Well take a look at that. An AB=CD lining up with a smaller AB=CD, both meeting at fibonacci confluence before reversing direction and shooting up for profit. It doesn't get any better that that does it. Actually it does, because  I didn't actually get involved in this trade. 

I predicted this setup in the live room this morning a good half hour before in actually completed, giving me all the time in the world to place limit orders and stops. The reason I didn't is because...well it doesn't fit my plan at the moment for aggressive entry.  So now the question is why am I so happy that this pattern completed, or why aren't I upset that I was unable to get involved. I'm happy because even though I'm not trading this as an aggressive entry at the moment, I am keeping stats on how many time this type of setup occurs and the results of each time. As discussed in the room today, I often revise my trading plan about twice a year.  Its at this point in time where I pull up all of my notes and see if I want to either change an entry strategy, add a new pattern to trade, or even stop trading a certain way. I'm in no rush to do this as I understand that backtesting always comes first. That's why I wait patiently on the sidelines during trades like these knowing that I may be missing profits now, but in the future I will be able to make much more. Last year I added Bat patterns to my trading plan and they have become my favorite pattern to trade. 

I'm always looking for a way to improve, but I also know that I just can't jump in and trade every idea I have. I need to be smart about it. 

Becoming a professional trader has been a dream come true so far. When I first started a few years back I had no clue that I would be in the position that I am in today so soon. My original goals were to make money in the market and continue to grow my account while managing a small portfolio for other clients. Although I did start out that way, I have now been given a taste of the education side of things and I like it a lot more. 

I'm not sure if it's the years of being involved in team sports, or working summer camps that did it, but my ultimate goal in life is to help others. I know it sounds cheesy, but ask any of my friends, it's just the  way I am.  Anyway, like many of you I've had dreams of being a millionaire since I was a young child, but I also told myself that once I make my money I want to help others make it as well.  I now feel like I'm getting the opportunity to do this with the help of my trading mentor and good friend Jason. Recently I've been given the chance to run a live trading room that acts as a support system for new and seasoned traders. It's cool because I've been getting a lot of positive feedback saying that I'm keeping them from making as many errors as well as helping them with their trading psychology. We're also making a ton on money in the room which is a plus as well.  Because this room has been going so well I was also recently asked to become a contributor to an insider trading group called the "6 Figure Syndicate." At first I expected just to post my trading ideas or other cool stuff that I may see in the market. But to my surprise I've actually been involved in some pretty good conversations with a few of the members. And being the trading nerd that I am, I love it.

Now back to the original reason I started writing this post (which actually slipped my mind as I started thinking of other reasons). The question was why do I love trading so much? Well aside from the fact that I get to be my own boss and make my own work schedule. I get excited because trading can be done from anywhere.  Currently I'm in South Carolina which is a good 10+ hours from where I call home.  This is a trip that I take every year with the Track & Field team that I coach. In the past I would have to beg in order to get off from work, miss a week's paycheck then have to hustle for more hours the following week in order to stay even with the bills and what not. This year I simply packed up my home office and took it on the road with me.  Yes I have to adjust the time that I run the live room do to our teams practice schedule but other than that I'm able to carry on my trading business as if nothing happened. Oh and I get a beautiful view of the beach each morning.

Thinking into the future, the freedom to work from any location could potentially be very helpful because if my wife-to-be ever gets a job offer where she is forced to relocate, I would have no problem packing up right with her and allowing her to follow her dreams. 

Alright back to the beach traders I'll talk to you later in the week. 

Having a strong trading psyche was the key to turning my trading around and it all started with a single word.

Kaizen: Japanese for continuous improvement and the change for better. This philosophy was implicated by many Japanese businesses after the Second World War. “By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste” by improving efficiency. To put it in short, the Kaizen philosophy believes that they key to achieving your ultimate goals is to improve little by little, rather than trying to go for the whole thing at once.

When I was first introduced to the Forex market (like many traders) I spent the majority of my time surfing the web looking for any and every bit of information I could find on trading. purchased DVD sets, hundreds of YouTube videos, read many books and articles, joined trading forums, etc. Since technical analysis was new to me, I believed every bit of information that I saw and thought that each new technique I learned was my holy grail to success. Fast forward two years and the main item that stuck with me has been a singles word; Kaizen. I’ve learned a lot throughout my first few years of trading and currently I’m at the point where I can attack the market using numerous strategies and tactics However, despite having all of the knowledge in the world the Kaizen philosophy is what allowed me to get to the position I’m at now.

It was not even two years ago when I began trading full time. A lot of hard work, disappointment, kicking, screaming, and even depression happened before that point in time, but I’ll save those stories for another time. Anyway, after an incredible education through a Pro Trader Course, I felt as if I was more than prepared to trade the markets live and begin my path to becoming a professional trader. I had a trade plan written out, completed back testing, I even a client that trusted me to trade his money. In my mind I was all set and ready to make millions. I vividly remember taking the train home from New York City (after meeting with my client) and having a quarter million dollar check in my pocket saying “this is it Akil, this is way to do it.” By “do it” I meant become a millionaire by the time I turn 30 which was one of my goals from when I was in middle school. Long story short, after having a profitable first two months of trading I ended up having a psychological meltdown which resulted in me almost blowing my full account along with over $50,000 of my clients money. After cutting ties with the client do to disparate viewpoints on trading, I took long look at myself in the mirror and told myself “something has to change.”

This change began and ended with me when I realized that if I wanted to become a successful trader, and a millionaire, it wasn’t going to happen overnight. It was going to take hard, consistent work over a period of time. This is when I first began adapting the Kaizen philosophy to my trading. I knew that I was still rather inexperienced in the field and that I was still going to make rookie trader mistakes so my goal wasn’t to become a perfect trader overnight. Rather, it was to become a little bit better each day, week and month. Just as the Kaizen philosophy says,, small, continuous improvements. In order to do this I began taking detailed notes (and pictures of the charts) every time I made a trading mistake. Whether it was something as little as trailing stops too soon or something more major like missing a trade entirely. I would force myself to remember each “dumb move” as I called it and try not to make the same mistake again. This was rough at first as I constantly made mistake after mistake after mistake, but over time I found myself making less and less. After a few months of sticking with this approach I could feel myself slowly improving and becoming a more efficient trader. Yes, I was learning more about the market and was able to understand it better strictly due to the time I spend watching it. But as I went back through my month to month results, I noticed that the amount of mistakes I was making was significantly decreasing and this had a direct affect on my winning percentage and the profit I was taking in.

Today I hold the position of Live Room Moderator with the same group that originally educated me on the market. It’s such an honor to feel that the company entrusts me with the responsibility of working with a room full of traders looking to learn or turn their trading around as well. I still don’t like to call it a success story yet because I personally feel that I am very far away from my ceiling and overall trading goals, but I do recognize that I made it over the first hurdle. Do I owe it to a magical system, a secret money management strategy, or simply being a better trader than others out there? No. I owe it to one thing, and that’s the will and desire to get better. Having the mindset that trying to become a little bit better each day in the market will eventually allow me to achieve my long term goals as a trader has helped a lot and I recommend that you give it a try whether it be in trading or another aspect of your life. I’ll end this article with a quote from the first page of my trading plan. “…I believe that people only fail because they give up before they have the chance to succeed.”

The following post is from a good trading friend of mine named Rick. About a month ago I discovered his website site and fell in love with what he had to offer. Since then we've been in contact  and he's agreed to share some of his knowledge with us. I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did and for much more I highly recommend that that you check out his trading site at  http://www.protradenetwork.com/  

Ever wonder “What is the most significant trait shared among successful traders?” The answer is preparation. Doing most of the work before the trade occurs. Studying and knowing all of the possibilities before the trade is executed. Being ready to attack, not just react.

Remember the saying “Knowledge is power.” That is not entirely true . . . Knowledge is only potential power and what you do with that knowledge will determine its power.

We must be ready for anything. That means thorough knowledge of our trade plan, market structure and what constitutes a valid signal. All of these must be aligned before we place a trade. All most all of the work required takes place long before we ever enter the market.

Another essential trait successful traders share is the ability to be disciplined. They have the ability to control their trading state (emotions) and their focus. Always remember we cannot control the market, all we can do is control our response.  

Why do traders hesitate even when they get a valid signal? The number one reason is they don’t know the probability of the outcome. Why? They have not thoroughly tested their trading system and plan to know the probabilities. If you know your entry, stops and targets beforehand, you can eliminate the emotional investment in any trade.

“Your life will not change when you know what to do; it will change when you do what you know.” – Anonymous

What are you doing every day to arm yourself with the knowledge to conquer the markets? What pain are you avoiding that is holding you back; preventing you from achieving the discipline and control necessary to be successful? What is keeping you from making the commitment to get the work done so you can experience the unlimited upside the market can provide?

The Success Equation:

Preparation = Confidence

Confidence = Execution

Execution = Repetition

Repetition = Habit

Habit = Discipline

Discipline = Serenity

Don’t be another market casualty. Dedicate yourself to winning the battle before it is fought; study, prepare and then attack. Let fear and pain be the other guy’s problem while you enter the markets with a well-crafted plan, relentless approach and a fearless attitude.

Be willing to do what others won’t and you’ll get what others can’t – acquisition of a lucrative skill and the payoff of consistent results that will provide limitless possibilities.

In the trading game, you’re either making money or making excuses.

Decide to start making money.

Rick

Pro Trader Network (   http://www.protradenetwork.com/ )

I got the idea for this post after picking out today's Quote of the Day from Auguste Rodin which read "Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." I bring this topic up a lot in the live room a lot, but my greatest learning experiences as a trader came from losing money.  After completing the Pro Trader Course I felt as if I had all of the tools necessary to be a dominant trader. HA! Was I ever wrong! I learned quickly that my trading psychology needed a lot of work and that although I learned about it, I really wasn't up to par on the trade management side of things.  Over the past few weeks I've been making a lot of comparisons between  trading and sports. Well here's one more. In both cases you can practice, practice, practice all you want, but as a rookie, you really don't learn the intricacies of the game until you get out on the field and start taking your bumps and bruises. Same thing with driving, when you're first on the road early in the morning when no traffic is around its awfully easy to master steering and accelerating and braking. However, it isn't until after we get our licenses and we start driving on a regular basis, that the real learning begins.

While watching the TV series Wall Street Warriors Season 2 (which is great by the way) there were a lot of good moments that caught my attention.  In one case there was a newbie trader that just signed on to work for a day-trading company.  After passing the interview, they told her that she would have to go through her first six weeks (I think) of trading using a demo account in order to learn the ropes.  They also said that it takes about six months to become a consistently profitable trader.  After hearing this I went back and looked at the results of my first six months trading and they went as follows: 

SEPT: Profitable  
OCT: Profitable  
NOV: Drawdown 
DEC: Drawdown
JAN: Drawdown
FEB: Drawdown


Now check out the next six months after making a few changes:

MAR: Drawdown
APR: Profit
MAY: Profit
JUN: Profit
JUL: Drawdown
AUG: Profit



As you can see I'm not perfect, (and there are only a handful of traders that are) and I still had losing months, which were expected. However, for me at least, what stood out was the fact that I didn't have two consecutive losing months.

So what was the key ingredient in turning my trading around? Well aside from psychology (which should be given to any new and experienced trader).  I really focused on being a much smarter trader. This meant that I was more careful (less aggressive) in which trades I entered, as well as improving on how I managed my trades once I was involved.  By managing my trades I'm not talking about money management skills, I'm talking about the skills needed to protect my stop losses at the correct moments, or trail my winners in certain instances instead of strictly taking off profit early. I didn't just create these rules out of the blue,  I went back and studied my old PTC training videos along with a lot of back testing.  More importantly, while I was losing money I would constantly record what happened in the market to cause me to lose or what I did wrong.  Needless to say I had a lot of past mistakes to learn from.  Since I was determined not to make the same mistake more than once, I slowly but surely became more efficient in my trading.  Lastly, simply having the experience of being in the markets live day in and day out, really helped a lot. Jason taught me the basics of doing analysis and that was great, but after spending two years in the market, after staring at charts for thousands and thousands of hours, and after viewing each and every free video or training hosted by Triple Threat Trading multiple times, I knew that I still had a long way to go. And as I write this post today I feel as if I still do. (Kaizen: Continuous Improvement).  I don't want to seem cocky or anything but I see myself as being like Neo from the Matrix movies.  I was told everything I needed to know in order to be successful, but it was up to me to then build on those skills and take my trading to the next level.  A "Twenty Percenter" as Jason would call it.  I still haven't reached my peak, but I'm seeing things a lot clearer now and because of that I'm even able to add some new tactics to my arsenal.  Anyway, I can rant on the Matrix comparison for days but I hope you enjoyed this post and attached are a few charting examples of the skills I talked about. Either skills used to stay out of a trade or skills used in trade management. 

As many of you were aware of I have been on the road since Friday. Thirteen hours of driving gave me plenty of time to think of a good post to write up for the site for today. At first I wanted to work on one relating trading to sports. Then after reading a few comments on the T2T facebook group page (http://www.facebook.com/groups/216254371801237/ ), I came up with an even better idea.  Then once again, I got an even better idea after talking to my roommate this morning.

My roommate/best friend since high school was actually the person that first introduced me the FOREX market.  We both started trading FOREX around the same time and went through similar struggles as rookie traders. You know, the usual demo account kings turned real account busts.   The point where we split paths came when I discovered Triple Threat Trading and signed up for the Pro Trader Course.  My friend actually wanted to do the same after I told him about how much I was learning but they wouldn't allow him to sign up for the course due to the financial situation that he was in.  To be honest my friend was a little upset because he really wanted to learn, but at the same time he respected Jason and T2T for not wanting to take all of his money at the time. With that being said he continued to watch and attend every free video/seminar that Jason hosted.  Just like many of us he started off using one system only to fail and switch to another and fail again.  Eventually he excepted the fact that it wasn't the system that was failing him, it was his psychology.  After coming to terms with this he sat down and rededicated himself to his craft. He finally picked a system he wanted to trade and proceeded to vigorously back testing his new strategy.  

Since my friend only had a small amount of capital, he was forced to start his trading using  micro lots (10 cents/pip). Although the profit gained from this position size was minimal, the more important lessons came gaining discipline and a comfort level with his system.  Many traders would be outraged knowing that their system was a success yet they were not really making any money off of it. Which could lead to mismanaging their position sizes and money management system but during this period he continued to tell himself "it's not the actual profit that matters, it's the percentage change in equity."  By the way, this entire time he continued to work a crazy amount of hours at his fulltime job, including any overtime he could get his hands on in order to save up enough money to seriously trade.  Between actual trading profits and moving extra money into the account he has now grown his account to a respectable entry trading level but he wasn't done yet.  I won't go into the details of his situation but he has been putting together a list of potential investors that are interested in loaning him money to use for his trading business and yesterday he got his first big check. 

This is something that I have done in the past and it is a great way to grow your account. Now be warned, I wouldn't take this step until you are 100% confident that you are a CONSISTENTLY profitable trader.  Let me say that again . Now be warned, I wouldn't take this step until you are 100% confident that you are a CONSISTENTLY profitable trader. Because if not, you run the risk of running into a financial/legal hole that will not be fun to dig out of. But for those who are ready I think it's a great move.  I'm going to talk to my friend and see if he will write something up for the site that gives you a better picture of the path that he has taken. Either way it's a great example of how you can go from nothing to something from trading. 

Hi friends, my name is Roy Painter and I am a professional currency trader from Detroit Michigan. This is my first time contributing here, and I was honored recently by being offered the opportunity  by our  esteemed benefactor,  Akil Stokes.  Akil and I share a lot of the same trading strategies and philosophies, maybe because of, or perhaps the reason for, having studied under the same mentor, Jason Stapleton.  Either way,  I have been a long time fan and reader of iambusiness.weebly, as I, like many of you I am sure, find the content here both education and highly introspective. This site is at the top of my ‘must have’ daily reads, and thus I am very happy to be here and amongst such great company. 

Okay, now with the introductions out of the way, I will explain why I thought this to be the perfect time to start sharing some of my thoughts.   This particular moment in my trading career is a very interesting and insightful one for me, for as you may have guessed by the title, I am currently losing money.  Yes, you read that correctly, I am losing money.  I am in a drawdown.  8 of my last 10 swing trades have been losers, with the last 5 being consecutive.

Bummer huh? Yep I know.  But why is that important?  Why is it worthy of your time to keep reading the ramblings of a losing trader?  The simple answer is because it is O K.  I am okay with it.  I knew it would happen at some point, I enjoyed 15 months of mostly consistent profit, a drawdown was inevitable.  I had expected it and I had prepared for it.  That’s one of the huge advantages of extensive back testing.  Just as important as knowing how well your model should perform when it works, is having a clear understanding of what to expect when it doesn’t.  From my testing I knew I was due for a break. I also know the average number of losers to expect on this break, or what my worst case scenario might look like.  Likewise, I can also tell you, with historical certainty, that this drawdown will indeed pass, and that long term the strategy does work and that it is profitable.  And traders, having that knowledge, seeing that data in black and white,  that is truly peace of mind.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do not enjoy losing money, and I definitely lack the stomach to sit and watch my trades bleed away tick by tick.  But thankfully I have protective stops on my platform, and a power button on my monitor so that I don’t have to.  Everything else is simply internal, it’s how I deal with it, or more accurately, how I choose to deal with it that matters.  For me I made those choices long ago, and I wrote them down and made them part of my trading plan.  I’ve rewritten my plan many times, always trying to better defining  the “if, then”  syntax of my strategy.  In one re-write I tackled this ominous eventuality of a major drawdown and added an entire appendix on the topic.  While I won’t recite the whole thing here, the basic gist of it is this:

1) Don’t panic…  Remain calm! Check the account balance against your money management guidelines and adjust risk exposure as necessary.  
2) Keep trading…  You have to keep trading. Your system works.  It has been back tested, and forward tested to heaven and back, stay in the game, keep cool, and keep trading.
3) Trade smart…  Trade with your head not your heart.  Don’t get emotional, don’t get angry, don’t over trade and try to take revenge on the market, it won’t happen.  Just stick to your rules and it will all work out.

Pretty simple right?  That’s all there is to it traders.  If you’ve done the proper work ahead of time, the testing,  preparation, and planning, then all that is left to do is keep ourselves in check.  History repeats itself, so as certain that drawdown’s will occur,  I am just as certain that they will end.  This is may first, but it will not be my last, it is all a part of trading, and I am okay with that. 

So why were those trades losers?  Just because they were… No one was at fault here. Not myself, not the market, not some central bank with a sinister plan to take me out.  They were losing trades, plain and simple.  It happens all the time, just that this time the losers all got lumped together, that’s all it is.  I have gone over  them with a fine tooth comb, and every one meet my rules and every one was a valid entry.  Over all these were good trades that went bad, it happens, it is what you do next that matters most.  For me, I choose to deal with it, learn from it, and to move on to the next trade.  Thank you traders, be well.

So it's been a while but after a lot of requests I've decided to bring back this blog.  When I started moderating the T2T Live Room I figured it would be pointless to have 2 blogs on trading, but as I sat back and thought about it, although they both deal with trading as a whole, they both deal with totally different subjects. The purpose of "From the Live Room" is to give a recap of trades taken and lesson learned within the live room, while "Follow A Pro Trader"...well... follows my journey as a trader as well as an entrepreneur.  

The decision to bring this blog back came yesterday while grabbing a bite to eat at a local Sheetz.  I had just returned from Barne's & Nobles where I where I was on a quest to find a new book relating to business marketing. Although I didn't find a book that fit my desires, I did read a few chapters in a couple of books that gave me some good inspiration. Thinking about what I had read encouraged me to bring back this blog, but it wasn't until I finished reading "The Babylon Report" (www. freebabylonreport.com ) a few hours ago, that I knew I had to get back to writing about business. After all that's how this site started out. 

Much has changed since I originally started this blog.  At first my goal was to make trading my business simply by growing my account and managing others.  During that time period (as my followers from day one know) I have had many trials and tribulations. Documenting these adventures has not only given me a place to vent and clear my mind, but it also gave others out there like me a chance to learn and relate.  Because my story can relate to so many others out there I began to pick up a lot more followers than I expected as well as make a lot of new friends along the way. Fortunately for me, my words (and the comments left by readers such as yourself) allowed me to gain the attention of my trading mentor. The same man that showed me how to be a successful trader, gave me the opportunity to share my journey through his various networks. Between that, and the actual hard work it took to become a good trader I am rethinking my overall business plan. 

I have recently been put in the position where I act as a moderator of a Live trading room. I don't want to call myself a teacher, because I believe teaching a skill such as trading is and in order be good at it I need to be at an entirely different level from where I'm at now. But I will say this, that I feel as if I'm sort of a consultant or at least a role model to many of the novice traders in the room. Being on the education side of thing is something I never expected to do, but you know what, I really enjoy it and feel like I'm getting better at it each day (Kaizen).  I love the feeling of people people saying I helped them out because deep down that's what brings me joy.  

I'm excited to bring this blog back because at the end of the day I've always had a business like mind and when the wheels start turning I like to share. 

The holidays are always a great time. I am a particular fan of Thanksgiving because of..well let's just be honest here, the food. I'm also pretty far from the majority of my family distance wise so this is one of a handful of times that we get to all see each other throughout the year.  With that being said, this year was a little different.  This year I didn't travel to see any family members. In fact I didn't even have any turkey on Thanksgiving day. So why was I still so excited knowing my holiday was going to pan out this way. I was excited because I finally got to take a break.

Without going into too much detail about what I do, let's just say that a typical week has me working Monday through Friday from 6am to 6pm and as soon as January comes around I might as well forget that Saturdays even exist until. Many of you out there face similar situations in your employment. Working a 9 to 5  doesn't seem to bad until you factor in other time consuming things such as travel, family time,  cooking, extracurricular if you're involved in any school clubs or church groups. The point that I'm trying to make is that after we finally finish up with everything that we HAVE to do, we have very little time for ourselves.

This is exactly why I decided to use this Thanksgiving as my personal holiday. I gave myself off from Wednesday until Sunday and although I participated in a few fundraisers and community service events these were all things that I wanted to do, not things I had to do.  The point of this five day break was to give me a chance to refresh and reset myself before I get to the point where I burn out. After all who says a vacation has to be to an extravagant place.  Sometimes just letting your mind relax and get away from those day to day responsibilities can have the same effect. 


*If you would like to read about how I used this period to improve my trading please visit the "Follow A Pro Trader" Blog. I should have it up either tonight or tomorrow*

Last night I had an interesting conversation with a good friend of mine.  He had recently picked up Napolean Hill's book "Think & Grow Rich" and had called me to discuss some of what he had read.  One of the major lessons that he was able to take away from the first few pages in the book deal was "mindset" and how it is the most important factor to success.  This successful mindset calls for you to have a 100% dedication to what you want to accomplish and go after it with everything you have. I like to relate it to that "back against the wall" experience, which is how I personally work best.

This back against the wall experience basically means, putting yourself in a position (even if it's just in your head) where you feel as if you have no choice but to succeed. This way you're sure to give your all.  As I was telling my friend, think about those people that get trapped under burning cars and miraculously find the strength to lift the car up and escape. They are able to do so, because they realize that they have no other choice if they want to avoid death, and after all we are programmed for self-preservation. Obviously success at say a job, is a slightly different situation, but the same mindset should be held. As I look back at my childhood specifically my school years, I realize that I was one of those kids that always got his best work done, when I waited until the last moment to write a paper or study for a test. Back then I just thought I was lazy and would rather play some basketball or a video game then write a stupid paper. But now I realize that I got my best work done using that technique (if you want you call it that), because eventually it got to the point where I knew that I HAD to write this paper or I would fail, or worse yet face the wrath of my parents.  When I started my own business, I quit my other 2 jobs. One reason was to make time to concentrate on what I had to do, but I also wanted to put myself in the position of being under that burning car. In order to be successful I had to go in 100% and to do that I knew I had to be in the position where I had to be successful. After all as my trading mentor taught me, fear is the biggest motivator out there. 

Now back to my friend. Currently he has a job that he really enjoys. However, the problem is that it is far away from basically all of his family and best friends which is an issue. He recently applied for a similar position much closer to home that he really wants and has made it into the final four candidates.  A few weeks ago he had the mindset of, "it would be really good to get this job, but if I don't it's not the end of the world because I still have a good thing going." But now he has done a full 180 degree turn with his personality and instead of having a passive approach he now views this opportunity as being his only chance to get back home and be in the position that he wants and he's going to make damn sure he does everything in his power to get it.  This is the mindset of a person that truly wants to be a success. You have to get rid of all of those "but" "ifs" and whatever other excuses you have for not going after what you want and just go all in. "Scared money doesn't make any money" and a person that afraid to jump will never land where he wants.