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Exploring Trading Basics: Expert Tips for New Traders
Welcome to the thrilling world of trading, future market experts! If you’re stepping into this arena for the first time, it’s natural to feel both excited and a little overwhelmed. No worries — we’ve set up this nice value-packed TradingView Idea to make you feel at home. Read on for practical tips that will help you kick off your trading journey to a strong start. Ready, set, go? Let’s roll!
1. Get Yourself Familiarized
Action Step: Your first step as a fresh trader is to familiarize yourself with the market fundamentals. Start by getting a solid grasp of basic market concepts. Learn about different asset classes like stocks, forex, or crypto.
Understand how they work and what news or events influence prices across the board (spoiler: if you’re looking at the bigger picture and keep it high level, there aren’t too many things to consider — check the Economic Calendar Related Idea below). Spend an hour or two each week reading about market fundamentals. Knowledge of these basics will make you more confident in your trading approach and also help you see where you feel most comfortable putting your money. And don't forget about the trading psychology part.
2. Set Clear, Achievable Goals
Action Step: Write down your trading goals and stick them somewhere you can see them. Aim for specific, measurable targets like “Hit a 2% monthly return” or “Learn a new trading strategy weekly.” This keeps your efforts focused and on track.
But don’t stop there. Keep revisiting, updating, and refining your trading goals. Think of them as your compass or map that you need to follow in order to get where you want. In contrast, not having a goal or goals might throw you out in the open where you wander without a clear path or direction.
3. Stick to Your Budget
Action Step: Decide on your total trading capital and how much you’re willing to risk per trade. Use the 1-2% rule: never risk more than 1% or 2% of your total capital on a single trade. This will help you protect your account from total wipeout.
It’s easy to get swayed by some massive move in the market (yes, we know about Bitcoin
BTCUSD), but catching these waves is rarely an easy game. The better you are at sticking to a healthy level of risk exposure, the better your chances to stay in the game for as long as possible.
4. Stay Updated with Market News
Action Step: Dedicate 15 minutes each morning to checking financial news. Keeping tabs on major economic reports and events will give you an understanding of what investors regard as important so you can add it to your agenda too.
We’ve set up a nice and easygoing Top stories news stream that serves you only top-tier market-moving scoops, published daily and updated in real time. Make sure to frequent them so you can raise your level of knowing what’s happening in the markets.
5. Keep a Trading Journal
Action Step: For every trade, jot down the details in a journal. Include entry and exit points, your reasons for the trade, and the outcome. Review your journal weekly to identify patterns and areas for improvement.
If you want to get an even more precise look at your trading performance, add more columns to it and include prospect trades, or a watchlist of positions you’re interested in. Mark your monthly performance, year-to-date returns, and even how much you paid in commissions.
6. Start Small and Scale Up
Action Step: Begin with small trades to minimize risk while you’re learning. For example, if you have $1,000, start with trades of $50-$100 and keep your stop tight around the 2% mark. That way, you’ll gain experience and see how you feel when you have an open trade.
Leave a trade overnight, watch it actively or let it run for a few days (provided you use a stop loss, more on it in the Stop Loss Related Idea below) — all these will help you ease into smoother trading and build better confidence. After that, you can gradually increase your trade size for bigger profits. And — most importantly — don’t rush it. The markets will be there tomorrow; but will you?
7. Use Stop-Loss Orders
Action Step: Always set a stop-loss order when placing a trade. For instance, if you buy a stock at $100, set a stop-loss at $95. This means your position will be automatically sold if the price drops to $95, limiting your loss to $5 per share.
The use of stop-loss orders, or simply stop losses, can’t be emphasized enough. No matter how confident you are on a trade, how much conviction you have to go big, always think of the downside, or how much you’re willing to lose.
8. Join a Trading Community
Action Step: If you’re reading this, then you’ve already nailed this step. TradingView is the world’s largest finance, markets, and charting platform, boasting more than 60 million monthly visitors — one big, big community.
This is the place where traders share tips and strategies, show off their charts, discoveries, patterns, price targets, and trading ideas. So, stick around, engage, ask questions, and learn from the experiences of others.
9. Diversify Your Portfolio
Action Step: Spread your investments across different sectors and asset classes. Don’t just buy big tech stocks; consider some auto companies as well or the volatile corner of cryptocurrencies.
Diversifying your portfolio (learn about it in the Diversification Related Idea below) will help you balance your risk, ideally without reducing the potential for returns. You don’t have to go all-in on a trade and YOLO your entire life savings into a Solana meme coin. Think of the long term and tread carefully. Sometimes, you’re as good as your last trade.
10. Continuously Improve Your Skills
Action Step: Dedicate time each week to learning something new about trading. Watch educational videos, read books, or dive into financial podcasts where big market events get broken down or where traders and investors share their experience and what made them successful.
The markets renew each day, never resting, never ceasing to oscillate and presenting new trading opportunities. Always learn, never get complacent, and keep striving for more!
Share Your Thoughts!
So there you have it, folks! With these practical, actionable tips, you’re ready to jump into the trading game with some added confidence. Remember, every pro was once a newbie. Stay cool, stay informed, and most importantly, have fun with it (but also be smart). Happy trading! 🚀📈
1. Get Yourself Familiarized
Action Step: Your first step as a fresh trader is to familiarize yourself with the market fundamentals. Start by getting a solid grasp of basic market concepts. Learn about different asset classes like stocks, forex, or crypto.
Understand how they work and what news or events influence prices across the board (spoiler: if you’re looking at the bigger picture and keep it high level, there aren’t too many things to consider — check the Economic Calendar Related Idea below). Spend an hour or two each week reading about market fundamentals. Knowledge of these basics will make you more confident in your trading approach and also help you see where you feel most comfortable putting your money. And don't forget about the trading psychology part.
2. Set Clear, Achievable Goals
Action Step: Write down your trading goals and stick them somewhere you can see them. Aim for specific, measurable targets like “Hit a 2% monthly return” or “Learn a new trading strategy weekly.” This keeps your efforts focused and on track.
But don’t stop there. Keep revisiting, updating, and refining your trading goals. Think of them as your compass or map that you need to follow in order to get where you want. In contrast, not having a goal or goals might throw you out in the open where you wander without a clear path or direction.
3. Stick to Your Budget
Action Step: Decide on your total trading capital and how much you’re willing to risk per trade. Use the 1-2% rule: never risk more than 1% or 2% of your total capital on a single trade. This will help you protect your account from total wipeout.
It’s easy to get swayed by some massive move in the market (yes, we know about Bitcoin
BTCUSD), but catching these waves is rarely an easy game. The better you are at sticking to a healthy level of risk exposure, the better your chances to stay in the game for as long as possible.4. Stay Updated with Market News
Action Step: Dedicate 15 minutes each morning to checking financial news. Keeping tabs on major economic reports and events will give you an understanding of what investors regard as important so you can add it to your agenda too.
We’ve set up a nice and easygoing Top stories news stream that serves you only top-tier market-moving scoops, published daily and updated in real time. Make sure to frequent them so you can raise your level of knowing what’s happening in the markets.
5. Keep a Trading Journal
Action Step: For every trade, jot down the details in a journal. Include entry and exit points, your reasons for the trade, and the outcome. Review your journal weekly to identify patterns and areas for improvement.
If you want to get an even more precise look at your trading performance, add more columns to it and include prospect trades, or a watchlist of positions you’re interested in. Mark your monthly performance, year-to-date returns, and even how much you paid in commissions.
6. Start Small and Scale Up
Action Step: Begin with small trades to minimize risk while you’re learning. For example, if you have $1,000, start with trades of $50-$100 and keep your stop tight around the 2% mark. That way, you’ll gain experience and see how you feel when you have an open trade.
Leave a trade overnight, watch it actively or let it run for a few days (provided you use a stop loss, more on it in the Stop Loss Related Idea below) — all these will help you ease into smoother trading and build better confidence. After that, you can gradually increase your trade size for bigger profits. And — most importantly — don’t rush it. The markets will be there tomorrow; but will you?
7. Use Stop-Loss Orders
Action Step: Always set a stop-loss order when placing a trade. For instance, if you buy a stock at $100, set a stop-loss at $95. This means your position will be automatically sold if the price drops to $95, limiting your loss to $5 per share.
The use of stop-loss orders, or simply stop losses, can’t be emphasized enough. No matter how confident you are on a trade, how much conviction you have to go big, always think of the downside, or how much you’re willing to lose.
8. Join a Trading Community
Action Step: If you’re reading this, then you’ve already nailed this step. TradingView is the world’s largest finance, markets, and charting platform, boasting more than 60 million monthly visitors — one big, big community.
This is the place where traders share tips and strategies, show off their charts, discoveries, patterns, price targets, and trading ideas. So, stick around, engage, ask questions, and learn from the experiences of others.
9. Diversify Your Portfolio
Action Step: Spread your investments across different sectors and asset classes. Don’t just buy big tech stocks; consider some auto companies as well or the volatile corner of cryptocurrencies.
Diversifying your portfolio (learn about it in the Diversification Related Idea below) will help you balance your risk, ideally without reducing the potential for returns. You don’t have to go all-in on a trade and YOLO your entire life savings into a Solana meme coin. Think of the long term and tread carefully. Sometimes, you’re as good as your last trade.
10. Continuously Improve Your Skills
Action Step: Dedicate time each week to learning something new about trading. Watch educational videos, read books, or dive into financial podcasts where big market events get broken down or where traders and investors share their experience and what made them successful.
The markets renew each day, never resting, never ceasing to oscillate and presenting new trading opportunities. Always learn, never get complacent, and keep striving for more!
Share Your Thoughts!
So there you have it, folks! With these practical, actionable tips, you’re ready to jump into the trading game with some added confidence. Remember, every pro was once a newbie. Stay cool, stay informed, and most importantly, have fun with it (but also be smart). Happy trading! 🚀📈
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