190: Christian Castillo – My First Year Trading Full-Time...

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Hey, what's up? You're listening to episode 190? Welcome. Now as you may recall, I recently put out an episode titled My First Year Trading Full Time and it was an interview with Australian equities trader Josh Evans. I said I'd be doing a few more of these types of interviews. You know, where I speak with less experienced traders who have started with a minimum account size of twenty thousand dollars, have completed twelve months of full time trading, and are making a real effort to get better.

So here's another one in the series. My guest today is Christian Costello. He resides in California and he trades the foreign exchange market using methods of technical analysis. Although Christian is relatively fresh as a trader, and I don't think experienced traders will gain much from this interview, he put up what I would consider to be a solid first year. He made money nine out of twelve months and finished 2019 with a profit a little shy of twenty thousand dollars.

If interested, you can see a graph of Christian's equity curve in the show notes at chatwithraders.com slash one nine zero. We talk about Christian funding his account from Driving Lift, his experience going full time, both favorable and adverse moments, the premise of his trading strategy, the forex market in general, among other things. So let's get right into it. Here is Christian Costello on episode one hundred and ninety.

Tell me a little bit about what you were doing prior to trading. Obviously you're trading full time now. What were you doing before this? So before I got into trading, I was in car sales and I was also a finance manager in car sales. But then I decided uh I needed a break and it was December. Lyft was actually having promotions for new drivers. So I decided that I'll do Lyft for a couple of weeks. And uh in that two weeks I made about four grand and that two weeks became two years driving less.

Were you making four grand every two weeks? Uh no, just that first two weeks. And then after that, uh the bonuses started reducing, so I was making roughly around fifteen hundred a week just driving in circles around San Francisco. So it was pretty easy to me.

That's pretty incredible. I never realized that you could make that much money from from driving lift. I mean I always sort of wondered a little bit, but I actually had no idea. How many hours were you doing a week? It depends. I think it was about thirty hours. Is it because I would split it in two. Before I got into trading I would split it into two. Like I'll drive for like four hours or three hours in the morning'cause everybody's commuting in the morning.

And then when everybody's going home, I go back out and drive again for another three, four hours. Yeah, it's kind of cool how it it's flexible like that. Yeah. Do you have any strange stories about uh any rides, uh any customers who you picked up? Uh there was one. Uh there was a couple of guys, uh'cause sometimes Uh, I would drive at night. Everybody was talking about, oh, don't drive at night, don't drive at night because all the people that are drunk

and stuff like that. But I wanted to experience that for myself. So uh yeah, it was a one Friday night, there was a guy, uh he was pretty out of it. I know he was far past drunk and probably on something. But uh he yeah, his friends threw him in my car and then uh he was making weird noises like uh growling noises, but his eyes were closed and then uh I was looking back at him. He didn't look too good and then I pulled it to uh his destination and uh

He was chewing on his shirt. Like I was like, What the heck? What is this guy doing? And then I was like, Hey man, we're here like, huh? Where are we? And then I don't even know if he knew if that was his house or what. And I just gave him some water and then he got out and I I thought he was gonna throw up too, but he never did so

Thankfully. Uh yeah. Yeah, wild man. I've always sort of wondered what it would be like to have be driving around randoms all the time. I imagine you'd you'd have some strange encounters from time to time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what was your level of trading experience like prior to going full time? Uh so I have no like uh financial educational background or whatever. Um basically before I got or before I went full-time, uh I was just learning from a demo account and uh through YouTube and these podcasts. So I would uh yeah, basically just watching you binge watch YouTube, binge wa or binge listen to all these podcasts and just do it nonstop, uh, until I felt like I was comfortable.

And how long did you trade with a demo account for? So I was just watching videos for maybe two months w w uh like watching different videos and just seeing how everything works and then I opened up a demo account. For three months I had a demo account and then I opened a live account but uh that live account was there was only a couple thousand in it. So I would just trade both my I had two demo accounts and then I had my live account and I would trade all three at the same time.

So you were trading part time to begin with while you were driving lift. Mm-hmm. Uh how long do how long were you were you trading part-time for before you went full time? Uh so it was from January to I'd say June. I was just like the average person just like trading uh during the day and stuff like that. And then around June to December is when it shifted to like, okay, if I'm gonna really do this.

I'm gonna start acting like I'm a real trader. So I started waking up at four o'clock every morning'cause uh I'm on the east or I'm on the west coast. So Uh, I wanted to see what it would like be like if I was trading New York hours. So I'd wake up four o'clock in the morning, get to Starbucks, uh, by four thirty. Uh and I would pretend like I'm a real trader. So even though I'm tra I'm just trading on uh like a mini account and a demo account.

I'm going through the process of what it's being in that mental state that, oh yeah, I'm a real trader. I gotta do this. I gotta really focus and be engaged. uh with the trading process and learning how to trade while I'm going at it. Okay. And how come you had to go to Starbucks each morning? Were you trading from Starbucks? Yeah, uh I like going to Starbucks because uh being home, trading from home, uh

It wasn't the same. Like if I'm trading from home, uh I'll just end up closing my eyes and going back to sleep or I'll lay down or take too many breaks. So Okay. And Starbucks didn't kick you out at any point? No, no, no. Okay. So while you're doing this, this is still part time at this point, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Part time for Okay. Okay. And the year is two thousand and eighteen at this point? Mm-hmm. Okay. So you went full time when was that? At the beginning of twenty and nineteen?

Yeah, January second is when I decided to go full time. Okay. Tell me about that. What gave you the confidence to go full time and how do you feel like you prepared to go full time? Uh so what gave me the confidence was uh December of twenty eighteen I was really comfortable with my trades. Like, yeah, I wasn't making a lot of money because my leverage wasn't there. Uh but just prior to that, yeah, I I was learn I I felt like I was uh

g like one with the market if you want to call it that. But uh yeah, so on January second was my first trade and uh the price was getting to resistance and I just went in pretty heavy on that trade and then within half an hour, uh, Yeah, I made like fifteen hundred dollars. And I could have made more but my favorite number is fifteen. So like I saw fifteen hundred dollars, that's the most money I've ever made on a trade. So I I was like, Oh, I'm gonna take that and run.

So from that point, I was like, okay, I just made fifteen hundred dollars in half an hour. I could I think I could do this uh full time now. And what did you have in the way of starting capital at this point and also savings set aside? Uh savings I I had a good amount saved up. Uh I think I had like five just five grand saved up, but uh I had twenty thousand in my trading account. S all saved up from lift and a couple of loans.

Okay. You you didn't take out loans to to fund this no no going forward. Uh well I just talked to my mom. Like I talked to my mom and uh my dad. My dad was the one that encouraged my mom to give me money'cause my dad saw what I was doing and then he saw the progress I was making. So he got my mom into giving me money to help m uh help me Go to my trading. Okay. Okay. So you had five thousand dollars in savings. I mean, that's not a

It's not much of a safety blanket to fall back on. Yeah, yeah, it's not. And so how did you go once you started trading full time? Did you notice any difference uh like psychologically? Oh yeah. It wasn't as that fifteen hundred dollars wasn't gonna be as easy ev that easy every day, for sure. Uh I'm sure you realise that pretty quickly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh but that first month I made almost six grand on my first month and the fact that I made six grand in my head, like, oh I just made six grand and I feel like I could have done better'cause there was a couple of bad traits in there that uh I just didn't get out of that I held on too long and but I I mean I still came out profitable for that first month. So like that next month like I'm like feeling like

I'm invincible. Like me and my girlfriend go to Hawaii. We're staying at the Ritz-Carlton. We're like eating at all the places we want. And like at that point I've I was like too too co I was overconfident in my trading ability. Yeah. For only my first month. Yeah, because twenty eighteen, just to put things into perspective here, that wasn't like an That wasn't like a a home run year for you. That was your first year attempting this trading thing. And I I think your PNL.

Okay. There was some live trades in 2018 though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they're all like uh unleveraged accounts. Because one of uh the guys you interviewed on your podcast was to say uh was saying to trade unleveraged. So I traded on leveraged, uh, for a couple of months and then as I was progressing I would increase my leverage and then once January second hit, uh

That's when I like really up my leverage. Okay. I'm gonna make a note because we'll we'll circle back to that point. Leverage is something I'd like to talk to you about.

What about misconceptions? Um, were there any misconceptions or realizations that soon hit you once you began to trade full time? What were some of the things that were unexpected? Uh, the psychology part. Like, I mean I n everybody talks about psychology and everything and how you have to like m somewhat master psychology. uh in trading. Uh and to me that wasn't uh something that I realized I needed to learn that much. So like psych learning psychology.

and how uh I react to when I'm in a drawdown, how I react to when uh when I'm in a winning trade and whatnot. So go can you share a little more detail on that? Like in in what ways did it affect you? Obviously you felt bad I'd imagine when things weren't going your way, but uh how did how was that reflected in your trading? Uh uh just the psychology like of

example when I'm in a drawdown. Um sometimes I trade I would trade with a stop loss. Uh when I trade with a stop loss, I'll my stop loss will get hit and then it goes back in my direction and I'm like dang like the it you get frustrated and then uh your trading plan pretty much goes out the window because of the it hit your stop loss and then mentally you're you're thinking d different things, but if you if I originally stuck to my plan, then it would have been a lot smoother.

Today you've now been trading twelve months full time. Mm-hmm. Do you feel as though that part of it has become uh a little less difficult or you've you you feel a little more prepared psychologically for uh these these periods where things don't go your way. And do you find that you deal with them a little differently now, or is that something you're still working on?

Well, the frustration part is handled pretty well. Like I don't get frustrated, like I don't get angry at an or anything when I'm in a bad trade. Uh so that's fine. It's like psychologically, mentally, like my head if I lose, then it that's more of just a setback. Okay, and just how can I learn from that and keep going without having it put me down?

Okay. There must still be days though where it does get the better of you. Yeah. Uh but not too bad. Like I try not to put my mind in that kind of state. if someone listening to this is really caught up on the psychological aspect of it and gets frustrated with things when they're not going their way, uh, which is very common,

Do you have any maybe tips or tricks that that helped you to become a little bit more comfortable with this? Um, put your mind on something else, uh, for the for the short time being, because uh with training for me it's it's like you want that instant gratification of

making money right then and there. But uh if you can divert your attention to something else. Like for me, I have a Rubik's Cube, uh, and it took me forever to learn how to like to do the Rubik's Cube now, uh like if I get in a trade and I don't wanna look at uh the charts because it's green, I'll distract myself with uh

doing the Rubis Cube. Like I'll mix it up. I'll I'll do the Rubik's Cube in different orders, uh different colors, or I'll do it one handed, just something so I get my mind off the charts so I can let my winners run. Because typically when I let my when I try to let my winners run, they don't. And or I'll get out of them too fast and then like when I get out is when they when they uh keep running. Uh so if I distract myself

uh I feel like that's a good way to uh get your get your attention somewhere else so you're not fully engaged. Right. So if I understand correctly you in a way you're saying that For you, it's better if you're not micromanaging the trade, watching it tick by tick almost. Yeah, yeah.'Cause sometimes I'll tend to do that, especially like when uh the fundamental releases come out, I'll I'll be too engaged and I'll either take t profits too quick or vice versa. And if I can

Just distract myself uh by doing the Ruby's Cube. Uh like and I can't look at the charts until I finish uh the Ruby's Cube. Like uh that's just enough time that I can uh let the let the trade breathe, as they say. Okay. And more importantly, how quickly can you solve the Rubik's Cube? Uh maybe like two minutes, not even two minutes. Just depends. That's impressive.

Yeah. But I mean it took forever to learn how to do it. It's just now it's I could do it pretty easily. Like now I'm trying to challenge myself, can I do it with my left hand?'Cause I'm right handed, so if I could do it left handed only, like how much How h how hard is it to do? Right. So that yeah. Mad skills.

Uh so twenty nineteen's just come to an end, which marks your first year of full time trading. Uh what was your P L for uh those twelve months? So Tw total, uh I think it was a little around I think it was around twenty five. I don't know the exact number, but it was around twenty five. But um my first eight months it was all all good. Like I I think I made almost thirty from January to August. And then September to October is when I really

Hit the wall. W what happened during those months? And and what do you mean by hit the wall, like what happened? I didn't blow my account but I mean I I la uh I lost maybe twelve thousand total between September and October. So but September I lost about two thousand and then October uh was about ten thousand that I lost. Okay. So how come you were green each month, which is very good by the way. Uh how especially for your first year going out this full time?

How come you were grain each month uh up till September and then you had two uh pretty significant well not significant, but um, you know, the losses were probably a little bit more than you would have liked to have lost. Yeah, for sure. What what led to those losses? Uh so September uh I was uh just in the wrong direction, for one, of course. Um, but I was uh I w I didn't have a stop loss.

And I was just holding my position. Um but because usually typically uh I'll be in a trade, but I'll be in the trade small. And if I'm loot if it goes red, I'll keep it. But I'll keep it there and when I see it's about to come back up, that's when I'll increase my position side uh my position size a lot more. And that's when my profit comes. Right. So I'll scale in basically. Uh and those times that uh I scaled in were the times that it didn't go my way. So I was in a double drawdown.

And then uh so I I didn't make any money in September and then October, um Which was kind of uh it was more of the situation I was in is cause me and my girlfriend we went on vacation to Mexico. So in Mexico, I don't have internet. So I was in trades while I'm in Mexico and I don't have internet. And uh when I had internet I would trade. Example the the one trade, I reversed my trade.

Uh,'cause I was hitting resistance, I reversed it and it went my way. So I was up like a thousand dollars, but I didn't take it because I wanted I was I guess I was being greedy, so I wanted more. Uh so but I didn't put like a I didn't change my s uh take profit or anything or like uh up my stop loss. But we left the hotel.

And then we went island hopping and snorkeling. And then by the time I got back, it was back at zero. So I I got frustrated. I'm like, Oh dang, I should have just took that thousand before. But now I'm back at zero. And then I'll say, Okay Maybe it's going back up. Uh and it's gonna break resistance. So I switched it.

And I thought it was gonna break resistance, but it didn't. So I switched it back and like I I wasn't in my normal uh state of mind'cause like if I'm back at at home, I have my computers in front of me, I have uh my charts laid out, I have a plan that I can see, but I'm just trading from my iPad, which was a horrible idea. uh and just trading what I saw when I

Yeah. So I thought price wasn't gonna break resistance, so I switched my trade again, but I went to sleep and then I didn't have my stop loss again and it ended up breaking resistance. uh too much and uh I got margin called out of that trade and it was a pretty big hit for me. So it was a whole series of errors. Yeah, yeah, yeah. W what's the lesson there? It wasn't just one trade. The lesson is uh

Don't trade while you're on vacation and if you don't have your screens. Yeah. Uh but yeah, more is the stop loss. Um 'Cause I for most of the year I didn't trade with a stop loss because I knew what I was doing. 'Cause I would I would scale in, but I'd I'd get in a trade, um, but I'll be in very small that like if it went a hundred points like

the other direction, it I wouldn't care because it's a small trade to me. And when it's ready to go back in my direction, that's when I'll leverage in way more to to make money. Um but then now after that loss like it revamped how I look at everything. Like I did not want to experience that kind of drawdown and loss. over again and the frustration of

uh blaming that oh because I was on vacation uh is why I lost all that money. But because I wasn't prepared while I was on vacation is more reason why I lost even more money than I should have originally.

So you're gonna be trading next time you go on vacation? No, no, no, for sure not. Good. And if I do, I'm gonna use a hard stop loss. Yeah. So just to clarify uh a little bit of what you're describing here. Some people are probably gonna listen to this and they're gonna say, this guy's like adding to losing positions, which is typically a a no-no.

Mm-hmm. In most people's books. But I think what you're doing is you're taking a very small kind of starter position, if you will. Yeah. Uh and it's it's all part of your plan that If this moves against you, you It's okay. Yeah. Up to a certain point, I imagine. I imagine you've still got a point where you're like, I'm just totally wrong on this trade. Yeah? Yeah.

Okay. It is in your plan to allow this position to run against you and add at which you perceive to be a better price. Yeah. And begin to move more size on at that point. Yeah. Because psychology for everybody, like everybody wants to cut their winners, right? And hold on to their losers. So if I have a loser that's small, I'll hold on to it.

long enough that okay, I think this is the bottom of that. So if I like ten times my size, well not literally, but uh then like that's when the money comes. Yeah. You're not all in at one price, full size, hoping that it works uh right away. Okay. Yeah. So how confident are you in your trading abilities currently? Like where's your head at now? So you've you've just finished twelve months full time.

Uh, your first nine months or so were really good. Then you had a little bit of a reality check. How do you feel about things currently? Uh I feel a lot more confident and comfortable. Uh but I of course I know there's a lot more I can learn. But as for psychologically, uh I'm a lot more prepared. Um'cause I right now uh I don't have a like normal journal. What I would call it is uh is as a scouting report.

So'cause I'm like sports based, uh like when you're playing sports you wanna see your opponent, you wanna know it what you're gonna go up against. Uh so what I do is at the end of the each day, um right when the candles close, I'll go back on the smaller time frames and I'll analyze what price did that day, where price reacted to, where price needs to get to next to continue a trend, and if it doesn't, then it uh it might reverse at that point.

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Now's probably a good point to go into this a bit more. Let's focus in on your actual trading style or your trading approach. So we we've obviously discussed a little bit about You know, how you work your entries into a position. Uh, but just what's the overall premise of your strategy? Like What what kind of drives your trading decisions? What sort of things do you look for, do you seek to take advantage of? Explain that part a little more if you could.

So I use a uh the the main like the the middle of my trading is based off of Fibonacci's and support and resistance. And then I also add on pivot points and oscillators to give me a heads ups uh in what I should do. So example, if the Fibonacci is at the six w sixty one point eight and uh that's near a pivot point and also the oscillators uh are low, then to me That is a sign that I should go along. Okay. So you're trying to enter the market at turning points. Mm-hmm.

But sometimes I'll get in at the 38.2 just to test it. If I see a little bit of resistance, I'll test it with a small position and then typically I'll wait for that. go to the sixty one point eight or sometimes even zero, depending on how strong I think each level is. And then when I see that uh it's time to push, that's when I'll get in.

Okay, now on this Fibonacci part. How much weight do you actually give to these levels? Like, do you need to see price? you know, come in at one of these levels uh to the absolute point or do you give it a little bit of leeway? How do you how do you think about that bit? So I think of them as zones. So if I set up the Fibonacci and I'll look at each one. I'll look at the 38.2 and the 50 and the 61.8 mainly, those three. And I'll go back before the Fibonacci was made.

And if that is a support level, so if there's past support at the sixty one point eight, there's a good chance that that can act as support when it gets to the sixty one point eight. Does that make sense? It does make sense. How are you drawing uh or getting these Fibonacci levels? Uh so for me I'll ha I'll have multiple So I have a m I I have

Maybe three Fibonacci's. I have one really big one for like the whole year and one from one medium sized one from the last couple weeks. And then uh I'll have a small one for like the last couple days. just so I have an idea of uh how price is reacting to these levels. And if it does react to a certain price, then okay, this maybe this fib is a good one.

And if it's a good one, then I'll trade within that Fibonacci. Okay. Can you tell me a little bit more about your use of multiple time frames here? When I look at the m bigger time frames, that's when I can uh get an idea of where the trend is going and then when I break it down to the smaller time frames I I more try to pinpoint uh certain prices that I think uh

it might react from. So what's a what's a bigger time frame and what's a smaller time frame like? Uh the smallest time frame I'll look at is the fifteen minute time frames because typically um if I not tr uh if I don't want to hold on to a position for too long, uh I'm I turn into a scalper. So I'm basically scalping from uh different zones or key prices that I think price will bounce off of or break through.

Okay. And the bigger time frames you look at, are they kind of a a daily time frame or do you go further out than that? I the main ones that I look at, I look at the fifteen minute fra time frame just to see where I I can enter at a better price or if I'm scalping. And then uh the s sixty minute time frame, I'll look for uh

stronger support and resistance and then so on for the four hour time frame. The four hour time frame I don't really pay attention uh uh too much, but uh I do look at them just to get an idea. uh if there's something else that might be there that I don't see on the smaller time frames. And then the daily and then the weekly uh is where I set up my fibs and depending on the oscillators on the daily, uh, is my main source of whether or not I should be bearish or bullish.

What you've spoken about here is several indicators and a very technical-based uh approach. I know volume is a bit of a funny one in the forex market because it's not entirely accurate. Does volume play a part in your decisions whatsoever? Um no, because I don't even know how to read the vo volume. Okay. Is that do you mean the oscillators or no like the trading volume? So if I I mean I don't trade forex personally, but I uh I may be off here, but I think

It depending on the the broker which you trade through, the broker will display some sort of volume for, you know, how much buying and selling is going on at any point in time. Oh no, I don't pay attention to that. Okay. But it's it's a little bit funny because all you're seeing is the volume which comes from your broker and not so much the entire global uh forex market, if you know what I mean. Yeah. It's more of just the oscillators that uh

to help me predict whether I'm gonna be bullish or bearish. Okay. So what do you like about trading the FX market? And have you traded any other products or is this the first thing you came into? Uh this is a first and only thing I came into. Well, I explored uh In the beginning like I was exploring trading uh overall. Like I was looking at all the trading uh that you can do, like from options to equities.

to pretty much cryptocurrency and everything. Uh but I when I fell on the FX market, um what really got me engaged was more of'cause I l I used to live in the Philippines. So when I would exchange money, um, I would see other currencies and those would uh exchange for more money. And I always thought, like, oh, if I bought uh pounds uh with my dollars and then exchange that for pesos.

Could I make more money? Can I get a better exchange? But because you'd have to pay extra to buy the pounds, it didn't make sense because I I'd probably end up with the same amount of money. exchanged. So when I found out that you can do that through trading, well I mean it's not exactly the same, but it's all along the same lines. It sort of made sense to me. how uh the the price in the currencies change.

And how the exchanging works. So that's what got my attention to trading. So today, what pairs or or majors do you predominantly trade? Where where's your focus most of the time? So my focus now is the euro dollar, dollar yen and the euro pound. So those are the main pairs that I trade, but I pay attention to those pairs within each other. So the Euro Pound, the Euro Yen, Pound Yen, uh and just all the pairs within those four currencies. Okay. And what is it about those particular pairs?

It's just the euro dollar uh is what I paid most attention to. So like I'm comfortable with the the euro dollar. Like the personalities of each currency is what uh I didn't know I needed to learn because they all act differently to different prices, right? So once I was comfortable learning the the Euro dollar, then I started the trading the dollar yen and so on. Because at first when I first started, uh I was trying to trade every pair that I could.

And it was too much. Like I was looking at too many things. So I narrowed it down uh to just one. Or actually I narrowed it down to a couple and then I eventually narrowed it down to just one. Because if I can just focus on one, uh how because I'm just a beginner trader, right? So If I just focus on one and be really good at trading that one thing, I can eventually branch out and start trading other things.

Okay. So you picked one pair and you just focused on that until you got really familiar with it. How long was it until you added another pair that you began to watch? Hmm. Maybe Not too long ago. Yeah, like uh after October, n around November'cause Uh after that law after that big loss in October, I was that's when I was thinking like, how can I get better from here? So more opportunities to trade w would Be better for me.

versus just waiting on one currency to move and it it would take too long. So if I had more pairs to trade. uh I felt like I can make more money, especially when I reloaded my capital uh then I was able to trade more currency more pairs. Okay. So you for th those first nine months or or thereabouts, you traded just one pair? Did I understand that correctly? Yeah. Wow, okay. Interesting.

May I ha I know I had a couple pairs or I mean I know I traded the Euro pound a little bit because uh the volatility was kinda crazy. So I I traded that just a little bit, but not nothing Substantial. Sure. So there was a a a few exceptions. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I mainly for those eight months was just the Euro dollar.

Uh, let's speak about the hours that you trade. So the currency market trades it's twenty four hours a day, five days a week. Is it five days a week? Yeah. Well, kinda six. Okay. But yeah. Yeah. I mean y you would know better than I do. You work the graveyard shift. How come? So when I was learning, I was starting at at uh four o'clock in the morning. And then uh also because I'm watching all these videos of uh psychology and getting better and like

keeping myself motivated. Uh there was one video that I was watching and and it was Kobe and uh I know he just passed away, unfortunately, which was horrible for me because he made a a huge impact on my life. But with Kobe, he was talking about you have to outwork your o your competition, right? So if I'm waking up at four o'clock in the morning and trading starts

at five o'clock in New York, from what they say. I mean, uh, it starts at eight o'clock. That's five o'clock my time in New York. Um, I gotta get up even earlier. So, you know what? Like how many people are gonna start trading at midnight during the London hours from where I am? So if I can trade from midnight to the end of or the beginning of the London session to the end of the New York session, I'm gonna

Trade a lot. I mean, I mean, I know that's overkill, but I'm gonna be able to watch it a lot more and learn a lot more within that time frame. So if I'm trading twelve hours a day, that's better than when I was learning only six hours a day. Does that di are you required to because I'm talking to you now, what is the time where you are? It's like early AM. Yeah, right now it is I think Two sixteen in the morning. Yeah. And I'm wide awake.

And I keep the schedule Monday through Sunday. So why do you need to trade these hours though? Because the the currency market is uh twenty four hours a day. Whereas like the New York i is, you know, equity markets kind of have an open and close. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So when I was analyzing uh what time uh the euro dollar or the pairs that I was trading. Uh the um what when the volatility starts, it started around midnight, my time, until eleven A. M.

that's when uh the price was moving. So I wanted to see how they moved during uh the London session. So if I could learn how price works during the London session and then that's one session I'm learning. And then when the New York opens, that's another one that I'm learning. So I I'm kind of doubling what I'm learning. Okay. And because it is a twenty four hour market, you I I might have missed it before. I think you said you you're at the screens for about twelve hours a day, is that right?

Uh y I'm next to the screen. I'm I'm not engaged though that full twelve hours, uh of course.

Okay, so about twelve hours a day you're monitoring it though. You're actively monitoring it. Twelve? Yeah. And and then what about the rest of the time? You just y you you can switch off, have a sleep, do what you need to do. So from twelve o'clock uh to two o'clock, I still monitor it, but I'm more relaxing. Uh and then once it closes, that's when I'll do my scouting report and I'll prepare for the next day. Might be interesting to speak about that. So what does your scouting report look like?

So it's basically what happened that day. So if price reacted to at um one ten, let's say. Uh I'll note that down that price had trouble breaking through one ten and that is past support and also that's uh the sixty one it's near the sixty one point eight of so and so. And if it doesn't break through, then there's a chance that it can reverse. And then I'll also note the oscillators are low, so

Since prices at support oscillators are low, that's a sixty one point eight. There's if price can break back up at a certain price point that I set then if it goes above that, then that's the signal for me to keep going long. Okay. And and how does that help you for the next day? Uh it just you you know what levels to be mindful of. Um is there anything anything more to it than that?

Uh it's m b just mainly watching watching what I need to watch out for. I I need to watch out for this fib or this price because uh it yesterday it uh it had trouble breaking. uh one ten. So if it doesn't break one ten today, that means it there's a good chance if it breaks yesterday's high, that means that it can possibly go keep going up. And if it doesn't close above yesterday's high, then I had to reevaluate what I see.

Now, as you're in the currency markets I think most of us can agree that it's a very uh economic uh kind of news fundamental driven market, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. The currencies can move uh quite a lot based off world events. Yeah. How to and your trading as you've described it is very technical based. So how much are you in tune with economic events? I use Forex Factory. So with that now at the beginning of the month, uh

I will write down every day for that whole month that has uh some fundamental news announcement. So I'm ready for when uh that happens. So if I'm bearish on something. Uh, but a fundamental news amount like like example like interest rates. If the interest rates come out, um I know what time that it's gonna come out and I'm prepared to uh either if I'm in the trade already to know when I need to get out or vice versa or if it's in my favor then

Let it go. And what about on a more macro level? Like some sort of bigger themes that perhaps are playing out uh around the world that have a effect on on currency markets? Like are you in tune with that sort of stuff or you don't give it too much attention? I don't pay too much attention for like what's gonna happen next year.'Cause I'm only concerned what's gonna happen within the next couple of days'cause I'm trying'cause I'm more scalping every day.

and not too worried about uh the direction. the long term direction. Yeah. How how long do you hold a position on average? You said you're trading off a fifteen minute chart, so I presume it's but maybe a few hours. I don't know. Uh it depends. Uh s just depends on how volatile uh each day is.

'Cause some pairs they don't move that much, but when they move they they can get going. Um but it just really depends on how volatile.'Cause sometimes I can hold for maybe thirty minutes, uh sometimes a couple of hours.

Uh sometimes just a couple of minutes. Okay. So that can vary quite a lot. Do you ever like swing positions, like hold them for a few days at a time? Yeah, that's when I uh I think that uh if I'm favoring a position or a direction, uh, because of some for some reason, um, I will get in small and that's w when I hold a position for a long time. It's more of uh that the time that I think that uh it's going against me, but that's when I'll get in when I think it's gonna go back in my direction.

those are the ones that are all hold a little bit longer than normal. Sure. Now without trying to frame you as uh an expert here, I would like to ask you though Are there any tips specific to FX trading uh that you would like to share or you think might be helpful uh for complete newcomers? So things which are specific to FX markets. Every pair has a personality. Like if you can understand how each pair moves, then I think that uh would give you a heads up on which pairs you want to trade.

Because one for the the for me, uh tr uh why I stuck with only the the the Euro dollar is because one, the m uh it's cheap to trade compared to everything else. Uh the margin's low and uh It it d it's not super volatile. It's volatile enough that I can make some money out of it, but not volatile in enough that uh it'll make me go crazy.'Cause some t there's the pair that's most

Uh volatile to me. I still watch it. The the is the pound yen. That one's pretty crazy. Uh but I don't trade it, but I keep an eye out for it. 'Cause if I'm ever ready, uh I know how it acts to certain prices. Just on this point uh specific to FX trading and you mentioned it right at the beginning, I said we'd come back to it at a later point, uh leverage. Uh trading FX, there are some brokers which provide uh serious leverage. Yeah.

think the leverage in America is that crazy. I think it's maybe fifty to one, but I don't even trade fifty to one. Okay. So how do you manage the leverage side of it? And of course that ties in with Managing your risk as well? Uh it's more of just what I'm comfortable with. I don't really I'm just comfortable trading uh up to five lots, uh, which is up to fifty dollars per point. So I don't I don't pay too much attention to the leverage just'cause I know I can trade that.

Uh but for when I was starting out, um, yeah, you I would suggest to uh trade unleveraged. On that note, managing your risk. Uh, when you do put on a position, how do you think about how much you're willing to risk on that? And also just one step further, is there a like an ideal risk to reward which you have in your mind?

Um for my risk to reward is more as long as it's more than one to one. Uh because uh I do a lot of scalping so I'm I I wanna get in at a price where I know or I'm more confident that uh I can get something out of it. So if price has been reacting to 110, every time I I'll try to trade 110, uh I'll trade just enough that I know I can get something out of it. But not crazy enough that if it goes against me that i I'll get wiped out or I'll go I'll get frustrated.

One of the things about doing these sort of interviews with uh newer, less experienced traders, um, one of the really important parts about doing this, I feel, is hearing about how um, they are trying to improve moving forward. Like what are the processes they've got in place uh which are gonna help to enable them to get better uh, you know.

compared to where they are right now to where they're gonna be at the end of twenty twenty, for example. What are some of the deliberate steps and actions that you're taking to improve, to get better? what I'm doing to get better is more of being more prepared. Example, my uh s my scouting report is what I like to call it, and jotting down uh in tor important uh fundamentals.

uh knowing when those are gonna be released. So if I'm more prepared for that, I know when I shouldn't be trading or w where opportunities may be. Uh for example, like I I always know when interest rates are coming out because I know uh for the most part in ch when interest rates come out, that's when it can get pretty crazy.

Uh what else am I doing? Mm more screens, because before I was just trading on one laptop screen and I I got pretty far with that and then once I was able to get uh now I have two screens. Uh and that allows me to uh see more. ph'cause like to me m the point of view that uh two more screens gives me is like example a sniper. When a sniper zooms out, right, he can see a lot more. But when the time comes, you can zoom in. on one screen and then focus and really get going on that.

And what about from in terms of like trading skills? So there you've highlighted being prepared uh and a little bit of reviewing. Is there anything With regard to your skill and your ability to be able to trade, uh, like is there anything in particular that frustrates you at the moment? Oh yeah, um chasing price.'Cause sometimes uh when price gets moving for some reason and I see it.'Cause I have alerts that go off if price gets to a certain point. And then sometimes those alerts will uh

like get me going. Like, oh, it's he's hitting a bunch of these alerts, so price is moving. So I'll end up chasing price. And when I chase price at the wrong time and I don't follow my rules, then that's when uh

I get bit in the butt. And uh how about consistency? This is a question I l asked to Josh Evans on a previous episode just recently. Uh, who's been trading uh for a little over twelve months now. I asked him how does he envision consistency to look. Now obviously you were quite consistent for your first year. Uh you hit a bit of a rough patch towards the end there, but it looks like you've kind of pulled yourself out of that for the most part.

Do you feel like you've reached a point where you can say you're a consistently profitable trader? You know, most people who are new to trading that's that's the kind of label that they want to earn. Mm-hmm. Do you feel like you've reached that point? I'm I wanna say yeah, but also No, I'm not like fully confident. I'm a day month in and month out profitable trader. Of course I've had those two bad months, but

Uh I don't want to like jinx myself. Of course. Uh but yeah, for the most part I'm comfortable, but I'm not too comfortable that that I can just relax, if that makes sense.

Let's just do one last question here. One piece of advice that someone gave you or if they didn't directly give it to you that you've heard somewhere or read somewhere, uh, that has actually made quite a big difference. So there's two things that um that I have on m in mind that gave me uh a heads up on what I need to do to get better. Uh first off, it was Kobe saying how he has to outwork my competition.

So if I'm gonna outwork my competition, how am I gonna do that? So more time and uh example when I was at um Starbucks. and watching YouTube videos, I wasn't just watching it at a normal speed. I learned uh to be capable of listening it uh listening to the videos at two times speed. So I can watch more videos in the same amount of time um the average person would take to watch one.

And same with the podcasts. When I listen to the podcast now, uh I listen to them at two times speed because I can listen to more podcasts in less time, right? So that's one thing you have to keep in mind. Like there's so many people that are trying to do this that you have to outwork them. So what edges or what ways can you manage your time to outwork other people? And then also uh another friend was talking about discipline. All the most successful people in the world.

have one thing in common for sure, which is discipline, right? So if you have the discipline to wake up at a certain time and do your journal or do your analysis and whatnot uh without slacking off, even when or doing it when the times that you don't want to. Like some days, like if I have a bad day, I don't want to do my scouting report because it takes too long.

Or I'm too tired or I'm sleepy or I just wanna sleep because I had a bad day. But no, I had to have the discipline to go to my scattering report and reanalyze what happened and learn from it. You have to grow. Like if you're not willing to grow, then There's no point in learning to trade. Grow or die. Yeah. Yeah. Or like fifty cents says get rich or die trying. Yeah, that consistency part is i is massive, man.

Uh I appreciate you taking the time to do this, Christian, and thank you very much for reaching out, um, being so open and um sharing your path this far. Uh wish you plenty of success moving forward, man. Um if someone wants to find you on Twitter Uh, what is your Twitter handle? So on Twitter, uh, my handle is Christian with two N. underscore one underscore and it's the same thing for Instagram. Uh but I'm not really active on Twitter. Like I don't really tweet uh but I I'm on Twitter.

But I don't tweet. Okay. Well, I'm sure there'll be a few people who'd like to follow you after listening to this. Um, so that's probably the best place to do it. Yeah, besides that you have a a pretty low pro low profile presence online, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I I'm not really active in the social media. But I'm active in listening and seeing what other people are doing. More of an observer. Yeah, yeah.

Alright man, will you enjoy the rest of your evening and uh we'll chat soon. Alright. You've reached the end of this episode of Chat with Traders, but rest assured there are more.