True Story... Or, How I Let My Head Become Too Big for My Hat!

[Mysticforex 13]

This is a true story. None of the names have been changed.

 

My very first trade:

 

When I first started trading Forex in late 2005, I was unteachable. After owning and operating my own business for 15 years, I thought I knew it all.

My very first trade was Long EUR/USD. Having recently returned from Europe, I remember it costing a lot to exchange my $$$ for Euros. I figured the Euro must be hot.

Now, at this point in my Forex career I had decided I was going to be a Fundamentals trader. None of that technical crap for me. I had heard of charts, but, I had never actually looked at one. My $10K account lasted about 3-4 weeks.

 

2006:

I had decided that my 2005 venture had been under capitalised. With a fresh infusion of cash it was once more into the breach! Oh, and maybe I should look into those chart thingies.

By the end of 2006 I had a loss of about $30K.

 

2007:

Yes, I am a slow learner, but tenacious as a Pit Bull on a Pork Chop.

I really applied myself. Learned some basic systems, learned M/M, R/R, starting using Stop Losses, got a Mentor. Had a break even year.

 

2008:

This was my break though year. I recouped all my losses. I was also showing a tidy profit for the year. At this point I had 5 accounts with 5 different brokers. One of them I never used, it was my very first broker that I had margin called on a few times. I had $2.49 in the account. In December of 2008 I received an email from them informing me of their "King of The Mini" contest. All one needed was an account with $500 or more to be automatically entered. The contest ran for a month, and first prize was $25K.

I realised as soon as I read the Email that I harboured a grudge against this broker for taking all my money when I was first starting out. Inwardly I smiled as I thought about how " I would show them". I deposited the necessary $498.00 and waited for the contest to start at the beginning of the year.

The first trading day of the year arrived and it was off to the races. I traded my ass off on this account.

The month came to a close, I had realised an increase of 104% . . . . and, I didn't even finish in the top 10. ( Wa, Wa, Wa, Waahhh... ).

 

But ! I now had another account with $1K in it, nothing to sneeze at. I had an incredible ride with that account, ups and downs, for the rest of the year.

 

I might be persuaded to tell what happened next.........

[Ingot54 13]

This is a true story. None of the names have been changed ...

 

... I might be persuaded to tell what happened next.........

 

Consider your arm twisted - this is beginning to sound like something I am familiar with, and an Ambulance is not going to be of any use!

[TheNegotiator 13]

I'm with Ingot54 on this one Mystic! Come on, spill the beans...

[clmacdougall 11]

In the words of Bugs Bunny, "I'm dyin I'm dyin"!!! Can't wait to read the rest of your story.

[Tradewinds 12]

Thank you for telling the story. I appreciate it. Hopefully we will here the rest of the story.

[Mysticforex 13]

So now it's the end of January 2009, and I have just over $1K in the account. I decided this was going to be my "High Risk" account. Up until this point I had always thought of myself as a relatively conservative trader, at least compared to the other Traders I knew personally. I was very happy if I could make .5% a day on my other accounts. Most days I did, some days I didn't. Slow And Steady Wins The Race I told myself. I guess this stemmed from having Blown a few accounts in the beginning. As far as my "Trading Life" was concerned, Your Account is Everything and must be protected at all times.

So here was my chance to let my hair down, to, if not break some rules, at least bend them severely. I continued to trade my ass off, only gbp/jpy, sometimes holding Long and Short positions at the same time. An example would be scalping Short while holding longer term Buy positions.Two months later, at the beginning of April I had over $16K in the account! HOT DAMN! This was starting to have an effect on me. I was starting to think of myself as hot stuff. I decided to take some money out and enjoy it. Hindsight being 20/20,

I'm glad I did. Spring was in the air, I was feeling good, so I withdrew $11K, added it to other monies I withdrew from other accounts and bought myself a new car.

So now it's beginning of April and I have about $5K in the account.

The weathers getting warmer, I.m spending more time outdoors and trading less. But still trading High Risk/ Over Leveraged.

BTW: All I traded on the account was PA and S/R. I don't use Oscillators of any type.

Just TLs, and Pivots and numbers that have statistical significance for me.

Sometime around the 2nd, 3rd week of July the account Blew Up in my face. I had $8700 balance, and $110K in open positions. I would have liked to be able to blame it on some kind of "Black Swan" event. Like the "Flash Crash" we had in May 2010. But the fact of the matter is I let myself get overextended. I added to a loser. Statistics are not 100%, Pivots are not always hit.

I was using $550 in margin when it happened, so I had $50 more than I started with.

I learned something, I had a Blast, and I still have the car.

Today, I still have the account. I just trade it normally. I keep 5K in it, at the end of each month I withdraw any profits and start the new month with 5K.

[TheNegotiator 13]

Nice story Mystic! You got away nicely though in the end with only losing the 'house's money'. I think it is an important lesson in paying yourself when you are making money. I'm not suggesting that everyone goes out and buys something expensive when they take money out of their accounts, or even anything at all for that matter. But the very act of taking money out of the account does help you realise the money is real and keeps your risk profile consistent. It's all too easy to be a little bit maverick in your attitude towards risk if it's risking profits you have already made. I know it sounds obvious, but most of trading is.

[Mysticforex 13]

Yes, agree about paying oneself. Those monies were the first withdrawal I had made.

Up to then I had been just acct building.

[ilazarte 10]

Thanks for your story Mysticforex.

[kuokam 10]

Yes, agree about paying oneself. Those monies were the first withdrawal I had made.

Up to then I had been just acct building.

Thanks for sharing Mystic. Can you please tell us more about your time with the mentor: how did you meet, how did you collaborate, for how long?

 

Regards

Kuokam

Edited April 17, 2011 by Mysticforex

[Mysticforex 13]

Thanks for sharing Mystic. Can you please tell us more about your time with the mentor: how did you meet, how did you collaborate, for how long?

 

Regards

Kuokam

 

 

 

If you have ever read Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich", he mentions someone whose name I can't recall at the moment. One of the goals this person had was to be a partner of Thomas A Edison. He started as a Janitor in one of Edison's companies. After several years of hard work, he became Edison's partner in a new company.

 

As a lot of you may know my Mentor is Rob Booker.

I was going though a period of feeling a little burnt out. I decided to temporarily put down

the books on Technical Analysis I had been reading and pick up something a little lighter in Nature. I came across a book titled "Adventures of a Currency Trader", by Rob Booker.

This is not a "How Too" book, it is a "How Not" book. I enjoyed it very much and identified very much with the character " Harry Banes". I decided I would very much like to meet this "Rob Booker" guy.

My chance came sooner than I thought it would. Rob would be attending an event hosted by FXCM for their customers. On the day of the event I went down to Manhattan ( about 100 miles from my home ) and introduced myself. We chatted, exchanged emails etc.

Soon we were exchanging emails once a week. This was in the spring of 2007. In August of 2007 I went and spent a week with him at his office in West Virginia. I learned a couple of methods at that time, The Arizona Rules, The Grid, and The HedgeHog. During the next 2 years I made several trips to his office. By this time, he was letting me camp out on a couch.

One of my highlights was in january 2008. Rob had a Internet Radio show at the time called "Trader Radio". We decided for Febuary's NFP we would do a 24 hour Marathon.

There were 5 of us taking turns. By 08:30 the next day, when the numbers came out, we had over 2000 listeners online. It was a lot of fun.

Late in 2009, Rob told me I was very good at trading the "Bossilator" method ( another method that had evolved from "The Arizona Rules" ). He asked if I would help him to teach it at Live Seminars. I said I would be delighted! So, like that fellow in "Think and Grow Rich". I realised my goal of working with Rob Booker.

[Ingot54 13]

That is a story of persistence, Mysticforex, and your mention of Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" reminded me of another of the analogies in persistence from the book: A Fifty-Cent Lesson in Persistence".

 

That story is so memorable, that anyone who has read the book would instantly recall exactly the story I am about to relate, verbatum.

 

Shortly after MR. Darby received his degree from the "University of Hard Knocks," and had decided to profit by his experience in the gold mining business, he had the good fortune to be present on an occasion that proved to him that "No" does not necessarily mean "No."

 

One afternoon he was helping his uncle grind wheat in an old fashioned mill. The uncle operated a large farm on which a number of colored sharecrop farmers lived. Quietly, the door was opened, and a small colored child, the daughter of a tenant, walked in and took her place by the door. The uncle looked up, saw the child, and barked at her roughly, "What do you want?"

 

Meekly the child replied, "My mammy say send her fifty cents."

 

"I'll not do it," the uncle retorted, "Now you run on home."

"Yas sah," the child replied. But she did not move.

 

The uncle went ahead with his work, so busily engaged that he did not pay enough attention to the child to observe that she did not leave. When he looked up and saw her still standing there, he yelled at her, "I told you to go on home! Now go, or I'll take a switch to you."

 

The little girl said "yas sah," but she did not budge an inch.

 

The uncle dropped a sack of grain he was about to pour into the mill hopper, picked up a barrel stave, and started toward the child with an expression on his face that indicated trouble.

 

Darby held his breath. He was certain he was about to witness a murder. He knew his uncle had a fierce temper. He knew that colored children were not supposed to defy white people in that part of the country.

 

When the uncle reached the spot where the child was standing, she quickly stepped forward one step, looked up into his eyes and screamed at the top of her shrill voice, "MY MAMMY'S GOTTA HAVE THAT FIFTY CENTS!"

 

The uncle stopped, looked at her for a minute, then slowly laid the barrel stave on the floor, put his hand in his pocket, took out half a dollar, and gave it to her.

 

The child took the money and slowly backed toward the door, never taking her eyes off the man whom she had just conquered. After she had gone, the uncle sat down on a box and looked out the window into space for more than ten minutes. He was pondering, with awe, over the whipping he had just taken.

 

Mr. Darby, too, was doing some thinking. That was the first time in all his experience that he had seen a colored child deliberately master an adult white person. How did she do it? What happened to his uncle that caused him to lose his fierceness and become as docile as a lamb? What strange power did this child use that made her master over her superior? These and other similar questions flashed into Darby's mind, but he did not find the answer until years later, when he told me the story.

 

I invite you all to download the book - Google it - it is free now, having been released from copyright. In the book you will find that answer.

 

Thanks, Mysticforex for prompting the memory of the story. That story follows on from your Napoleon Hill Mentor analogy with Rob Booker, but from a completely different direction.

 

Yet the result of both persistent actions, was success for the objective.

[kuokam 10]

If you have ever read Napoleon Hill's book, "Think and Grow Rich", he mentions someone whose name I can't recall at the moment. One of the goals this person had was to be a partner of Thomas A Edison. He started as a Janitor in one of Edison's companies. After several years of hard work, he became Edison's partner in a new company.

 

As a lot of you may know my Mentor is Rob Booker.

I was going though a period of feeling a little burnt out. I decided to temporarily put down

the books on Technical Analysis I had been reading and pick up something a little lighter in Nature. I came across a book titled "Adventures of a Currency Trader", by Rob Booker.

This is not a "How Too" book, it is a "How Not" book. I enjoyed it very much and identified very much with the character " Harry Banes". I decided I would very much like to meet this "Rob Booker" guy.

My chance came sooner than I thought it would. Rob would be attending an event hosted by FXCM for their customers. On the day of the event I went down to Manhattan ( about 100 miles from my home ) and introduced myself. We chatted, exchanged emails etc.

Soon we were exchanging emails once a week. This was in the spring of 2007. In August of 2007 I went and spent a week with him at his office in West Virginia. I learned a couple of methods at that time, The Arizona Rules, The Grid, and The HedgeHog. During the next 2 years I made several trips to his office. By this time, he was letting me camp out on a couch.

One of my highlights was in january 2008. Rob had a Internet Radio show at the time called "Trader Radio". We decided for Febuary's NFP we would do a 24 hour Marathon.

There were 5 of us taking turns. By 08:30 the next day, when the numbers came out, we had over 2000 listeners online. It was a lot of fun.

Late in 2009, Rob told me I was very good at trading the "Bossilator" method ( another method that had evolved from "The Arizona Rules" ). He asked if I would help him to teach it at Live Seminars. I said I would be delighted! So, like that fellow in "Think and Grow Rich". I realised my goal of working with Rob Booker.

 

Very inspiring, Mystic,

 

I believe that being allowed to camp out there on the couch was the real start. working besides a mentor is irreplaceable to become proficient in any field. But I've read somewhere that Rob himself didn't have any mentor till he became successful.

 

Thanks again!

 

kuokam

[PiptopiaX 10]

Ok, since no one else has, I'll ask the $64,000 question. What kind of Car did you buy?

[Mysticforex 13]

Ok, since no one else has, I'll ask the $64,000 question. What kind of Car did you buy?

 

2009 Mercedes Benz, SLK 350. At the time, I wanted to get GBP JPY as my plate but it was unavailable, so I settled for GBP USD. I check every so often and GBP JPY is now available. I ordered it and should have it in a week or so.

[kuokam 10]

Hi Mystic!

Three or so years ago I went to Paris for a traders' event featuring Rob Booker and some other great names from America. I attended Rob's presentation. It was so crowded he had to step on his chair at times to make sure he sees every body . He described the GBPJPY as THE pair to trade, the orient express as he called it. Now I see you also caught the virus, so to speak. My question is do you maintain that vision today? To me the pair seems to have lost most of its volatily the last couple of months. I see the Cable and even the Euro more volatile as of late.

 

Kuokam

 

2009 Mercedes Benz, SLK 350. At the time, I wanted to get GBP JPY as my plate but it was unavailable, so I settled for GBP USD. I check every so often and GBP JPY is now available. I ordered it and should have it in a week or so.

[Guest feskseabs]

Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! By the way, how could we communicate? I'll just check back at Traders Laboratory - Active Trading Community for you later.

[Guest feskseabs]

Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate? I'll just check back at Traders Laboratory - Active Trading Community for you later.

[Mysticforex 13]

Hi Mystic!

Three or so years ago I went to Paris for a traders' event featuring Rob Booker and some other great names from America. I attended Rob's presentation. It was so crowded he had to step on his chair at times to make sure he sees every body . He described the GBPJPY as THE pair to trade, the orient express as he called it. Now I see you also caught the virus, so to speak. My question is do you maintain that vision today? To me the pair seems to have lost most of its volatily the last couple of months. I see the Cable and even the Euro more volatile as of late.

 

Kuokam

 

<sigh>... what you say is true. But I can't tear myself from her.

[Mysticforex 13]

Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate? I'll just check back at Traders Laboratory - Active Trading Community for you later.

 

Communicate away, I'm right here !