Hey folks,
Wanted to share this inspirational email i got from Ben. Ben has been an ART OF TRADING member "on & off" since 2009 and here's his trading journey.
Wanted to share this inspirational email i got from Ben. Ben has been an ART OF TRADING member "on & off" since 2009 and here's his trading journey.
"Stewie,
I want to start out by saying thank you once again for all of your help. I would still be a struggling trader if you hadn't been there to mentor me and keep me from making stupid decisions. Subscribing to AOT is the best money I've ever spent on trading.
I mentioned in the chat room today that my account hit a milestone after my gains in STX, but I will get to the numbers in a minute. As you know (most other AOT members don't know) I quit my job and started trading full-time back in November of 2006. I knew I didn't know anything about trading but I was confident that I could learn to be a successful trader if I put in enough time. Over the 1.5 years that I stuck with trading I had some good wins and some bad losses. I was often discouraged and constantly tried "new" trading styles, risk tolerance adjustments, research systems, etc., all of the things that most newbies go through. I tried to trade everything, stocks, bonds, Forex, commodities, futures, options. I tried wide stops, tight stops, no stops at all, scaling in, scaling out, buying weakness, selling strength, selling weakness, buying strength. I wrote out a trading plan (probably 5 or 10 of them), I kept paper journals outlining all of my trades and even started a blog to talk about my trading in hopes that my honesty, and knowing other people were going to see my mistakes, would make me a better trader. I tried increasing my size, I tried trading pre-market and after-market, I even spent some time in "trading probation", all in the pursuit of improving my trading.
After all of this I failed at getting the results I wanted. My need to have a steady income and to keep my wife from killing me forced me to give up my dream of being a full-time trader in May of 2008. Even in the face of my failure I found a friend who told me:
"Ben: of all the bloggers/traders i have known, i have never been so sad about someone leaving, except for now. I am truly sad, but i am sure you have given this idea much thought and you have made an intelligent decision. Trading is very tough and it’s a long learning process alas. It was a pleasure learning with you and getting to know you. You are a very special guy and i wanna wish you success in everything you do. good luck Ben!
- stewie"
Those words of encouragement meant a lot to me. The funny thing is, it wasn't until after I left trading that I realized what I needed to help me be a better trader. It wasn't a bunch of books, or charts, or strategies, or more time or money, it was a community, a connection with other traders. There is so much going on in the market every minute of every day that it is impossible to see it all. This is why your service is so important. Having your experience, the experience and camaraderie of all the other AOT members (both novice and seasoned) is what has turned my trading around.
With all that being said, here is how I use the AOT community in my trading now. I have resigned myself to the fact that with my daily job and workload I will never have the time to do research and find quality trade ideas. I rely on you and the chat room for 99% of my trades. I simply log into the chat room on days that I will have some time, click on the button to activate your alerts, and turn up my speakers. When the alerts come in, I usually don't even look at the charts, I just calculate how many shares to buy, place the trade and set my stop. I try to do everything I can to take myself out of the trades.
I have gained confidence and I have been looking at your nightly Watch Lists and placing trades before you trigger an alert. For example, NUE, MOS, VALE, and STX. All of these were good winners that you never triggered, or I bought before you triggered.
I am up over $5,000 in my account since starting back my trading in October 2012. Now, $5,000 isn't a lot of money, but when you consider that my account started out at $25,000 that is over 20% return in less than 5 months. What's more is that I have missed many amazing setups because of work or hesitation/timing.
My recap for 2012 shows 63% winning trades and so far 2013 is at 65%. Again, I don't have any magic other than looking at the charts you send, making trades once they trigger, and trying to manage entries and exits. The key, in my humble opinion, for the last couple of weeks has been trust and patience. Trust the setups you see, and have the patience to let the trades work. I hope this can be of some help to others.
Thanks again,
BEN"
Ben's blog isn't updated as often as he used to a few years ago but it still has lots of GOOD information. Make sure to check it out at http://www.10kthrownaway.
No comments:
Post a Comment