<p>I know that people say the best thing to do is just to start trading, but I think that can only teach you so much. So, what are some good ways to learn how to trade (i.e. what are some books to read, website articles to read, etc.)?</p>
<p>I just talked to some upperclassmen who interned at a day trading company, and they were pretty helpful. In reality though, you just have to figure out what works for you.</p>
<p>A good way to practice (and make some money) is to start playing some poker. It will teach you to control your emotions, wait for the right spots, be patient,....etc. A lot of the traders that I've talked to said that they had started out playing poker professionally. Of course, I'm in Texas, and not NYC.</p>
<p>I play poker semi-professionally and I don't recommend you spend all that time and energy trying to get good at poker in order to get good at trading. While I think some of the skills would help with trading, it's more effective to just focus on learning how to trade -- maybe starting with a fake-money portfolio and once you feel confident, a real money one. </p>
<p>A great website to start out with is investopedia.com</p>
<p>I would recommend reading Market Wizards by Jack Schwager. It has interviews with a bunch of successful traders, all who have their own strategies, strengths and weaknesses. I'm halfway through and its very interesting. Also I don't know what kind of trading you are interested in, but start out with some strategies, based on maybe supply and demand or the direction you think the market is going, and do some paper trading, but try as much as possible to treat it as if it were your money at stake. Of course you can't replicate that, but at least you can practice entry and exit strategies. If you are interested in trying out some FOREX strategies, try OANDA's FX Game. Its free and relatively simple to use, and you can also trade gold. Its all real time prices too, so it can be very helpful for testing strategies. Reply or PM if you want any other help.</p>
<p>"I know that people say the best thing to do is just to start trading"</p>
<p>Who would ever say that? That's the best thing to do if you don't want to learn anything and you're excited at the prospects of losing all your money. Poker is also totally irrelevant to trading, and anyone who says otherwise is full of it. Playing small stakes hold'em is probably the way I'll end up paying for college, but almost nothing I have learned has ever been applicable to any trading I've ever done.</p>
<p>The Four Pillars of Investing is probably the best (in that it is robust) introductory text on the subject, with a fair amount of history and market theory thrown in. From there it really depends on your interests and what specifically you want to do. Investopedia.com and Marketocracy.com have solid market simulators, and Investopedia should be able to greatly enhance your level of knowledge on the subject. David Scott books on individual topics are generally good, short references or introductions.</p>
<p>Technical Analysis by Murphy and Security Analysis by Graham are books you have to read to consider yourself educated, even if you don't agree with either. The Intelligent Asset Allocator and Financial Shenanigans are probably books you should try to get into at one point or another, but the Four Pillars and (quality) online resources should be enough to satiate you for quite some time. I'd be careful of Market Wizards until you're confident enough in your level of knowledge to not be overly swayed by any books you read. Once you reach that point, where you're confident enough in your own experience to spot bs, you might want to try and get through Fisher's The Only Three Questions That Count and Greenblatt's You Can Be a Stock Market Genius.</p>
<p>why not take a financial markets course in college. Solid advice from the others btw, I'll have to try this.</p>
<p>I have only previewed the books by Ben Graham (security analysis, intelligent investor, etc.) and have realized, you need to have a base to read those books. Which of the books mentioned above introduce you to financial markets, teach you all of the terms, and get you on your feet? I need to built a base first, I think. That way, I will get more out of the more advanced books.</p>
<p>The Intelligent Asset Allocator is a Bernstein book. Go read A Random Walk or The Four Pillars, then go through a website like Investopedia and read all their beginner/intermediate articles, then you can probably start moving into Security Analysis and Technical Analysis, as well as other books.</p>
<p>Definitely look at investopedia some. A met a tuck professor and he advised me to use it to look up terms I don't understand. it has lots of solid info.</p>
<p>My actuarial exams test rigorously on trading criteria. Call options , put options, futures, swaps, put call parities, bonds and other financial markets jargon - we're essentially trained to think like options traders because it helps evaluate risk whether in insurance or in banking or consulting.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks guys. One more thing- is Security Analysis the same thing as The Intelligent Investor, just a bigger/ goes into more detail? I am wondering because I am debating if there is a point to buy both.</p>
<p>I feel like the Security Analysis in the Intelligent Investor is not really considered Trading in my opinion.</p>
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[quote]
Ok, thanks guys. One more thing- is Security Analysis the same thing as The Intelligent Investor, just a bigger/ goes into more detail? I am wondering because I am debating if there is a point to buy both.
[/quote]
The Intelligent Investor is outdated, and A Random Walk/The Four Pillars are considered better introductory texts. I wouldn't recommend you lean on a half a century old text to introduce you to the principles of investing.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks again. If it makes a difference, I am more interested in the long term investing than the traditional "trading." But I guess at the intro level, it doesn't make a difference.</p>
<p>The Four Pillars and a Random Walk both center around the atypical long-term portfolio management theory of index/etf and hold. You can read Bogle books for more on that, I guess, but once you fully understand it you realize that it's not something that requires a ton of study. The Intelligent Investor is something you should read early on, but because of some outdated language I wouldn't read it first.</p>
<p>Thanks tetrishead. One more thing though that didn't really get answered. Are the Intelligent Investor and Interpretation of Financial Statements just simplified versions to Security Analysis, or are they separate topics, and so I should read all of them?</p>
<p>One thing to remember is that what you learn in school, ie - investing/markets/finance is a different ball game then actual trading, especially daytrading. Trading is in a way looked down upon, concerning the investing community. I'm not that far into my finance courses, but from what I can see, they certainly are not encouraging students to learn how to TRADE. It's something that is learned on your own IMO. I'm doing it, and it certainly wasn't easy. I may end up never even needing my degree, if I can pull in some consitent good numbers over the long term.</p>
<p>As far as trading goes, money management is paramount. That's all it really is, knowing how to manage your money smartly.</p>
<p>Trading is absolutely not looked down on in the Finance community. Maybe individuals day trading, yeah, but trading that is done by I-Banks, HFs and Prop Shops is generally very prestigious. </p>
<p>There are many different kinds of trading, but sure it has some extensions in your finance courses. A simple example, bond valuations, if you see a discrepancy that you don't feel is warranted.</p>