Member-only story
How long does it take to learn how to trade stocks?
Some claim it only takes a few weeks. Others say it takes months. And some people say it takes years.
So who is right?
How Long Does It Really Take To Learn How To Trade Stocks?
Well… I’m going to start this article with “It depends…”
… but I promise that I will give you a VERY definite answer on how long it really takes to learn how to trade.
Here’s why I say “it depends:”
There are SIMPLE ways to trade, and there are more complicated ways to trade.
In a nutshell, it depends on 3 factors:
- The instrument you want to trade, i.e. stocks, options, futures or forex.
- The analysis method you want to use: fundamental or technical analysis
- The timeframe you want to trade: day trading vs. swing trading.
Let’s talk about each of these in detail:
What Do You Want To Trade?
The easiest instrument to trade are stocks, and here’s why:
Stocks are easy to understand:
If you buy a stock for $100 and the price goes up to $101, you make $1.
If you trade 100 shares, you would make $100. Easy enough.
When trading options, you need to understand…
- Strike prices
- Expiration dates
- Option Premiums
- Difference between calls and puts
- Difference between buying and selling options
- The Greeks: Delta, Gamma, Theta
… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
As you can see, trading options is much more complex and therefore complicated than trading stocks.
And that’s why it will take longer to learn how to trade options that if you would just trade stocks.
Now let’s talk about futures:
When trading futures, you need to learn about expiration dates as well as “tick…
