Full time traders

[Aaron]

Are there many people on ST who trade either shares, foreign exchange or commodities as a full time occupation.
What is required to trade fulltime. Is anyone capable of doing it.
Do you have any advice for someone wanting to dip their toes in and try it on a part time basis.
Are there any simple systems. What are the costs and time involved in trading. What programs/tools are required. What training,books,courses would you advise for a newbie.
I haven't really considered TA as a lot of people in books write it off but I was impressed by how Phadreaus's charts provide signals for buying and selling and wondered if it would be possible to generate some extra income part time.
Also my take the advice of stockbrokers and hold long term has been a drain on capital over the last few years.

[peat]

you have to be a really good trader to be able to reliably generate positive returns so as to be able to live of that and that alone. The accepted figure is that 95% of traders lose money
So you have to prove your mettle before you commit to it, and how you want to stick your toe in the water is up to you. But the general advice is dont give up your day job till you've been reliably profitable for at least six months and probably more.
Re the systems thing, plenty of people will try and sell you one but imo its unlikely they're as good as they make out - if someoone had a great system why would they try and sell it off and not just use it and get rich. Often they will say they want to help others well you can believe that if you want but if that was true they seem to go to a lot of trouble with hard sell marketing and charging high prices etc.
In contradiction of what I just said though there is one person I know personally who trades full time and has made a good living for a long time from it. He used to post on this site but doesnt anymore as he too is now selling forex tips. I dont subscribe but if I wanted to trade full time I probably would.
I suspect you probably need to be TA centric to make enough to live off though Warren Buffet may disagree with me heheh
Dont think it will be easy money.

[Aaron]

I appreciate the advice.
Also I wonder who uses MetaStocks software.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to software to use for charting as this seems to be at the heart of TA analysis. Using charts to gauge where the market might be headed.

[wbosher]

I appreciate the advice.
Also I wonder who uses MetaStocks software.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to software to use for charting as this seems to be at the heart of TA analysis. Using charts to gauge where the market might be headed.

Check these out:

http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthr...ftware-for-nzx
http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthr...ting-softwares
http://www.sharetrader.co.nz/showthr...redible-Charts

There will be plenty of other post about this, but these are a start.

[Phaedrus]

I use MetaStock as well as other charting software. Don't focus overly on which software you use - they all do essentially the same thing. To start with, I would strongly advise you to buy nothing at all. A subscription to IncredibleCharts will only cost you about $17/month and for the majority of people, this is all they would ever need.

[Phaedrus]

The following is a possible agenda for anyone wanting to learn about Technical Analysis. It is not suggested that you need to do everything here in order to use TA effectively. Take it as far as you wish.

What is Technical Analysis, and why use it? http://www.ataa.com.au/what-is-techn...hy-use-it.html

An Introduction to basic Technical Analysis :- http://wol.sharenet.co.za/free/libra...htm?scheme=wol

The book "Technical Analysis from A to Z" by Steven Achelis has a good introductory overview, followed by information on most of the commonly used indicators. It can be accessed at :- http://www.equis.com

Examine some charts on-line, practice drawing trendlines, see if you can recognise support and resistance levels. Try some of the technical indicators available. Look at Bar charts, Line charts and Japanese Candlesticks. There are many charting sites available, such as Yahoo Finance, Big Charts, FT Charts, Paritech and many others. For many people, such free charting facilities are all they will ever require.

Incrediblecharts is free, though you have to register to use it. It has good charts, but the best feature is the large educational section. This is one of the best online tutorials I have seen. It covers all the basics - stops, patterns, psychology, indicators, candlesticks, buy signals, sell signals, trends, trailingstops, P&F charts, systems, strategies etc etc. The charts are quite good and there are over 50 indicators available. You can draw trendlines and annotate charts.

Buy "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets" by John Murphy. ISBN 0-7352-0066-1 $140. This 540 page book covers most of the major facets of technical analysis, making it a good introductory text. This is one of the three books required for the American Chartered Market Technician Program.(The other two are "Technical Analysis of Stock Trends" by Edwards and Magee, and
"Technical Analysis Explained" by Martin Pring.)

There are now such good charting facilities available free on the net, that it is no longer necessary to buy your own software in order to use TA effectively. If you do want your own software, there are hundreds of programs available, ranging in price from free to well over $10,000. It is possible to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find something reasonably acceptable for little or no outlay. If you can afford it, go straight to buying a well-known program of good quality such as :-

MetaStock http://www.infoscan.co.nz
Supercharts http://www.infoscan.co.nz/
Ezy Chart Pro http://www.paritech.com.au/
Insight Trader http://www.insighttrading.com.au/

This is not a comprehensive list. My personal preference is for MetaStock, but there are other good programs available. In New Zealand, more people use MetaStock than all the others put together.

For a listing of well over 400 Technical Analysis software programs, with details of each, go to :-
http://technical.traders.com/Product...ch.asp?cat=120 This site includes a search engine, which enables you to enter the features you require, then gives a listing of software programs meeting those criteria.

You will need a supply of compatible data, and some price history. (2 years minimum. 5-10 years would be better) Package deals are available. Shop around though - prices can vary considerably.

Join STANZ (Society of Technical Analysts of NZ) http://www.stanz.co.nz They hold monthly meetings, see their website for details. You do not have to be a member to attend.

Join ATAA (Australian Technical Analysts Association) They have monthly meetings (in Australia) and publish a very good bi-monthly journal containing articles on technical analysis and trading. http://www.ataa.com.au/

Information on further study at http://www.ataa.com.au/formal-educat...-analysis.html

The Chartered Market Technician (CMT) Program is an educational process in which candidates study a broad range of technical analysis subjects. Administered by the Accreditation Committee of the American Market Technicians Association (MTA), the Program consists of three levels which must be completed within 5 years. Further information :- http://www.mta.org Britain has some more complex courses with degree examinations and Universities in USA, Europe and Sweden also provide for a degree in Technical Analysis.

[Aaron]

Thanks Phaedrus
If I can't get some grasp of TA and come up with some sort of plan to try and make money from it from here it may never happen. I imagine that I will try and combine this with an understanding of FA and come up with some ideas.
Will do some study and hope to post ideas for critical assessment or ridicule in the future.

[Aaron]

Thanks Phaedrus
If I can't get some grasp of TA and come up with some sort of plan to try and make money from it from here it may never happen. I imagine that I will try and combine this with an understanding of FA and come up with some ideas.
Will do some study and hope to post ideas for critical assessment or ridicule in the future.

Also I meant to say thanks to everyone else for their advice. Have looked at the threads you recommended wbosher

[Aaron]

One further question regarding charting. I use ASB Securities online trading. The charts they provide include moving averages, candlesticks, Relative Strength Indicators, Stochastic Oscillators and a few other things. I am waiting on the delivery of the John Murphy book Phaedrus recommended to better understand how these are calculated and what they mean.
Due to commissions sizes I would initially only be looking at the NZX and ASX anyway.
Would incredible charts add much to what I can already access with ASB Securities as most of the indicators are there.

[Phaedrus]

Sign up for free IncredibleCharts and see for yourself. I think you will find them well worth the expense!