My journey journal...from demo to live...and beyond

MikeWolski · July 10, 2022, 1:16pm

Good morning Journal.

Let’s see.
What’s been happening?

Well, a lot of the same.
Again.

Busy working.

Trading.

What?

Yeah Journal, you heard me correctly.
Got another trade to tell you about.
With a different set of circumstances and scenario that played out. Cause I didn’t have any days off during the week, like the last time.

So. I’ll tell you how it went.

Let’s see.
You know how my strategy goes, Journal. I’ve plastered it up here how many times.

I’m just a lion. Lying in wait, on the sidelines, all week long for an opportunity.
And all I have is the EOD results. Those tell me everything.
Of course, already established on the previous weekend, is my prep work. Basically, it all boils down to a few pairs I have waiting in the wings. My possibles.

Well then, I know that come through Wed I’m not even considering a trade. Usually. I don’t even think of anything till Thurs at the earliest. But this Thursday, after I ran the EOD numbers, honestly, I thought that I just might not put on a trade this week.

It’s just what was going through my mind. I remember.

My point being, I just know that I’m not trying to force any trading. I know very well that the end of the week is coming up, quickly. And I’m aware that I don’t want to put on a trade simply because time is running out. Honestly. Cause I really don’t want that to happen. I would hope that some time I would let the week just roll on out without getting in on something.

In any case, I just got done with my EOD numbers for Thurs. And since I don’t get home until it’s way too late, I end up running the numbers Friday early morning (which ends up being when Asia ends their day and London has just gotten underway, after a couple hours).

Then it hit me. About what day it was.
NFP Friday is upon us.
What kind of opportunities did I have waiting in the wings concerning the USD?

Ok then, those 2 were my possibilities.

What were we looking at, up to this point, anyway?

EXCEL_MA4vmxFK4N
The top table is the daily individual results. Bottom table is the weekly running. Basically, that shows me who’s having a good week as it rolls on out.

Well then, what has the USD been doing this week?
Tuesday, they come in as the most bought up currency. And wouldn’t you know it, the JPY is doing the same thing. With the EUR and GBP on the opposite end. Sold.

Look. We got to remember that the market knows what’s up and coming. All things point to Friday’s NFP time. And all I’m looking at here is the run up to it.

Even Wed we had the very same thing happen. The USD and the JPY was the most bought up currencies. Man… even the EUR did the same thing. Sold off the most.

Then comes Thursday. We got a bit of a turn, don’t we? Instead of the safe haven currencies being bought up it went the other way. Just look at the top 4 currencies. They’re all the risk on currencies. And safe havens on the bottom. And man… along with the EUR. I don’t know what’s going on with them, but the EUR is not having a good week!

Well, I’m not even considering the USD/JPY pair. Let’s just get that one out of the way right now. Because you can see how those 2 have been running together this whole week. Man… I remember how this was so common. But those 2 correlating currencies have been breaking down more and more nowadays. Not today though.

That leaves me to be looking at the USD/CAD pair. And my homework told me that if there were to be a short case, I should consider it. Short. Which means a strong CAD and a weak USD.

Well, if you ask me, on Thurs the USD gave up all of Wed’s gains. And I’m thinking this looks like a case of buy the rumor, sell the fact scenario. See it? See how the USD was being bought up this week (that’s the buying the rumor part). But when the facts come out, it could be the selling part. Well, this is what’s going through my mind, at this time.

And then we got the CAD. In a macro sense, there’s not much going on with them. Been lost in the middle of the crowd the whole week. Oh, and don’t forget, the CAD have their labor market figures coming out at the same time as the US. Basically, I’m thinking things are gonna fly.

Well then, I consult some of my other data.

See. I still have these highlighted. Cause I need to know what’s been going on with this pair. And you should know by now, Journal, how I hate diagnosing things by looking at the charts. But anyway, what does this tell me?

Monday they are a wash. Tuesday the USD takes a huge chunk out of the CAD. 168 pips that day. Even being the 4th most bought currency pair that day, out of all of them. Then Wed it goes back to being a wash. Then Thursday’s results tell me that the CAD gets bought up more, 61 pips over the USD.

Well, I don’t know about you, but this looks like a pattern emerging, to me. It looks like the CAD is clawing its way back. All this is what’s going through my mind. Mind you, I have both of these currencies trending high. For the longer term sentiment, both of them have some serious strength.

It’s just like a baseball game. Yeah, I’ll use this example.
This past week, the Pittsburgh Pirates were hosting the New York Yankees.
2 games at home. Boy… you should have seen all of the N.Y. fans this week Journal. I did. Our tour bus was filled with them. Cause they all were wearing their jersey’s. Plus, we drive by the stadium a lot.

Anyway. Look. The Pirates stink. We are by any means a good ball club. Bad I tell ya! And the N.Y. Yankees are… let’s just say they are monsters. Yeah, it’s because they have the money to buy anyone they want to. Money talks. So, whoever is on their team, basically, is a millionaire. Big dudes. Talented. Good!

Well, guess what? The Pirates beat the Yankees in the first game. I forget the score, but they beat them by a couple runs. I couldn’t even believe it, when I heard. But guess what happened in the second game?
The Yankees beat the Pirates… 16 to 0.
Now that’s more like it.
That’s reality.

My point here is, that in any 1 game, any team can win. Any professional team, that is, can win. Sure. We had a good day, and they had a bad day. Resulting that way.
But in the long run, the trend usually wins out.
We absolutely stink.
And they… well… they have more money than God and can buy only the best.

In this case, the USD would be the Yankees, and the CAD would be the Pirates.
It can happen. Absolutely.

Anyway.

I’m going with it. I think the CAD is growing legs and the USD is faltering, going into the last day of the week. NFP Friday.

I place that trade. It was about 2-3 hours before NFP time.

This was right before I pulled the trigger. All I got to do is hit Submit.

And then I did.

You can see that this is the daily time frame. I liked that wick on top of this day. Was a good sign, I thought.

And I struggled a bit on whether I should put on a take profit or stop loss.
Oh…I see there that I did put on a take profit. See it there?
And even though I didn’t put on a stop loss doesn’t mean that there isn’t one.
I don’t believe in showing my broker where it’s at. But when I calculate out what my position sizing is, I got to know how far I’m willing to let it go.
Look.

Anyway. I remember it was at 1.3080. But was willing to let it go up to 1.3100.

And since I can’t really watch this during the day, hey, I can dream can’t I? Maybe this will drop down like it’s hot. And I won’t be around to exit out with some good profits. Like, why not? Right?

But on the other hand, I kept telling myself that I need to check in on this throughout the day. I really tried to remember this. Trust me. Cause I can get quite busy during the day. But I needed to know whether I will get into trouble if this gets out of hand and wants to move higher than what I stated.

The good thing was that I was going to be able to watch what happens during the actual NFP time (which is 8:30am my time). And I have to leave with my tour bus at 9:00am from the garage, to go to the store. So, at least I have this time to see how it’ll start out.

Well, what happened then?
NFP comes out with better-than-expected data. Not good for the home team.
And wouldn’t you know, CAD came out with bad numbers also. Again! Not good.
Well, price action goes straight up. What can I do?

I mean, the only thing I am concerned about is whether price will go all the way up to where I don’t want it to go. Cause I’ll have to jump manually, remember?

But it didn’t.

Here’s the 5 minute chart. You can see where I sold it at (triangle). And then what happened during NFP time. Yeah boy, it goes up alright. But look at how far. 1.3035. And what’s my threshold again?
1.3080 - 1.3100

Well, I’m not in any danger yet. But honestly, I do feel good that this only went up that far. We got an entire day to go. Anything can happen. We just need the dust to settle and hope this weekly trend will catch. That’s what I was thinking. And sure… hoping.

Well, I start sweeping and cleaning my bus. But before I have to depart I check in again.

Here’s the 5 minutes charts. And it’s looking good for me!
Now I’m not too worried. Cause if it had plans on moving much higher it wouldn’t look like this. Would be more green than red.

Well, life gets in the way and I got to work.
Although I did check in on it a couple times during the day.

All I remember was that I’m not in any kind of trouble. Of course, the plan is to stick it out to the end. It’s that simple. In fact, I forgot all about it till I was coming home, that evening. The market closed hours ago, at this time.

Well, what do we got?

Hourly charts here.
Oh yeah.
Money.
All I remember, when I was coming home, was that I’m 40 some pips in profit.
Very happy.

There’s all the proof. Daily time frame.
Man, I can’t believe this was over 8% profit. Anyway.

As you know, I haven’t been able to exit out of it. So, I’m still in it.

But boy, do I have a decision to make. Let me explain.

As always, I run my numbers, Sat morning.
I get to see the whole week’s results. Most fun work ever!

And then once I’ve compiled all that data, I got to go through and check in on all of their trends. Any changes? Things like that.

Boy, the NZD still is in limbo. That’s so very interesting to me.

Anyway.
I got my prep work to do for the following week, right?
That’s the last thing on my agenda.
Very important stuff.

And what do I find?

Guess who has an interest rate decision to make this coming week?

Come on Journal. Take a guess?

The CAD.
And guess what they are supposed to do?
Higher!

Well, just take a look at my table here.
Part of my prep work also.
EXCEL_6tSBtqyUVE
Let’s just cut to the chase.
On Wed (13th) their supposed to hike 'em higher to 2.25%.
Well, what does this mean?

Just compare them all. Who’s gonna have the highest rate?
They are.
And how does that compare to the USD?
Up and over them. See it? From 1.50% to 2.25%. That’s over the USD’s 1.75%.

Boy… I just kept sitting here yesterday morning and thinking about this. Mulling this over and over in my head.

Is the market looking at this?
Is this the reason why it got up and over the USD on Fri?
Does the market have plans on tearing the US a new one?

I guess you should see exactly am I talking about.
I’ll just show you the homework I did.

Macro view of this pair. Pretty choppy and back and forth.
But look at the latest. On the high side.

Zoomed in. This year.

And this is the reason why I think it can go all the way down to 1.2500.

Boy… I don’t know.
It seems a bit too easy.
I’m kind of scared.
Cause the day when I think I know what’s going to happen in the market, will be the day I swallow a humble pill. I just know it.
Maybe because it always has happened that way.

Alright Journal.
The question is… what do I do with my open trade?

My strategy states that I close it out!
I won.
It was successful.
Regardless, it doesn’t matter. I should close it anyway.
If I can’t get it before the close, I get it right at the open.

Plus, if I keep it open, I won’t be able to count it along with all my other Anchor Trades. Cause it’ll end up being another strategy. Right?
Because I’m the lion who waits for the prey and take the stab. Win or lose, that’s my one shot. I’m not supposed to hold onto it for longer. That’s all.

What I care about more than anything is how successful my Anchor Trade is.

But boy do I feel the chances of this moving all the way down is quite great.
It’s opportunity, for the taking.

Man… I got to remember.
I’m on a mission. And it’s not about the money. Or my account balance.

It’s about proving my strategy.
I’m gonna keep to that.

But at least I got it all off my chest. Thanks for your ear, Journal.

I got to exit out of this first thing tonight. 5pm. I’m out.
I don’t care.

Well, I did my homework Journal, for next week.
This is what it looks like.

We got 4 possibilities.
But, again, they won’t be for until later on in the week.
I just got to see how things move first.
I was thinking about this. I think my edge is knowing what the flow has been, first.
If I don’t have that, I think there’s too much more risk. Cause I surely believe,
there’s a predictable dynamic that happens in between the open and the close.

Alright Journal.
We’ll just have to see what happens this coming week.
Keep you posted.
Mike

MikeWolski · July 23, 2022, 3:04pm

Good morning Journal.

Remember me?

Well, I been telling you. Very busy, I have been.
I finally got a day off today. Yay!
Worked 12 straight days in a row. Long days, Journal. 12 hours a day (well, between when I leave the house and when I arrive back). It’s such nonsense, especially when I’m only getting paid for 8 hours a day.

But it’s back at it tomorrow, Sun. So, if I don’t get around to doing some typing today, who knows when I’ll get the next chance.

Look. I know that all this is coming to an end. Boy, I’m waiting for it. Cause come Aug 25th, it’s over. I already told the boss man. The first day of school starts then. So, I told him I’ll work all the way up to the 24th.

But Journal, I got a secret. And you just might not believe it.
I’m moving on.
No more school bus driving. Well, for now anyway.

What?

Yeah Journal, things are changing in my life. And it looks like I got to change with it.
I can’t be working part time like I have been in the last few years. No way. I got to get out there and find some real work. I’m not even a retired person yet! See. That’s who’s tailored for that job. It’s the kind of job you do just to make a little extra money. You know, that’ll supplement a monthly social security income. That’s all.

But. I don’t know who I’m kidding. I’m just not there yet. Actually, haven’t ever been. But it’s been all catching up to me recently. I’m approaching the smack dab middle of my 50’s, in a couple weeks. I’m just not that old. I got another 10 years or so to be slowing down to that pace (and income amount).

But, that’s exactly what I’ve been up to recently. Thanks to my son, Mikey. He helped me get my resume up and running. And if I don’t say so myself, I think it’s right on the money. It’s the old one-page type.

It’s me on paper. And now I’m up for auction.
Yeah, I’m on all kinds of those employment sites. You know, where the workers go and the employers go to find each other. Yep. I’m on there.

I’m taking a little different approach, this time. See. I was going down this road back in '19. That’s when I found the school bus driving job. I remember. But it’s such a different story nowadays. Are you kidding me? You wouldn’t believe the demand that’s coming from the employers. Companies. Entities needing workers.

Journal, you wouldn’t believe it! The tables have turned, alright. I’ve recognized it.
And that’s why I’m approaching this a little differently. And also because of what’s most important to me.

See. I want to find a good company. In fact, that’s more important to me than finding something that I like to do. Of course, both are important. But that’s why I stated that I’m looking for a company to invest in me for the next 10+ years. So yeah, I am looking to find a good home, for the last leg of my working life. Right?

So far, I think the plan is working. I have been getting some personal emails (texts) from some employers who say that they like my resume and think I’ll be a good fit with them. I got a few already. But nothing I’m gonna go with.

It’s kind of messed up. I was an automotive technician for over 20 years. Do you think I want to go back to doing that? That’s the absolute last thing in the world I will end up doing. On one hand, I think that was a mistake in the first place. That’s not who I am. But I have to put that in my employment history, you know?

Well, I do have other talents. And the bottom line is that I’m hoping a smart, intelligent business owner (manager) will pick up on who I am. I’m nothing but someone who can learn a trade (task).

Well yeah, that’s it in a nutshell.

And I can’t even explain that I’m someone who spent the last 9+ years eating, living, breathing the retail FX market business. You know what I mean?

I guess that’s just a personal thing. Cause my end goal there is to have my own business. It’s my own profession. That’s what I really want to end up doing. In the meantime, I guess I need to play the employment game. Need to make some money.

Anyway.
That’s what’s been going on Journal.
I’m definitely gonna be going through another major transition period in my life.
I have absolutely no idea what life is going to look like for me, come the end of Aug.

Now. Concerning my business. Recently, I did come to a conclusion about a matter.
That’s right. It was concerning my vision.
Sure. I might be very busy, working. But that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about things. God knows how much I talk to Him about every aspect of my life. And it seems like I always have my (future) business in mind. No doubt.

Well, instead of me typing this all out, I’m just going to show you the mind map I came up on it. If there’s something important to me, there’s a great chance it’ll go on a mind map. So… here it is.

You read this clockwise & around.

I guess you can see where this came from, huh?
Cause I’ve been contemplating a lot of my future lately.
And I guess I’m planning on generating some money. Because if you look there, what I plan on doing the most, is simply inputting & saving money into an account. Instead of using a typical bank where most people have their money held, I’ll use my broker.

And for rare occasions only will I put it on the line.
That’s been the theme and style of my trading strategy lately.
Wait… wait… wait… strike. I guess I can call it Opportunity Trading.
You should know, Journal, how much success I’ve been having with that.
So much so that it goes down as my Anchor Trade.

Anyway.
I haven’t placed a trade in a couple weeks, Journal.
I guess I proved to myself that I can go a week without putting on a trade. Remember this?

But honestly, in the market, I haven’t seen anything really interesting.
I did run the numbers this morning. Got the weekly numbers all together.

The only thing I’ve seen interesting is what’s going on with the USD.
They’ve been so strong lately, I’m just waiting for them to come back down to earth.
And this past week, yeah, they’ve come down.
Look.

This is my weekly running tables. Each day added onto the previous days.
It shows me how the week turns out.

But look at the USD (white). This past week. How did they turn out?
Dead last. - 9.48%
Macro context.

Compare that to the last couple weeks. In fact, they almost retraced the last 2 weeks worth. + 11.34% — -9.48%

I’m just wondering if this is the buy the rumor, sell the fact dynamic. Cause guess what’s coming up this coming week?

Yep. US interest rate decision time. Wednesday.
Did they get out all of the air before they go back on up?

Probably.

But then again, for as easy as it is for me to say that, I can easily say that they could be poised for a downturn now. And next week’s results (analysis) can bring them more on back down to earth.

Who knows.

No one does.

All we can say is what the trend has been. That’s it.
Alright then, I’ll show you what it’s been.

And that’s all we got.
The trend.
We do not have the answer about what’s going to happen next.
I’m sorry, but we don’t.

You know what?
I’m starting to like the idea of not knowing what’s going to happen next.
Whether it’s in the market.
Or in life, in general.

That alone should keep me anchored in faith.
Cause I know Someone who has my future secured & in His hands.
I do know that it’s gonna be for my good.

But getting back to the USD. I guess I’m waiting for an opportunity to short the USD. Being the world’s reserve currency sure does make it a tough case to come by. But unfortunately, in today’s world economy, there isn’t any other better alternative (dog-gone-it).

The EUR can’t seem to do it.

This tells me of all the currencies trends.
Do I really need to tell you their bearish?

And the GBP can’t do any better, either.

I guess we should compare this to the USD.

Alright Journal.
I don’t want to get carried away here.
I’m done talking.

Thanks for listening!
Catch up with you…next time.
Whenever that happens again!

Mike

MikeWolski · July 31, 2022, 3:51pm

Good morning Journal.

Well, what do you know…I got the weekend off! Both days.
I still can’t believe it. Cause the way things change I thought for sure they would’ve had me come in to work. But nope. I’m still off today.

Journal, boy, I don’t like it. And you wouldn’t believe how much I’m looking forward to the ending. I simply cannot wait.

Look. It is kind of fun driving that double decker bus all around Pgh. Sure.
The 2 1/2 hour trip, 3 times a day gig, isn’t all that bad. It’s who I’m doing it for that bothers me.

But you know me, Journal. They’re not gonna know that. I just keep on smiling, and doing the best job that I can. Keep my head down and not make any kind of waves. They would not want to know how I really feel about their whole operation. And that’s why when the time is up, I’ll be so far away from them it won’t even be funny.

I remember one conversation I had with the boss, in the beginning. Basically, he was telling me that they have to figure us out. Between him and the mother (small family business) they like to come up with nicknames about who we are (me and my buddy who connected me to them). They call him Crazy Bill. And I told him that I do not want to know what my name is. Therefore, he never mentioned it to me.

But the mother (who’s always behind the counter, in the store) once told me that she likens me to a cucumber. Because I’m cool as a cucumber, under pressure. Well, that’s what she said, so I guess that’s what they say about us behind our backs. I don’t know… I think that’s the stupidest thing.

But my point is, while they are trying to figure us out, I’m trying to figure them out, the same. And you know what I’ve figured out? There are so many things that are wrong, and that I don’t like about them and their whole operation.

They will never know. Cause I’m not showing my cards. They probably would get the shock of their lives if they knew all of what I think about them. But hey, if they’re gonna use me in this way, I’m gonna use them in that way also. I’m making them some money. They’re making me some money. Therefore, I’ll play the game. Business is business, right? I guess that’s just how it is out there in the real world.

We all are just putting on a front. No one knows what the real truth is. Only actions tell the tale. Like, when they won’t ever see me again, only then will they know who I really am. In the meantime, just the other day the mother said to me, out of the blue, “I’m so happy that we’re going to have you next year. You have no idea how happy we are.”

All I could do is pull out my phone and look down at it. I did not agree with her. I just smiled and looked down. Like… where did this come from? I really think she was fishing for me to agree with her. This reminds me of when the time (a couple weeks ago) she said to me, "You are a man of your word, right? And of course I said, Yes, I am. Then she asked me, “Tell me you’re going to be with us next year.”

Right at that exact time, some customer came in the store and interrupted our conversation and asked her something. Well, guess what? I didn’t have to answer her question! Luckily, I got out of that trap.

I don’t know Journal. Sorry for all this nonsense. In fact, this is the reason why I talk to you. You get the truth. You get the secret, inside stuff. It does feel good when it comes out. Especially when it’s getting laid out on someone who is wholesome, honest, and genuine. Plus, we’re not supposed to cast our pearls to swine, right?

You, Journal, are what I want you to be.
You are goodness.

Ok then.
That’s nice.

What else is going on?

Well, I don’t even know what’s going on in the market. Like… I’ve been so out of touch it isn’t funny. Surely, I haven’t placed a trade. It’s been like 3 weeks, I think.

Man, that reminds me. I got to do my monthly (July) Journal. I haven’t yet. But I don’t think it will take much to complete, cause nothing’s been happening in my business. Sure. I do get to doing my EOD numbers. In the morning time though. But I just can’t get the feeling of what’s going on in the market, the sentiment, then. See. I usually can get that feeling at the end of the day, not like 12 hours later. It’s not the same.

Well then, given that. I propose that we try to figure this market out together.
I’ll go down the line. See what the trends have been.
See how things have moved.
Find out if we are having any kinds of changes taking place.

You with me Journal?
“Always.”

Alright.
From the top.
The USD.
That’s right, they had an interest rate decision this past week. All I remember was that there was talk of maybe a full % point hike. But it ended up being .75% of a hike. Wed. So, we’ll just see what the weekly results came out to be.

But first, I remember mentioning this last time. Is good for me to see what I was thinking beforehand.

This is what was going through my mind.

Ok then.
What happened?

Top table is daily individual results. Underneath is the weekly running results.

Well, all you have to do is look at the white (USD). On Wed, they came in the most sold currency that day (-4.56%).

The only good thing about hindsight is that we can see what the market was thinking beforehand. And here it’s not to buy the USD. Nope. The market has nothing but selling in mind. And like I said, it could be to bring them back down to earth. Now we know.

But you have to look a little closer. The % is not all that much. The USD selling is not all that much. The seesaw just tilted that way. The consensus came out a sell. That’s all. If you ask me, it’s not convincingly. Seems like nothing but a bit of a retracement of what’s been happening lately.

Let’s look at their trend now.
Here’s the latest.

They’re all kind of bull. Just look at the previous leg up. This little drop is nothing. If the market had some real selling in mind, it would look a lot different, I think. At this point in time. The bull trend is definitely still intact.

A closer look.

Yeah man, they got a couple support levels to break through if there’s any kind of real selling to come. Until then, this just looks like a healthy retracement.

So.
Getting back to last week’s results. Just look back at the table.
I’ll tell you what catches my eye.
Thurs and Fri.
Who’s on top?
Or should I ask, where did all the buying or selling go?

Safe haven currencies.
Sans the USD.
Now that’s interesting to me!
The USD was not included.
Awww!

Boy, the JPY sure does know how to come back in the end. Huh?
Both this past week, and last week also.

Then let’s look at their macro trend.
Is there really anything going on with them?

This is in the long-term context. No doubt we know what’s going on here. Have been. And it’s good to keep this in mind.

How about in a little closer.

Well, so far looks like we could possibly have a floor. A bottom being carved out.
They never have been able to keep the buying momentum going. It always dropped on down. So therefore, we can say that the selling momentum has stopped. That’s about it. Cause look back a little. The same thing happened going into May. They tried to get some buying momentum going. But it just falls apart.

This has been the tale for how long now. A couple years.
When they break a couple resistance levels, then maybe we can continue on with the conversation. But until then, it’s nothing but a short-term thing. That’s all.
Their trend, as far as I’m concerned, will not change. They will have to make a real statement for it to.

Remember what I said some time ago.
Any professional baseball team can have a good day.
Even if you are the Pgh Pirates.

Or the JPY.

All I know is that both of those 2 entities have so much to prove, it’s not even funny.

Alright.
Let’s look around at any other kind of market data, that’ll tell me something important.

That’s the monthly running table.

The JPY ended the month as the most bought currency. + 13.14%
The EUR comes in as the most sold currency, all month. -23.17%
The Comms (AUD,NZD,CAD) more bought than anything else.
The USD, top dog in the beginning, fell apart ever since mid-month.

Well, keeping with the monthly. Let’s look at how each month resulted, for this year.
EXCEL_vDkTBOrCGE

Interesting stuff.

First time for the JPY being on top.
The EUR losing it. Comparatively speaking, big %.
The GBP under pressure, like mostly all year.
In many respects, each month’s results flip flop a lot. Turns around.
I would say the CAD demonstrates the most consistency of them all.

How about we look at some real macro content.
Volume.
Total volume figures of all the 28 currency pairs. Basically, how much has been traded, is what we’re looking at here. This year, 2022.

In yellow is what’s average, of the total volume.
Actual volume of the total traded pairs is in black.

I’m not an expert on volume, whatsoever.
All I know is, that ever since 2020 (giving what’s avg, per each day), the volume has been climbing. And this year in particular, it’s been nothing but gang busters.
Lots of buying and selling happening. Seriously. That’s all I know for sure.

I doubt that I’ll ever make any kind of connection of when to trade and not to trade, regarding the volume numbers. I just know that there’s a lot of trading going on.
Simply put.

How about the trend. Here’s what they’ve been lately. Green = high. Red = low.
Then underneath is what their interest rates have been.

And looks like this week we have a couple interest rate decisions.
GBP & AUD.
Should be an interesting week.
Cause guess what else is coming our way?
NFP Friday.
Yeah man, the market is gonna get rocking alright.

Well, all I really care about is whether the trends that are in place will continue or not.
It’s always better when they continue.
Right?
Even the short-term trends. In conjunction with their long.
Like this…

USD trending long.
— But will they continue going short (as lately)?
JPY trending short.
— But will they continue going long (as lately)?
EUR trending short.
— Will they continue going short?
GBP trending short.
— Will they continue going short?

How about we look at the AUD. Since they might fly this week.
What’s their trend?

It’s bullish. Of course, they have short term rides (either up or down). But lately they’ve been on the up. They’re moving up now, see it?

Bring it in.

Well, I don’t know, did they take a breather at the end of last week for another boost for this coming week?
Could be.
Then again, we simply could be making another lower swing high.
Down it comes?
Sure, it could be.

Who knows?

Again. All we know for sure, is their trend, in their respective contexts.
For the year, it’s more bullish.
Ever since April 1st, it’s more bearish.
Ever since Jun 1st, it’s more bullish.

But in my mind, the way I see it, is this…
They are trending high.
Cause I’m choosing the most accurate time frame. Ever since Feb 3rd 2020.
The edge is for high, than, for low.
Now. For trading purposes, I would feel better going long than short. And I would adjust all risk that way (position sizing, stop loss, time in market, etc…)
That’s why I deem very important what their stated trend is. Cause if I would trade them, that makes all the difference in which direction I should go in. And we all know it’s better to go in with the trend than against it.

I think that’s the best way of viewing the AUD.

But I know that we don’t know what’s going to happen. Until it rolls on out.
If I had the time to see and watch the flow, then yeah, taking an opportunity would be in the cards. But I don’t have the time for that, nowadays. Oh well. One of these days I will.

Boy, what about the NZD?
I had to change back all my trend data, concerning them.
I’ll show you why.
Well, besides the whole hindsight thing.

It took so long, like 3 weeks or so, for this to tell me where they want to go.
Cause they’ve been hanging down all around my line in the sand.
For that matter, we might not even be done knowing this. Cause they still can drop on down below it, in time to come. But for now, they’re up and above my line. Therefore, I count them trending high. So, I went back and corrected all my data. Hey… that’s just how it goes. We don’t know stuff until after the fact. What can I say?

Ok. Let’s switch gears a little.
Here’s a breakdown of all the pairs last week.

I’ll tell you what I see that’s interesting.
The JPY pairs, on Thurs. Even Fri. also.
I was wondering if all that would continue for Friday. And it did.
But with some GBP selling.

Alright Journal.
I’m done talking here.
Got some real life things to do.

But thank you for listening Journal!
I got it all out.
Mike

MikeWolski · August 7, 2022, 2:44pm

Good morning Journal.

Guess whose Birthday it is today?
Yep.
I’m happy.

But moreso Journal, you ain’t gonna believe this. But I’ve been on a 3-day weekend!
I know. I really can’t believe it.
I’ve been so happy lately.

Well, if I think I’m happy now, I’m just waiting for the 25th of this month.
Then I’ll definitely be happy. Cause that’s when it’s all over.
I have it up on our calendar. “I’m free!”
I won’t be working for that outfit anymore.

I’m sorry Journal. I don’t know why I’m like this. But I am. I want all this to be over with. Like in a big way. I’m ready to move on. Again, sorry for being such a complainer. I wish I wasn’t.

Look. It’s all stuff that’s deep inside. That’s all. If you would see me in the real world I’m as normal as anyone. In fact, no one would ever guess that this turmoil exists.

It’s kind of like us humans are 2 different people. The one kind of person is who everyone gets to see. Converse with. Carry on a relationship. In the real world. And just like my boss said a couple weeks ago, “we just need to figure you out.”

Then there’s the inside person. I call it the person who we really are. I seriously don’t think anyone ever really gets to know who that person is. Honestly.

This is stuff that we all know. It’s how the world works. Everyone needs to figure out who you are. In fact, isn’t that why people say things like, “don’t judge me”. Cause they’ve pegged them as a certain type of people. It’s like we all have some kind of stereotype. Some stereotypes are better than others, I think.

But the deal is, I don’t think you can really get to know someone that easily.
Boy, this is definitely something I’ve found true about me, like, in all my life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought, in my mind, how people just do not know who I am. Like, it’s more of a misunderstanding. It just takes a lot of time to get to know someone.

And you know humans. We can really get to the place where we think we know something. And I have a feeling we all walk around thinking we know who people are. Humans can be very complicated.
But.
Humans can be very simple also.

I don’t know. I’m a quiet person. Always been.
That’s probably why a lot of people peg me differently, than who I really am.
I don’t think it’s smart to show your cards.
Well, maybe sometimes. Under the right circumstances. Like personal relationships. Sure. That’s important.
But don’t cast your pearls before the swine. Right?

Well, this is fun stuff to write about, anyway.

And I think that’s all I’m doing in here. Actually, yeah.
I write about what going on deep inside me. Which normally doesn’t come out.
And I’m actually getting to know myself that much better. I get to read this stuff. Boy, if you only knew how much I reread everything I write. This is like a mirror.

I can see who I really am, and if some things need changing, this would be the best way of changing it. When you can get to the bottom of something, then you can change. Man… I truly believe that. In fact, I’ve said this many times before.

If you can answer the question "Why do I do what I do?"
Then I truly believe you can get some real answers. And change.

That’s nice.
I know.

So.
Other than that stuff, what else is going on?

How about this.
I place a trade!
First time in about 3 or 4 weeks.
But it was a failure.

Well, let’s put it this way. It didn’t end up positive. But I’m not upset about it.
Nope. Not at all.

I want to talk about this. Cause there’s a (future) point to it.

I’ll start by showing you my mind map on it. This is the best way of keeping up with my end of the month journal. I just do it as it happens. This way at the end of the month I practically have it all accomplished.

Boy Journal, I really thought this was in the bag.
My Friday was going to be off. So, on Thursday evening, I was able to run the EOD numbers. Plus, Trish was out with her girlfriend that evening. Basically, I had the time to see what’s been happening in the market.

And as you can see of what’s on the mind map, I was banking on a strong JPY.

In fact, why don’t I just show you where I was coming from.
Check it out.

Top table is the individual daily results. Underneath is the weekly running.

Ok. Well. I got my eye on the JPY (purple). Also the USD (white).
Look back in the last couple weeks.
Aggregately speaking.

— July 22nd

JPY 5.49% - Top currency
USD -9.48% - Bottom currency

— July 29th

JPY 8.66% - Top currency
USD -7.00% - Bottom currency

This week:
Monday — the JPY comes in the strongest. And look where the USD ends up.
These 2 are such polar opposites.
Tuesday — I should say, turn-around-Tues the USD comes in as the top dog. The JPY in negative territory.
Wednesday — The JPY comes in as the weakest currency. The USD about breaks even (on the day).
Thursday — Turn it all around again. The JPY on top side & the USD on bottom side.

And now, here we are. I’m sitting here seeing this, on the eve of NFP Friday.
It’s all about what the Dollar is gonna do. It’s their show. And now how they sitting?
For the week, they’re right at the breakeven point. 0.03%
Oh, I know somethings gonna happen. No doubt.

Well, you already know where my bias lies. A weak USD, and a strong JPY.
Come on. If the Yen hasn’t shown some good strength by now, they never will.

Ok. Let’s get this show on the road.
I pulled the trigger. This was the shot right after I done it. See the triangle?

Look. I’m not one for charts. Especially these candlestick ones. But you don’t need to be a genius to see that all things point to a drop in price action, from here. Honestly. This is something I can see the BabyPips guys giving us on the daily email list. Where they give you a pair or two of the most probable trades to go in with. Right? It’s called selling the rallies. I’m sure I can give some more technical reasons why this should go lower.

In fact, that’s just what we traders do anyway. We convince ourselves, we dig deep down and find all the reasons why something should do what we want it to do. Right? Absolutely. We’re nothing but convincers. Talkers. Rationalists.

I know the game.
It’s the mind game.

Maybe I should stop.

Anyway.

What happened?

The complete opposite.
Look.

Yep. This is still the daily time frame. And this is when I jumped. I watched it live. And this is precisely when I thought it ain’t coming back down. Right? I mean, it broke up and over all kinds of resistance levels. The weekly. For that matter, any kind of previous price stretches going up. Yep. All of them. I’m on the wrong side of things.

Well, what was the final result, anyway?

Hourly time frame here.
You can see where I got in at. And where I got out at. And yeah, it kept on going up.

Again. You’ve seen what I wrote up on my mind map. The summary.
I don’t care. I’m not ashamed of this. I don’t feel that I need any kind of lesson learning. Surely, I’m not going to think I should’ve gotten out earlier or those small details like that. No way. This is just how it goes, when the markets’ results come on out differently than what I was thinking it should.

And yes. I can boil all this down to the fundamentals. As opposed to the technicals.
We had a strong USD.
We had a weak JPY.

Simple as that.

So. You wanna know what I did after this?
Closed it all up. Never looked back at the market ever since.
I had my chance.
Took a real big swing.
And missed.
Then sat back down (in the dugout).

I’m fine with it. Honestly.
I kept thinking that I’m going to write this up on Sunday and it’s going to be quite different than what normally happens. It’s not the good feeling, proud of, kind of trade that I’ve been quite used to. Nope.

But then, comes Saturday morning. Still off (of work) !!

I run all of the numbers.
I’m sorry.
But I don’t think I’m done here.

I think there was a very good reason why I lost.
It’s for the very next trade that I should take.
I’m not all that sure of the details yet.
But somehow this will be the very tool that I can use for the next trade.

Fundamentally. Market sentimentally.
I think the JPY is not done, with some strength.

This shows me why.

I haven’t seen that big of a jump. This doesn’t compare to any other move up higher. I’m not talking about any lower move. Of course not. Just moving higher.

Journal, if anyone knows, it’s you. You know how many times I’ve gotten fooled in this same way. It’s like I’m waiting for it. And I’ve always gotten burned. Too many times. Ok then, I’ll accept it. This is just another one of those times.

Alright then.
I seriously can be wrong about this.
I need to remember this.

This is the shorter-term chart of mine. I will count that -80% line the support level.

This time is different!

Yeah right. There I go again. Talking myself into a bunch of nonsense.

Well, I’m glad to hear myself say and think this stuff. Know why?
Cause it’s such an immature, juvenile mindset.
And I’m definitely backing off now.
We need a lot more time to transpire to see if this is a change in trend, for the JPY.

Here’s my quarterly running chart.
At least I’m not all that crazy. Their numbers, ever since Aug, have been very high. Actually, the highest. But came down in that last day (Fri). Right?

It would be nice to see the purple stay up on the top for a while.
We’ll have to see.

Oh, let me show you my mind map of the preliminary work that I do, for next week.

Ok. Looks like I got one thing on my mind.
The JPY.
Oh well.
I might not even get the chance to place a trade. We’ll have to see.
Cause it’s back to work tomorrow.

Alright Journal.
I’m done talking.

I plan on eating a lot of wings at this restaurant we like to go to, later on today.
That’s right. My son Mikey gave me a nice gift card to it!

Sometimes in life, there’s nothing better than to Eat, Drink, & be Merry!

Thanks for listening Journal!
Mike

“55 - And staying alive!”

samewise · August 7, 2022, 4:20pm

Wow lots of analysis! Still wrapping my head around it.

Happy birthday btw!

peterma · August 7, 2022, 7:30pm

Mike, and thank you for sharing - especially on your 55th - best wishes, and many more to come.

Your posts are very thought provoking and i look forward every week to something new.

Your thoughts are true pearls

ria_rose · August 8, 2022, 7:38am

OMG Happy happy birthday Mike! I’ve been quietly reading your entries, and I know that a lot of things are happening and changing in your life right now. But, I’m sure you’re on the right track, and I’m just glad that you were able to get some rest on your birthday! I’ll definitely be celebrating with you on the 25th to mark a special milestone in your life!

fishmoyne1 · August 8, 2022, 7:39am

Happy birthday Mike

baemax023 · August 8, 2022, 9:11am

Happy birthday Mike! I hope you had a wonderful celebration!

ponponwei · August 9, 2022, 5:43pm

55 is the new 35! Happy birthday Mike! I hope you had an awesome celebration and ate all the wings! (I hear wing prices have come down so I hope they weren’t overpriced lol)

MikeWolski · August 21, 2022, 1:20pm

Good morning Journal.

Hey Journal! It’s me.
Remember me?

Yeah man, it’s nice to have a weekend off! Unlike last weekend. Had to work all the way through that one.

Well, it’s like that for me. Things go one way or the other. I go from having such a nice 3- day birthday weekend to nothing at all for a while. Boy o boy, it’s been rough.

I don’t know.
I always get through it.
Somehow.

What helps is that I always tell myself that an end of a day will always come.
I try to take it just one day at a time.
And then on the other side of it, I always see that we got through it.

Boy, what a summer I’ve been having. Just so very busy.
And I don’t want to be such a complainer…
But…

I just can’t believe it!
They go on vacation!

Yeah, check this out. This is a small family-owned business. Basically, there’s only 3 of them that run the whole thing. The boss man, his wife, and the mother-in-law. And they’re counting on such few employees to run the show. Only like a handful. That’s it. But that’s the reason why I’ve had to work days on end. To cover what they normally have to do. And also I think that’s why they cut it down to a 2 bus schedule instead of a 3 bus schedule, as we’ve been doing for a while now.

Ok then. They have a couple kids. Quite young. So, the boss and his wife and kids takes almost 2 weeks of a vacation during this busiest time of the year, for the business. The tourist season. But hey, at least they keep the mother running the store the whole entire time.

I just cannot believe it. Come Oct they shut down the business until Apr. So…what do they do then? He even told me one time that they need to make as much money as possible to cover them during the months that they are off. Look. I know it’s none of my business. Literally and figuratively. But I just cannot get over on how much they use people (their employees) as much as they possibly can. I don’t have the time to go over all the things that are so wrong with these people. Honestly. It’s not worth my time anyway.

It’s just upsetting to me. In a big way. That’s all.

You know what I keep thinking?
I will have the last laugh. The last say in things.
I’m not going to see these people ever again, come Thurs.

Look. I’m thankful.
Very.
For the opportunity.
God knows! Cause He’s the one who gave this to me, this summer.

I made some money. Cause I needed to, somehow, after school let out.
Yes. I’m happy to have caught up on the bills. I don’t know how else I would have done that, anyway.

And also, during this summertime, I realized that I need to be moving on. I can’t be school bus driving anymore. I need a real job. And that’s when I got my resume together and got my name out there on a whole lot of employment seeking sites.

And so, here we are.
Here I am.
I’m pretty much at the end of it.

I’ve been faithful. I gave it my all. I did the best job that I possibly can. Sure.
Frustrated. Angry.
But silent about it.
The last week is here. Wednesday is my last day working for them.
Journal… I’m going to be so happy. You have no idea.

I won’t have to be gone from the house 12 hours every day (and only getting paid 8). I will be saving all that wear and tear on my poor vehicle. It’s just about a one hour drive one way. And I just hit 205k miles on my '05 VW Jetta. It’s amazing that thing is still on the road. I really can’t believe it. Oh, and I just know that this schedule is not good for my eating habits. Eating just one meal a day, so very late at night, is not good for me. I know this.

But… I also know that I’m going through a transition period in my life.
And I guess this is what it looks like.
Quite messy. And not good.

So Mike.
How’s the job search going?
Any leads? Hits?
What are you gonna do?

Journal.
For the longest time, nothing.
Until last week. It hit me.
I know what I’m going to do.

But I can’t talk about it just yet.
I need to get some confirmation about it. Cause you won’t catch me rushing into something I’m not sure of. But He’s gonna let me know. I’m sure of it.

I have a very good feeling about this, Journal.

There will be plenty of time for me to tell you all about it.

Let’s just say, that me and Trish are gonna have a big talk about this.
See Journal?
See how much inside information you have?
I haven’t quite, ok, I haven’t run it by her just yet. But that’s my plan for today.
We’re going to be doing a lot of talking about it.

Alright Journal. I got to stop this conversation right here.

So then.
That’s all of the important stuff that’s going on with me, Journal.
You know, life stuff. Real life stuff.

But what about trading?
Anything?

Well yeah. In fact, that’s what I had to put a wrap on, right before I came on in here this morning. I placed a trade. And had to put it up on my mind map.

It didn’t go so well.

Probably because I’m not tuned in.
I don’t know. It’s probably just excuses. Honestly.
But I messed up.

This isn’t easy. So, I’ll just throw up my mind map on it.
Quite embarrassing.

I told you that I’m keeping track of my trades as they happen. This way at the end of the month I don’t have much work to do. But you might remember that previous trade that didn’t turn out so well. I talked about that the last time in was in here.

The most recent trade, that I’m talking about now, is on the left.
In fact, you can see that I didn’t even mention it as my Anchor Trade.
Probably because I didn’t follow the rules as I’m supposed to.

It’s ok. I learned something from it.
But it went like this.

If I would have stuck with my A.T. plan, I would have been successful. Which is in the top 2 lines. Open for 1 day. Success.

But I had to get greedy.

USD/JPY - Daily time frame.
Can see my previous trade (triangles) that went bad. I’ve been short, btw…
But on this day, it was on a Wed. that I seen the JPY was tearing up the USD. See how I got in on this during the day, as it was sinking? The latest triangle is where I jumped in.

You can see that when the day ended, I was in profit. All was well with the world.

So then, we have the next day come.

The day ends up being flat. I’m still in profit.
And according to my plan, I should take this profit. That’s my plan.
Nothing but take profit. It is written. I don’t care what kind, as long as it’s profit.
Must have profit, is my plan.

What do I do?
Not the plan.
Look.
I want more.
Instead of jumping out, at EOD, I get in with another position. See the triangle?

At this point, I’m off my plan. I deviate. I think I know better. I want to make up for what I lost on that last losing trade.

Let’s just get this over with quickly, huh?
I hold onto this for another week!
I guess hoping and praying won’t help.

Whenever I get the chance, which isn’t very much, I’ll take a quick look at where things are at. Oh, and at EOD’s also. I just hope this’ll come back down. Well, you can see when the last time I took a look at it. It was on Friday. When I seen this, I bit the bullet. The week was about to end. That last triangle is where I finally got out at.

Sure. It hurts.

Well, believe me, it hurts even moreso when I have to talk about it. Like right now.

I messed up in so many ways.
Not only with one position, but with 2 positions!

Man… I’m so bad.
The only consolation was that I had it.
The one-day worth of profit was all I really needed!
But moreso, that was exactly what my Anchor Trade calls for. A very short term bounce in my direction. Take the profit (or kill). And on to the next (hunt).

Oh well.
There it is Journal.
That’s 2 in a row. Mistakes.
Well, that’s not true. That previous trade was not a mistake. That’s just honest to goodness negative return. I told you about that. I didn’t mess up.
But this last one… yep. All kind of wrong.

I need to step back.

In fact, I didn’t even set up for the upcoming week.
That’s my Trades on Standby mind map that I must do, on the weekend, before I should trade. And of course, you know that I was busy working on that weekend.

So. I think I can say that I was preoccupied. I wasn’t in tune with what’s been going on in the market. I didn’t properly set up a trade.

I just traded.
On a whim.

That’s no excuse.
This needs to, should hurt.

Well Journal, thanks for listening to all this nonsense anyway.
Sorry for all the complaining.

But we both know that I’m gonna be turning the bend here real soon.
In fact, the very next time I come in here, I should be in the clear.

I will be a very happy person.
And bright new days will be upon me.

And concerning trading… I shouldn’t. Unless I do the prep work beforehand.
But I don’t think that’ll happen.

Thanks for listening Journal!

P.S. — I just thought of something.
I bought a new book! I placed an order on it way before it ever came out (published).
And guess what? It came out this past week!

Boy is this an exciting book.
Journal, I think this subject should be on the minds of every macroeconomic, fundamentally thinking type person (trader). That would be me.

Ready?

The Price of Time
“The real story of Interest”
By Edward Chancellor

Just came out.
And man, do you get some good history behind inflation and interest rates of the world. Like, going back to the beginning of human history. Is awesome!

SpaceCowboy2104 · August 21, 2022, 4:39pm

I do this on a regular basis. Trading is so humbling at times. Great blog, its a good read.

MikeWolski · August 29, 2022, 1:22pm

Good morning Journal.

We got through it.

Yep. I can’t believe it. We’re on the other side of things now.
I thought we’d never arrive.

I just want to say how sorry I am for being such a complainer, to you Journal.
I know I’ve spoken of much angst to you. And well, that’s what you’re for anyway, right? To listen to my hidden thoughts buried deep down inside.

I know Journal. The last 11 weeks haven’t been so pleasant for me. I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for such a long time. And here we are now. I am happy.

I got some major chapters closing in my life now. We’re turning the page.
I guess a lot of this stuff is not so much particularly related to trading. It’s like the real life stuff that we have to go through. But, in fact, I haven’t forgotten about my long term plan. And you better believe that my trading business has a part in that.

Ok Journal. Let’s see. I got to get you caught up. Cause I kind of left you hanging since I last talked to you, didn’t I?

To be continued …

Hi again Journal. Sorry about that. I guess yesterday wasn’t a good day to get some journaling done. But now is.

It’s Monday morning now. Kind of early. The sun not risen yet.
But guess what Journal?
I was lucky enough to enjoy my summer vacation!
I was hoping it would come true. And it did. Last Thursday through Sunday. These last 4 days. I have been off. And now I’m like a new person.

It’s been awesome to have been off and not working. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. Cause there’s things that I’ve been needing to do. Plus, a whole lot of preparation for what’s on my horizon. That, is what I’m about to reveal to you Journal. Hold on.

But it was just wonderful to get to spend some time with youngest son yesterday. It’s been a while, since. It’s just nice to get caught up. So much talking going on. But see, originally, I thought we were going to spend a lot more time together during this summer. That was before I knew life was going to take such a turn for me. See. For school bus drivers, the summertime is nothing but rest and relaxation time. So, me and Ian were planning on doing a lot of golfing (mostly because I bought him a nice set of golf clubs for Christmas).

Well, as you should know by now, none of that happened.
But we did have a nice time yesterday.

And now, Journal, it’s back to work.

Wow.
Already?

Yep. After hashing it out with Trish last weekend (I mean, getting her on board) she’s with me on this. That’s very important to me. Cause we need to be together, be in agreement, on everything, right?

Ok Journal. Here we go. I’ll spill the beans.
This is what I’m up to.

I’m going to be a rideshare driver. I don’t think I need to mention the particular name of the company. In fact, there’s two different one’s I can drive for. But anyway.
This is going to be my own business.
This is something I’ve done, just about all my life, already.
And now is the timing for it (cause, this has frequently come up in my mind, over the last few years). But now it’s time.

Look. This is who I am.
Back when I was in the Army (in the '80’s) I was the bus driver for our unit. I was responsible for bringing the entire unit to all the places we needed to go.
Then, when I got out of the Army, I was a route driver for a sandwich company. The company was based in Ohio, but I drove for the Pgh area. A one-man job. Drove a small 2 ton truck. But, it’s a vending type job, in which I covered 1,000 miles across all 7 counties surrounding Pgh, each and every week. For 6 yrs I did that.

But Journal, I remember it so well. When I was leaving that particular job, I told myself that I, very much so, want to go back out there on the road. I belong on the road. Traveling and moving around is what I really like to be doing. I really can’t believe that I remember that. Telling myself how very important this is to me. It’s such a personal thing to me. I don’t know how to describe it. But I will never forget my thoughts.

Then, what do I do? Something that I can’t believe I ever did.
Fix cars.
Got stuck in a garage.
For 21 years.
Yeah. Can you believe it? Doing something that long in which you really don’t like?

Well, other than revealing my whole entire resume, all I’m trying to do here is highlight everything in my working career that had to do with transportation. In one way or another. So yeah, I guess fixing cars has something to do with it all, right?

Then, when all that came to a close (literally) I found myself driving the school bus. For 3 school seasons. And you should know many of those stories, and the good times that I had doing that. Sure. No doubt. That’s what I do best. Transport people.

Then, as you know most recently, how I got to driving the tourists all around the big city, all summer long. On that double decker bus. So yeah, I was doing it again.

And now.

What makes more sense than for me to drive people from point A to point B?

Just call me The Transporter.

Don’t laugh, Journal. But, sometime down the road, that’s what I want to call my own business. It’s going to take some time, but I am aiming to make this an LLC, for myself.

I got some appointments already lined up to get some help with this.
Remember back in '18 when I went through this program that helps veterans start up their own business? It was called “Boots to Business”. Yeah, I went all through those courses and learned a lot about how to start up a business. It was very informative. And at the time, guess what business I was choosing?

What else?
My own trading business.

Well, that didn’t go so well.
It’s impossible to get funding for it. Trust me. I know.

Fast forward 4 years to now, I’m going to try it again.
But with a different business in mind. As you now know.
I heard it was a good idea to do this. So, we’ll have to see how it all plays out.
In the middle of the month I have my first appointment.
But I got much talking to do with the right person on this. It’s all through the Small Business Development Center.

So.
In the meantime, why not get out there and start doing the job?
Well, that’s what I’ve been working on most recently.
I’ve been trying to get a car, from the actual company. Well, actually, they work with rental car companies in order to make it possible to get a car to work with.

And just yesterday I ended up with, not 1 but 2 car reservations. For today. Monday. So, that was one thing me and Ian did yesterday. I had to buy some things for the job. Something for my phone in the car (holder, charger). And some good threads.
Cause I’m not going to look like a bum.

Things like that.
Look. I’m just getting prepared.

But Journal. As I was typing up all this (in fact just a few minutes ago), I got a call from one of the rental companies. They have no more cars available, at the moment. It’s not the public cars that we’re talking about. It’s called the U… cars. And their out. They’ll let me know when one comes in.

Well, there goes my 1 o’clock appt.
Remember I told you about having 2 reservations? Good thing huh?
I have to call the second one and hope they actually have one for me. Will do that when they open up, this morning.

Well Journal, that’s what I got going on today. I thought I was going to start working on this. But now I’m not so sure it will happen. Cause if this second reservation doesn’t pan out the way the first one did, then I’m gonna have to wait.

But. I do have another trick up my sleeve. Remember me telling you that there’s more than one rideshare company? Yeah. There’s another one. And I did sign up for them also. And it’s pretty much all the same type of hoops to jump through.

They even have the same type of rental programs to get a car also. And I just got approved, yesterday, with them for a rental car. But see, I was already poised to get a car from the other company, so I wasn’t going to follow through just yet with these guys until I know for sure that I landed a car.

Anyway. I’m working on it. Just trying to use all of my options.
Hopefully you can see a little bit of all the things that I have to secure up.

But look Journal. I plan on doing this the right way.
I want a very nice, clean, good car. And if I can turn this into my own personal business, then I would want the funding in order to invest in the right car. You know, like an expensive one. A German manufacturer comes to mind.

The whole goal, I think, would be to get my name and reputation out there. And I think I can use this platform for my benefit. Somehow. We’ll just have to see how.

I don’t know, Journal. I got lots of talking to do with the right people. I haven’t figured it all out yet. And well, maybe I don’t have to right now. I do think that things will unveil themselves as time goes on. But I feel this is right, for me.

I’m just super excited to see how close I’m coming to actually having my own business. Journal, I’ve told you countless times about this. Ever since the early '90’s. It’s been my ultimate dream!

Well, what about your trading business?

Of course. That’ll always stand true.

I told you, even showed you my new mind map on it, my newest long term goal. Concerning my trading business.

Ok. I’ll just dig out my mind map on it. This is easier.

I wonder if anybody knows exactly what building up a business from the ground up really means.

Ok then.
That’s exactly what I’m out to prove.
If I can say that I have built up my own trading business from the ground up, I think that will be success to me.

No loans.
No inheritance.
Nothing given to me.

Brick by brick.

— Each and every $ I will have earned.
— With my sweat and tears I will have built and grown every part of the business.
— A fully funded trading account. That has directly come from me.
— Experienced and tasted everything along the entire journey.
— Proven the journey with concrete results. Showing the “HOW” I did it.

If, in the next 10 years, I have built my business enough to where I can finally retire, then I would say that I should be able to continue the business to cover me through the retirement years.

You know what I would absolutely love to do during retirement?
Travel.
Golf.
Eat, drink and be merry.

There’s no reason why I couldn’t do all that while conservatively trading a big trading account.

I don’t know. Maybe I’m kidding myself. Or deceiving myself.

Maybe that’s all I really need. Is to prove to myself, and eventually can end up saying, that I have built by business from the ground up. Having enough money in a trading account that would suffice as a viable, stand-alone trading business.
And that’s it. Nothing more. I’m thinking up to around 100k. Minimum.

Yeah. Maybe that’s my ultimate success story.

I don’t know. Well, that should at least keep me busy for a while, anyway. Right?

Hey. At the end of this year, I will have 10 yrs under my belt.
10 down.
10 to go.

What’s wrong with that?

Alright Journal. I think I’m done babbling about the future.
I got to think about the present.
We’ll have to see if I can get this (driving) business up and running soon.

Keep you in the loop Journal.
Thanks for listening!
Mike

peterma · September 10, 2022, 8:11pm

Mike’s journal - Mike’s journey to creating his own business will succeed for one simple reason - Mike’s determination.

Positive attitude coupled with hard work always produces positive results.

MikeWolski · September 11, 2022, 12:33pm

Good morning Journal.

It is nice to come in here again and talk it all out. Just like I did last weekend Journal.
Maybe this time it’ll get printed. Cause last weekend it didn’t. A power outage caused things to get screwy and after I wrote up a lot, I hit the send button but then found out that so much that I wrote wasn’t getting saved.

I talked a bunch.
But I’m sorry it didn’t get printed. It’s lost. And I can’t get it back.
Anyway.

Let’s see. What’s been going on?

Well, good news and bad.

The good news is, that I actually have been working my own business!
Yes Journal, it’s true. I’ve been up and running for 2 weeks now.
Sometimes I actually can’t even believe it!
But I am doing it.
I’m the Transporter.

The rental car (SUV) has been working out beautifully. I just renew it every week, on Mondays. And all that takes is a phone call to do. I can do this for 4 weeks in a row, then I’ll have to go in and renew the whole contract over again. They want to see it, and me, in person. But I can’t complain. It’s a very good way to get started doing the business. Sure, it’s an overhead expense. Kind of expensive. But that just means that I have to work a little harder, to climb up into the black, by weeks end.

I would say that this is exactly what I’ve been doing lately, Journal. It’s testing the waters. It’s getting my feet wet. Getting me out there, doing it, and tasting what the whole business is all about.

Well, to give you a short summary of what I think so far. Would be this.
I absolutely love it.
It’s definitely some work.
Got much more work to do, in order to build the business.
And I do know that God has given me this. This is the answer to my prayers.
I am very happy.

I’ve fixed a schedule for myself.
I need to get going by 6am. I really get upset with myself if I start out any later.
But, at that time, I’ll get out there (on my driveway) and start getting the vehicle all ready for the day. Clean, clean, clean.

That’s something I do on a regular basis. This is my standard. I want all customers to feel that they are special. I want it to seem like I just got done cleaning it up just for them. But that goes for everyone. All day long.

Everyone wants to come in on the right rear. That must be what the consensus is. Look, it makes sense. Getting in, in the front passenger, would be just a little close. Right? And being on the right, back there, they can see a good bit of me. Better than being on the left, right behind me. So. That’s just how it is.

And that’s what I make sure I clean, more than anything. So, it’s not like I’m cleaning the whole entire car. Quite easy, actually. Just wipe down the door handle, and make sure their feet will go on a nice clean carpet. Plus, I found that using a lint roller works awesome for the actual seat that they sit on. Just roll the thing and pick up the lint left around. Right?

And I’ll get the windows every now and then. Reminds me of when I used to clean the windows to my school bus. Now that was a job. But it was some kind of standard to me. I just didn’t want my kids to have to be looking out through some dirty windows. Plus, that’s all what a school bus is anyway. Nothing bus windows.

And if I can’t keep this one window clean, in my car, then something is definitely wrong. I think it’s important.

Anyway. The next thing I must do, every morning, is gas up. Yep. Each and every day, before I get going. See. I’ll go through about 3/4 of a tank a gas every day. And I don’t want to be bothered with fuel at any time in my day. I got places to go. Time is of the essence.

And then, it’s on.
It’s all about the App. I have a nice dash mounted set up. For my phone.
All I’m doing is following what happens on the app. Actually, it would be like it’s a dispatcher. In a nutshell, it tells me where the customers are, and how to get there. Then it tells me where to drop them off, and how to get there. It’s nothing but a huge GPS tracker. Very easy to follow.

It’s not like I have to obey and follow everything it wants me to do. No. I have the final say on all matters. Even if I know a quicker way to get somewhere, I do that. It’ll just reroute the route.

It’ll go like this. I’ll either be on-line or off-line. When I hit "GO" button, I’ll be on-line. It searches for where the customers are at. The customers will be using the phone app, to get a ride. So basically, the whole entire system is connecting me (the driver) to the customer. There’s 3 major players on the network.
The driver. The customer. And the Dispatcher, the app’s central hub.

When an opportunity hits, I’ll have the option to take it or not. All I’ll see is how far away they are from me. In minutes and miles. That’s it. I won’t see where they want to go. That’s kind of a bummer. Cause if I didn’t want to go too far out of the city or any particular area, I won’t know until they get in. Then I’m committed.

As soon as I accepted it, I’ll drive to where they are, via it’s GPS map. In fact, that is all I’m looking at anyway. Nothing but a blue outlined road that I should be following. And so, I’ll pick them up. Greet them. And hit the button that indicates that I picked them up. Then it’ll show me where I need to go, their destination. It’s all mapped out. Again, all I’m doing is following the blue line.

But, my point here is, that I don’t know where they’re going until they get in. I’ll say something like this, when they get in the car.

“Good morning (their name), how you doing?”
“I’m fine thank you.”
“Let’s see. Where we going?” As I hit the button on the app and zoom out to see the big picture to get some idea how far we’re going.
As I’m doing this, sometimes they’ll mention where it is. But it’s just common knowledge that I have all that info on the app. I just want to have something to possibly talk about, as they have just got into the car. That’s all.

In any case, that’s where we’re going. Cause that’s what I do. Right?

And then, it’s the ride.

Journal, I’ve accumulated, thus far, just over 100 rides.
I’ve been trying to learn how best to do it.

Some are talkers.
This makes it quite easy. I listen to what they want to talk about. And if it’s about them (which seems to be the case most of the time) then I listen very intently. Cause I know humans like to be listened to. And that’s the way I will do it. Be a good listener.

Some don’t like to talk.
For whatever reason, don’t want to get too personal, have their attention drawn to their phone, or just want quiet. And that’s ok too.

Mostly, though, you’ll have some simple good old fashioned small talk. Just enough to make for a pleasant ride. Nothing too personal. But something that we can all relate to. Cause, after all, to some degree, we are all social creatures.

Journal, I’m collecting stories though.
Some good stories.
Some bad stories.

In whatever kind of situation it is, I’ll join them. Like, if it’s for some good news, like going on a trip to Greece (I’ll be taking her to the airport) then I’ll be happy for her and say things like, “Wow! Your lucky. Wish I were you, right now. Hope you have a wonderful time!” Like that, you know?

But then when there’s the bad situations, I’ll sympathize with them. Like, if their car has just been in an accident, totaled, and it’s going to be a while before it gets fixed. Yeah, he was quite upset. Or if someone else has heard a noise in her tires. Then took it in a shop to get it looked at. And then the word is that she needs $1K worth of work done on her brakes. Yeah, I feel really bad for her, as I take her home while they get the work done on it.

Lots of different situations.
Lots of different people.

I try to be the person they need me to be.
You know?

Well, that’s the job, Journal.
I think I can make the money, also.
In the first week, I definitely ended in the black. But feel I can make more.
This second week has gone much better. And I surpassed the first weeks amount.

And you know me, Journal, I even got an excel spreadsheet made on all of my numbers, results. I can look back and see any single day’s results. I need to keep track and see where I can improve upon. So many different factors go into it.

I’ll show you a day. This was this past week. It was a good day for me.
EXCEL_C8yXjDRFjb

I guess I didn’t explain another interesting aspect of this business.
Well, I did, last weekend. You just couldn’t see it.
But, on the first week, I was doing deliveries. That’s where I choose (if my app setting is open to it) to do eats. I can pick up food (already made at a particular food restaurant) and deliver it to an address.

This was interesting. At first, I didn’t like it, but the more I did it, the more I liked it. But the biggest thing about this is that the car will start to smell like food, inside it. And I surely do not want any customers getting in and have to smell some pizza aroma. No way. So, I stopped doing that, for now. I’ve been doing just pass rides.

I don’t mind doing that though. Cause it gives me a break from having to talk (which is much easier, right?).

Anyway.

It’s all about the app. It’s very technological. That’s the reason why I’m able to see these detailed numbers. Every week I can see sooooo many fine details on each and every ride I do. But the thing is, it gets reset after Sunday night. It goes a week at a time. Then resets. So, I better get these numbers down in my excel, before it goes away, later on tonight.

And that’s where we are today. Sunday.
I have to get out there. In fact, will be going very soon, after this write up.
I’m going to be working 6 days a week. Like I said, this does take some work.

Journal, I don’t mind putting in the work, especially that it’s for me. And only me.
It’s about time I am able to do this. Not for the “man”, but for me!
I am free.
Plus, this work is not really work. Cause I like it very much!

Alright Journal.
I’m gonna get going.

But I did tell you that there was some bad news.
Yeah.
And that is, for the first time, ever, that I’m not able to check in on the market much. It’s sad.
You know what I did on Saturday morning?
I ran the whole entire weeks worth of EOD numbers, all at once.
I can’t believe it!

If I can’t even do that, then you should know that I can’t even trade either. Cause the analysis has to come first. The proper analysis, that is. Preparation.

Nope.

I hope things will settle down at some point. And can find a good routine.
One in which I can incorporate some market time into it. You know?
But this is real life. Some things got to come first.

I am a trader. I know this.
This will never go away, from me.

And I’m sorry Journal that I have to be typing up all this nonsense that has nothing to do with trading. Which is not really like me. I would prefer charts that show currencies Journal, trust me. I would.

Hopefully this transition period won’t be too terribly long.
But don’t worry Journal. As long as you are willing to listen to me, I’ll continue to talk your ear off.
Thanks for listening Journal!
Mike

dushimes · September 24, 2022, 6:05pm

What made you so unhappy as a mechanic? (same thing?) It seems the money is always good in that field. And if you’re already good at it, and are more concerned about the money, why not?

I have no idea what it was like for you, so I can only guess.

I can imagine being at a job that you have NO interest in doing. I had a job that I reached a point I was taking more breaks than working. Normally, I would work for a while, then take a few minutes break. I reached a point I was doing the opposite. I would take a break for a while, then do work for a few minutes.

I just didn’t have the mental stamina to do it anymore. Is that what it was like for you?

I’m glad you found something more pleasant. It must be nice being out on the road like that!