Good to know!

Thank You!

use a normal trading account to grow your account a little bit then take some of your profits out ever year to put into a roth IRA account to help with your income tax and trade with two accounts so you'll be set for retirement and have a normal account for your personal spending

roth you can pull the principle back out with no penalty. it only "locks up" your gains. if it's self directed it's not any riskier/safer at all. it's literally a question of do you want to pay taxes or not. you're allowed to not pay on 5500 a year by putting it in a roth. once you reach the 5500 cap, then you start put the rest in a cash account. but if you are under the 5500 cap, it's a no brainer. roth 100%.

Have your personal investments in Roth trade in regular.

Based on your age, I would stick with the trading account and focus on saving up money. Just work and create a plan to save up money. Don't worry about taxes. Don't use retirement accounts for trading but more for long term investments. Realize the Roth IRA has a 5 year rule in order to qualify distributions.. 5 Roth IRA Withdrawal Rules You Need to Know http://www.rothira.com/roth-ira-withdrawal-rules

Well, from what I can see you may have been saved, but that doesn't really help explain why you can't make a trade. Your best bet is to contact IB because there is no apparent reason as to why you can't trade.

Trades made in a cash or margin account take T+3 days to settle. In a cash account, you have to wait T+3 days until you can trade. Margin accounts still take T+3 days to settle but overcome the restriction because a margin account is like a credit line you borrow from while the trades settle.

Homework: About Settling Trades in Three Days: T+3 https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/tplus3.htm

The IB platform should have T counter on it. Just enable it.

Not yet, many shorts have blown up trying to predict the top

As a general rule if you have to wonder, is this a good time to short it means you're guessing. Less predicting and more patterns is the way to go.

Been one of them. Almost took me out of game. Now have long mountain to climb back.

Time teaches you what to look for in the DVDs and video lessons. Study first!

Thanks Guys

also how do you guys log trades

On the toolbar menu click "dashboard", then "my trades" and then upload them from your broker. However, I definitely wouldn't reccomend trading right away. Spend 3-6 months learning first, this is what Tim reccomends. Invest in your education first so you don't lose money. If you insist on putting in money, then put a very small amount and think of it as practice money. But I would reccomend paper trading first.

Prerequisites: HTMM DVD http://bit.ly/2fxY6pV membership http://bit.ly/2fWsKY0 The Pennystocking Part Deux DVD is old now but some lessons in HTMM. It's an old favorite. http://bit.ly/2f5qjUm

Oh okay i think i get u, U havent learned to distinguish trends yet or how stocks trend. so first i reccomend so u can get familiar with what u should already know is google "bullish patterns" now u should get stocks with some trendlines already drawn for u, Drawing trendlines is just connecting the last peak with recent peak, highs with highs and lows with lows. Now when ur on finviz, ur mind will by itself try to put things into a pattern which will then allow u to make ur plan, which should b

based on the next ressistance/support level. So to help u with entries on that u might want to learn how reversal patterns/candlesticks look (google that too) and u should have a much clearer idea on what ur looking for. Another great way to get used to patterns is looking this up on google images, "Fous 4 patterns". There is Force, Survival, and Revival (and "Gold" but its almost like force pattern) The Force is a Breakout play on a bullish trend. Survival is a breakout from a channel after it

consolidates (also called churning) after the initaial breakout. Revival is bearish trend that consolidated nd is now breaking out from the channel. Hope that answers ur question abit, let me know if ur still a bit confused

The best thing is to buy one of Tim's DVD s(HTMM or Pennystocking Part Deux). HTMM is probably the best bang for your buck while Part Deux gives you the old basics. The DVDs will teach you the basics and how to use free tools online. StocksToTrade is just a tool Tim created which combines everything together but should be used after you know the basics from the DVDs. Also, get a part-time job to supplement your income. Learn while you earn and save up the money.

yes sir i do it day in and day out. Full time job and all. I bring a laptop with me and trade on my breaks and lunch. The hottest time in the market is the opening bell. I made 1k today on my 15 min break in 5 mins. I upload my trades on IG: Mafiatrading Twitter: Mafiatrading until tomorrow Mike Mafia

you could also consider superman trades who teaches swing trading

That's awesome to hear Mafiatrading! Thank you both for the input, I'll just have to keep studying and find a way.

If you don't have time, then swing trade or invest. Sow your seeds and let it grow. If you want to day trade, then create a strict time schedule. Note you don't have to watch the screen all day. Rewatch Tim's lessons and note what times Tim trades. Like Scott_PaperTrader_legit said, you could do Superman too http://bit.ly/2fy1vFb

The key to trading with Cash accounts is to only trade with settled funds. If you have $10,000 in your account and you perform three days trades on Monday then you'll have to wait for those funds to settle 3 days later before you can trade with them again. I converted one of my TD Ameritrade margin accounts to a Cash account and day trade options every week and do more than three day trades and never got flagged.

Also, the way I understood it back when I was with Scottrade, if you have a Cash account with $10,000 in it and you use $5,000 to to day trade on Monday, those funds won't settle until 3 days later, which is Thursday. You can still trade before Thursday but can only do so using the remaining $5,000. If you day trade with the remaining $5,000 on Tuesday then those funds won't settle until Friday.

Where I think things can get a little ugly with Cash accounts is that the 3 day settlement period applies to both day trades and swing trades. Even if you hold your positions overnight and sell them the next day you still have to deal with the 3 day settlement period whereas you don't have those types of restrictions when swing trading with margin accounts.

Day-Trading Margin Requirements: Know the Rules http://www.finra.org/investors/day-trading-margin-requirements-know-rules

For futures, it's better you open an account with a futures specific broker.i.e.- NinjaTrader, Stage 5, Global Futures, Amp Trading, etc... TOS has very high requirements on margin and deposits and you'll most likely not qualify for their requirements.

Thanks. If anyone else has suggestions please post.

Also re: Matt's system, it's risky for new traders so be forewarned. He mostly swings overnight and holds through large fluctuations. You will need a lot of capital in order to do his system successfully. Otherwise, you'll blow up easily. He's working with over 100k in capital. When you start in futures, it's better you just take little scalps until you can build a larger portfolio. At a min you should have $7k to $10k per 1 contract traded. Understand margin before you trade. It's very