TRADERS SPOTLIGHT - GRAHAM UP 80K

TRADERS SPOTLIGHT - GRAHAM UP 80K

Mark Austin Trading

UK's Premier Online FTSE Subscription

 

Dear traders

As a new feature to Excelsior and the Magnetic FTSE Service Cameron, John and I are launching TRADERS SPOTLIGHT.

We interview select clients on their trading journey and success to date, and ask them for useful feedback to help other traders.

This month we have Graham Levene in the spotlight.

Graham has been trading for 20 odd years and he is the first to acknowledge it has been a roller-coaster journey to get where he is today. He has now broken through the success barrier and has in the last 5 months made £80,000 with very little screen time.

The point of this email is to inspire you to also break the success barrier if you have not done so already.

How did Graham do this?

In the early days Graham focused on swing trading. He made some and lost some. The 9/11 event was a period where Graham benefited from large volatility in the market however after this he gave back most of what he had earned.

Although swing trades offer large rewards the draw down was also very large which he was never comfortable with and he was aware he did not have a business plan which suited his lifestyle needs. Graham runs a full time business so time in the markets is limited.

This is the case for many traders and its natural that they adopt a longer term approach as this requires the least screen time however these days the markets have changed and the longer term approach is not working as well. Graham naturally progressed towards short term trading and found the FX markets, however he was not comfortable sitting at the screens all day searching for signals.

Two years ago he joined my Magnetic FTSE Service and came across the early morning gap trades and the 5 min bar system. I am an advocate of lifestyle trading and this was the perfect match for Graham. After a period of success Graham went through a few health issues and returned to the service in July this year.

He realised the importance of mentorship so flew out to Thailand for a one to one coaching session with me. A business plan was adopted suited for his life style needs. From the plan the following objectives were born:

• Look for 5-10 points on each trade.
• Chosen market - FTSE 100
• Look for an average of 100 pips a month
• A strategy which required minimal screen time.
• A strategy which had a set time for trading each day. A combination of high probability gap trades, 5 min bar trades and 123 patterns.

Graham has stuck to this plan rigidly with 100% discipline and now has success in the markets.

Graham is also working with Cameron on the Dow and is developing the same type of plan as for the FTSE so returns could easily double shortly for very little extra work.

His 8 tips for success are below:

• 1 Develop a trading plan which suits your lifestyle needs and stick to it.
• 2 Realise you don't need to be involved in all the market action. There are hundreds of ways to make money in the market but if you find something that works just increase your leverage rather than hunting for more strategies which will just promote over trading. Never chase a move.
• 3 Get a mentor! Mark and Cameron have been instrumental to my success and I now work closely with them each day.
• 4 Be patient - if there is no decent signal then just wait. I only trade high probability trades.
• 5 Don't waste your time placing small stakes on trades which are not well researched. You may be trading with a small stake and loss will be small but it promotes gambling and the feeling that you need to be involved in all the market action.
• 6 Always decide on your target and stop before you enter a trade. I trade large size (50 -100 pounds) so 8/10 points is all I look for in a trade.
• 7 if I miss a set up I will not try and chase it. 8am, 2.30pm and 4pm are the only times I look to trade.
• 8 My weekly target is 35 FTSE points. If I hit this early in the week I scale back my trading. Not being greedy is key in these markets.

If you also want to be part of TRADERS SPOTLIGHT and inspire people please contact us.

Mark Austin