Reminiscences of a Retail Trader

thread: Reminiscences of a Retail Trader

  1. #1
    Senior Member sarapano's Avatar
    279

    Reminiscences of a Retail Trader

    Based on actual events.

    . . .Details the struggles and triumph of a retail trader.

    By retail traders, for retail traders.


    A soon-to-be trading classic!

    Hellocliqforexcommunity!

    In an effort to bring some interesting and lifestyle to the community, and as a thought which I believed may be interesting, I have decided to weave a story about the journey of a fictitious retail trader. Inspired by contributions of everybody!

    The story depicts the journey of a retail trader, the several challenges and successes we retail traders face. It opens the world of retail trading to readers.
    Hopefully by reading thiswe traders will see from a third-person perspective the typical mistakes and successive conquest which are rampant in the retail trading community.

    Chapters will be posted periodically, sadly I can't gurantee weekly/monthly articles as it requires quite alot of effort to write compelling narratives.
    I will be setting up surveys also to questionnaire for ideas which I could incorporate in the story. So that it can become a community-driven thing!

    Will Trader X be profitable by the end of the story?

    I trust you guys will enjoy it!

  2. #2
    Senior Member sarapano's Avatar
    279
    Chapter two: News
    I recall the first time I told people that I am trading FX.
    Forex is a scam!
    You must be rich!
    Tell me which stock to buy!
    These are just a few of the many unedued answer I recieved. Its sickening.
    No, no, no. If you choose a good regulated broker you won't get scammed.
    I am not wealthy but Im fine.
    Hmm... You should buy, buy FAANG shares... Thats right, FAANG shares! I tried to seem smart. I had read somewhere that FAANG shares were the next big thing. It was the first thing came to my mind.

    Truth be told I had not earned anything from trading. Actually, I've burnt $200 so far. It was nothing wrong with my system... My system was great! I had winning days and shedding days, and I probably had more shedding days than winning ones. However, on average I tend to come up slightly better than breakeven. I wasn't making much but I was technically profitable.
    Why am I profitable nevertheless losing cash? It was because of... Stupid me, dumb market... Prices were whipsawing non-stop that day and I kept getting stopped out. I got pissed following the seventh time that I awakened on my position and removed my stop reduction - an open position. Next thing I knew, a long red candle looked on my screen. Red started flashing on parts of the brokers platform. What the f- I gasped. I couldn't believe it! I was down 60%! The following 10 minutes was spent screaming explicit language at my laptop. I will spare the details about the exact words but it included some colourful combinations of swear words, mothers and genitalias.

    What happened to cause prices to move a lot of? In short - News!
    More specifically, The fed made some dovish comment during FMOC the markets interpreted as bearish, which delivered the USD crashing by 130 pips. And guess who got caught on the wrong side of the trade? Yup! Yours truely.
    I stared at the display in dismay. What am I going to do today? Just how am I going to make those cash back? Maybe I should hold it longer, perhaps prices will return . I will shut out once I breakeven. Or perhaps I should just top up my account.
    Oh of all times for poor luck to attack!

    You just HAD to be a hero and do something different when there was news! I mentally slapped myself for deviating from my egy. At the end of the day, I decided to top up my account balance and start anew. I am just going to treat this reduction as a valuable lesson . I can make back that money, I just want time. I was profitable earlier this right?
    I sat back myself down on my armchair, turned on some soothing music, and waiting for the next sign...


    Chapter 3 coming soon!

  3. #3
    Chapter 2: News I remember the very first time I told people that I am trading FX. Forex is a scam! You need to be rich! Tell me that stock to buy! These are just some of the countless unedued response I recieved. Its sickening. No, no, no. If you choose a good regulated broker you won't get cheated. I am not rich but Im okay. Hmm... You need to buy, buy FAANG stocks... Thats right, FAANG stocks! I tried to sound smart. I had read someplace that FAANG stocks were the upcoming big thing. It was the very first thing came to my mind. Truth be told...
    Keep Going Synicz. A different spin on showcasing one's experience, trials and tribulations...

  4. #4
    Senior Member sarapano's Avatar
    279
    Chapter 1: Hooked

    10... 20... 25... 20...'m out!
    I exclaimed to myself because I hit the Close button in my brokers platform. The tiny little box on the lower left corner corner of my screen flashed green, it printed: Realized P/L: $20

    I was hooked.

    This was the winter of 2016 and I had just closed from my first trade on the Eur/Usd with 4 pips. Pretty neat for a first timer.
    I am sure most men and women remember how they began trading. Some people got curious because of an advertisement they saw, promising tens of thousands a month. Some got started as their family or friends roped them into accompany them in a trading seminar. Some people began with demo accounts initially, others jumped in head first with real cash. For me personally, I saw an internet banner whilst browsing the net one day. Promoting how trading can help me to achieve financial freedom.
    Regardless of how we got started in trading, all of us share the exact same reason for beginning trading: To make money. And it is this reason that drives man to maintain trading.

    I didn't know why I made this trade. I didn't know how to trade. Heck I didn't even know what timeframe my chart was on!
    All I knew was I was likely to be rich.
    Fast forward 6 weeks and I think that I am going to be rich. I had completely dismissed that demo account. But my passion for trading has never been stronger. You can't completely blame me. Who doesn't blow up in their first attempt? In any case, the disperse were absurd; 4 pips on Eur/Usd!

    50 EMA is over 100 EMA
    5 EMA simply crossed 50 EMA
    Proceed!

    I am now trading with my newfound egy. Gained from spending hundreds of hours scowling the world wide web, reading trading books and messing about with charts.
    I mashed my caculator hastily, there was no time to lose, each pip move in my direction is a pip lost!

    2 times ATR is...
    1 percentage risk means my lot size could be...
    I mumbled to myself, as I keyed in the small details in my entry order in my hardly functioning laptop. A copy of Michael Covel's Total Trader layed open in my bed, the air reeked of staleness. Wrappers of cartons of eaten food were stered all over my desk. A far cry from the posh offices, multiple displays, bloomberg terminals, and men in ties and suit that I had envisioned in my mind.
    I will get there someday I thought to myself.

    I was watching the charts for the previous 4 hours. Waiting to get my system's buy signal. And it finally happened.
    You should have picked up coding in colleague! I mentally lamented myself. It would have surely made my life considerably easier if I could code my egy in an Expert Advisor.
    It was a trend-following egy. Inspired by the story of these Traders. And back analyzed manually on the 15 minute chart for the previous 3 weeks.
    *Click*
    I heaved a sigh of relief as I delivered my order to be filled. I didn't wish to let this signal slide. It might have wasted 4 hours of my life!
    Okay so now I wait until either I get stopped out, or prices obtained by 1 ATR... I recited the egy back to myself, fearing I would forget what to do when the moment comes.

    I had been facinated by the famous story of these Traders; apparently ordinary people with no prior trading experience turning to exceptionally profitable traders. If they could do it, so can I! It doesn't seem so hard afterall. Just make a mechinical egy, await the buy/sell signal, set the trade, await the exit signal. Rinse and repeat. All that is required is your discipline to stick to your egy. I will do this.
    My thoughts wandered into thoughts of all of the things I will buy with my future profits. I don't need a fancy car, only a regular one will do. I will likely spend more on my clothes. Maybe a couple new pair of sneakers. Oh yes! Certainly replace my shitty laptop. I began calculating how many percentage I should aim for daily in order to hit my profit goal.
    I had $100 deposited in my account...

    Stay Tuned for Chapter 2!

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