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In most video games, at the end of each stage, there is a boss fight. When you win, you advance to the next stage.
If you find that my postings on level 01-10 is useful, it would be good if you write down your thoughts. If you want to grow as a trader, this is a must-do step. When you write down what you think, you can cement your thoughts into concrete action.
You can answer these 2 questions to help you get started.
- What level did i find it most helpful to me? Why?
- How can i use that to become a more successful trader?
Email it to me at [email protected]
Happy writing!
thanx for your valuable notes…
Thanks. I am looking forward to reading your thoughts.
I like this interview. Have fun watching it.
In this episode:
•Colin names the mentor responsible for making him a successful trader
•What happened to his account at PFGBest
•How he started with $800 and no clue what he was doing
•The two biggest things that he sees beginners doing wrong
•What he does to constantly improve his trading
•How his lifestyle has changed since quitting his day job
•And more!
As the saying goes in trading,
“the trend is your friend … till it ends.”
Watch this video and learn how to trade with the trend. It may improve your trading results considerably.
Do you know that money is liken to water? That is why we use monetary terms like liquidity, credit freeze, money flow and etc. If you want to understand what is one of the basic fundamental structures of the markets, you must understand water.
Why do we have bull markets and bear markets? It is because money flows in and out, just like the tides on the seashore. High tide means more water flowing onto the shore line. Low tide equates to less water is flowing in. So money behaves fundamentally in the same way. More money pouring into the markets will result in roaring bull runs. Conversely, when money begins to flow out of the markets, a bear market is on its way. However, note that the amount of money in circulation remains the same. Money taken out of the markets does not disappear. Yes it is gone from the markets, but money has only changed its form.
Water has three forms: it can exist as a solid, liquid or gaseous state. Water is liquid at 99 degree Celsius. The moment we heat that water to 100 degree Celsius, it is transformed into a gaseous state. Likewise, money has the potential to exist in all three forms too. It can exist as electronic money via credit cards. It can be transformed into paper money, for example as paper notes and cheques. Lastly, it can also be as solid money, denoted by precious metals such as gold and silver bullions.
Bruce Lee said this statement in his interview,
“Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow, or it can crash [like the US financial crisis of 2007-2009]. Be water my friend.”
Learn to flow with the water. Know the flow of the money. Discern what the big players are doing with their money. Know where the big players are flowing with their water money. Then follow them.
Level 11 - video 2
Level 11 - video 3
In level 11, i precluded to the fact that to be a successful trader, we must think and behave like water. When water is poured into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water does not argue its shape, it simply follows the shape of the container.
Likewise to trade successfully, we follow the flow of the market. If market is bullish, we buy. If market is flowing down, we sell. If market is stagnant and stuck in a pond, we trade the range. This is one of the simplest and most profitable rule of trading. Yet it is also most profoundly the hardest to master. We want to impose our will onto the market. We want to command the market to go where we want it to go. Therefore, to be successful, we simply follow the market. We follow where it wants to go. We let the will of the market become our will. There is no contradiction. No striving. No struggling. We flow, we become the teapot, we bend our will to the market.
For this next part, we need to understand the financial terminology of the money. Do you realize that the words society used to describe water are also the words we use for money? We want to really visualize money as water. Or better yet, visualize money as a giant river such as the Amazon or Mekong River.
Along both sides of the river, we have river banks. The river banks define the boundaries the river. It tells the river where to flow and where not to flow. We have banks in our financial systems, such as Citibank, UBS, central banks and etc. What the roles of our money banks? It fulfills exactly the same roles as the river banks. The banks dictates and orders the flow of the money.
When river flows, we have river currents. The currents can be described as strong, weak, rapid, slow, warm, cold and numerous other words. So what alternative names do we give to money? That is right, we called it currencies. Surprise?! Not if you really think of money as water. We have strong currencies such as the Aussie dollar. And euro dollar is a weak currency due to its debt crisis. Think of currents when you think of currencies.
How about liquidity? About 70% of earth’s water is in liquid form. Liquidity means the amount of money in circulation. High liquidity means high tide. Low liquidity means low tide. With the FED, Bank of England and Bank of Japan printing mass amounts of money, the world is flooded with huge liquidity. That money, like water, has to flow to somewhere. Notice again the word “flooded”, another watery term.
In conclusion, i hope i have expanded your thinking of money. When you drink a cup of water next time, think $$$.
When i first started out trading forex, i had 1 LCD monitor on my computer desk. At that time, i was only trading EURUSD. It was manageable when i was flipping back and forth between the charts of various time frames.
However, to be honest with you, I was not very successful in those early days. Perhaps it was a combination of me learning how to trade and plus the fact i was trading using 1 only screen. Over time i learn more about forex and my trading skill started to improve. Yet my trading account did not increase by much. The account was yo-yo-ing back and forth. Up and down.
Heck, sometimes EURUSD can be a real bummer when it is not trending and stuck in a tight range. I thought i might as well move on other pairs and see which other pairs are trending. I then began to branch out to other currency pairs, such as the majors on GBPUSD and AUDUSD. I hit a roadblock. It became rather tedious to open up 10 different charts and having to flip back and forth on 1 screen. Yes i do have 10 different charts displayed at the same time. I needed a second monitor. I paid more for a monitor with a larger screen size. And this new monitor is a IPS LCD monitor. IPS LCD monitors has a superior display panel technology, such as better viewing angles and color reproduction. And oh yeah, this is my personal preference. I recommend you to chose a monitor with matte screen. Not those glossy screens where the glare and reflection can be quite irritating.
Right now, i am watching my 3 favorite pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD and AUDUSD) simultaneously on 2 screens. I do say also, every since my transition from 1 to 2, my profitability has increased. I am tinkering with the idea to add a third screen!!
My suggestion. Get a second monitor if you are currently trading on one monitor. It may help. It sure did for me!
Yes, i agree with you. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you like it!
You are most welcome dear.
Happy trading!
I also think, traders should Level up to trade forex successfully. As level up traders have more experience and ability to trade in better way. Great comparison between video game and trading.
Setting up a conducive trading room environment is important. Next up on the list to a good trading desk setup is your chair.
When i trade, i can be at my trading desk for hours. And believe me, my bottoms appreciate it when it is sitting on a comfortable chair. So what constitutes an ergonomic chair?
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Seat height. It should be easily adjustable so that your eyes should be at eye level to your screens.
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Seat width and depth. Make sure it has sufficient space for your bottoms to move about.
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Spinal support. Support for the lower back is vital. The design of the chair should be able to support the inward curve of your spine.
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Backrest. Some of us are tall. Some of us are taller. Choose one that fits your back comfortably.
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Seat material. Cloth fabric materials are cooler and breathe better. Avoid those synthetic leather types, they absorb and retain lots of heat.
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Swivel. A must have feature.
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Armrest. Your personal preference. Some like it, others don’t like it.
For more information on how to choose a suitable office chair, click on the 2 links provided.
Thanks. I like to hear from you if there are other ideas to level up in our trading.
Hi,
glad you’re sharing about the beginner levels of forex trading in such simple yet easy to understand ways for newbies. i trade for a living for the past 6years, enough to feed family of 4 with 3rd one coming next month, haha.
just like to share a note on trading “small”, when we talk about setting target or cut loss of “small” 10pips size, one thing that would matter very much with this is the “spread” of your broker with your currencies pairs you’re trading. most of them i believe is around 1pip for majors and more for crosses… so actually with a 10pip target, 1pip would constitute a 10%, not a small amount and with 10pip size it means more frequent tradings and in&out, so that will unconsciously eats ALOT into your fund size without you realizing it. it’s ok to go small but not too small until the spread matters too much of a % in your trading.
my 2 cent worth, haha. thanks and good luck to all newbies 
Glad to hear you are trading full time. It is one of the best jobs, no bosses and flexible working hours. I am from Singapore too. If you don’t mind, email me at [email protected]. We can talk more together. 
This thread is super great!! I can’t wait to read about the next level! Thank you very much for spending time teaching newbies like myself!