I have never told this part of my story - I guess I was a little concerned that people would feel that this strategy was the "RIGHT" strategy - it isn't, but it can really be a good strategy if you have the right education.
When I started trading for a living in 1997 I borrowed money to invest in stocks. I started by getting margin loans. I had used my home equity to buy investments in the past so it wasn't totally new to me.
First I borrowed $50 000 and then I borrowed another $60 000.
Was this risky? YES - it was, because I was learning what to do as I went. What I did was I looked at stocks I liked and I went from trading the stocks to trading leveraged instruments like:
instalments, options and warrants.
At the top my portfolio was worth over $800 000 and a lot of that was due to the re-investment of profits. I always re-invested my profits into the next stock or play.
The other aspect which acted as a roller coaster was that I chose speculative situations. Within three years I had made $700 000 and started to lose money big time in 2000.
Now please don't use this recipe - it is very dangerous to do any of these things. What would make it less dangerous?
Good question - I'm glad you thought of it! Firstly, you need to have a system. Your system tells you when to buy and when to sell. I also suggest you get educated in the market you want to trade and technical analysis.
To make anything less risky you must be in control. Is it possible? Well you can try - but there are no guarantees!
1*Have a system Your system rules are so important because they help you keep what you make.
2*Next you need money management rules. One of the reasons I lost a lot of money was because I was putting too much money in the trade and not limiting my risk.
This is a brilliant resource to help you prevent bad practices - it's called Trading Secrets Revealed:
http://tinyurl.com/4xml6
You will get a free audio training course when you visit the site. I suggest you read this manual carefully and remember that David Jenyns has also lost money, which is a common lesson for anyone who decides to trade.
3*You can't run a trading business successfully or for very long without training. It's like, would you want to operate on people without the qualifications of a doctor?
There are professionals that produce trading methodology and you MUST have this knowledge and a "system" - I nearly got cleaned up because I didn't have it. The methodology also helps you learn to play the market UP, DOWN or SIDEWAYS. Playing the game only when the market is going "up" is too limiting on your
profits.
Get to know your market and use a charting program to study price movements. Metastock is a well-known charting package, but there are others.
4*Don't borrow unless you can cover the lost money.
Please don't be foolish. If you play with borrowed money you should have a similar amount in cash sitting in your bank account. Playing with profits is good and easy, but when it's not your money you become an emotional player and you will LOSE BIG TIME!
5*Following on from that point - get a grip on yourself. You must act mechanically - not emotionally. You make decisions because your system tells you to BUY or SELL, not because the rent is due.
Trading for a living is possible when you have no problems paying your living expenses. I'm talking from experience. I've had to take on a job just to help me get through my losses. It wasn't an easy time for me, but I did learn a lot from my experience and I make that available to anyone who is interested - check the link below in the author's bio.
If you choose to live by trading week to week you may find trading won't work for you. There are a few things to sort out first and one of them is peace of mind - then you can make good decisions.
6*Know when to quit a trade - before you enter and apply "stop loss" during the trade. Quit the losing trade. Protect your profit by getting out while in profit.
7*Decide the type of trader you wish to be, but don't try daytrading till you are successful with your method. You can trade different time intervals:
minutes, days, weeks, months or years.
The shorter the time interval the more you have to be on the ball. You need to get to know your market very well. Your market could be: stocks, options or futures. If you choose a currency to trade then gewt to know the chart of that currency very well.
Well now you know how I made money very quickly by compounding my profits. Of course the same works in reverse - you can also lose your money very fast!
I want to thank you for reading this article and would like to give you a gift. It's a fascinating report called, "How to Double Your Way to a Million", written by the legendary multi-millionaire success guru Stuart Goldsmith.
To obtain your copy, simply go to: http://www.tutorhelp.com.au/millionaire.html
Regards, Joseph Sgro
About the Author
Joseph Sgro writes the "THE 10 Simple Rules Ezine" which aims to present the best trading resources.
Read his trading experiences: http://www.tutorhelp.com.au/sharemarket.html
Subscribe to past ezine editons: http://www.tutorhelp.com.au/ezine.html
(C) Copyright 2005 Joseph Sgro
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