| | From The Desk of The Trader |
| “The beginning is the most important part of the work.”
-- Plato
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| | FAF19 Day 11 Lesson 10 15 February 2019 |
| | Daily Goal: 80 Ticks
Max Contract Size (Per Trade): 4 (Margins $700; acct balance over $2800)
Performance: +142 Ticks on 40 Contracts
Summary: Price lifted immediately and basically never looked back on pretty good volume. There seems to be no end to the bullish fervor driving the animal spirits in the markets. That said, on higher time frames we seem to be pushing into even stronger resistance.
Recap Video: Click here.
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| Today’s Trading Lesson: TAOST How To Get Started
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| If you’ve stayed true and followed this course from the beginning you may be chomping at the bit to hear more about “getting going.”
That’s what this email is about… but it’s not what you think it is.
The first tentative steps down the road to day trading don’t involve trading at all. Many so called gurus tell you that the best way to get started is to jump right in and started trading live… obviously after taking their course/reading their book/attending their seminar.
That’s wrong in so many ways, not least of which is this path is virtually guaranteed to lead you directly to failure. Where do you think that whole 95% failure rate comes from after all?
Mini rant at an end. So how does one get started?
Here are the steps I would use if starting all over again. Implement them one by one (mostly) and you’ll be well on your way.
- Self assessment - are you committed? It's possible, but the spoils are limited to those willing to stay the course
- Pick a stock or etf and start watching its performance daily - you need to get accustomed to reviewing charts daily... and screen time is imperative
- Assess debt and develop a plan to deal with it - this is more about your personal circumstances... and the importance of a clear mind with respect to debt
- Automate your retirement saving - 401k, IRA, etc.
- 3 forms of capital - Financial, Strategic and Emotional
- Learn market basics - Charts, indicators, price action, trading language, etc. It's not complicated... but it is necessary
- Quit your job - that's a joke. Very few can quit their job and become a trader immediately
- Learn or “borrow” a simple trading strategy - self explanatory
- Paper trade the strategy assess results - many "gurus" think paper trading is useless. It's not. Use it to assess the viability of your strategy
- Demo trade the strategy assess results - the same as paper trading except now invoking the lessons of your trading platform. Focus on trading your setups precisely... the data is useless otherwise
- Develop a trading plan around the validated trading strategy - you can wrap a terrible trading plan around a positive expectancy trading strategy and do just fine
- Commit a small amount to live trading your strategy - ALWAYS risk less.
- Assess you results at 1,3 and 6 month intervals - the more resultts, the more data... the more data, the more you can rely on the conclusion(s)
That’s it… There’s obviously A LOT more to each step, but that’s the essence of a 13 step plan to achieve day trading profitability.
These steps likely seem like a long, arduous path to trading success… especially if you’re anxious to get started "making money."
But I suggest you take the process seriously… or follow some other (but similar) process closely. There are LOTS of ways to make money in the markets. But not nearly as many processes for developing as a trader. |
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