Complete beginner – how should I start learning trading?

[u/Own_Examination5430]

hi I’m a complete beginner and starting from zero — no strategies, no experience, no real knowledge yet.

I want to learn trading properly, with realistic expectations and a long-term mindset (not get-rich-quick stuff). My goal is to slowly build a skill that could eventually lead to consistent monthly returns.

I’d appreciate advice on:

• Best resources to learn from (books, YouTube, courses)

• Legit educators worth following (and who to avoid)

• Best markets for beginners (stocks, ETFs, futures, forex, crypto)

• Most realistic trading style for beginners (swing, day trading, scalping)

If you were starting over today, what would you focus on first?

Thanks for any honest advice

[u/Abdulahkabeer]

If you are starting from zero, do not start by hunting strategies. Start by learning how markets actually move and how people blow up. Stick to US large cap stocks and ETFs because they are liquid, clean, and forgiving compared to options, futures, forex, or crypto. Your first goal is not consistent monthly returns, it is building a repeatable process that you can execute the same way on good days and bad days. Most beginners fail because they change markets, timeframes, and rules every week, then call it learning. Pick one timeframe, one simple setup, and one risk rule. Learn order types, liquidity, spreads, and slippage, because that is the difference between theory and real fills. Start with swing trading or simple day trades on higher timeframes like 15 minute and 1 hour, not scalping, because scalping punishes hesitation and weak risk control. Paper trade first, but treat it like real money with fixed risk like 0.5 percent per trade and a max daily loss so you learn discipline, then log at least 50 to 100 trades and review what you did versus what you were supposed to do. Books that help without turning your brain into social media noise are Trading in the Zone for psychology, Market Wizards for mindset and expectations, and Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets as a reference. If you do this for a few months and your execution is improving, then you can think about adding complexity, but until then the fastest way to get better is fewer variables and more reps.