1-03-2003 was when the Fed cut rates .50 pt first trading day of the yr. I started trading my own money in 97. I started with 10k. The broker I worked for backed me(Tbill), if I had my own money and didn’t go debit he wouldn’t share in my profit... or loss. Seat leases were $3200 The big NQ was $100 a tick then b4 eminis. I clerked on the floor 10 yrs with 3 off studying to be a Catholic Priest. I got married, had a baby and started trading. Bar tending 6 nights a week to pay the mortgage I was trying to learn to trade.

When I talk about paying for my trades what I mean is-i take some early profit to mitigate or remove my risk. eg, if I am long or short of the opening range in ES I cover 1/4 or 1/3 of my position for 4 pt profit to remove my risk and move my stop to breakeven or scratch. Once I pay for my trade I have 3/4 of my position left, i will take 25% off for profit at the next target and have half my unit still on for the longer intraday target and the last 25% or 1/3 on as my runner.

Most traders struggle with the same issues. Getting in too soon-or to late or not taking a loss when we should have as a result turned it into a much bigger one or not getting out of good trades too quickly or not taking profit when we should only to turn the trade into a loser 2-or getting stopped out and have the market run back in my direction. When I began my career off the floor onto the screens I sat with my notebook and screens and me. The markets go up or down or sideways. Nothing I could change there. What I worked on was managing my positions

I was a top step arb clerk in the front month Eurodollar pit for 10 yrs before I earned my shot at trading. I didn’t want to fill orders. I wanted to trade. I knew nobody when I walked in the floor. No rich dad. I had to earn it. My boss backed me, I borrowed trading capital. Clerking for one of the biggest brokers on the floor trained me to see and hear and compute a lot of info and act on it quickly. That stood me well as a trader. First 6 months I couldn’t make a nickel. Seat leases were $2800 a month. New wife and a new baby. Bartending at night

I posted the video of my son for a few reasons. 1, I am proud of him. But also for all traders, we always need to show courage to overcome obstacles. We need strength and stamina to do so. We have to know ourselves and never give up we always have to overcome and adapt on the fly Only way for me as a trader to have intellectual, physical and spiritual stamina to overcome obstacles and adapt to changing market conditions was to restructure my life by developing good habits through my daily routines that start with everyday rituals. Good habits=trust.

I began tweeting to help a friend last Aug. I never set out to draw attention to myslef. Helping others to learn to trade has always been VIP to me-makes what we do a bit more fulfilling. There isn’t much a trader can go through that I haven’t already gone through. I started on the CME floor not knowing a soul. I was a runner in lumber out and back month Euro’s. I quickly decided that whatever was going on there, I wanted to be part of it. I began working my way up from runner to head arb clerk for one of the biggest brokers in the Euro pit

Looks like it will take the #es_f to get under 2965 to weaken or above 3000 to expand higher. Looking forward to breaking out of this range! The price action will tell us! We stayed long from yesterday OR. Stops in for a scratch. Targets much higher 3025-30.

Traders fail because they don’t take the time to truly know who they we are and how we bring ourselves into our trading. My P&L will reflect my life. If I do the work in making good routines and habits I learn to trust myself. If I have a good process that is profitable and repeatable, life gets rough for rough I have a choice, trust myself and make the necessary adjustments, or drown myself quickly or slowly. When health issues crop up or life gets hard I can fall back on my process, those that keep me accountable, good habits I built. Habits=trust

I have seen some of the most talented and knowledgeable traders completely blow their accounts up as well as their lives. It ALL starts with 1 trade. Then the spiral happens. I have seen it over and over again. Hell-I have done it myself. Traders who have made millions and lost every nickel of it. I mean MILLIONS!! 1 trade starts that downward spiral. Then they leave their lane and then nobody can talk to em. FYI some have made it back, most haven’t. Find a process that works for other traders and for you. That doesn’t expose you to too much risk

#es_f open is 2915.25 high 15.50 low 13.50 Short ES 13.25.

Easter is a time of Ressurection, of Redemption. Reflecting back on my career I have survived and thrived for 21 yrs in bull markets and bear markets ups and downs, success and failures and all have their own story. What is common in them is never quitting. Always having a plan, Believing in myself when others seemingly didn’t and sticking it out till I found success again. It has been a long time since I have snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory. I no longer self sabotage, when I find myself leaving my lane I have built habits into my process

I tweet about futures trading and my experience in this business since 88 as a clerk to 97 when I started to trade my own account. I have seen some of the smartest-most educated traders blow out! Not blow up, but blow out. Blowing out is permanent. Blowing up U can come back from Those smart traders all had one thing in common-they knew better. They used the smart technical terms that shows how smarter they R. They knew better then the banks, the market, the brokers, the big traders. Everyone else is wrong-they R right. It is the quiet trader that kills