Ray's amnesty page

[immy]

Let me add one more very important aspect to this in my humble opinion.

None of the traders are ready for trading. That is why there are protections. I would consider myself lucky that I can find brokers who'd allow me trade a demo account with nearly the same prices and executions (executions really does not matter on the higher time frame though a pip above or below my po or SL is no issue there) Again, I'd like to stress on the fact that LEARNING TO TRADE CORRECTLY is a necessary requirement before you decide to trade a live account. Going for live account without first completing for instance 5 batches of T20 principle would be, in my humble opinion, a very stupid and reckless thing to do. You'd rather give me your money.

Trading is a skill that requires a lot of practice. Its a VERY lucrative skill but it requires practice. You must first make sure you have the following things.
1. A Trading Strategy which gives you an edge [aims methods have this covered]
2. Acquire an in depth understanding of the above.
3. Gain practical experience in the above.
4. Demo trade the strategy and maintain a discipline score for each trade and batch of 20 trades. Do at least 5 batches ( 5T20's)and maintain an average of 70% discipline score with none of the T20 batches less than 50% score (if a batch has less than 50% score, you might want to scratch that and repeat it).

This is a rough guide to How to become a Disciplined Trader.

I'd like to suggest that in order to become a profitable trader you have to follow at least 2 steps.
1. Learn to Trade using a demo account.
2. Learn to trade using a live account.

No so difficult to understand is it? Just two steps. Now, by demo I don't mean that you open a trade here and there and close it haphazardly. The idea is to recreate an experience and environment that is similar to the actual but without the RISK of losing money. This would give you that "stress free state of mind" the one that is "Risk Free".

If you have not yet been able to keep at least a demo account and remained "disciplined" you cannot move forward. We see many players doing net Practice and they look fantastic but they fail miserably when it comes to "matches". [cricket analogy]

Because during practice we lacked an important ingredient. FEAR/RISK. However to trade demo without Risk or FEAR factor is EXACTLY the purpose of Demo Trading. You want to perfect your skill so that it becomes "second nature". So, to become the best at what you do, you don't have to play as many matches as possible rather you practice as many hours as possible before you go for a match. So that you don't have to "think" what to do next during the live event, rather you KNOW exactly what to do without "thinking". Its your instinct.

[Are you telling me demo is waste of your time? then you don't believe in or does not understand the concept of Practice. And Yes, you have to write one beautiful Trading Plan, before you can trade, Else every trade will be classed as Zero Discipline Score]

I'm trying to help the members who connect with me through Skype, and the hunt section of the forum, to become profitable by first becoming disciplined traders. In a way i'm selling the idea but the intent is purely to help.

cheers and hope this helps a little...

ps: i don't care what leverage is there, its irrelevant until you have learned to trade correctly, you must first learn to trade. Just as I don't care how expensive is Formula 1 car, first I need to acquire the skill to be considered for driving one. And I don't have that skill so Formula 1 racing car is "of no value to me". Fun to watch though, those who can.

[wiseambitions]

Immy is so right about the need to be proficient with a demo "pretend" account before risking real money trading.

But I think brokers offering 400:1 even 1000:1 are not being helpful. The psyche of the typical amateur trader is "I'm hanging onto this losing trade, even if I have a stop loss I will move it now, because it will come right again", which it will do sometimes but not in the majority of cases, and that bad trade isn't going to be wiped out until the margin is in the red, sometimes down to 25% of the required opening margin money!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The secret to consistent account growth is to have realistic achievable targets, my 1% a day and 1100% growth in a year is a phenomenal proof of this. If you go for something more aggressive like 4% a day you'll have bad days when you're down 12% or more and it will completely mess up your mental attitude to trading. I would say anything more than 100:1 is enabling (supporting) bad money management, I could still live ok at 50:1 but anything less than that might be a bit restrictive. There is certainly a difference between traders (experienced ones) who have sorted out their money management, and new traders who treat it too much like a gamble and who don't know what the signals are let alone understand how to set stops or get the lot size right, and so I would agree the regulations would do well if they stopped them making silly mistakes.

But if they want to sort out spread betting and CFDs I don't know why something isn't being said about option trading. Might as well go to Las Vegas, it's iniquitous what goes on in that way of trading. With calculations I have made you've got to be right 2/3 of the time just to even break even, and that's even assuming the execution is still happening to the required standard (which I doubt) !

[wiseambitions]

2017-03-06_0850_UJ_and_pivot_points.png

As with Fib lines it's interesting how the market will reverse (or go straight through!) when price touches S1 or R1 etc drawn from daily pivot points.

[kiravon]

Some great reminders Ray but I would probably disagree in part at least with one or two points
based purely on my own experience-

I think you need a very close to 100% Discipline score before risking real money because that
is the only critically essential requirement - if your strategy has an edge you need only trade
it with consistency and discipline. I think 70% DS tells you you are going to lose if you still
cannot control your emotions 30% of the time IMHO

Likewise the use of demo accounts - they are essential but there is a very big downside - yes
you need them to practice and even experiment but even when you achieve outstanding
and consistent results it may not translate very well to real trading anymore than winning
at Monopoly is any guarantee of being the next Donald Trump. Demo trading can really lull
you into a fool's paradise

Real trading charts 'look' very different, very different indeed!

Fear of risk distorts perception, for most of us. That's why you do so well, real trading to you is
much the same as demo trading.

Personally I would strongly recommend micro accounts over demo accounts.

If the amount you lose niggles you, even a little, you are destined to be niggled quite a lot more
I think. You have to be relaxed and find your financial risk comfort zone. Trading outside of
that is very risky - yes, almost as risky as newbies plunging straight into live trading without
a solid grounding on demo.

I sometimes wonder about non active members who proved themselves to be exceptional
traders on demo. Did they ever make the transition to live? Do they now trade for a living?

You would think that with such an impressive record of consistency trading profits would be
assured.

But trading isn't easy! even when you have an edge and are consistent, even then that is no
guarantee you will be successful.

In the end it truly is nearly all down to psychology

But yes, certainly 5 batches of profitable T20s on demo should be an absolute pre requisite before
even thinking about risking real money

[wiseambitions]

Happy to agree in the most part
I also often hear it said "I will backtest the strategy". Which is all well and good, but it assumes what I would call Flawless Execution. Will the trade have opened in real life at the intended price? Will it have closed likewise?
In real life we also face the dilemmas at the exact point of an indicator coming up with a signal i.e. is this a valid signal or is it going to retrace? Answer seems to be always wait until end of the bar before making that decision, otherwise of course (looking back later) it wouldn't have been a confirmed signal. The s1 concept of wanting an extra pip or more (on break of a fractal/Aims box) helps reduce the losses from retracing.
Then, whether on demo or with your life savings in real money, there are times we don't obey the signal, and wish we had. The price has already moved 2 or 3 or 5 pips in the direction of the signal and we are either in the trade the wrong way or not in it and the desire not to miss a massive further gain kicks in. Fear, greed, euphoria, or any other emotion then takes over. Hoping and praying come into effect, but won't move the world market.

My experience in many many trades of real money is to go for small risks. I can lose 0.5 or 1.0 percent without any bad feelings, but 5% or 10% etc would make me query whether I even know what I'm doing. And for small risks, remember what I keep saying, which is 1% a day for all the trading days of the year would multiply your equity by about 11. My results for the last 5 days, trading 1 to 3 hours a day, have been +2.5,+2.2,+2.2,+2.8,+2.8% with maximal DD of 1.9% I can live with that. I have also decided that if the crazy desire to keep trading after having made 2.5% or more in the morning gets the better of me, any subsequent trades will be at half of the starting risk with which I began the day - I've given it all back too often in the past!

I'd say that a wonderful balance point comes when you can consistently make more per hour/per day than you would by working for someone else and being at their beck and call, you're well on your way to being a professional. The day will then soon come you can earn more in this in 3 days than you could get for working 40 hours a week for someone else............ Believe me. And it's 2 years since I've been a commuter! I've even surrendered my investment consultancy licences because I just got fed up with advising clients to put their savings where the recommendable funds had expected growth rates of 5% a year and less!

Cheers.

[immy]

Hi

After working as a mentor if you like with several dozens of traders I have come to this conclusion.

Step 1. 5 Batches of T20 on no less than Hourly chart on Demo Account . No small account no large account DEMO account. It should be a demo account with account balance exactly the same as you intended to invest in the future. e..g if you have 10K to invest, open a demo account of 10k. not less not more. Those 5 batches must have at least 70% DS per batch. if a batch has less than 50% discipline, scratch that and do it again. If you are unable to gain a at least 70%, average, of all 5 batches. you have to do this again. [If you can't do it on demo, chances are you will find it extremely hard to do this on live. IT requires a lot of discipline and patience. If you think "oh man that will take too long". You will get there , in time, wasting it mostly, eventually anyway. And then repent over wasted time. So do it now.]

Step 2. Repeat the above on a Small Live Account. so if you intended to invest 10k, first open a 1K account (10% of actual) repeat the above.

Step 3. Now you can either go to full amount or just 50% of the actual amount you want to invest so e..g go for 5K account and real money and repeat the above. and then you can fund your account with full amount if you're satisfied with your performance. E.g. if you wreck DS during the 5K level, you might want to drop back to 1K and repeat.

I know it sounds like a long winded process but there are NO shortcuts.

Hope it makes sense.

[wiseambitions]

True Immy, for those who have been members 2,3,4 or more years AND who have put in the time, I would opine that they would now be trading with real money, whether it's a little sideline to their day job or whether they are making their living from it.

For those who haven't got the hang of price action, with one or other of the strategies promoted here, they should be honing their skills by demo trading and then when ready only with small amounts of real money.

Jack Schwager said, I remember, "Good trading should be effortless". The system is promoted here as Stress Free Trading, and it will only be that if we know what to do and don't over-trade with crazy risk exposure. Once we feel relaxed about going with the signals even in the faith it will restore drawdown after consecutive losses, we are well on the way to success, because it ALWAYS repays its debts!

Prior to joining Itradeaims 5 years ago we spoke to Justine Williams (Bill's daughter) and talked about expectations. She said if you follow the system a reasonable expectation would be 10% in a month. That seemed very plausible compared with many of the robot sellers who come up with some silly figures (50% a month, 100% a month, or whatever you want a month). And I'd say if we follow the system, AND put in the time (eg a couple hours a day on M1, m5 on most available days) we might be doing something wrong if we don't make 5 or 10% in a month. Some people get that in a week, or in 2 or 3 days, however I'd say that is not important to begin with, 10% in a month will more than double an account in a year, and please show me a managed investment fund which ever does that!

[immy]

I'm enjoying this, took another trade and really must go and have some lunch!


I know I should have got out of this system on a retrace, but the gater was mouth open, and I just had a feeling it wasn't going to recover for long. Fortuitiously it paid to wait, but I broke the rules [-x

Another 13pips, I think I'm over 40 today by now, lovely system!

Still doing the same thing... same setup... why change? it WORKS.. .do we stop walking the way we normally? we don't, and why should we, it WORKS...

"quoting fom the first page of your journal"... how unbelievable... its been 5 years now... damn ...

[wiseambitions]

I know, 5 years and I can earn more in a couple hours a day than a brain surgeon gets for working nearly all the week lol
And I know it because these guys show me their accounts.

[immy]

Happy Birthday Ray.... B-) B-) (wd) (wd) (party) (party) (party) (party) \:D/ \:D/