WOW, did I start losing money? You bet I did. Being exposed to a merciless market for eight hours was dreadful. But something said, “C’mon, there’s money here, you can beat it”. And I lost more money. WRONG MINDSET.

So then I went back to trying to do it before breakfast. Guess what? It didn’t work.

My blind self-confidence had gone and nothing went right – no matter how hard I tried, And boy did I try? Because – in my world I was conditioned to TRY HARDER when things didn’t go right. WRONG MINDSET.

Now – this is a tiny example of what I’m talking about here – but you need to grasp what I’m saying.

NOTE WELL PLEASE !!

YOU HAVE TO DEVELOP – patience, discipline and a very, very COOL attitude to trading. You are not going to get this straight away – you might think you will, but I doubt it – so we’ll need PATIENCE and COOL – - – starting now. Please don’t think these are empty words that you can read and forget. Don’t think that YOU are different and it will be easy for you because you are something special.

It won’t – and you aren’t. Please take my word for it.

If you have enhoyed this 3-part series and feel you have what it takes, please feel free to take my Forex Training Course

This has been quite a week.  The market hasn’t been overly active during my trading window, so it was a good time to get my feet wet.  I enjoyed the process of watching the activity and trying to observe the best trading opportunities.  I made four trades, two positive ones, one with a net of zero, and one very small negative.  This week has been all about getting a feel for things and understanding that there will be good days and bad days in the market, and that negatives are part of the process.  I feel really good about what I accomplished this week.  I really appreciate all that Sid was teaching us about patience and discipline.

There are moments when I just wanted to jump in and say what the heck, let’s see what happens, but I stayed cool and disciplined.  If I can continue in this fashion, I have every confidence that I will do very well in the long run.

Have a great weekend!

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I finished my Forex Training Works Course and man am I excited!  I think that coming across Sid’s course was one of the best things I’ve ever done.  I have learned many things over the course of the past four weeks; one of them included how to write a blog. 

I went from knowing precious little about trading in the forex market, to understanding the power of compounding and how forex can allow me to make my money work for me.  This truly is life changing stuff.  As you may or may not remember, my original goal is to pad out my retirement, but with what I know now, I am excited about the prospect of improving my quality of life as well.  I have grandkids and I want to not only spoil them with love, but it will be nice to share the fruits of my labors with them as well…okay, I admit it…spoil them a little from time to time. 

I attended my first BBC meeting on Sunday as well.  Wow…what a nice group of people.  You can really see how much everybody respects and admires Sid.  The meeting was very casual with lots of good humor thrown in.  Sid uses the time to share stories of people in the club, to impart wisdom and to basically keep us all on track.  I think these sessions will be invaluable as I travel on my journey.  It became quite apparent why Sid says and really believes that the mentorship part of the program is key to forex trading success.

Now, I know that I need to go through some of the lessons a few more times, because once just is not enough to allow everything to sink in.  I also accept that this is going to take time.  Sid has done his utmost to ensure that I do not enter into this with blinders on and to also make sure that I keep things in perspective as I develop my skill, judgment, patience and discipline.

I am very happy to have had this time with you.  I will do my best to check in weekly and let you know how my trading is going.  Wish me luck!!!

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Sid was quick to remind me that on a scale of 1 to 10 in trading, I am on level 1 and he is at level 10.  Having said that, he was sharing his thinking at a level 10, which I found to be quite insightful and quite awe inspiring.

Here are just a few things that I learned today:

1.      The market never stands still…one week may be easy and the next may be very tight.

2.      As I gain experience, the hard weeks will become easier for me.

3.      Flexibility in my trading practices will sometimes be required to move with the times.

4.      Common sense and deep focus are requirements for good trading.

5.      Experience will help me learn to be empathetic with the market and help me make good trading decisions.

6.      I need to ALLOW myself to develop.  What I don’t get now, I’ll get next week.  That also includes getting pips.

7.      There is no easy way to go through the process…we all have to go through it so just get on with it.

8.      Get things in perspective.  Don’t blame myself when things go wrong, especially if the market is being difficult.

9.      The forex market doesn’t conform to patterns, so don’t get comfortable just because things may go my way for a while.

10. Being prepared before I trade, both physically and mentally, will improve my chances for a successful trading session.

I have to say that I am very impressed with Sid’s openness and honesty about the difficulties that I might encounter as I learn to trade, and even once I decide to go live.  He certainly has stuck to his no B.S. policy and made it very clear that this won’t be easy, but the work will be worth it.  After watching the live sessions over the past two days, I am really beginning to understand what he means.  I think Sid’s videos are quite powerful and effective in demonstrating what is required and what I will encounter on any given day.

Lesson 31 is about mentorship and support.  I have finally been allowed to join the exclusive BBC.  The first month of membership is free…fabulous!!!  But even at $15 a month, I think it will be a bargain.  I am really looking forward to meeting my new “family” and learning from them.  The significance of this step is that I will have even more people to be accountable to.  I think this is an important step because it’s too easy to just give up when I’m all on my own.

Well, another day done, and another day closer to real trading! 

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The other 4 videos were live trading sessions that Sid uses to show the exact criteria I will be looking for in correlation trading.  These worked very well because Sid talks all the way through, giving commentary on what it is he is looking at and why he may or may not get into a trade.

The good thing about these videos too is that they didn’t show perfect trading conditions all the time, so it really did give me a real sense for what it will be like when I sit down to trade.  There will be dead cycles in trading and these videos did an excellent job of showing how to behave during these times.

Important points to remember that I take away from today’s lesson:

• Anticipation is no good – if ALL the criteria are not met, there is NO trade.
• Trading is a subjective endeavor.  I must be able to make my own individual trading decisions.  No two people see the same thing.
• In order to do the above, I must be patient in order to develop the skill, instinct and judgment to become a good compounder.
• Making good trades will help develop inner confidence and over time I will become a better trader for it.
• Sometimes it’s like sitting and watching paint dry.  We get paid to wait for the best trades.  Waiting is a good thing.
• Following the rules will empower me in the long run.  The rules are there for a reason.
• If there is not a good trade, stay out.  I will not have lost anything, and will have my capital still intact to trade on a better day.
• When trading, if the trade causes me to doubt, I must get out!

Great lesson today!  I’m absolutely amazed, after reading back through what I’ve written so far, how much I’ve actually learned.  I’m not an overly technical person, but this learning process has been so user friendly that it’s actually been really enjoyable.  And, I’m actually very proud of myself.

Well, I would like to close by saying that I really enjoyed the videos and I can really taste it now.  I know that Sid’s ways are simple, but I also acknowledge that I know it will not be easy.  It will ultimately be up to me.  Sid has made his lessons the simplest to follow and understand as possible, but in the end it will all come down to whether or not I have the patience and discipline to put the rules into practice.  I will find out very shortly.  I’m looking forward to it!

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Lesson 26 is all about setting up my chart for correlation trading.  Before Sid got to the video part of the program, he took time to give me another key for my future success.  He said 20% of the training is actually how to get pips, while the remaining 80% is about me…my psychological state if you will.  What is my mindset, and how am I going to approach my trading.  And, absolutely without doubt, DISCIPLINE starts here and now.On to the videos…These were very helpful.  There are two videos that showed me exactly step-by-step how to set up my trading platform for this type of trading.  These videos were so complete, that when I immediately went to my platform, there were no questions unanswered.  Awesome!  In correlation trading, we use more than one chart at a time, so Sid showed me how to set up my platform to synchronize the charts and place them on my screen form maximum efficiency.

Lesson 27 discusses when and when not to trade.  Sid lists the best timeframes to trade in, but states that you can actually trade at any time as long as there is movement in the market.  The times he gives are times when there is typically more movement, which is why he uses them.

I will not be trading during announcements.  In this type of trading, announcements are meaningless, except that we do not want to be in a trade during an announcement as there are too many uncontrollable variables happening at those times and I do not want to get caught out.

There is no magic formula for identifying trades, but rather I will need to develop a feel for this through observation and practice.  Sid says that is because it is more of an art than a science, and it is up to each individual to develop their own vision.

Lesson 28 consisted of 3 videos, about 30 minutes each, with Sid going through a morning trading session.  These videos are very helpful…in fact, I think it would have been quite difficult to explain or show correlation without them.  Sid used this time to show me techniques, and signs and to give me some hints on how to identify trading opportunities.  It is important to keep my cool and not just jump in.  Sometimes it may get boring, but patience will pay off in the long run if I keep my cool and wait for ALL the right criteria.

I think the most important key in this session was that I want to make my capital work for me, not me working for my capital.  I need to take the time necessary to develop the skill and instinct needed to be a successful compounder, and part of this means fully understanding that if I don’t trade on any given day, my capital will stay in tact, and I live to trade another day.

Another fascinating day in forex training…see ya!

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Rather than just give you half the story, I’ll give it all to you tomorrow with tomorrow’s lessons.  A quick feel…we will be focusing on correlation trading.  As this will be the strategy most of us will use, this will take up most of the rest of the lessons.  We will begin tomorrow with setting up our platforms for correlation trading.  I watched the first of two videos and will complete the second one in the morning.

So, looking forward…see you Tuesday !

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• what pips, units and leverage are,
• opened a demo account,
• learned how to set up and manipulate the platform,
• developed a money management strategy,
• came up with a business plan,
• understand what barriers are and what they’re used for,
• what stops and limits are,
• how to identify potential profit areas (PPA’s),
• the differences between brokers,
• channel trading and looking for set ups in them,
• correlation trading

Like I said, I find this quite amazing because when I think back three weeks, I knew pretty much next to zero about forex trading.  Now I feel I could at least hold my own on the topic.  I’m not saying that I’m an expert by any means, but if someone were to ask me what I’m doing, I can now give them a well formed answer.

Sid reminded me that it will not be easy.  He doesn’t offer any rose colored glasses here.  However, he said that common sense is key and that taking the time to develop the patience and discipline needed to be successful in this pursuit will pay handsome dividends in the long run if I’m dedicated to my cause.

Nuf said…back on Monday…promise!

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The rules of this strategy are simple…if there is no correlation, there is no confirmation; therefore, there is NO trade!  Sid provided me with the best times for trading using this method, but it is nice to know that I can use it anytime.  The beauty of my money management strategy and business plan is that once I meet my weekly target, I stop trading so I can conserve my capital and live to trade another day.

Next week, Sid will focus on setting up my chart for this particular type of trading.  I’m looking forward to it because it means I am near the end and will soon be trading on my own (in demo of course) and that’s when the real excitement (and anxiety) will set in.

Folks, it’s been great sharing with you this week, and I’m so happy to be caught up and not have to worry about it over the weekend.  Have a good one everybody and I’ll catch ya all next week.

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