Interview with now full-time trader, Corin WA (Australia)

When did you start your professional trader training? 

• End of April 2021

When did you resign from work to focus 100% on trading?

• July 2021

When did you go full-time live trading? 

• End of August 2021

How long have you been trading live? 

• 7 months

How does trading compare to your expectations?

• I find it more enjoyable than I thought it would be

• I didn't realise how much work is in trading, but it's something I enjoy

• I didn't think emotions were a part of trading until I went live. But, I've enjoyed learning to be conscious of them while at the same time choosing to act on what my process says.    

• I didn't have trading knowledge before starting training, so I didn't have any expectations other than being open to learning. However, I can say trading is something I really enjoy (I just want to get better at it! haha!)

There's an adjustment phase when you first go live. How was this experience for you? 

• I overestimated how much risk I could tolerate, allowing offside trades more room than they deserved. 

• It would have been better to ease into live trading.

• I also made too many trades. 

👀 See the right way to start live trading at end of page

What was your major takeaway from the transition stage? 

• Take baby steps regardless of your SIM results, especially if you don't have prior trading experience. 

• I traded a few different setups, but I had better results if I stuck to my A+ playbook trade. 

What length of time were you treading water/break-even?

• The bulk of my losses came when I first went live.

• Overall I'm on the positive side of treading water in 7 months.

How many days are you profitable per month?

• From Jan 2022 - to March 2022, I've had 14 red and 27 green days. 

What are three critical factors that enabled you to move to positive live trading in a comparatively short time? 

• Having a mentor, especially during live trading.

• Focusing on playbook trades that you develop confidence in

• Practice a lot even if you work full-time

• Allocate time to being on the screens every day, including weekends 

• Spend time on the weekend doing an overall week in review

What three reasons do you attribute to your consistency?

• I practice my playbook trades using replay/SIM

• I review every trade, win or lose, and problem-solve them by being honest with myself about my mistakes so I can implement a plan to remedy them. 

• I have given myself time to learn and time for the learning to reflect on the screens.

• I understand trading is not an overnight success process.

What is a typical day for you?

• 7AM - 8AM Market Prep

• 8AM -9AM I compare my prep with my mentor's, taking notes of adjustments, new things to learn

• 9AM - 12PM Look for trade set-ups as per prep and execute

• 12PM - 1-130PM lunch and a 45 min gym workout 

• 130PM - 4PM re-prep into Europe session and look for trades as per prep 

• 4PM - review trades

• 5PM - family time

• I'll return to the markets later to trade if my prep is for a large move that hasn't yet played out.

When do you review your daily trades? 

• End of each day and follow up with an in-depth review of the overall week on weekends

What has trading taught you? 

• Trading has taught me that if you have a solid process and continue to follow it and want to build on it, results will come.

• It's also taught me there is no timeframe for when you should be profitable. 

• The goal should be aiming to improve every day regardless of P&L.

What do you enjoy the most about trading? 

• I enjoy solving how traders will be caught on the wrong side and forced to exit, leading to price moves

• I enjoy looking for my playbook set-up, gathering multiple points of evidence and then executing as per my plan

• When those fall into place, it gives me the most satisfaction when in the market. 

What are your favourite "set-ups"? 

• My playbook 101 trade is my favourite. It accounts for 80-90% of my trades.

• I'm still very early in my trading career. I have other trades I'm working on, which I'll add to my live trading playbook once I've got the stats to back them up. 

• I've been working on my tape and order flow reading to avoid "heat" when entering trades.

• I've included recent trades to show what I mean.

👀 The right way to start live trading

Traders want to build Rome in a day.

When you trade at a prop firm, you have to earn the right to trade with size (results-based). 

But as independent traders, you don't have that safety guard. 

So, my advice to new traders is to fund your account with a tiny amount so you can't hurt yourself.

Spend time learning about the power of exponential growth so you can focus your attention on achieving consistency. 

If you do, exponential performance is a foregone conclusion.