Hi,

First I would like to mention that I am french canadian... So sorry for my english, it is not the best :P.

I am looking for a mentor, I dont think that I would be very needy but I guess I need some guideline on trading strategy. I have been studying the stock market (fundamental) for the past 3 years, I made some money  ( nothing incredible) but over time my passion grew a lot and I kept looking for information. The more information I found...The more I wanted to know about everything. And in the mean time I knew I was going to do something good with all that knowlodge so I saved as much as I could so I could invest and make my way to be financially independant. 

When I realized that I was waking up at 5:00 in the morning so I can have an extra 2 hours of studying and charting before I go to work... I decided I should make a career out of it. If you dont need to snooze in the morning to go do what you have to do... I guess it mean you are enjoying what you do.

After that 3 years of studying fundamental and my realisation of making a career out of it, I started to look a technical analysis... Fundamental was not close to get me out of my job any time soon. So I spended the last 4 month looking at everything I could on technical analysis. At this point, I know some about a lot... I know all the oscillator and indicator, I know by heart all the harmonic pattern and candle stick pattern, I love the moving average and  my favorite of all so far is elliot wave ( during live sessions I have a hard time to figured out where I am in the counts). 

I made few strategy and tryed to work them but...The result were not so good so far... I kind of doubt them now and I realised I need guidance outside of book, movie and self education....

I have a hard time with :

- Finding a good broker, I like forex because it is 24 hrs a day during the week and it work well with my work schedule... But all the broker ( base on numerous hours of research) seem to be taking advantage or screwing people at some point... 

- Getting a strategy that actually work consistantly ( I understand I will never be perfect)

- How to make a realistic plan in order to get out of my job and make a living with trading.

- It might sound stupid but I really feel alone.... I stopped talking about investment and money because my friend, co-worker and family think I am odd.... I have a really good job...So my co-worker and friend think I am stupid to look for anything else... My family want my well-beeing so they dont want me to take any risk in anything. So I have nobody to turn to when I doubt, when I have exciting idea or whenever I read something awesome and feel like telling the entire world...

This is why I am looking for a mentor or someone with guidance that can help me. 

Thank you very much

Dom

Dom,

I can appreciate your question because I have been on the quest for 12 years. I do trade full time now, but spent years studying and learning. I make all my trading decisions based upon TA. I am primarily a Swing Trader and Day Trader. I am a Trend trader in my IRA account

I recommend that you keep your job and trade in your spare time until you are able to make more money in the market than in your job. I know this is not what your want to hear, but it is the best "tip" you will ever have. There is NO magic pill or system. Only with EXTENSIVE first hand knowledge will you be able to become a good trader. Likely you will loose a LOT of money until you become successful. I personally spent so much time learning, studying and studying (4 years) that I was able to avoid loosing a lot of money when I actually put money in the market

In my opinion, psychology is 85% and the rest makes up 15%. Why else can one person make a lot of money and the next person loose a lot of money trading the same system. The market is designed to take the most amount of money from the most amount of people in the shortest amount of time. Working on your psychology and belief system is the best way to avoid falling into the trap. The market is rigged and corrupt and again your psychology allows you to see that and to use it to your favor.

The second most valuable thing you can learn is the use of Stops and Position sizing. If the trade goes against you, you want out quick and without emotion. I have several systems that are rule based and when I break any rule, I loose money. The most important part of any system is knowing when to get out of the trade either to take profit or prevent losses.

I am not sure how it works, but I know TC 2000 has TCMail. Under Tools, Old Features, you will find it. Send my your EMail info and I would be glad to give you some info to help your quest. I won't "mentor you", but I will help you fine info to help your quest. Remember, a Doctor spends 10+ years studying prior to practicing and making money. Trading is NO different. It takes years to get good. However with proper guidence, you can shorten the time. Never stop searching and one day you will be a good trader if you dont loose all your money first.

Good Luck

FYI:

A good source of good and BAD info is StockTwits.com Join it, but observe for a long time to find who to follow. A good rule is if they have a paid service, stay away. As a rule, but not always, those that can make money trading, trade. Those who cant, teach. NEVER trade based upon anyones recommendation. If you can not see how and why personally, you are not ready to trade. Ask questions in a respectful way. If you get an answer, good. If not, move on.

Dom,

Good advice from aquavision to keep your job and learn more about trading.  Remember short term trading is a job like any other but one where your emotions can/will cloud your judgement.

Brokers - There are good online brokers. Schwab, Scottrade, and TDAmeritade come to mind, but there are others.  First rule - don't ask a broker for advice.

If you are working, your strategy should be longer term than if you were day-trading, and you must be dissiplined

Making a strategy is all dependent on you.

Thanks for the advices guys,

Keep working until I make more money trading than my current job consistently was my first plan. That is why I am looking into forex for the 24 hrs trading period, it allow me to trade after and before work ( I am not trading for real until Jan 2015 ).

For the broker, the one you mention are in the states. In canada we do have TD, I am with them for everything but they do not deal with forex... And only forex allow me to trade any time during the day.

Aquavision, I tryed to look in tcmail, and could not figured out how to find your e-mail...

And a basic question on TC2000 software, I just bought a new computer which have plenty of power but the more chart and indicator I open the more it lag, also the more chart I have open with long term view on them too it start lagging a lot... So I was wondering what is causing that lagging.

Thank you

Dom

Dom,

I sent you a TCMail. Go to Tools, Old Features then TCMail. You should be able to find it. I have never used TCMail, so I hope it works. In TCMail, the address is the same as the username. for you, it would be wisedom84 for me it is aquavision

For brokers, I primarily use Interactive Brokers. I have heard they have bad customer service, but I can not say because I have never used it. They tend to be a broker for those who do not need hand holding and are usually the #1 rated broker. They are also for the active trader. I think you need 30 trades a month to prevent certain fees.

I Day Trade and Swing Trade primarily. For swing trading, one could easily trade with a full time job depending upon entry stratagies and systems. I know Swing Traders who never see charts while the market is open. They determine entries and use limit orders to enter and stops to exit. I would not do that in this current market, but if the market was trending, no problem.

Dom

For the lagging, depending upon your browser, sounds like you Web Content Cache is full. It you use Firefox, go to Tools, Options, Network and you will see it. I clear my Cache several times a day. Otherwise, call Worden Tech Service or live-chat. They will know Why, What and How to prevent the lagging. I assume you have a high speed internet connection?

Hey wisdom84 hit me up kunal@bullson.ws Ive got some classes and coursebooks ive built over the years that I can send you. You dont have to pay for it or anything just study hard!  

One of the things you should do is find out what type of trading you want to get into and then dive deeper into the specific methods within there. For example I trade equities. I am primarily a daytrader or short term swing trader 1-5 day holds.  I am mostly a trend trader or momentum trader.  Having that very specific methodoly allows me to focus my efforts on building solid processes as now I know what type of information to seek for the type of stocks etc.   Once you have a method you need to really dig in and learn every single microscopic detail about that method and then practice it.

Maybe work on a trading simulator like thinkorswims for a period of time while you smooth out the kinks and you pile on the repititions so that you can build mastery over your method. 

Thats great you have a good job that will give you time and less pressure! so much of trading is mental and when you have to trade for income right away all of the sudden you lose your most powerful ally as a retail trader which is the ability to be opportunisitic. You dont have to be in the markets at all time...often you have to be patient and wait for everything to line up before you do something.   But if you jump the gun and have this need to trade for money then all of the sudden you lose that ability.    

Dont fret! there are tons of people just like you out there. Sometimes making a few friends and having a solid community to bounce ideas off of can be a real gamechanger and stop that feeling of isolation and give you some new energy and purpose. 

Take care

kunal

Try some technical analysis software.