Читать книгу Essential Option Strategies - J. J. Kinahan - Страница 15

Over the years, brokerage firms have developed platforms to help individual investors better understand financial markets and how to buy or sell investment securities. The idea is not new, but the technology is. Virtual platforms offer an advanced way to paper trade, which simply means to write down and track your ideas on paper rather than implementing them with real money in the live market. Paper trading makes a lot of sense when attempting to learn new strategies and ideas.

In essence, a virtual trading platform lets you test-drive ideas without risking a dime. The goal is to help you develop an understanding of various financial instruments and the process of investing, which will help you build confidence as a trader.

Keep in mind that successful virtual trading during one period does not guarantee successful investing of actual funds during a later period, as market conditions are always changing. Backtesting is great for learning but has its limits. As you have probably heard many times, past performance is not an indicator of future results.

Many of the examples throughout this book are pulled from TD Ameritrade's paperMoney® virtual trading platform, and therefore, the bells and whistles will be duly highlighted in later chapters.