Reminiscences of a Retail Trader

"Based on actual events."

"...Details the struggles and triumph of a retail trader."

"By retail traders, for retail traders."

"A soon-to-be trading classic!"

Hello FF community!

In an effort to bring some fun and life into the community, and as a thought which I felt could be interesting, I have decided to weave a story about the journey of a fictitious retail trader. Inspired by contributions of everybody on this site!

The story depicts the journey of a retail trader, the various challenges and victories we retail traders face. It opens up the world of retail trading to readers.
Hopefully by reading this, us traders will see from a third-person perspective the common mistakes and successive conquest that are rampant in the retail trading community.

Chapters will be posted periodically, unfortunately I cannot gurantee weekly/monthly posts as it takes quite alot of effort to write compelling narratives.
I will be setting up polls too to survey for ideas which i could incorporate into the story. So that it can become a community-driven thing!

Will Trader X be profitable by the end of the story?

I hope you guys will enjoy it!

Chapter 1: Hooked

10... 20... 25... 20... "Im out!"
I exclaimed to myself as I hit the "Close" button on my brokers platform. The tiny little box on the lower left-hand corner of my screen flashed green, it printed: Realized P/L: $20

I was hooked.

It was the winter of 2016 and I had just closed out of my very first trade on the Eur/Usd with 4 pips. Pretty neat for a first timer.
I am sure most people remember how they started trading. Some people got curious because of an advertisement they saw, promising thousands a month. Some got started because their friends or family roped them in to accompany them in a trading seminar. Some people started with demo accounts first, others jumped in head first with real money. For me, I saw an online banner while surfing the web one day. Promoting how trading can help me to achieve financial freedom.
Regardless of how we got started in trading, we all share the same reason for starting trading: To make money. And it is this very reason that drives man to keep trading.

I didn't know why I made that trade. I didn't know how to trade. Heck I didn't even know what timeframe my chart was on!
All I knew was that I was going to be rich.
Fast forward 6 months and I still think that I am going to be rich. I had completely blown that demo account. But my passion for trading has never been stronger. You can't entirely blame me. Who doesn't blow up on their first try? Besides, the spread were ridiculous; 4 pips on Eur/Usd!

"50 EMA is above 100 EMA"
"5 EMA just crossed 50 EMA"
"Go long!"

I am now trading with my newfound strategy. Gained from spending countless hours scowling the internet, reading trading books and messing around with charts.
I mashed my caculator hastily, there was no time to lose, every pip move in my direction is a pip lost!

"2 times ATR is..."
"1 percent risk means my lot size would be..."
I mumbled to myself, as I keyed in the minor details into my entry order on my barely functioning laptop. A copy of Michael Covel's "Complete Turtle Trader" layed open on my bed, the air reeked of staleness. Wrappers of cartons of eaten food were scattered all over my table. A far cry from the posh offices, multiple screens, bloomberg terminals, and men in suit and ties which I had envisioned in my head.
"I will get there someday" I thought to myself.

I had been watching the charts for the past 4 hours. Waiting for my system's buy signal. And it finally happened.
"You should have picked up coding in colleague!" I mentally lamented myself. It would have certainly made my life much easier if I could code my strategy into an "Expert Advisor".
It was a trend-following strategy. Inspired by the story of the Turtle Traders. And painstakingly back tested manually on the 15 minute chart for the past 3 months.
*Click*
I heaved a sigh of relief as I sent my order to be filled. I didn't want to let this signal slip. It would have wasted 4 hours of my life!
"Okay so now I wait until either I get stopped out, or prices gained by 1 ATR..." I recited the strategy back to myself, fearing that I would forget what to do when the moment comes.

I had been facinated by the famous story of the Turtle Traders; seemingly normal people with no prior trading experience turning into highly profitable traders. If they could do it, so can I! It doesn't sound so hard afterall. Just create a mechinical strategy, wait for the buy/sell signal, place the trade, wait for the exit signal. Rinse and repeat. All that is required is the discipline to stick to your plan. I can do that.
My mind wandered into thoughts of all the things I can buy with my future profits. I don't need a fancy car, just a regular one will do. I will probably spend more on my clothes. Perhaps a few new pair of shoes. Oh yes! Definitely replace my shitty laptop. I started calculating how many percent I should aim for daily in order to hit my profit target.
I had $100 deposited in my account...

Stay Tuned for Chapter 2!

Chapter 2: News

I remember the first time I told people that I am trading FX.
"Forex is a scam!"
"You must be rich!"
"Tell me which stock to buy!"
These are just some of the countless uneducated response I recieved. Its sickening.
"No, no, no. If you choose a good regulated broker you won't get scammed."
"I'm not rich but Im okay."
"Hmm... You should buy, buy FAANG stocks... Thats right, FAANG stocks!" I tried to sound smart. I had read somewhere that FAANG stocks were the next big thing. It was the first thing that came to my mind.

Truth be told I had still not earned anything from trading. In fact, I have already burnt $200 so far. It was nothing wrong with my system... My system was great! I had winning days and losing days, and I probably had more losing days than winning ones. But on average I tend to come up slightly better than breakeven. I wasn't making much but I was technically profitable.
Why am I profitable yet losing money? It was because of... Stupid me, stupid market... Prices were whipsawing non-stop that day and I kept getting stopped out. I got so pissed after about the seventh time that I doubled down on my position and removed my stop loss - an open position. Next thing I knew, a long red candle appeared on my screen. Red started flashing on parts of my brokers platform. "What the f-" I gasped. I couldn't believe it! I was down 60%! The next 10 minutes was spent screaming explicit language at my laptop. I shall save the details on the exact words but it involved some colourful combinations of swear words, mothers and genitalias.

What happened to cause prices to move so much? In short - News!
More specifically, The fed made some dovish comment during FMOC that the markets interpreted as bearish, that sent the USD crashing by 130 pips. And guess who got caught on the wrong side of the trade? Yup! Yours truely.
I stared at the screen in dismay. What am I going to do now? How am I going to earn those money back? Maybe I should hold it longer, maybe prices will return back. I will close out once I breakeven. Or maybe I should just top up my account.
Oh of all times for bad luck to strike!

"You just HAD to be a hero and do something different when there was news!" I mentally slapped myself for deviating from my strategy. At the end of the day, I decided to top up my account balance and start anew. I am just going to treat this loss as a valuable lesson learnt. I can earn that money back, I just need time. I was "profitable" before this right?
I sat myself back down on my squeaky armchair, turned on some soothing music, and waiting for the next signal...


Chapter 3 coming soon!

Keep Going Synicz. A different take on showcasing one's experience, trials and tribulations...