LONDON, England – Trading in the markets is going to be a long-term challenge and my education is still far from complete, despite all I've learned over the past month.

I'd like to thank all those who've helped me in my quest: Ryan O'Doherty, James Hughes and Ashraf Laidi at CMC Markets, David Jones and his team at IG Index, David Buik for his invaluable advice and, of course, Robbie Burns, the Naked Trader.

If I've inspired you to become a Rookie Trader too then I wish you good fortune. The only advice I can give you is that everything you need to be able to trade successfully is, with an Internet connection, out there and freely available to you wherever you are and whatever your income.

Remember: study hard and be patient. Don't expect to be making big profits within weeks. Please bear in mind that without proper research it's easier to lose money than make it. But take it slow and steady and who knows what you'll have achieved by this time next year.

Good luck. I promise to come back and update you on my progress every now and then over time.

LONDON, England – Several days have elapsed since my very useful meeting with Robbie Burns, a.k.a. the Naked Trader. Robbie's advice and encouragement have helped me narrow down just what sort of trader I'm going to be as I try my hand on the money markets.

I’ve decided that I'm not going to trade currencies or indexes as I don't have the time to sit in front of my computer all day waiting to take advantage of intra-day price movements. Also, I don't have nearly enough experience with the trading platforms to get in and out of positions quickly.

I won't be trading commodities for the moment either. I just don't know enough about the commodities markets, but I will start to follow gold in the hope that one day I'll feel that I know enough to spot opportunities. That leaves just shares - and UK companies in particular. As a financial journalist it's what I know best having followed the ups and downs of the stock markets, day in day out, for the last 15 years.

So, I'm not going to be a day trader. In reality I'm going to be somewhere between a swing trader, who looks to take advantage of medium-term price changes, and a trend trader, who looks to take advantage of longer-term price trends.

 Now that I know who I am, I suppose that the moment of truth has arrived. It's time for me to stop paper trading and commit my own money to a position.

I've spent the last few days looking for companies that fit Robbie’s exacting criteria. I've been getting up at 5am and going to bed after midnight, trawling through data on the web.

So far I've come up with a list of eight companies that I think are worth watching using technical analysis - but I'm only part way through the list of FTSE 250 companies. I'll be researching and adding to my list for weeks to come.

One of my companies, which is in the defense sector, is due to release its annual report in the very near future. The "fundamentals" (i.e. my research into the company – its profit/loss, previous performance and outlook etc), look good and technical analysis is giving me a strong buy signal.

Heck, let's go for it!

When the market has settled, around 40 minutes into the session, I place a "long"spread bet, meaning that I expect the share price to rise, at £1 ($1.63) a point. I place a trailing stop loss below the level where I think it may be triggered by normal market "noise." And that's it. I'm in.

Because of the stop loss I know that my total potential loss on this trade, if it goes against me, will amount to £28 ($46), which represents a little more than two percent of my total available capital.

A heart-stopping moment comes several days later when the World Bank releases its revised economic outlook for 2009 and the markets head south. But luck is on my side. My company's share price holds firm. The next day the company releases a very healthy annual report and the share price rockets nearly 100 points in a day! The next day it rises even further and the day after it rises again.

I'd love to be able to report that I rode the price rise all the way to the top, but I didn't. I played safe and got out 88 points higher, realising a profit of £88 ($144), improving on my risk-to-reward strategy of 2:1. With time and experience I'll learn to ride the price and take profits when the market tells me that the share is overbought. But for the moment I’m happy to have made money. It feels great.

So, my first trade was a success. I'm under no illusion though – not every trade will go my way. In fact, I'm prepared for the majority of trades to go against me. But, as Robbie Burns was at pains to point out, the trick is to micro-manage my positions so that I get out of negative trades long before they can seriously erode my capital, while riding the winners. The aim is for profits to outweigh losses. This way seven out of 10 trades could go against me - but I could still make money.

I haven't traded again since my first success. I'm in no hurry, much to the frustration of my colleagues, who can’t understand why I'm not making or losing a fortune. I'm still steadily building my list of companies to watch and I'm waiting patiently for trading signals. I'll go at my own pace and won't trade recklessly, jumping in and out every time I see the vaguest of opportunities. I want to be sure that I have the best possible chance of winning before I go in again.

In the meantime I am the angler, watching his lines for a bite.

* How does Adrian Finighan fare in his career as a rookie trader? Watch Quest Means Business Monday to Friday: 1800 GMT London, 2000 CET, 0300 HK.

LONDON, England – Not a good start to the day. Sitting in front of the computer last night I naively decided that the FTSE100 had fallen far enough and so I used some more of my imaginary pot of money to "go long" on it, i.e. I expect it to rise in the next trading session.

I was delighted to find this morning that the FTSE 100 had indeed risen, but was dismayed that my trade had closed out at a loss overnight. I had completely forgotten that as markets can be traded 24 hours a day it is the futures price that determines the bid and offer prices when the real market is closed. The spread between the bid and offer prices tends to widen overnight and my FTSE 100 trade was tripped out by an over-cautious stop loss.

Lesson learned. Must place stop losses far enough away not to get stopped out by normal market movements.

Later in the day I meet Robbie Burns, whose book "The Naked Trader" to some extent provided the inspiration for the "Rookie Trader" series. Personable, calm, witty and great company, Robbie is an inspiration, the perfect antidote to the stress of the adrenalin-fueled trading floors of the past few days.

A former journalist, Robbie has quit the rat race and now makes a very good living trading from his waterside home and through his book he’s willing to show you and me how we could do the same. Robbie has a knack for spotting undervalued or overbought companies and for picking just the right moment to trade them. His trading record is published on his Website for anyone to scrutinize and in my inexperienced view it makes for very impressive reading.

Fortified by tea and toast (toast plays a big part in Robbie’s trading, as you’ll find out if you read his book), Robbie generously takes me through his system for vetting potential trades. He shows me how to find and read a company statement using a system of "traffic lights," how to interpret their profit and loss account and how to find out how weighed down by debt a company is. Once he’s found his potential trades Robbie switches to technical analysis and waits patiently for a buy or sell signal. He’s like an angler watching his line for a bite, but with 20 or more floats on the water at once, not just one or two.

As he talks a penny drops, a light comes on above my head, and I start to grin. Suddenly it all makes sense and for the first time I can see my trading potential. The possibilities are endless. I can do this. I just needed Robbie to put it all into perspective. It’s not rocket science, Robbie explains. Common sense, good money management, a "Mr Spock" mentality and methodical research will pay off.

Invigorated by Robbie’s infectious enthusiasm I head for home, determined to spend every spare moment over the next couple of days coming up with my own list of potential trades ready to cast my own lines onto the water.

 * How does Adrian Finighan fare in his career as a rookie trader? Watch Quest Means Business Monday to Friday: 1800 GMT London, 2000 CET, 0300 HK.

LONDON, England – Today is the last day of school and it's when I get to place my first trade. Before that happens though I'm back in the classroom for perhaps the most important lesson of all - risk, money management and analysis.

Ryan O'Doherty, my tutor at CMC, explains the concept of risk-to-reward ratios. He explains in far greater detail than I can go into here that I should only ever commit a small portion of my capital to any trade and that I should be looking for a risk-to-reward ratio of 2 to 1. So, I should be willing to risk, for example, £50 ($82) if there is a reasonable chance of my profiting by £100.

How do I know that there is a reasonable chance of my doubling my money? Well that's where fundamental and technical analysis come in.

Fundamental analysis means finding out everything I can about the instrument I'd like to trade. If it's a share, for example, what shape is the company in? What does their latest company report say? What sector does it operate in and how are other companies in that sector performing? What is happening to the market in general? What in the news could be affecting the company or the wider share market in general?

Technical analysis involves studying the performance of a particular instrument over time by using graphical indicators such as moving averages and price oscillators. Study technical analysis long and hard enough and you can spot the best moments to buy and sell, Ryan explains.

Ryan asks me if there's a particular trade I'd like to place there and then. It just so happens that shares in Barclays Bank have tumbled on this particular day as a foreign investor has sold a large number of shares. I know that Richard Quest has bought Barclays shares on behalf of Quest Means Business and is following their movement over time on the program. It seems reasonable to suggest going long - that means that I expect the price to rise - on Barclays.

A few taps of the keyboard later and I'm in. My first trade is placed. I commit £50 from my pot of imaginary money, looking to make £100. I set a stop loss 50 points below the price at which I came in and that’s it.

The price of Barclays dips further throughout the day. My heart sinks as I watch the price ticking ever lower, though fortunately it gets nowhere near triggering my stop loss. I try to put it out of my mind and get on with the rest of our filming schedule, but I leave CMC later with a knot in my stomach and a sense of failure hanging over me. This wasn't the way I wanted the “classroom” part of my training to end.

 * How does Adrian Finighan fare in his career as a rookie trader? Watch Quest Means Business Monday to Friday: 1800 GMT London, 2000 CET, 0300 HK.

LONDON, England– Another beautiful sunny morning and I'm back in the City. It's a shame, but I'm not feeling nearly as bright as the weather. I was up very late reading through the course work and trying to get my head around the technicalities of trading. I also slept fitfully, dwelling upon what David Buik said yesterday about my needing to have money as one of my gods.

After much thought I've decided to take what David said with a big pinch of salt. Yes, money may not be a major motivating factor for me, but as personality types go I'm very competitive. I like to win and will work very hard to do so. I've come to the conclusion that my trading motivation will be to pit my wits against the market and win. Whether my profit is hundreds or thousands of pounds or just a few pence won't matter - just so long as I come out on top. The challenge will be more important than the reward.

Am I heading for a fall?

Back in the classroom and Ryan O'Doherty at CMC Markets takes me through the process of placing a trade. I'm introduced to the order ticket and the spread, the difference between the price at which I can buy or sell. I'm shown how to calculate margin, which is effectively the deposit I have to put down in order to trade.

I'm also shown how to place stop and limit orders, both of which will get me out of trades at a pre-determined price, realizing my profits or limiting any loss. It's all beginning to make sense and I leave at lunchtime feeling much more optimistic.

Over at IG Index it's more of the same. The trading platforms look very different but do exactly the same thing. Order tickets, spreads, deposits, stops and limits. Yes, I think I’ve got it.

Before heading for home and another evening of course work I visit the London Metal Exchange, a global trading centre for the likes of aluminium, copper and zinc. The LME is the last open outcry trading pit in Europe. Traders have been yelling across its trading floors since 1877. As I arrive it's nearly 5pm and the markets are about to close. Traders are ramping up the noise and striking last minute deals. The hubbub is unbelievable.

It's amazing to watch but I should imagine that it's an incredibly stressful environment in which to work. Open cry trading requires a particular breed of person. It wouldn’t suit me and I thank my lucky stars that when I finally get to start trading I'll be in the quiet comfort of my own home office.

* How does Adrian Finighan fare in his career as a rookie trader? Watch Quest Means Business Monday to Friday: 1800 GMT London, 2000 CET, 0300 HK.