22nd March

Hi John

I see I missed a few of your calls today. I've not been at my computer.It's been a very busy week with the day job and new clients so couldn't devote the time to trading that I wanted to. I made quite a few trades and they were profitable. I lost a few which annoyed me because I didn't go to break even when I could and ended up in a loss albeit a controlled loss as I got myself out so pips lost were small - 10 or under. Had I taken profit at support or resistance I'd not have had a single loss this week. Hindsight!! But this week I will go back to taking my profits even though they may be small or breaking even and let the trade run.

As you know I've been looking at wider time frames and that's why I stopped out. It all goes back to having large enough stops to accept retracements. So this week I will concentrate on recovering my small losses. I never trade without a stop. This has become second nature to me now and I'm grateful that you drummed that into me. It's a good feeling when losses are small you can get them back a lot easier. I'm still recovering from the NFP (non farm payrolls) January disaster.

Sometimes it's so tempting to move a stop but it's not worth it because it can really keep going the wrong way. With the system I follow,especially on the higher time frames, when you enter them you are seldom stopped and assured of pips IF your stops are big enough to take the timeframe into account. It's up to me to see how long I can stick it out. I'm still too tempted to get out early and time will teach me to stay in as my confidence in trading increases.

I know you don't agree with filling ones head with too much information butI love doing research and reading up about other traders and how they madeit. It's not an over night success story at all. Its hard work. I'm trading with a group on Skype - they're from Moscow, Australia, Singapore and Florida, and we discuss the trades and then enter on our own. Everyone has their own trading style and its fantastic chatting to experienced traders who trade for a living. I feel very small next to them but realise that I will get there if I keep doing what I'm doing and have faith in my system and be patient and wait for trades to come to me. One chap has blown several accounts because he was greedy and impatient. He's back to square one and gone back onto the demo for the next month.

Your courses have had the best grounding to keep me focussed. Listening to others who've jumped in boots and all without any education is scary. I'm becoming more relaxed trading but there are still days when I'm afraid. When I feel like that I'm learning to walk away. On Friday I was busy but still watching the charts. There were a few good runs but I was reluctant to trade as my mind wasn't 100% on what I was doing and the phone kept ringing. Now two days later I'm glad I stayed out because I could be sitting here telling you of my Friday cock ups. It's happened too often that I made good pips throughout the week only to give them back on a Friday.

I have also learned that I cannot put a finger on when I can call myself a trader. But every day I see progress and when I look back I can see how far I've come. Yes it's been frustrating as I should be trading higher lots but on the other hand I could be starting a 2nd account having wiped out what I started with. Ok that's me for now Have a great Sunday. Regards Desiree