FINANCE | STOCK TRADING
My First Stock Trade Almost Ended In Disaster
The risky adventures of playing with the stock market
The scariest part of trading is the possibility of losing money. It’s why the average person doesn’t jump in and start investing. Without the fear of financial loss, trading would be a lot easier. And a lot less fun.
Part of the thrill is the risk, you see.
Granted, throwing rent money into the ring has a different feel to it than trading with extra spending money. The level of risk-to-fun ratio depends on how much that loss will affect outside the market. But truth be told, there isn’t much excitement to paper trading. Partly because there are no real wins, but also because there is no loss.
I found paper trading unhelpful at best, and tedious at worst. The work involved in researching a stock was so boring and unrewarding. Learning how to read the graphs had virtually no meaning, my eyes regularly crossing in the struggle to understand the rich world of financial jargon. After weeks of trying to prepare myself for the real thing, it became clear I’d hit a plateau. Nothing made sense because it had no real meaning. It was all just numbers and terminologies.
