The 100-Pip Traderthing that I’ve tried to communicate to beginning traders is to never
be concerned with comparing your own pip results or percentage
results or dollar results to anyone else except for yourself. I’m
not in competition to make more money than Joe Trader. I’m in
competition to make sure that I make enough money to support
my family. So I’ve been to expos and conferences and I’ve spoken
around the world and traders who are new to trading will say,
“Well, Rob, how many pips did you make last year, or this month?”
and I’ll discuss it with them and they’ll say, “Well that is far less
than Joe Trader, or so and so making.”
And I will tell them all the time, well I wasn’t aware that Joe
Trader was trying to pay my bills. I wasn’t aware that I was under
some demand to compete with anyone else. That’s really important
for me and has been a real benefit to me in the long run. Just to
remember that I’m not in competition with anybody else for a
certain type of gain. So, no, the answer is I have not generally
increased that goal and when I have increased that pip goal, I
found that I become somewhat overconfident after a series of wins
or too despondent after a series of losses. What I do when I trade
for 50 to 100 pips a week is if I have a good week, then the next
week after, I start it all over again. I reset the clock. I reset the pip
count to zero and if I have a bad week the next week when I start
back up it’s a blank slate. It’s a 50- to 100-pip week. I don’t have to
make back what I lost the week before. I just have to produce what
I know statistically I can produce. Not what I have to produce in
order to make up for a previous loss, or prove that I’m better than
someone else. I just have to take advantage of what ever comes my
way during the week to reach that goal.
Q: That’s a good point. So you don’t increase your positions the
next week to cover losses that you may have made the prior week?
A: [Laughter.] No and that’s always been troublesome for me
and when I have done that, its certainly where I’ve gotten into
the deepest pit, which is when I’ve had a really good week and
I’ve thought the market’s just going to shower me with sweet profit