Funds for Traders

Traders need money in order to trade.....no if and's and but's about it.

In fact....I think that has been my biggest obstacle in trading consistently.  I always had placed my stops too close because I was afraid of losing on the trade.

Duh......and then I lose on the trade!

Some people think that a tight stop is wise risk management.  Well, not exactly.  You will know that your loss will be small, but you have a much greater chance of losing.  In fact, the chances get real close to guaranteeing that you WILL be hit!  So it's not the way to go.

But having ENOUGH money to trade with in the first place is the answer.  I just wrote about that on one of my other blogs and you can read about that right here:  Funds for Traders .

See for me it has been the biggest obstacle.  And I don't think it matters if you are a Forex Trader, a Futures Trader.....or even stock trader.

On the other hand, suppose you had a steady stream of income coming in.  Every month or every week, money came into your checking account.

NOW, do you think that you would be afraid about the stop loss hitting you now?  Do you think that your confidence would climb.....knowing that it's no big deal......I have more money coming in this week?

Well anyway, this has been the challenge for me and I did share what I did to overcome that obstacle on the other blog.

Who knows, maybe that would help you also.  So check it out: Funds for Traders .

Good trading!

New Chat Room

Well it has been a while since our last post......what can I say.....I have been real busy.  So sorry about that!

But anyway we will be adding some new pages and postings so keep us in mind.

 In the mean time I just wanted to let you know that we just added a Chat Room and you are certainly welcome to come in and join us anytime.  We are a friendly bunch so don't be bashful.

You will notice on the Chat Room page that all you have to do is enter your name or nick name and hit enter......and you are in.

Here are a couple of tips:

• Once you are in the chat room, you will see a tool bar at the bottom of the chat window.  There is an icon, 3rd button from the right, that looks like two pages.  Click on that to pop out the window.  That let's you change the size of the window to fit your screen and move the window around.  This is a great feature for traders who tend to have a lot of charts and windows open at the same time!
• You can customize your chat window for size of the font, and notifications.  So if you want to minimize it or hide it and be notified with an audible sound when someone enters a text, or when  a certain person enters a text, you can do so.
• If you want to leave your computer for a few minutes and want to let people know that you have stepped away, there is a drop down box on the right side, just above the users tab that lets you select AWAY.  That puts up a coffee cup next to your name so people know you have stepped away.
• You will notice that when ever someone posts a text, their name appears.  If you want to respond to that person, or text that person and get their attention, click on their name.  That will populate their name in the chat text box.  AND when you hit enter it will make a special sound that will alert the person that someone has just entered something for them specifically.  This is a nice feature when you are in the kitchen or staring at a chart.  It also works the same if you type their name, but you have to type it as they have it in the room and the other way is just faster.
• There is a time out feature because this is a free room.  If we get a lot of participants we can upgrade it but for now the room has a time out feature.  If you are idle for about 30 to 40 minutes, the room will kick you out.  So it wasn't us :)  But just click on the enter button and you will get right back in.  Most of us hit the period or decimal point key and then enter every 10 or 15 minutes to prevent the room from kicking us out.  And that starts the clock over again.  So I know it's a little annoying but hey, it's free.
• Explore the tool bar at the bottom of the window.  There is a Gear button that has settings for you to customize your window.  Also an Icon buttons if you like smiley faces and such.  And oh yeah....the music icon button has a few sounds if you want to have some fun!  And then all the way to the right is the log out button for when you need to leave.

Anyway please join us and have some fun.  It is pretty amazing to see how many traders will join us eventually.  In one of our other rooms we get folks from all over the globe.  Sooner or later as folks find us, we expect this room to be the same.

Some come on in when ever you like.....and join in on the Chat Room !!

Good trading to you!

What is the Apiary Fund

So what is the Apiary Fund?  Well let's start with an email reply that we replied to as a result of a post on a Linked In Group.  So here is the reply......and then we will add an additional comment below that.

Hi Jacob,

This email reply will also be posted on the group post……sans the prices.  It’s not my place to post things that they have the right to do or not to do.

Apiary charges $995 to join up and that purchases the software (ProForm Robot) and all of the set up and training.  In addition, the month after, they charge a continuing fee of $97 per month which covers data, continuing education, upgrades and server time etc.

Now they pay out 60% to 85% to us from our monthly profits on our accounts, so the $97 per month may seem annoying to some, but all they are trying to do is to establish some fairness and at the same time maintain the high pay outs to us.  Some of us do not need continuing education, although personally I enjoy it.  But then again a new trader just starting out will need many months if not years of refresher type training until they fully grasp the concept of trading and become more efficient with their trading.

Personally I would much rather pay the $97 per month then have them decrease the commission structure levels to cover the costs.  And besides, how much do we normally pay for data feeds and exchange fee’s……certainly much, much higher than the small monthly fee.

And here is something to consider as well.  Some of us come in as experienced traders and we can just about start running with their program.  And some of the higher accounts can be much more than most traders would ever be able to trade on their own anyway.  But let’s consider a new trader.  The top traders in the fund teach us to make $100 a day.  That’s it!  And that is the goal from the perspective of using a regular sized lot size of $10 per pip……..and yes that means their $100 a day is actually a goal of 10 pips a day.

What they are doing by teaching this is to show the average person that they can do it.  It’s an achievable daily goal and as their account sizes grow……which the funds come from Apiary, not your profits……well then the work required would remain constant and your profits would increase because of lot size.

Now I don’t know about you but I don’t think there are any prop shops that would even let you get away with 10 pips a day…..and you are never held responsible for losses on your account.  It’s their money, it’s their fund which is privately held and they control the risk.  So there is no additional burden on your shoulders.

So let’s take a brand new trader just starting out trading Forex.  In order to start trading they would normally require $2,500 in order to start an account.  And I am sure they may be able to do it for less, but as an average, it’s about $2500.  Seeing that about 95% of new traders will blow up their first account….we can just about take it for granted that the $2,500 will become what we consider tuition payments to the market.

But what if they joined Apiary instead?  If you add the initial fee and the monthly fee’s and let’s say it took them 5 or 6 months to get to a point where they could make 10 pips per day, they are still way under the $2,500 that they needed to open their own account.  And Apiary would most likely start them out with a $2,500 account,……money that Apiary provides…..and if they made 10 pips a day with a mini lot size of .10, they would not only cover their monthly fee, they would also have money left over.  Oh yeah….and the trader is not held responsible for any losses on the account.

And Apiary wants to get all their traders up to the higher account sizes as quickly and prudently as possible.  So if a new trader was trading a $2,500 account and they proved that they could handle it…..well then one day they will be given a $5,000 account…..and then a $10,000 account.  That’s not from the traders profits…..it’s Apiary funds.  So how long would it take a new trader to get his $2,500 account up to $10,000?  Well personally I think it would be quite a long time.

So whether the trader is brand new or a seasoned trader……Apiary is a great opportunity and one that I am very happy that I came across.  I trade when ever I want….from my home…..and my daily targets that they recommend…..are way smaller than my own.  I trade my own account side by side and the most important thing is that I learned an incredible amount about money and risk management…..that I had all wrong for many years.

Whether an account of $2,500 or one of $250,000…..it’s their money and not yours…..and you are not responsible for the losses on the account!!!  So a scam…….no way……not even a possibility and I know it for a fact personally!!!!  A great opportunity for any trader but especially a new trader…..absolutely!!!!

If you or anyone else would like more information you can contact me directly through Linked In, we can discuss via Skype…..or you can just go to Apiary’s site and contact them.

I wish you the very best in your trading endeavors!!

Apiary Fund

Dave W

Tradeoholic.com

*************
Note: since I first posted this item....Apiary gave me the okay to post the prices so they have been re-inserted in the email above.

Well on this blog we intend to do reviews of various products and companies and I was intending to do a review of Apiary and in fact may still do one.  But what prompted this reply was the word "scam" in a post that was obviously online. 

That word scam is used every where and while doing due diligence on a company we usually enter it as a keyword or part of the keyword group.  Bloggers and marketers even use that word to attract people to their sites.  Now understanding websites or blogs....I know exactly why they do that.  But the average person doesn't usually pick up on it very quickly.

Now before I joined Apiary, I did my due diligence and some of that was online and reviewing forum comments.  And some of those comments made me laugh......and some really ticked me off.  

It is so easy to smack on a scam label on a service or company......and yet if you read the forum posts you would immediately understand that the person talking was a newbie or a very inexperienced individual.

But I get mad because when someone says....oh it's a scam.....they scare off great people who could have changed there lives for the better.....if they continued looking into the company and actually joined forces with them.  And the final decision should be theirs as well.

In this particular case......I joined Apiary in November of 2011.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the training and I am blown away with the great people and traders involved with the company.  Are there any negatives....well yes there are but being a business owner, I fully understand what they are going through.

So what are the negatives?  Well here they are...... sometimes when you call you get voice mail and they may take a while to get back to you.  And if you email them....depending on who you email, it may be a while before you get a reply.

So why is that?  Well last I heard they were approaching 500 traders who are now part of Apiary.  These are traders from all over the globe.....and a lot of them are new to trading.  And that means their growth is going through the roof.....and it should.  

So if you can imagine what it is like answering questions from a huge base of new traders on a daily basis.....and inquiries from even more traders who want more information on the company......well it can really over power you quickly.

Like I said....I am a business owner and I fully understand how things can get out of hand quickly as you are building a business.  But that should actually be considered a great thing when looking at a company.  If they are growing fast there is usually a really good reason for that.

And they are adding more experienced traders to help with the training sessions and more customer support people on a very aggressive pace.  So the only negatives about the company that I can see.....will most likely disappear in a very short amount of time.

But I am more interested in the positives.  I have been with them for a few months and I have spoken with some of the folks for quite a while via telephone and I am telling you......I love these guys.  To me, this is the very best thing that I have done with my trading career.

And the biggest thing that I have gotten from Apiary so far has come from their training.  You see most guru's teach you indicators and a specific trading style or method and let you know "this is the best".  Well Apiary will teach you indicators and various methods so that you are well rounded.....but money management and risk management is the key.  And learning that from successful traders who have already done very well for themselves is so important.

My view of money and risk management has turned my trading objectives around 180 degrees.  And now I know exactly why so many traders just never get near the success that they have always dreamed of.....or they quit.

So if you want to learn how to trade......you want to learn how to manage money like a pro......well then you ought to look at the Apiary fund.

And don't forget.....you are trading their money.  You could have an account from $2,500.....up to $250,000 and perhaps more.  And you will be trading for people who have your very best interest in mind.....because it's mutually rewarding for all parties.  The more you make....the more they make....and even when you get to the highest levels......they still win because you will never leave them at that point and they will have in turn a very steady return on their money.

Check them out......and I would be happy to share with you more information via Skype should you be interested in joining forces with The Apiary Fund.  Or you can fill in a comment on our Contact Us page that includes your email address and I will get back to you.  And don't worry.....that just emails me the comment....so it won't be posted on the web unless you wanted it to be and I approve it!

Thanx and as always......I wish you the very best in your trading endeavors!!!!

Disclaimer

Trading Futures...and...Trading Time

Trading Futures….and…Trading Time!  Kind of an odd title for our first blog post, but the underlying theme of our site is pretty much that. 

But more specifically, it is a question and not a statement.

So perhaps it should read; “Are we Trading Futures…for our Time?”

You see we get into trading and those of us who choose the lower time frames become enthralled in the excitement of the price action.  We realize quickly that no one is going to hand us success.  But there are a lot of successful people who make serious money by investing or trading.

And of course we immediately add ourselves into that pool of success…..even if we are just a beginner.

But getting back to the excitement of the lower time frames…..it tends to pull us in.  A price bar takes off and we immediately become like a cat chasing a laser pointer.  Our pupils become wide….our hand lurches forward to grab the mouse.

And of course if we jump in….it most likely is the worst time to do that.  So maybe we did get in…..and the market snaps back at us and grabs our stop.  We grumble about the evil institutions or market makers….LOL…..even though it was us that pulled the trigger.

Now….we have to get our money back so we become glued to the computer screen.  Bar after bar goes by…..and we wait to jump back in.  Then some news comes out and the market takes off in the opposite direction.  And here comes our cat like nature again…..with the wide eyed madness on our faces.  The hand lurches for the mouse again.

It sure is addicting isn’t it?  And we love it…..we all get caught up in it.  We spend hours at it…..waiting for the next trade….glued to the screen.  Sometimes we even feel like it is somewhat hypnotizing.  And heck we may even stop for a minute to yell at the kids for spending too much time in front of the video games or on Facebook.  Hmmmm….?

But the point is that it can be somewhat addicting and the very thing we desire is what we are giving up. 

We seek the life style of those who make a serious income and that life style always seems to be accompanied by more time.  More time to go on vacations…..and to visit exotic places.  More time to go fishing, play golf or play with the kids.  Travel the country and spend time with our loved ones……that’s exactly what we look for from trading…..and yet…..it’s our time that we give up.

Well at some point in our trading career we usually get an epiphany or a revelation of what is happening to us and we wake up.

For me it was rather abrupt and folks who know me know exactly what that was.  But for those of you who do not know me….let me take a minute or two to explain.

I have had a long career in aviation and was self employed.  My business tanked and for the last three years have had very little work.  Because I was desperate for income and couldn’t find a new job even after a couple of years looking…..my trading was becoming increasingly worse….instead of better.

The added pressure was just driving me crazy and I had a hard time focusing on my trades.  Finally I just closed my account because the winters in New England can be brutal and heating the house had to be the priority.

I continued looking for some menial job but nothing.  And then comes Easter.

Some of the family came over….time with the kids….a little too much to eat….and some stomach pains.

After a week the stomach pains were starting to get me a little nervous.  And finally on May 4^th I went to the emergency room.  I was admitted into the hospital in the early morning hours the next day…..and started with all sorts of tests being done.

Turns out, I had some weird infection.  It was weird because the Dr.’s didn’t know what it was, where it came from…..or how to fix it.  And a CT scan revealed that I had a couple of abscesses on my intestines from the infection.

Long story short…..I went into surgery.  I came out of that and within a week or two; the nurses ripped my wound open while turning me to change the bed linens.  So a second surgery to fix that was required.

All of this time I was being fed with an IV and given every anti-biotic known to man….or at least it seemed that way at the time.  Then a few weeks later they were concerned that I may be leaking inside so they ordered another CT and I had to drink an oral contrast.  Within a few hours I went into septic shock…..and a coma for 8 days.  

All my organs were going into distress….my heart beat was uncontrollable and I was building up fluid internally….and my lungs were failing.  So life support was the order of the day.

When I finally came back…..I was obviously weak and the drugs and the septic shock just wreaked havoc on me.

One day while the nurses were working on me they looked up on my monitor which was over my head.  In monitored care….your vital signs are viewed not only on your monitor, they are also on the monitor at the nurses station and if something is out of line…..it will show up as an alert on all of the monitors.

So the nurses were at the foot of my bed looking at the monitor…and then each other and then they glanced at the curtain separating me from the patient next to me.

They called his name….and went over to his bed side.  I could hear them talking and I could see one of the nurses face as she watched.  The patient went into arrest….actually I think he choked on his food….but he had a DNR or do not resuscitate order.

So as they talked and watched…..he died….within inches of me and my wife.  Later his wife came in and some family members also and we just sat there quietly.

After a couple of hours the wife left….and I noticed that she was wearing that mans watch.  I just choked up because I remember when my father died….that’s what my mother did….she wore his watch for a while.

That day and many days after that, I would lie in my bed and think about time.  And mostly……what a waste of my time…..via my career or especially with trading.

Now I said that I went into the hospital in May, but I didn’t get out until the middle of June.  And on top of that I was being fed through the IV until mid September or the beginning of October….so I couldn’t eat or drink anything.

I lost about 80 pounds….and it felt like all my muscles had disappeared.  And….I had so much time laying in bed thinking about time itself.  In addition to that…..thinking about how in the world could I make a living?

At one point I got my computer moved into the room and had it at the foot of my bed.  I had my charts up…..but they were frozen in time because I didn’t have the money for the data.  So I just stared at my charts and contemplated my methodology and my efficiency when trading.

And one phrase in particular that kept ringing in my brain was “Time is Money”.  Well we have all heard that phrase and duuhhhh…..we get it right?

But do we really get it?  When we look at all the great traders and investors….we have to ask the question; what time frame do they trade?

And then for me a different element entered the picture.  I had plenty of down time to re-read Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas.  This time I just really got it when it came to trading with probabilities.

After 11 years of trading all of a sudden, probabilities became real to me.  And if that wasn’t enough…..an impossible dream came to me as well. 

I discovered a private fund and I applied to be a money manager with them.  I figured if I don’t have money of my own, what could I lose by applying to trade some one else’s money?

Well I was accepted and when I saw their strict money management and risk control requirements it really set me back a little.  Not that it was wrong…..but actually it was so right.  The problem is that it just didn’t fit my trading style.

So I had to trade differently…..and change my rules that took me years to develop. 

Now I plan to discuss money management, risk management and trading with probabilities a lot in the near future on this blog.

But let me leave you with this for now. 

I did change my trading style and it is becoming the absolute best thing that I have ever done.  And perhaps I was half way there because of my health surprise last year.

But you see TIME is the absolute most important and most valuable commodity that we have.  We only get 24 hours per day so the supply is very limited. 

Now I wish you the very best of health…..but what would happen if you were to get sick or something disrupted your current life style. 

Do you have your act together….and do you have your affairs in order? 

And are you making the absolute most amount of money per hour that you invest in trading……for the least amount of risk?

These are some of the very important questions that we need to ask ourselves.  And oh yes…..there is one more question.

Are you a Tradeoholic?

For me…..I am Dave Webber…..and I am a recovering Tradeoholic.

Well that’s what this site is about.  Yes we may trade futures…..but we do not trade our future for our time.  We aim to maximize our free time…..and minimize our trading time by managing our money, our risk and we trade high probability trades.

And you know what…..it’s still a lot of fun.  But you get a peace about you because you know that you are doing it right….and you know that you win.  Even when we take a loss…..and we will always take losses……but we win.

We win because we trade very low risk……high probability trades…..with high positive expectancy profit potentials.

And if that sounds like what you need or where you want to be in your trading…..well then maybe you should come on back and check us out. 

We will be adding a lot of useful information in the very near future so keep coming back and watch us grow.

And until then…..I wish you the very best in your trading endeavors!!!!

Disclaimer

The New Tradeoholic Blog Site

Welcome to the all new Tradeoholic Blog Site.

Now wait a minute......this is not about becoming a Tradeoholic.....its about getting your trading life in perspective and NOT becoming a Tradeoholic.

We may be traders and we tend to not only follow the markets....we tend to follow our leaders who may have an influence on our trading style.  But that doesn't mean that what we are doing is the right way to go.

So the purpose of this site will to be the best trader's that we can be!  We will strive to be more profitable.....spend more time with our family.....more time doing things that help others.

And if that's something that you are looking for.....well come on back and check us out!

We are just getting started.....but it will be worth checking us out.

Come back soon!!!!