[B]Julie a.k.a Sweet Pip[/B]
###1. How long have you been trading and how did you get into forex trading?
I will have been trading for 3 years in November. When checking my emails one day, amongst all the spam emails was one about forex. The word caught my eye probably due to my working in a finance department where one of my duties it to reconcile the bank accounts, and we often get US cash which the bank makes an adjustment for on our statment. After googling the subject, cause I never jump on a spam email’s offer, I came across Babypips School, and also found out that technology had advanced so far as to allow online trading. Then the stars aligned…the high school introduction to trading stocks, my parents success in their stock market endeavors, and passing the school of pipsology…I figured I had all the prerequisites and was hooked…little did I know.
###2. What’s your most memorable trading experience?
My most memorable trading experience would be when I traded a $1k demo account and turned it into $5k in just over a month. That led me to believe I was ready for to trade real money.
###3. Was there ever a time when you suffered a huge drawdown and thought of giving up? How did you get through that phase?
Right when my new live trading account was in the process of getting setup, a trade on my nice new fat $5k demo account went horribly wrong and almost wiped it out. That was due to not using a stop loss …which I rarely used. I didn’t place much importance on how that would affect my trading until I started trading with real money. Although I didn’t suffer any huge drawdowns with real money, I kept panicking and closing trades when they got into a little bit of drawdown thinking it was going to go into huge drawdown. After losing 50% of my deposit I went back to demo to try to regroup and figure out what went wrong. I felt I really didn’t know my strategy and that my success was just a fluke…how depressing. A year later, I’m still on demo but now I’m finally getting my demo account to increase again, this time using a stoploss. I keep in mind that it takes a few years to really learn something, even a “regular” job, and trading is no different so just keep trying.
###4. What’s the most challenging part of trading for you?
The most challenging part of trading is finding a system to use, and then sticking to it. There are so many methods and systems out there that when the system you are currently using is going through a rough streak, it’s hard not to jump ship when you see another system that seems easier or someone else is having good success with. There’s a difference in the beginning when you are figuring out what style of trading suits you, but after awhile, one really needs to settle on something, whether their own or someone else’s.
###5. When would you say a trader is “successful”?
I would say a trader is successful once they master the discipline of following their plan into profitability. How long that takes depends on each individual and is difficult if not impossible to determine until it happens.
###6. Do you think anyone can become a successful trader? Why or why not?
Yes I think anyone can become successful, but it depends on many things like their desire and patience to take the time to really learn how. If they don’t have that, then trading is just not for them. If they do have a desire to try, then they must understand that it could take several years…just like any regular job…to really start understanding how it works, and then possibly become successful at it.
###7. How does your personality match your trading style?
I am a little bit impatient and like short but frequent thrills. The style of trading I enjoy most is a couple of quick scalps per day, using the power of compounding to increase my trading account. Even though I still need the patience and discipline to follow my trading plan, I don’t have to wait long for a setup to manifest. This then creates a balance in both worlds.
###8. If you could give just one piece of advice to newbie traders, what would it be?
Just one piece of advice?..lol! Learn about volume spread analysis - VSA. It teaches you a lot about price action, support & resistance, and lends itself to many strategies & disciplines.
###9. Describe your typical day as a forex trader.
My typical day would be to check various timeframes of a few select pairs…ones with he lowest spreads…to see what has been happening. Since I have a full time job and live on the Pacific coast, this would be during the Asian session and volatility is usually very low. Then I wait until midnight EST (or 9pm PST) to calculate my pivot points. My charts are automatically marked up with various support & resistance levels coming from swing points on the hourly to the monthly charts, as well as pivots and fibs. I check the calendar for when any news releases are going to come out. If I don’t get any good setups to jump into with the trend before I go to bed, then I look for levels that look like good reversal areas and set pending orders there, and then go to bed which is during the London session.
###10. Who’s your favorite FX-Men?
I can’t pick a favorite FX-Men…they are all so knowledgable, helpful & friendly.
