The Wisdom of ExperienceQ: There are some people who start as a trend trader and then
switch to become a range trader or vice versa before they find their
true trading style. Has this happened to you? Have you always been
a trend trader?
A: I think that I have always thought in the mentality of a trend
trader, just not so perfectly and with as reliable trading strategies.
Most people are this way with the things they do. For example,
if you like martial arts and kung fu, you may begin to do some
of the motions, but at that time you may not know or consciously
care about whether the motions are karate style, taekwondo style
or jujitsu style. Only after you learn and practice more and more
and become a true student of the art do you realize that your
motions may actually be taekwondo and not karate. The same is
with trading. Some traders may start out trading one way, maybe
as a momentum trader who rides the wave of price or a reversal
trader who always tries to pick a top, they may not realize what
category they fall into until much later on.
Q: When you first started trading, how many hours a day did
you trade for, how long would you hold your positions? Has this
changed?
A: As for how long I would usually spend trading, I consider
every time I check my quote rates on my beeper as part of trading.
Every day I do look at the markets, more so at night. Generally
speaking, the time that I spend at night sitting down and really
analyzing the markets is usually under an hour. The reason is
because usually when I have already identified the major trend in
the market from a broader scale, I already know what I am looking
for on the charts on a daily basis. That is, if the trend is still intact,
is it losing momentum, or has it already been compromised and
ready to reverse. Some people find trading currencies very difficult
because they feel that they have to spend a lot of time watching the
markets since it is open 24 hours a day. I don’t think it should be
the case. When I trade, it is usually very relaxed because all I do is
spend a little time every day looking at how the market has moved