http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/category/view/Forex The latest ideas and comments in the Forex category Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:42:36 -0800 en-us Copyright TNC New Media Inc., 2006 - 2009 http://www.traderinterviews.com/images/traderinterviews_144x19.gif http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab 144 16 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading#c116 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading#c116 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 09:42:36 -0800 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/has-the-forex-market-ever-heard-of-supply-and-demand#c113 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/has-the-forex-market-ever-heard-of-supply-and-demand#c113 Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:35:06 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/has-the-forex-market-ever-heard-of-supply-and-demand http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/has-the-forex-market-ever-heard-of-supply-and-demand Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:17:21 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading#c107 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading#c107 Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:59:24 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c104
It really doesn't matter whether they trade long term or short, because you can always calculate an average daily profit amount over any time frame. This is the only way to compare a trader with a $1,000,000 account to a trader with a $150,000 account. Otherwise, you are comparing apples to oranges in my opinion. Another option would be a weekly calculation.

As to whether you should ask "the question", I say you should if they are trying to sell their trading knowledge to others. Again, "the question" means little unless you ask them about their trading capital and their average daily or weekly profit amount.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c104 Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:08:58 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading#c102 Are you looking at number of trades per tick or an amount of volume? They are different.
Are you trying to identify real, market activity and not waste your time on a false market
solely manipulated by broker and/or source liquidity? If you are interested in something even close to
a trade-able market, you should abandon Forex and focus on equities or futures.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading#c102 Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:40:43 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading
Whats your experience and results?


]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/tick-chart-for-forex-day-trading Fri, 30 May 2008 07:16:39 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/macd-histogram-with-support-and-resistance#c98 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/macd-histogram-with-support-and-resistance#c98 Wed, 21 May 2008 03:38:04 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c95
We need to know if these people are actually earning a living with their trading. Last week's interview with Tim Ord points out one of the issues. Tim Ord trades full time but he actually supports himself through his service subscribers. I certainly don't fault anyone for that but I want to know if the "professional" traders that you interview that "trade full time" are significantly profitable on a consistent basis.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c95 Mon, 05 May 2008 19:12:01 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/the-3-golden-trading-rules#c92 1. Don't Lose $
2. Risk Management (Defined Entry, Defined Stop)
3. Buy Strong Stocks on Pullbacks

I've spent the last year developing my trading style and plan. It it my observation through countless traderinterviews, books such as Market Wizards, the New Market Wizards, Reminisciences of a Stock Operator and talking with other traders that if you can master these three things then the rest is easy. I believe trading is 90% mental and 10% skill. Once you can get the mental aspect down your set. The #1 quality a trader needs to have is DISCIPLINE, refering back to my ideology, PLAN YOUR TRADE, TRADE YOUR PLAN. Practice makes perfect, having a plan, outline, a framework if you will for any situation will help keep the emotion out of the trade and the objectivity in it. Take from this what you will as I am only 20 years, but discipline has taken me the distance to become a NON LOOSING trader. One I began to focus on how NOT TO LOOSE and thinking about the worst case scenario "how could this perfect trade go wrong", I began to make money consistently and profitably.

Here is a great link to some audio commentary on discipline and exerpts from Market Wizards and Japenese Candlestick Charting Techniques, just disregard the plugs for thinkorswim, although I do agree that is the best platform both on a technical and customer service level on the market today.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/the-3-golden-trading-rules#c92 Sun, 04 May 2008 07:59:21 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/the-3-golden-trading-rules#c90 2. Trade setups that yield positive expectations.
3. Apply proper money management to those setups.

Now go find all the edcuation you could and study them to the point where you make them your second nature. And one more thing: traders that are sharp and consistently profitable don't waste time and dwell on negative thoughts.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/the-3-golden-trading-rules#c90 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:07:44 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/the-3-golden-trading-rules  If you somehow knew that soon you would fall off of your roof and bang your head hard enough to give yourself amnesia, and you had the choice to remember only 3 things about trading, what would they be?]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/the-3-golden-trading-rules Thu, 17 Apr 2008 23:13:15 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/macd-histogram-with-support-and-resistance#c83 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/macd-histogram-with-support-and-resistance#c83 Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:54:57 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c81 By all means publish a working strategy so that others can evaluate, comment and feed back suggestions for improvement. But always insist on knowing the following:
Win:loss ratio
Ave win : ave loss
Return on capital
together with the time period that the results relate to.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c81 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:25:02 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/macd-histogram-with-support-and-resistance#c79
Good luck and please keep us updated on your results.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/macd-histogram-with-support-and-resistance#c79 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:29:01 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c78
Also, you seem to be a very successful trader. Can you recommend any books to review or other sources of information that helped your trading the most?]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c78 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:59:10 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c77
This is an issue that is very important to me. I think you absolutely have the right, and the duty to your readers, to ask an interviewee about how much they make. However, I do not necessarily think you have the right to ask about the specific dollars they make as that is no one's business but theirs. Instead, they should be willing to share their performance in terms of some hypothetical circumstances. For example, you could ask them, based on their actual returns, to tell you how much they would make in a year if they had a hypothetical account of say $100,000 based on their real time performance. They could explain how much they risk per trade of that $100,000, what their worst case draw down in a typical year is on that $100,000 (i.e. -10,000, -25,000 or whatever), and they could tell you what type of profit they make on average per year on that $100,000. So for example, if they have a $1,000,000 account and they typcially make $3,000,000 per annum, they do not have to reveal those actual assets and income but instead would tell you and your readers that they would make $300,000 on the hypothetical $100,000.

I think this question is absolutely fair game because if they are not truly making good money under acceptable risk and reward parameters they are willing to share, then there is no way a reader can determine if their methodology is worth pursuing or if the interviewee is even credible. Many authors and speakers act and talk as if they are excellent traders only later to disappoint when you see their actual returns or they run a fund of some type.

Actual money made is perhaps the single most important question you can ask. If the answer is bad, then the interviewee has no right to be acting as if he or she is a credible trader. If the answer is good, they have every right to speak from a position of credibility and authority. I think you also have to be clear that they are no way representing or warrantying any returns nor are they saying that anyone else can use their methodology to recreate the same or similar returns, and that the past returns are no indication of future returns.

Please give me you thoughts on this as I have debated this with many interviewers and authors and no one has ever submitted a compelling reason why any interviewee should not be willing to discuss their returns using numbers that do not reveal their actual income.

MSM]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c77 Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:41:45 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c76 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c76 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:18:36 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c75
A simple question around % returns would give the info we need and not offend anyone.]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c75 Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:48:16 -0700 http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c74
You could also get creative the way you ask - saying "What are your dollar goals for a day/week/month/year?" What is the dollar amount that you can reach and say "I'm done for the day." You could also ask them about their best $$ year and their worst $$ year, with numbers, and ask what they think factored into make it a really great year or really tough year.

I thought the interview with Trader Stewie was excellent, and the the conversation about the money came up naturally with asking about his $$ goals on a day/week basis. I know him and he is an excellent daytrader, very good discipline. I thought he answered the money question candidly and claiming that he aims for $3000 a week seemed very realistic. Having known him for a while, I can vouch that $3k a week is a very reasonable and consistent number for him.

I think it is a great thing to add to the interviews. Sometimes I hear people talk about how they trade and I think "Wow, they must have some serious ups and downs" and other times it sounds like they make small but very consitant money, but it would be great to hear some actual numbers.

Asking them to identify their best and worst years and reflect on the reasons might be a good way to easy into the money topic.

--DougSF]]> http://www.traderinterviews.com/idealab/idea/view/should-i-ask-interviewees-how-much-money-they-make#c74 Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:32:34 -0700