Saying Thanks and Taking a Break

With Thanksgiving upon us I would like to take the opportunity and thank all of my readers. To some of you my writing may not always be clear. Some of you may think that I sound offensive. And others may find me dogmatic at times. But most of you, I hope, think that I add value to your trading and investing. So I would like to reflect on my 17 months of blogging.

I began this blog with intentions to write an unbiased daily review of financial market conditions. But, as I now fully realize, my blog became my trading diary - a trade journal, depicting the views of a full-time trader. It also, hopefully, became a learning site for many starting and progressing traders. It became a chart hub, a tutorial on what to do with various setups, a guideline for trading around economic reports, corporate earnings, and geopolitical events. I am not sorry that my blog transformed into something else - I am proud that I was able to keep it up. So I would like to thank all traders and investors who came across my blog and made it their daily or weekly stop.
In this journal you have at your disposal most of my brains: my experience, my mistakes, my analysis, and my knowledge, which nobody can ever take away from me! You have to realize, that hiding in a maze of Internet garbage, there are priceless clues on how to succeed in professional trading. Some of them are here, on my blog - all for free. I was not always right - as the matter of fact, I was wrong many times - but I knew how to get myself to sustainable profitability in trading. Your profit and loss statement at the end of the year is all that counts. It is your achievement ranking, your ultimate goal, your only way of knowing if you will become a successful trader.

Do not try to copy me. It is virtually impossible to copy someone's trading style and make it your own. You can read all trading books in the world, but they will never change who you are. You will have to develop your own trading style which will be based on your level of comfort, your ability for analytical thinking, your desire to take a risk, and tolerance of one. You can start out small or big, on paper or with real money, with one account or many, trading forex, or stock index futures, or options, or equities, or commodities, or bonds, or whatever the heck you want. Just do not procrastinate, hesitate, delay, and waste your precious time - start trading now!! But if after many years of studying the skill of trading, you are still wondering if this is the profession for you, and just cannot put a trade together, then stop immediately and find something else to do. Folks, trading is one of the hardest professions on Earth, it is not for everyone. 95% of traders fail - an undeniable and very powerful statistic. The odds are not in your favor. In order to become a trader you have to persevere, dedicate yourself to this profession, concentrate your attention on all important details, learn how to admit and correct your mistakes, and most importantly - remain humble and be prepared to fail miserably.

As some of you may know, I like to take an extended break between Thanksgiving and New Year. In this period of time volumes get thin, intra-day moves get exaggerated, market action gets more choppy, and it becomes less desired time for swing traders like me. During the break I will monitor the markets and stay fully abreast of things. I will mostly not trade and keep my powder dry. I may write a post or two just to keep my hands warm. If you are profitable before this time of the year, you do not want to give back anything you have made in the last 11 months. This is solely my decision and does not have to be followed.

I deserve this break. I would like to reward myself for the hard work throughout the year. I hope you will understand my desire to rest, and will tune in for my updates starting in January of 2013.
My blog has been an amazing journey. 30,000 page views are a testament to my hard work.

Thank you for reading! Please stay tuned...