I Want Money, Lots and Lots of Money

I am currently trying to learn how to trade in the stock market and the Forex market.  There is so much  to learn, and I'm not exactly sure where to begin.  I am currently trying to learn technical analysis, which means looking at a chart of what has happened in the recent past, and determining what will happen in the near future based on past trends of the same type.  I know, it sounds really confusing, but it is really much, much harder than that! You have to look at candlestick charts and know what the different signs are and what they mean for the next minute, hour, day, week, or how ever long you want to hold the currency for.  It is a proven method that many, many traders have used since the late 1700s.  I know it works, its just a matter of learning ALL of the different aspects.

I have found a few sites that allow you to try their software out for 30 days, but thats not enough time to learn everything that I need to learn.  I currently don't have enough money to open an account, so I have to switch back and forth through these different accounts so that I can practice.

The one that I like the most just so happens to let you open a micro-account, which only takes $50 to start.  This is great because it is also the most user friendly software that I have been able to find (www.fxcm.com).

I am also trying to learn how to invest in the stock market.  I am interested in swing trading, which means holding a stock for a few days to a few weeks.  You use the same technical analysis as described above for stocks, so I am killing two birds with one stone by studying that (hopefully!).  Stocks actually seem a little bit easier than currency since you can research the company for days before you actually make your purchase, but knowing which company to choose is the hard part.  I really need to figure out what industries I want to focus on, then I can start researching the companies.  I am thinking about genetics, energy, and medical, but I'm not really sure yet.

I need to save up a little bit more money before I will have enough to put into this little venture.  We are going on vacation next October, so I need to have enough saved for that before my wife will allow me to use $50 for something other than that and bills.  I would really like to make enough in Forex to convince my wife that investing $500 in Scottrade is a good idea ($500 is the minimum for any stock trading site).

If anyone has any tips, ideas, cautionary tales, etc, please feel free to leave a comment.  Thanks!