Today is one of those rare days in my life that I woke up feeling good about myself, and that the world is going to my own little Disneyland. For some strange reasons, I got out of bed with a clear blueprint, in my head, of how I'm going to go about trading from now on. Santa dropped by last night perhaps...
Yesterday's result was certainly a tad disappointing; the day before, frustrating. But I hadn't felt
defeated. And that is what matters to me - to actually feel good about not getting my way, because I had learnt a little more about myself in the process.
Lord Tedders commented once that what I really need at this point is not as much about finding a method to trade as it is about knowing who I am and what I want.
So very zen, and so plainly filled with wisdom.
While I might not have immediately grasped the essence of that statement LT made, I most definitely have experienced enough frustrations to date to finally appreciate the message he was wanting to drive home.
And because of that, what happened yesterday was actually GOOD. I am now ready to say that I have a plan, after having made all sorts of trading blunders - a result of not having listened to my own inner voice in the first place, and denying what really makes me tick.
But this posting is NOT about me.
This posting is about Michael's E-mini Daytrading class - a 3-day course that began last Saturday and ended on Monday.See, the one thing about Michael that makes me so fond of him is that he doesn't look like an intraday trader at all, and definitely doesn't fit the description of those that trade the full 9:30 am to 4 pm session (by full I mean he stays throughout, no lunch - supper here for us - break, or tea break). He is always relaxed, calm, and tastefully humorous. I don't know about the others, but I am always looking forward to his stories and jokes everytime I see him.
Even his jokes teach you something.
And that was what his class was about - a concoction of "serious" material and anecdotes, thrown in with a lot of wit and wisdom that kept me captivated from 9am to 5pm on each of the 2-day session.
On the 3rd day, which was a live-trading session, I got to see Michael in action, and confirm my suspicion that the man basically treats the market as his personal playground.
While most novice traders, and many seasoned ones who are FIGHTING the market everyday, clearly see the market as a warzone, Michael probably sees it as a casino.
Fact is, barring the addicts, most go to the casinos for fun. Here in Singapore, we are calling our casinos (under construction now) the Integrated "RESORT". Would anyone actually call a battlefield by that name? Maybe
Anfiteatro Flavio, or
Colosseum would have been more apt, wouldn't it?
And really, why don't we just call the market that, and ourselves
gladiators? We have been, afterall, imprisoned in our thick skull, and enslaved by systems, opinions of the experts, and our own greed and fear.
I haven't thought much about Monday's session until this morning. It was when I played it again in my mind that I realized I had somehow anchored the state, and the mood, from that night. That really helped keep me sane during yesterday's session. You see, on Monday night, as we were "watching paint dry" - as Michael had put it - Michael started sharing some
Jay Leno one-liners, which I've got to say, were simply hilariously clever. Every other 10 minutes, he would be looking for something to lighten everyone up as we sit watching his 6-point loss. At one point, he asked if anyone brought cards to play! This genius who makes up to 150% per month trading JUST the ES and TF, is simply INSOUCIANT!
And by that I certainly am not implying that Michael is arrogant, or reckless. As a matter of fact, Michael is the most down-to-earth trading coach I've come across. One has to sit with him for 5 months to know that about him - coz 5 months is the duration of his
basic trading course.
All who attended his eminis course were graduates from this basic course - during which they were barraged with lectures on the importance of exercising discipline and adhering to rules when trading - certainly the first things that any beginner would have to know and become accustomed to doing.
In his eminis class he shows you how the professionals trade. He shares a great deal about "Intuition". But I'm not going to go further than this on the topic. There's no way I can come close to Michael in expounding the subject in a way that enlightens rather than confuse and mislead.
And if anyone in class did not fully grasp the crux of his message through his "lecture", he or she would certainly have gotten a glimpse,at the very least, of the wisdom of his teachings via the interesting stories he shared - the most engaging ones, i believe, being those containing characters he had met at casinos. And Michael has very cleverly chosen the right stories to tell to the right audience.
One story that stuck was about this Taiwanese tycoon who came to the table with 14 100k-chips and was playing 2 tables simultaneously. He went from one table to the other playing bets of 100k each time and was unflustered whenever his 100k was taken away from him in a blink of an eye. He ended up walking away with one-million in winnings.
100% ROI. Brilliant man who was skilled in the game, and clearly endowed with an edge lacking in many equally skillful players:
NERVES. Granted that he's clearly loaded, it doesn't mean that all who have what he has - obscene wealth - are by default, COOL. Many wealthy gamblers are sore losers and would literally lose it once they start losing, and whether they are proficient in the game to begin with is almost of no significance at the point that they let their emotions take the helm.
And that's all I have for spoilers. I have lots to say about the course, but I will stop here. I'm SO glad I have his entire course audio-taped. Heaps of wise sayings there that I can use should I decide to write a book on "how to trade the emins". Hur Hur....And if I'm lazy, I can always just auction the tape on ebay. LOL!!!
Just something to add before I go, something I picked up from the class which is impoartant TO ME, and it's this: one has to know that trading stocks and options is different from trading the futures, and you can't apply the approach you use in trading stocks in trading the futures . To be consistently profitable in trading the futures, you'll have to do some adjustments with respect to the approaches advocated in many old-school teachings - in particular those concerning risk-to-reward ratios.
Daytrading the emini futures is unlike
daytrading a stock, and vastly different from
Swing trading stocks and options. Once you get that, and the idiocyncracies of the futures market, you'll see that using the tradional methods to gauge where your stops should be placed will at best make you a break-even trader.
With instruments as volatile as the TF, ES, and NQ, a saner, if not more sensible and logical way is to use VOLATILITY stops. By using volatility stops instead of fixed stops or stops placed at key resistances and supports, you're always in sync with the market, which is getting ever more erratic, thanks to the ease with which one could access the market and exchanges directly as trading technology makes new fronts ever more frequently. Michael's class definitely has an artistic touch. Yes, you'll still get the blueprint of his mechanical system (sadly, that's still what most are after - the GURU's holy grail), but if your focus is on that, you'll miss the breathtaking landscape that shapes Michael's PERSONAL trading style, which is, in my opinion, a roadmap that most certainly can be adopted by anyone looking for a trading methodology that he/she could call his/ her OWN someday.
I'm not sure Michael is actually aware that his class is worth many, many times more than the fees he's charging. His stories - real life accounts you have no access to - about those making real money are priceless. His up-to-date (to the last time he entered a trade, which was last Friday) trading account statement (showing a humble $25k initial investment, and a winning rate of 70 - 80%) left on the projection screen for all to see is nothing short of inspirational and phenomenal.
NO ONE, to the best of my knowledge, who teaches trading here, would ever show you this/her entire UPDATED statement spanning months.
What impresses me most is that the reason Michael had started with $25k instead of his usual 6-figure amount was to show his students that one could still make 100% PER MONTH with a $10k to $25k start-up. He's averaged 130%
per month over the past 4 to 5 months and it was right there on the screen for us to see.
Michael does stress time and again that you have to have at least USD$10k to trade 1 TF (Russell 2000 e mini futures) contract to give yourself a reasonable buffer.
Brokers offering USD$500 margins are setting their clients up for downfalls. If one hasn't 10k, DON'T trade the eminis YET, until you have the money, the knowledge, and the right attitude. If one has 10K, but hasn't the mettle to use it to work for him/her, DON'T trade the emini futures, for it surely isn't for the faint-hearted.
It's blunt. But it's the only way to get the message across.
You have to be able to afford to lose the 10k in the event that you do something stupid.
The Taiwanese tycoon who walked in with a million and thought nothing about losing a 100k per bet - this is someone who can afford to lose the entire million, and won't lose sleep over it. THAT is the
nub of trading. If you're constantly AFRAID to lose, you'll just keep losing.
I'm speaking from personal experience: fear clouds your judgement.
And FEAR breeds GREED. Worth taking a moment to ponder on that.
The 3-days spent with Michael, and seeing him trade live, have brought about a paradigm shift in the way I look at trading.
Simply precious.
I highly recommend those in Singapore who're battling it out in the eminis market to check out Michael's class. At the end of the course, you'll definitely have a clearer picture of the instruments you're trading (the emini futures), and a deeper understanding of the concept that trading is ultimately about
KNOWING YOURSELF.
Above all, you'll learn from Michael, and see with your own eyes, that trading can be, and
SHOULD BE,
fun.
And of course, you get his proprietary trading system.
Michael can be contacted at mw@shoyun.com
