Intro Guide to Trading

I was just wondering if anyone knew a guide that teaches basic strategies of trading. I just want to "try" some trades to see how I do and feel. However, I don't want to go in blindly. Yes, I know I should do research first but does anyone know a good and comprehensive guide? Thanks.

22 Comments
 

Speaking of the Japanese Candlestick..We got a Dark Cloud Cover confirmed yesterday. Thus, lets watch the market drop this week. Bought a bunch of FAZ, hopefully it "pays" off.

 
Chim ChimSpeaking of the Japanese Candlestick..We got a Dark Cloud Cover confirmed yesterday. Thus, lets watch the market drop this week. Bought a bunch of FAZ, hopefully it "pays" off.

Yea, that move didn't go over so well. Haha.

 
MillhouseWell I would like to trade and "play with" options and equities (and maybe FICC) but not forex.

FICC = Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities.

You sound like you don't know your stuff and didn't even bother to think/research.

 

OptionsXpress has a ton of great guides to options basic strategies but dont expect much in terms of managing a book of several options and how that affects the portfolios greeks.

NinjaTrader is the futures trading demo that I recommend.

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.
 

I actually have read The Logical Trader by Mark Fisher and it is in no way a beginners book. Furthermore the reader is left in the dark on his ACD Levels that are proprietary.

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.
 

you dont just "play around" doing forex trades. If you want to understand the business you must understand money management first, therefore doing play trades without capital is not worth it. It's like playing techmo bowl as training for playing in the NFL. A good simple book that can help you get started is "Come Into my Trading Room" by Elder. Alot of profressionals will not like this book because his idea generation comes from simple technicals (which isnt how i trade) but the book is good because the guy puts the proper emphasis on money management and stops.

 

Hey figured I would throw this out there, I just started using it for my options and futures class; go to cboe.com then trading tools and do the virtual trading.

That should give you a start to do the things you want.

Hope that helps, gl.

 

First: Read Burton Malkiel and Nassim Taleb. Second: Don't trade. Unless you have edge. No offense, but I'd lay odds you don't, and I don't think reading any best-sellers on technical analysis or trading methodologies will lead to one. Go get an MFE and work on a desk, or work for a few years in equity research. If you're great in those roles, maybe then you'd have real edge.

 

....anyone who thinks an MFE or working in equity research gives you an edge trading has never made any money in the business, guaranteed. Just curious, why do you think getting an MFE is anything like risking money in capital markets? And recommending Malkiel? Malkiel believes in investing a portion of your paycheck each month in a diversified set of global equities...that has basically has been a money-losing strategy for the last decade.

 
Bondarb....anyone who thinks an MFE or working in equity research gives you an edge trading has never made any money in the business, guaranteed. Just curious, why do you think getting an MFE is anything like risking money in capital markets? And recommending Malkiel? Malkiel believes in investing a portion of your paycheck each month in a diversified set of global equities...that has basically has been a money-losing strategy for the last decade.

w/r/t to your absurd guarantee: I love overconfident ignorant people. Keep believing you know things you don't, kid.

w/r/t MFE: Read more closely-- I never said getting an MFE is like risking money in capital markets. I said get an MFE and work on a desk. In any case, one needs an edge to be a LT profitable prop trader, so where will it come from, if anywhere? (big if). If you're not looking at fundamentals, maybe you're doing statarb or a technical strategy, or tweaking a volatility model for a complex asset. For any of those, you'd better have made your sure data mining and all related inferences were sound. For all but the simpler pairs trading, you're probably going to want quant chops (if your technical strategy doesn't require quant skills, I bet it's not a long-run winner.) Better to have a physics PhD, but an MFE is a step in that direction. I don't know that pure quant strategies can be profitable in the long run, but I don't know that they can't, and there are plenty of people making money on such strategies in the short run.

w/r/t to Malkiel: I don't believe you can disprove a general tendency by noting one strategically chosen example that would seem to weigh against it. Do you? That aside, I don't mean to endorse Malkiel more than to say he provides an intelligent and humbling balance to the hubris of the hundreds of books you could buy (or CNBC shows you could watch, or WSO Baboons you could read) that encourage all, with or without much reflection, to go out and try to beat the market.

Bondarb, I don't know if you're a college sophomore or someone who has made money (luckily or through a real edge) by some prop strategy other than analyzing fundamentals, technicals, or improving a pricing methodology for some asset. I realize the world is bigger than what I've experienced, so maybe I'm leaving something out. (other than front running customers, pocketing the bid/ask spread, and other strategies that are of a different character than prop strategies.) But you do need an edge. Feel free to share more, Bondarb.

 

bwahahah dude just shut up right now please. Bondarb is probably one of the most senior posters on all of WSO.

"Oh the ladies ever tell you that you look like a fucking optical illusion" - Frank Slaughtery 25th Hour.
 
Best Response

...no i am not a college sophomore. And yes, one needs an edge when trading, but that edge can be gotten through old fashioned hard work and discipline and does not require an MFE and certainly dosent require a PHD. If one wants to become a successful trader, start trading...if one wants to be a research analyst or get an expensive degree that impresses your parents then go get an MFE or a PHD but it will not help you become a good trader. I am saying this because I am myself am a successful institutional buy-side trader and because I have worked with some of the best and most respected traders in the World and none had the "edges" you mention. Their edge is and has been iron-clad discipline, un-ending curiosity and devotion to markets, excellent risk-management, etc. And I am not encouraging anybody to just jump in willy-nilly...read my post on how i suggest one start trading and i think you will find that i certainly recommend a rigorous devotion to the craft. Also, please stop trying to sound inteligent by talking about statarb and vol models and the like...it makes you sound like a buffoon..and I trade quite a bit of volatility product with no advanced degree or quantitative model.

 

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