From A Lucrative Job To Professional Trader And Fund Manager

In episode 135 of the Desire To Trade Podcast, I sit down in Hong Kong with professional trader, fund manager, author, and educator Ray Barros.

A lawyer by profession and training, Ray gave up his lucrative law practice in the 1980s to focus on his first love – trading. His initial attempts at trading failed miserably and he suffered heavy losses.

But, after making all the mistakes in a trader’s manual and then some, Ray finally hit on a trading approach that gives him the market edge.

This approach has proven effective in both trending and congested markets, allowing him to trade profitably and consistently.

Thereafter, he was highly sought after by major banks to manage their funds.

At the same time, he was also very much sought after as a trainer to train other institutional traders based on the strategies and techniques he developed.

In the early 1990s, he became an outsourced FX Trader and this gave him the flexibility to focus his next great passion – teaching.

Topics Covered In This Episode

• A quick introdton about Ray Barros 0:22
• How Ray Barros first got involved in trading 1:05
• How Ray recovered from blowing up an account 2:40
• The best way to improve in trading & learn what the market does 4:21
• How to create a proper trading plan 5:45
• How Ray Barros started to manage funds 8:00
• What Ray thinks of a $100,000 account (and up) 9:30
• How to get capital to trade (when you're profitable) 11:10
• How to know if a fund is a scam or not 12:23
• Chris asks: do you need to show a track record to investors?13:47
• Should you keep your losing period on your track record 15:52
• How Ray Barros handles drawdowns (BIG lesson!) 17:13
• How Ray managed to keep his investors over time 19:00
• Kimo asks: what's your approach to the market? 23:00
• Taking partial profits or moving stops with discretion 25:38
• How Ray manages professional trading & running a fund 29:35
• What timeframe Ray Barros focuses on and when 31:15
• How to scale up your trade size 33:12
• How much to risk per trade (rule of thumb) 34:20
• How to build up your account size 35:20
• Why Ray Barros applies the same process to all markets 37:50
• Advice to start in discretionary trading 38:27
• Ray's maximum drawdown rule 39:50
• What traders do wrong these days 41:00
• Why trading is the hardest job in the world 42:50
• Why Ray Barros meditates 46:34

Resources Mentioned

• Trade Journaling: Edgewonk
• Book: The Nature Of Trends (by Ray Barros)

DesireToTRADE Top Resources

• Desire To TRADE Forex Trader Community (free group!)
• Complete Price Action Strategy Checklist (free checklist!)
• One-Page Trading Plan (free template!)
• DesireToTRADE Academy (exclusive training program)

How To Find Ray Barros?

• Trading Success
• Twitter

What is one thing you are going to implement after listening to this podcast episode? Leave a comment below, or join me in the Facebook group!