My story.....Final Part

This is the final part of the series of my initial experiences with trading. Its been a journey full of failures, frustrations, disappointments, hard work, a bit of luck and finally success. The journey has in no way ended, but rather, I believe, is closer to the beginning than the end. The whole purpose of this series, which I in no way envisioned to be a five part series when I started writing it, was to share my experiences with new, upcoming or struggling traders and tell them not to give up but keep on trying. Stop fighting the markets but instead try to become one with them. If I, a part time trader with a small account can become a consistent money making trader, anybody can. If you have missed the earlier parts of this series, I highly recommend reading Parts 1, 2 and 3 and 4 first before continuing with this post.

At the end of this series, after sharing a lot of disappointments and failures with you readers, I wish I could tell you the secret of being a successful trader or talk of a pattern that will consistently make you money, but I am afraid I can't. But I guess that's what the lesson from this series actually is. If you are disappointed with your trading results or just can't make it even after putting in a lot of effort and money, you have only yourself to blame. It took me a lot of failures and disappointments to understand this. In no small way I was helped by this book: Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude. Its not the easiest of reads in the sense that it could have been helped with better editing, but I still highly recommend it and it was a bit of a game changer for me. I finally realized that it wasn't a question of me against the markets and nobody was trying to take my hard earned money away from me. It was all me, me and me.

When you finally realize the above lesson, and the few times when you are actually in the zone, trading can be the easiest thing in the world. Price, volume, watching the tape, that's all that matters. Stick to what works for you. Don't be afraid to modify it if the market so demands it. Don't have a ego when it comes to the markets, because the markets will crush it, sooner rather than later.

I have managed to more than quadruple my money since the beginning of 2009. This figure would have been a lot more if not for commissions, which can really hurt a small account  But the account has now grown big enough that position sizing has become as important as setting stop losses. But no way have I become the trader I would like to be. Nowhere even close. I have a lot to learn, and hence the name of the blog, Trade To Learn. You readers have been part of this journey for the past one year now, so I won't go into the details of that. I know the day I stop learning will be the death of me as a trader. So, here's to all of us continuing to learn and trying to become the best traders that we can become.

Thanks for the encouragement and kind words throughout the series. I hope it has been of help to some of you readers. 

Take care and good luck!