Birth of Leap Trader

Beginnings

If I remember it right, 2019 was a testy year for me and during the last quarter of that year was the most shitty quarter of all the years I have had. I had anxiety attacks because of tribulations I was facing then. Never have I publicly disclosed the problems I faced that year and only told a handful of friends and love ones, to whom I am grateful for. Looking back, I am glad that I had a strong and good support system. I still do.

One friend suggested that I try my hands in trading for me to get distracted, while at the same time earn me money. Little did I know that there was an ulterior motive for pushing me to study and try trading. I had zero knowledge in trading, and I was hesistant to try something new, but I needed structure and distractions from my then problems. I said yes to the suggestion. To be honest, though, I was only 40% committed to it for many reasons. One major reason is lack of confidence and fear of losing.

October of 2019, I joined a group that is a process- and system-driven traders. I was overwhelmed and frantic because I was a true newbie (a virgin of trading). They were using terms that were completely alien to me. Feeling lost through the whole process, I felt discouraged, but I did not want to be a failure. I picked out the things I understand and forget the things I don’t. This is a big no. You cannot skip steps in the process. There’s a reason each of them was placed there in the first place. I kept on making excuses, and was discouraged to dip into the market.

Faking it till you make it doesn’t work with trading the market. You really have to understand and practice.

I got through with all the lessons of the process-driven group, but at the age of 30 your brain absorption for new things is like only 30%. Or maybe because I was not into it.

Yet.

Lockdown 2020

Hoping to leave hardships in 2019 and looking forward to what the new year would bring, I was positive that everything would go well. But 2020 seemed to have other plans. Just two weeks into the year, Taal Volcano erupted. Ashes from Batangas reached Antipolo. The air became unsafe to breathe, and we had to wear face masks. When this subsided, we still hoped for a better year. It turned out it was only a prelude to more hardships and disaster. March came—Covid happened and lockdowns were implemented which has lasted up until the time of this writing.

You would think that lockdowns would help me in my trading journey. No, it did not. For a time, it seemed that it was. With the arrest in our homes, time was non-existent, so was routine. There was constant fear and worry of the unknown. This did not help me at all with my education and learning in trading. I was a normal person who was in constant fear and worry of what is going to happen, instead of one who would use her time to gain more experience in the market.

Thinking that I would never be able to catch-up with the group of process driven, my friend, that same one, suggested that I enroll another group which concentrated in forex. After taking all the classes and mentorship program I finally had a grasp of the basics. Steps, terms, and things begin to make sense and I am more convinced to try it. I believe I can do it.

The only thing that was missing is practice practice practice. Everything that I have learned be put into test drive. I had not been consistent with my trading practice. There are times that I would be very game with trading, and their are times that I don’t see any sense with it all. Even without practice and no gains in my demo account, I was still determined to continue trading on my own sweet time.

Current Trading

Fastforward to 2021, I was stuck on educating myself that it had became a comfort zone. Some call it “tutorial hell.” In it, I gained nor lost anything. But the truth is, I was losing time and opportunity to grow money. That’s why I decided to have a live account with real money. In my thinking brain, doing it with real money will push me to act, and consistently at that, because I hate losing money.

Opened an AXI live account with an initial $200.00 fund. Now, there is something at stake. I must practice and clean up my act. Create a routine and process. It is really a leap for me backed only by believing in myself.

Documentation

Thus the birth of Leap Trader. This will be my written account of my daily trading activity and lessons. This is my blog that would help me keep in line and practice my analysis and reflections for all the trades I am going to make.

Optimistically, this will help me be consistent with my gains. I could always go back to this documentation and keep inspiring me to continue trading.

-o)-