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Technology Stocks : Ariba Technologies (Nasdaq-ARBA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bruce Brown who wrote (1475)	11/29/2000 11:10:40 PM
From: Spytrdr	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2110

it depends on the aspiring trader's background, one can't just generalize like that and say the learning curve takes 3 years. with a good mentor, it takes much less than that. "paper trading" is an extremely useful exercise for beginners, though. i've been investing since 1992, and the gradual conversion into just trading came naturally, just as the tools of the trade became better and better (Cybertrader, RealTick, etc), the connection to the internet faster and permanent (through cable), and commissions lower. even if you wanted to, you couldn't just do this a few years ago. in the current state of the market, i think a 15-year old kid with fast reflexes, a lot of expertise in computer games, staring all day at dynamically updating 5-minute interval charts, and always using tight stops, has more chances to succeed trading than a phd in economics. i'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing, just telling it the way it is. the barebones essential rules to succeed in this profession are: 1) always always always (ALWAYS!!!!!) use STOPS, very very tight stops, you put a trailing protective stop as soon as your trade is confirmed and you leave it there hell or high heaven; 2) study technical analysis like the Holy Scriptures, so you enter your trades correctly; 3) keep your trades small relative to the overall size of your portfolio; 4) forget news, upgrades, commentaries, everything, and concentrate on perception and price action, since price action usually foretells upcoming but still widely unknown events. ___ <<I would assume about three years of education and practice trades with 'fake money' would be the minimum learning curve before one should think about actually trading with some real money. And that's providing the 'student' is a capable learner and learning things like CANSLIM, charting, supply/demand, sentiment, etc... and had all of the proper tools at their disposal.>>