Alright...I must say I'm shocked that 6 days have past since my last post...One thing I realise is that I do have to post more frequently and consistently...otherwise nobody will read me rite?
For all friends and readers who have so kindly lent your support and time reading, a big Thank You to you guys for it really motivates me to continue blogging...
To be honest...I'm not in a trough or valley in terms of financial learning...but I just don't seem to know what to put here.
For the past week...I've been on my job hunt again...and although I still don't have a job at this point in time...I believe the job's just round the corner...latest next week I foresee the coming of my official 6mths job...haha...
I still must say...I love customer service!
I'm no longer affected by the fact that my virtual account with marketiva is abt to go bankrupt...just needs another 75 pips north of the current position of GBP/USD and then there goes all my experiment cash...but I am happy...because I learnt the lesson of not going beyond a certain level of margin without losing a single real cent...and that calls for fiscal discipline...linked to emotional freedom and what not...for now...I'm gonna be conservative and invest no more than at a 10% margin...
Saturday, 20 January 2007
Monday, 15 January 2007
Reflections
I'm beginning to step into a more contemplative, and, in some sense, religious mood. Not that I am a fundamentalist or anything. But I really wonder where I am heading with all these efforts in forex, looking for a job and stuff.
Just a note, but the GBP doesn't look like it's gonna go southwards soon. I sure hope my whole virtual account doesn't go empty, otherwise I'll have nothing to practise using. As for the averaging principle I mentioned earlier...I can't possibly practise it when I have only about 3000 margin left and it will be gone should the GBP/USD go up another 100 pips or so.
Just thought I'll put in this entry to mark my issues when I did the fundraising work. Like I already said, what really affected me is the rejections. Someone ever quoted to me "the fear of suffering is more painful than suffering itself" and I agree hands-down. If I could have, not only theoretically, understood that it was simply a "numbers game" - probability of getting a "yes" - I wouldn't be so concerned with the "NO!s" as with asking more people.
My trainer said it correctly, that this is a hurdle I'll have to cross myself. And I recognise it not only in this situation. It's a matter of resolute...in this case if I could forget my ego...and in other cases would I persevere on despite the objections and trials...
I really don't quite know...my life, to me, has been too beautiful, not that I am complaining...Since I was young, I obtained fairly good results and I hear very nice praises from people...and all this don't arise from my own effort...I mean, of course I did some stuff to get my results...but it was never tough decisions or strenous efforts beyond what I believe are my capabilities.
In that sense I am lacking...and I know I will be put to the test no matter what I do or where I go...it is a fundamental process towards success...I once heard..."it is only when we set targets and goals that we start experiencing what we know as resistance. it is such that if we had no goals, life wouldn't be tough as we can just float around with no discontentment arising from the non-achievement of a dream"...
I shall strive on...and my current battlegrounds are the forex market and my need of a job for this 6 months.
Just a note, but the GBP doesn't look like it's gonna go southwards soon. I sure hope my whole virtual account doesn't go empty, otherwise I'll have nothing to practise using. As for the averaging principle I mentioned earlier...I can't possibly practise it when I have only about 3000 margin left and it will be gone should the GBP/USD go up another 100 pips or so.
Just thought I'll put in this entry to mark my issues when I did the fundraising work. Like I already said, what really affected me is the rejections. Someone ever quoted to me "the fear of suffering is more painful than suffering itself" and I agree hands-down. If I could have, not only theoretically, understood that it was simply a "numbers game" - probability of getting a "yes" - I wouldn't be so concerned with the "NO!s" as with asking more people.
My trainer said it correctly, that this is a hurdle I'll have to cross myself. And I recognise it not only in this situation. It's a matter of resolute...in this case if I could forget my ego...and in other cases would I persevere on despite the objections and trials...
I really don't quite know...my life, to me, has been too beautiful, not that I am complaining...Since I was young, I obtained fairly good results and I hear very nice praises from people...and all this don't arise from my own effort...I mean, of course I did some stuff to get my results...but it was never tough decisions or strenous efforts beyond what I believe are my capabilities.
In that sense I am lacking...and I know I will be put to the test no matter what I do or where I go...it is a fundamental process towards success...I once heard..."it is only when we set targets and goals that we start experiencing what we know as resistance. it is such that if we had no goals, life wouldn't be tough as we can just float around with no discontentment arising from the non-achievement of a dream"...
I shall strive on...and my current battlegrounds are the forex market and my need of a job for this 6 months.
Saturday, 13 January 2007
Setbacks
Quite a few days since my previous post yeah...pretty eventful week I must say...In short, I failed myself twice, or maybe even thrice, over the course of this week.
Firstly, I stopped going for the job as tele-surveyor...The incident was as such, the second day I turned up for work, I was assigned to call numbers off the classified ads. It was meant to get some advertisers to respond to the survey. The major setback to me, which is part and parcel of this job, is to get scolded by people. After that happened I literally blanked out...the fear of calling the same number again was tremendous and became worse with every call, and so I ended my short day at work.
Second failure came when I tried this job with a company that claimed to be looking for people to join their events crew. It turned out that their current event was doing publicity for a charity. Of course that involved fundraising as well. In any case, the charity is really deserving of help. It's acronym is HOME and it stands for Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics. The organisation help to uncover and protect abused foreign workers in Singapore. For more info, do visit their website at http://www.home.org.sg/
Anyway, as for the job, I really wonder why I found the rejections so tough to stomach. After all, I had my challenging cases back with Starhub. But that was all very fun to me. This fundraising one wasn't...maybe because of the general populace's negative attitude towards people who need help. On reflection, probably I've better understood that the job is desire is not sales or marketing, but customer service, solving people's problems and bridging relationships with them on behalf of the company.
I'm getting kind of desperate though, probably wouldn't be as picky as to avoid admin and factory/packaging jobs when I look for my next job in the coming week(s).
As for Forex, I suffered major losses since the GBP/USD actually took a unexpected, to me, turn in a strengthening stance for the GBP. Apparently, I need a lot more polishing to better my technical skills.
Also, I'm gonna get involved in discussion on Intelnova's forum on Forex to learn from the experts. The next step would be to read Forex traders' blogs.
Firstly, I stopped going for the job as tele-surveyor...The incident was as such, the second day I turned up for work, I was assigned to call numbers off the classified ads. It was meant to get some advertisers to respond to the survey. The major setback to me, which is part and parcel of this job, is to get scolded by people. After that happened I literally blanked out...the fear of calling the same number again was tremendous and became worse with every call, and so I ended my short day at work.
Second failure came when I tried this job with a company that claimed to be looking for people to join their events crew. It turned out that their current event was doing publicity for a charity. Of course that involved fundraising as well. In any case, the charity is really deserving of help. It's acronym is HOME and it stands for Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics. The organisation help to uncover and protect abused foreign workers in Singapore. For more info, do visit their website at http://www.home.org.sg/
Anyway, as for the job, I really wonder why I found the rejections so tough to stomach. After all, I had my challenging cases back with Starhub. But that was all very fun to me. This fundraising one wasn't...maybe because of the general populace's negative attitude towards people who need help. On reflection, probably I've better understood that the job is desire is not sales or marketing, but customer service, solving people's problems and bridging relationships with them on behalf of the company.
I'm getting kind of desperate though, probably wouldn't be as picky as to avoid admin and factory/packaging jobs when I look for my next job in the coming week(s).
As for Forex, I suffered major losses since the GBP/USD actually took a unexpected, to me, turn in a strengthening stance for the GBP. Apparently, I need a lot more polishing to better my technical skills.
Also, I'm gonna get involved in discussion on Intelnova's forum on Forex to learn from the experts. The next step would be to read Forex traders' blogs.
Tuesday, 9 January 2007
A new job and inaccurate predictions of the candlesticks
First about forex. About 2 days back I bought into short positions on the EUR/USD and GBP/USD, pretty convinced that they will both start going southwards given the candlestick patterns. Strangely it isn't exactly happening yet. I do know that my technical analysis methods at this time are not yet well-formed, maybe even not having started to develop, and I have much to do.
At a certain point in time, I will be forced to look at the importance and integration of various market's opening and closing hours to make more informed decision. So this is a note to tell myself that's the next step to take.
In any case, the two pairs have started heading south again, but GBP/USD is still about 100 pips from my opening position. So following the advice of Firman, I have again opened another short position of equivalent value of the first one. So now my average buying price is 50 pips more than my previous buying price for GBP/USD.
My job, then, which I started yesterday night, was to conduct market research. The company aside, since I can't, ethically, mention the name nor the details of my projects, I did some calling to seek opinions.
To be honest I was amazed. Amazed at how badly I did. For close to 2.5 hours last night. I actually only managed to call about 30 people and have 5 willing participants. And, mind you, that means I probably could pay for dinner, transport to and from my workplace, and maybe nothing much more.
In some sense, my job seems brainless. Call people and ask them questions. As if that takes much brainpower. But I realised I don't have this set of skills - skills to engage the opposite person and to keep them interested. And I was ever told by some other sources that using the phone to convey messages is actually much tougher than doing a face-to-face, since all the information about you the opposite party can gather is but your tone, the words and maybe, as some say, from your smile.
So I'm not backing out. This is a battle I must win and have to win. Not exactly for my honour and experience. But also because this is a marketable set of skills I'll have to develop sooner or later. And I choose the "sooner".
At a certain point in time, I will be forced to look at the importance and integration of various market's opening and closing hours to make more informed decision. So this is a note to tell myself that's the next step to take.
In any case, the two pairs have started heading south again, but GBP/USD is still about 100 pips from my opening position. So following the advice of Firman, I have again opened another short position of equivalent value of the first one. So now my average buying price is 50 pips more than my previous buying price for GBP/USD.
My job, then, which I started yesterday night, was to conduct market research. The company aside, since I can't, ethically, mention the name nor the details of my projects, I did some calling to seek opinions.
To be honest I was amazed. Amazed at how badly I did. For close to 2.5 hours last night. I actually only managed to call about 30 people and have 5 willing participants. And, mind you, that means I probably could pay for dinner, transport to and from my workplace, and maybe nothing much more.
In some sense, my job seems brainless. Call people and ask them questions. As if that takes much brainpower. But I realised I don't have this set of skills - skills to engage the opposite person and to keep them interested. And I was ever told by some other sources that using the phone to convey messages is actually much tougher than doing a face-to-face, since all the information about you the opposite party can gather is but your tone, the words and maybe, as some say, from your smile.
So I'm not backing out. This is a battle I must win and have to win. Not exactly for my honour and experience. But also because this is a marketable set of skills I'll have to develop sooner or later. And I choose the "sooner".
Sunday, 7 January 2007
Learning candlesticks
Thanks be to the rich merchant who invented such a method to keep track of price movements. But I really wish I can ask him a few questions personally if he were still alive. One is how is it that the opening price of a candlestick can differ from the closing price of the preceding candlestick. In some sense this is related to my query as to how can the closing quote of the currency pair be different from the opening quote after the weekend break. I decided I need an avenue to ask such questions and be guided by experts, if they are willing to do so.
There is an incredible amount of information to pick up from a series or even a single candlestick.
One of the better sites I've learnt from today is http://candlestickforum.com/PPF/Parameters/16_18_/candlestick.asp
But there are way too many patterns which I can't stomach at one sitting, so I guess I'll have to revisit in another few days time.
With whatever I have learnt, I decided to short (using virtual cash) both GBP/USD and EUR/USD. In both cases, on the daily chart, both pair have shown 3 black bars in a consecutive downward fashion, as we can see to the left.
It was a simple decision with the GBP pair. It is pretty near it's historical peak and here it comes tumbling down. No surprise. But the EUR one is kinda a gamble. In any case, I still can using the poker strategy of shorting the currency even more if the trend does head north. Sort of a dollar-cost averaging method.
Now that I've made that decision though, I think I realised some finer points of using candlesticks to make trading decisions. Simply take the 3 consecutive black candlesticks as an example. Had the trend not hit close to historical highs, the lesser body of the 2nd and 3rd black candlestick might mean the market is slowing down in its appetite for shorting the currency. Of course, the 3rd's body is fuller than the 2nd, so that wouldn't make my interpretation very correct.
Firman said I'm beginning to turn from a pro-fundamental analyst to a somewhat technical guy. And he suggested I get forex news off some websites that provide such news. I'm considering that, but I am not done with my experiment, I believe.
There is an incredible amount of information to pick up from a series or even a single candlestick.
One of the better sites I've learnt from today is http://candlestickforum.com/PPF/Parameters/16_18_/candlestick.asp
But there are way too many patterns which I can't stomach at one sitting, so I guess I'll have to revisit in another few days time.
With whatever I have learnt, I decided to short (using virtual cash) both GBP/USD and EUR/USD. In both cases, on the daily chart, both pair have shown 3 black bars in a consecutive downward fashion, as we can see to the left.
It was a simple decision with the GBP pair. It is pretty near it's historical peak and here it comes tumbling down. No surprise. But the EUR one is kinda a gamble. In any case, I still can using the poker strategy of shorting the currency even more if the trend does head north. Sort of a dollar-cost averaging method.
Now that I've made that decision though, I think I realised some finer points of using candlesticks to make trading decisions. Simply take the 3 consecutive black candlesticks as an example. Had the trend not hit close to historical highs, the lesser body of the 2nd and 3rd black candlestick might mean the market is slowing down in its appetite for shorting the currency. Of course, the 3rd's body is fuller than the 2nd, so that wouldn't make my interpretation very correct.
Firman said I'm beginning to turn from a pro-fundamental analyst to a somewhat technical guy. And he suggested I get forex news off some websites that provide such news. I'm considering that, but I am not done with my experiment, I believe.
Thursday, 4 January 2007
The meeting
Ok, today I met Firman and Eusof, partners along this forex journey. And we had a good chat about some directions and how volatile the market has been over the holiday season. In fact, it's been happening since mid-November. I realised I had to study candlesticks proper. Beginning to realise the vast amount of information each candlestick contains.
I can't figure out something though, how is it that there are huge gaps in the prices of the pairs between the previous market close and the current open. Is it fuelled by the trading of currency over the weekend? Shouldn't the entire forex market be closed in that time period?
Not to be cliche, but there are more questions than answers.
I found that Firman has been using the fibo fans, and he said, to great accuracy before the crazy recent holiday times set in. Suggested he tries drawing support and resistance levels and observe if there were any breaches, as such would be an indication of strong movement towards the direction of the breach.
I need to find a hero! Someone to follow and learn from in the forex world. But where to start? At a deeper level, I wonder if that means I've settled the "Why am I in forex?" at a subtler level. In any case, one way is to read other forex traders' blogs. Undoubtedly, they would be far advanced as compared to me along this path, which means much to learn, YEAH!
I can't figure out something though, how is it that there are huge gaps in the prices of the pairs between the previous market close and the current open. Is it fuelled by the trading of currency over the weekend? Shouldn't the entire forex market be closed in that time period?
Not to be cliche, but there are more questions than answers.
I found that Firman has been using the fibo fans, and he said, to great accuracy before the crazy recent holiday times set in. Suggested he tries drawing support and resistance levels and observe if there were any breaches, as such would be an indication of strong movement towards the direction of the breach.
I need to find a hero! Someone to follow and learn from in the forex world. But where to start? At a deeper level, I wonder if that means I've settled the "Why am I in forex?" at a subtler level. In any case, one way is to read other forex traders' blogs. Undoubtedly, they would be far advanced as compared to me along this path, which means much to learn, YEAH!
Wednesday, 3 January 2007
A stroke of luck
Alright, as a update to my expectation that the GBP/USD will head north in response to the gap between the the pair and EUR/USD, I did long the GBP pair using virtual dollars. And based on the 1:100 leverage, I would have earned a 156% of what I had invested. It's pretty cool, because this gives me more buffer in the virtual account to practice.
Frankly, all this came as a matter of luck. I did not analyse the position at all before making the decision. In any case, I'm still at the very beginning of learning how to analyse currencies and have halted my experiment so far.
Things could have gone very wrong, like my partner Firman did say when I told him of the happening. Had it gone the other way round, which is a real possibility since the divergence would also have closed up in this scenario, I would have lost quite a bit of virtual cash.
On top of this happy occasion, I learned from blogtv.sg that there was a full-time forex trader who was asked to write a book on forex trading strategies, and that was a whopping 6-figure contract! Not that I ever dream of such a possibility, but it's really nice to know someone succeeded far beyond what I aspire to achieve through my blog.
Frankly, all this came as a matter of luck. I did not analyse the position at all before making the decision. In any case, I'm still at the very beginning of learning how to analyse currencies and have halted my experiment so far.
Things could have gone very wrong, like my partner Firman did say when I told him of the happening. Had it gone the other way round, which is a real possibility since the divergence would also have closed up in this scenario, I would have lost quite a bit of virtual cash.
On top of this happy occasion, I learned from blogtv.sg that there was a full-time forex trader who was asked to write a book on forex trading strategies, and that was a whopping 6-figure contract! Not that I ever dream of such a possibility, but it's really nice to know someone succeeded far beyond what I aspire to achieve through my blog.
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