing. There is nothing wrong with changing a system to improve it, but it should never be a knee-jerk type of change. If you have a system, try to trade it with as little emotion as possible and rely on the system to tell you when to enter and exit - never second guess it. You're going to need to give any system a fair run before dismissing it and that might cost you. Your money management discipline should ensure that it doesn't cost you too much. You will need to be able to cope with drawdowns and you need to have a system that you're confident enough in to be able to trade through those drawdowns without abandoning the system.
But don't necessarily listen to me! I'm not a millionaire and I've lost a lot of money trading in the past. I do primarily make my money from trading now but, although it makes a 'comfortable' living, I'm by no means 'rich'. I can't afford a Ferrari, I can only afford one holiday a year and I'm not much better off financially than I was when I had a 'real' job. I'm still learning too and I've got a long way to go. Maybe someone who can afford the Ferrari and manages to holiday 3 times a year would like to add to my post and correct any glaring errors I've made.
Even if you could find someone offering a trading system with cast iron proof of its effectiveness, there's still no guarantee that you will be able to trade it successfully. A trading system has to suit you and the best way to make sure of that is to develop it yourself.
If you really want a 'course', make sure it's clear about what it's going to teach you from the outset. You might find, for example, an excellent course about Gann Charting and if that's what you want then it will be fine. If, however, it promises to 'make you a successful trader' then it should be treated with caution.
Books are probably the best place to start. Opinion will always be divided about what constitutes a good book; I quite liked 'Trading Systems and Money Management' by Thomas Stridsman, but there are plenty of good books out there.
The sorts of things you need to be clear about at the outset are money management, position sizing, exit strategies and risk/reward. Without these in place, you simply won't be trading long enough to give any 'system' a decent go.
Once you have all those written down and you're happy you could trade within the framework you've established, pick a couple of securities, indexes, commodities or whatever and have a look at the charts. Apply a few technical indicators to them (but only ever apply indicators you fully understand) and see what they tell you. Can you see correlations between the indicators and the rise and fall in price? If so, paper trade them for a while and see what would have happened. Run some 'what if' situations to see how much you'd be down if, say, the first 10 investments you made ran against you. Would you still be in the game? Experiment with indicators until you're happy that maths works in your favour.
The next thing you might want to do is see if those same indicators work across a broader spectrum of instruments. You don't have to use the same indicators (although that's the aim of an all-encompassing mechanical trading system), you might find that different indicators are appropriate and that's fine too if you're happy with that; some successful traders I've met only trade a handful of instruments with a different set of indicators on each. The consistent discipline they apply to all of those instruments is in the money management and exit side of things.
Perhaps most importantly though, you need to be psychologically 'tuned in' to what you're doing. There is nothing wrong with changing a system to improve it, but it should never be a knee-jerk type of change. If you have a system, try to trade it with as little emotion as possible and rely on the system to tell you when to enter and exit - never second guess it. You're going to need to give any system a fair run before dismissing it and that might cost you. Your money management discipline should ensure that it doesn't cost you too much. You will need to be able to cope with drawdowns and you need to have a system that you're confident enough in to be able to trade through those drawdowns without abandoning the system.
But don't necessarily listen to me! I'm not a millionaire and I've lost a lot of money trading in the past. I do primarily make my money from trading now but, although it makes a 'comfortable' living, I'm by no means 'rich'. I can't afford a Ferrari, I can only afford one holiday a year and I'm not much better off financially than I was when I had a 'real' job. I'm still learning too and I've got a long way to go. Maybe someone who can afford the Ferrari and manages to holiday 3 times a year would like to add to my post and correct any glaring errors I've made.
