Learning Trading: Practical Challenges and Solutions

How to Learn Trading Effectively? There is no one-size-fits-all approach. After all, trading education is not an institutionalized concept. There are no "official" trading universities. However, it is possible to identify a general path, general principles, and precautions to take if you intend to arrive prepared for your appointment with the market. It is also possible to isolate some of the typical difficulties that aspiring traders encounter during their training journey. Difficulties that we will describe in the following article, also trying to propose some practical solutions.

The Time Factor

Let's be clear, there is nothing or no one "chasing" the aspiring trader. Theoretically, you can take all the time you want before arriving at your appointment with the market and starting to trade. Of course, even when it comes to "time," there are limitations, but these concern each individual's conditions, commitments, etc. The fact is that no aspiring trader has all the time they would like. The vast majority of them, for example, work. Hence the need, even before the educational material, the learning method, etc., to organize time. It is definitely not a good idea to "study when it happens." First of all, if you study sporadically or have big study binges and then suspend it for days, weeks, or months, the risk is that very little remains. Secondly, in this way, you do not enter the right mindset, that is, a mood capable of optimizing the learning path. So, what to do? The answer is both simple and quite complicated to put into practice: create a routine. The important thing is to dedicate constant time to study, possibly daily. So carve out a part of the day for study, make a good study plan, and stick to it.

The Choice of Educational Material

This is a crucial step. A difficulty experienced by everyone. What to study? Where to study? These are questions that a beginner or aspiring trader necessarily asks themselves. Questions that generate a certain anxiety, as a result of disorientation. We have already said it: there are no trading universities, there are no institutionalized paths. To complicate things, there is an enormous abundance of material, both paid and free (especially paid, though). Obviously, it is right to make a selection in terms of content. However, it is unwise if you consider elements such as the medium and the channel. It's true: there are manuals, essays, online videos, seminars, and ebooks that allow you to learn trading. Well, they should all be taken into consideration. Each type of content can offer something. This applies to the great classic manuals (which can also be found on the internet at affordable prices) to PDFs written by professionals and experts. By the way, find an interesting PDF tutorial here. Don't worry: it's completely free. So, use all the types of material available. As for the actual content, get help from a trader with some experience, or rely on the advice of a broker. Often, in fact, they also offer an "educational" assistance service.

The Study Method

This is also an important aspect and very neglected. Often, at one's own expense. Also because the first moment in which a lack in this regard is felt, and therefore the absence of a study method, is precisely when you put your nose in the books. A lack that can be fatal, both in terms of effectiveness and time wasted. The sensations that emerge at this point are the same that seize university students: frustration and discouragement. So, if you are not used to studying and university days are far away, consider... Studying how to study. On the internet, for various reasons, you can find a lot of content and material that teaches - in a very basic way - how to build a study method that marries well with your cognitive structure and allows you to assimilate information quickly and lastingly. Learning trading without a good study method (even purely theoretical) is really complicated. So, find a remedy even before you start learning trading.

The Focus of Training

Another aspect of fundamental importance and overlooked by most of those who study to learn trading. The main problem concerns the relationship between general overview and specialization. How to mix these two elements? Well, the average aspiring trader doesn't mix them, they simply take on the task of "learning everything," thus giving up - perhaps without wanting to - specialization. It's a terrible choice. It almost always is, when it comes to complex activities. And trading, in case you haven't figured it out yet, is a complex activity. The advice, therefore, is to specialize in a couple of particular approaches, on a handful of assets. Of course, not immediately. At the beginning, general theory should be your only concern; only later will the need and the necessary knowledge come to decide. Also because nothing prevents you from "changing specialization." The important thing, of course, is to study well both before and after.

The Question of Practice

It's the reason why many traders in the past collapsed at the first stages, and they collapsed miserably. Okay, theory is fundamental today as it was then. But what about practice? Those who ignore this fundamental question will arrive at the appointment with the market only with the presumption of being prepared, only to discover that the market is a whole different ball game than they expected. In the past, despite giving importance to this question, little could be done: nothing remained but to cut one's teeth in the field, with all the dangers that this entailed. That is, the loss of capital due to inexperience. Today the discourse is different. There are tools that allow you to practice without risking anything, to cut your teeth... Without breaking them. These tools are called "demos," and they are usually made available directly by brokers. Thanks to the demo, a budding trader can operate in the real market but with fake money. You can try anything, any strategy, indicator, etc. The only difference is that you cannot concretely earn or lose money. A perfect tool, apparently. Too bad it is marred by a fundamental flaw, which is also unsolvable. If demos allow you to get a handle on technique, they do not make any contribution to one of the greatest skills a trader should possess: emotional resilience. Online trading is a stressful activity, which forces the individual to "play" with an always significant stake (we are talking about money, after all). Emotions explode violently, and in some cases are difficult to control. The result? The loss of lucidity and the compromise of decision-making skills. Now, this emotional upheaval is determined by risk. This element is completely lacking in demos. Therefore, demos do not allow you to develop skills in this regard. From this point of view, the trader arrives "naked" at the appointment with the market.