So what is the secret? Part 2. Going from begginer to pro.
Hello, so first of all I mentionned in this idea what I think are the most important rules to keep in mind, and a guideline on how to build a system / a career:
![What makes a good trader? How to trade? [Beginner & Advanced]](https://static.tradingview.com/static/images/svg/idea-image-placeholder.svg)
In this idea I would like to show what I think is the end goal, and how I would advice someone getting there.
I saw a nice chart on the internet "How traders think versus How trading actually works", I modified it a bit, this is my view on the subject:
I would not know how to explain to a complete beginner, but I think I understand the beginners that already read a bit about all this.
Let me explain what is in this pie:
About the watching the markets... some... people... still deposit money to cryptopia. Exchange went bankrupt. "It's just FUD", "don't look at the news they might convince you not to H0DL". Crypto community is the perfect example of what not to do, just unbelievable. Complete bunch of idiots. People that deposit money to a broker/exhange that went down have nothing to do in this business, stick to watching tv.
If I had to guide someone I think going throught these steps would be what I would choose:
0- If they are eager to buy and sell with real money, go on a small account and sizes as small as possible. If they are already not able to control themselves, no point even trying. Cannot advance they have to be able to control themselves first.
1- Start just reading, watching videos. There is alot of nonsense, trolling, and just dumb ignorant people that give their opinion. So do not take anything for granted and absorb it all. There are some warning signs. Kid that went huge leverage and made 10,000% returns at once and starts calling himself the legend, the master of charts... Most people can tell this is dumb, right? I am not sure to be honest. Well at least 1/3 can I imagine. If you can't, go to step -1 and build your understanding of the world, common sense, some mathematics too especially probabilities.
2- I would make a feedback on what the person knows, I do this myself all the time. Re-learn everything make sure the foundations are solid and that it is all natural don't need to overthink it. But with experience it will really become natural. Decide what you like more (this will change with time) and start going in that direction. Also check if what you like (catching the falling knife bottom right before the trend reverses and riding it to the top) is possible (no) or just silly (yes).
2- Write a plan or a set of rules. How do you want to do this? Any system can do. Have a system that tells you what to look for and then detail it a bit.
Say the rules are 1- Define the trend 2- Find out what is driving it and where it could end 3- Risk factors 4- Should I hop on & when? 5- How to set stop loss 6- Exit
For each number from 1 to 6 you write how you do this. Does not have to be perfect.
3- I would suggest starting with a risk reward ratio not too high I just do not think it is a good idea to have a reward much greater than risk at this point. Try being right about the trend as much as possible, avoiding the really bad days, not to gamble, not to chase losers, understanding more how markets move.
Stick to 1 or 2 (2 may be preferable to not get bad habits) markets. Maybe Bitcoin (and some alts) since it is very popular and also very educational, as well as gold, or indices if you prefer. Indices good. I think this is what I learned the first. Story time I remember (I think) the first chart I analysed was Bitcoin in 2014. It had no support till 100 to 250$ yikes. I was already a bear before I was a trader back in 2014. First markets I learned about and watched were the stock markets. Every one was always super serious about how many points were up or down and afraid of a big crisis, even when I was 8 or so I was thinking "oh calm down dude".
4- Time for a break. Might as well do that after a lose spree.
5- Review past trades. What was good? What went wrong? What happened that day? Why? Why did the price go up? Down? Following people on various sites helps for this rather than just being isolated, well I think it does, but careful there are plenty of idiots let's call them that, that just attribute price action to the dumbest things. When you start breathing talking finance, it becomes easier. At that point you may be 1 year in, you should start to get a feel of the markets and understand better how they move. Focus on working on your strong points weak points average points :p
6- You should have refined your trading, and try having a profitable or at least break even strategy over a great enough number of trade that you know it is probably not just a lucky - on unlucky - run. Being non delusional is important. If you kept winning in a raging bull market, be aware of that. You are on your own and there is no one to tell you that. Well there is MrRenev but people do not listen. I think now you should focus on avoiding really risky trades such as have the potential for massive slippage or just ahead of some important report, weed out the bad ones. Also, you get better at holding when you should hold, and exiting when you should exit.
7- Now is the time to increase that risk to reward ratio. The best, the really top trades, they all have high risk to reward ratios. It is broken. It is like hacking. You can get very profitable this way. There are some opportunities where the odds are high even thought the risk to reward is big. One of the reason why I do not recommend this earlier is you lose 5 in a row you do not know if you made a mistake or it is all normal. Better have plenty of winners and try looking "ok so did I enter too early or not how far did they go" etc. You just have more to work with. I don't think going high reward/risk from the start is really a good idea.
Once you are good at picking winners, and weeding out the really bad ones, you can focus on raising your RR while trying to maintain a decent winrate.
If you manage to get a high RR, above 5, then maybe you can focus on increasing winrate a bit again. It might be time to start looking at a new market too, if you are comfortable with the 1/2 you started with.
8- Permanent learning improving, adjusting to new conditions. At that point you know what to do and it gets more specific.
* You can use an indicator if you like it, but chill out with the indicators my gawd. Most of them don't even tell anything you cannot see on the chart for yourself when you have some screen time.
![What makes a good trader? How to trade? [Beginner & Advanced]](https://s3.tradingview.com/j/JPsovY52_big.png)
In this idea I would like to show what I think is the end goal, and how I would advice someone getting there.
I saw a nice chart on the internet "How traders think versus How trading actually works", I modified it a bit, this is my view on the subject:
I would not know how to explain to a complete beginner, but I think I understand the beginners that already read a bit about all this.
Let me explain what is in this pie:
About the watching the markets... some... people... still deposit money to cryptopia. Exchange went bankrupt. "It's just FUD", "don't look at the news they might convince you not to H0DL". Crypto community is the perfect example of what not to do, just unbelievable. Complete bunch of idiots. People that deposit money to a broker/exhange that went down have nothing to do in this business, stick to watching tv.
If I had to guide someone I think going throught these steps would be what I would choose:
0- If they are eager to buy and sell with real money, go on a small account and sizes as small as possible. If they are already not able to control themselves, no point even trying. Cannot advance they have to be able to control themselves first.
1- Start just reading, watching videos. There is alot of nonsense, trolling, and just dumb ignorant people that give their opinion. So do not take anything for granted and absorb it all. There are some warning signs. Kid that went huge leverage and made 10,000% returns at once and starts calling himself the legend, the master of charts... Most people can tell this is dumb, right? I am not sure to be honest. Well at least 1/3 can I imagine. If you can't, go to step -1 and build your understanding of the world, common sense, some mathematics too especially probabilities.
2- I would make a feedback on what the person knows, I do this myself all the time. Re-learn everything make sure the foundations are solid and that it is all natural don't need to overthink it. But with experience it will really become natural. Decide what you like more (this will change with time) and start going in that direction. Also check if what you like (catching the falling knife bottom right before the trend reverses and riding it to the top) is possible (no) or just silly (yes).
2- Write a plan or a set of rules. How do you want to do this? Any system can do. Have a system that tells you what to look for and then detail it a bit.
Say the rules are 1- Define the trend 2- Find out what is driving it and where it could end 3- Risk factors 4- Should I hop on & when? 5- How to set stop loss 6- Exit
For each number from 1 to 6 you write how you do this. Does not have to be perfect.
3- I would suggest starting with a risk reward ratio not too high I just do not think it is a good idea to have a reward much greater than risk at this point. Try being right about the trend as much as possible, avoiding the really bad days, not to gamble, not to chase losers, understanding more how markets move.
Stick to 1 or 2 (2 may be preferable to not get bad habits) markets. Maybe Bitcoin (and some alts) since it is very popular and also very educational, as well as gold, or indices if you prefer. Indices good. I think this is what I learned the first. Story time I remember (I think) the first chart I analysed was Bitcoin in 2014. It had no support till 100 to 250$ yikes. I was already a bear before I was a trader back in 2014. First markets I learned about and watched were the stock markets. Every one was always super serious about how many points were up or down and afraid of a big crisis, even when I was 8 or so I was thinking "oh calm down dude".
4- Time for a break. Might as well do that after a lose spree.
5- Review past trades. What was good? What went wrong? What happened that day? Why? Why did the price go up? Down? Following people on various sites helps for this rather than just being isolated, well I think it does, but careful there are plenty of idiots let's call them that, that just attribute price action to the dumbest things. When you start breathing talking finance, it becomes easier. At that point you may be 1 year in, you should start to get a feel of the markets and understand better how they move. Focus on working on your strong points weak points average points :p
6- You should have refined your trading, and try having a profitable or at least break even strategy over a great enough number of trade that you know it is probably not just a lucky - on unlucky - run. Being non delusional is important. If you kept winning in a raging bull market, be aware of that. You are on your own and there is no one to tell you that. Well there is MrRenev but people do not listen. I think now you should focus on avoiding really risky trades such as have the potential for massive slippage or just ahead of some important report, weed out the bad ones. Also, you get better at holding when you should hold, and exiting when you should exit.
7- Now is the time to increase that risk to reward ratio. The best, the really top trades, they all have high risk to reward ratios. It is broken. It is like hacking. You can get very profitable this way. There are some opportunities where the odds are high even thought the risk to reward is big. One of the reason why I do not recommend this earlier is you lose 5 in a row you do not know if you made a mistake or it is all normal. Better have plenty of winners and try looking "ok so did I enter too early or not how far did they go" etc. You just have more to work with. I don't think going high reward/risk from the start is really a good idea.
Once you are good at picking winners, and weeding out the really bad ones, you can focus on raising your RR while trying to maintain a decent winrate.
If you manage to get a high RR, above 5, then maybe you can focus on increasing winrate a bit again. It might be time to start looking at a new market too, if you are comfortable with the 1/2 you started with.
8- Permanent learning improving, adjusting to new conditions. At that point you know what to do and it gets more specific.
* You can use an indicator if you like it, but chill out with the indicators my gawd. Most of them don't even tell anything you cannot see on the chart for yourself when you have some screen time.
