This is advice that people rarely take, and I'd probably ignore... but I'd recommend investing with a fake portfolio to start (there are "fantasy" investment sites that make this easy).
Making money is important - but I'd also recommend that you invest in things you believe in.
"Past returns are not an indicator of future performance." It would be very easy to be caught in an upswing in some market you're investing in--be it US technology in 2000 / 2006, or Czech railroads in 2009, or whatever--and be stunned when they dive when you start playing for real money. Investing in things one believes in is dangerous advice. Believing is important in many things in hacker culture; investing in public companies can't be one of them. You need more solid evidence, not just faith.
and be stunned when they dive when you start playing for real money
So you're saying practice makes you less prepared to invest for real? Don't follow this logic at all.
What it is good for is understanding the mechanics of the market. There is a lot more to it than buy/sell - even for simple investors are reporting periods, dividends, options, funds, exchange rates, interest rates, etc.
Practice lets you get a feel for those events and how they drive the market and your investing.
You need more solid evidence, not just faith.
When I say believe in, I mean something that fits your world view... Not that you (simply) believe will make money.
If you want to invest purely to make money, that's fine too - I find I'm more successful when I invest in areas that are closer to my own interests/world-view/whatever you want to call it.
I'm saying that "practice" doesn't affect your preparedness for something that's either intrinsically random (and I mean true-random), or affected by knowledge you don't have but others with tons of capital will. You can fool yourself into thinking you're better prepared, but you're not.
"Getting good" in fantasy stocks is the equivalent of flipping a coin a hundred times, and getting some heads streaks towards the end.
"Getting good" in fantasy stocks is the equivalent of flipping a coin a hundred times, and getting some heads streaks towards the end.
So using real money instead mitigates this random process in some way? That doesn't follow.
I'm not going to get into your characterisation of the market. If you believe it random, then I'll let that influence your own investing... However, investing is still has a lot of technical aspects, and practice does improve your understanding of this.
Of course real money doesn't "mitigate the random process in some way." You're just more likely to switch to real money if you seem to be doing well as opposed to poorly, and I'm saying that the appearance of doing well is misplaced.
Making money is important - but I'd also recommend that you invest in things you believe in.