Hello,

As a beginner, can anyone recommend the best charts and/or best chart setups to use for day and swing trading?

I am interested in using a small selection of charts to learn, study and use as a guide to place trades in a virtual environment.

I want to study and practice for as long as it takes before I decide to trade using real money.

Thank you for any help you can provide!

No such thing, unfortunately., or fortunately actually, otherwise the markets wouldn't work! Correct?!

trading IMO;

A : 33% psychological/mindset

B: 33% Money management/ discipline

C: 33% indicators/trading system

You'll find lots of info on point C, and to some extend B as well here on these forums, Not much on point A though.

prepare a non-ambiguous trading plan.

My personal experience has been to be objective at all times. A combination of leading indicators, with an oscillator, and looking at symmetry and support/resistance in price charts has worked well for me, but might not work for you.

I agree w/the 1st reply,

here are a couple of traders or coaches to check out:

Kirk report

Van K. Tharp

Dr. Elder

all have books and /  or web sites with lots of good info.

also watch the weekly videos here and check out  Stockmarketmentor.com.

2 last things:

K.I.S.S. and

paper trading only works to an extent because there are no emotions such as Fear or Greed unless you have your own $ on the line.

goodluck

ron

Once a beginner, I would think that the first two replies were good starting points, look at a few things and realize I want to work directly with the charts and just pick up things as I went along. You read it all the time that this is the first trap. Don't fall into this trap, save your time and read up on money management, mind and method. Once you realize where those starting points originate from, you will be on your way. As a hint, I can point you in the direction that greatly improved my trading strategies and overall outlook. 

Two great books on the topics are Mark Douglas's Trading in the Zone and Dr. Alex Elder's Trading for a Living. I wouldnt even suggest getting close to a chart before reading these two once, maybe twice. I started paper trading in the beginning thinking that I would eventually move on to using real money and found myself thinking that it won't work until I just put money on the line and then it will be real so then I'll really learn the ropes. I kept hearing that paper trading isn't the same and that fear and greed don't become a factor so I jumped head first and you get kicked around, bouncing from stock to stock, indicator to indicator. Famous last words, crawl before you walk. Learn your trade, pun intended. 

Best of luck!

All of the above are great answers and definite ways you should slowly engage the market. One side note that worked well for me when starting out. 

Pick 1 stock/ETF and follow it on various timed charts to understand how it moves. I found it a lot easier to pick 1 security and just watch its habits and how the market reacts with it versus bouncing from one stock to the next.

Just saying thanks for the replies.

what is the difference between tcnet,tc2000,tc2005,tc2007,andtc2000v12, other than option features?

INVETOPEDIA HAS ONE, ALSO SCHAB HAS A DEMO ONE, BUT IT DOESNT KEEP TRACT OF GAINS AND LOSSES, OTHER BROKERAGES MAY HAVE DEMOS BETTER THAN SCHWABS,, INVESTOPEDIA MAY BE THE BEST.

TC2000 is the trade name of the software.  The current version is 12.3.  The others you mention are just previous versions of the software as it has developed over the years. TCNet specifically is the Platinum community that was introduced several versions ago. It it not referred to specifically in the lastest version, but the club/user group, chat functionality, etc. is still available in the Platinum service in version 12.3

In sticking to your question, my suggestion is to have a simple chart with candlesticks, Bollinger Bands and the MACD with no histogram. There is a plethora of moving averages that can be used but starting out with the 20MA would be my suggestion, which will be in the Bollinger Band. You may want to add the 50 and 200MA.

This is not what I use. Actually I have many charts that I use with different indicators depending on the strategy at the time. But this is what I'd want my sons and grandchildren to start with and to understand.

Steve Bukosky