A LETTER FROM OUR STUDENT
I stepped foot into the world of trading just months before the Global Financial Crisis back in 2008. I was fourteen back then and had all the hubris and drive a young teenager would possess, I wanted to be the “best” and was determined to be so.
In my quest to be the next trading legend, I attended many courses before the age of 17 and spent a total of approximately $20,000 by then, a hefty sum for a teenager. This does not include the “tuition fees” paid to the market by blowing up accounts at least three times, one of them was even on my mom’s line of credit. In my pursuit, I believe I looked as far, wide and deep as any retail trader possibly could, I read every famous book on technical analysis, fundamental analysis and biographies of trading legends, even down to the esoteric studies like Gann Analysis, Gartley Patterns and Harmonics (these use angles as part of their charting analysis). It was to the extent that I fought for a 9-5 role during my time in the Singapore Armed Forces, just so that I could read and use these 2 years of isolation from society to make a desperate (not last) hurrah, devouring 51 books on trading, risk and philosophies related to strategy within that time. By the age of 21, I knew many things about trading and the markets, but I still could not be consistently profitable and it was getting weary, many internal doubts started surfacing which I did not communicate to anyone, I had gone too far now to give up on this, the aspirations and visions I held so intimately in my mind, I could not let it go. Sure, I was definitely better than when I first started out, in terms of skill and understanding, and had gained some understanding of what I need to acquire to achieve consistent success, but the time spent trying to tinker my way to success was met with the reality of “adulthood” and real world responsibilities, this was the beginning of a much more arduous path, or so I thought, and that was when I met Vee and came to know of TrackRecord Trading Academy.
The first time I met Vee, I thought his quirkiness was a breath of fresh air and he was the first professional trader I had come across after 7 years who had actual serious working experience in hedge funds and banks . This was my sanity’s last hope and the rest was history. Under Vee’s watchful guidance, I have learnt the standards risk-management professional traders adhere to in Tier 1 Hedge Funds and Investment Banks, how the best Macro Traders thought about the world and what it means that the goal is not to be “right”, but to be rich. It was there and then during the process that I understood the importance of having a mentor who has played in the Major Leagues before. Unbeknownst to most retail traders who are constantly looking for that one trading strategy, it was not a specific “holy-grail” that Vee imparted which changed the course of my trading destiny. It was his Trading Framework that allowed me to harness the knowledge I have accumulated in the last 7 years and put it to good practical use to overcome the barriers to success, a literal coup de grâce to the fairytale retail traders have in their mind about what it takes to succeed. It was never about finding a specific trade set-up that can be rinsed and repeated to riches.
Trading is unlike a jackpot machine, you don’t just stumble upon success after a 2-day course as propagated by many imbeciles, it’s a competitive sport where skills need to be honed over a period of time. A mentorship is the only way to success in trading, precisely because it’s a long enough process to get you the right strokes and fundamentals. A Trading Framework might sound esoteric and unattractive to most retail folks only because it’s not the easy way out, but the easy way out never made anyone truly wealthy, so your success is dependent on what you choose to embrace, the truth about trading or continue chasing butterflies. I will end this with the most cliche of wisdom, and cliches become so because there is much truth to it. “Give a Man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a Man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”. As a personal testament to the importance of having the right mentor, I’ve managed to open doors I’ve always wanted to since my younger days. In the recent years, I run a Managed Money Macro Portfolio and recently became a founding partner at an Algorithmic Trading Company. Sure this may seem like the final destination and the end of this tale, but in reality this is only the beginning of the aspirations this 14 year old teenager had when he started out back in 2008. There are many more mountains to conquer and trenches to climb out of and you need to have a “Sherpa” if you want to conquer Everest. I’ve found mine in Vee, and I will encourage those of you who are staring up this colossus mountain to take along with you a battle tested veteran, because you’re already on the road less travelled.
“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it…”
― Wilferd Peterson
To Your Success,
Nick.