Let's talk spread - a crucial aspect of day trading that can be pretty hard to grasp and even harder to implement into your trading. Personally I'm just starting feel that I "get" its effects on my strategy but I'm still ways off in regards to the hard numbers. I actually went back to 100% paper trading after a short spell of live trades where I felt that my inferior grasp of spread effects had a negative effect on profits. I realized that I needed to wrap my head around this for real before comitting real money again. Currently experimenting with how limit orders and stop limits can be used to mitigate the effects of spread, and also with how to adjust my optimal entries/exits with spread as part of the equation. Of course, the general rule of thumb is that low spreads are the way to go, but things are not always that black and white. A given asset/market could have other parameters that make you want to trade it, but the spread is high enough to make things a lot harder than you wished. Or vice versa, of course - low spread but sub-optimal parameters in other regards. Would love to hear your opinions and experiences.

After paper trading for some time now, I can certainly see how easy it is to make some common mistakes, and these would be amplified with real money. There are many good strategies out there, and it seems that "sticking" to your strategy is probably the hardest thing to do, and what separates winners from losers. I can see this now after the drop in the market yesterday, and I've also recently came across this statement from the book The Best Loser Wins. Sticking to your strategy is the hardest part. I would imagine many other texts / guides agree with this. Here are the rules I've been working on following for the Market Symmetry Strategy I'm learning: - Stick to the strategy - Never chase price - Limit position size - Buy at support, sell at resistance - Stay uncomfortable (buying at support feels uncomfortable) Find more details about these here. These seem pretty easy to follow, but they're not. I've experienced FOMO, overtrading, and emotional reactions recently and can see how easy it is for people lose money trading. For example, I was buying COIN at support levels and on Thursday when the market had a down day. COIN dropped after earnings and kept falling through every support level. I ended up allocating more than 10% to this position, and overtraded instead of waiting and being patient. Based on various sources I feel COIN is going to do really well, and I veered off the trading rules and allocated too much in fear of not buying the bottom / reducing my average cost. These mistakes are very easy to do, and they would be amplified with real money. Now a large portion of my portfolio is stuck in a stock that is down, and I'll need to potentially wait many days or weeks for the position to turn green hopefully. Bottom line, you NEED to stick to your strategy and stay disciplined. Practice with your paper trading account because when you risk real money and run into a situation like this without practicing it or experiencing it, it very well might wipe you out.

How’s everyone feeling? Learning this stuff can be challenging and frustrating so I wanted to do a check in. I’ve had some “wtf am I doing here” moments when it seems straightforward but nothing is clicking, so if that’s what you’re feeling, you’re not alone!

Hi guys, I just wanted to highlight something that most new traders experience and that I think is very important to be aware of when starting out. There's just so much noise in the trading space and so many people trying to profit from the fact that beginners have few places to go for objective, neutral information on how to trade. Youtube and social media can be a great resource, but as with everything else it's crucial to be able to discern correct and relevant information as opposed to schemes, frauds and scams. Trading is actually pretty extreme in this regard as it a) attracts clueless people looking for easy money and fast solutions b) has a very high learning curve c) is not taught at any official schools or institutions d) involves a lot of money This means that the space is absolutely ripe with people trying to profit not so much from actual trading as from aspiring traders. Most, if not all, youtube gurus and "pros" get their primary income from ad revenue, courses, and pump and dump deals with various platforms. Many of them have been caught faking trades and livestreams, hiding their real data, and so on. And why wouldn't they? They are marketers, not traders. You as a beginner are their target for easy gains. They make trading look easy and repost the same technical analysis stuff over and over again, "teaching" you candlesticks and patterns and indicators that supposedly will make you a pro as well and make you $10k a day, overwhelming you with awesome "data" that is 99% clickbait. Most real pro traders don't have youtube accounts or sell courses. They make their living from trading and have no incentive to share their strategies and hacks with the general public. Do you really think they would spend their precious time making flashy videos all day long, exposing their edge and wasting time, when they could be trading? Now I'm not saying there aren't some legitimate information out there, but I'd be very careful with spending too much time, or any money at all, on "pros" or gurus. There are no easy ways to succeed in trading - if there were, everyone would be a billionaire.

Hi All my name is Pete and I am new to the group, Stumbled upon the podcast/wiki, thanks @Tyler Stokes for creating this space and taking part in community dedicated to helping traders in their beginning pursuits. I was drawn to trading after leaving my 9-5 to study it full time in an attempt to create a work from home lifestyle. While exploring career options stocks and trading kept popping up and decided to take a course, not really conscious of the fact it was mostly centered around a community doing crypto based trading. I am feeling uncomfortable with the VPN/Legal/sticky aspects of the crypto world, but have learned some amazing strategies over the course of the past few weeks. Do I stay the course in crypto or reevaluate another option?? Would love to know your thoughts and feedback.