Entertainment factor… Plus someone who trades for a living has plenty of time on their hands while waiting between trades. Duh
I can only speak about those I personally know, but they don’t sit in front of a computer waiting for something to happen. But you are correct, I come here out of boredom as well. I think this is a great forum though I hate all the politics. But then again, this is the Internet. My car forum is even worse, politics wise. С Новым годом
life’s too short for boring cars and cheap wine.
Happy New Year All.
I’ll be back in business soon as I’m sober enough 
Nice to have a complete break.
Hi All, (in the voice of Eddie Murphy) “Merry New Year”
Similar experience as Johnny here at my end too, I increased my account by 44% during September - December and that was in addition to poor trade management in my opinion taking the profits too early.
I’m increasing the balance this week ready to start again next week and I’m going to be looking for 10% per month return. If I’m making that by January 1st 2014, I’ll be an official full time trader!
It does take time though to understand the concepts, more importantly as others have mentioned it is the psychological side that is the key (for me anyway). Because I can wait for the price to come to me I believe that has been the biggest benefit for me as it takes a lot of emotion / impulse out of the trades. I concentrate purely on OTE in conjunction with the MS & S&R levels.
What I’d like to improve on next year would be the SMT divergence for better entries and then trade management for setting exit points, holding the trade longer and my main aim is to reduce risk to 3% on any trade. Some of my gains mentioned above have been on higher risk thus giving a higher reward however as I increase my account balance for this year I need to rein in on this.
So all in all looking forward to the year ahead and hopefully I can add some charts this year that may help people the way I have been helped by a nice core of people on here who don’t need any mention as I’m sure they know who they are.
Good luck everyone!
Happy New Year Everyone,
may this year bring much success and many pips in the accounts.
the Vienna New year’s concert just finished… mesmerizing sound and elegance even watching on tv. Wishing all that many trading days in 2013 be as beautiful as this concert on the first day of the year!
Nice post tommy…I look forward to seeing some of your charts this year if you have time. It is always helpful to have a visual of trade setups.
Good luck and great trading to everyone in 2013. :))
He,he. I’m definitely the blind leading the blind. Read at your own risk, but I’m getting better!
James 16, Nanning Bob, Sive Morten (on Forex Peace Army) does an amazing daily market analysis and he can hit market turns within 5 pips several days in a row. A lot of stuff works out there but it does seem that not every strategy will click with every trader. ICT says get to know you and your comfort zone.
The first video I ever watched was one by Forex Mentor and it was 3 strategies: MACD divergence (which works until it doesn’t), daily pivot points and something else. He told people to stay on the 15 minute chart. Wow.
ICT’s teaching is more comprehensive than anything I’ve ever seen. Most “Master Contributors” give the coolest 15% of their method. Their methods works great but only under certain conditions and everyone has a hard time understanding what the correct conditions are supposed to be. ICT tells you the whole thing in a million hours of videos, both by images and by words. I feel better able to establish a daily bias by myself with no hints, know my exact entry to the pip, my exact SL to the pip, my exact exit and my exact trade management. OTE in the direction of the trend is such a high RR entry that losses are okay to me because the bigger winnings are right around the corner. I can’t believe I never looked at a COT report before and now I would feel completely blind without it.
Sept 2011 to Jan 2012 saw down trend in the fiber and I got in and made 50% on the account in those months only selling. Getting in at the top was dumb luck but I kept trading with the trend and only opened 2 or 3 positions a week. I didn’t know why the trend came and I didn’t know when it would end. Now I can stalk a new down or up trend with seasonal tendencies, COT reports and bond yields, plus MS can prove the reversal has happened. And I can explain it to someone else, unlike whatever Forex Mentor said. I’m ready to start fishing for myself.
Some of the “blind guides” here are really good and very helpful. I don’t want to seem smarmy so I won’t say who they are but I put “like” on their comments all the time. Forums are a two edged sword. I’m glad I found this one.
Hey woolo, with the rhythm of the trading business people get accustomed to the tools, try out the concepts, make mistakes, learn more try more and cycle goes. Like the jade, at some point it begins to makes sense, clicks, falls in place. One of the good suggestions that i received at one time, and i would like to pass along, is this: what if you draw the line?
if you watched ICT, Chris Lori, fib systems and read many threads, more information may be the last of your priorities. When you draw the line imagine what would you do if you already knew inside out all the available information that ever existed and will ever be on this topic. There is absolutely nothing else to know about trading than what you already do. what would you do then? how would you trade, how would you use all that knowledge?
i think every accountant and doctor, every professional that is really good, at some point simply drew the line and acknowledged they knew what they knew. and you can keep learning more, except it will be more integrated style, in a different way.
like always, if any of this makes sense please think about it and use, and throw away that which does not apply. best of luck!
It is exactly one year since I decided to take the plunge and apply what ICT thought us on small live account (a bit too small as turned out). As a minimum, I was expecting to end around BE or even slightly in the red. As a maximum, I was hoping for around 50% gains, but after the initial success (first 2 or so months), I started to believe 100%+ is within reach…
The end Result: [B]22.23% Return Of Investment for 2012[/B] using [U]nothing else[/U] outside what Inner Circle Trader uses. Equity High was 41.37% (the peak on the graph) and Equity Low (lowest point after start): - 0.76% so my initial investment wasn’t at real risk in any one time.
How do I feel about the results?.. Disappointed. Yep, I’m actually quite disappointed with my performance. Seeing what can be achieved with the tools outlined here compared to what I managed to pull out of the market is a bit disenchanting. I’m more than sure now that I can do better, much better.
Learned a lot in last 12 months, not only how to use and apply the tools, but much, much more on psychological level. Because trading is, if not 100%, at least 99% mind game as far as I’m concerned. Does not matter how good and powerful weapon you’re equipped with, it is entirely up to you dear fellow traders, to use it to your advantage and win the battle with it. No one can do that for you, absolutely no one. The best someone can help with is to give you some pointers, but that’s about it. If you’re lazy or plain stupid, no one in the world can win the battle for you.
I saw in this past year what not thrown at Michael. All kind of crap and dirt, all sorts of accusations. No matter what the others think or say, try and test it yourself before conclude anything is my only advice. To me, there is two groups of these so called ‘’ICT critics’’; first are those that simply cannot make it work for them for various reasons (trying too hard, not trying too hard or simply they are not made for traders); second are those that attack and provoke him for entertainment purposes only (a very few people with a lot of fake nicknames is my observation, maybe moderators should take note on this). I think after Michael demonstrates publicly how to use his tools in practice this year, the dust will settle in both camps. So fair play to him taking this decision, which might cause him some inconvenience to say the least.
Down to the nitty-gritty now. Will post some shots underneath.
First trade was taken on 04 Jan 2012 (win) and last on 28 Dec 2012 (win). Total trades: 115 of which 60 winners; 41 losers and 14 at BrakeEven (0 to 3 pips as what I count BE). As you see I’ve definitely not overtraded, 115 trades out of 250 available trading days aint too bad. There was instances when I took 2-4 trades in day, but at some points I didn’t trade for weeks (life commitments or simply not psychologically ‘’fit’’ to trade). So, I think I’ve got this issue (overtrading) covered more or less.
The most disappointing part are my accuracy (only 52.17%) and especially my poor R:R ratio (0.64). This is the two aspects I need to work even harder in 2013.The accuracy level is not even that much worrying. As we know, even 33% is enough to keep us in the green; ideally I’d be happy to achieve 60-70%. The very low Reward to Risk ratio is my main problem. My ‘’excuse’’ until now was that my very small account did not allow proper risk management (lesson learned on that one), so I rushed to close many trades too soon, not being able to scale out portion. To eliminate this issue, I’m starting with four times bigger account this year to allow me exercise proper Risk Management as thought by ICT. This last thing (Risk Management) alone, provides you with [B]Real Long Term Edge[/B] (this is directed to the gentleman who commented about no long term edge with ICT’s tools last night, but deleted his comment later) even if your ‘’entry method’’ is coin flips! I promise you! [B]Proper Risk Management[/B] makes [U]the difference[/U] between life and death in this business.
Last thing I want to mention is how [B]huge[/B] the difference between Demo and Live Account actually is. See the shot of my demo performance for exactly same 12 month period. -16.18% This is good demonstration of how ‘’comparable’’ at all both type accounts are, I think. 
But, the demo did good job protecting my real account. Every time I had an ‘’itchy finger’’ syndrome I went on the demo (5-20 trades a day some time); I ‘’traded’’ the NFP’s there as well, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I’m [U]for[/U] having a demo account (as close as possible parameters to the real) with both hands. You can try different things or simply practice entries and exits on it, but it is in no way close enough to reality to be able measure how good your performance actually is. You’ll only become a good and profitable trader if real money is on the line.
Well, that is from me fellow traders. Just wanted to report my progress and development over some reasonable period of time. You can judge for yourself if material presented here by ICT is good or not. Try it, test it and then decide if it’s for you or not. Trust no one. It works for me, I’ll stick around. The sad thing is that most of you guys are not even close to realising how priceless this information actually is. Might appreciate it someday.
I Wish You Very Prosperous New 2013. Success in Trading and All Aspects of Life!
Nick
Maybe this is your problem…
I know what he problem is. It’s me. I didn’t stick to the rules, didn’t follow my plan, didn’t manage risk, didn’t trade with higher TF in mind, didn’t do a higher TF analysis, didn’t look at the news calendar, didn’t put S/R on my chart, didn’t wait for a kill zone. Yes the trade lost but losing trades only lose 2% not 8%, according to the rules. Losing trades happen, that’s not a failure of the system. Massive draw down is my failure. I sit in the afternoon after a loss and say, “why did I lose?” Sometimes I got in right but the market is random. Usually when this happens, I get my first tap and the second is whipped out at BE. I’m rewarded for being wrong because I executed correctly. It seems the real winners are simply pruning lousy or sub-standard trade opportunities to wait for the A+ set ups. That is a diagnostic process.
I just meant in that post, I didn’t want go off rambling about what I did or do.
I do a “Reflection” on every trade just as I do on every lesson I teach at work. To be honest I recommend writing a reflection on pretty much everything you do in life that you want to improve at. Self evaluation is vital for success in pretty much everything people do and writing it down just gets it deeper in your mind.
I’ll be planning a lesson and then i’ll check my reflection from that lesson a year or so ago and avoid nasty surprises.
I take a similar approach to forex however the problem with forex is identifying what went wrong and why is far more difficult. Like you say following a plan is important but creating a plan that is worth following is something I’m still working towards.
Hi Nick,
Thanks for posting them results as it’s nice to see a longer period than my 3 months. Although you’re a little disappointed with the 22% ROI, I think that’s an excellent first year. I also like how once you peaked at around period 38 from the subsequent low you made at period 60 you actually finished above this level over the year so you showed yourself that sticking to the tools was in fact the right choice and didn’t panic after those losses and end up system hopping.
Hope you fix the RR ratio as I’m sure once this is remedied that will add a new dimension to your results when you post them for 2013 next year.
Good luck and all the best!
Tommy.
Thanks for the kind and encouraging words Tommy.
Actually is not too bad of a performance put in perspective… 
I entered the world of financial markets an year earlier, the beginning of 2011. After reading couple of books on how to pick a wining stocks, I bought my first stock Jan 2011 (obviously I didnt have a clue what I was doing). By the time I stumbled upon ICT’s thread in Sept 2011 I was deep in the red (-15-20% on estimate as I didint even bother keeping records, lol) and my account was much larger.
Since then I took huge leap forward in my development. Thats why I’m so, so grateful of everything Michael does here.
onwards and upwards!
Cheers
Golden Words my friend!
Yes bro! Keep that up!
Excellent work kubio!
Show me any other investment mechanism that can churn out 22% ROI in a year and you’ll be doing well!
Just think what another years trading will do to that 22%! Its a marathon, not a sprint, keep this consistency and the account will flourish!
Keep at it and very well done!
Also, 115 trades… wow, thats also very impressive. 2 trades a week, from what I’ve seen, this is pretty much exactly where I would like to be in terms of my trading frequency. That takes some amount of discipline to achieve!
Second that, I joined around 2 years ago (Oct 10) but then I started a new job by the February so didn’t do anything Forex related until around March (2012) last year. Since then I’ve just tried fitting it around work which is why I still need to re-watch a lot of the videos. I plan on getting really stuck in this year though. In the early days I read loads of “systems” but nothing that gave me any confidence in the longevity of the process. Then (thankfully) I stumbled across Michael’s “What Every New & Or Aspiring Forex Trader Still Wants To Know” thread and as they say “the rest is history”.
I immediately felt that the information being provided was worth continuing with as it had a logical and sound reason behind it. I also took on board Michael’s reiteration regarding risk management, money management and trade psychology. The only thing I would have maybe done different so far was get on the charts earlier rather than waiting 6 months. That may be a double edged sword though as I may have got on the charts too early made mistakes and left like so many seem to do.
Although I’m only three months in to “Live” trading I’m more than happy with where I am and where I’m trying to go. The mistakes I’ve made I’m learning from and I know that I will have more. When I back test some of the concepts and see losses I accept them, they have to happen. It’s a part and parcel of trading but I know if I keep my RR ratio decent, I currently look for 1.5 / 1 or more I won’t need many trades to succeed at this game. Next year I am thinking of only taking trades with a 2/1 RR which will limit trades but also mean that 40% accuracy will keep me profitable and I like them odds.
Looking forward to continuing the story with you guys here too. Hopefully we can all succeed in our goals whether they be to trade full time, build a retirement fund or pay off the mortgage. Mine’s the trading full time 1st then the mortgage then I’ll be more than comfortable to worry about the retirement fund!
first trade of this year: short fiber at 1.3287. took first profit, rest BE. still demo though, as i am waiting to resume live trading until the 7th. still, i take this as a good omen
nice! sound asleep at the time, i had a later entry at 61
Is that trade based on OTE and KZ ?
Anything else ?