Trading Journey

Just started trading? There are No shortcuts to success.

This game is definitely not an easy one, it’s bloody difficult to have continued success, or success at all. A small few are lucky, and find their niche in the market quickly. Some never will. Unfortunately the nature of trading with a limited stack of your own money means that, if you don’t find your edge relatively quickly, you’re gone.

I got lucky. I started full time trading right at the bottom of the bull market in the early 2000s. I started with less than $2000 and had my first 7 figure year withing 3 years. You basically had to just point your money at something and it went up. Today’s markets are tricky, and a different beast to back then, so I’ve had to continue to evolve over the years. There’s no guarantee I would have survived at all if I was just starting now.

Where do you start? Unfortunately, I believe trading books or videos can give you a good grounding, but they cannot give you a blueprint to successful trading, especially as a day or short term trader. I own most of them and I don’t think I’ve read any of them from cover to cover, but I do read a chapter or two every once in a while.

Neither will blindly following your favourite furu on X or Insta.

Hard work…and I mean hours upon hours to the point of obsession. Time in the market, at the coal face, and discipline. Real discipline. That’s it.

They are the vital pillars to possible success. There are no short cuts. No guarantees.

Good luck!

Alan McGrath
Traders Edge Community
www.tradersedge.com.au

Trade Independently. Grow Together.

Are you using the right tool for the job?

Choppy markets can be a pain in the arse to trade.

For me this has manifested in several different ways. Setups not following through. Breakouts failing. Random intraday spikes and dumps stopping me out.

It can definitely lead you to start changing the way you trade. Sometimes you need to.

Sometimes you just have to identify that your current tools are the wrong ones for the job. The setup that your past results proved has a valid edge may still have that edge — just not in the current market.

It might not be a case of throwing it out, but just parking it for a while until the right conditions return.

It’s why one-trick ponies rarely last very long in this game. When conditions deteriorate they have nothing else to go to…and they are rarely aware (or patient) enough to stop trading.

It’s SO important throughout your trading career to keep building a solid toolbox of trade setups that work in different conditions.

You also need the awareness to know when to change those tools. Or when to walk away.

I don’t believe either option comes naturally to a trader.

Happy Trading

Alan
Traders Edge
Trade Independently. Grow Together
www.tradersedge.com.au

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