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I am a beginner in learning to invest in futures. I was wondering if you could direct me toward a place where I could learn the basics? How do I go about purchasing futures? Do I have to go through a futures broker...is that something like velocity futures? How is the best way to track the daily activity your futures investment?
Any other relevant information...or if you want to direct me to a book that would be great as well ...thanks!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Yeah, I know I sound like broken record. I'm just doing my best to prevent another falling prey to the evil vendors. Most of the trading education industry is complete rubbish that beginning traders unfortunately gravitate towards.
The book gives a good overview. People spend so much time and money on pointless courses and indicators, but have no idea of how the futures market actually works. I am stunned that people would risk their money without even knowing the basics.
To the OP:
I've attached a pdf which is a good starting point.
1 - Spend at least 3 months staring at your charts from market open to market close. Stare at the same charts, same instrument, same indicators (if you use them) until at least 3 months have passed.
2 - Do not even attempt to place a trade until you have spent at least 3 months trading sim using the same charts, same instrument, same indicators, and maintained positive results. IF YOU CHEAT IN SIM YOU ONLY FOOL YOURSELF.
3 - Do not attempt to place a trade until you have a clearly defined strategy that includes entry conditions, continuation conditions, trade exit conditions for both profit and failure; a draw down recovery plan and a plan for each days approach to the market.
All past performance is no guarantee of future results. All future results are 90% under your control. The magic is in finding the what, how, when and why of your trading and turning that understanding into a consistent behavior pattern in the market. But be warned... that pattern can be a consistent positive pattern or a consistent negative pattern. Bad habits can be fixed. But you have to recognize them, accept them, understand them, and learn to let them go before they can be fixed.
There are no shortcuts in this business. There is the likelihood that 9 out of 10 traders will loose a great deal of money before their trading becomes consistently profitable.
If you want to cut down on the time it will take to get a handle on this, then spend some quality time with a seasoned trader on a 1:1 basis. You do not need to learn their strategies unless you have none of your own. You do not even need to trade like them.
You do need to watch them trade. You do need to see how they handle losses. You do need to see how they handle winning. You do need to follow their trading for at least 3 months to see what and how they do what they do. You do need to pick their brain. While you are observing sit on your hands so they do not get in the way of your listening, analyzing, concluding and understanding what you see.
Read some of the journals posted on BM. Find one that strikes a compatible cord and see if you can establish a relationship. It is a great way to find a buddy. Be prepared to spend considerable amounts of time researching and testing ideas you learn and your own. Keeping things simple is not as simple as you might think.
I read that intro on the CME web pages. Great intro stuff with nice photos. First time I learned from a reputable source that an individual retail trader provides liquidity to farmers wanting someone to buy the contracts they sell! Made me feel a little better about retail trading's usefulness to national agriculture, the markets and the economy
