Trading with the others’ ideas means don’t have your own ones. Interview with Denis Traube, Drag Trade contest winner.

It is often thought that it’s better to invent something new and unique than to borrow ideas. But usually such claims are only good in theory, but in practice something conventional turns out to be way more effective and reliable. That’s why newbie traders, who worry about losing their money, prefer to copy and borrow trading ideas. Denis Traube, the winner of round 335 of Drag Trade contest, has developed over the years his own vision of trading. He put it to practice, perfected it and turned into nothing short of a philosophical doctrine. In this interview Denis told us how to search for your own individual method and why you should always question your own actions.

Denis, tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you do?

I’d been pursuing more than a dozen lines of work, mainly construction, metalworking and other kinds of assembly activities. But for a long time now I’ve been handicapped and unemployed, and I have no desire of advancing my “professional career” any further.

How did you get into trading? Does trading bring you stable income?

I’ve been trading since about 2004, but there were long breaks and occasionally I lost interest in trading due to lack of ideas. Trading doesn’t bring stable income. I prefer to think of myself as a theorist trader. A researcher. And up to a certain time I was satisfied solely with game thrill, like playing chess.

Let’s imagine an ideal trader. What qualities do they possess?

Attentiveness and patience. Concentration and a lack of urge for thoughtless imitation. Everybody talks about discipline, but I think it’s overrated. You should be constantly questioning your decisions instead.

Let’s discuss the most common mistakes of trading novices. Have you managed to avoid them?

I’m a self-taught trader. When I was starting to trade I skipped through the guidebooks, but they didn’t answer my questions. I found the answers to some of them later, but not near to all of them. I made assumptions and hypotheses, put them to practice and eliminated anything useless. I tried to reach understanding of the “understanding” itself, so to say. Now I use only my own express methods and try not to pay attention to the blabbing about yesterday’s news. Yesterday’s news isn’t worth much. It’s only me and the display of my computer. There’s no other way. There’s merely a short list of persons, whose trading methods I share. Trading with the others’ ideas means don’t have your own ones. Do you want to acquire a prospect of your own brainwork’s degradation under the influence of someone else’s forecasts? It’s not the best way of keeping afloat even in trading-related activities. You come into trading to become independent, but you become dependent on someone else’s views? Sure way to stay in those proverbial 95% and not get anywhere.

What trading instruments do you prefer?

Chiefly it’s highly volatile cross currency pairs. I don’t use majors that often nowadays, only with a nice setup, to get an aesthetic enjoyment from an accurately calculated reversal.

What do you pay attention to when choosing a broker?

Responsiveness and quality of service. Quotations variability range. Broker’s history on the market and the reviews, both invited and honestly earned. Information space requires transparency and fair play. If you don’t realize that, you lose customers and eventually crash, that applies to any business.

Why did you decide to participate in Grand Capital contest?

Because I like Grand Capital contests. I take part in them regularly and I see that the leaderboards are inhabited by actual trading behemoths, I mean it in a good way, they are highly trained and have a deep understanding of market dynamics. You have to wrestle your way to the victory one step at a time, with persistence and sheer stubbornness. Phycologists say that “boys need to compete”. So we compete. And for that we owe you an eternal gratitude.

And finally, what advice can you give to beginners?  

Everyone looks at the same chart and everything is in plain view: price, time and quadrature. Never give up. If you’re tired, take a rest and charge again, and then everything will surely work out in the end. And throw all your indicators away! If the price reflects everything, why do you need those crutches?