Newbie SOS

Hi Axel

I understand your concern completely and very well know your mindset right now. I have been into markets over 10 years, seen almost everything from very basic.

First of all, no course/information/video on stock market is perfect, good or bad. It can only provide a basic idea. Because Market is an open place and different people have different ways to look at it. Some see as rule based, some judgement based. None of them is right and none of them is wrong

So everyone adopt an approach based on his personality, decision making skills and time management

This course will provide you a broader framework of how things work and not a rule based approach (Although you can define your rules- like trade only wedges or trade only trend or Trading range or trade only DT or DB)

Here is a road map you can follow (Step by Step)

Most imp rule -Over theoretical learning, it is more important to learn practically

Step by step approach

1. Whatever learning you have done so far, find those things on practical charts. See different variations of same on charts. Read practical charts as much as possible... Target to do at least 10 charts ( Remember it is not the 1000 charts you read will produce results, but few charts done 1000 times will produce results)...read the same 10 charts next day to see what different thing you notice

2. Remember, Markets are very simple do not make complex by reading too much information. Always remember  Markets has 5 components - Buy side, sell side, Trend, Reversals (big/small) and Pause time (Trading range or sideways)....Master these concept one by one - Practically and reading ..For e.g. how a bull trend look like, what happen, how buying bars look like, how reversals look like in bull trend, what happens when it is exhausted, look for abnormalities i.e. something happened which should not have happened in bull trend (Spent 15 to 30 days on each aspect so in total 3 to 5 months)

3. Now take small capital or a demo account and start doing practical trades in small positions/qty

learn to lose and see your emotion and see how your emotions- fear and happiness impact your decisions. If not right, fix your emotions...learn patience

4. Increase capital a bit. Learn to trade profitably daily.. set small target like few dollars a day...once you master that...increase targets ( Always remember, take this fact out of your mind that you are doing this for money, you are doing this to see your chart reading skills) because if you keep money as primary factor, you will take wrong decisions once you see your account in red, specially when you are day trading)

5. look for quality trades (higher probability) not qty trades. More number of trade wont make you rich but make your broker rich

6. Do not listen to anyone, any noise of market and different experts (Including me)...Just focus on your style and way to wish to do it...Listen to others only for a broader framework and adjust that same according to your personality

Hope this helps...Sorry for long reply

Also just to add

This course in itself sufficient as it focuses on the most critical aspect of markets....Despite so many year in Market myself, I still enrolled for this course just to refine my decision making process (Because  I have been struggling with too much information and too much decision making parameters in past). I learnt the market my self in last 10 years and this is my first course.

And I have been just half way through this course, but I am already making consistent profits and my losses are reduced of almost negligible

So trust the concepts of course...May be initially, you find it difficult to understand but once you do it completely, you will appreciate it for sure

A year of studying and no trading? Sounds like torture to me. If I were you I'd be in the simulator after every lesson working on what you learned in the course because I'd think it would be very difficult to retain what you've been studying without ever applying it.  You don't have to risk much to dive in and start grinding. 

Trading is like playing the violin. You can study as much as you can, but you won't be any better for it if you don't practice it as well. It takes more time practicing than studying in my experience.

I would suggest trading the Yen or Nikkei or Euro or Dax instead of crypto. Trade something regulated that has a lot of volume during your trading hours. Try and trade the same time every day so you get a sense of the market's behavior in those hours. I get your interest in crypto, I'm also a techy guy, but it's better suited for higher time frame trading in my opinion. >4h charts.

If you're scared to start, that's understandable. Setup a monthly budget that you can lose on trading, and move forward using that. When I started, I reserved $150 a month to try 1 funded evaluation each month, or $150 to lose on micros each month. If I ran out of money, I had to go back to the sim for the rest of the month. Once I started pulling money from those accounts, my trading paid for itself. But it did take a couple of months. You're going to have to learn to lose money, and it's going to hurt. But that's part of this journey. That's part of trading.

Use the simulator if necessary, but be very mindful with it. A mistake I personally made is trading in the simulator for much too long. It can teach you a thing or two, but it's so much easier than real trading.

I dont know much about the violin and dont like the sound.  Yes I think this is good advise.  Remember keep your tech stuff separate from trading, no connection - chaulk and cheeze.  Higher time frame == higher risk so smaller size trades.  Sim trading generally not useful bar testing on a 5m chart

Thank you all for your kind advice. I agree that too much studying and too little practice are less than ideal. I've been itching to dip my toes but wanted to do it cautiously. I also agree that Forex might be a better playground to get started since the Crypto world is so volatile.

One last question for now: are there any simulators you would recommend over others? I don't know about simulators either; all I was aware of was back-testing - which I guess would be a sort of simulator, at least to test my knowledge.

Many thanks again. I am lucky I have found this inspiring community 🙂

No Dear, you interpreted it wrong.... not a whole year of study

I said " Study one concept and read the actual charts and understand it in detail..its real formation including watching it evolve in real time (i.e. during trading hours)

Complete theory is of no use at all

I said focus on 1 concept master it for a week or 15 days...there by all concepts will be mastered within 3 to 6 months....including trading on demo accounts/ simulators(as you said)

there after put the real money on stake. Trade small amount or small position size for few months unless you make consistent profits (which means at least 60 to 80% win rate)

Use the simulator from the platform that you plan to trade live with, this way you learn about the platform as well as your trading. As long as you get access to live data, you'll be good to go. Some simulators account for slippage, some don't. If you pick a market to trade that has enough liquidity, you don't have to worry about that.

Also trade with the account size you plan to go live with the first time. For example, let's say you want to be cautious and only start your first account with $250. That means you'll probably trade Forex, so start a sim account with the exact same parameters. Trade it until you have $500 in the account, then try to repeat that with a live account.