With everything going on around the world, purr-haps we can paws for a meow-ment and enjoy another exciting member feature!
A splash of positivity, experience, and cuteness-- I’m pretty sure you’ve come across our cat-loving member @Imperator_Cat! He’s on a mission to lighten up the forums with his remarkable “cattitude.” He never fails to enliven discussions with his unique way of posting.
But don’t be fooled by the kitty talk! This member knows what he’s talking about.
Despite being relatively new to BabyPips, he’s very open to sharing his trading journey with the community through his journal: The Kitty Minion Trader’s Journal (A Challenge Journal). He takes us through every step of the way with his very detailed and delightful trading notes using the Ichimoku system which he considers as one of the best systems for newbies. A purrfect fit for the community, he’s already created strong bonds with the other members! So if you love felines and forex, he might just be your new trading buddy!
Today, we get to know more about how he manages a full-time job, while profitably trading forex and stocks on the side.
So, without further ado, we give you @Imperator_Cat!
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What are your hobbies and interests? What’s the story behind the name “Imperator_Cat”?
Hi babypips! I’m David from the Philippines. I work an 8 to 5 job and at the same time I trade and invest in both the Philippine Stock Exchange and the global Forex and Commodities market.
I love spending time with family and friends over food and drinks and my hobbies include music, games, and sometimes I write.
My interests are pretty varied as I’m kind of a “one of everything” kind of guy. I love novelty and I try to seek out new experiences all the time. I love to travel places and explore food and culture too! 
Fun fact: My facebook is 90% travel and food trips, 5% jokes and memes and 5% other stuff.
I would attribute this profile’s distinct feline name and attitude to my love of cats. I am a cat lover and it has spilled to this part of my life.
There is however a deeper reason for the “cattitude” I’m putting out on the forums. As we all know, the world of trading is a serious and difficult world. I try to soften it up and make it funny when I can so that the newbies won’t get too scared and maybe give them a small boost in morale. It’s already a tough world so I guess we could all use a boost of morale from a silly cat trying to trade.
“If a silly kitty can do it, so can I!” 
2. How did you get into the world of forex trading? Since then, how would you say has forex changed your life?
I ran into the financial markets by accident when I inquired at a live broker’s office about investments on stocks. During my socialization with fellow stock investors and traders, one of them mentioned forex trading. It piqued my curiosity as the forex market did not have the limitations the local bourse had. I was impressed and intrigued that I started exploring. I started looking up topics about the market, reading books and articles, watching videos, and learning from the awesome babypips site (incognito at first 'coz I was initially shy of forums).
What can I say? Forex has upped the ante. This is a whole new game level from where I started in stocks.
Apart from the monetary benefits (which is one of the main reasons we are all in the game), forex has broadened my perspective on global economic events. I have a deeper and broader understanding of the inner workings of the financial world. I now understand better the impact of global and national financial policies better. I met awesome people and learned from their perspectives too!
In time, I know that forex will bring me that freedom I have always sought and from then on, the game changes again!
3. Could you please describe a typical day in your trading life?
Right now I still have my day job (yes, brothers and sisters, I am just like one of you guys).
“I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe” - Jango Fett
My day starts at around 6. During my morning routines, I try to educate myself using YouTube videos that teach either trading related / finance related things OR motivational stuff.
By 8:00 AM I grind it out at work until 5:00 PM and do my best to serve. The local bourse opens at 9:30 AM and at around 10:00 AM, using the forbidden ninja techniques of (Alt + Tab), I execute trading plans on the local bourse (stocks). Take note that I only “execute” plans at this time for two reasons (1) Scanning and planning should ideally happen the day before and (2) I try not to use too much company time as I try to be a good kitty at work. hehe…
At lunch time, if I have some spare time on my break, I’ll try to scan GBP and EUR pairs for the London Open strategy execution in about 2 hours from after my lunch. If my work isn’t too busy and conditions are favorable, I’ll execute. If not, I’ll pass. 
After my work, I’ll try to bond with some friends over food and coffee. 
We usually talk about life, our plans, and the markets too (they are fellow traders as well).
By the time I get home at around 7:00 PM, I do my routines and have dinner. At around 9:00 PM, I’d do my charting studies, strategy checkups, journalizing and reflection, and I’ll catch up on the news and analysts’ take on recent news items.
If conditions are favorable in the US open, I can execute trades on the fly but my goal for the evening is to be ready for the next day on the local stock market, and if possible, on the forex market as well. By around 11:00 PM, I’ll need my obligatory chill time (Youtube music or PC games) so that I don’t get burnt up and I stay “pawesome”.
11:30 PM is my bedtime and the day starts again tomorrow. 
During the weekend, I have more time for bonding with the family and to study and backtest.
4. Is there anything in particular that you wish you had learned when you started out?
I wish I found out about babypips earlier! 
I wish I found out about stoplosses early in my trading career. 
5. What’s your most memorable trading experience so far?
It was November of 2017 and it was my first serious forex trading account. It had been a swell 8 or 9 months that my account grew from $1,000 to a cool $1,400+. I had about 3 trades open and they were in the green by a little bit. At this time, I had not discovered the true value of stoplosses as I was a foolish newbie who believed that using stoplosses invited stoploss hunting so I should keep my stoplosses mental or on my notebook. I used stoploss only on the journal and markings on the chart but I still manually closed trades. Big mistake. 
All was well on my day to day trading with my manual stoploss method until that fateful day.
I had found out my girlfriend at the time was cheating on me! (With two other guys) 
I was devastated and I closed off everyone and everything including the financial markets.
As I opened my account two and a half months later, I had burned my prior gains because of my losing positions and losses were ballooning to about half of my account.
There were a lot of mistakes but the biggest one was not using a stoploss.
I eventually blew the rest of the account trying to revenge trade despite my post breakup emotional disposition telling me not to trade yet.
6. Tell us more about the trading strategy in your trading journal The Kitty Minion Trader’s Journal (A challenge journal). What made you decide that this strategy is the one that fits you?
After the January Incident with a certain middle eastern general, I made a killing on my main account with oil, gold, and silver using the Ichimoku system and I wanted to share the system with the world. I felt like I owed the universe (I felt I did not deserve that much gain) for letting me win and I figured teaching was my way of giving back.
I have hopped from one system to another in both my stock market and forex journeys and I can tell you that the Ichimoku system is the best (if not one of the best) for newbies.
I would definitely recommend the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo system to the newbies out there. Don’t be intimidated by how it looks.
It’s good for newbies because it keeps you out of bad trades. The reason I’m saying this is because it has its own way of filtering out low quality trades based on its unique confirmation methods. Not every Tenkan Sen- Kijun Sen cross is taken. You’d need to confirm the location of the cross relative to the Kumo. Then you’d need to confirm the location of the Senkou span. You may also need to confirm the bias and characteristics of the future Kumo. If you follow the rules by the letter, you will most likely pass on sooooo many trades that still ended up profitable anyway but the beautiful thing about this is that you will also most likely pass on fakeouts and shakeouts.
Following the system as it was meant to be used means you’ll take fewer trades than you would expect but you have this assurance on the quality of trades.
When you get the hang of it, you can add other aspects such as what I did with EMAs to confirm trend and additional dynamic support/resistance.
7. What motivates you to continue trading when in a trading slump?
My HIGHER PURPOSE.
We all have a HIGHER PURPOSE. We all live to serve a destiny in the world we live in.
We all have a mission in life and I’m pretty sure a tiny loss was not meant to derail us on our sacred mission. I can’t quit. Not when I’m not yet done.
When I feel down and I begin to doubt myself, I look at the world around me - It’s broken in so many ways. There is so much suffering and so many people need us. There is so much more we need to do to fix this world. We cannot quit on them now, can we?
When I feel like a loser, I look around me and I see people trying their hardest in conditions worse than me. If they’re still fighting for their dreams, their families and for their loved ones, why am I quitting?
Whenever you feel unsure of yourself, remember that there is a Higher Power out there looking out for you. Call Him God, Fate, Divine providence, Destiny, or whatever you believe in. He’s got you covered.
Does anyone here play Civilizations 6?
Check this out
8. Can you share with us what the forex market in the Philippines looks like these days?
It does not exist. The industry does not exist for retail players yet. There isn’t a regulatory body specific to forex trading and the Securities and Exchange Commission has outlawed forex trading.
This outlawing is kind of a bad decision as it was based on the occurrence of several large scale ponzi schemes who used forex and cryptocurrencies as their “front” for their MLM activities. 
In the absence of a specific regulator, homegrown brokers specific to forex, and an industry framework, locals have found a workaround by getting accounts from brokers offshore.
I do have hope that with the prominence of local figures in forex and trading education, we can see a framework developed for the retail forex trading industry soon.
9. Have you ever thought of investing in cryptocurrencies? Why or why not?
I have only traded them a few times through CFDs but I have not taken actual ownership of cryptocurrency. My personal perspective is that it’s still more of a speculative financial instrument than it is a currency or a store of value. I’ve made a little money on some trades with BTCUSD but that’s as far as it goes. 
10. What non-trading activities are you into when you’re not trading?
I always love to eat and drink with friends! A good chat with some of my buddies always recharges me and keeps me happy.
Quality time with family over meals and stories and maybe some fun games is what I live for and is what I’d love to do when I “retire” from both my job and trading.
Family, friends, loved ones - they are part of the reasons I trade and I would love to spend time with them as much as I can.
11. What is your advice to the Filipino traders out there?
We are meant to break from the mold. From elementary to college, our financial education is close to nothing. Our education system has failed us in this part. We have been taught all our lives to “work hard, study hard, get a job so you’ll succeed”.
It’s up to us, kabayans, to learn the craft and excel in this business.
People will doubt you and bring you down. Don’t get mad, show them the way.
It will be tough but never give up. Despite all the noise, work hard in silence and let your success do the talking. Never forget your HIGHER PURPOSE.
But when you do finally make it, don’t forget to look back on your fellow men.
Only 1% of our country invests and trades in the local markets. Spread the love! Let’s save as much as we can from poverty. Let’s all prosper together as every Filipino deserves the chance to be wealthy.
Sometimes, I compose speeches in my head and I type them into my notes. I’m gonna leave you with this note I composed last year when my own doubters were jeering at me.
Man you gotta love that song!
