Stupid British Pound.

Well, there was a nice beautiful, long, and juicy pinbar in the GBP/USD daily chart this week that I took. It failed after breaking. I suppose these things happen, and to be honest, I could have collected 40 pips at one point. Oh well, shit happens.

More importantly, I still came out on top for the week, although it was only 0.28%. Oh well, shit happens.

My son turned 3 this last week. That was cool. I shorted the GBP/USD a second time for the week on his birthday, and took off for the Columbus Zoo. (A trade within a trade.) I came home to see it closed out at 75 pips or so. Now that's a trade.

Funny thing is, I don't know if I have ever gone to the zoo with him that hasn't involved me being in a live trade, and making some pips. I gotta go to the zoo more often. I really enjoy getting paid to walk around and checking out the animals with him. I think I could take that kind of job everyday!

Anyway, I am looking at this last week as a positive one. But the point is that it's never anything to get stressed about. There is no point. The market doesn't care how pissed off you get about it's behavior. Besides...life is too short. Find "zen" in your life, and it will appear in your trading as well.

Going to the zoo and making money, that's what trading is about......freedom.

Hope you all had a good week. I know I did. It was full of lions, tigers, and bears. Oh, and a false pinbar. Nothing too scary.

Some simple rules.

Hi all,

As I am sitting here doing nothing....I began to think why that is. (I am sure my wife could probably give you a few answers....)

I am not trading this week so far, mainly because it would violate my rules in a few ways. And thus, this post will be about some rules of mine that you might consider as well.

#1 - No news trading.

If you haven't been trading very long, I am certain someone somewhere has told you about riches waiting to be picked out of the market by Non-Farm Payroll announcements. Or maybe on CPI? PPI? ABC? or even DEF? (Ok, so the last two I made up.)

I am going to spare you the usual babbling about "liquidity issues", etc. on this one. The truth is, it's unstable trading at best. Yes, you can make $1,000 in a matter of seconds. You can lose it as well. Never forget that. (And for liquidity issues, Who in the hell cares why it's dangerous....just know it is.) You also have to be able to convince yourself that your information, machine, trading experience, and general reaction is going to be faster than firms out there that invest millions into trading. That last statement really puts it into perspective.

The king of all reasons is interest rate announcements. The Bank of England, The EU, and bank of Korea, and Japan (last night) are all announcing this week. Sounds like a mine field.

Trading news related items are all about anticipating. Anticipating is about predicting the future. Predicting the future is about GUESSING.

#2 - Have a life. "Trade to live", not "Live to trade".

In my last post, I mentioned that someone is asking about having me trade an account for them. This rule is the hardest to explain to people. Burnout isn't going to make anyone rich. Sometimes, you have to take a break. I have found that I run in cycles, about every 6-8 weeks I need to give trading a rest for a few days. (Normally 3-5 trading days.) I cannot tell you exactly why that is, but it just seems to be my "comfort zone". And that is all that matters.

Could I trade now? Of course I could. I could have shorted that pinbar on the daily GBP/USD chart. But I just didn't feel the need to. It's a hard thing to explain, once the challenge has been taken out of the equation, some of the "mystique" goes as well. I no longer worry about if I will "make it trading". I know I will. Somehow that takes the fun out of it a little.

I am sure my potential client will read this, so it will come as no surprise when I say this. He and I have gone through this, and I believe he's alright with it. Truthfully, I don't care. He knows this. I have to do what is profitable for me, and him. Burning out is not what's going to work.

Besides....who's mad about that 8.12% gain over six weeks? Even if I skip the seventh week, it's still 8.12%. That's better than most, if not all of his accounts at the moment. (He is spread out quite a bit.)

So I am sitting here, waiting to read interest rate announcements.....and still probably won't do anything until Monday. It happens.

NEVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT YOU HAVE TO BE IN THE MARKETS.

Remember that statement. If you don't feel the need to trade for whatever reason, or even if you are just "nervous" about it.....you are going to get shaken out of a trade a little more easier. So why bother? It's all about comfort.

Have a great week guys.

Systems and testing results.

As I sit on a balmy Sunday evening in beautiful Columbus, I checked the charts and saw absolutely no gaps. I am kind of surprised, however I quit trying to figure it all out. Who cares? Results matter, and nothing else. Period.

I have been trading nothing but a Price Action system lately. After six weeks, I have some decent results. You have to keep in mind that I also have a job, so sometimes I miss a trade or two.

Anyways here we go:

Week 1: +1.20%
Week 2: +0.50% (NFP week)
Week 3: +0.74%
Week 4: +2.35%
Week 5: +1.82%
Week 6: +1.24% (NFP week)

Results in this testing period: +8.12% Rate of Return(6 weeks)


The reason I added notes of Non-Farm Payroll weeks is that I often trade quite a bit less during them. For example, on week 2, I got all of that profit before the end of Thursday. I hardly ever trade those Fridays. However, I decided to on week 6's NFP, only because I got a really, really, clean setup on the USD/CHF pair.

The thing about results like this is that I believe this is what is meant by "Great returns are possible in the Foreign Exchange." To me, this is realistic to obtain on a regular basis. (At least it's what I have found in trading in general.)

So you have to think a little here. If you are happy with a 15% return on your Mutual Fund, then these results are pretty impressive. I am going to make a lot of money with these results. It might take a while, but compounding interest is going to do quite a bit of the work for me. I love it.

Part of this is because I actually had someone ask me recently to trade an account for them. I am actually in the middle of "tweaking" this system, no matter if I trade his money or just my own.

I just wanted you guys to see that it is possible, and it doesn't have to be 50% a month to make money.

Somewhere in the past I posted that a 4% return a month on $500 over 10 years turns out to be along the lines of $58,000. Funny, that's about where I end up a month....somewhere between 4 and 6%. No bitching here.

It's been a long road learning this stuff. The funny thing is that I have learned that trading the Foreign Exchange really IS simple. It's the fight with ourselves that is so difficult.



Hmmmmm, interesting spot with the GBP/USD pair. I see 1.94 soon. I'll wait for confirmation.....but I see it coming.

Have a great week trading!

Keeping perspective in the markets.

Like many of you out there, I get several emails from different forex "gurus" and commentaries. Most, if not all, are complete rubbish. However, I am going to call one out right now.

BK Trader. As in Boris Schlossberg and Kathy Lien. I would like to point out the four middle letters in the main player's last name....."L-O-S-S". I do not say this with any malice, nor do I have anything against the man. He could be a world-class guy. I do however, have issues with the style of trading I see from him. (Which is why I don't trade that way.)

I know that there are always going to be different styles, and I am for anything that works for you. However, someone that is connected with a broker that lives off the spread, should be taken with a grain of salt.

If you ever look at the videos, (you can look them up on their page, or YouTube) you will notice something odd. 10 minute candles. Who in the hell trades on a 10 minute chart? He also is always talking about trading the "IFO report" or some other such nonsense. By the way, these two people work for FXCM, who of course have an interest in you making short term trades......gotta get that spread baby!

None-the-less, let's pretend that he's honestly trying to help you out. (Like I said - he may be....I have no information that makes me think there is any malice in his advice.) I can tell you one major thing I have learned in my time as a trader: Short time frame trades get KILLED by short term fluctuations.

I want you to think about this for a second: if you have a stop of 40 pips in a pair like GBP/USD, how much of a stop is that actually? As I write this, the exchange rate is something along the lines of 1.9975 GBP for every USD. A 40 pip move is roughly a move of 0.2 percent! This is why currency pairs tend to be choppy. It's because they are decimal pointed out 4 places. (In the case of cable.) It takes 199.75 pips to make 1% in that scenario. And seriously....if you heard that the British Pound lost 1% of it's value against the U.S. Dollar, would you be thinking a collapse? I didn't think so. Odd how just changing the phrasing makes a huge difference in the psychology, huh?

I only picked on BKT because I just got an email from them....trust me, there are plenty of people willing to take you down the road of high leverage, short term trading. By the way, high leveraged trading is a major factor in today's financial mess. If major banks are getting whacked by it, I can guarantee that your little account will too.

Slow and steady. Someone, I believe Einstein actually, said that "Compound interest is the 8th Wonder Of The World." Maybe it wasn't him....it was someone you should listen to though, I promise.

So the next time the Euro drops 50 pips, think about what you are really looking at. The other day, I had a short in the pair that got me 250 pips. (See the previous post.) Sounds like a lot huh? It wasn't a huge drop, and you can bet the big money was waiting for things to calm down a bit, so they could buy more Euros at a cheaper price. Truth be told, I did as well. However, like an ass, I went to bed with my stops too tight. I got stopped out at +50. I am still a little pissed about that one, as I should still be in this trade. But, we live and learn.

Unless of course, we are trading 10 minute charts. We won't be around long enough to learn.

Sometimes it takes a while.

Hi gang,

The above charts show a trade I am in at the moment. As you can see, (hopefully) the EUR/USD pair made a wicked pinbar on Monday the 17th of March. This is a major reversal signal for those of use that use price action for our signals.

Well, I went short needless to say. And waited. And waited.

There were moments where I could have taken as much as 50-80 pips before it went right back up. I have to admit, it was very tempting to do so. However, as I have been reading Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator, I am working on letting trades run a little more.

Because of my patience, I now have 250 pips locked in. That's a good week in itself as far as I am concerned. Add in some trades in Gold, and this has been a great week.

I believe the biggest thing to remember is that no matter what happens, you are never risking more than your original amount. As I was once 50 pips up, then down as much as 11 later, I had to remind myself that I was still only risking what I thought was alright in the first place. I could never lose more than that amount. Granted, you have to figure out a way to lock in profits, because it's counter-trend if no other reason.

So this was my thinking:

1) This is counter-trend. A target isn't a bad idea, but as long as I can keep an eye on it, I will let it run.

2) Not only is this counter-trend, but the actual break was fast and hard. Fast and hard tends to stop suddenly as well, so once it gives you a huge bar, time to tighten up stops. (I know this sounds contradictory, but there's a "feel" moment has, if you just watch long enough.)

Hmmmm......funny I am writing this, they just took me out at 1.5425, a gain of 250. Ok, so I gave back 20 pips or so. 1.54 was strong support anyways.

Which, brings up another point about patience, there were several times I could have gotten out of this trade in the last hour or two....but I HAD TO LET IT TRY TO BREAK THE 1.5400 MARK. If not, I would have been upset. However, once I was up 250 pips, there was no reason to give a ton back either.....I mean, Come On! :-)

Also, there is the chance that it does go lower eventually. That's alright, we can't get every pip. I am grateful that the Forex Goddess has bestowed this lesson upon me.

The single biggest piece of advice I can give this week is to buy the above named book, "Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator", by Edwin LeFevre. Read it, re-read it, and think about what's being said. There will be no "trading plan" to make you rich. No "When the 20 Ema crosses the 50 EMA, buy here type of thing." However, there are some MAJOR keys in it.

I cannot speak highly enough of this book. Another is Rob Booker's "Adventures Of A Currency Trader." They are basically the same idea, education with entertainment as well. The truth is, the key to riches is within you. You ARE the system. It took me a lot of frustration to realize that.

Good trades,
Clockwork

Dollars down under.

The above chart is the Australian Dollar/ U.S. Dollar pair, which as you can see, is taking off again.

There is a serious case for parity at this point. I am not convinced that we are going all the way up there yet.....BUT..... I also am not in the business of predicting currency movements - I just react to them.

I did not get into this pair on the break of that pinbar, (the last arrow) as I believe I was working at the time. However, as you see, .9100 is a major area, and should be for a while.

All of the arrows show how it's been support and resistance. Several days of it in fact.

So, I am going to watch out in that blue box. Somewhere in there, I am looking to find a nice bar to enter into this trade. With Friday's big drop, I think we will probably see it test that area again, and soon.

Most of my trading lately has been done based on daily charts, and I have to say, I like it. Nice and slow, no need to worry about much. It can takes days, but it is a lot like stocks at that point. Anyone that tells you there is no money to be made in the upper levels, or more commonly, "The stops are too big for guys like us.", has no idea what money management means. I can assure you, even with a small account, it's possible.

Anyway, if I get into this trade, I will let you know how it's going. I am currently looking around various weekly charts today.....Our day off in the markets is really just a "cooling off" period to reset our charts.

I also have been checking out futures trading. I did pretty good in Gold last week. I am demoing it first, of course.

Good luck all, and I will talk to you soon.

Bored, bored, bored.

Wow -

This week has been slow so far.

I have actually been sitting in a short USD/CHF position most of the time. I am at break even basically. Any of you that have traded foreign exchange for more than ten minutes know how odd it is to be sitting in a break even position for this long. (About 48 hours.)

I should win some kind of prize.

Anyway, still looking at EUR/USD and thinking that we have seen the top. There certainly hasn't been a mad dash back up to 1.4950 has there? I think this is telling us something. I will be looking to short this pair in the near future. A long term play perhaps. But only if I get a nice reversal signal. Time will tell.

Last week, Non-Farm Payroll.

Ok, so most of you know how I feel about trading the news....

Take a look at EUR/USD this past Friday, damn near a doji. Almost unchanged, could have gotten pretty whipped around though, and that's always fun. Odd, it did the same shit last month. Are we starting to see traders care less about the NFP? God I hope so, it ruins an entire trading day.

I decided to sit it out, and even though the report said we LOST 17,000 jobs this past month in the U.S., the dollar actually gained on a few currencies. Why, you may ask? It's simple: The number is TOTAL bullshit, and always revised, normally by a lot. Why in the hell anyone would believe it still is beyond me.

However, I admit I haven't exactly done much in the way of homework for this next week yet. I did see a potential set up in the Dollar/Swiss Franc pair that looks somewhat promising. Take a look at the weekly chart, big damn pinbar. Sooner or later, this thing is going to find a bottom.

I don't care how bad the U.S. is, on what planet should our currency be worth less that Switzerland's? So sooner or later, it's going to have to stop.

I believe a lot of the "bad news" is already getting priced into the dollar. Now it's only a matter of time before we drag Europe down with us. I'm thinking EUR/USD short soon. Yep, you heard it right. And I do not like fighting a trend, but I believe this one is getting really, really, long in the tooth. (As a side note for you new guys....Euro/Dollar and Dollar/Swiss normally move exactly opposite. So.....buying USD/CHF bodes well for shorting EUR/USD. - If that weekly pinbar takes off that is.)

The British Pound is in trouble still....in case you haven't been paying attention. Any day that the U.S. LOSES JOBS, and still hands it to the Pound, you know something just isn't right in the U.K. I'm sure there is a fundamental reason, I just don't know the particulars. (Thank God I don't follow them all, this would turn into work.)

Oh, up 2.12% last week. Quiet, steady, and only take the easy ones.....kinda like life in the 80's. ;-)

Man I had a lot of fun back then!

Cheers.

Sorry for the delay.....

Haven't been writing much lately, and there's a good reason.

My mother has been in and out of the hospital fighting an infection. She suffers them sometimes due to chemotherapy. It is times like this that put a perspective on the important things in life.

Again....99% of the time, I don't give a shit what the Euro is worth. You shouldn't either. That's my advice. In the end, it doesn't matter.

I have been doing some thinking about these high-finance types we all "admire". Some genius decided that hiding his bad bets in the markets from his boss at Societe General was a good idea. He didn't want to get fired, after all. Bam! Now there's a write off of something like 8 billion. Is this the type of idiot we need to look to for advice in the markets?

These parasites will spout off tirades like the following: "CPI in the U.S. came in .1% lower than expectations. Coupled with losses in the building sector, this should be bad for the Dollar, as people run to the relative safety of the Euro."

Meanwhile, this same dipshit is buying Euros, and hoping you do the same, increasing his profits.

Here's a analysis for you: The EUR/USD pair goes up because more people want Euros than fucking Dollars. It's that simple. Supply and Demand. Economics 101 in it's purest form. I don't care which way it goes, just as long as I am with the movement. I couldn't tell you what so-and-so said about the implied rate of something in Belgium and how it effects the Brazilian Real. I don't know, and the longer I trade, the more I understand I don't need to know.

I don't mean to sound overly angry, but there has been a lot of crap being posted on the net lately. Let's be honest: It's because nobody knows where this all ends up. Recession, Depression, The Mets winning the World Series next year? What does it all mean? Nothing.....nothing at all.

It is no wonder this business is so hard for the new guy.....so much noise. Just keep it in perspective.

As a side note, yesterday on Bloomberg's front page, there were the usual 5 videos at the bottom. 2 said something about recession being inevitable, and 2 saying that it should be a slow-down, but nothing major. The other story was something much more interesting involving some deal with alternative biofuels, I believe. I don't know, can't remember. Wasn't recession talk is all I know.

Have a great weekend, and tell someone you love them. There is real value in that, not the Euro, Pound, Franc, or even Dollar.

Please help, on fire!

Alright, maybe not quite.....but having a hell of a month.

7.02% gain so far.

British Pound/Japanese Yen pair has been good to me. So has the Euro/U.S. Dollar, and the U.S. Dollar/Japanese Yen pairs as well.

The nice thing is that I have already hit my monthly target. I am trying to keep it at about 4% per month, and I am getting better and better now. I am presently up 19% total since late October. (When I opened this account, and joined the James16 group.) I cannot tell you how it feels to see this hard work paying off finally.

The Eurodollar has been somewhat choppy in the last few days, so I have made money selling and buying Euros, for small gains. I was lucky enough to be on the right side of the British Pound/Yen pair. (That one can hurt you, with the way it moves.)

I almost got long Euro/Swiss Franc, but it never confirmed the move I was looking for. (It might have by now, I don't know....closed the charts at noon.)

All-in-all, I have to say that I am quite pleased, and finally am starting to gain some confidence. Thank God all that work wasn't in vain, as it would have been devastating. So there is a message in all of this "gloating":

Never give up.

It is impossible to become successful at anything by quitting. Just do me a favor, don't trade large amounts until you become profitable on a consistent basis.

I once read a great post by James16 saying that this is a business. Most of us get into this thinking of quick riches. And guess what? It isn't.

But with compounding interest, it can grow your money fairly quick. I know it's not what some of you newer traders want to hear, but it's the truth.

Remember - the truth will set you free.

Sometimes they give money away.....

Sometimes this trading deal gets pretty easy. Not often enough, but sometimes it's just like getting free money.

The first chart is the Swiss Franc vs. Japanese Yen pair, daily time frame. Click on it to enlarge. Notice anything dead obvious? Yes, it's been in a box forever. Why? Probably because most people don't care. (The weekly chart is even less exciting.)

So last night, I bought this pair.....the second chart is a 4 hour chart of the same pair. You can see at the circle, and green line, I got in. The top line is where I got out. I don't know if it will reach the top of the channel, or "box", but it doesn't matter to me. I just wanted to take profits where it would be reasonable to expect it to go, without holding on to it for a few weeks possibly.

So I decided to buy it at 97.60. My profit target was 98.30. The best part of this trade is that I got in 5 minutes before going to bed. I woke up this morning already out with the 70 pip profit. This is the best kind of trade in the world. Had to love this trade mainly because of the hammer on the four hour. All while sleeping. I love this game sometimes!

So far the month is going well, as I am up 5.13%. Nothing to bitch about here.

Random milestones and "Great Traders".

This post is going to be a little different than most. Probably a bit longer too. Sorry about that.

Ok, first things first: I decided to go "Balls Out" on Non-Farm Payroll this last Friday for my "Mini-Account Challenge" account. I suck, and now I know it. ;-)

I was somewhere around 49th in the standings, now I don't know where I am. I let it run wild all day. I have no idea if I still even have that money. I did it more as a psychological exercise. After putting in the order, I decided to go to work. This was very, very, reckless. But, what it DID DO, was to show me I would survive no matter what happened. Guess what? I'm still alive.

As far as my normal account goes, I wasn't so bold. I am up 2.75% for the month so far. Not too bad.

***As a side note, don't ever try to scalp the market in one of these challenges while quitting smoking. It doesn't work.***

Of course, the quitting smoking is part of why I didn't care what happened. Naturally, I would have loved to come home to a $15,000 profit, but let's be honest here.....it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter for a couple of reasons actually.

Reason #1 is simple. Some idiot is up 478% after one day into the competition. Guess who's going to win it? Besides, I find this a little suspect mainly because I don't see how that could have happened on the 1st. There just doesn't seem like there was enough action. I could be wrong, but this seems suspect. Either that, or I am up against the best traders in the world. (Cough......**bullshit**....Cough.)

Reason #2 is just as "interesting". Last month, on the very last day, suddenly the leader was eclipsed by a huge margin. Not by one trader, but two. I wrote this off as some people closing huge winners at the end of the contest. I thought, "Fair enough".

However, as reason #1 shows.....I am suspect about this. In fact, his name was "Akam IBFX", which makes me even more suspicious. I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but these kind of things smell of conspiracy to me.

I am thinking of using the account to high-leverage scalp only, and not bothering with the "challenge". I like to stay under the radar. I am working on something right now to see if I can turn $250 into $1,000. (A challenge to myself.) So I may keep the account....I don't know.

Ok, on to more important things. (Easy to say since I am finally a consistent winner in my normal account.....I am sure my broker doesn't like that.)

So anyways, I quit smoking. I have now saved over $65 in the first week alone. (Hey....I will have that mini-account money back in like 3 more weeks!) This has been the smartest trade I have made in my entire time trading.

I have traded the cigarettes for the following:

$65 in my first week.
I feel 100 times better in the morning when I wake up.
I actually wake up mentally before noon now.
I get to see my son grow up without a fear of getting cancer.
My mother gets piece of mind. (Who DOES have cancer.)
My house smells better.
For the first time, I actually smelled fabric softener at the end of the day on my clothes. (Who knew it lasted that long?)
Things taste different. (Man, I really love some odd things all of the sudden.)
I am not as pissed off. (This one has really surprised me.)
I can face adversity a little easier. (This cannot hurt trading at all.)

Oh, and a ton of other shit I can't remember.

What a great trade. And to think I was paying for the honor of killing myself. I have decided that if I want to kill myself, I want it to have something to do with explosions, and gardening tools. Death by smoking takes too long, and I hate waiting around.

Another milestone is my first month of being married. It hasn't killed me. Huh.

Oh, and I am through my first full year of trading. To quote a few hippies, "Suddenly it occurs to me.....What a long, strange trip it's been." I don't like that particular band, but they sound like closet traders to me. ;-)

But it really has been an interesting journey. As a trader, you have to really face your fears. I have learned more about myself in the last year than I think I ever have. The profit and loss of trading really isn't about money at all sometimes. Sometimes it is intangibles that suddenly are added to the "Wealth of your existence." There are certain things I have learned that cannot be measured in monetary terms. I have had to take a hard, long look at myself.

As traders, we are the some of the most evolved people on the planet. I truly believe this. Mainly because we delve into the last frontier on a daily basis: Our own psyche. Most of the people walking around really never do this. They never get to know themselves. Sad really, as I believe if you don't know yourself, there are plenty of people out there willing to tell you who you are. (Normally in the form of what to buy, but that's a totally different conversation.)

Friends, this post sadly isn't going to be very technical in nature, but I think somewhere in this rambling there is some knowledge.

However, I have an exercise I think you should try:

List ten things that are truly important to you and why. I'm not talking about things like "To have a bitching car." I'm talking about real things. Things that truly matter. For example, although my mother is getting better, (This time.) one of the biggest things for me is her to be alive in June so she can meet her new grandson/granddaughter. That my friends, truly matters. (And puts that question of "What's the Euro trading at?" in perspective.)

Another thing might be your freedom. I believe that is very important to most traders. However, somewhere in the middle of learning all of this new trading stuff...we forget that the chase for money is about freedom. (In it's purest form.) If you don't understand how money can equate to freedom, you really don't get it. If the trading is all about getting rich, you never will. It's about learning the game, and being rewarded by the dollars. It's a way to measure how you did. Nothing more. Just like having a ton of money just means that you don't have to worry about the cable bill. That's all. It's about freedom.

Besides, I have posted before that if you are sitting in front of your computer 23 hours a day - you aren't free. I don't care if you are making $15,000 a day.....you're still broke. But in a worse way, broke spiritually.

Take the time to work on this list. If trading is one of the first things you list, you may need to rethink what matters to you.

TRADE TO LIVE, NOT LIVE TO TRADE.

Cheers.

My first "Contest Session"

I just finished my first session with this contest. It went fairly well, although I have to admit I don't really enjoy trading like this. Man, I forgot how nerve-racking high leveraged scalping can be.

But the good news is that I went up 5.73% in the New York Session. Still a long way to go though.

I assume I could also be at somewhat of a disadvantage because I cannot sit here glued to my monitor everyday. I am sure somewhere there is a trader doing just that. He is probably a good trader, does it for a living, and has this account for just pure fun. So, he has the advantages. But then again, he could also make that fatal error.

Truth be known, it doesn't really matter if I place in the top 5 or not. The point is to be positive. If I turn $300 into $500, and don't qualify for the prize money, I will survive somehow....

I had someone ask me what I am going to do with any winnings or gains. To be honest, I don't know. Maybe I will put it back into my normal account, or possibly just some of it. (The more likely scenario.)

I have earned enough so far to go to the Japanese Steakhouse. Hell, sounds good right about now....I really don't know what I will do with whatever is left.

One thing is for sure, I could never go back to scalping all the time again. It didn't take very long to feel that burn in the pit of my stomach!

Will update soon, hope all is well in your world.