A Greenhorns Begginings

A Greenhorn’s Beginning

Firstly, still the greenhorn. So no rags to riches or such story here. I think this is mostly a “this is how I got started” and “what do you think” post I guess, or maybe just a background, ya’ll decide. As stated, I’m green in trading. Studied physics and chemistry which is enough background to inform me that I know nothing and must learn how to trade, (I know I don’t know, as it were).

I originally realized I could sign up for ThinkorSwim with no deposit and get real-time data, level two quotes, and the entire platform without spending anything but time. I started playing with the platform, watching and using their educational content while utilizing their paper trading feature. Which, by the way their On Demand feature is quite underrated I think. One could use it to go back to a former date and plug in trade scenarios and see its outcome without waiting literal days… talk about backtesting…

Once satisfied with the platform I started depositing small amounts from every paycheck and started trading single shares with the intention of simply exploring and learning. Experimenting with more advanced order types, trailing stops, OCOs, etc. I just wanted to experience the market live and learn these things while risking a few dollars or cents. Like slippage, I can paper trade all I want. But slippage I saw is only seen live. I paid less than a beer to experience it for real.

I knew I would always need an education of some sort. I can’t remember how I found it but Alexander Elder’s “Come to My Trading Room” has become my Bible. I also picked up Stock Market 101 by Michele Cagan. It’s rather a dictionary of sorts, rather explaining what the markets are rather than the how. For a greenhorn like myself it is an invaluable read.

I’ve set my sights upon a new series by Rubén Villahermosa called The Wyckoff Methodology in a 3 book series. Not such that I think his ideas are entirely correct BUT, it’s a 2022 release that delves into modern market trends like HFT. I think an outlook on how things have changed since Elder wrote his book in 2002 would be valuable. All of it I’ll judge and experiment rather than taking it as gold (A lesson from Elder I might add).

I’ve also found WSJ’s Digital Bundle deal they’re offering very valuable. Access to the WSJ, Barron’s and MarketWatch extremely useful for market news and info ($10/mo for a year at the time of this post). Not that I believe the picks or whatever but access to market sentiment, trends, opinions, and everything else for so little per month has been great for watching stocks, companies and sector trends.

Another set of tools I have found useful are Atom.finance and Koyfin. I pay for Atom’s premium. Koyfin I have found is very fast at breaking down economic sector and factor trends. I don’t pay for anything else. Atom I pay for so I can get premium alerts and more in depth holds on an etf or documents/filings all in one place (given the price is like $7/mo or something). Also recently picked up Bloomberg for $2/mo for three months.

I have a current set of indicators on my trade screen. I currently watch the energy and utility sectors but I’m not terribly active due to conditions given inexperience. Might be more fun next year. As Elder pointed out, Freud’s quote about “benign skepticism” is a good mindset for a trader to have is where I’m at with all these tools and resources until I prove them to myself and make my trading methods own. Nobody seems to use Heikin Ashi candles I’ve found but the trends are so crisp with them.

Just thought I’d share this if it ends up being useful to someone else that’d be great.