A devoted man of faith, family, and forex-- GP remains to be one of the most respected experienced traders in the BabyPips community. He’s been sharing his forex trading journey with us since 2013, and recently, he created a new thread to continue doing so: gP00053 Daily Trade Log.
It gives us pride to have witnessed GP’s transformation, from a forex newbie trying to find his way around the markets to a veteran trader who’s dedicated to giving back to the community.
Throughout the years, he has never failed to help other members with his wise and enlightening responses. He goes out of his way to reach out to new traders and offer his two cents on their trades. On his “Ask Me Anything” thread, he took the time and effort to create a topic where newbies can freely ask his thoughts on different forex topics and concepts.
His contributions to the community are truly remarkable, and today, he’s given us the opportunity to further learn more from him and his experiences. Time to take notes, newbies!
So, without further ado we give you, @gp00053!
1. It’s been 5 years since our last interview with you. How have you been? Any new hobbies? New interests etc.?
I am doing great. I have some rough patches with health, but I do exactly what I want every day. No hobbies, but since our last interview, my wife and 3 children except for my youngest who’s in law school, have all began and in my wife’s case expanded their careers. When I’m not trading, I work on helping them in their businesses. For me this is why I trade; the freedom to do whatever I want.
2. During our past interview, you shared that you had to figure out your trading strategy yourself. What do you think are the 3 most important things to remember when coming up with a trading strategy?
Protection: Plan, Patience & Perseverance
a. Protection. Anything and everything I do is about protecting my trading account. Money only moves 3 ways: Up, Down or Sideways; If you blow your account, you only have two options; add money so you can start again, or stop trading. Besides being bad business not to protect your investment, many traders are not in the position to refinance their accounts. So before method, before mindset, design a total strategy that includes first and foremost protection of your trading account.
b. Plan: You need a written road map showing where you are today, where you want to be and how you’re going to get there. Most importantly a daily log tracking your progress or lack of. My plan started with a strong understanding of basics. Not only what’s the difference between a pip or point, but all the other things you have to deal with in trading. You have to make informed decisions and to do that, you need to have a strong foundation. But that’s not enough, things in forex change every day, so you must constantly be planning for current and future and adding to your foundation.
c. Patience: Trading is not about one trade, one month or one year. It’s about taking the time to build a strong basic foundation and everyday thereafter adding to your knowledge base and using what you have learned to increase your chances of success based on the balance of probabilities over the long run. No one has 100% success, if it were possible, everyone would be trading. Those that fail, fail for a number of reasons, usually combined, but a lot fail because they’re searching for the magic bullet, the secret shortcut, and there is none.
d. Perseverance: All trading methods will work sometime; but no trading method works all the time. All strategies work sometime, no strategy works all the time. You must persevere, be determined and open to learning. You have to learn how to make your decisions based on facts, options and evils. Every day, review what you’ve done, think about what you’re going to do, plan, be patient and pursue your goals
3. How is your trading style today different from your trading style five years ago?
Actually my trading style, has not changed. How I apply it has changed but my style has not. My first trading style was based on a free “How to Trade Forex Successfully” email course of 5 lessons. This course basically said when trading you should address 5 parts of the trade. 1. Trend 2 Momentum 3 Cycle 4 Support 5 Resistance. I took what I had learned from Babypips school and the forum here and whenever I traded made sure I addressed all 5 parts. I did it then and I do it as of my last trade. I do it much quicker and much more accurate than 5 years ago, but how I approach it has not changed.
4. When would you say a trader is “successful”? Do you consider yourself one?
Success is different for everyone so it depends on the trader’s definition of success.
Some traders are looking for just an extra income, some are looking for income replacement, some are looking for the freedom of being able to work anywhere in the world as long as they have access to a computer. So I would say, when designing your plan, define what success means to you. I consider myself very blessed and very successful. As a matter of fact; “Rich beyond my wildest Dreams.”
My faith and my family are the most important things to me and I have total freedom to spend as much time as I can with both. What I learned in Babypips school participation in the forums I applied to trading in the forex, which has contributed a big part to my success.
5. Have you ever thought of changing your career path? If you have, what made you change your mind?
No. I tell my children, the only thing better in life workwise, is to get paid for something you love to do. . .the only thing better than that is get paid a lot of money for what you love to do.
If you have the proper mindset to begin with, no matter what you do, there are ups and downs. Nothing goes your way all the time. When things don’t go my way I don’t look to change, I look to see is there anything I can do, or is it just some day you get the bear, and some days the bear gets you type of thing.
6. They say forex trading is not for everyone. What do you think are the top signs that forex isn’t for you?
Forex is not for everyone. If you are not patient, not prepared to keep learning, not to think long term and not plan and persevere; but you are looking for instant success, shortcuts, the golden fleece, the never before exposed, the long held secret, 99% success rate. . .forex is not for you.
7. You’ve said a few times that there is no one big mistake that traders are making. Rather, it’s a combination of mistakes. Given this, what do you think are the 3 most common mistakes traders (even experienced ones) often make?
- Fail to Protect their trading account. Over leverage, Over trade, Oversized positions
- Fail to Plan. No written plan, no rules, just go in blindly and press buttons or click a mouse
- Fail to be Patient. Don’t want to take the time to build a solid foundation, don’t want to take the time to see if what they’re doing actually works long term. Want instant success
- Fail to Persevere (Bonus) Don’t want it bad enough to persevere through good and bad times.
8. As an experienced trader, what motivates you to continuously share your knowledge and experiences with the BabyPips community?
My faith. Jesus said to his apostles, “you have received without pay, now give without pay.” I received an education and help from other members from babypips that has allowed me to build a very successful business and enjoy a lifestyle that exceeds my definition of success. I believe it’s my duty to share my knowledge with other new traders on babypips and to give back what was given to me.
9. In one of your posts, you were asked about cryptocurrencies and you answered: " My personal opinion right now is too soon. Too many ground floors collapse. My opinion anyway." Given the recent moves in cryptocurrencies, has your opinion changed? What do you think about trading crypto now?
For me nothing has changed.
The prize for being first doesn’t outweigh the risk. The same as I invest in Forex, I have other investments none are start ups, or the latest thing. I don’t like unknowns, if comes I like lots of information before I risk.
The beauty of forex is, it’s recession proof, there are no boards, can’t go bankrupt. Don’t have to worry about weather, wars, the next new thing.
10. Non-forex related question! What do you value most in people? Why
Accountability. I believe that actions result in consequences. I believe that you should be responsible and accountable for your decisions.
Very raw and authentic. 
I’ve always admired your determination to help other members! I was actually super shocked when you created that “Ask Me Anything” thread since WOW. Not a lot have the courage to do that. 
Hahaha.