The BabyPips community is a diverse one, welcoming people from all walks of life. We’ve got drivers, programmers, students, realtors, technicians– you name it, there’s probably a forum member with that job! And for this month’s member feature, we get the chance to learn more about a trader from the fascinating world of science!
Blue2 is a scientist, working in healthcare for vaccine development and distribution. But don’t let that intimidate you! Underneath the lab coat is a warm and friendly trader, eager to share his thoughts and perspectives on a wide range of topics!
As of the moment, he’s working hard to juggle a day job, take care of his family, and trade currencies. His ultimate goal? To retire in about 5 years to focus on family and forex.
In the past two and a half years of his trading journey, he has developed a trading system that suits his personality perfectly. Not only does this trader love extremely volatile markets, he also doesn’t use stop losses!
Intrigued yet?
Without further ado, we welcome @Blue2!
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What are your hobbies, interests, favorites?
I’m from London. I am a scientist working in applied healthcare/vaccine development and distribution. Hobbies are reading, hiking in the countryside and, most of all, trading! I love music - all sorts from rap to classical and everything in-between. My main focus is my family. I have two daughters and a long-suffering wife. I collect a bit of art. I love traveling (countryside not cities).
2. How long have you been trading and how did you get into forex trading?
I have been trading for about two and a half years. I got into forex because I’d spent many years doing what I thought was investing in stocks and shares, but I used to buy and sell very quickly, rather than buy and hold, which is what most investors do. It took me a while to figure out that I had a trading psychology rather than an investors psychology. I.E I am inpatient and want quick profits and enjoy the game of trading. I can’t grow old with a dusty portfolio of shares waiting for my 5% over the next 40 years. The stock market isn’t like that anymore - it’s not the 1970’s!!
3. You’ve started sharing your trading journal with the community. (We appreciate it!) Tell us more about the current strategy you’re implementing?
Re: my trading journal - it’s not going that well at the moment (the trade), but I’ve had some interest and a good amount of support/ nice comments. Re: my strategy - I don’t know if there is a name for it, to be honest. I do absolutely everything that you are not supposed to do. I don’t wait for set-ups, I’m constantly in a trade. I don’t set stop-losses, I trade up to 50 times per day (although more often about 20 times). My trades last anything up to about 6 months and I’m in loss for most of that time, until I get a big directional change and accrue profit very quickly then get out. I set up my trades so they can go against me indefinitely and I won’t blow my account, simply by buying into whichever way the price is going (up or down) while retaining my losing positions, which are ultimately surpassed by my profitable positions, or, the direction changes and my losing trades become profitable again. I chose volatile markets so I will get alot of movement and the positions won’t stagnate. I wouldn’t advise anyone to copy this as it’s a great way of blowing an account, but my own internal parameters and judgement of risk seem to keep me safe.
My way of trading is fairly unrefined and ugly. The traders I most admire are those who can make beautiful, accurate predictions based on chart patterns and make profits that way - that’s clever, elegant trading. Unfortunately, if I try this then I lose money every time. That’s why I don’t have stop-losses - I’d always be getting stopped out and eventually my account would dwindle to nothing. I make astonishingly poor predictions - really bad i.e I am correct way less than 50% of the time, I can’t even understand how that is possible.
However, I think my edge (the reason why I am profitable when 90% of traders are not) is the fact that I don’t think anyone else has the same trading style as me and the fact I don’t move with the heard means that I don’t fall into the same traps as the rest of them…
2.5 years ago I started with about £25K, then I lost about £15K of that. Then after 6 months, I made back my losses and was back to £25K. Since then I’ve made about £45K profit on top, so my account is now £70K. I aim to make about £200 per day over the next year, increasing year on year as I can afford to increase my position-sizes. My return on investment is approx 70% per year, which I can’t quite believe. I’ve either got trader instincts or I am incredibly lucky (hopefully the former).
4. Who on the BabyPips.com forums are you inspired by? You can name as many as you want!
I’m not particularly inspired by anyone in trading - we are all in it for fairly selfish reasons and trading doesn’t make the world a better place (although I’m sure many traders do things outside of trading to make the world better - I’m not trying to be cynical). However, I do get inspired and made happy by supportive / fun comments and advice. The main people whose posts I read (and sorry if I’ve left anyone out - there are loads more) are @tommor @greenscorpio @chesterjohn @MattyMoney @ponponwei @HeavenRobinson @ria_rose @steve369 cos their posts are helpful/funny/supportive/human.
5. What was your journey like to get to where you are today?
I’ve always enjoyed my work but have always wanted to be financially independent so I can work out of choice, not necessity. Although people tell me I’m good at my job I find it a great strain sometimes. I have ADHD and I’ve always been looking for a route to freedom from having to assimilate and insinuate myself into the conventional world of work/society. Despite finding lots of normal things difficult, I have been blessed with a head for numbers (as opposed to math which I’m very bad at) and thinking outside the box. Although my concentration is very poor, I, like a lot of people with ADHD, have an ability to “hyperfocus” which is to become totally absorbed for hrs in a task that grabs me - kind of the opposite of getting distracted. It’s difficult to explain. I think these are the reasons why I eventually fell into trading, because these attributes I’ve mentioned seem to be some of the prime requisites held by successful traders.
6. What is the best part about being a trader?
Best part of being a trader is the patterns on the screen. It’s an eternal puzzle, it’s like you are plugged into the whole universe. I find charts hypnotising. The idea of trillions of dollars per day being represented on those charts is mind-boggling. The fact I make a profit justifies my spending all this time staring at pretty patterns.
7. If someone tells you they want to get rich from trading forex, what would you tell them in response?
I would say they are being honest - that’s the dream we all hold! I’m aiming to make a lot of money and retire from my day-job in about 5 years. We’ll see what happens!! If I continue how I have done over the last 2 years then this should be easily possible. However, it seems too good to be true and I can’t quite believe that it’ll turn out like that, so I’m not quitting my day job yet. Besides, I like my day-job, mainly cos it’s extremely social and I talk to lots of different people every day, whereas trading is inherently anti-social and possibly not great for my mental health / personal-development.
8. Who has influenced you the most in your trading journey?
No-one has influenced me in my trading journey. I’ve never had a mentor and I am entirely self-taught. I look at famous traders and see a bunch of rich, greedy old men. There’s not much to admire there. Don’t get me wrong - I’ve nothing against these guys - I’m trying to do what they do. I just don’t admire them. I find it odd how people idolise great traders like Warren Buffet and make him an icon just cos he’s become stinking rich. Oh, sorry, I do admire George Soros cos his Soros foundation for students whose studies have been interrupted by war is a great charity and I know people who have benefitted from this and have had their lives changed - so I’m not a total cynic
9. Do you have a book or a movie which you recommend to traders?
Book - Anything by Kafka - cos trading is such an endless, surreal puzzle, like his books. Also, Confessions of an English Opium Eater by DeQuincy - as his opium nightmares bear some similarities to trading. Movie- don’t know - don’t watch that many.
10. Non-forex related question: What is your idea of the perfect day?
Perfect day - hiking in forest with family/friends, then having a barbecue, seeing some live music and getting slightly drunk, while all my trades come good.
Nice one 
In fact, on Friday night I refuse to close my laptop because I am there just staring at the patterns until I realise that the prices are no longer moving because the market has closed for the day on a Friday 
