I have been lurking for awhile looking for as many answers and insight as much as I can. But I still have a question that seems to always fall in the back-burner.
As with forex or anything skill related, how do you know you are no longer a newbie? How can one justify that they are truly ready vs arrogance (where people think they are skilled in a short amount of time)
There is a newbie island, but what about intermediate island?
So how would I know that I am better, not yet a pro, but know enough to not consider myself a newbie?
Unless of course there are only 2 levels, Newbie and Pro.
Thatâs a good question. I believe when youâve started trading live for 6-12 months and are at least breakeven would you be able to call yourself an âintermediateâ trader. It shows that your trading system(s) and habits are at a level where you can survive. From that point, itâs more a matter of refining yourself as a trader, rather than learning new stuff (although that will always be happening even when youâre a pro). Deposit a small but decent amount and see how you go. If you survive long enough without significant drawdown, or preferably in profit, then perhaps youâve graduated to the next level. My 2c.
Nah, that sounds more like a serious retail trader⌠To me you are newbie off when you traded your first couple of trides live and still want to have more⌠And with that I don;t mean copying tradesâŚ
I made this one for fun a couple of weeks ago, when I was discussing the same with a friend of mine:
Trading himself (Manual) 50
Trading himself (Automated) 40 [making your own scripts]
Hired trader or copies trades 10 [Includes third party EAs (BOTs), Zulu, signal services, managed accounts, etc]
About a million years ago when I was 18, I was good friends with a fellow who was skilled at meeting girls. I think the word used today is player. I was a shy dude, so I asked my friend to teach me how to be a player as well. So a couple of months, a haircut and some new clothes later (things were going ok, definitely not great) I asked my friend (no names so letâs call him the Inner Circle Dater) how will I know when I had achieved the status of being a âplayerâ. I remember clearly he said âdude youâll know youâre a player when you donât have to ask that question⌠Other people will be telling you that you are one.â
This thread reminded me of that story, not sure how helpful it was. I think youâll know when youâre not a newbie. Iâm not trading professionally yet, but I am profitable overall. There are times when I have a pretty good feel as to how the market will move and I have the discipline to wait for those opportunities. Still things I have to improve upon. To finish the story, I never became a player. Hopefully Iâll do better with trading.
Thanks for the input everyone, I also had a similar question to when you can go live after practicing with a demo account. I was told either after minimum of 60 days or until you double your demo account balance.
bbpipsdn, Iâd stay well away from a recommendation to double your money on demo - this will lead to bad money management practices when you head to a live account.
I think the best way to get your head into the live trading mode is to do it as soon as possible. You can still have a demo account to play with new strategies, but having real money on the table (not just a $50 account - but it still shouldnât be anything you canât afford to loose) will make you aware of loosing real money.
There is no real answer to when will you will no longer consider yourself a newbie. For everyone it will be a unique experience which is how it should be.
Before becoming ill and not able to carry out my profession any longer I was a very highly qualified trained professional, considered by many to be a âMasterâ. When the doctor advised âYou will not be able to carry on as a (âŚ)â it felt like my heart had been ripped out and the world had come to and end because I loved what I did so much.
It was about 4 years into my apprenticeship, basically when there was only 1 year of training left that I no longer considered myself to be a newbie. That was only because others had reached a point of trusting me enough to start asking for and considering my opinions.
So why tell you about the above.
Basically it boils down to focus. After reading an article Your Brain, Trading and Finding âThe Zoneâ by a contributor to this site, I realised just how much effort goes into becoming a âMasterâ and âMasteringâ.
So really the answer lies with you and how much you, YOU want and what drives you.
To use a sports analogyâŚ
How long did it take Hamilton or Schumacher to reach their lofty status as top professional racing drivers?
At what point do you think they no longer considered themselves as newbies?
Agree with the above posters, become consistently profitable and get a feel for the market and making accurate predictions on price. It will just happen. Worst thing u can do is stop learning and start acting like u know what your talking about when youâre not profitable. Than u arenât so much a newbie as a noob.
âWhile the other guyâs sleeping, Iâam working. When heâs getting ready, Iâam ready.â
