Here’s the gist of an email I received today…

“I have never traded, I’ve watched futures but never stocks.

I am very interested in this just a little unsure about all the little things that need to be done before one can start trading.”

Because I get similar questions, I figured I’d address address some of the elements in this question in an article…

So, how do you start?

I’ve got a 2 step formula that can be perfectly applied to this question. In fact this “formula” works for anything, the 2 keys are:

Education

Education is the process of learning about what it is you plan to do. You can get this from books, courses, trial and error and learning from other people.

There is no one best way for everyone. Some people learn well from reading, others video, and others need one-on-one guidance. Determine what works for you and get started.

When I was first learning to trade, I didn’t even know what questions I should be asking. Only by emersing myself in the subject did I gain enough knowledge to know what I didn’t know. This is the first step.

Next you begin to fill in the gaps of your missing knowledge through continued education. (Actually in trading your education will never end… but that’s the subject for another article.)

Now here’s where a lot of people go wrong… they become execellent at educating themselves… the problem is you can’t stay ONLY in education mode forever. If you do you will never realize your original goal of becoming a profitable trader.

That’s why the next step in this equation is… execution.

Execution

Now I am NOT saying to run out and start live trading! Execution can, and should begin with tiny baby steps… and the more risk free you can make these steps the better.

For our business, papertrading is the most logical beginning. And today with the numerous free trading simulators availble there is no reason for not getting adequate practice in the initial stages of execution.

In future articles I’ll list a few simulators. (If you know of any you’d like to share, feel free to leave a comment with the ones you recommend.)

This is a general overview of how to get started. I’ll start covering more detailed aspects in future articles.

Continued Success!

Ray

Categories: Trading
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