Byeajee - Zero to Hero: How I went from being a losing trader to a consistently profitable one: a true story!

T he sun is starting to set as I write this first paragraph. I have an ocean view and I am currently in the Mascarenhas Archipelago on a tropical island called Mauritius, nearly half the size of Rhode Island. It is winter at the moment but that doesnt mean much here as the annual average temperature revolves around 26C (76F). Where I sit, the sand is golden, soft, but crisp, and as I gaze at the water, it is invitingly warm, transparent, with a display of various shades of turquoise. I feel so blessed to be here! It is surely a spiritual experience and at this very moment, I can only breathe mindfully as I contemplate my life and feel a great degree of appreciation for it.

Trading has given me the opportunity to experience a certain degree of freedom that most people can only dream of. It wasnt always like this, though. I struggled a lot before I was able to return consistent profits from my trading operations. There is no way I can deny that and the memories of those painful times still trigger a deep emotional response within me. But I intimately believe now that some of our most painful experiences happen for a reason. They are here to teach us something about ourselves, notably how inflexible we are to changes. I am grateful for the painful experiences, especially when I came to realize my role in it. I would not change a moment of it, though I never wish to repeat them.

My original choice for the title of this book was Equilibrium: How I calmed my mind and improved my trading results, however I decided to go with a title that did a better job at appealing to the masses. Empirically, people, in general, are more inclined to buy books with get rich quick titles, so my intention was to touch as many people as I possibly could with my story which is one of hard work, dedication, pain, but also spiritual awakening and self-realization.

Trading is not a get rich quick endeavor! It could be but if you get in for the wrong reasons, chances are that you will end up disappointed. So, I think it is important to have a real discussion, based on integrity and intellectual honesty, about the implications of trading for a living. From my own experience, durable success in the markets is a function of the kind of habits you cultivate on a daily basis. When I first started out, like most people I had no clues of what it really meant to trade for a living. I knew there would be some hard work, dedication and sacrifice involved but I didnt know to what extent.

To have you fully understand where I have been and how I can help you better evolve in your own journey, I think it is best that I start from the beginning. My interest for financial markets coincidentally started when I became old enough to understand the necessity of having a substantial amount of money in order to have a good life. I remember my older brother showing me a financial website and eagerly saying people actually make a living buying and selling stocks on a regular basis, you kno w and you can too! I dont know whether his intentions were to tease me or not, but I was struck with curiosity. I started researching more on the subject; though, I cant say that this research was fructuous. Those were the early days of the internet and trading-related information wasnt readily accessible within the click of a mouse, nor was it as inexpensive or free as it is nowadays. Yet, the modicum of information that I found sparked my interest even more, firmly planting the trading/ investing seed inside my head.

I was so fascinated by compound return tables, quotes, and market-related news, still I could not understand how one could find information or learn something from the enormous amount of numbers, symbols, and names that did not mean anything to me at all. But I was determined to learn!

Fast forward a couple of years, I had accumulated a rather significant amount of money from various jobs I took throughout the years, and I was finally ready to trade. I can still recall my state of mind at that tim e a subtle combination of excitement, eagerness, hope, but also delusions as to what was realistically possible in terms of returns in the markets. Making money in trading surely seemed easy just like a low hanging fruit waiting to be plucked. So I thought!

For a very long time, I couldn't manufacture consistent results from my trading operations. While I did make money here and there, I almost always ended up giving back those profits to the markets one way or the othe r plus more! Pretty ironic, isnt it? I embarked on this journey to financial independence but all I got in return were losses; the drawdowns were not only financial but emotional as well.

Trading, like any high-performance endeavor, is a mental game where we are required to pay attention to the present moment. But this is not enough! We have to stay present in a way that ensures that we execute our methodology flawlessly so that our results are in line with its capabilities. In other words, we have to learn to dissociate ourselves from our thoughts and feelings!