Out of the Ashes: Flight of the Phoenix

Trading Discussion Trade Journals
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I was inspired by @RedEyeRishMan and @dushimes to start writing in a trade journal. I’m not trading yet, and I’m still going through the School of Pipsology. Writing down my thoughts about what I learn will be good practice and preparation for the time when I really start trading.

I feel optimistic about myself and my life even though I’ve fallen in a financial pit of despair that I dug myself. I’m a broke, unemployed, single, 46-year-old man who has no social life and lives with my 72-year-old mom.

I’ve come a long way and got through some difficult obstacles to be here right now. I feel like a phoenix rising out of the ashes getting ready to take flight.

I’m using this journal to write a weekly update of my progress and share any insights and ideas. Here’s my first update:

Screenshot 2023-10-22 062842

“Forex traders who aren’t serious or committed to the craft will be quickly eliminated by the market.”

“If you’ve failed to plan, you’ve already planned to fail.”

“Results are usually proportional to the quality of planning. Don’t set yourself up for failure. Set yourself up for success.”

I completed the lessons from Developing Your Trading Plan. Those quotes from the lessons made me think a lot about my life. It became clearer to me that all my failures were a result of my lack of planning.

I left home when I was 20 to join a Catholic missionary group believing that I was going to spend the rest of my life there. After six years, I got really sick and depressed. I attempted to kill myself and got hospitalized for a few days.

After I got out of the hospital, I was kicked out of the group with an expensive bill. I had no medical insurance, only had a high school diploma, and no useful skills for employment. It was a struggle, but I was able to recover with some therapy, got a job, and eventually paid off the hospital bill.

Everything could have turned out better, if I had a good plan before I joined that group. I set myself up for failure with my terrible decisions. I should have gotten a college degree first and shouldn’t have assumed that I would be a part of the group for the rest of my life. It would have also been useful to have had some money saved up just in case I ever left the group.

I’ve learned the importance of planning from that experience in my life. It’s also a source of strength that I know will make me a great trader. Blowing out my account multiple times or going through long losing streaks will really be nothing compared to what I’ve already been through. I’m not scared to get rekt!

I’m planning not to make trading my primary source of income. I’m making sure I have a stable income before I start. I’m learning how to code so I can get a job in cybersecurity. Even though I’m almost done with pipsology, I still deal with some doubts and discouragement.

I struggle with being patient with the process of learning and the feeling that I’m so far behind. I know I just have to stay committed to the craft and focus on what’s in front of me. I’ve already come so far, and I can go even farther.

I’m grateful to babypips and the community for inspiring me and helping me to keep going in my journey. Thank you.

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imagen

You’ve certainly been through a lot. I’m looking forward to your journal!

A positive attitude will take you further than you realize. Hold on to it.

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Stick. With. It.

You’ve been ripped through hell my friend but like the phoenix you shall rise again!

I’m here to follow you all the way my man, seriously looking forward to the progression!

Ildánach

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I suggest you focus on this first and foremost as trading FX is simple but not easy. There is no fast road to riches.

However, perseverence is a key mindset to eventual success.

Best of luck.

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We Gon Make It!

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Thank you Steve369.

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Screenshot 2023-10-29 062433

I completed the lessons from “Which Type of Trader Are You?” I was like Goldilocks trying out the different beds until she found the one that was just right.

But unlike Goldilocks, I didn’t find the trading style that was just right for me, so I have to keep looking and studying.

I don’t want to be a scalper, day trader, or swing trader because I already look at screens too much from coding.

I might become a position trader, but it’s not really for beginners because you need a lot of risk capital to pull it off. I’ll figure it out eventually.

I’ve been dealing with my regrets from all the years I wasted and the feeling that I’m so far behind in life.

I just happened to get one of the random quotes at the bottom of each lesson that seemed like babypips was reading my mind:

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

I’m taking those words from Oprah to heart as I keep learning and living my life.

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I joined the DARK SIDE of trading.

I found a trading system that’s just right for me.

It’s diabolically simple.

It’s a set and forget system. Almost no analysis required. Takes only a few minutes a day.

I learned about it from an ongoing trading experiment that I’ve been watching on YouTube.

They started with a $100,000 account. They only risk 1% of the balance.

They focus on the exit while having strict rules, use a trailing stop loss, and choose their entry with random things like rolling dice or spinning a wheel.

They let the law of averages work in their favor.

They’ll lose more trades than they’ll win, but they’ll make a few big wins to make them profitable.

Their strict rules will let them stay in the game long enough to make those big wins over time.

I’m tempted to stop taking the babypips course because of this devilishly simple system that disregards a lot of the things babypips teaches.

I can get cancelled for sharing this heretical and unorthodox system.

I don’t really need to learn anything else from babypips because this is the system that I’ve been looking for.

I found my holy grail!

I’m still gonna finish the course. I’ve already learned so much and I wanna make the most of what’s left to learn.

It’s one of those things where it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

I’ve completed 282 of 361 lessons so far. I finished the lessons from Creating Your Own Trading System. One of the recent lessons was called “The So Easy, It’s Ridiculous Trading System.”

"We know you’re probably thinking that this system is too simple to be profitable. Well, the truth is that it is simple. You shouldn’t be scared of something that’s simple.

In fact, there is an acronym that you will often see in the trading world called KISS.

It stands for Keep It Simple Stupid!"

These lessons about trading systems helped me to decide that I’ll stick to using the simple system I discovered that’s even more easy and ridiculous than the one from that lesson.

You have to see it to believe it. I couldn’t believe how simple it was when I first saw it. If there’s a system that’s more simple than this one, please let me know.

I plan to demo it after I complete the babypips course. Here’s a 6 minute video if you want to watch this sinister system in action.

I would love to get your thoughts about this system. What was your initial reaction? Would you use it? Will you join the Dark Side? :japanese_ogre:

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Let’s hope not.

I, for one, enjoy your posts and find them interesting.

That’s quite a claim! I haven’t seen it but will watch the video later, with interest.

That’s basically the “Cowabunga” but with the stochastic set at 10-3-3 instead of 14-3-3.

Unfortunately, neither has any edge at all.

If you read the long Cowabunga thread you’ll find countless posts there from members who have backtested it over countless years of data and on countless currency pairs.

They all agree that it never actually has any demonstrable edge on any pair, in any year. :cry:

Methodical and accurate backtesting is so easy, these days, and its needed facilities so readily available, that claims of profitability for multiple indicator-based methods like that are very easily disproved and discredited.

I can perhaps get cancelled for sharing this heretical and unorthodox information. :sweat_smile:

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I’ve watched it now.

Thanks for posting it.

Most entertaining.

I agree very much with what they say about entries and their relative importance.

I think most successful traders would agree, in principle, with that.

I’ve certainly seen plenty of experienced traders I trust saying that entries are about 2% of “what matters” in trading.

And I’ve certainly seen a few thousand people posting in forums who seem not to understand the difference between a “trading system” and an “entry method” and I know those people aren’t successful.

No way.

Of course not.

It was shown in that video as “trade number 27” of a $100,000 account of which the balance, when the trade was opened, was under $98,000.

If they can’t even make it look profitable in their Youtube video, then I commend their honesty but won’t be trading it, myself.

Besides which, I prefer higher win rate methods, myself.

I’m not keen on drawdowns.

But 27 trades, for a 2% loss?

Really?

Yes, maybe, but not what they call the “dark side”.

I’ve always thought the “dark side” in trading meant trading without indicators, but they’re clearly determining the trade direction from a moving average, and the trade management from the ATR.

So that surprised me a little.

Good move!! :grinning:

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Thanks for the support and taking the time to read my posts.

I didn’t know that about the Cowabunga. I think you’re safe because babypips encourages people to do their own research and backtest things. Throughout the lessons they always say that all the tools they teach us to use aren’t guaranteed to always work.

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Thanks for watching the video and the useful feedback. I’m just starting to understand the difference between a trading system and an entry method. I still have much to learn.

That 2% loss after 27 trades didn’t seem bad to me, but I am a noob so I’ll have to figure this out.

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a 2% drawdown isn’t terrible in itself, but after 27 trades one would hope to be perhaps 5%-10% ahead overall, so a 2% drawdown would still leave you 3%-8% in profit - i think this is Pipsteroid’s point (which i’d agree with) (but who knows? he may be on drugs half the time anyway?)

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2% loss x 27 trades = 54% loss

If you lost half your account, it’s time to go back to demo, if you’re not there already.

Actually, (generally speaking) you should have returned to demo long BEFORE losing half your account. Remember in Pipsology, it says you gotta protect your capital. If you have no capital, you can’t trade. I was trading live prematurely, I was hemorrhaging money, so I went back to demo in order to preserve my capital.

And you don’t have to risk 2% per trade. There’s nothing wrong with 1% or even 0.5% risk per trade.

@playwiththegods What do you think?

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no, no - it’s a net loss of 2% after a total of 27 trades, on that video - and they’re not risking 2% per trade!! :wink:

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It’s good to know you have my back and you’re someone who will call me out on any mistakes I’m making. I appreciate it even if you misinterpreted the numbers. :roll_eyes:

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LOL! :laughing:

That’s a good point. In my mind, I think being down 5%-10% seems normal and expected while being 5% - 10% ahead is pretty good. I’ll be happy if I’m ahead by that much.

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Oops. Sorry. I definitely missed that. Being down 2% total isn’t so bad at all.

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Nothing is so simple in life so just hold onto your plans but take your decision carefully so you don’t have to suffer in the long run. Best of Luck for your future plans!

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Thank you Peter_John.