Newbie traders after learning F&O, look for paper trading platforms to practise. It's like the itch to swim after you learn swimming but end up in a baby pool. Experience of an adult pool vs a baby pool is different, likewise with the real markets & paper trading 🧵 (1/11)

Agreed, without experience, loading your trading account to the tilt and trading can be disastrous 🌋, but that does not mean you will have to paper trade forever. No matter how much you paper trade, you will never get the experience of trading (2/11)
When I talk about trading, I’m not just talking about experiencing the P&L rush. IMHO, experiencing the P&L and how it can vary in real-time is the last thing. There are multiple other things that you need to get comfortable with before diving into full-fledged trading 🏊‍♂️(3/11)
Stuff like placing limit/market order, GTT, AMO. Practising how SL-L for long & short positions works, trailing stops, figuring how margins work, M2M, T+1, T+2 settlements - the list is endless😩 with several moving parts. No paper trading platform gives you the real deal (4/11)
Here is a hack, though - instead of paper trading, try and place an actual trade on a low-value futures contract. My favourite is USD INR 💱, it costs just under 2K per contract, but gives you the whole trading experience (5/11)
Besides, your USD INR margin will be safe as the contract does not move much, well, at least on most days 😬
(6/11)
You can do this with EQ as well. All you need to do is pick a low-value liquid stock and place trades to experience and learn all the nuances. For example, IDFC First Bank is liquid and costs just about 2.5K to trade 50 shares (7/11)
There is no need to trade 50; you may trade 10 shares if you wish. But placing actual but low-value trades are >>> paper trades 😎(8/11)
A word of caution, though🛑 - most aspiring traders who try this out suddenly jump into full-fledged trading after placing a couple of trades. From 1 lot of USD INR, it slowly becomes several, and from USD INR it becomes Bank Nifty. This is a fatal mistake (9/11)
The good news is you can avoid the mistake by having a checklist approach 🗒️. List out things you want to practise and target them 1 by 1. For ex - figuring M2M may require several small trades spread over multiple days, don't try other things until you get a grip on M2M (10/11)
With an organised and goal-driven approach, you may need several months to be fully comfortable with market nuances. Once you feel comfortable, gradually increase your trading capital and venture out 🏇 (11/11)

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"I really want to break into Product Management"

make products.

"If only someone would tell me how I can get a startup to notice me."

Make Products.

"I guess it's impossible and I'll never break into the industry."

MAKE PRODUCTS.

Courtesy of @edbrisson's wonderful thread on breaking into comics –
https://t.co/TgNblNSCBj – here is why the same applies to Product Management, too.


There is no better way of learning the craft of product, or proving your potential to employers, than just doing it.

You do not need anybody's permission. We don't have diplomas, nor doctorates. We can barely agree on a single standard of what a Product Manager is supposed to do.

But – there is at least one blindingly obvious industry consensus – a Product Manager makes Products.

And they don't need to be kept at the exact right temperature, given endless resource, or carefully protected in order to do this.

They find their own way.