Yeah! Great maiden trades in 2008 and some good progress

Hi fellow traders!

Here are my trades: (as per my email to my forex group, which is mentored by Clarence)

Trade 1

Date : 23-Jan-08
Currency pair : EUR/USD
Position : Short
Time Position open (GMT) : 09:26
Strategy Used : TNT Short Swing (continuation) + PIPS
Entry price : 1.4620
Stop Loss : 1.4670 (50pips) then changed to 1.4620 (0 pips)
Target Profit : 1.4525 (key support level)
Profit: 95 pips @ GMT 13:56

Trade 2
Date : 23-Jan-08
Currency pair : EUR/JPY
Position : Short
Time Position open (GMT) : 06:00
Strategy Used : TNT Short Swing (continuation) + PIPS
Entry price : 1.5568
Stop Loss : 1.5610 (42pips) then changed to 1.5568 (0 pips), then 1.5500(PS 68 pips)
Target Profit : 1.5300 (key support level)
Profit: 268 pips @ GMT 13:22

I'm real happy to have this 2 trades after such a long time not trading. I think a few things to share. One thing, the stipulated SL as per one's system is very very important.

The rationale is this: if you get the wrong signal, you have to get out and wait for the next signal which will actually give you gains. And usually that gives you a better price to get into.

The next thing is that we should always look from a big picture. In both trades, I looked for potential on the daily and weekly charts for the currency pair to move more in the direction I believe it will go.

That much said, I am going to get a gift from Clarence (CNY ang pow). Well, not quite any money or red packets, but he is giving away a certain indicator and the system which he designed to traders who achieve some measure of understanding of his initial system, TNT. Apparently, the system is meant to be more passive, requiring nothing more than weekly monitoring of one's trades.

He's gone on to start a full trading course with "live" support (and I suspect for, at least his, lifetime). Very amazing deal, with other trading schools offering something like 6 to 12 months follow up.

So that's a big congrats to him. And a small pat on the back for me.

Now that I learnt to use the BOLDEN effect. Maybe I should use it to organise my blogposts.

Tuition with Kelvin
Haha...I still call it tuition because it is hilarious to think of it that way. And if it really is "tuition" then it's 2 way -- I learn very much from Kelvin.

For one, we make promises to each other to put effort in accomplishing certain goals over the following week before our next session. Then we meet and we see what have we done. And we review our trades together.

For this week, I told Kelvin I'll continue trading according to the TNT and PIPS system. On his suggestion, I also committed myself to doing some backtesting of the TNT system, at least 20 trades by Sunday.

NO MONEY!!
Haha. Well, I know this is an issue many people my age face. And this problem is compounded by the fact that I am reluctant to give tuition (personal reasons - maybe I'll talk about them later) and also unwilling to work for lower-end hourly wages (5-6 bucks/hour). Well, sounds like I am typically middle-class, who can't adapt changes in the economic landscape.

I don't deny I might be stuck in such a situation but I draw inspiration from my favorite trading book "Adventures of a Currency Trader". As per the story, I will work to earn my right to trade. But for now, it's still studies and forex first.

To all...please share your trades and thoughts with me! I'm sure we'll all learn much from one another.

More motivation needed!

I've been wanting to put in this entry for the past few days. But as discipline (or lack of it) would dictate, I never got down to it till now.

I had wonderful meetings last weekend.

This were words typed some 7 days ago, on the 7th of January in this new year.

Amazing, isn't it, that I can take so many days of procrastination to finally sit down and complete this post. But I'm glad I'm doing it anyway.

I won't dwell too much of matters of the past in this entry, but I must say my meetings left me with resolutions, which I haven't followed or complied with last week. So odd a mind I have that I don't do what I want to do.

An afternoon chat with Firman and Kelvin left me with the impetus to come up with a list of "to-dos" concerning forex. And that would ensure I come into contact daily with forex too. But that was not to be given my ill discipline.

But I just had a conversation with Kelvin and we promised one another to do trades and note them down in a log book so that we can review and learn from one another ('s trades) when we meet coming Saturday.

On top of that, I'll refine and reaffirm my current promise to myself to ensure sufficient contact, on a daily basis, with forex trading. I've 3 main concerns as follows:

1. Do backtesting of TNT strategies on 4hr charts - 5 trade studies a day

2. Clear the backlog of emails from my mentor's yahoogroup - 50 emails a day

3. Look for trade opportunities daily and read Daily Analysis - Done DAILY, analysis at 9am
sent by Clarence

So that's it for now. And I pray I can PERSEVERE, and later develop proper trading PSYCHOLOGY, based on a strong PHILOSOPHY of life and trading. That is the 3P formula devised by Kelvin.

Alright, wish me luck and effort guys!

A sweet mistake of 369 pips!!

When I first saw this position still open my trading account...I must say I was overjoyed. But on thinking and rethinking, I realised it is a trade which shouldn't have stayed open. The only reason it happened is because of negligence on my part of even being aware of an open position.

1. Date : 29th Nov 2007
2. Currency Pair : USD/CHF
3. Trade : BUY
4. System : TNT
5. Method : Retracement - Continuation Signal
6. Entry Price : 1.1131
7. Time of Entry : GMT 0539
8. Stop Loss : 1.1101 (later adjusted to 1.150 around 22/11/2007)
9. Target Profit : NONE (THIS IS A MISTAKE!!!) (later adjusted to 1.1630)
10. Exit Price : 1.1500 (On 26/12 GMT 13:07) (Win 369 pips)
11. Commentary and Reflection : Alright. Honestly I love this trade and it shows me the power of longer term trading. But it is a mistake because I did not set a TP at first, and later forgot about the trade. When I saw it is still on around 20th Dec, I went in and put SL and TP levels. Ended up with SL triggered. Could have saved another 19 pips though, because Clarence's advice (which I did not act on) is to change the SL to 1.1519.

I won't say much for now, but this system seems to work pretty well. I've been trying to do backtesting with my sister, but I got discouraged 2 hours into the research. But, well, like the word says , I'll go re-search for the truth.

Do have a wonderful and meaningful last few days. Have a great year ahead!

The season for trading

12.45 (early) in the morning, 2 weeks non-stop no forex and trading actions, hardly done anything since my varsity hols started...but this is certainly the PERFECT time to blog.

For a few reasons of course. But I won't list the reasons.

I note that it's real close to where and when I'm supposed to start trading. And I actually feel I have a better chance trading in school. I picked up trading again while preparing for my varsity exams. And so going back to school quite excites me - continuous wireless, and my laptop's usually with me.

Talking about that, I spoke to Kelvin last night. In short, he's a friend I met during my national service days. (in the camp where I, thankfully, was allowed to slack for more than 1 year) For a brief period, I got to know this guy with some ideals and ambition, but appeared like an educated Ah Beng to me. Well, years go by, and I realised he's really not a Beng (or hooligan, apologies for the colloquialism), is pretty friendly and has learnt a lot since we parted about 2 years back. He picked up English, surprising me with his vocabulary and fluency, having rejected reading Rich Dad Poor Dad in english when I first got to know him in camp.

Anyway, back to the conversation. He gave me my most unusual request to date. To tutor him weekly (and charge him my normal tuition rate) in forex trading. And that was easy to answer. For many reasons, I can't accept a single cent. Simply because I'm as much a student as he is. But I know what he's aiming for, and I agree we should do as he suggests -- to meet consistently at least once a week to discuss trading and stuff. We'll see what comes out of that in our next meeting.

Next, (I hope you guys are tired of hearing this from me) I finished the ebook "Adventures of a currency trader" once more. The first time was during my extended lunch times in the Times bookshop in Centrepoint. And I still absolutely love that book and recommend it to all traders, but more so for traders for have had a little experience in trading but is going nowhere. The book has no answers, but is a great direction pointer. (Firman, I think you should read the book, if you haven't.)

I'm not gonna say too much now, lest it be repeated stuff. But I must emphasize this point to all fellow traders. Trading is NOT about the system. Everywhere in the market, we see trading systems being promoted and sold. Some claiming to be a sure win, others say they guarantee a path to riches. I'm not saying they are not true or can't do what they claim. But that's TOTALLY MISSING the point.

Trading is about yourself! There is no system that works without the trader clearly knowing what's the rational behind the system. And the system has to suit you, the trader. I clearly know you can't use a system that trades on the hourly chart if you can only afford to go on to monitor trades on a daily basis. (or even less frequent than that)

At this point, I must say I don't really know how to substantiate my abovementioned point, so please do leave a comment if you guys have something to discuss or some questions to direct my posting on this issue.

Just a last point. I attended a seminar on futures. Really great info there, learnt a lot about futures and investment in general.

I'm a student, and I believe we all are on this amazing journey.

ENJOY IT!

Reflections and (re)Awakening

I'll be honest, I don't know how to start this post.

It's just a mini looking-in-and-looking-back exercise.

The whole deal of getting any more affluent (not to even mention rich) was partly propelled by my wish to see something and funds and energy being done for and to people who are worthy. I know the words more commonly and easily understood include "unfortunate", "poor", "needy" etc. But that's not what I mean or who I want to refer to on two counts.

One, help should not be blind, even if someone is commonly thought to be in need (eg. African starved babies), not everyone deserves it. I'm no one to judge, but I learnt through my life experiences that one can only make full use of help or additional resources when one is willing to help oneself first.

Two, people who are worthy, deserving help, are not "needy" or "unfortunate". They are the people who truly live their lives (and use their hearts to achieve their goals) They are more than deserving. To me, people with purpose are sacred. (I'm really not apologetic if someone thinks this word should be in the domain of religion)

And these few days, events (again, I can't remember what happened, but I preserved the lesson) told me to look again at this aspect of myself and my desires. I remember setting aside money out of my income when I was working to be used to donate to a cause I thought is worthy.

Well. I failed and succumbed in the face of financial need (rather, wants) of my own. Well, I should say it was desire and wants to caused me to steal my own money and betray my integrity to splurge it on myself. All that money quite a few cents) came from my "charity pool".

I think I owe it to myself, not even to anyone else, to do something about that.

And I will. But when?

The shock continues...

And what's the shock? That so much time has passed since I posted in August. In any case I'm starting again, and with a BANG! (I hope)

Anyway, here's a trade I did based on the system of Clarence, my mentor in forex.

1. Date : 28th Nov 2007
2. Currency Pair : USD/CHF
3. Trade : BUY
4. System : TNT
5. Method : Retracement - Continuation Signal
6. Entry Price : 1.1057
7. Time of Entry : GMT 0430
8. Stop Loss : 1.1027 (later adjusted to 1.1087, then 1.1127)
9. Target Profit : 1.1147 (later adjusted to 1.1192)
10. Exit Price : 1.1192 (at GMT 12:45) (Win 135 pips)
11. Commentary and Reflection : Well, the price went really smooth, in part I attribute it to that the price has been above the PIPS pivot level for some 8 to 10 hours. Also, remember Clarence mentioned about how he observe prices suddenly shoot up upon contacting the MA line? Well, it sure happened here!

Yeah! so happy! (to finally get a proper trade which wins)

This is just a common email that I get within Clarence's yahoo group, full of forex enthusiasts, experts and noobs alike!

The post is a little outdated though, do pardon me for that. I will try to post more trade on the blog to share with everyone too!

Maybe you guys could share your trades with me too?

What?? IT'S ALREADY THE END OF NOVEMBER!?!?

The last post was in August...And to be totally honest (I've been using that phrase quite a fair bit I noticed) I feel like I've been asleep for the past 3 months. (Wait, August-September-October-November, maybe we can count that as 4 months). Anyway I'm in the midst of studying for my exams. My first in NUS (National University of Singapore). Been the most ill-disciplined guy who goes to library almost daily (because I sleep).

The MOST IMPORTANT (penting sekali) thing that motivated me to write again (other than trading again) is an act of kindness by someone on the streets of Singapore. And he/she was walking in the vicinity of Novena MRT station when I dropped 3 cards. Three very important cards - IC, Ezlink card and ATM card. And just today, I picked up a brown envelope sent to my address. There was something flat and hard in the envelope. Well, I gave the story away, but the cards came back to me in an envelope, anonymous, with no return address. I wish I knew who he/she was. I want to thank the person for saving me a lot of anxiety (and money too).

But more than that, I want to highlight how paranoid we can be sometimes. Immediately after discovering my loss, I called up the banks and transitlink offices to cancel the cards. The officer from the latter even advised that I waited for a few days to see if the card is returned to me. And I rejected that flatly. Not that it is a bad decision, but the mindset that I had is ultra-skeptical. I supposed someone would misuse the cards, or at the very least, not return them. I even suspected a particular restaurant's staff and customers of possibly finding but not wanting to return the card to me. When the envelope came, I thought (in a passing thought, maybe as a sort of joke to myself) that maybe it contains unidentified objects which are meant to terrorise (with anthrax or sth) (and, again, I overestimate my importance here). BUT...in the most unassuming manner, someone kind out there returned my lost items. And (pardon my meagre knowledge) all the religions I know of advocate this sort of kindness. Here I am though, to say a sincere thanks and pay tributes to whoever returns stuff to others, hopefully making someone's (like me) day and an unending cycle of "paying it forward".

One more thing. Here's a big "Apa Kabar? Bagaimana Kabarnya?" to all our indon friends. Took up a very basic course on Bahasa Indonesia here on campus too.

I guess the biggest news for myself is that I started TRADING forex again! To be totally honest (there I go again) I haven't been winning many trades. I think it's just a matter of refining my discipline and skill in choosing the right trades. I'll get down to business and talk about trading right after my exams. And my aim remains a constant. I want to trade at the end of this year - LIVE!

Hope you guys haven't been affected by the drought of news from me. (haha, there I am overestimating myself).

And congratulations to my fellow trader, Morris, who is going "live", or getting a-live(-account), very very soon. Phenomenal progress for a newbie when he started just 3 months back with Clarence.

Till then, have a great trading journey!