String Trades

Salutations,

I'm Aaron. This thread is really just a place for me to post and track who I am (becoming) what I do (exactly) and how I do it (consistently). I have no interest in teaching or arguing with anyone. I have a Trade Explorer and it will be up to you to analyze for your own edification. I'm not in this to impress anyone. I'm in this industry to make money like a legitimate business owner should be. What follows is what I essentially understand of my profession to date. I subscribe to the old adage that if you can't describe what you do to a child - in a manner which they comprehend - odds are you probably don't understand it yourself.

As such I make money when I buy at wholesale and sell at retail prices. If you don't understand that that is how profits are made, then I encourage you to never again go to the supermarket or shop for anything - because that's exactly what you're at the other end of as a consumer - and perhaps that's where you should stay.

If you decide to do this for real, then know as a trader, nay brand it into your being that your primary responsibility lies in exchanging a product from a producer to a consumer, which is commerce. In the markets we represent producers and consumers i.e. whether we're buying or selling respectively. Thus we are like blood cells that enable the market to function as a result of the value (money, time and skill) we invest in it. To borrow an aphorism, "[Traders] make it rain!"

As a logical consequence of our actions in this free market economy, our account is the risk we are paid to take in compensation for the potential of loss we may incur at some point in the form of liquidity, whether that's a bank account, stock in a company or some other form of collateral. Liquidity is what allows an exchange to exchange or transfer anything, like oil in an engine - without it you're not going anywhere - fast.

Fun Fact: Retail traders are a unique breed in that they are at mercy of having no contract or benefactor to fund their forays into the marketplace. As such they categorically do not have the means to move most markets. You can usually find them buying after a period of buying or selling after a period of selling. Professional traders use their liquidity to buy or sell in turn, which means they're typically on the other side of their trade.

Producers create the supply. Consumers create the demand. Producers can manipulate demand, but don't cause it. Consumers can manipulate supply, but don't cause it. It's ridiculous to think otherwise. It would be like saying Picasso's art was created by the critics of his work. The critics don't have the wherewithal to do the work he already did, but I digress. It was my mentor whom said, "The markets are an ongoing supply & demand equation." (Sam Seiden, Vice President of Education at the Online Trading Academy)

And if you're looking for sound mentorship, check-out Sam Seiden at FXStreet. It's the beginning of a proper trading education and one that will at least point you in the right direction towards becoming consistently profitable. I had a lot of help along the way, but when I heard Sam's message, it was the next level. I'd be a stooge if I didn't tell you that much before jumping-in here. That said feel free to comment, but don't expect a reply. I'm simply posting and sharing what I do, which is valuable in its own right. Know I value what you all have to say, but some opinions hold more weight than others and make that discernment. I'd be a fool if I didn't.

Let the education begin. If trading could be entertaining, then perhaps that will be the greatest thing I learn from all this. If you want to know a little more about me, then I encourage you to check out my profile here on Forex Factory. Thank you for your time. Best of luck and may love guide you in all your endeavors. Be disciplined. Be focused. Be open. Be patient.

Giving credit where credit's due, a few notables: Sam Seiden (Online Trading Academy/FXStreet), Clockwork71 (Chris on Forex Factory), Mark Douglas (Author of Trading in the Zone, et al.), Brett Steenbarger (Trading Coach and Psychologist) and of course, Steve (@ NoBrainerTrades.com). They were there for major, positive turning points in my career and I will always be grateful for their spirit of sharing and compassion, without which, who I am today would not be possible. I continue to make what they and many others have shared with me over the years into my own. It's our responsibility as traders to carry on the lineage of this ancient, and perhaps one of the first, professions of humanity: Trading.

From my world to yours -

First things first: It's not about how or what we trade that matters, it's who we are. And that is 100% proprietary. It's about character. It's about respect. It's about honor. Trading's roots are ancient in humanity's evolution. Entire lineages have come before all of us. It may not be perfect, but the knowledge and wisdom you now reap was discovered long before you or any of us were ever born. So be humble, be gracious. If you aren't, then I don't care how much money you take, you will never be a truly successful trader. Moreover I say you won't even become a human being - a nod to the chief spiritual leaders of the Native Americans or Indians.

Consider that all major dialects we now speak were born in the marketplace. Bedazzling me or anyone with dollar signs is the parlor trick of a fool. This is a business. And the business we're in survives only if we make money or bring value to the community by trading successfully over-and-over-and-over. And that has everything to do with who you are. So honor your roots and trade with humility and gratitude for what you vitally contribute, then whatsoever strategy or method you employ is vouchsafed in the principle of Eternity - wherein it shines - free.

And make no mistake that freedom is earned. Point being if you're going to be a professional of this craft for real, then you better know something about the lineage you're about to request joining. They are watching and waiting for you. If you merely take, they will take it from you (and at the most inopportune time at that). If you give, they will give more to you. I mean it's freaking biblical, proverbial, common sense.

The question then becomes: Are you worthy?

The hardest thing for me has been the willingness to follow before I take the lead in my life and career. In fact, it still is. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, traders alike all notoriously struggle with following; they want to fix things first. They want to win. Failure is not an option. They thrill to action, but they easily lose perspective of the bigger picture in the process. What's more they readily confuse progress for process. And yet, each of these professions demands that one first follow, due to the wildly complex milieu each is steeped in. Sheer negligence can cost lives or livelihoods in a heartbeat.

E.g. to underscore the importance of learning to follow first in order to be in the lead, consider that in trading, if we don't go with the predominate order flow in the market at-any-given-point we lose. In engineering, if an Engineer doesn't go with the predominate forces at play, they lose. In law, if a Lawyer doesn't go with the predominance of evidence in the case, they lose. In medicine, if a Doctor doesn't go with the predominate condition of the patient, they force a procedure and lose.

Learn to follow before you lead. And when you lead, do so according to principle and exemplify sound design, which can only come through proper understanding and compassion or education. One's strength and passion must be tempered by loss and infused with a clear perspective of the field of discipline that's now under their care. In short, it's a sacrifice. One pours their life into it with the intent of nurturing, observing and guiding the new life or trade, if you will - into a greater potential for gain. No matter what it is.

Are you beginning to see how integral you are is to everything you do as a trader? What you have then is a result of a highly disciplined focus that's based in principle and heart. For there are scant to no rituals of initiation for being a trader, let alone a human being that I'm aware of in-this-day-and-age. Most of us lose out because of this in-my-opinion. We lack the necessary support and challenge. Thus it takes much longer to become successful now as a result of a lack of proper teaching and education in this field, and virtually every other. Mostly because we're left to fend for ourselves nearly right out the gate.

As it is most of us only know the slow, painful process of loss that, had we not stuck it out, motivated by our fierce persistence to learn and do it right - we would not be here. How can we initiate one into this world and spare them the sorrow of losing so much (support) along the way? I don't believe in levels of initiation. I just believe one should come open to the field and that we simply facilitate, guide, observe and co-create or nurture them along the way. This is perhaps what a mentor truly is or should be for us. Even now.

Pay your respect for the mentors you've had because they are patiently waiting for you.

From my heart to yours -

There's just something profoundly missing in all this strategy this, what works for you that. To me it's not about saviorship, as in this guru or that system "saved me," which is what I think many are secretly searching for because they've been conditioned to do so by society. And I'd agree that is detrimental to one's mindset. But it's really about saving ourselves (in trading) and that requires mastery. And mastery can only be built upon a solid foundation of the basic composition of a field that's diligently practiced and repeated over-and-over-and-over again. It's like a master pianist practicing basic scales before a performance of Mozart.

Thus what's tragic to me is the loss of awareness of what one's actually doing in trading. It's the loss of the basic tenets that preserve our craft. And it's the sacrifice we make that deserves respect because it requires a commitment or at least an enrollment to follow a master, not merely compliance to be great [at anything]. Even then, nothing's guaranteed! And how can one truly commit to be great at anything without first striving to understand and become proficient at the basic rudiments of the subject?

So, when all is said and done, I want to be right and learn because that's what consistently profitable traders do. The origin of trading seems hardwired in our make up as a species. It's an exchange of energy that's taking place, which in reality borders on the sacred, but we've lost most of that sense in pop culture. Where everything revolves around control and immediate gratification, fast, then faster, faster and... And I tell you it's this loss of perspective that is more detrimental than any financial loss. After all trading requires patience! That's just basic. Yet so many fail because they haven't cultivated it. I'm guilty of this from-time-to-time as well...

Taking the careless road, as if life is just one eclectic grab bag with no real discipline or purpose necessary, to carry on like an automaton - perhaps in another conversation we could share our respective opinions on the purpose of copyright law. For there are such standards and codes of conduct in place for a reason. Nobody wants to be marginalized, but there are better ways to do things than others sometimes. At-the-risk of repeating myself, those better ways eventually, hopefully become the standard.

Ethics are also built on standards of a sort, which have a profound impact on how we communicate. Thus please consider it an honor that I criticized one's thread in pursuit of clarity in communication in this light. And I hope that at the same time you can see I can agree with whatever your argument may be at the level you make it. Then take it a notch further, if I'm able.

You're welcome. And thank you as well. I'm not here to just criticize or evaluate, but create something new as well. Leave the critics for saviors willing to save them. I desire to be a master for the sheer joy of practicing my craft.

Good Morning Aaron,


Interesting thought you have here... Well done actually. I will make comment to one specific statement:


"I want to be right and learn because that's what consistently profitable traders do"


I would rephrase: "I want to be profitable and learn because that's what consistently profitable traders do".


As stated before, the need to be right, the thinking in terms of being right, has to do with our ego. Here is an example: I enter a trade. The trade goes against me and I am stopped out. My SL was place correctly in relation to my equity and trading plan. The trade was executed correctly. Even though I took a loss (e.g. I was not "right" on this trade). It is still a successful trade...Many would ask: “How can this be? How can you say you where successful? You took a loss. You where not right.


I am executing according to plan and equity. A simple equation I came up with: Preservation of Capital + Trading Consistently = Profit ... In that order.


So for me it is never about being "right" as it is about be profitable. Is what I am doing/trading/executing profitable? Over the years I have had to really force myself to not think in terms of being "right"... It has been a challenge to be sure but, it has made a major difference is how I trade. One of the aspects of this change of thinking is I really do not think about past trades... Winners or Losers... I do keep a trade log and review consistently. But I do not find myself thinking of past trades when I am in a current trade. I believe the vast majority of traders do think of their past trades while in a current trade... Especially the losses... This has an adverse effect on the current trade.

This last statement I really like !!!

Leave the critics for saviors willing to save them. I desire to be a master for the sheer joy of practicing my craft.

Well done
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