I hope you are enjoying the mini heat wave.

I think many people underestimate that trading is an activity to be learned and that there is a big difference between theory and practice.

When learning how to begin trading, you can watch as many educational DVDs, read as many books as you want, but it ultimately comes down to having a go and learning from your mistakes.

Some business guru once said that to make it any business you need to fail first because you learn more from your mistakes. But the important thing is to fail quick and fail cheap.

A brief guide on how to begin trading

I never recommend a complete beginner launches straight into live trading but do so in stages.

Stage 1 – Trade with a demo account. Many spread betting firms and forex brokers have excellent demo accounts. Meta Trader is a great way to start in this regard.

Stage 2 – Trade with small amount. Many spread betting firms allow you to start with small amounts and build up. IG index are good for this. Slowly build up rather than jumping straight in.

Stage 3 – Trade with a medium sized pot that is separate from any other savings you might have. Keep your trading pot entirely separate.

Stage 4 – Full sized trading account. Only move to stage 4 once you are confident and have been through a few trading ‘face plants’.

System watch

I’m getting a number of enquiries about the advisory service Churchill Straus. When it first came out, it got my spidey senses tingling. I emailed them for review access but got no reply. Unfortunately therefore I’ve no direct experience to share, but there is a rather interesting thread on the forum Trade2Win.

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/general-trading-chat/54568-churchill-strauss.html. You have to take forums with a pinch of salt as you often get members making assertions about things they have never used and emotion usually trumps rational debate. However towards the end of the thread there are some worrying experiences being shared. Considering the high cost, it’s certainly enough to put me off for sure.

Other than that I’ve got a number of new systems that need looking at with a fresh round of testers required for some of them. If you want to help me out by testing something for me, then get in touch. I must stress that I’m only looking for people seriously prepared to try the systems out and provide detailed feedback on their experience. You don’t need to be an experienced trader, just be able to record results diligently and report back. I’m not looking for people who want to get a freebie.

If you think you fit the bill, here’s what I’ve got lined up on the testing pipeline.

An Expert Advisor (trading bot). The first one I’ve got testers to look at.

A forex system based on trading the 15 minute charts.

Two intraday forex systems.

My trades

Thankfully my no touch higher trades on the S&P 500 closed on Friday so I avoided Monday’s rally. Yesterday I put a small fixed odds trade on the S&P 500 to close Monday’s opening gap in the next 7 days and touch the Friday’s closing level, but must admit that all the ducks aren’t lining up on this one. As before, I can’t see an overwhelming case for a short trade here, but a quick snap back could be on the cards.

Enjoying using the black dog program in conjunction with other methods for my forex trades. It’s acting as a good filter so far. There have been some great trending days over the last week so its been happy sailing. It’s not always like this, but I’m happy to make hay while the sun shines.

This week’s hot trading buttons

Today brings more US housing data with the release of pending home sales. Wednesday brings ADP non farm employment changed and Fed chairman Bernanke testifying. Thursday is extremely busy with rate statements due from the ECB and MPC and Bank of Canada. Friday closes an already busy week with Non Farm payroll numbers.

Trading wisdom

“I will not allow yesterday’s success to lull me into today’s complacency, for this is the greatest foundation of failure” Og Mandino