Well, I had my chat with  my trading mentor earlier today and I am set up to trade live. We spoke about positioning and trading 1 contract.

The maximum loss each day is $200 which amounts to 20 prices or so.

Anyway, initially I felt a little nervous, this was real money on the line and I take a 50% cut in any of the profits. I got to make this work and there is the expectation now that I’ve graduated and trading real company money.

My first trade was a standard one on the break of a previous swing low at 151475. This broke but didn’t fall as fast as it should when going down. In fact, it bounced almost immediately and was within 1 price of my stop before it fell again. I was 3 prices in profit before it went back up again and hit my stop for -6. The only signal that didn’t confirm was the stochastic in the short term.. it was already ready oversold..

My second trade was a short at 151575 as the market had bounced higher to stop me out and was looking like it wanted to go lower. I placed my stop at 151725 (just above the previous swing high) and waited.. it did go lower to start off with and then went through my stop again by 3 price and then crashed down… very frustrating as it would have covered my initial loss. I ended up with another -6.

My third trade was a short at 151375 after seeing strong downside momentum. It went down to 151275 and then straight back up and hit my stop at 151500 for -5.

Arrrgh, I ended up with -$212.50 (above my cut off point), a loss of 20 prices! Not a good start to my first live trading day!

Now, I was talking about trading psychology yesterday.. the shift in thinking of trading a real and simulator account. I didn’t feel that this affected me but from my result today, you could say perhaps it did. I am a bit frustrated that it was a loss, no one likes to start off their first day losing but I have unfortunately and just hope that tomorrow yields a better day for me. I don’t know if the trading firm will cut me off after a certain amount of losses to this live account, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Hi all,

For those who have followed my blog and read my Emini trades, you would have read that a few months back, I had joined a trading academy.

Now, you have to pay a fee to join the trading academy.. it is a way I guess to filter those people who are serious or not, the trading academy don’t want to invest their time and effort into people who are not in it for the long haul.

If you make it at the end of the training, then the company will back you with company funds. The way you make your money is that you get 50% of the profits you can make on the account.

Of course, if you don’t make it then you’ve lost the ‘training’ fees but once you’ve made it, the risk is with the company as it’s their capital that’s on the table.

Anyway, last week, I received a call from my trading mentor to say that he had been pleased with my trading of late and that he was looking to recommend that I start on the live account. HOORAH!!!!

Ok ok, I could jump up excitedly and shout to the loudest of my ability ”I’ve made it! I’ve made it!” but in reality, I’m still cautious!

A successful trader needs not only to have an edge in the market by being able to identify an entry and exit but a trader needs to have the discipline to follow through and only trade when there is a valid signal.

Trading psychology is paramount and I’m sure that my psychology may change now that I am trading a live account and not the simulator. This may mean that I may not be able to keep my good discipline that I have managed to do in the simulator.

I know that this can be an issue, not only for me but for all those who are trading in the the markets. If you have traded on a dummy account and on a live account, you will know what I mean. You are more fearful when you have real money on the line, you have a habit of taking profits early as you don’t want to lose any money. Similarly, one a dummy account, you may become less disciplined and take greater risks as you know that any trade you make doesn’t affect the real bottom line…

Anyway.. let’s see.. keep posted!!