 EDUCATION

o








o






 MARKETS
o





o






 SIMULATOR
 YOUR MONEY
o








o


 





 ADVISORS
o




o


 ACADEMY 
o




o





Trading Strategies

 BEGINNER TRADING STRATEGIES

 DAY TRADING
 SWING TRADING
 ADVANCED TRADING STRATEGIES & INSTRUMENTS

TRADING STRATEGIES    BEGINNER TRADING STRATEGIES

Learn How to Trade the Market in 5 Steps

Want to Trade But Don't Know Where to Start?
 FACEBOOK

 TWITTER

 LINKEDIN

By 
ALAN FARLEY
 Reviewed by 
SAMANTHA SILBERSTEIN
 

on April 19, 2021

Millions of neophytes try their hand at the market casino each year, but most walk away a
little poorer and a lot wiser, having never reached their full potential. The majority of those
who fail have one thing in common: They haven't mastered the basic skills needed to tilt the
odds in their favor. However, if one takes adequate time to learn them, it's possible to be on
the way to increasing one's odds of success.

World markets attract speculative capital like moths to a flame; most people throw money at
securities without understanding why prices move higher or lower. Instead, they chase hot
tips, make binary bets, and sit at the feet of gurus, letting them make buy-and-sell decisions
that make no sense. A better path is to learn how to trade the markets with skill and authority.

Start with a self-examination that takes a close look at your relationship with money. Do you
view life as a struggle, with a hard effort required to earn each dollar? Do you believe
personal magnetism will attract market wealth to you in the same way it does in other life
pursuits? More ominously, have you lost money on a regular basis through other activities
and hope the financial markets will treat you more kindly? 

Whatever your belief system, the market is likely to reinforce that internal view again
through profits and losses. Hard work and charisma both support financial success, but losers
in other walks of life are likely to turn into losers in the trading game. Don't panic if this
sounds like you. Instead, take the self-help route and learn about the relationship between
money and self-worth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

 Learning how to trade the financial markets begins with educating oneself on reading
the financial markets via charts and price action.
 Use technical analysis, in conjunction with fundamental analysis, to decipher price
action.
 Practice makes perfect or, at the very least, it allows the neophyte to test out theories
before committing real funds.
Once you get your head on straight, you can embark on learning trading and start with these
five basic steps.

1. Open a Trading Account

Sorry if it seems we're stating the obvious, but you never know! (Remember the person who
did everything to set up his new computer—except to plug it in?) Find a good online stock
broker and open a stock brokerage account. Even if you already have a personal account, it's
not a bad idea to keep a professional trading account separate. Become familiar with the
account interface and take advantage of the free trading tools and research offered
exclusively to clients. A number of brokers offer virtual trading. Some sites,
including Investopedia, also offer online broker reviews to help you find the right broker.
2. Learn to Read: A Market Crash Course
Financial articles, stock market books, website tutorials, etc. There's a wealth of information
out there and much of it inexpensive to tap. It's important not to focus too narrowly on one
single aspect of the trading game. Instead, study everything market-wise, including ideas and
concepts you don't feel are particularly relevant at this time. Trading launches a journey that
often winds up at a destination not anticipated at the starting line. Your broad and detailed
market background will come in handy over and over again, even if you think you know
exactly where you’re going right now.

Here are five must-read books for every new trader:

1. Stock Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager1

2. Trading for a Living by Dr. Alexander Elder2
3. Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets by John Murphy3
4. Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig4
5. The Nature of Risk by Justin Mamus5

Start to follow the market every day in your spare time. Get up early and read about
overnight price action on foreign markets. (U.S. traders didn't have to monitor global markets
a couple of decades ago, but that’s all changed due to the rapid growth of electronic trading
and derivative instruments that link equity, forex and bond markets around the world.)

News sites such as Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, and CBS MoneyWatch serve as a great
resource for new investors. For more sophisticated coverage, you need to look no further than
The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.

3. Learn to Analyze
Study the basics of technical analysis and look at price charts—thousands of them—in all
time frames. You may think fundamental analysis offers a better path to profits because it
tracks growth curves and revenue streams, but traders live and die by price action that
diverges sharply from underlying fundamentals. Do not stop reading company spreadsheets
because they offer a trading edge over those who ignore them. However, they won’t help you
survive your first year as a trader.

Your experience with charts and technical analysis now brings you into the magical realm of
price prediction. Theoretically, securities can only go higher or lower, encouraging a long-
side trade or a short sale. In reality, prices can do many other things, including chopping
sideways for weeks at a time or whipsawing violently in both directions, shaking out buyers
and sellers.

The time horizon becomes extremely important at this juncture. Financial markets grind out
trends and trading ranges with fractal properties that generate independent price
movements at short-term, intermediate-term, and long-term intervals. This means a security
or index can carve out a long-term uptrend, intermediate downtrend, and a short-term trading
range, all at the same time. Rather than complicate prediction, most trading opportunities will
unfold through interactions between these time intervals. 
Buying the dip offers a classic example, with traders jumping into a strong uptrend when it
sells off in a lower period. The best way to examine this three-dimensional playing field is to
look at each security in three time frames, starting with 60-minute, daily and weekly charts.

4. Practice Trading
It’s now time to get your feet wet without giving up your trading stake. Paper trading, or
virtual trading, offers a perfect solution, allowing the neophyte to follow real-time market
actions, making buying and selling decisions that form the outline of a theoretical
performance record. It usually involves the use of a stock market simulator that has the look
and feel of an actual stock exchange's performance. Make lots of trades, using different
holding periods and strategies, and then analyze the results for obvious flaws. 

Investopedia has a free stock market game, and many brokers let clients engage in paper
trading with their real money entry systems, too. This has the added benefit of teaching the
software so you don’t hit the wrong buttons when you are playing with family funds. 

So, when do you make the switch and start trading with real money? There’s no perfect
answer because simulated trading carries a flaw that’s likely to show up whenever you start
to trade for real, even if your paper results look perfect.

Traders need to co-exist peacefully with the twin emotions of greed and fear. Paper trading
doesn’t engage these emotions, which can only be experienced by actual profit and loss. In
fact, this psychological aspect forces more first-year players out of the game than bad
decision-making. Your baby steps forward as a new trader needs to recognize this challenge
and address remaining issues with money and self-worth.

5. Other Ways to Learn and Practice Trading

While experience is a fine teacher, don't forget about additional education as you proceed on
your trading career. Whether online or in-person, classes can be beneficial, and you can find
them at levels ranging from novice (with advice on how to analyze the aforementioned
analytic charts, for example) to pro. More specialized seminars—often conducted by a
professional trader—can provide valuable insight into the overall market and specific
investment strategies. Most focus on a specific type of asset, a particular aspect of the market,
or a trading technique. Some may be academic, and others more like workshops in which you
actively take positions, test out entry and exit strategies, and other exercises (often with a
simulator).

Paying for research and analysis can be both educational and useful. Some investors may find
watching or observing market professionals to be more beneficial than trying to apply newly
learned lessons themselves. There are a slew of paid subscription sites available across the
web: Two well-respected services include Investors.com and Morningstar.

It's also useful to get yourself a mentor—a hands-on coach to guide you, critique your
technique, and offer advice. If you don't know one, you can buy one. Many online trading
schools offer mentoring as part of their continuing ed programs.

Manage and Prosper

Once up and running with real money, you need to address position and risk management.
Each position carries a holding period and technical parameters that favor profit and loss
targets, requiring your timely exit when reached. Now consider the mental and logistical
demands when you're holding three to five positions at a time, with some moving in your
favor while others charge in the opposite direction. Fortunately, there’s plenty of time to learn
all aspects of trade management, as long as you don’t overwhelm yourself with too much
information.

If you haven't done so already, now is the time to start a daily journal that documents all of
your trades, including the reasons for taking risk, as well as the holding periods and final
profit or loss numbers. This diary of events and observations sets the foundation for a trading
edge that will end your novice status and let you take money out of the market on a consistent
basis.

The Bottom Line

Start your trading journey with a deep education on the financial markets, and then read
charts and watch price actions, building strategies based on your observations. Test these
strategies with paper trading, while analyzing results and making continuous adjustments.
Then complete the first leg of your journey with monetary risk that forces you to address
trade management and market psychology issues.

Compete Risk Free with $100,000 in Virtual Cash

Put your trading skills to the test with our FREE Stock Simulator. Compete with thousands of
Investopedia traders and trade your way to the top! Submit trades in a virtual environment
before you start risking your own money. Practice trading strategies so that when you're
ready to enter the real market, you've had the practice you need. Try our Stock Simulator
today >>
ARTICLE SOURCES

Related Articles

TRADING BASIC EDUCATION

10 Steps to Building a Winning Trading Plan

TRADING SKILLS & ESSENTIALS

How to Choose an Online Stock Broker

FOREX TRADING STRATEGY & EDUCATION

Forex: Wading Into the Currency Market

TRADING PLATFORMS & TOOLS

Pros and Cons of Paper Trading

TRADING SKILLS & ESSENTIALS

10 Day Trading Strategies for Beginners

BROKERS
Best Online Stock Brokers for Beginners

Partner Links

Related Terms

Trading Software Definition

Trading software facilitates the trading and analysis of financial products, such as stocks or
currencies.
 more
Forex Trading Strategy Definition
A forex trading strategy is a set of analyses that a forex day trader uses to determine whether
to buy or sell a currency pair.
 more
Paper Trade: Practice Trading Without the Risk of Losing Your Money
A paper trade is the practice of simulated trading so that investors can practice buying and
selling securities without the involvement of real money.
 more
What Is Fundamental Analysis?
Fundamental analysis is a method of measuring a stock's intrinsic value. Analysts who follow
this method seek out companies priced below their real worth.
 more
Value Investing: How to Invest Like Warren Buffett
Value investors like Warren Buffett select undervalued stocks trading at less than their
intrinsic book value that have long-term potential.
 more

 About Us
 Terms of Use
 Dictionary
 Editorial Policy
 Advertise
 News
 Privacy Policy
 Contact Us
 Careers
  California Privacy Notice

 #
 A
 B
 C
 D
 E
 F
 G
 H
 I
 J
 K
 L
 M
 N
 O
 P
 Q
 R
 S
 T
 U
 V
 W
 X
 Y
 Z

Investopedia is part of the Dotdash publishing family.