First Steps - Detailed View of the Trading ABC
1) - Get yourself a Professional Trading Platform to work with.
This Platform will be by your side throughout your Trading Career, day after day it will be there to help you take your money home with you. There is NOTHING worse than getting screwed by your broker, on fills or customer support, or whatever - It´s the last thing you need when you are trying to take money from the market consistently.
We have a few recommendations in this area, and there are a lot to chose from. Always best to chose one which allows papertrading upfront without charge, so that you can use it and get a feel for it before you fund it with real money. TOS is a great option. NinjaTrader is a good option, loads of tools, immediate set-up within minutes for live data.
2) - You MUST learn the BASICS.
Don´t open your platform and expect to be able to competently use it. These Software Platforms can be intricate and need some getting used to. Use the Platform for some trades with paper money, and above all go to a basic site and get some basic trading training. Find out what it means to GO LONG, to GO SHORT, find out what the BID is, the ASK, to FLATTEN, to REVERSE, the SPREAD, LEVEL 2, find out how the market basics work - These are all expressions you may already know, if not, get to know them & MORE - This is as basic as it gets!
There are some excellent free resources on the following pages, these can get complete beginners started off on their learning process.
3) - Learning the right MINDSET.
Trading can be an extremely POSITIVE experience, it can also shred you to pieces - These emotions can change within the blink of an eye, literally. Take this part very seriously and use whatever works for you to remain positive and focused on the job in hand.
4) - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.
You MUST NOT put hard earned money on the line before you know the basics and can "efficiently execute trades" - We simply can NOT stress this point ENOUGH........ Although we are not fans of PaperTrading, you must utilize this at first while learning the bare basics and getting to grips with basic trading. If you take only one thing away from our site let it be this, "Do Not throw your money at the market LIVE until you in a position to do so" - You will be directly facing up to Professionals, and they will take your money each and every time, believe me.
PaperTrading is a different game to Live Trading with real money. The emotions are different, the fills and pricing are different, the whole scheme of things is different - You can not duplicate Live Trading Results whilst Paper Trading, and this is why we are not big fans for the long term. However, a paper account is very efficient at helping you to learn the software and get to grips with the basics, for instance the execution process for opening and closing of trades - You must know your way around your platform before you use real money, don't try going on a limb or you could see your account diminish extremely fast. Also, PaperTrading under the right conditions can be very beneficial, the problem people have is that they don´t it in the right way, another classic newbie error.
Please remember, if you can earn money PaperTrading it does not necessarily mean that you will earn money with a Live Trading Account (and if you lose money on Paper it does not automatically mean you will lose money with a Live account either). Because of many factors it is simply not the same for LIVE TRADING results, but again it is extremely valuable under the right conditions - In a short space of time a Paper Trading Account can teach you many things about trading and how to execute flawlessly in any given situation - It is a MUST for execution practice.
You should Paper Trade until you are extremely confident that you are ready to move to real money, this can be as long as you feel comfortable doing so - BUT then, start small, as small as you can and make consistent small profits before moving on - This use of real money will stir emotions in you every time, however small at the beginning. This can be difficult with Futures Trading as the minimum of 1 contract can move extremely fast - One step at a time is the only way.
NEVER TRADE WITH SCARED MONEY - Scared money is money that is going to go to the market.
Having a plan and knowing your entry and exit points are extremely important, everything then revolves around you being able to flawlessly execute your trades precisely. Once you have your trading Platform all set up and you know how to use it properly, to place your orders, set your stops, know how to flatten or reverse a position, then you are ready to start getting a plan of how you are going to attack this Market. Lets move on as you are now set up with your tools, and ready to go.
- Follow the below links to get started - CLICK NEXT >> to move in our recommended direction for the best learning curve, or chose an independent link..............
The Basics | Trading Rules | Terminology | Trading A-Z | After the Basics | Mindset | Trading Platforms | Resources - Books and DVD
You only need the right Training!
We will point you through the A, B, Cs Are You Ready?
