“Discover Your Edge So That You Have Confidence in What You’re Seeing on the Screen” @BlueMonkey22
In Members in Profile, we interview stand-out members that show strong aptitude and work ethic. Our goal is to highlight different folks so that you can see the effort that our members are putting into their trading and hopefully learn from their experiences of the Convergent Trading Community.
We hope you enjoy hearing what @BlueMonkey22 has to say!
What brought you into trading?
I knew someone who had started a proprietary electricity (power) trading firm. It looked a lot more interesting than my job at the time in Wealth Management, and I was attracted to the
independent lifestyle. He said I could come in one afternoon and see what they did. I just had to bring a 6 pack of my favorite Aussie beer as admission.
I started to paper trade after hours and really enjoyed the process. I collected my annual bonus from my advisor job to buy me a few months, resigned that job, and started to trade for him. I ended up there for 4 years.
I eventually started a power trading firm with 2 partners that went well for 10 years. It was a very volatile auction-based market where price per unit traded can go from +$1000 to -$1000 in 5 minutes, and you’re locked into the trade for 24 hours because you cleared it in a daily auction. Risk control is paramount.
Over time the capital requirements by the electric grids became excessive and our edge eroded, but I learned you can’t beat being your own boss, and the challenge daily of figuring out the market. With unlimited earning potential, and the ability to control your day and lifestyle, trading has few equals in my mind.
I heard about CT through Morad’s interview on the Chat with Traders podcast and liked his matter-of-fact deliberate approach and explanation of edge and historical probabilities.
What do you like most about Convergent?
I like that Convergent has a professional atmosphere ‘for serious traders’ and the head traders have real world prop experience to share. There is a specific structure behind how traders form the narrative and it’s very process driven, so can be adopted by others.
I also like how FT constantly hammers on the idea of process improvement, removing errors and accountability. Finally, the ability to bounce ideas off others in the chat, talk about mental challenges and just hear others going through the same ups and downs helps.
How have these aspects helped you grow as a trader?
It has made me understand everything that goes into a single trade – the level of knowledge, experience, dedication, hard work and time that is required to get profitable in equity trading is vast. I got very lucky with power trading in that I was profitable within the first couple of months. I could easily have blown up and had a much different story. But equity trading being a much more mature and well known market is so much more of a challenge to get consistently profitable and Convergent provides a thorough environment to succeed.
The Head Trader chat has also really emphasized the process of watching the checkpoints the market reaches throughout the day to establish the most prominent direction, who is in control, and whether it is higher time frame, or locals.
Do you have a favorite community quote or webinar?
My favorite article recently was the one John did on prop vs retail traders. I read it each morning to help make sure I’m in a professional, patient mindset. The AMA, GMS, and TT sessions always have nuggets in them, and two Study Halls – IceBergs and Collisions, and Structured Pullbacks are useful for actual order entries.
Do you have any advice for new members?
To progress on trader psychology and beat many errors that traders make, you have to really discover your edge, so that you have confidence in what you’re seeing on the screen and not try other last minute ideas. So my first advice for new members is to really find a system that works, and the psychology will follow. It doesn’t matter how much you think you can control your mind, meditate, etc, you have to have an edge first. Therefore, first, I would listen to FT’s first Chat with Traders episode 37, especially around 51:51 to 1:03:40 where he explains his edge and historical probabilities.
Second, the Jim Dalton books, especially Mind over Markets, provide a great way to organize the market, and helped me understand what I see when price is moving around. There are 5 ‘special situations’ that can be good to focus on. One light bulb moment for me was that just because price is racing one way on this one minute candle, it doesn’t mean there’s actual lasting strength behind it. It helps reduce emotions and take a more rational view of what is happening, and potentially find good trade location.
What is your favorite non-trading activity/hobby?
I’m from Australia, so have always loved the ocean and surfing but here in Colorado my main sport is snowboarding. I also like running and lifting weights. I’m married with 4 kids, so I enjoy spending time with my family and watching my kids’ sports like volleyball and football.
Have you participated in the #TradeRight program/challenges? What discoveries have you made?
Yes. I had no idea about market profile, the market statistics CT keeps, or many of the acronyms used. The stats were a huge help and I use them daily as an input for selecting trades. For example, knowing the historical probability of a neutral day was an input to a trade I took today (2/14) that is a setup.