Trader Results

Kerry,

I’d worked with financial advisors to manage my money over the last 15 years, and realized after 15 years of paying management fees on an annual basis, that I was about break even… When the market corrected for me over 40% on a $1M + portfolio, I knew it was time for me to learn to trade my own money. My financial advisor ignored 6 months of downward movement before I finally squealed and started to look hard at my statements. His response was ‘the market will recover’. I was 100% invested in Mr. Market. This was my catalyst for realizing that financial independence isn’t financial independence if you are relying on others to handle the money necessary for financial independence. I was still dependent on my financial advisor to perform, and communicate what was happening, how we were doing, if I could spend my money. That said, I paper traded for 3 months after reading Trading for a Living, and did ok, having some wins and losses. When I started trading real money in November of last year, the initial losses and inexperience helped me understand why so few people learn to trade for themselves – the emotional swings were brutal. We began working together in March of this year when I realized I had to develop a system that works for my schedule as a full time consultant, father of two small children, etc.

Here is my equity curve since I began trading with you in March. Having a system to trade doesn’t make me an overnight better trader as much as it exposes my flaws so I can focus on them and become a better trader. Having no system meant I had no areas of resistance or support to based my decisions, I was doing well, and then doing poorly, but I could understand why? In following your simple trend trading system, I’ve realized that when I do something really dumb, I can immediately figure out why it was dumb (poor money management, impulsive trade with no plan, ignoring the basic rules (buying a full position at the 1 ATR instead of the -1, etc.). This means I don’t have to make the same mistake again, and if I do, I get to go back to the same short series of 3 questions?

1) Did you have an entry plan? (price action, position size, technical agreement

2) Did you have an exit plan? (price action, position size, technical agreement)

3) How will you explain this trade to your wife? (my accountability partner). I am trading a $250,000 account, and I write myself a check every Friday for my work week performance. My wife asks me how I did, and telling her I wrote a check is not something I like to explain… I’ve found this for me is the ultimate accountability and keeps me out of risky trades when I realize I may go from receiving a check to writing a check, I net out my account every Friday back to $250,000 through receiving funds, or contributing funds.

Thanks for all your help… I’m pretty sure I’d be in a different position this year without your help and coaching. As of this last week I’m up 17.22% since we started working together in March and I’ve only traded the WPT positions and a few select stocks in the financial services industry where I have some experience. I’ve learned that for me my biggest losses were in order: short trades, trades without a plan (impulsive), and trades where I transitioned from a specific trade plan to hope as my primary strategy…

I have a long way to go, surviving numerous jumps from my ground floor office window after making really bad trade decisions, but overall I’m starting to believe that this is something that can be learned if you are willing to master one system completely before you find another shiny object – the mind wants to move to something else to avoid seeing how hard it is to simply follow your very simple trading rules. That’s the discipline for me, execute this flawlessly – and in doing so exorcise all my personal trading demons.

Regards,
Todd B.