Books on Trading/Investing

[dasleben]

ToS is great for options, and decent for futures (I think there are better datafeeds, though). Downright bad for FX. Fine for equities.

What made me swap away from ToS though are the unnecessarily high commissions. You pay for the software, just not up front like Ninja (still a better deal IMO with the commission you're saving).

 

[ryan1234]

Call me vanilla, but I've been all about index / ETFs lately.

 

[fly22]

Paging @fly22.

I have been successfully trading the fx market for a decade.

FX has been very good to me but I have also put in enough time that I could have mastered or done a second degree.

@RockyM I think we started talking about it a while ago via pm?

I'm happy to help where I can. Disclaimer, you really have to keep it in front of me or I won't prioritize it and won't respond Etc.

There are guys out there that do well with it but you won't know it because they don't talk about it. I hosted a little conference and had a few guys from England, chech republic, and Singapore come to Perth. Trust me there are guys out there that kill it.

My advise would be this.
1- have realistic goals based on % returns not dollar return.
2- patience
3- find a practice that suits you ie day trading vs swing trading.
4- stick with a plan long enough to see how well it works. Most people will give up ii thin the first year. One year is not long enough to know what you are doing. It took me 4 years of working on it every single day before I consistently made money and felt like I was controlling the market and not the other way around.


It's as much a mind game as it is anything.

If you ever get to the stage of trading decent volume, come talk to me and I'll give you a real education on how broker houses really work. The kind of stuff you don't find in books. They are dodgy!

 

[RockyM]

@RockyM I think we started talking about it a while ago via pm?

PM Sent

 

[NewYorkophile]

What made me swap away from ToS though are the unnecessarily high commissions.

I don't use ToS for my trading- just charts. I get $8.95/trade at USAA, and my options through Optionsxpress.com

My advise would be this.
1- have realistic goals based on % returns not dollar return.
2- patience
3- find a practice that suits you ie day trading vs swing trading.
4- stick with a plan long enough to see how well it works. Most people will give up ii thin the first year. One year is not long enough to know what you are doing. It took me 4 years of working on it every single day before I consistently made money and felt like I was controlling the market and not the other way around.

Great, great advice.

 

[mikecweb]

Just food for thought on those that chart with ToS but trade elsewhere because of commissions, ToS will (or as of a few months ago) match commissions of their competitors. That being said as @dasleben stated they are pretty much horrible for FX.

 

[dasleben]

Just food for thought on those that chart with ToS but trade elsewhere because of commissions, ToS will (or as of a few months ago) match commissions of their competitors. That being said as @dasleben stated they are pretty much horrible for FX.

Good deal...I've swapped to another broker anyway, but I'll keep that in mind. If they could match TradeStation's $1/contract options commission, ToS would corner the market.

 

[NewYorkophile]

Good deal...I've swapped to another broker anyway, but I'll keep that in mind. If they could match TradeStation's $1/contract options commission, ToS would corner the market.

You've got my attention. Any catches to that?

 

[dasleben]

You've got my attention. Any catches to that?

For TradeStation? Nope, though I don't think the options interface is quite as good as ToS. It's actually a solid platform, though. Very powerful scripting language.

 

[dasleben]

4- stick with a plan long enough to see how well it works. Most people will give up ii thin the first year. One year is not long enough to know what you are doing. It took me 4 years of working on it every single day before I consistently made money and felt like I was controlling the market and not the other way around.

Great advice, and something I've been guilty of. While I've never quit outright, I've bounced around between a lot of different methods. However, I feel it's been a great education so far of what not to do. I went back and looked at some screenshots of my trades from about a year and a half ago (when I started trading ES), and I can't believe some of the stuff I put on. Blindly following indicators and trading long when market structure was making lower lows, etc. And why was I trading ES again? ES sucks.

 

[fly22]

Here is one for you to wrap your head around.

I don't use any indicators and I make money both directions all the time.

Moving back to the us of a might hurt me a little due to frank Todd and no heading rules.

 

[dasleben]

Here is one for you to wrap your head around.

I don't use any indicators and I make money both directions all the time.

I completely believe that, and that's a level of proficiency I'm working hard to reach. What I really learned from all this mucking about with various systems was that S/R, trendlines, and basic chart patterns is all you really need. Any indicators simply confirm, and I've taken the outlook that market structure is like flying straight and level by looking out at the horizon; if your attitude indicator says you're in a bank, which are you going to believe?

I think the best advice I ever received was that unless there's a clear and obvious trend (2 HHs, 2 HLs for longs, 2 LLs, 2 LHs for shorts), or a clear major top/bottom pattern, I need to sit on my hands. Not sure how that's taken me 3 years to make sink into my brain, but it's getting there...

Let me ask: Do you put much credence into fib levels? Seems like lots of FX traders use them, particularly 50-61.8.

 

[fly22]

Took me four years to learn to sit on hands.

Rule number 1- don't lose money.

I use to look at fibs like they were gospel.
Now I look at them periodically as a form of confirmation however I never use fibs to determine an entrance or exit.
They make up a small portion of my tool belt to know the big picture.

I personally think most fibs, while they have mathematical credibility, are more a factor created by traders now days. Which is still part of the environment so you have to look at it and take it seriously.

 

[tonyw]

I can't believe we're talking about books on investing and nobody's mentioned the Bible of investing. Graham and Dodd, anyone?

 

[fly22]

Yep good one.

I haven't mentioned any books of a thread about books so take that.

 

[Garno43]

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