Over the past 6 months I was using the forex markets to hone my trading skills and methodology with relatively little risk while keeping a live account to learn with. All i've been doing is trying to keep my accounts alive while I got my consistency up and approach down pat. But lets face it... 50 pips on a mini lot won't put food on the table. So I came up with an ultimatum for myself over the weekend. Take what i've learned and put EVERYTHING i've got left back into my futures trading account. As far as i'm concerned I feel like I've spent the last year spinning my wheels. While friends and family are off bettering their careers, their lives, and their experiences i've been stagnant in my growth within all of those areas. I'm sick of it.
I started this blog to chronicle the journey of successful trading. I wanted a historical record of all the crappy trades, the horrible decisions, and the evolution of a methodology. But I haven't walked the path. I've just stayed still at the starting line and talked about the path. That ends now.
Its important to note that all of this hold up was very necessary in my career. Its one thing to soldier on risking everything in your name with no plan, no consistency, and no management in your approach. Its quite another to have a calculated, profitable, and consistent trade plan and method. I now have the latter of those two options and I intend to use it come January. The hold up is over.
I'm putting literally EVERYTHING I have left in the form of capital into my trading account that includes a loan from my parents. Just enough to get me over the margin requirements and give me about 5 back to back max loss and max risk trades before kicking me under margin for the next day. (An event I should point out has never remotely come close to occurring). Some might say this is risky and dangerous. It is. In an ideal world this is way over leveraged. I don't live in an ideal world so this is what i've got to work with and i'm going to make it work. The point is this - one way or another i'm going to go out with a bang and (quite literally) give it all i've got.
Worst case? I get knocked under margin and I go out and get a job. I've got a shiny new degree, lots of business experience, and a nice smile. I'll make those work for me to get my new capital funding for a while. I'm not giving up on a dream. I've had a taste of what success in this field is all about and can't justify working a career that imposes limits on how much I can make an hour, a day, a year, a lifetime. All it will mean is that I find alternate means of financing to make a go of it again with a new eduction, a new method, a new resolve. I can't give up on something i've worked day and night towards, made every sacrifice towards over the past 30 months and walk away. If I was going to do that, I could've done it a 1000x's before I got to this point. I didn't. I don't intend to now.
Best case? You know those goals I have on the side of this blog? We go after them systematically one after another. What do I have going for me? Experience... 2 and half years of losing money and learning from it the hard way. A systematic unemotional approach to trading. I know the dangers of becoming giddy or depressed during the trading day. All of my trades are approached without bias or fear. Furthermore, my system is focused, robust, and proven. Over the past month on the S&P 1 Min chart (the timeframe i'm going to go live with) there were 59 trades, a 88% win rate, a max loss of 237.00, 3 losing days, and 7200.00 per contract in profits.
I'm going live January 2nd of 2009. I need time to get checks cleared, wire transfers completed, and for the holidays to pass. I don't want to go live the week of Christmas where the charts coil up and die. Between then and now i'm siming live everyday with my Tradestation account, posting real time results here every night and preparing for battle in January.
So one way or another stay tuned. You're gonna see a trader put it all on the line and either succeed or fail right before your eyes. So what it comes down to is this: The time is now. I'm betting on me, my parents are betting on me, and i'm betting it all. I don't intend to disappoint and I invite you all to watch.
Trade Results for today:
3 comments:
As I said on the Babypips forum, best of luck to you.
Thanks Sebastiano! I'll still be on babypips and wish you the best of luck in your career as well!
I wish you the best. It sounds like you've got what it takes to make it work for you.
I wish the internet would have been around when I was your age, I would have done the same thing.
One piece of advice: if this is to be your career don't get married before you are firmly established.
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