 |
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 16 May 2007 Table of Contents (1) Quote on Perseverance (2) Interview - Dar Wong from Singapore (3) Asia Trader and Investor Convention - Ho Chi Minh City (26 and 27 May 2007) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RSS Feed Stay up to date with all that is happening at Trading Plan, by subscribing to our 'Trading Blog' (no email address necessary). I am continually adding content and every update of this site is announced here, including minor content updates, page additions, and product releases. So stay plugged in by subscribing to this site's RSS feed. Copy and paste the address below into your RSS reader to receive the Trading Plan RSS feed... http://www.trading-plan.com/Trading-Plan.xml Not sure what RSS is? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Previous Issues Only just joined the mailing list? That's OK - you can read all of the previous issues of the Trading-Plan ezine. Visit http://www.trading-plan.com/ezines_previous.html to access the archive. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filtering software may prevent you from receiving Trading-Plancommunication, including my ezines. To ensure that you never missan e-mail from me, please follow these tips... http://www.trading-plan.com/whitelisting.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Online Trading Forum Do you want to learn from the experiences of others in a friendly online trading forum? I now frequent and contribute to the online trading forum called Stock Meeting Place. Membership is easy and free. You can come along and ask any trading question in one of the numerous sections of the forum and receive a helpful response from one of the many members (approximately 2000). This forum is the only place online where you will also find Daryl Guppy, the well known trader and author. Remember, there is no such thing as a silly question so visit, sign up and ask a question. Visit http://www.trading-plan.com/trading_forum.html for more information. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- 1 -- Quote on Perseverance "Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all." Dale Carnegie (1888 - 1955) -- 2 -- Interview - Dar Wong from Singapore * Background Info / Introduction * Q. Can you please start by making a few comments about yourself to include your trading style and what products you trade, your experience in years, and what other things of a trading nature take your time on a regular basis (e.g. writing trading books/contributing to forums/coaching/speaking engagements)? I started working as a trainee in the futures industry with Bank of America in 1989. My other employments in the later part of my career involved Bankers Trust, Barclays ZW, Smith Barney Shearson (Citigroup). I traded in many futures markets mainly based on stock indices, interest rates and currencies. Forex is another category of margin trading that has become my favorite since 1996, when I started trading it as an individual local trader in Singapore. Currently, other than trading electronically, I travel to do coaching and talks, visit plantations for hedging, write about my trading experiences and market observations, as well as updating my daily forum for our trading associates. Q. It is fair to say that most people are initially attracted to trading by money. Is this what initially attracted you or was it something else? Most people started trading to pursue money. I began trading to plan for my early retirement and time-freedom to pursue other goals in my life! Q. What are some of your good and bad memories of your early trading days? My initial trading days on my own account operated as though I was still a muscled corporate trader. I lost some money and developed a market phobia of course! After fine-tuning myself together with tightened risk management, I returned to trading after 1 month of hibernation. Trading was very smooth then and I consistently accumulated my profits to become wealthy. Q. How would you describe a couple of your biggest mistakes in your early trading days? Sitting on losses and trying to compromise with the trend was pure stupidity. It is just like signing a blank cheque and handing it to a total stranger! Q. Looking back to the beginning, in the face of the usual challenges, what motivated or inspired you to learn to trade well? Frankly, it was ego that pushed me to win over the market. But it was also ego that made me challenge the market trend against my position with stupidity. What motivated me later to trade like a pro and win like an expert was when I put aside my pride and started to share and discuss the market performance with other traders! You will learn a lot more by doing that and also you keep improving through group motivation. Q. On reflection, was there a single moment in time or situation that ultimately had the greatest influence on your trading? My trading master told me if anyone wants to survive in this market for the long term, he has to learn to cut short losses all the time and find a strategy to extend the potential profits. This theory does not compromise with anyone. It woke me up then! * Trading Plan * Q. We could spend days comparing technical and fundamental analysis, and many traders tend to favour one and dismiss the other – do you prefer one over the other? Do you use a combination of both? Briefly, why? Fundamentals will only unfold a market trend over quite a long term; unless it is an economic data release that may instantly cause some range movements or swings. Personally, I rely on technicals to read the trend from day to day and then tally if it fits into the fundamentals over the near-future. Q. Do you have written trading plan detailing your approach? How would you describe it (e.g. long/short, detailed/broad, complete/work in progress)? In our FX Mastery Trading workshop, the associates are taught how to execute a higher winning rate of daily entry/exits, together with shortened risk management. Other strategies involve how to trade based on 10 minute market projections, time windows and price target reversal strategies. To do all these, we will help them to set the foundation of understanding market wave concepts first. Yes, it must all be written down. Q. On a scale of 1 (simple) – 10 (complex), how would you rate your trading approach(es)? Do you have any comments on the simplicity or otherwise of them? My personal approaches are based on various strategies and also that depends on which part of the market trend - in an intraday or in a continual market wave movement. But all these strategies have been developed and simplified into mechanics that usually carry a risk/reward ratio from 1:3 onwards. Q. Many traders acknowledge that having a trading plan is a key to success – it is essential. Yet, most people don’t know where to start to begin writing one, even though they understand the basics of trading. What would be your advice to someone stuck in this situation? Don’t use too many trade setups at one time. Even old timers will get confused sometimes by looking at too many things. Make your trading plan simple and stick to it with faith; don’t compromise it with the backend risk of course! When you become proficient with this first trading plan, only then may you start to polish a second trading plan. * Trading Mindset * Q. Equally, profits and losses can have a significant psychological impact on traders. How do you deal with them? Losing too much money in one trade or losing in a series of trades will deteriorate your mental capital. Stay out for a few days or even a week for sole observation. Record this market performance for future reference and case studies. Q. Isabelle, 36 is a mother of two children and stays at home with them during the day. Her husband works full time and his salary meets all their financial obligations comfortably. Isabelle arranges an appointment with you to discuss trading – she has never traded before but knows you can help her get started with some initial guidance. What will be the 3 most important things you tell her in the appointment? 1. Trading involves risk2. Conduct a self-evaluation 3. Learn and backtest an approach before trading with real money Q. Jack, 58 is a very successful business owner who wants to start trading as he slowly moves into retirement and away from work. He has arranged a similar appointment to Isabelle – would your advice to him be identical to Isabelle’s or different? Yes Q. Is trading as difficult as many people appear to make it seem? Yes, only to about 80% of people who usually think alike. Q. What are the 5 most important character traits of successful traders? Please feel free to briefly explain them. 1. Ability to forecast and initiate2. Effective risk management 3. Self-commitment to follow the market chart daily 4. Consistent awareness of fundamentals5. Strength in technical analysis Q. Trading can be a very solitary existence – especially in the early days when you are learning, and often feel as though you have no idea what you are doing. Do you find trading a lonely experience? Does this sit well with you? If not, how do you deal with the loneliness? Traders are lonely people. Successful traders are more isolated from the general people of the working class. Develop personal hobbies and spend more time in sharing with others, as this will make your life more fulfilling Q. What would be or has been your most significant weakness in trading? Have you learned to overcome it or do you continue to work on it? I have overcome my personal weakness in trading – it was ego. Constantly having a head on collision with the market trend. Q. Assuming you are now consistently profitable, do you still have times when you experience self doubt over your ability to trade? If yes, how does this make you feel and how do you overcome it? I have no more self-doubts with my trading. It is either you capitalize on the market trend or stay out until the trend returns. Q. Ideally, we would like to be emotionless when we trade – we would certainly make more sound trading decisions more often. How do you control your emotions when assessing potential trading opportunities or open positions? Do you get very emotional at times? I don’t have much emotion involved nowadays because my risk/reward ratio is always at least 1:3. Q. If you experience a large profitable trade, do you reward yourself in any way? I reward myself by investing the profits into other fixed-return investments and for presents to my family. Q. In your entire trading career, what are the biggest lessons you’ve learnt and how did you learn them? Never think the market is wrong / Never sit on losses / Never trade when you are confused You will learn this only when you are either down to nothing or when very close to a margin call. Q. To finish off, if you were to start trading all over again now, what would you do differently to what you did originally? I would tighten my risk management and spend more time to comprehend candlesticks formation with market trend movement, then I would commence trading. About Dar: Mr. Dar Wong started his corporate career in the futures and FX industry in 1989. He has been trading his personal account for more than a decade and also operates as a hedge advisor, coach cum entrepreneur. His educational modules have been learned and practiced by many traders from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. You can get a free download of his e-book by visiting his website http://www.make100kprofit.com -- 3 -- Asia Trader and Investor Convention - Ho Chi Minh City (26 and 27 May 2007) I will be presenting two 45 minute seminars at the Asia Trader and Investor Convention, to be held at the New World Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on 26 and 27 May 2007. Other speakers include Joe DiNapoli, Ray Barros, Don Schellenberg, and Mark Laudi. My topic will be Developing your Trading Plan and further details are available by visiting http://www.theatic.net/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
