DRFOREX COMMUNITY FORUM

This past week was very intense for me,  as,  for the first time,  in live trading,  I did not use stops,  and,   I stuck to the concepts and Ideas that I have been learning in the mentorship program.

            I closed out my trades  after having made over 400 dollars.     I know,  somebody's thinking,    well,   that's great.   And,   I agree,  sure,  I'm happy to have made money, instead of having lost,  for sure,   that's always better.

             But,   the intensive part of these trades   (which were all  long  EUR/USD)  was when,   at one point,   I was down around 100 pips,   and worried that   the
BIG  retrace might have hit right in the middle of my trade.

               I started emailing Dirk,   and he talked some sense into me,   and convinced me that this was just "normal"  and,  that there were other  live traders who were over 200    pips down,  and,  that I shouldn't be so hard on myself, and worried. 

                So,   I straightened up,   and started looking for ANOTHER  entry/long (also in EUR/USD,  as I'm trading only ONE currency,  by the book).  

                 Some of you might understand,  when I say that,   I''m  demo trading FX sol,   because I'm thinking that their platform might be better for the position trading system taught by Dirk,  so you can SEE   each trade   separetely ,   but,    my live trade was being played out on the EFX navigator platform,   which  "averages"  out any trades done in the same currency pairs, and does not allow for hedging.
 
                    So,   the moment I entered another long,   my trade immediately  averaged DOWN  almost 40  pips,   which was great.   (makes me thing EFX might be the way to go,  maybe, I don't know,   I'd love to hear from others who know what I'm talking about here, and have some experience with it).

                    This all started on Thurday (nov. 15th)  but,   Friday was when things started getting really interesting,   and,  it's time for "true confessions". 

                        At several points,  during this 36 hour trade  (which ended up with 4 entries,  and about  3:1 leverage)    I was   down,  out of the money up to 500  dollars,   and,    several  times,    I guess about 4  times,   I was actually UP  over 700  dollars,  but,  I just kept on hanging in there,   but,  because I was so concerned with   every dime,    honestly,   I just finally got  sick and tired of the "yo yo"  effect of being up into good profit , and then DOWN  into almost none,  that,  finallly,    when I saw   just over 400  dollars profit,   I just closed out, and thanked my lucky stars I had the "sense"  (with Dirk's  help)  to at least have stayed in and allowed these entries to mature,    somewhat,   at least enough to actually make some money.

                    Then,   of course,  as soon as I did that (closed out)  price broke out of about a 12 hour  "range",  and soared up,   to where, if i had stayed in just 10  more minuntes,    I would have been up over 1000 dollars.    Regret can be so bitter sweet,  no?

                         Ah,    so,    live and learn,  huh,   I was  sooooo  happy to close this trade out and go to bed,  you wouldn't believe how tired I was of being glued to my PC  screen.

             The BIGGEST lesson I learned here was,  I did NOT need to  be there "agonizing"  and mood swinging from heaven to hell every hour or so for over 24 hours  (that's right,  I didn't even stop to sleep),   but,  could have easily just checked in every couple of hours,   to see how things were going,  and, if I would have just gone ahead and gone to sleep, and left these   entries open,   I would have done much better than I did.       Price closed out for the day  around 30 pips HIGHER  than I closed out my entries for:     lesson learned.

               Meanwhile,  back on my Demo trades,    with a 10K balance,   starting last week,   I have a balance of around 12K   (yes, that's a 20% gain in one week!!)  and,    as I see it very clearly,    the only difference was the difference between the fear, worry, anxiety, and stress that can come about when one's hard earned money is vulnerable,    whereas,   when I trade with demo,    I do so WITHOUT any of those negative,   blinding emotions.  

                I'm totatly convinced that most of the losing trading going with most of us (especially  those of us who are really just begining to live trade),  is because of this  selective focusing effect that emotinal and mental stress cause us,   when we are OUT of the money,  and,  in a so called "losing"  trade.

                   One thing that Dirk pointed out to me, and I definitely agree with him,  is, that there were plenty of people just as far,  or further OUT of the money than I was, but,   the difference was that they weren't looking at it as a problem  (as I was) , so, I feel like I learned something very valueable here,   and I am sure that it will help me as I continue to apply this system to my live trading, no doubt about it.

                One last thing I might add,   for people who might wonder just how available Dirk is when you need him.       I probably sent him at least 4 emails during a  20 hour period,   and got responses with an hour,,,     and he answered each question and concern ,     point by point,  and ,   went beyond that and told me other things that he felt like would be helpful, and they were.

                     I  think of the analogy of going from flight simulation (demo)  to flying a jet plane (live).       You can go up for the first time, for real,  on your own,   or, you can have a mentor (a co pilot)  looking over your shoulder,   reminding you of what you learned in "flight school"..

          I hope this helps  someone, like I said,  it was intense,   but,  I learned more in 2 days of live trading than I have in two months of demo.   end of story   Earle