It is not hard to learn online stock trading or investing if you have good sources of stock market education. Profitable trading or investing is not something that is not possible to learn. If you learn enough you can make decent living or build significant amount of wealth using profitable trading or investing strategies.
The very good source of knowledge to learn online stock trading & investing are books. There are many good swing and day trading books and also many materials for equity market investors to learn. I recommend to read every good book about investing in stocks market or about good and successful traders and investors.
The story of Jesse Livermore
Jesse Livermore is well known American stock trader. He traded markets since beginning of 1900. He is very famous for his style that allowed him to gain huge wealth by trading stocks only to let it lost.
He traded stocks market from long and also from short side. He is also well known for his ideas that are very accurate also in todays market and for todays investors. Many of these lessons are described in one of best stock market books: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre.
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre
This is one of the most important books about investing in stock market I have ever read. It provides very valuable basics for every trader and investor to learn.
I was personally very surprised how almost all basic know how and all lessons provided by Livermore in this book are very valuable today as they were hundred years ago. You can learn a lot from this book.
The basic and most important concepts can be found in several points. He stressed that every trader should accept responsibility for his own trades and results. It is not about blaming the market, regulators, governments or other parties. All decisions are yours and only you are responsible. It is main lesson I have taken from his story.
But there are also another points helping to learn online stock trading basics. One of them is description of emotions that are moving markets. It is fear and greed what have biggest influence to investors and what is the hidden power of stock market movements. It is very true today.
Risk management
Another lesson that should be taken from the story described in this book is description of risk management. He stressed the single biggest truth of profitable traders and investors. Cut your losses soon and ride the winners as much as possible.