How to become a Trader – Easy Steps

What would you do if you wanted to learn how to play the guitar?  Would you buy a guitar, walk out of the shop, phone a concert promoter immediately and tell them that you want them to book you a slot on the main stage in Glastonbury next summer?  How long would that call last?

What would you do if you wanted to become a brain surgeon?  Would you buy the finest white coat in the business, and couple it with the sharpest scalpel machined from the best Japanese steel?  Would you then place an advertisement in your local newspaper offering discount surgery specials?  You might get a few patients, but the results might not be very positive!

The Academy of Financial Trading believes that trading should be treated no differently from either someone hoping to learn how to play music, or someone hoping to gain employment within the health sector.  In any instance, you need to first get an education.  You need to learn to trade.  You need to speak to an expert and, if possible, ask them to teach you what to do.  You need to refine your skills.

This is the easiest step which anyone can take… but for some it is also the hardest.  It is hard because most people are unwilling to admit that they are not an expert in an area in which they have a deep desire to succeed in.  The novice retail trader must accept that if they start out without any formal training, then they are going up against the very best in the business, and hoping to beat them.  

It might be less stressful to buy the Gibson Les Paul!

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.