Turning Point : What was it Really to LEARN and be Confident in Trading

Learning how the stock market works thru video or reading materials online is one PART of learning.

In the end hustling just for money will not fulfill one's soul. 

But in able to really gain confidence and really GRASP what the stock market is, you have to do something else.

My biggest turning point of learning stock is to TRADE THE REAL DEAL.

Have you tried virtual trading?

Yes, I have, but trading virtually doesn't really give me that sense of responsibility and commitment. So every time I trade virtually I did not really gain knowledge.

What was it like to trade for real?

There is a really huge impact on LEARNING while trading your real money.

I can say that because in my first year on the stock market I traded with real money as early as 15 days. (that was the result of following a reco from a youtube guru)

I take that back, let us exclude that example because I did not really learn a thing from this trade because I was just following a recommendation from a Youtube guru and I win those trades so, that trade is lacking a problem and there is hardly anything to solve. So no learning whatsoever.

Let us start with my first loss in the market.

I am pretty sure I was following a recommendation again by that time because I was still fairly new to the stock market.

And then it hits me.

Two thousand loss in just hours.

Emotions that plays During that trade

With my real money on the line, I am quickly DEVASTATED by the simple movement of the trade.

Even more when it moves downward, opposite of what I expected.

So I quickly cut loss (I believe this happens in a matter of hours) and boom, a chuck of my money is gone.

Three things why I am not Confident on that Trade

    1. I rely heavily on the opinion of others.

    2. I don't want to lose my MONEY (that's obvious I know, but a crucial factor)

    3. For the sake of Learning I am gambling a big amount of money

Trading Real Money and Putting a Lot of Information in Your Head

Just recently, I quit following the so-called good advice " the 8k rule". This refers to the computation on broker fees and other fees included when you buy a certain stock. When you follow the 8k rule apparently it makes the purchase 'sulit' (di ko na kinayang englishin).

But the danger of the 8k rule on newbies is that they are risking a lot of money (8k for me is a lot) just for the sake of following the so-called 'good advice'.

And this happened to me multiple times.

Whenever I place a trade, its always on a standard lot, and every time my strategies don't work I relatively lose a big amount of money(yeah I know that it is not 8k rule but my money is not enough, so I settle to the next best thing which is a standard lot, that can be anywhere from 4k to 6k).

Getting Awesome Information About the Stock Market without selling Your Soul

One person I follow a lot is Roberto Kiyosaki and one of the things I remember from him is to 'fail fast fail often'.

It's true that every time I lose a trade, I gain valuable insight into the stock market but how am I going to fail again and again? It only means that I will lose a bunch of money.

Finally, I saw an unpopular comment from Facebook and says that he is testing out his strategies for  300 pesos worth. 

Yes, he is trading using the odd lot.

What is an odd lot? Odd lot is buying a position lower than the recommended lot size. The smallest lot size might be 100 or 5, but in odd lot you can purchase just one or two position. An odd lot has advantages and disadvantages.

Odd-lot Disadvantage

An annoying disadvantage of odd lot is that when the stock is in red, it is almost impossible to sell your position.

Next is, the fees add up, so if ever you wanted to get out and get a little profit, that would take a huge jump and takes time.

Odd-lot Advantage

The ADVANTAGES, however, is worth the extra fees because this is the BEST WAY in my opinion to learn about the Philippine Stock Market,

You can FAIL as many times as you like Roberto Kiyosaki advice, losing 300-500 pesos per trade, and still be ok. Just try to think that this is the money you spend for a day of an interview, it's like you're paying for a bus fare and a meal outside.

Kidding aside, for me this is the most EFFECTIVE way to test out the strategies I have learned from video tutorials and books I've read for quite some time now.

With real money involve, my senses are in full suspense, will I be right or wrong? My emotions are totally engaged and I am constantly thinking back and forth, double-checking the chart. Did I miss anything?

Why the candles are turning red?

Or if it is green, I am on high and saying to myself, ' I knew it'.

In my opinion, even if I make the 300-500 pesos sounds nothing, I still think that 500 pesos is still valuable and to be honest I don't want to waste it especially now I don't have a job.

However, if this is my token to balance out the harsh reality of the stock market vs learning, I think the money I invested is worth it.

For my next post, I will try to answer a question that I am dying to know the answer when I was just starting to invest in the Philippines Stock Market "can I learn the stock market in just 2 months???".

To be honest, at first, I wanted to be rich quickly so is it possible to learn the stock market in just a few months?

Provided I've watched many free resources on the internet?

That is it for now...

Thanks for reading all the way! Happy New Year 2021.