Fellow Trader,
For the last few years we have run the London Traders Forum (LTF), on an annual basis. So please put the following date in your diary for the 2017 London Traders Forum, which will take place on Saturday, 23rd September 2017.

Get your reduced early bird ticket here:  London Traders Forum Autumn 2017 Ticket

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.
I think this years event will be an interesting day because I believe we’re about to enter a 6-12 month period of uncertainty where we’ll experience a possible rest, retrace or reversal in the major markets. (It may already have started!) We want to help you prepare for such an event so that you can turn it from a threat into an opportunity.
There will be sessions throughout 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 23rd September, with more to come:
2017 Market Analysis: It’s been a very interesting 2017 so far! This is a chance to view the dominant themes so far and discuss the remainder of the year. Acclaimed speaker and investor Kevin Barry will provide his usual market commentary – past attendees will tell you this alone is worth the entrance fee alone.
The Hard Yards: Martin Walker of ForexTradingLondon.com will be presenting on ‘How To Improve Your Edge’ and discussing what practical things you can do and use to achieve this.
Apocalypse Now! Paul Wallace will discuss how he believes a major market correction is on the near horizon and pass on tactics on how to prepare so you can turn a threat into an opportunity. The horror! The horror!
Notes from a Master: Bryan Noble of Tradernoble.com will provide some anecdotes and insight on previous crashes and how you prepare to profit from them in future.

Is Automated trading better than manual trading? Ivo Luhse is a ‘robot trader’ and founder of Evestin Forex – Automated trading systems with character. Since 2012 Ivo has been a full time Forex trader but the real breakthrough for Ivo happened when he started to build robots to do automated back testing for his trading strategies. Today Ivo trades his 4 trading robots and helps other traders to learn the craft of automated trading.
Building Mental Strength: Tom Hoyle will be providing the Trading Psychology session at this forum. He’ll provide a brief over view of the 3 key components of the human mind and the 10 emotional drivers and how they can affect traders. He’ll also be sharing some tactics on how to prepare for your trading session.
There are more speakers being confirmed 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 on the door.
However for those of you the first few tickets will be offered at an Early-Bird Rate of £99 – so be sure to make your move swiftly!

After the event, we shall continue the debates and discussion at a nearby hostelry 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.

Admission is by ticket only and there will only be so many places available. After the success of the previous events tickets will sell fast. We are down to the last 7 Early-Bird Tickets so, to avoid disappointment, I strongly recommend that you reserve your place NOW by purchasing your ticket here:
London Traders Forum Autumn 2017 Ticket

We are looking forward to seeing you on 23rd September for a memorable day that is guaranteed to change the way that you see the market.

Warm Regards,
Paul
http://www.FXTraderPaul.com

Fellow Traders,
This October and November I shall be running a stage of The VTP that focuses on Managing Self and becoming a Money Manager.

 
It’ll will be split into 2 sections namely:  The first half on managing self. How do you manage and enhance your own trading performance? What kind of network and support structure do you need to create around you? How do you deal with those inevitable slumps?

 
The second half is on managing money – namely other peoples. The truth is that most independent traders are under-capitalised, and they need to find ways to increase their Trading Capital. You may or may not have dreams of becoming a money-manager. However remember we reach for our goals but we settle for our standards. Acting as if you are a fund manager is never a bad thing in your own trading business because it holds you to that 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 credible space to seek funding (if that is your wish).

 
It will consist of working together for 4-6 sessions over 2-3 months
– 4 x half day sessions (probably over 2-3 days)
– 2 x online sessions
For a total of 19-20 hours working together

 
So as always there’s a cost: Because I am allowed to use a corporate clients office it means that I can keep costs low and accessible for Independent Traders. For members of the London Traders Network the cost will be £397. This is a great reward:risk trade as what you’ll learn, and the pitfalls you’ll avoid, will save you the fee many times over.

 
There are plenty of training courses out there that focus on trading strategies. For most people its not more strategies they require – but an understanding of how to manage themselves and their business.   There’s few, if any, that focus on supporting Independent Traders to manage their performance and transition towards fund management.

 
I’ll only run this once a year and there is an opportunity for you to join us. We only operate in small groups as it allows the traders to share their experience. So if you’d like to learn more about how to manage your trading performance and learn about what it takes to become a money manager then get in touch by replying here or mailing me: paul@FXTraderPaul.com . As always the slots go on a first-come first-served basis.
Trade well,
Paul
@FXTraderPaul

Here’s part 2 of the Monthly candle analysis featuring he rest of the 28 pairs I focus on.

Trade well,

Paul

(For those of you not aware, this is the magnificent Durdle Door on Dorset’s Jurassic Coastline. The reason for the photo will become apparent later on in this piece.)

Hello Traders….well that was an interesting start to August. Hopefully now everyone is flat and sunning themselves away from markets. Or crying into their beer.

As you know every so often I ask you to indulge me in my writings/posts. This is trading related, but is mostly just a rambling piece that will only end up reminding and inspiring myself. So either bear with me, or stop reading now.

I recently read an article on Medium.com that came from George White’s Twitter Feed which is a good feed to follow (he’s even sometimes complimentary to me!)

Anyway the Medium post was written by a guy called Sean McLaughlin – and it would appear that Sean is having a tough time of it. That’s nothing new, all traders have had, and will continue to have, challenging periods (if they tell you they don’t, or never have, then don’t listen to them.)

Seans piece was entitled The Career Risk Traders Are Unaware Of. Its an honest, well thought-out, and well written piece that addresses one of the unspoken issues – namely that of Opportunity Cost. Is it a valuable use of your time to trade for a living? What happens if it doesn’t work out?

One of the sessions on Stage 4 of the VTP starts out with quoting Teddy Roosevelt: “With Victory Comes Great Sacrifice” and we pose the question: what would you sacrifice to become a successful world-class trader?

If you don’t know what you would sacrifice then maybe this weekend provides you with an opportunity to consider that question. Let me assure you: there is a price to be paid.

I don’t know if there’s a definitive right answer, as everyone’s situation is different, but I know there are plenty of wrong answers to the question.

I don’t know Sean, and I don’t know the details of his situation, but he alludes to some poor life and financial decisions which may have contributed to his present circumstances.  I believe that we create our own peaks and valleys in our lives. He also talks about under-capitalisation and he’s spot-on there, most private traders are under-capitalised for their goals and expectations.  I see and hear it time and again. I have lost count of the times I’ve seen private traders do one of the following:

• Wannabe traders trying to live an Instagram-lifestyle on start-up wages.
• Private traders spending 500-2000 a month of operating expenses (offices, computers, fancy platforms – let me assure you, to private traders having a Bloomberg terminal is just a vanity project)
• Private traders having a period of success, and then ramping up their position size ten-fold to chase the moolah (this never ends well)
• Wannabe traders trying to replicate their comfortable monthly corporate wages off a 5k account. Can you do this? Yes, anything is possible. However, what’s the probability of you achieving this month-in-month-out? Low, exceptionally low. Do yourself a favour – give yourself a fighting chance to succeed.

I’m sure you could add plenty of other examples of your own. Overall this is a business, keep your expenses and mistakes small, and work on ways to increase your profit margins.

In my old military job you were “only one bad sortie away from “the chop”, or being an IDRO.” When I worked in the City you were only one quarter away from demotion/sack. In Trading you’re only one trade away from being out of the game.  If you think about it, that’s a lot of pressure to have on your shoulders, so its no wonder that some people really struggle with it.

So what can you do to help yourself if you are under-capitalised and struggling?

• Put money into a pension, or long term savings plan, that you cant touch. Ever. Think of it like building a Strategic Reserve. Even Jesse Livermore did this and it helped him after his blow-ups.
• Living life like George Best may look fun – but it rarely ends well. You don’t need a helicopter or a speedboat. Well no-more than one at any rate.
• Get a wife and a life – honestly do yourself a favour, sort this out. Get a life outside of trading. (Note to self: follow your own advice.)
• Don’t give up the day job until you have to. If you’re hoping that leaving your hated job to become a trader will work then I assure you it wont. If you hate your job then deal with that first. Then trade, if you still want to, which you may not want to once you’ve sorted out your shitty job.
• Leverage your skills elsewhere. One of the reasons I coach is that I have in the past educated and coached fighter pilots, CEO’s, Sales-People, Volunteers, Sports stars etc. It turns out that I enjoy it, it gives me some socialisation, and makes me a better trader/person generally. (I don’t care how introverted you tell me you are – being at home all day on your own is not healthy!)
• If you have a business that creates income then find a way to make it continue paying you whilst you learn how to trade. (I know that maybe harder than it sounds.) You want to be in a position that when you sit down to trade you are there trading for opportunity, rather than trading to generate money….to pay your bills. That never ends well.
• Keep your life cheap and cheerful. I still do.  I have learnt that my time is precious and better spent with people who’s company I enjoy rather than flying to the other side of the world to take a selfie. (I cant abide airports these days.) I realised that autonomy was more important to me than a flash car.

I was sorry to read of Seans situation, and I genuinely wish him well and hope that he creates a better life for himself. That he can turn his valley into a peak. Anyone who has traded live for a career has my respect – it’s not easy.

I’m sure Sean has it all covered and is working his arse off to get back on track and get some forward momentum. If I could help then I will – I’m like that.

It will probably provide no help to him or other like him, but I have recently been introduced to the writings of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius – via the Prime drama Black Sails (if you haven’t watched it then do yourself a favour and watch it – brilliant drama.)

One of the episodes ends with the reading of a chapter from the Emperors Handbook and it struck me as a fantastic piece of writing. I loved it from the moment I heard it. My enjoyment of it has only increased since my exposure to it, and now I have it written up in my Winners Bible and also in a frame on my Trading Desk.  Here is the dialogue…

The Emperor writes: How should you be?
Be like a rocky promontory against which the restless surf continuously pounds; it stands fast while the churning sea is lulled to sleep at its feet.
I hear you say, “How unlucky that this should happen to me!”
Not at all.
Say instead, “How lucky I am that I am not broken by what has happened and am not afraid of what is to happen. The same blow might have struck any one, but not many would have absorbed it without capitulation and complaint.”
The Emperors Handbook – Marcus Aurelius

Well it may not bring solace to many – but it certainly resonates with me. The more I read it, the more I enjoy it.  I think its a fantastic piece and I will refer to it for the rest of my days. It helps shape my attitude on challenging days.

Apologies for the rambling. Nevertheless whatever your trading situation is I wish you every success. Make sure you have a good network around you, and leverage their strengths if you’re having a challenging time.  Take some time off (if you can) and go away and refresh and re-charge your batteries this August . I have a feeling that from September onwards markets are going to be a bit tasty!

Paul

For those of you who do not know what a Rocky Promontory is; its a point of highland that juts out into the sea; a headland. And to finish it off here’s me in front of Durdles Door – you can walk from Weymouth station to Lulworth Cove (a beautiful spot next door to Durdle Door) its about a 16 mile hike up and down the coastline but on a glorious day is a sight to behold. If you’re in the UK go and see it. If you’re elsewhere go and find your own Rocky Promontory.

Hey Traders,

Here’s Part 2 of the monthly candles analysis – focusing on USD, JPY, CHF, AUD, NZD & CAD.

Enjoy!

Paul