04 Jan Weekly Update

Weekly Update

What tools am I using?

When we set out to learn some­thing new, it can get tough. You’ve ded­i­cat­ed your­self to learn­ing the sub­ject but going at it all alone is dif­fi­cult. At first, I was look­ing for oth­er peo­ple to learn trad­ing togeth­er with. But now I know that even if my two friends that I start­ed out with hung in there with me…. It would not have been ide­al and I would have been real­ly annoyed real­ly quick with them. The rea­son, besides my some­times not so charm­ing per­son­al­i­ty, is that trad­ing is very per­son­al. It’s prob­a­bly the most per­son­al job in the world. And lone­ly. It’s per­son­al because the way you look at finan­cial mar­kets and tech­ni­cal analy­sis (if you use that) dic­tates the way you will trade and thus learn. I see so many traders “teach­ing” (pro­mot­ing) some kind of indi­ca­tor that will help any­one any­where trad­ing in any mar­ket make mil­lions of dol­lars. That’s just utter bull­shit. Not say­ing that indi­ca­tors don’t work. They just don’t work for any­one any­where in any mar­ket. Some time ago I decid­ed to dis­re­gard all indi­ca­tors and just look at the prices ‘naked’. There are absolute­ly no indi­ca­tors on my charts except chan­nel lines. These I use to have some sort of indi­ca­tion of direc­tion that the mar­ket is head­ed in. For entries and exits I look at the price action. If you have looked at a mar­ket long enough you learn to under­stand the way it ‘breathes’ and moves. This is what I aim to learn. This is not to say that indi­ca­tors won’t work you. It’s just that an indi­ca­tor is mere­ly an inter­pre­ta­tion of price action which I already have. That thing between your ears is well-adapt to inter­pret this price action and does not need some indi­ca­tor. What­ev­er you choose… stick to it. Learn to trade off it. It will work even­tu­al­ly. You just have to learn the specifics of the tools you use and they will work in your favor. 

Also keep in mind that the more peo­ple use a cer­tain indi­ca­tor. The more the pro­fes­sion­al traders have the abil­i­ty to read when you will make your trade. This helps them to get an edge over you. If you use the tools they want you to use, they know how you trade. Sound para­noid?! Per­haps… but think about it for your­self. You’re clever enough to come up with your own ‘game’. Don’t play some­one else’s.

My men­tors

You know what’s fun­ny. At first I used to look at poten­tial men­tors for cues on how to trade. In a mat­ter I still do but I look for oth­er ‘cues’. Before, I was look­ing to them to tell me how to trade in terms of how to use the tech­ni­cals. I don’t any­more. The tech­ni­cals I will learn myself. I am putting in the time to learn tech­ni­cal analy­sis MY WAY. That’s the only way my friends. Your way. Not mine. Not some­one else’s. I know that most are look­ing to oth­ers to tell them the secret to trad­ing. I know I have. I look at men­tors for oth­er things. One thing ALL traders have in com­mon is this. CONFIDENCE. That’s also, in most cas­es, the only thing that they have in com­mon. More often than not you’ll see one talk­ing about how fun­da­men­tals are a load of BS and then you look at anoth­er one claim­ing the exact oppo­site. One thing I know for sure. It’s about one thing and one thing only. It’s about… what­ev­er works for you. I look at these guys to learn dif­fer­ent ideas, thoughts but most of all… to learn to have a trader’s mind­set. That’s what I am learn­ing when I look at these men and women. So where do I find these, in my believe, heroes? I rarely watch any­thing else than the YouTube chan­nel: ‘UKspread­bet­ting’. Not all the good peo­ple they inter­view I like a much. But more than not I will have that chan­nel on in the back­ground to kind of have a friend next to me while I trade. Some­one to whis­per good thoughts into my head. I’m not gonna name their names here because not one, in my opin­ion, is bet­ter than the oth­er. They togeth­er as a whole I can say that I con­sid­er to be… my men­tor. So head on over there and have a look for your­self. I hope it helps you on your way to become a suc­cess­ful trader.

How am I doing so far?

My biggest prob­lem. And I’m guess­ing from most oth­ers that are learn­ing to trade.. is dis­ci­pline. I have good setups and am mak­ing mon­ey. But then I give it all back and then some because of the lack of dis­ci­pline at that moment. This par­tic­u­lar time I was not as fit. Not well-rest­ed. I start­ed ‘see­ing’ oth­er signs of the trade still turn­ing into my favor. Which was of course com­plete bull­shit. Les­son learned. I have a good set­up. Wait for the set­up. Trade the set­up. Are there any devi­a­tions from the set­up. GET THE F*** OUT! Be impa­tient with losers. 

Thank you

As always thank you for read­ing. Do leave a com­ment below and let me know how you’re doing.