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Practice Trading

Todd Butterfield June 10, 2022

TradingView is one firm that offers a 100% free way to gain trading experience and to test your ability to apply what you have learned while taking the Wyckoff Unleashed online course. Some people object to practice trading on the grounds that it is like playing poker without stakes, there is no thrill in it. Very well: We ask you to remember that the biggest thrill of all comes when you make your first series of actual trades, with money, and find that they were correct. There will be more thrills as you continue to make successful commitments and discover that you never again are taking big chances nor suffering disastrous losses.   Click here to setup the Paper Trading Account

Your undertaking to study this course is evidence that you intend to reverse the rule of the public which is to monkey with the stock market buzz-saw before it knows what makes the wheels go round.  As in any other business or profession, art or science, it is essential that you lay a sound foundation by serving an apprenticeship before you begin actual practice.  If you were studying to become a dentist, you would not begin by immediately pulling patients’ teeth.  If you wish to become a lawyer, you do not begin by trying cases before the court (even if the Bar Association would let you).  Your clients would soon discover your inexperience and you would have to seek other fields. It is the same way with the stock market.  You must study first, then acquire experience by serving an apprenticeship before you begin your actual practice with real patients which, in this instance, are your own dollars.

The way to lay a solid foundation for success is to begin by:

Paper Trading on the TradingView charting software.  This is an inexpensive way to gain experience and to test your ability to apply what you have learned. Some people object to paper trading on the ground that it is like playing poker without stakes, there is no thrill in it. Very well: We ask you to remember that the biggest thrill of all comes when you make your first series of actual trades, with money, and find that they were correct.  There will be more thrills as you continue to make successful commitments and discover that you never again are taking big chances nor suffering disastrous losses.  If you wish to forego the satisfaction of stock market success for a little temporary excite­ment, you may disregard this admonition to start by making trades on paper without taking any risk.  But if you wish to attain the thrill of achievement, you will begin by trading on paper.

Do this until you find that you are learning what and when to buy or sell.  When you decide a certain stock is either a purchase or a short sale, perform this trade using the TradingView Paper Trading.  Study your losing practice trades and compare them with the successful ones so you may locate the cause of your mistakes.  Try to correct these when you make the next series of commitments. After making fifty or a hundred such trades on paper without risk, you will know whether or not you are learning to select the right stocks at the right time.  Do not fail to study your weak points. When making trades, immediately place a stop order on each commitment, the same as with actual money.  It is just as important to do this as on actual purchases and sales, for you want to know when your judgment is wrong, and the penalty for wrong judgment is loss.

After you have completed a successful course in trading and investing using Paper Trades, you will be ready to operate with money, but not before.  Do not be impatient to begin trading or to get results.  Lay a strong foundation for your future by understanding thoroughly before you make even a single money commitment.  Continue your practice transactions long enough to be certain of your judgment before you venture a dollar.

Do not let anything or anybody lead you to make hasty commit­ments with real money.  If you have enrolled into the Wyckoff course with this idea and have not the capital to see it through, get yourself into that position before you make your first transaction with cash. Nothing should urge you to begin hastily and to be under nervous financial strain.

Operating with actual money is more of a test of your ability than paper trading, for when your money is at stake you will be more or less at the mercy of the two devils of stock market followers – greed and fear.

Therefore, when you start actual operations it is advisable to begin with 100 or 200 share lots no matter how large your capital may be. Remember that you are learning the business.  You should not try to make money at this stage.  It is vital for you first to train yourself. Bear in mind that you do not need any capital to learn how to trade and invest according to the Wyckoff principles.  Knowledge of stock market technique is far more valuable than capital in the beginning.

The longer you study the Wyckoff course, the more expert you will become.  Do not expect to be a full-fledged operator in a few weeks or months.  Bull markets sometimes run for years before a bear mar­ket comes along.  Even the more experienced traders can forget the tricks they have learned in the last bear market before another one develops; and the reverse is equally true.  Therefore, if you start at the beginning or in the middle of one cycle, it may take a long time before you will have the opportunity to learn how to handle your transactions in the other.  Hence, you should strive to perfect your judgment by constant practice.  Avoid concentrating on one feature of the course to the exclusion of others.  Learn the whole course.  Get the benefit of all of it.

Overtrading is a form of financial suicide.  It is the second greatest mistake made by the public.  After you have gone far enough with your paper transactions to warrant actual trading and investing, begin with small lots.  Provide sufficient capital to keep your mind at ease. If actual results are not as good as in your paper trading, go back to paper trading, then resume later with real money.  Try to build up your capital out of profits.

If you make money at the start, wait until you have ample capital before you deal in larger lots.  It is much better to creep before you try to walk.  There will be plenty of time for you to operate in larger lots after you become more expert.  The market will always be there, and the main thing at the beginning is to proceed in such a way that you will build a solid foundation for future successes. If you over­trade at this, or any other stage, that is, spread yourself out too thin, you will be handicapped and perhaps discouraged and defeated by your early experiences.  This happens to most people who operate without learning stock market technique; they lose their capital before they know how to trade or invest.  We emphasize this so it will not happen to you.

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