Wed 2nd December

Hi John

It was good chatting to you this afternoon. Since our last chat I can happily say that my trading is improving by the day. Gone are the indicators like stochs and MACD. All I have on my charts are a couple of moving averages and support and resistance. Since the removal of the indicators I don’t feel distracted by wavy lines telling me when things are oversold and overbought. I now look at my candles and take it from there. I have studied candles quite extensively . I am going for smaller runs and concentrating on getting around 15 pips per pair per day. I am currently trading 3 pairs and hoping to increase this eventually to 6. When I have reached my target I stop trading and study charts and try to predict movements and what will happen. The charts I trade are 15m and 1h.

My confidence has grown. This is partly due to taking a psychology course for traders and working on my mindset. I have joined a South African trader who has the most amazing approach. He used to give trade calls but I never took the trades. Taking trade calls doesn’t suit me as I don’t feel in control. It’s not so much a system he teaches but a whole package that includes teaching me discipline, how to prevent over trading, starting small and working my way up to my full potential when I am ready for it.

He uses blank charts but the folk who are with him trade their own systems and use his approach to trading. I used to look for big runs and would miss smaller runs and by doing so not trade. Now I don’t look for tops or bottoms and get in when the trade looks set to make good pips generally getting in on a pull back. I trade between 6am and 9am and what has not been done by then doesn’t happen.

When in the USA this will mean trading from 1am EST till 4am but that’s ok. I am prepared to do this and most mornings just after Frankfurt opens I reach my targets and then can carry on with my work day. When I have my 15 pips I lock them in and let the trade run but I still have a problem staying in a trade and tend to close too early. If I see the trade winging off without, I am not bothered by it. I have my pips.

This has been a gradual change and the last few weeks my predictions have been right. I still have more winners than losers and now I need to work on reducing the size of my losses. Today’s trade was better. I set a limit and closes when price reached it. My stop loss is 1% tops. If the trade doesn’t allow for this I don’t take it.

The psychology course has stressed that you trade at your own pace and not allow anyone to pressurise you. No two traders are the same. What takes one trader a year can take another 3. There is no contest as to who will make the grade first. I have finally lost this sense of pressure. I am more relaxed and the results are noticeable.

Just because I have not gone to school to learn to trade I find I am not taken seriously and I am constantly asked when I will be making big money. I have had comments like I am wasting my time and should rather concentrate on something else. It’s just ignorance as few understand the time it takes to become a good trader. I have a few trader friends who are taking so much flack from their wives it is affecting their trading. Thankfully Leigh doesn’t hassle me. The group I’m with is over 50 traders yet there are only two women in the group. At first I felt intimidated by this but now I could care less. Everyone is very supportive and helpful and I am able to contribute and even made trade calls which have turned out well. When I trade I switch off and concentrate on my trading. Chatter distracts me.

Looking back a year ago I was nervous, had frozen finger syndrome and terrified of taking losses which eventually stopped me trading for several weeks. Now I understand losses are all part of trading and losing doesn’t hit me like it used it. I have only been trading live since the end of October last year. I think the biggest improvement in my trading started around June/July this year.

And that’s my news. Hope you have a super Christmas in the sun.

Kind regards

Desiree

17th September

Hi John

Hope you are well? I’ve not written to you in a while. I’ve been away for 5 weeks in the States and moved around a lot while there so very little trading went on. When I’m not trading I’m watching charts or doing some form of research to fine tune what I am doing now. One of my day jobs falls away end of this month so I have hours of uninterrupted time to trade and not work and trade at the same time as I did before.

My trading is slowly and steadily improving all the time and there hasn’t been much to report as its ticking along nicely and I’m gaining confidence albeit in tiny steps. My wins are greater than my losses at around 75%. I would still like to reduce the size of my losses but have been playing around with stops and deciding whether to let the trade stop me out or to call it quits beforehand. Thankfully I am getting my direction right. A few trades I lost through sheer stupidity like closing a trade instead of moving my stop and once or twice the set up was perfect and it was back luck that I got stopped out. The trades seldom go more than 10 pips against me before going in my direction. Some losses were because I went to break even too soon. I like to go to break even at 15 pips and on a few occasions I have been stopped out of the trade. As I enter on one tiny lot I don’t like to give away pips so I’m trying to not enter on two or three lots now and close them as the trade progresses so that I have room to play with. Trading with just one lot has too many disadvantages.

I am learning patience and to keep out of trades and let them come to me. This means on some days I don’t trade. I don’t particularly like trading on Mondays and Fridays but when I have done have picked up some good pips. Usually those days I spend chart watching and reading. I trade off 5m 15m and 1h charts although the 15m is my favourite. The 1m chart is never looked at anymore. I have found the system that suits me and I’m fine tuning it by adding and taking things off the charts. I’m trading two candle formations and support and resistance. I have not completely done away with indicators but they are a lot less then they used to be. I do enjoy using fibs and using them as targets. I have to learn to stay in the trade long enough to reach my targets. I still get out too soon. When entering a trade I set my stop and limit and yet get out too soon. 90% of the time the trade hits my limit.

Finding the right time of day to trade has been a challenge especially while in the USA. In the UK it’s easy to trade London and I enjoy that but in the States I have a hard time getting up at 2am but realise that this is what I’ll need to do when I move over there eventually. To wake up at 6am and see that I’ve missed quite a few moves during London open is disheartening so I have to console myself there’ll be another trade soon enough.

And that’s about it for now. I am seldom on Skype now as I find it to disrupting and I’ve messed up too many trades with interruptions.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Kind regards

Desiree

19th July

"thank you John . Are you still in France? I owe you an email re this weeks trading which is getting better all the time"

3rd July

Hi John

I saw a message from you on Facebook but I wasn't at my laptop when you signed. Yes I am still trading, very much so. I trade several times a week and don't enter trades unless I like what I see.

Yesterday and today were sluggish so no trading although I took three demo trades and they were winners which thrilled me as I went completely by the rules. I wanted to prove something to myself and it worked. I have become far more disciplined in my trading and look for good setups and if I miss them then walk away till something better comes back.

My patience is also improving and if I don't trade I don't feel guilty. Most of my trades are winners now and where as before I was thrilled when I made 5 pips, now 15 and 20 are becoming the norm. I have two laptops side by side with the GU and EU up so I can see at a quick glance what either pair is doing at any given time frame without having to toggle between them.

This has made a huge difference as I can see a set up forming and get ready for it. In the past I'd switch from chart to chart and it wasn't ideal where as this works so well. There's no mad rush to enter as I work out where I want to enter. Getting out of trades is still the biggest stumbling block but this week I started using fibo lines as targets and its working. When I have 20 pips I should rather go to break even and let the trade run than close it prematurely.

I know with time this will come as I gain more confidence in my method and am not tempted to take my profits and run. There's not really much to say about the trading except that things are improving weekly and I'm spending hours chart watching. Comparing how the different pairs move and the time of day when things are busy and when not.

I do like the early morning trading but there are some good moves in the afternoon as well so when in the States I can trade US session and not get up with the sparrows. I've spent a lot of time with Ian Kingsbury and as we use the same method its been such fun and educational comparing notes and watching trades together and discussing the set ups.

Apart from that nothing new to report except that every week is a pleasure and my confidence is improving. It's not a gamble anymore. Now it's planning my trade and trading it - hopefully successfully Have a super weekend Desiree

18th June

Hi John

Good to talk to you yesterday. I will check my Skype and see what the problem is. I know I don’t have call forwarding so cant imagine why it’s showing me as offline.

I set two traps last night and they both bummed so I think I’ll give that a miss and rather trade what I see. I had to recoup those trades this morning. I kept them small and what I thought was realistic – 20 pip profit. The pair was perfect for setting a trap. Very flat and I set them to kick in 20 pips either side. I think maybe my profit target was too high. If I’m only going for 10 pips it’s not worth taking them. Both were hit and then reversed and took out my stops. I had set trailing stops but they didn’t kick in either as they had not gone up far enough for the trail to kick in.

Today I’m waiting for the EU to hit 4050 before going short. I will take a few longs to get there on a smaller time frame. I have set a sell order for 4050 but will monitor it and adjust accordingly

Apart from that trading has been fun. I’m enjoying looking at basically clean charts and wider time frames. I still have hesitation entering trades but I think it’s not just me. Today was a real beauty on the GU and I could have risked only 20 pips. I think what I need to do is take the decision away from myself and set an order to kick in when the price reaches my target. Attached is my chart and entry I had planned. You can see my trend lines and the fractal support and resistance levels all coincided. I think a perfect entry.

I’ll keep you posted me other trades.

Regards

Desiree

12th June 2009

Hi John

Haven’t seen you online this week. Leigh was here so we spent a lot of time hiking. I did some trading it its going a lot better. I make my 60 to 70 pips a week not trading every day either but I’m hoping to increase that with the coming weeks.

Last week Iain and I went to a Forex workshop in Edinburgh. As it was free I thought it would be interesting to see what they were gong to teach us.

When we got there we saw it was Greg Seckers Knowledge to Go program they were trying to sell. I was a bit miffed as that was clearly not a workshop. Anyway I sat through it and have to admit it was very interesting what they offer. Only 8 attended the ‘workshop’ . At the end of it they gave the price - £4500 for two days which included one on one training afterwards, software and something else which I can’t recall right now. (plus travel and accommodation on top of that).

Then they said because its today they would give it to us for £2900 + VAT. I said to Iain that’s more like the real price. The presenter then started to push folk to sign up (two did) and as I had said I was a trader already I felt it was expensive and I wasn’t about commit to £2900 there and then.

Still no bites then they lowered the price a further £1000. Now we were down to £1799 + Vat. They wanted an immediate £500 down payment. The presentation was good until the end when the sales pitch started. We walked out. Just before the presentation started I overheard the three chaps giving the presentation discuss offering it to us at £2000.

What I found odd was the presenter had been working in this field for over 28 years and he mentioned some impressive institutions he worked with and for yet during the presentation he said he’d worked on a ship for many years. Looking at his age I could see none of this added up. He told us how much he makes yet he has a day job trying to sell this package. I spent the greater part of the 2 hours trying to work out how and when he managed to do all he said

Yesterday the presenter called me. I told him I’m making 60 to 70 pips a week and he asked if I didn’t want to turn them into 1000 pips a week. I said to him ‘listen, let’s cut the bull shit. Your course is expensive, I would rather put this money into my trading account and the e-system you try to sell is a further $120 a month –money you have to make back before you start making a profit’.

He asked me why I came to the presentation and I said because you advertised it as a workshop and if I’d not just driven an hour to get to this workshop I’d have walked out and gone home. I don’t think he expected me to be this blunt. I said if I was a complete newbie I’d certainly consider it as what they offer is good but not at the price they are offering it. I said let me see how I get on with my trading and if I make a complete hash of it then I’ll know where to go to be turned into a good trader.

The chap didn’t have much more to say and clearly knew he was not going to get a sale out of me. Let’s see how long it takes them to call again. I doubt it. Probably have a huge cross next to my name

Apart from that everything is ticking along nicely. Wins are becoming more frequent and losses less.

Have you had good responses to your scalping workshop?

Have a good weekend. It promises to be a lovely one here

Desiree

29 May

Hi John
I only traded once this week made 68 pips. I was very busy with day job too so less trading. If I can maintain this level I will then increase my lot size again. I want this sort of consistency before I start trading my GFTaccount again. I am following Steve of nobrainertrades on Forex Factory. I like his method which is only support and resistance. Nobrainertrades also have a live chatroom now where you can follow trade set ups and chart analysis. Today we watched the EU amongst others and where it was going and I was in the trade and it felt good.

I had more than one trade running and opened more lots as it retraced My trading journey over the past few months (since February) has been exciting. I felt at one point I was getting nowhere fast. The amount I've learned in the last 3 months is staggering. Talking to other traders and discovering what works for me has been a big road of discovery. I've learned that a method that works for one can be a total failure for someone else. Less is very definitely more and the few indicators I have will be removed soon as I don't feel the need for them.

I still trade with Darren occasionally but more with a chap in Malasia who has the same approach as I do and not to jump into trades but to let trades come to us. I'm learning patience and Andrew who's traded before is a good person to keep me grounded and we support each other. We follow the same approach and trade together. The time difference sucks but I am trading as early at 6:30 each morning and usually done by 10am. That means 1:30am USA time and I can't quite get my head around this trading during the night butLondon time is the best trading time so I'll have to suck it up and do it when in the States.

There are loads of places on the net giving free trade calls (GFT one of them) and I take each one and analyse it. I don't often take them as I want to enter a trade that I have worked out for myself and if my conclusion is the same as theirs fine. With the lower lot size I trade a 100 pip trailing stop. When I get above 30 I move my stop to break even and then let it trail till I'm stopped out.

I just got your email and I've been on Skype all along although when I'mtrading I don't take calls as they distract me but I've not seen you online either. My Skype often shows me as offline when I'm actually online. It seems worse in the UK. I found the comments from Ian very interesting and he is right, I have felt like a butterfly. I have been searching for months as I never felt I had found what I was looking for and knew once I found it I'd be happy with it. It's been a slow progress and finally I feel I'm getting there. I always felt the lot size I started to trade with was way too high for a beginner trader (certainly in my case) and it was a major cause of me losing confidence and trying to find a way so that I would feel happy trading larger amounts and not make massive losses and still remain sane.

My concentration was on not losing money instead of learning to trade. I can honestly say only when I reduced my lot size did I feel I was getting somewhere. This is taking money management into account. My account is big enough to trade larger lots but to me that was throwing good money away tillI had found my feet. I'm a firm believer that you need a comfort zone.

Sometraders work better under pressure, others buckle and I'm one of them. 85% psychology the rest is knowledge. I'm trading with a lady who's made over$250,000 in the last 5 years. She started on micro and then went to mini and she still doesn't trade huge lots but she is very successful because she has a comfort zone that enables her to trade relaxed and enter loads of trades leaving some to run for the week. I've learned a lot from her and she's helped bring back my confidence. We analyse the charts for the coming week and what to look out for. What I am really amazed about is how many traders are out there ready to help you and offer advice. There is so muchkindness out there.

With regard to trading platforms, I'm only using Meta Trader 4. The VisualTrader is ok but once you've used Meta Trader there is no going back. GFT'scharts are also ok when the platform loads. I have days it hangs up and dayswhere I can't even get in. I will use the GFT web version for trading. I think Darren does that as well now. He uses both Meta trader and VT. MyFXCM is such an easy ride. Never a problem like I had with Worldspreads who took me out of trades and went past my stops totally ignoring them. Never had a requote either but then I'm not scalping and since I've stopped scalping my trading has improved. The 1m chart isn't even looked at anymore. 5m is the lowest for entries and exits. If I had to give advice to new traders and learn from my mistakes I'd say

1) demo 4 to 6 months at least. Don't treat the demo as a liveaccount but make it work for you. Use it as a tool to learn how thecurrencies move and try out systems. What I didn't do in demo was to try outvarious trading strategies and I only concentrated on making pips but reallydidn't know what I was doing.

2) open a micro account - it still feels like demo but you can make money while you put to practice what you learned in demo and build up youraccount that way.

3) Become successful making consistent pips. The money that comeslater

4) then once you are consistent for at least three months possibly think about increasing your lot size

5) Don't give up your day job. This is not an overnight success story Isn't hindsight great? At least I didn't loose my shirt as some traders have done.

Well that's me for this week. Leigh is here next week and then I will put onlonger term trades so I can get out and hike with him during the week. Kind regards and chat soon Desiree

24th May

Hello John
I have not traded much over the past month due to travelling. Its been so EU and GU going down the pan that when it turned this week it took many of us by surprise and Darren and I shorted as did many traders we trade with. All in all it was a disaster and I learned that it is so easy to get used to a direction and when things change to read the charts and trade what you see and not what you have become used to seeing and that is shorting the pair.

My mindset is really improving all the time and the pips I pick up now are in excess of 10 pips per trade. I need to still learn to get out of winning trades. I am trying to let my winner run and have decided when in a long trade to bag anything over 50 pips. I have three runs of over 50 pips recently and I left them but had I recognised a pin bar on a lower time frame I’d have got out. I’m trying so hard not to look at lower time frames. I never look at the 1m anymore. The lowest has been 15m but I’m feeling very comfortable with the 30m and higher. The longer term trades were entered on the 4h.

I’m using fewer indicators. I have fractal support and resistance, pivots and murry math lines which are super. I draw fibos to see how they coincide with my support and resistance then trade from the support/resistance line. There are a few very good threads on Forex Factory which I have been following. All basically the same – concentrating on support and resistance. Its amazing when one starts trading one relies on so many indicators and as you learn you realise less is better. I’m so enjoying my trading journey.

Leigh has not traded in several months. He sees how much work I put into it and I am not sure if he will go back to trading. I hope he does but I’m not pressurising him as that is a guaranteed killer. You need to feel passionately about trading to succeed. There are so many ups and downs and in the beginning more downs than ups but the exciting thing is the downs get less and less. Some get it sooner than others I think I will take my time.

Ok that is all from me. Regards - Desiree

15th May

Hi John

Hope you are well. I presume you are back in France. I returned to the UK today after a hectic 3 weeks in the States where I hardly traded. I have also been so busy I’ve not had a chance to work on the website either and that will happen in the next few weeks to get that done. Right now the .us domain links back to your site.

Very little news except that when I do trade I’m doing a whole lot better and making 20 pips plus is becoming more normal within a single trade. I’m still not comfortable trading higher lots. Right now I’m still working on being consistent and reducing the size of my losses but every day I feel stronger and more confident.

Have a great weekend Kind regards - Desire

20th April

Hi John
I hope your course went well and you are enjoying your trip.

I'm sorry I wasout and unable to chat to your group. I'm flying to the States tomorrow andwill be on holiday so am thinking of taking longer term trades. Setting them on the 4h and daily and see what happens. I've spent a lot of time on the larger time frames and this past week and only looked at naked charts using my Murray Math indicator and fractals. It gave me a much clearer picture and my trades were better. I ended the week with good pips and today Monday made a quick 30 on cable. By looking at the larger time frame I'm less likely to get out of the trades as fast as there is only one bar to watch and not the 1m bars which I've not traded in several weeks now I'm finding the more I look at charts the more I am moving away from indicators.

When I draw trend lines on my charts and with my support and resistance I can decide where I'll get in and wait for my entry. If it happens fine and if not that's also ok. I'm still only trading EU and GU. I do enjoy talking to other traders. There is so much to learn and I love hearing their stories of how they made it and those who are still struggling to get there. It puts it all nicely in perspective.

I know you are not in favour of too much research and studying up but I have such an enquiring mind and I'm picking up a lot of new things. I try them if they work I keep them and if not I dump them. Most of the traders I talk to are full time traders doing very well and they are very encouraging. I don't follow their trades. I decide on my own and enter them on my own as well. My EU trade last week I was short while they were long. I regret closing my short as I'd be in serious pips now but that's part of the learning curve. It never came close to my stop. I also check out the free trade calls and if they coincide with what I'm seeing I will enter the trade. Right now the FX360 are saying buy the EU at 2948 but it's dropped quite a bit so I'll wait before I make a decision.

It's quite late in the day as well and I need to pack for my trip to the States so I think may be content with my 30 pips today. I also practiced hedging and I don't like it at all. I can see folk losing alot of money this way. I'm also going for pips and consistency. I will remain on $1 a pip till I make consistent pips. I am not seeing it as money and if I could trade smaller lots I would do so. I find I need to push this time limit of going full time right out of my head as it came very close to destroying me. Everymorning I used to get up and say I need 10 pips today and I have to make this target and wham my first trade took that and more away.

Imagine had I resigned from my day job end of December. I'd be a basket case now. Now I don't care if it takes me a year or two to make it. Where as before I felt I had to get this right so I can replace my day job. Now I've given that idea up as a pipe dream and when entering trades I don't care and worry so much anymore. I'm more relaxed and it's showing in my trading. I need a comfort zone. I know you disagree with this as you feel once I have one I won't make it as a serious trader but my outlook has changed drastically and I have made such strides in the last two months that I believe I will make a better trader as I am not terrified a trade will go against me.

My determinationto do well is as strong as ever. The only thing that's changed is how I'm going about it and the time limit. I spoke to a chap in because his partner feels he's goofing off and having this pressure is affecting his trading. He makes some weird trades and I think he is desperately looking for trades. Enters them and makes one loss after another. This is one of the reasons I love chatting to other traders. Shows to pack for the USA. I will not be around much over the next three weeks due to travelling around the USA and visiting and spending time with Leigh as he's on leave for the first two weeks in May.

Chat when you get back and hopefully my Skype will be performing better Regards Desiree