Learning to Trade

The online trading industry is both hugely popular, and hugely competitive. 

It is popular because almost everyone has some interest in what is happening in the markets today – it affects us all in some way or other.  Think of the price of oil – any driver among us will know of the impact which that has upon our weekly spend on petrol or diesel.  There are also other commodity markets which we are all reliant upon – think of Wheat, or Corn, or Soybeans, or Orange Juice… all are dietary staples, and they are just a very small selection as to what is available to trade. 

The industry is competitive simply because it is highly lucrative.  The majority of brokers are “market-makers”… this simply means that they profit from their client’s losses.  This is not something which is new, but it somehow has become something which is acceptable.  Still, brokers work hard to attract traders.  Some offer educational services to “assist” the novice (or professional!) trader. 

So what are the best trading courses?  A complete education can only come from an entity who does not have an agenda – from someone who is only representing themselves, and is not representing a broker or someone who is advertising a particular broker’s services.  To do otherwise would be no different than going into a bookmaker and asking if they will assist in the placing of a bet on the Grand National.  

The Academy of Financial Trading prides itself on being a purely educational company.  We are not aligned with any specific broker and we are able to give clear, unambiguous, unbiased advice as to the steps any potential trader needs to make in order to help them become successful.  Our success comes from your success!   

Retail Traders – Common Mistakes

Who is a “Retail Trader”?  We at the Academy of Financial Trading classify a “Retail Trader” as someone who has opened a trading account with a broker and has started to trade without any real knowledge of the markets or indeed how they operate.

It is an unfortunate fact that trading is one of the very few professions in which people feel that they can become an expert in without participating in any formal education or training.  Therefore, most who enter the markets ultimately fail.  For those who have a desire to learn to trade correctly, we feel that it should be thought of as an occupation – after all, it is something which you hope to derive revenue from.

So what is the correct path?  How do you become a trader?  Just like any other profession, you should speak to an expert in the field and learn from them.  You should replicate the actions of those who are most successful, and avoid the actions of those who are the least successful. 

So the question needs to be asked – who do you wish to mirror?  We concentrate on providing our students with the same types of methods which are used by the best in the industry – by the institutional traders, the hedge funds and the market-makers.  These entities concentrate on the risk element more than the reward element. 

By combining this approach to our own proven trading strategy, it provides the novice trader with the strength of knowledge which will give them the confidence to succeed.