Truth About FX

CLICK HERE TO MEET JAMES KENSINGTON AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this episode of Truth About FX, Walter and James Kensington continue on their exciting talk about why hedge fund traders quit after just a few years. They also point at some interesting knots if you ever want to set sail with it.

You will also find a unique trick on how to get clients and why James doesn’t buy Ferraris anymore. And, how do you teach you trading system to others? Is there a “proper” way to do it? More on this second part of special episode with James Kensington…

Download (Duration: 57:31 / 65.8 MB)

In This Episode:

02:12 – 9 figure fund

03:50 – the good, bad and the ugly

06:32 – build your history

08:37 – transparent trading

12:08 – one person fund

15:59 – suicide vehicle

18:28 – self rewarding mechanism

21:20 – sensible with money

24:18 – compounding money

28:00 – rock stars

30:34 – rich, stupid-rich and spot-rich

34:00 – best, cheap television

38:18 – garbologist

41:43 – intrusive

45:03 – moral obligation

47:33 – work-life balance

50:40 – becoming better

53:08 – walk the dog

55:23 – be sustainable

Tweetables:

Number one: find the right course for you [Click To Tweet].

You cannot replicate a trader entirely [Click To Tweet].

Have a nice, diversified portfolio [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but, forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner. Instead, hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome back to our interview with James Kensington. This is Part Two of a three-part series. In Part Two, you are going to see why hedge fund traders don’t want to work for hedge fund after they’ve worked for hedge fund for just a few years.

This may surprise for you. If you are looking at trying to get your foot on the door at the hedge fund, you’re going to want to pay attention to these. Also, you’ll see how James used a really interesting trick, an unusual trick to get clients attention.

Those clients who have money and are looking to invest, he uses his very unusual trick and I think it’s actually brilliant. So, that’ll be interesting for you. Also, you’ll see how many traders tried out for James’ fund and how many he actually hired and why.

You’ll get the secret about teaching your trading system to someone else. Now, once James realized these, he was able to actually increase his funds profits by keeping these in mind that a lot of traders are completely unaware of these facts. So, that is something to also listened to, it’s also a good point.

You’ll see why James doesn’t recommend buying Ferraris ...

CLICK HERE TO MEET JAMES KENSINGTON AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this special episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by probably one to be considered as “trading rockstar”, James Kensington. They dive into the subject of goal-setting and how to be noticed by private funds. James reveals his life being a retired trader and managing his own fund.

They talk about trading at home, dealing with drawdowns, and cooking recipes. More on this podcast…

Download (Duration: 01:01:20 / 70.1 MB)

In This Episode:

00:59 – tricks and tips

03:14 – knocked out

05:14 – trade killer

06:50 – synchronization

09:11 – rhythm

12:26 – normal cycle

14:37 – indecisive

18:11 – careless mistakes

20:21 – fudge up

22:48 – residual income

24:26 – patience

26:55 – reclusive trader

29:15 – air fryer

33:?? – interact and socialize

35:46 – distractions

38:00 – trading tools

42:35- visual trader

45:26 – endgame

48:26 – dog’s leash

54:52 – naked forex

56:46 – news feed terminal

59:31 – expensive terminal

Tweetables:

The final thing that people want is financial independence. [Click To Tweet].

It’s all about managing risk  [Click To Tweet].

Trading is to be free to go away.  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but, forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner. Instead, hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome! It’s Walter here and today we have a very special guest. One of our popular traders. He’s been very active in the naked forex forum and he’s basically a rock star. Now, I will let you know he is currently retired. This is James Kensington.

Today, we are going to talk about goal setting, getting noticed by private funds, the life of the retired trader. James is going to reveal what it is like to be a retired trader dealing with drawdowns, tips, and cooking recipes and juicing recipes.

Also, talking about some of the tricks and tips for traders who are living at home, things that you can do as a trader when you are at home to deal with. Shall we say, somewhat unknown aspects of trading by yourself because it is so isolating.

James is also going to talk about his trading system and what he is going to share with us at the live trading event. We’ve got all of these and more, so welcome, James Kensington.  

James: Hi, Walter. How are you doing?

Walter: Great! Talk a little bit about the differences between trading as an institution versus trading retail as an individual.

CLICK HERE TO MEET HUGH AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by a fellow trader and a good friend, Hugh Kimura. They share their thoughts on living the trading lifestyle and keeping good win rates. Is it really possible? Hugh also points an interesting note on his blog, Trading Heroes, and how this helped him gain confidence and bridge connection with other successful traders.

Hugh also spices the talk by dosing this episode with some of the “weirdest” things he got across with on his blog…

Download (Duration: 31:03 / 35.5 MB)

In This Episode:

00:43 – awesome stuff

01:43 – steady paycheck

03:19 – old crap situation

05:37 – work remotely

08:57 – revenue streams

11:38 – bridge that gap

14:39 – controversial

16:05 – about podcast

18:44 – off track

20:51 – ball boy

24:30 – where to start?

26:07 – selling time

27:41 – in the shadows

30:14 – multiple streams

Tweetables:

The final thing that people want is financial independence. [Click To Tweet].

It’s all about managing risk  [Click To Tweet].

Trading is to be free to go away.  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but, forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner. Instead, hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome back to the Truth About FX and today is a very special one because we’ve got Hugh on the line. How are you going, Hugh?

Hugh: Pretty good, Walter. How about you?

Walter: Yeah, great. As most of you know, Hugh is a forex trader. He’s been trading for sometime. He’s also been offering some awesome stuff on the internet. I know a lot of you is obviously following Hugh’s Trading Heroes and all the interviews and really cool blog posts that he puts up.

I’ve learned a lot of stuff from reading your stuff that I’ve never knew. I know you offer a lot for forex traders so this is going to be interesting, Hugh, because I want to interview you about how to live the 80% of the trading lifestyle while keeping a steady paycheck and learning to trade. I am really interested to hear more about this.

Frist of all, what do you mean by that? What is the 80% of the trading lifestyle while keeping a steady paycheck and learning to trade? What does that mean?

Hugh: Something I came across on that blog is that a lot of people think it’s an all or nothing thing. Either you are trading for a living or you are working a job and they want to jump to trading for a living right away but they really want certain things out of trading that I find you can get out through personal experience.

I find that you can get with the regular job so that you can keep that steady paycheck and,

CLICK HERE TO MEET GONCALO AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this episode of Truth About FX, Walter and Goncalo Moreira from FXStreet talk about how this special guest’s artistic touch gave him a unique perspective in trading. They dig deeper into technical analysis and how human nature relates into price actions and market patterns.

Goncalo also shares his journey and his dedication to ignite potential especially from newbie traders.

Download (Duration: 50:43 / 58.0 MB)

In This Episode:

01:43 – a unique background

05:20 – analyst of analysts

08:10 – candlestick charting

12:05 – propose of technical analysis

13:55 – a contrarian tool

16:33 – human patterns

20:10 – financial astrology

26:57 – timing the market

31:1 – money management technique

35:16 – extrapolating the methodology

37:50 – a practical approach

40:38 – the concept of coastline

43:14 – not risk but potential

47:55 – intentions

Tweetables:

Money management is the key [Click To Tweet].

What is your aim?  [Click To Tweet].

You can make a system your own  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes forex trading can be a wild and woolly place to be but forex trading doesn’t have to be the badlands for you partner. Instead, hunker down and bend your ear. You’ll be burning the breeze in no time here at Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: All right. I’m very excited today. I have Goncalo Moreira and he is at the FXStreet team. He’s a trader, forex specialist and he’s been trading for over 10 years so this is going to be interesting to hear some of Goncalo’s stories from his perspective.

I was introduced to FXStreet many, many years ago. I don’t know maybe 13 years ago or something like this. It was one of the first really beautiful forex websites I could find on the internet and I’m really happy to have you Goncalo.

Goncalo: I’m very honored, Walter, to be part of this

event and I’ve been following your work for many years as starting being an user of FXStreet, then being a contributor as you have been for so many years and finally being part of FXStreet. You surely remember when we met here in the International Traders Conference in Barcelona. It was very interesting and we had great fun during those days.

Walter: Yeah, it was excellent. Those were the best conferences, yeah. Tell me, how did you find yourself getting into trading? You have kind of a unique background, you’ve lived in many countries. And, how did you find yourself a trader?

Goncalo: That’s true. My background comes from the artistic world. I graduated in fine arts. That was mid-90’s but later I switched gears and I found myself confronted with the foreign exchange market.

CLICK HERE TO MEET ADAM AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this episode of Truth About FX, a special guest joins Walter to talk about automating your trading systems and what it’s like to be trading for a hedge fund. Adam Hartley is a long-time forex trader and programmer with a Doctorate in Physics. His background gives an interesting twist on how he treats his charts and developing his strategies through algorithms.

And, you’ll here about a good tip on how to spot a true ECN. More on this episode…

Download (Duration: 40:39 / 46.5 MB)

In This Episode:

01:21 – hanging over you

03:23 – globalization

05:57 – purely mechanical

07:57 – bad patch

10:24 – dark art

24:49 – big, impulsive moves

28:12 – accelerated

32:54 – purely mechanical

35:35 – trend biases

38:46 – how to spot a true ECN?

Tweetables:

Make a living in doing what you love [Click To Tweet].

Those occasional winners can make the difference  [Click To Tweet].

Balance the risk/reward against the hit rate  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but, forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner. Instead, hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome! It’s Walter here. Today, we have Adam Hartley. Adam has been programming for over 20 years. He has a Doctorate in Physics and he’s got quite a background in programming. So, it’s going to be an interesting conversation because Adam is going to shed a little bit a light on the Algo Boogies, perhaps, and what it’s like to work for hedge fund. So, welcome Adam.   

Adam: Hi there, Walter. How are you?

 Walter: Great! So, Adam, this is really interesting because there aren’t a lot of people like you out there who are willing to talk. I am just curious about your background. How is it that you went from Physics into, essentially, programming algorithms? How did you make that jump? I guess, I suppose what’s your story like? How did you get to where you are today?

Adam: Sure. Well, as you said I started off in academia. I was studying Physics and during my Doctorate in Physics and there’s always this thing hanging over you: where the next bit of money will be coming from as an academic and I was starting to worry what will I do if the funding ran out because I was enjoying the Physics.

So, I started out. I’ve always been quite interested in the market. I started to think, “Well, maybe I could sort of figure out the market. How hard can it be?” So, I started to get interested in it, read some books and started to code up a few little simple indicators, really basic stuff back then.

I just really got into it. I got more and more addictive to it. I wanted to do work, hard work, didn’t find it easy as I thought. I tried to do a little bit of spread backing b...

CLICK HERE TO MEET REIMA AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by a special guest who trades very similarly to him, Reima Huovinen. Being both stay-at-home traders, Walter and Reima dig into the bumps they had when they first started out in trading. Does the people around you really matter in terms of achieving your goals? And why is back-testing so essential to your success?

Reima talks bout how he built his confidence and his unique approach to trading.

Download (Duration: 49:00 / 56.0 MB)

In This Episode:

01:02 – unusual trading

03:54 – naked approach

05:15 – simplicity

07:39 – withstand tough times

09:49 – trading simulator

12:41 – work in progress

14:39 – extensive testing

16:49 – steady, constant growth

18:52 – stick to the major

20:28 – clever approach

23:54 – highly overrated

25:44 – backtesting mistakes

27:47 – mess up stats

30:00 – game changer

34:05 – quite opposite

36:45 – purely technical

40:58 – until it’s proven

44:07 – big impact

47:58 – eventual success

Tweetables:

Prove to them that you can do it [Click To Tweet]

Backtesting can really give you that confidence  [Click To Tweet]

Take a more disciplined approach  [Click To Tweet]

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner instead hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time. Here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome! It’s Walter and today we have a trader who trades after my own, own heart. He has a very similar life to myself. Reima Huovinen is a stay-at-home trader. He has a style of trading that is quite unique as you’re going to find out today.

He’s also going to talk about the people who’ll affect your trading — and these people are very critical to your success, and you probably haven’t really thought in depth about the effect that they may have on you. He’s also going to talk about how he built his confidence up and why he trades in such an unusual way. All of these in this session. So, welcome, Reima.

Reima: Hi, Walter. Thanks for having me here.

Walter: Reima, one of the interesting things, I suppose, about you is you — and I sort of have a similar life, I think. We both have a lot of time. We both have kids to look after, although yours are a little bit older and the way we structure our day is basically based on the fact that we trade higher timeframes.

So, can you talk a little bit about your trading day and what it’s like? How you got to that point, I suppose. I suppose a little bit of background would be great on how you found trading and then why you’ve settled on this style of trading for yourself.

CLICK HERE TO MEET RAUL AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this special episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by one of the presenter at the conference, Raul Gonzalez. They talk about his trading journey and how he ended up being a flow trader.

Raul shares an important tip on placing stops, taking risks, and capitalizing. And, is it true that being a bank trader is better than being a private trader? How do banks trade forex?

Download (Duration: 49:00 / 56.0 MB)

In This Episode:

01:29 – flow trader

03:50 – the other way

06:03 – scrutiny

08:49 – not worthy

11:28 – little magnet

15:23 – start panicking

17:14 – boredom trade

19:07 – be cold and still

22:16 – the smile or the emotion?

26:30 – accountability partner

30:07 – accountability partner

33:37 – daily tolerance

35:50 – scandals

39:10 – redundancy

41:38 – pipeline

44:27 – amazing track records

47:20 – bombarde

Tweetables:

Live where you can enjoy the things that are fun [Click To Tweet].

It boils down to psychology  [Click To Tweet].

How much risk are you taking?  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner instead hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time. Here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome! It’s Walter here. Today, we have a very special guest. This is one of our presenters at the live forex conference in London in 2017. This is Raul. Raul, first of all, welcome and thanks so much for spending time here. It’s Raul Gonzales.

I know you’ve been trading for a long time, Raul, and you are currently trading for a bank. Is that right?

Raul: That is correct. Hi, Walter. Thank you for the invite. I am very happy to share my experience and my journey, if you like. Indeed, I am working for a bank. I’ve started… I’ve always been trading in London except for a two-year stint in Madrid.

I think I joined the markets in 1994. I’ve always concentrated and specialized in FX and money markets, short term rates, after 2 years. I’ve always been what you would call — I can explain this later — a flow trader. Whereas, the position I have now is more of a flow trader.

I’ve seen more customer flows and what I make is just in the back of the risk I take which makes it a bit more challenging, you could say. But, you don’t have to worry about a big customer flow, waking up in the middle of the night, because you have to come in first thing the next day to cover a big customer order.

It has it’s advantages and disadvantages. You have more freedom because if you do not take risk, you won’t make money.

Walter: Right. So,

CLICK HERE TO MEET NICOLA AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this special episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by Fan economist and a private trader, Nicola McLaughlin. They talk about trading psychology and how it affects your results and how that can change your trading mindset, and your outlook in life as a whole.

Nicola talks about he used her background in economics and relates that to her trading experience.

Download (Duration: 45:34 / 52.1 MB)

In This Episode:

01:06 – trading club

03:05 – confession

05:43 – escape

07:22 – more concrete

09:05 – positive thinking

11:58 – the golfer

16:09 – a head game

19:23 – limitations

21:51 – greatest benefit

24:24 – on pause

27:04 – counterproductive

30:16 – emotional connection

33:03 – a place of stress

35:12 – driving a car

37:16 – trading blind

41:06 – flawless

43:50 – invisible

Tweetables:

Trading is like another language [Click To Tweet].

Learn to manage stress  [Click To Tweet].

All emotions are useful, even the negative ones  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner instead hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time. Here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Welcome! It’s Walter here and today we have Nicola, a private trader and Economist. If you’ve seen some of our webinars, you know that she had a very popular webinar on her trading system and the psychology behind her trading.

She is going to talk a bit today about trading psychology and how that it impacts your results, how that can change your approach to your trading, how that can completely change other areas of your life as well. She is going to talk about these at the conference so welcome, Nicola.

Nicola: Thank you so much, Walter. I started when I was at University. I wasn’t trading forex, I was trading stocks and shares. I’ve got into a trading club with a couple of other students, economic students. We used the money that we earned to help pay for our Uni-fees and things like that. 

So, that was my first exposure to trading but I never felt quite right and I drifted away from it and then, later in life after Uni, I’ve got into trading options, and again, it never really quite felt right. I mean, I was good at it. I just wasn’t comfortable with it for a long term thing and I just got drifted away again, then I became a mother. I was just reading about forex and I thought, “Let’s try forex.”

Once I discovered the world of forex, I realized it’s what I’ve been looking for the whole time because I’m much more interested in macroeconomics, the bigger picture and with stocks and shares, for example.

CLICK HERE TO MEET JAMES AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by one the forum’s most popular members, James Kensington. They talk about James’ beginnings and how he founded the “Umbrella Fund” and “Incendium Fund”.

They dig into one of tradings biggest misconceptions: “If I trade full time, then I’ll earn more money.” And how this can really affect your results. James also shares about his trading lifestyle and “reward system.”

Download (Duration: 01:09:07 / 79.1 MB)

In This Episode:

00:53 – collection of toys

03:12 – from scratch

06:16 – a naked trader

08:51 – human factor

10:25 – impatience

11:09 – hard lessons

14:22 – money is precious

17:26 – emotionally destructive

19:31 – unchecked

21:36 – puppy next door

23:06 – bells and whistles

25:03 – life threatening

27:20 – pop belly

29:27 – misconception

32:01 – big grumbles

34:10 – less risky

37:40 – backwards engineering

39:50 – fish netting

42:23 – cycle traders

43:55 – secret sauce

45:10 – fish concept

47:45 – portfolio of strategies

50:18 – tool chest

53:00 – absolutely nowhere

56:02 – be picky

59:20 – thickheaded

61:46 – pump and dump

66:51 – a sponge

Tweetables:

Trade part time [Click To Tweet].

You’ve got to be able to accept losses  [Click To Tweet].

You have to be picky  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but, forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner. Instead, hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Today, we have a very special guest. This trader has been one — in the forum, probably — one of our most popular members because he’s been so generous with his time and has a great track record. One of the best track records of the traders in the forum.

Of course, I am speaking of James Kensington who has the Umbrella Fund and Incendium Fund which is correct, right James? You’ve been trading now naked for some time and I gathered from your collection of toys, you’ve been doing quite well.    

James: That is correct. Yes, I have been trading for quite a few years. I think you were just mentioning before 2010 and when your book got released out in 2012 but I have collected quite a few nice toys along the way.

I prefer to keep those under wraps if I can, that I won’t be giving you my license plates so I don’t get stalked. I am sure you’ve seen supercars in London, everyone  runs a ramtastic pictures with their cars there....

CLICK HERE TO MEET FRANK AT THE LONDON CONFERENCE

In this special episode of Truth About FX, Walter is joined by Frank Walbaum, who trades managed forex accounts. They talk about how Frank was able to transition himself from being a part-time trader into trading forex for a living.

Frank also shares how he handles some of his most difficult clients and why you should take a time-off from the charts.

Download (Duration: 55:27 / 63.4 MB)

In This Episode:

00:38 – transition

03:13 – burnt already

05:43 – get wiser

07:24 – upside down

10:02 – hands on

14:19 – totally non-sense

16:09 – initial approach

20:14 – back to reality

22:06 – mindset change

25:30 – mental blockage

27:02 – more adrenalin

30:34 – observe yourself

33:04 – quite quiet

36:00 – double-edged sword

38:55 – how to develop mindset?

40:27 – a gift

44:22 – sleep comfortably

47:09 – floating

49:46 – fixed star

52:03 – limit your risk

Tweetables:

Get your mindset right [Click To Tweet].

Always limit your risks  [Click To Tweet].

Ride the trend or take the swing  [Click To Tweet].

Announcer: Sometimes, forex trading can be a wild and wooly place to be but forex trading doesn’t have to be the bad lands for your partner instead hunker down and bend your ear. You will be burning the breeze in no time. Here at the Truth About FX Podcast.

Walter: Hi, there. It’s Walter! Today, we have Frank Walbaum. Frank was a trader who traded part-time while holding down a full-time job and he’s transitioned into managing accounts. Now, Frank is going to talk about how did he transition from part-time trading to trading for a living. He is also going to talk about difficult clients.

He is going to talk about when you should take a break with your trading. Also, how to adjust your life to your trading styles because that is really what it is all about and that is why most of us get into trading. So, tell us a little bit about how you get into trading, Frank.

Frank: Hi, Walter. Actually, great talking to you here. I got into trading when handling some currencies myself on behalf of my old company.

We were travelling a lot and my boss was saying, “Hey, Frank, we’ll give you some Euros. Can you exchange it for our next trip to Australia? We can possibly get some AUD for that one and just like calculate how much we need to pay for our upcoming travelling expenses and stuff.”

That is how I started pretty much with a hands-on approach. I took a couple of dollars, went to the local money changer here in Asia, and then exchanging the funds for our upcoming trip.

While traveling, just doing the receipts and stuff and coming back, I found that there was a fluctuation. That was before the crisis in 2008 that was happening and I just found  that “...