How do I start with stock trading?

Thank you for the A2A. I’ve been a stock trader for about ten years and have watched the careers of hundreds of aspiring traders. Here are some reflections.

Invest in your future. Aiming to make profit quickly is counter-productive. It takes most successful traders five years to get really good — and most people who spend five years never become good. Build knowledge, relationships, and experience, in equal measure, as much as you can. $800 of profit today is irrelevant; focus on the massive earning potential later on.

Read lots of books. Start with Lefevre’s Reminiscences of a Stock Operator and Jack Schwager’s Market Wizards series. Each time I re-read these books I learn even more than I did the first time. For general industry knowledge, try Series 7/55 and CFA Level I books. Happy to recommend many more. I read a book every 7–10 days, most not even about trading or finance.

Trading is 20% strategy and 80% psychology. Successful trading isn’t about brute-force complex math; it’s about good execution, and distinguishing Signal from Noise. The book Trading in the Zone is good on this, but building personal discipline and mindset takes hands-on work. You might try your hand at poker, which demands good psychology.

Keep a trading journal. Write about every trade you execute, and for that matter every trade you consider. Write your general thoughts on the market. Write about the state of your career. Grade yourself, with brutal honesty. Go back and read it periodically. The accountability and self-reflection are crucial. Also, you’ll find it a gold mine for ideas.

Don’t trust anyone who’s selling anything. If they were actually good at trading, their income would come from trading, not selling “training” and “systems.” Mojo show Wall Street Warriors provides vivid examples.Alternatively, Van Tharp, featured in Market Wizards, is the classic exception: he is an academic psychologist, so his value-add is centered around trading psychology.

Ask yourself: What’s my edge? 99% of the time, the best move is to sit on your hands. Find the cases where you really have an edge, and press them as hard as possible. This is as true in actual trade executions as it is with your time management. Think about this while building knowledge, relationships, and experience.