Morning ... DOW down by 250 points with unemployment given as the excuse. Gold and Silver shooting higher ...

Question : Can one really learn to trade well by merely reading some trading or investment books?

Answer : No.

First of all, these is no such thing as sure-win trades that MAJORITY losers in market looking for. I am a harsh teacher, I will splash cold water on those learning from me on their HOPE. Hmm ... bad person. You see, making a person waking up to reality of market is important. Making them to accept defeats is also equally crucial. Many(remember the stats, 80% of them still lose money in KLSE - take a console in that will NOT change a thing in your mentality) ... or shall I say, majority of them DO NOT want to learn, went into markets as ignorant(like me 3 years ago!! No joke!!) ... and HOPING that market will recover or their stocks will recover!! HOPE against hope ... then they start to pray and some started to make bad remarks about others, searching for scape-goats for their losses due to their IGNORANCE and EGO. No one want to lose ... but majority of them lose, anyway.

I have few readers asking for the book list - ok, I will update my book list on the side and will only mention a few books for those total novices/newbies. BOOKS are still an important resource ... we learn the terminologies(can check out some sites, actually) ... do read books to understand some terms used, learn also some good pointers about market-psychology, read positive mindsetting books, motivational books ... and to enhance your LEARNING. Yes, I am speaking about learning to trade.

Can one really think by reading some trading books about some trading strategies, we could be the winner and profit from markets?? Again, I am going to splash some cold water to those 'bookworms' ... the answer is definitely a "NO" from me. I should know better, I bought(invested) many books ... from ground zero where everything about markets were aliens to me. I was frustrated and also learning things the hard way --- losing money in markets! Haha. OUCH.

Only those old-timer of my readers who seen how I developed myself in 2008 to today could see the improvements! Did I give-up in my learning? Hmm ... obvious to my loyal readers here but if you are new and before you started to call me 'sifu' or 'guru', read my previous posts in 2008/2009. Check out how I took a very painful and winding road of acquiring knowledge ... INVESTING in myself is my largest investment, so far.

I am in no hurry as I understand well that I will be looong in market, it is a marathon. I do not sprint much in my learning. I read and read ... in fact, spent thousands of RM and hundreds of hours reading. And jotting only few pointers in my blog here to share with NEWbies. Seriously, reading is GOOD but it wont make u a good trader or investor. Everyone read about Warren Buffett's investing rules and such, but HOW MANY of us applying what he is doing. Hey ... he gained less than 20% per year but the richest investors, ok? He read tonnes of resources from his home!!

So, for novices ... do attend seminars(many free seminars, I will attend whenever I am free) or some courses. There is huge limitation in reading books alone. You and the book. You dont understand the book or you dont know how to apply the little knowledge you read from books. Little knowledge is indeed dangerous.

Courses ... well, there are many courses out there and again, I will NOT promote any in my blog. I am only promoting my trading classes to my readers who WANT to learn. You cant teach a person if he doesnt trust you, doesnt want to learn, can you? You cant help a person who do not want to be helped? Heck, mind is the cheapest, costing about 10% of most of the courses around as I am just an educator trying to teach some novices some simple terms or techniques in trading!! And I am still a novice myself. Hehe

What I do want to encourage many is to LEARN. Get a few good trading/investment books. INVEST IN YOURSELF first. Forget about market ... get out, if possible. Without knowledge, there is NO WAY you could profit(if u do now, it might be luck?) in long run ... remember, market is ALWAYS there.

Start from some simple books or websites. IGNORE the news or noises from the media, forums, blogs(especially my B-S blog, haha) ... I dont mind teach a person how to start from ground-zero, ok? What are needed and what are not!!

INVEST your time and money in YOURSELF first. Develop the RIGHT mentality and mindset for trading. It takes time ... it is taking me almost 4 years now of DAILY working in improvement myself. Hmm ... since MAJORITY are lazy and busy people around, they might take longer to learn, right?

Be realistic ... ouch. Be smart .... it is your own decision. Make it right for yourself, ok?

With that said ... PAUSE. THINK. REFLECT. Are you sure you want to continue to lose in market? When will you ever learn? Still hoping? SLAP yourself. Wake-up ... to the reality of the brutal market-place.

BUY or BYE?

TEH