Over time we learn new things through reading, watching and experiencing. We evolve through the processes. Over the past 5 years I have had a number of strong paradigm shifts or commonly known ‘AH HA’ moments. These have changed my perspective and allowed me to move to a new level. I was considering starting a new journal but decided that people still come here and read from this one. My goal is to continue being profitable and to build a solid foundation for a time when I choose to invest a healthy starting capital that will allow me to move from manual labouring to a business that has more opportunities to grow than most people either recognise or understand.
This business, for those willing to treat it this way and to allow themselves the opportunity can be one of the greatest forms of income, whether you tackle as a full time venture or use it as a means to supplement an income. If you become successful at it you will be able to enjoy the freedoms of a business that allows almost every possible freedom.
2009 was really a strong breakout for me. I took a risk, a big risk. I took the risk of simplifying. I took the risk of learning how to move back to the basics of Price Action, Support/Resistance levels and the biggest risk moving back to daily and weekly timeframes. Now most would say thats not a risk, but considering my trading life prior to this was a complex field of this (EMAs, SMAs, Stoch) and that (Bollinger bands Para Sar) and everything else in between (more and more squiggles without including TL, S/R and Pivot Points), while trading every time frame that I could catch a move on and loose in the process, this was a monumental change that was long overdue.
In 2009 I became aware of 2 great threads here at FF. James16s and DIBs. Both offer simplicity, PA and a wealth of information. Both also teach you that experience is the key to moving forward. Taking the time to read the threads, digest as much information and put it into play. Taking the time to trade charts, WAIT for setups and execute trades when the moment arrives and also to let the trade play out without emotional involvement. This is experience and 2009 had alot of it. I made some money for the first time in 5 years, while not every month, but come the end of the year I was ahead of my starting point.
While implementing everything I learnt and enjoying the thrills of making some coin I was also, for the first time, prepared for the losses. Trading is great when you are making money but when you are losing money, and if it happens a few times in a row, you can lose focus. The hardest thing about trading is losing but have the discipline to move onto the next trade and continuing as if it hadn’t happened was just as tough. The most common mistake that we make is chopping and changing when this happens in the HOPE that we will find something that doesn’t lose. Trading DIBs for a couple of months had me seeing the highs and the lows of trading. Feb, Mar and April were great months that had some good returns; May through about Aug saw some frustrating times. These served a purpose. I am still here.
SO we are now in 2010. I have moved from trading primarily Inside Bars to now focusing on Price Action at key areas. I have over the past year worked on my trading approach, this year I will be looking to set it in concrete and I will be aiming for results to start building a future.
So the business model will include some of the following.
1) Breakouts- Every trade that is planned and executed will be by my rules so this means market orders do not exist. For those new to trading you should be setting orders for the MARKET to come to YOU. That means STOP and LIMIT orders. The biggest benefit of these are that 9/10 if your analysis is wrong then your trade will not be executed. In the event you get faked then you will already have accepted a reasonable measure of risk that you are prepared for
2) Daily and Weekly charts- These will be the focus. Trading hourly charts and 4 hourly charts in 2009 was great. They got me to spot setups, take trades and work on a lot of psychological aspects. The reason I am looking for daily and weekly charts is simple, Strength. Daily and weekly charts are where I have my lines and Price Action and these charts have more strength and less noise.
3) Risk- For the most part I was trading with 1% and 2% in 2009. This worked well in the event I caught a candle where the risk was small because it rapidly accelerated the reward. In the event that I caught a candle of 20 pips, even at 1% I could make 10% or more over the course of a couple of weeks. I will now be making adjustments based on what I see but cannot see risking more than 3% on good set ups.
4) Profit taking- This has changed for me and it is still user defined and completely discretionary however as I am now looking at higher timeframes I will be looking to ensure that profits don’t get wasted and that opportunities to lock in will be taking. My ultimate goal is still to trade for the elusive ‘long tail’ however it is not my focus. The reason is more or less in my account growth goal for the year which I will set for around 20-25%. The business goal for me is longevity, trust and comfort. If I can achieve this growth over a number of years then I will have set a strong foundation of trust. Trust in myself to carry out the tasks, trust in my analysis and execution. Comfort is something I hope to afford myself. It will be a measure of how much I am prepared to continue to invest in this business as time goes on.
My goal to anyone reading or following along is to be as open and honest with everything I do. Many selfless people have devoted their time to helping new traders and also struggling midterm traders. I do not know everything and my time in trading is still very small however by sharing my thoughts and having others share theirs hopefully we can have movements in our paradigms and evolve through what we learn from each other. So feel free to drop in, say hello and post a chart or trade and the reasons why. I will endeavour to do the very same on a daily basis where possible.
This thread is to remain positive and friendly. There are no promises, no recommendations on how, what, where and when you should trade and anything that is recorded here, by myself or others, is purely for reflection. As I have mentioned before, this is a business and it could be the best business in the world if you are prepared for it. You can, when you are ready, when you have enough trust and conviction in your trading make a decent income for the time you put in. I have been in the manual labour force for over a decade and it really doesn’t give you a great reward for effort. In time, there is no hurry, I would love to be able to trade multiple contracts/standard lots and let the market pay my bills.
Keep it simple, trade setups as they occur and don’t just jump in naked because you want to trade.
Thank you and Welcome all
Razor
This business, for those willing to treat it this way and to allow themselves the opportunity can be one of the greatest forms of income, whether you tackle as a full time venture or use it as a means to supplement an income. If you become successful at it you will be able to enjoy the freedoms of a business that allows almost every possible freedom.
2009 was really a strong breakout for me. I took a risk, a big risk. I took the risk of simplifying. I took the risk of learning how to move back to the basics of Price Action, Support/Resistance levels and the biggest risk moving back to daily and weekly timeframes. Now most would say thats not a risk, but considering my trading life prior to this was a complex field of this (EMAs, SMAs, Stoch) and that (Bollinger bands Para Sar) and everything else in between (more and more squiggles without including TL, S/R and Pivot Points), while trading every time frame that I could catch a move on and loose in the process, this was a monumental change that was long overdue.
In 2009 I became aware of 2 great threads here at FF. James16s and DIBs. Both offer simplicity, PA and a wealth of information. Both also teach you that experience is the key to moving forward. Taking the time to read the threads, digest as much information and put it into play. Taking the time to trade charts, WAIT for setups and execute trades when the moment arrives and also to let the trade play out without emotional involvement. This is experience and 2009 had alot of it. I made some money for the first time in 5 years, while not every month, but come the end of the year I was ahead of my starting point.
While implementing everything I learnt and enjoying the thrills of making some coin I was also, for the first time, prepared for the losses. Trading is great when you are making money but when you are losing money, and if it happens a few times in a row, you can lose focus. The hardest thing about trading is losing but have the discipline to move onto the next trade and continuing as if it hadn’t happened was just as tough. The most common mistake that we make is chopping and changing when this happens in the HOPE that we will find something that doesn’t lose. Trading DIBs for a couple of months had me seeing the highs and the lows of trading. Feb, Mar and April were great months that had some good returns; May through about Aug saw some frustrating times. These served a purpose. I am still here.
SO we are now in 2010. I have moved from trading primarily Inside Bars to now focusing on Price Action at key areas. I have over the past year worked on my trading approach, this year I will be looking to set it in concrete and I will be aiming for results to start building a future.
So the business model will include some of the following.
1) Breakouts- Every trade that is planned and executed will be by my rules so this means market orders do not exist. For those new to trading you should be setting orders for the MARKET to come to YOU. That means STOP and LIMIT orders. The biggest benefit of these are that 9/10 if your analysis is wrong then your trade will not be executed. In the event you get faked then you will already have accepted a reasonable measure of risk that you are prepared for
2) Daily and Weekly charts- These will be the focus. Trading hourly charts and 4 hourly charts in 2009 was great. They got me to spot setups, take trades and work on a lot of psychological aspects. The reason I am looking for daily and weekly charts is simple, Strength. Daily and weekly charts are where I have my lines and Price Action and these charts have more strength and less noise.
3) Risk- For the most part I was trading with 1% and 2% in 2009. This worked well in the event I caught a candle where the risk was small because it rapidly accelerated the reward. In the event that I caught a candle of 20 pips, even at 1% I could make 10% or more over the course of a couple of weeks. I will now be making adjustments based on what I see but cannot see risking more than 3% on good set ups.
4) Profit taking- This has changed for me and it is still user defined and completely discretionary however as I am now looking at higher timeframes I will be looking to ensure that profits don’t get wasted and that opportunities to lock in will be taking. My ultimate goal is still to trade for the elusive ‘long tail’ however it is not my focus. The reason is more or less in my account growth goal for the year which I will set for around 20-25%. The business goal for me is longevity, trust and comfort. If I can achieve this growth over a number of years then I will have set a strong foundation of trust. Trust in myself to carry out the tasks, trust in my analysis and execution. Comfort is something I hope to afford myself. It will be a measure of how much I am prepared to continue to invest in this business as time goes on.
My goal to anyone reading or following along is to be as open and honest with everything I do. Many selfless people have devoted their time to helping new traders and also struggling midterm traders. I do not know everything and my time in trading is still very small however by sharing my thoughts and having others share theirs hopefully we can have movements in our paradigms and evolve through what we learn from each other. So feel free to drop in, say hello and post a chart or trade and the reasons why. I will endeavour to do the very same on a daily basis where possible.
This thread is to remain positive and friendly. There are no promises, no recommendations on how, what, where and when you should trade and anything that is recorded here, by myself or others, is purely for reflection. As I have mentioned before, this is a business and it could be the best business in the world if you are prepared for it. You can, when you are ready, when you have enough trust and conviction in your trading make a decent income for the time you put in. I have been in the manual labour force for over a decade and it really doesn’t give you a great reward for effort. In time, there is no hurry, I would love to be able to trade multiple contracts/standard lots and let the market pay my bills.
Keep it simple, trade setups as they occur and don’t just jump in naked because you want to trade.
Thank you and Welcome all
Razor
