Thinking of trading

[NeverMindHever]

Despite never even considering trading until 3 - 4 weeks ago, I'm now feeling seriously tempted to give it a try.

Has anyone else had experience of this (forest, day trading, swing trading, etc), especially as a novice like myself? How did you learn what to do, and how are you getting on? Any top tips to get me started please?

I've run my own accountancy practice for 20 years. Over that time, I've had probably 20-30 clients who've done day trading,forex, etc., and every single one has ended up losing a lot of money. Not a single one has come out with more money than they started with. These weren't uneducated people, they included a dentist, a few IT consultants, and successful business owners. One poor guy gambled so much and lost, he ended up losing his home, some lost between £100-£250k! It sucks you in, you start losing money and start to take more risks, or chase a deal downwards, to try to make up your losses and end up losing more. PLEASE DON'T DO IT. It's gambling, nothing more, nothing less.

I would strongly recommend spending some time with dummy day trading before committing actual cash to it. It’s one of those things that looks easy but that is actually for the vast majority just a way to lose a lot of money very quickly. Remember that anyone trying to sell you a foolproof system is lying- after all, if they had a foolproof system they’d be on their yacht not flogging day trading strategies online.

I’m a fairly experienced investor. I had a go dummy day trading for fun- did my absolute best and still lost £40k in two days.

Learning to trade can be both challenging and rewarding. You might want to begin by researching the type of trading that interests you the most, whether it's day trading, swing trading, or another approach. There are plenty of educational resources available online, including articles, courses, and forums where traders share their experiences.

Consider starting with a demo account on a trading platform to practice without risking real money. It's an excellent way to get hands-on experience and build confidence.

If you're intrigued by the world of cryptocurrency, platforms like https://presale.world offer insights into ICOs and pre-sales. These can be exciting opportunities to explore.

I tried trading from home after I finished a professional career running trading desks, and that included having Bloomberg (a £20k/annum professional platform).

I couldn’t make money.

Ultimately, trading, with a very few exceptions, is a zero sum game and you are trading against professionals who have an informational asymmetry against you!

Yes, some ex professional traders have made money trading for themselves from home. They do tend to be full on and a very particular obsessive and disciplined personality type.

There are loads of trading courses, videos etc to ‘learn to trade’. Would those exist if the people selling them could make good money trading?!

@NeverMindHever I’d say go for it 100%, you can’t lose lots of money if you learn risk management and you don’t need to trade with your own money neither you can use “other peoples money” such as prop firms. I’m with an educational company online, not expensive to join. Really enjoying the learning materials so far. If you want more info pm me 😀

As PPs have said, this is gambling.

If you’re considering doing this with more than a trivial amount, I assume you have an emergency fund, you’re using your full ISA allowance for investments (e.g. nice dull passive trackers), your pension is healthy, and you’re overpaying on any mortgage.

Even then I wouldn’t enjoy gambling and don’t do it myself - too stressful and too many charlatans preying on people’s get rich quick dreams.

You’ll mess it up, the fact that you’re on MN of all places asking for ideas and advice tells me: under no circumstances should you go anywhere near any day trading. Definitely not the dodgy courses on offer.

I used to work in fx and it was very clear to me that the risk was insanely high: you cannot consistently win.

A friend of mine lost £50k on some daft speculative trades. Started small but got sucked in.

Repeat after me: “I would rather spend my spare cash on a nice expensive holiday than blow all my money acquiring a gambling habit.”

Extremely bad idea. You’re essentially betting that you can do better than professionals who have years of experience, dedicated software (which means that for them large parts of the process are automated and happen instantly), special fibre for speed…I know it looks like something that should be easy (buy it, sell it when it’s gone up a bit) but it’s anything but. If you don’t believe me, have a go on one of the “dummy day trader” sites and see how long you last.

People advertising courses in this stuff- well known scam. If they could actually do it they’d be sipping G&T on their yacht, not flogging dodgy training courses to innocents.

Oh no, a zombie that’s been bumped by a scammy bot 😔