Kiwi

Intro

Continuing with the next trader from Snorm’s trading chat room is Kiwi. If I was to bet on seeing someone in the chat room during LO or NYO it would be Kiwi. A prolific trader with his own style of trading. Also one of the most helpful traders in the room.

A bit about yourself

About me

Started trading about 12 years ago, at the time had too much on my plate so scaled back then had the opportunity to get back into it about 3-4 years ago and was slow to get going first 12 months were hard, but since then have seen steady progress and have come so far on the journey that now able to trade as a income source.

What was your journey that led you into trading?

Had a friend who was a FX trader for one of the big investment banks in London and he got me interested in it, have always been interested in macro economic affairs, that led me to the classic journey of trying out courses, making mistakes wading through the plethora of bullshit till I found some guys I got on with, shared thinking, then settled on a methodology and begun to learn the difficult, but essential mental side of it, that IMHO can only be done through time at the coalface.

What trading challenges are you currently facing and how do you have a plan to get through them?

I still have a tendency to over trade even after a successful one, just a big work on for me journalling and data tracking has helped along with books and watching close up some great traders.

What inspires you to trade and what are your specific reasons to pursue trading?

Im fortunate enough to have other revenue streams and don’t have the out and out pressure to make money from trading to eat each week, but the mental challenge is really what inspires me, in trading you have a few perfect days of performance but rarely a session goes by that you couldn’t have done better in and the challenge is to eliminate as many of the small mistakes as you can, but equally accept that you are going to make them, and primarily that the market doesn’t care.

How many years have you been trading (hands on, not algo)?

More than 5 years

In your head

What’s the thing you enjoy most about working as a trader and what was your most painful experience?

I enjoy the reward of executing a plan seen on higher time frames and seeing your discipline rewarded. Painful experiences - too many to mention. I did lose a big trade on options at the beginning by getting my sizing wrong, and have had times where have forgotten news events that have been costly.

What are the key factors that separate successful day traders from those who fail?

Discipline, process and being prepared to lose the trade, accepting its lost from the second you put it on until PA allows you to move SL to break even. The FOMO is big thing for inexperienced traders, I learnt that off Snorm and patience. I used to look to the open to get in on a move early under misconception you were ahead of the game, actually far better to wait to see the continuation, then there are plenty of options to enter and add .. overall accepting loss is biggest difference to me.

How do you deal with frustration, self-doubt, and other emotional aspects of trading?

Walk away, IIDSO - If in Doubt Stay out, also learnt not to get excited with big wins ironically helps to not get annoyed with 1-2 losses in a row even keel mind set, journalling and breaks are super powerful tools that require no performance skill but simply the discipline to do it

We all have off days, days we really shouldn’t open the charts, do you have a process or criteria to understand if it’s a day to not trade?

See above if I cant read the PA I always take a break if its range bound with potential to break I keep referring to the Upper Tfs and then the longer it consolidates the bigger the level I wait for a break of -

Strategy and trading plan

What does you typical trading session, including pre and post, look like?

I have a template I use for journalling that I follow, and it includes assessing quality of sleep, mental state, then zoom out before going in, where are we in the week? What big news has been or to come what has the PA done etc etc then down to the individual indices and others from the daily chart down to mark key levels magnets etc etc - one key thing I have done from November last year is to give equal weight to both sides, ie how do I react if it goes down how do I react if it goes up not necessarily trying to predict where market will go I don’t care which way it goes but am ready to react if it hits point a point b etc

What market or markets and time-frames do you trade and why?

M15 is key for decision making and then M1 for entries

What are the key indicators or charts you look at first thing in the morning to understand the market trend?

Not really indicators, but the D1 and H1 charts PA I try to read what the Price is saying in each candle - the Al Brooks candle PA reading methodology is pretty impressive

Give 1 or 2 examples of your strategy explaining your reasons for entering the trade, how you managed the trade and your exit? This can be a win or loss as long as it sticks to your plan.

I was quite pleased with this Dax trade a 15 R key to it was a good entry and having the Upper TF magnet within reach, was delighted I only added midway through the trade, can often add to aggressively at the beginning when marginally in pr ofit or the momentum hasn’t really started - for this trade I had already taken a BE on a better entry but wasn’t frustrated used the grant approach of NEXT clear mind we had a FVG fair Value Gap, just above the Overnight High so was a nice little confluence zone was able to get in ONH test then was able to with difficulty sit through the corrections especially when it had got to my RR short term target for entering the trade ( targets first always) and then managed to bank a fixed point ADd on that covered a decent return for the session so could let it run

What platform, indicators and other tools you rely on for analysis, placing and managing a trade?

MT4 though it has its flaws, Steve’s for exe tools - ATM and ewh and Fibs, no MAs or EMas or anything else really

Do you have contact with other traders? Describe what you gain from this, how often you talk or share information and how did you find out about them?

I enjoy a smaller chat room, have been in larger ones and it just becomes noise without useful info being shared.

How do you adapt your trading strategies to different market environments?

Change my RR targets and risk size depending on events Pre FOMC NFP etc

Old hands

How long did it take for you to really get trading down?

Haven’t yet

If you could start over what would you do different?

Would have loved to have gotten a mentor early in my pathway, not a charlatan selling courses of which there are thousands and most are full of shit.

Was there a notable time when you started to regularly make a profit? Was it a gradual process or lightbulb moment? Describe please?

Gradual process of actually learning from mistakes made.

What are the things that are going to separate you from the large majority of traders who fail?

Accepting loss, and building your own style, sure you can aspire to other traders, but until you own your own method that, very importantly, is most natural to your ways then you will be searching

What’s your best advice for experienced traders who want to become independent and trade full time?

Honestly at the beginning of going full time make sure you have another income otherwise its too much pressure on yourself, when you are trading the process and trading your method the results will come.

What are most effective methods of spotting strength in an instrument?

Upper TFs often show you early clues reacting to key areas