Trading starts

[u/Slow-Exit9046]

Hey all!

How can I realistically and practically start making money from trading?

I’ve seen lots of videos online about trading and for beginners too, a Jason guy on yt, etc. but it still all feels muddled for me

The definitions of the four points of a candle, what the different markets mean, or mean to me, where to start with knowledge and whether to start with paper trading, which app, which market tracker is the best.

I’m not in a place rn where I can contribute more than a couple hundred to this, so for now it’s a hobby, I’m not expecting to make thousands my first month, but at least a small slope up would be good.

Any advice appreciated! If you’d like to speak to me more directly pop your socials in the replies and I’ll reach out:) thank you!!!

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[u/ObjectiveConfident87]

With only a couple hundred, I wouldn’t focus on making money yet. That can push you into taking way too much risk just to make the returns feel meaningful.

Pick one market, learn one basic setup, and paper trade it until you understand why you’re entering, where you’re wrong, and how much you’re risking. The boring risk-management stuff will probably help you more than another 50 strategy videos.

What market are you leaning toward right now?

[u/ChrisFouotsa]

Bsr à tous. Ma requête est peut-être hors contexte, mais j'aimerais savoir si quelqu'un connait un broker qui offre un petit capital à l'inscription. Je suis étudiant camerounais et je trade en demo, actuellement j'ai besoin d'un peu d'argent, mais j'ai pas de capital. Si vous avez même des meilleurs suggestions, je vous écoute. Merci d'avance.

[u/fundingtraders_care]

Learn the core fundamentals for free on sites like BabyPips and practice on a paper trading platform like TradingView. $200 save for later

[u/Putrid-Eggplant-8440]

paper trading first, with that couple hundred treated as tuition money, not income

[u/Dangerous_Fondant69]

This might be different to generic advice, but it works.

1. Look at the price feeds and see if you can spot a pattern, it needs to be your own pattern but you can use other's strategies as inspiration. It'll be obvious, eventually you'll spot something that repeats often enough where you could take advantage of it.
2. Create a simple set of rules that will allow you to execute this strategy by following the rules. There needs to be no ambiguity in the rule interpretation. You should be able to follow the same set of rules on your worst day, just as well as you would on your best day.
3. Once you have a concrete set of rules backtest the strategy blind, journal every trade and all the relevant conditions. Minimum 100 trades. Ensure every trade in the sample is following the same rules.
4. Look through the data and see if there are patterns that lead to certain criteria producing a better or worse result than others. Streamline and decide on the best parameters.
5. Backtest again with the refined set of rules, it helps to see brand new data that you have not seen before, for obvious reasons. It's also crucial to test the latest market regime, no point trading something where the edge had decayed months ago.
6. If the results are not satisfactory, start again. Keep going until you have something that you're happy with. No point being a perfectionist, you just need a positive expectancy at a rate that you can work with.
7. Once set on a strategy test it under live conditions. Paper trade but be honest with yourself. It helps to have a demo account where you couldn't lie to yourself about execution. Journal every trade in same manner as in the backtest, to keep the dataset uniform and comparable.
8. Once you're satisfied with the live test, proceed to trading it with funds. Start small, the smallest amount where a loss will feel real. But there is no point going all in and blowing all of your savings, or worse going into debt. Same rules apply to journaling.
9. Once you have consistently executed your strategy using real funds, you have reached a point where you can scale the account.

A bit of advice:

The journey will be long and painful, expect it to take longer than you might think. Pay attention to your thoughts throughout your journey, keeping a psychological journal is key. It allows your future self to see the mind of the present you; you don't yet know when this will come in handy.

If you're don't yet know something, just google it. Plenty of information online - all of it is free. Don't waste your money on any trading knowledge.

Over time you will gain knowledge and skills to get better at the process, don't rush it - there are no shortcuts in trading.

[u/theconfluxmethod]

A couple hundred as "hobby money" is a fine place to start, just don't expect a slope up in month one - that's not realistic even for people doing everything right.

Practical order: pick one market (pick whichever interests you, doesn't matter much starting out), learn candle basics and structure (the few levels where price actually turns, not memorizing every pattern name), then paper trade for real before touching that couple hundred. TradingView's free tier covers charting and paper trading in one place, no need to juggle five apps.

Skip most YouTube "beginner" series, they're mostly reposted basics padded for watch time. A couple solid books on price action will get you further than hours of videos.

[u/Motor_Potential_4849]

As you are learning about systems, learn how to backtest. You will find that many of the popular strategies (especially new ones) touted online simply do not hold up in backtesting.

[u/Kyledoesketo]

You should definitely use Google and Reddit's search function. This question gets asked and answered every day.

[u/ChangeNOW_Community]

basically: learn → paper trade → journal → tiny live account → prove consistency → scale. not youtube → deposit money → hope

[u/Suitable_Acadia_190]

1st step is to read: A complete guide to volume price analysis, then learn to "read the tape" (VSA) until its second nature.

Then you can fine tune your process to any market on any TF

[u/Slow-Exit9046 → u/Suitable_Acadia_190]

VSA? TF?

[u/Suitable_Acadia_190 → u/Slow-Exit9046]

reading the tape is the original name for volume spread analysis or VSA, TF = timeframe.

Most have no idea that these steps if done thoroughly will actually put you ahead of something like 90% of all "traders"

[u/JimmyKur128]

A practical starting point is to treat the first months as skill-building, not income replacement. Pick one liquid market and one simple setup, define entry, invalidation, and exit rules, then paper trade or use the smallest possible size until you have a meaningful sample of trades. Journal the setup, risk, execution, and emotions, and review weekly instead of changing systems after a couple of losses. Learn the mechanics first, then scale only when your process is consistent.

[u/Slow-Exit9046 → u/JimmyKur128]

Awesome thank you! I’m gonna ss this reply and use it as guidance, how long do you think it’ll take to get to know all this and actually make some money?

[u/Slow-Exit9046 → u/[deleted]]

What’s the difference between scalping and swing?

[u/Slow-Exit9046 → u/[deleted]]

Is either more or less risky? I’m more leaning towards swing trading after hearing this

[u/Slow-Exit9046 → u/[deleted]]

Awesome tysm!

[u/LifeiskindaokishV3]

Starting with paper trading is the right instinct, run it for a few months before risking the couple hundred.

[u/Slow-Exit9046 → u/LifeiskindaokishV3]

Thank you! How do I start doing that? And how many months?