First and foremost, welcome to Monument Traders Alliance!
What we’ve created here… and what you’re now part of… is the most powerful – and revolutionary – trading community on the market.
I hope you’re excited… because the way you create daily wealth could change forever – and it all starts now.
But before you start trading your real money… it’s critically important that you get familiar with trading.
That’s why we recommend that you set up a paper trading account.
This offers you a number of advantages…
First, you’ll get familiar with how to enter and exit trades.
Second, you’ll get comfortable with how to place your orders and what the option recommendation language looks like.
And third, you’ll get all of your mistakes out of the way NOW – before you’re using real money.
For instance…
Buying a put instead of a call…
Selling instead of buying…
And trading the wrong expiration date…
Are all rookie mistakes that you’d rather make now – in the preparation stage – than when you’re trading real money.
Taking the time to do this exercise right now – at the start of your journey – will eliminate more mistakes (and make you more money) than anything else you can possibly do.
So let’s get started…
This guide will walk you through the entire process step by step.
Step 1: Create A Paper Trading Account
We recommend creating a paper trading account using Charles Schwab’s paperMoney®, which uses the ThinkorSwim platform.
*Note: You are welcome to use whatever paper/simulated trading service your brokerage provides if you prefer, as long as you do it!
Start out by registering here.
Choose your username and password, enter your contact info and address, answer some basic investing questions, and click “Submit.”
Once you’ve registered for your paper trading account, you can download the ThinkorSwim platform to your desktop here…
Or you can log in and trade in your browser here.
After that, you’ll be ready to get started!
IMPORTANT: When you’re logging in to the desktop version, make sure to select “paperMoney” at the bottom of the login screen.
Step 2: Get Familiar With the Interface
Now it’s time to have some fun!
Thinkorswim has some incredible resources to help you learn.
Check out the Getting Started Guide here.
Its part of their thinkManual digital training center.
Inside you’ll find info and videos on how to…
- Log in
- Set up watchlists
- Place a stock trade
- Place an options trade
- Analyze an options trade.
Here’s one of the platform’s intro videos for example.
This tutorials have more in-depth info on…
- Logging in to the platform (including a step-by-step walkthrough)
- The layout of the website
- Creating and customizing watchlists
- Placing a stock trade
- Canceling and replacing a working order
- Monitoring positions and working orders
- Closing a position
- Placing a stop order on an existing position
- Reading and accessing charts
- Buying an option
- Using the Profit/Loss Profile.
You’ll be happy to know that ThinkorSwim awards you $200,000 of “play money” to get you started. (You will also be able to “reset” this balance as many times as you’d like.)
Please keep in mind that even though this isn’t your real money, you’ll want to pretend that it is. That will help you build confidence in yourself so you can get ready to open up your own personal account with actual money.
You should be allocating anywhere between 3% and 7% of your total account value for each new trade. And remember that you need to multiply option prices by 100 to get the true cost (so an option listed at $1.50 would actually cost $150).
Every call or put option gives you the right (but not the obligation) to buy or sell 100 shares of stock at a certain time for a certain price.
Step 3: Practice, Practice, Practice
Now, this is important…
Once you’ve set up your paper trading account and you’ve gotten comfortable entering and exiting trades, we recommend that you paper trade for AT LEAST TWO FULL WEEKS.
Sure, you might feel like you’re missing out on some big winners.
But paper trading for at least two weeks is critically important for your long-term trading success.
You see, trading is a marathon – not a sprint.
Don’t be that member who joins, goes ALL-IN on the first trade they see… and then wonders why they’re not successful.
Please… do this right.
You’re already well on your way to generating life-changing wealth – but you have to lay the proper groundwork.
Your profits depend on it.
So, paper trade for at least two weeks. Give yourself the time to learn.
Then you’ll be ready to unleash yourself for real!
Thank you for taking the proper steps to become a true Pro Trader.
Yours in smart speculation,
The Monument Traders Alliance Team
Legal Note: Nothing published by Monument Traders Alliance should be considered personalized investment advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice. We allow the editors of our publications to recommend securities that they own themselves. However, our policy prohibits editors from exiting a personal trade while the recommendation to subscribers is open. In no circumstance may an editor sell a security before subscribers have a fair opportunity to exit. The length of time an editor must wait after subscribers have been advised to exit a play depends on the type of publication. All other employees and agents must wait 24 hours after publication before trading on a recommendation.
Any investments recommended by Monument Traders Alliance should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. The information found on this website may only be used pursuant to the membership or subscription agreement and any reproduction, copying or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the world wide web), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Monument Traders Alliance, LLC, 14 West Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21201