Hello Traders,
Here’s an unusual and educational Christmas present for yourself!
I’ll be running a Trader Training weekend in Liverpool on Saturday 22nd December. The day will focus primarily on Mechanical trading of financial markets, but will also include other aspects of the 4M of trading.
Training will begin at 10am on Saturday and run through till 5pm. There will then be a resumption session on the Sunday morning between 9am and 1230 before the remainder of our festivities commence. There will also be a follow-up 30 minute 1-2-1 call between Paul and the trader to identify their trading goals and challenges for 2019.
As part of the weekend we will also have the pleasure of attending the Everton vs Tottenham Premier League game on the Sunday to enjoy some corporate hospitality and (hopefully) a thrilling football match!
The tickets have been provided courtesy of Blackwell Global Brokerage – Everton FC’s Official Partner.
The investment for the day (including 1.5 days of training, follow-up 1-2-1 call, lunch, drinks and attendance of the Everton game) is £250. A wonderful Christmas present for any trader and sports enthusiast.
This is a great opportunity for traders to learn from a leading trader, engage and network with other traders, and enjoy some corporate hospitality at a Premier League event.
There are now only 5 spaces available – so its on a first come first served basis!
22/12/2018 – Liverpool Trader Training Weekend and Everton v Tottenham hospitality
November 2, 2018
22nd & 23rd Nov 18 – On Managing Trader Performance and becoming a Money-Manager
Fellow Traders,
Over this last summer I re-read the trading classic Pitbull by Market Wizard Marty Schwartz. I originally read it about 12 years ago and so it was a pleasant re-read. After all these years I was able to take some different messages from Marty’s journey.
I can heartily recommend the book as a good read for traders of all levels. Marty is pretty open about his experiences and the roller-coaster ride he went through.
I was reminded that on the last few pages he references a Pogo cartoon which I myself have used many times: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Newbie traders may see that cartoon and be wondering what on earth that has to do with trading? Experienced traders nod their head wisely and know instinctively how wise the cartoon is!
The longer you trade the more you realise that it is not the market which is your enemy, it is you. The market is just a mirror the reflects your own strengths, weakness, biases and darker elements of your character!
New traders like to think that they trade in a silo, that all they need is a fool-proof trading strategy that will make money for themselves. However with time and experience you realise that it becomes about understanding yourself better and subsequently managing yourself better than before.
That’s why every year I run a two-day workshop based on helping traders raise their self-awareness about managing themselves as traders. The idea is to start to show them their blind spots so they can start to mitigate the risks to themselves.
It’s also about helping you spot the signs of a possible performance slump, and more importantly what you can do to recover when you’re in one (and trust me, everyone has performance slumps as a trader – if they tell you that they don’t then they’re lying!)
On Managing Self and becoming a Money Manager is aimed at helping you evolve in your trading towards professional status, whilst building your own trading business.
It will consist of:
– 2 x full days on 22nd & 23rd November in Central London
– 1 x follow-up online session
For a total of 18 hours working together
It’ll will be split into 2 sections namely: Half on managing self and the other half on managing money – namely other people’s. You may or may not have dreams of becoming a money-manager, however acting as if you are a fund manager is never a bad thing in your own trading business. It holds you to a higher standard in your own behaviour. This whole stage will be focused on what you need to do to build your own trading business that will put you in the right space to be able to seek funding (if that is your long-term aim).
So as always there’s a cost implication: the cost for this stage will be £397. However for viewers of this blog or members of the London or Dublin Traders Network I will be offering a reduced price of £347 for the 2 days.
There are 4 slots left and as always it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re interested or want to know more then drop me a line.
Trade well,
Paul
@FXTraderPaul
July 9, 2018
The Q3 Online Traders Forum – recordings available
Hi Traders,
We had an enjoyable session on Saturday at the Online Traders Forum.
I spoke about a Simple Reversal Set-up and Quick Market Overview.
Martin Walker talked about Price Action and Market Structure and how to use the to identify breakouts, fakeouts, reversals and trends.
Ian McFadden talked about how he uses Fibs to trade the Oil/CL Contract on an intra-day basis.
There were plenty of useful ideas and content shared. Since the event I’ve had a few people ask if they can access the recordings. So we decided to offer that here.
Q3 Online Traders Forum Ticket
Ticket for the Q3 Online Traders Forum - which also includes access to the recordings post event.
£20.00
You can access the slides and recordings upon completion of the PayPal request.
The next Traders Forum will be on Saturday 6th October and will be the usual full day event in London – keep your eyes posted for details!
Trade well,
Paul
July 28, 2018
6th October – The London Traders Forum – Autumn 2018
The London Traders Forum Autumn 2018
£157.00
Fellow Trader,
After the success of the Q3 Online Traders Forum it’s now time to focus on our main event of the year! So please put the following date in your diary for the Autumn 2018 London Traders Forum, which will take place on Saturday, 6th October 2018.
For those who’ve never attended one of the Traders Forum events we aim to bring you an enjoyable, relaxed and informative day for meeting market professionals in person and networking with your fellow traders and investors.
There will be sessions during the day that will educate and stimulate and help you generate suitable returns to off-set the day. We want the LTF to be a good risk-to-reward trade for our attendees! The following speakers and sessions are already confirmed for Saturday 6th October:
2018 Market Analysis: It’s been a very interesting 2018 so far! Kevin Barry of the Traders and Investors Club will be providing us with his excellent market round-up. This is a chance to view the dominant themes so far and discuss the remainder of the year. As always Kevin’s insight into the bigger picture is always fascinating and is worth the entry fee alone.
‘A Practical Guide To Elliott Waves – The Alternative View’ – Martin Walker from ForexTradingLondon will introduce Elliott Waves and how they relate to us, then show you how they can be traded, how to take a relatively simple approach, how to manage your trade expectations and where to look for trades within the wave(s). Attendees will also get access to some supporting documentation.
Aggressive Intra-Day Trading – let’s face it, plenty of people are attracted to intra-day trading, but how many can achieve it consistently? It’s a tough gig. Paul Wallace will explain what he looks for during his intra-day trading, and some of the tactics he uses to be aggressive in his trading.
There are more exciting speakers being introduced over the next few weeks.
The London Traders Forum will be an event that will cater for an engaged trader and investor who is eager to learn more and meet like-minded souls. You have asked us for it and here it is. We are aiming to foster a Mastermind-type environment, which will encourage a free exchange of ideas in a stimulating environment with plenty of opportunity for networking.
Our mission is to bring you a memorable day in comfortable surroundings at a reasonable cost. Therefore, we will be holding the price for the day down to just £157.
After the event, we shall continue the debates and discussion at a nearby hostellery where Paul will be buying the first round! This is a great opportunity to spend a whole day in the company of market professionals as well as your fellow traders and investors.
This event will not be recorded so don’t miss this opportunity to be part of something special. This will be the only live event this year.
Admission is by ticket only and there will only be so many places available. After the success of the first event tickets will sell fast so, to avoid disappointment, I strongly recommend that you reserve your place NOW by purchasing your ticket here:
We are looking forward to seeing you on 6th October for a memorable day that is guaranteed to change the way that you see the market.
July 27, 2018
Reminiscences of 2008 (where did that 10 years go?)
Hello trader,
Well yesterday I was provided the alert below from my Facebook feed (this post isn’t about FB – but wasn’t that a beauty move last night?)
FB was politely reminding me of a post from 10 years ago – 25th July 2008. It made me smile – because I knew exactly what trade it was reminding me of. Fancy that – after 10 years and thousands of trades – I still remembered the exact trade that my post was about. Is that a) weird, or b) superb or c) a sign I need to get a life and a wife? (Maybe it’s all three.)
So what was my post about? It was about a short in the Dow Jones that I had been running for several weeks from back in May – throughout July price was grinding north, and I was getting a little nervous that I had overstayed my welcome and that the trade was about to be profit-stopped out.
So lets take a look at a chart and I will share my successes and failures from that trade.
Behold this is the Daily chart of the Dow Jones from the summer of 2008. Lets add some context. The Summer of 2007 was when the credit crunch began. How do I remember? Because I was in Verona to watch the Opera Carmen and L’Arena (yes, you’re right, I am much classier than I look.) It was whilst there that the credit crunch began – there was a couple of weeks of volatility and then the market calmed down. In fact people forget that after the credit crunch began the Dow actually climbed to new all-time-highs reaching its peak in October 2007 just a sliver under 14,200. After that it was all downhill, of a sorts. (Take a look at the weekly chart of that time – it set-up as a nice head and shoulders pattern)
If I’m honest I cant really remember anything major about trading during the early part of 2008. A quick look of my notes shows trading UK Equities, FX, Indices and Commodities (basically Gold). I would intra-day trade FX, but trade all the others off the Daily Chart. I don’t recall any sense of foreboding or imminent doom in the first half of 2008. But I’ve learnt with time that market collapses are a bit like geo-political collapses and Arsenal Premier league challenges. Things happen slowly at first, and then things unravel really, really quickly!
What got me interested was end of April and start of May 2008 the price on the Daily Chart rallied upto the Daily 200 MA and printed a Double Top / M pattern / 123 – call it what you will. This was my short trigger. It was also back up towards the area of the weekly neckline. Nice easy trade. I shorted the second pin bar off the 200 MA and then also an additional trade when it broke point 2.
Price moved down nicely and I was happy when it broke the support area in the region of 11750. When price came back north form the 11000 area in mid July I was worried that the move was over and I was going to give a lot back (my stop was about 25 ticks above 12000 at that time). It was after it came back and touched that line in mid-to-late July that I posted that FB entry. For the remainder of July and August I watched price grind north. For most of August it knocked about a range of 11250 – 11750 but as September took hold the daily ranges started to get larger and the swings wider. We also started to have bad news seeping out. This is when I ended up closing the trade around the 11,250 mark. To be honest – I think I got spooked out – the news through September was getting worse and worse – and the markets reaction were becoming more volatile. At that time I was also trading money for other people and it just seemed a good move to lock in a healthy profit for me and clients.
So I traded down from approx. 12960 (1st trade) to 11250. That was a fine trade. However within 4-5 weeks of my exit the Dow was trading down at 8000! Woulda, coulda, shoulda!!
The blue arrow is pointing to Monday 29th September, an interesting day. However Ive written enough for this piece so will save that for another day.
Hindsight Super Trader
What I did do also was when re-taking a look at the charts I started adding all the add-on trades that I missed. There were plenty…….but then there always are in hindsight! God its so easy to trade in hindsight. 😉
But its no bad exercise to look at past trades and see what can be learnt from the experience. It’s 10 years on since that trade. I believe myself to be a far wiser, smarter trader now than back then (I truly believe that experience counts massively for private traders – its just that most people don’t last long enough to learn that.)
I scribbled on some additional add-ons here.
So was I a good trader for my initial position? ( I think it was a lovely, and very natural, trade set-up for myself.) Or was I a terrible trader for being spooked out of my position and not riding it through the great crash?
Trade well,
Paul
July 25, 2018
Enter your password to view comments.
Protected: 25th July Q3 Online Traders Forum Follow-Up – USDCAD Hits Target
July 17, 2018
What Type Of Trader Are You? Greed Based Trader (GBT) vs Fear Based Trader (FBT)
Hey Traders,
I did another piece on Core Finance last week and thought it was interesting enough to enlarge upon here.
Achieving consistent success in trading comes only once we learn to trade in line with our individual personality, character and beliefs. It is garnering this self-knowledge that becomes the real treasure on your trading journey. This series of articles will help you raise your awareness, develop self-knowledge and improve your approach to your trading business as you gain clarity on what type of trader you are.
There are plenty of ways to define what type of trader you are but for this instalment let us look at a simple yet immensely effective exercise regarding our emotions.
Fear & Greed are the dominant emotions expressed in the markets on a day-to day basis. (Whilst some may claim we could go deeper for the sake of this post we’ll keep it simple).
Fear & Greed influence every part of our lives but they are particularly evident when trading financial markets. The author would challenge anyone who told him that they had never experienced such emotions when placing and managing trades. There are many out there who would have you believe that trading can be an emotionless activity. The author would love to believe that, but his experience as a Trader and a coach to traders dispels that idea. We are human beings, a constant bag of emotions and it’s by accepting that and trying to use it to our advantage that we can learn, grow and succeed as both traders and human-beings.
With regards to Fear & Greed you as a human-being and trader will be predisposed to favouring one over the other but you will certainly experience both emotions during your trading adventures. So let us take a very brief look at the types of trader:
Greed Based Traders (GBT) tend to be hunting for action. GBT’s love the process of buying and selling and will take a trade on the flimsiest of evidence if they think they can turn a quick profit. GBT’s will trade anything and will always be searching for big profits. GBT’s tend to fail to treat the market with the respect it deserves. GBT’s will be almost addicted to intra day-trading and believe that using high leverage is a good thing!
They are predisposed to overtrading and over- leveraging their accounts.
Whilst they will enter the market in a heartbeat they are less reluctant to leave a trade quickly, even after every indicator tells them to get out as they want to hang on for the last drop of profit.
Fear Based Traders (FBT) occupy the opposite end of the spectrum. FBT’s can take an age to take a trade and quite often need everything to line up before they will take a position in the market. They will often miss opportunities because they’re waiting for the perfect set-up. They struggle to pull the trigger and invariably will use little or no leverage. Their money management is good but definitely on the conservative side.
Whereas a GBT gets in fast and gets out slowly a FBT gets in slowly and tends to get out quickly at the first sign of a possible loss or a possible win. They tend to take small losses….but they also cut their winners short which has an overall impact on their equity curve. Remember there’s a good chance that 90% of your profits will come from 10% of your trades but a FBT will often miss out on those 10% trades as they’ll snatch at profits far too quickly.
GBT’s are the ones who make the great fortunes……if they can last long enough as they are also more disposed to blow up their accounts! FBT’s tend to plod along.
As we mentioned earlier you will experience both emotions as a trader but which side of the fence do you predominantly sit on? It shouldn’t be too hard to work out. When coaching traders it’s one of the first questions the author looks to answer. Very often by active listening the trader will display their bias merely by the language they use.
The best traders are able to recognise their strengths and weaknesses and steer a steady course between both the FBT and GBT within them. There are plenty of simple tactics you can use to help support you with your bias. Within the limited confines of this article you could sum up a solution in two words: simplicity & structure. GBTs need a simple Risk Management structure that they can follow. This allows them to operate to their strengths without over-leveraging and over-trading in order to avoid a blow-up.
FBT’s need a simple yet precise trading structure that leaves them certain in their entry & exit points allowing no time for hesitation or doubt when the time comes to place a trade or exit a trade.
To paraphrase a line from a great coach, Robin Sharma, ‘Remember awareness precedes clarity, which precedes choice, which precedes action, which precedes success!’ If you can raise your awareness of what type of trader you are then you can make changes to your trading approach in order to avoid the pitfalls of either type of trader.
Trade well!
July 10, 2018
Intra-day trading and on becoming a Money-Manager – Stage 3 & 4 of the VTP
Fellow Traders,
I will be starting this years Stage 3 & 4 of the VTP from next week. It’s based on utilising the acknowledged strengths of traders and veterans namely: Process, Discipline and Self-Awareness. I am offering it out to other traders to take one of the last couple of spaces.
Stage 3 and 4 will run in the second half of 2018 will start later next week. As usual I’ll be limiting it to a small group people per group to keep it manageable. There are already several VTP members on the course so I am offering it out to other traders to take one of the last couple of spaces.
Stage 3 will be focussed on intra-day trading, in particular of FX & Indices.
It will consist of:
– 2 Full days on 19th & 20th July
– 2 x online sessions
For a total of 15 hours working together
There will be one session on preparation for trading intra-day and what you need to do to be successful and then there will be a session each specifically on trading intra-day FX and one specifically on trading Indices.
The idea will be that it will build on several of the concepts used in Stage 1 & 2 and provide strategies and tactics for intra-day success. As always there will be a major focus on risk, money and trade management. These are crucial for intra-day trading.
Stage 4 will be on Managing Self and becoming a Money Manager. Its aimed at helping you evolve in your trading towards professional status, whilst building your own trading business.
It will consist of:
– 2 x full days on 22nd & 23rd November
– 1 x follow-up online session
For a total of 13 hours working together
It’ll will be split into 2 sections namely: Half on managing self and the other half on managing money – namely other peoples. You may or may not have dreams of becoming a money-manager, however acting as if you are a fund manager is never a bad thing in your own trading business. It holds you to a higher standard in your own behaviour. This whole stage will be focused on what you need to do to build your own trading business that will put you in the right space to be able to seek funding (if that is your wish).
You can choose to do both Stages or just the one that is suitable for your needs. So as always there’s a cost implication: the cost for Stage 3 will be £447 and for Stage 4 will be £347. In total that would be £794. However for viewers of this blog or members of the London or Dublin Traders Network I will be offering a super reduced price of £694 for the both.
As always it’s on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re interested or want to know more then drop me a line.
Trade well,
Paul
@FXTraderPaul
June 13, 2018
Q3 Online Traders Forum – Saturday 7th July 2018
Q3 Online Traders Forum Ticket
Ticket for the Q3 Online Traders Forum - which also includes access to the recordings post event.
£20.00
Traders,
For several years now I’ve run the London and Dublin Traders Forum – a once-a-year all-day event for Traders to come together, learn and socialise with each other.
This years London Traders Forum will be on Saturday 6th October 2018 in Central London. Put the date in your diary and keep your eyes peeled for details and early-bird opportunities.
In the meantime the next event will be the Q3 Online Traders Forum on Saturday 7th July.
This is a new initiative from traders, for traders. The idea is for it to be a short, intensive 3 hour online seminar that covers various aspects of the 4M’s of Trading: Markets, Method, Money and Myself. The idea is for you to be able to learn some new trading ideas, whilst in the comfort of your own home, and without sacrificing your entire weekend.
The plan is for there to be one Online Traders Forum the first Saturday of Q1, Q2 & Q3 with the London Traders Forum at the start of Q4 the main all day event.
For the Q3 Event we’ll have the following speakers:
Paul Wallace from FXTraderPaul.com and the London Traders Network will deliver the market analysis section focusing on FX, Indices, Commodities (and perhaps some Crypto) and look at where to focus for possible Q3 Trading Opportunities.
Martin Walker of ForexTradingLondon.com will take a deeper look at Price Action, what are its constituent parts, and how to identify and read it on your charts. He will show you how to use this knowledge in your trading. Understanding and being able to read Price Action is key to identifying Trends, Breakouts and False Breakouts, Market Turns and much more.
From Dublin, Ian McFadden from the Symmetry Trading FB page will talk about his way of intra-day trading Oil using the CL Futures contract. Ian has traded using Fibs for over 10 years and he will explain how he uses them to analyse Oil and find intra-day trade set-ups.
There is a charge for £20 to attend. Why? Because we’re not selling anything. Its proper educational content rather than a slick pitch in the hope to up-sell you something. Furthermore the sessions will be recorded, and as an attendee you’ll have access to them afterwards.
You can get your ticket here: Q3 Online Traders Forum
It promises to be an enjoyable session that will help you grasp the opportunities that Q3 2018 will present.
Trade well!
May 25, 2018
Traders Networking Drinks
Nice to get an independent write-up of the London Traders Network Drinks events.
I have always been very clear- the LTN is just a social beer call to come along and have a beer and a chat with other traders. Trading is a lonesome endeavour and no-one else understands your journey quite like another trader.
What has given me great pleasure over the years is to see the strength of friendships that have been formed by people who regularly attend. There have developed some buddy-buddy coaching partnerships from meeting at the event. There have also been numerous opportunities created for others.
As with all of these events – you get out of it what you put in. You’ll find everyone is very friendly and happy to chat about their experiences – the good ones and the challenging ones. You soon realise that your circumstances are not unique and that there’s a whole community of likeminded souls out there.
You can be kept up to date on locations and dates by joining the meetup group: https://www.meetup.com/TheLondonTradersNetwork
Thanks again George.
Just returned home from another evening of the London Traders Network drinks. A few dozen trading folks get together in a pub in the City of London (specifically at the New Moon pub), grab a drink and talk about trading amongst each other. This takes place on a Wednesday evening once every two months.
It’s amazing how much ground can be covered in terms of content – here’s the things I talked about in conversations with various traders tonight – just to give you an idea:
View original post 477 more words
December 5, 2018
2 Comments