Okay, so Hi there, traders and welcome to the latest client interview with Jean Jean is from the sunny shores of South Africa and is one of only several female clients I work with which, for me is a great shame. Given that I personally feel that women do make better traders because they don't have the ego of us guys. So I hope the interview will give a viewpoint from a female perspective and also help to inspire and motivate others to get involved with trading. Jean has been a student on the Learn to trade news course for several months now and has taken the learnings to take some fantastic trades. She's moved from spending time digesting the theory and then quickly embedding this in her day to day trading. We even have a running joke at the minute she often holds trades a lot longer than I do.

And as intern has generated a few more pips so it's obviously great to hear from one perspective but a little bit disappointing that the student has become the teacher. as well. And so following on from Paul's interview recently, which was very well received, I hope another informal chat with a top performing student like Jean will again energize others into pursuing their trading journey with even more vigor and perseverance. So without further ado, let's get cracking with the interview. But firstly, let me just start by saying a huge thanks to Jean for taking time out of her weekend to conduct this interview. It's massively appreciated from not only my perspective, but from also the guys and girls that are watching.

So we're going to go along a similar line to what we what we did with Paul in terms of the questions so guys can compare and contrast the differing feedback from yourself with regards to the answers to the questions and can compare and contrast those to what Paul said recently. So let's open with the with a bit about yourself in regards to your current occupation brief trading history, prior to working with myself just general overall Trading journey that you've had over the past few months, which is bought you two to working with myself on the course. Hello, Tom. It's such a pleasure to be talking to you today. Can very briefly my my background is legal. I was a property lawyer for many years and came across trading at a point where I was looking for a second career way back in October 2011.

That's when I first came across the concept of trading I never had before. And remarkably you were there at the very first course I attended was with you, which was amazing. And here we still are four years later. I have I wouldn't ended day trading initially for about two years and two years ago, I began to experiment with intraday trading and found that it suited me far better. I enjoyed it much more. So that really is where I am with my trading where I was My trading just before I started your course.

Okay, fantastic. So prior to the the actual news course, had you learned much about the fundamental side of things, or was it mainly a technical perspective? You know, I was trained initially, to trade around the news to actually avoid it. Red Flags would go up and we'd be told, stay away from those days stay away from those events because they upset your technical setups, they can upset your technical setups. So there was almost an inbuilt allergy to the news. We'd sort of shy away from it without having any tools to look behind it or try and anticipate what might happen when a news event comes up.

So if I think about how the insights that you've given me about the fundamentals how those insights have helped my trading, I could go on all day. If you think from the point of view, it's so much better to know something than not to note, to avoid it. It's so it's so much more advantageous to know what is happening to be prepared for what is coming through than simply to put your blinkers on and and skip around it. There's just no comparison, I feel as if windows have been opened on another point, because it is an event driven strategy that we learned through learning the fundamentals, you're looking at specific data points, you're looking at events taking place, you're looking at announcements being made. You In fact, can practice your risk control that much better than you can on a purely technical basis. You very infrequently take those enormous, full losses that when it's hitting hit so hard when you're a purely technical trader, certainly in my case, You can really practice your risk control that much more intelligently.

Because you've got that degree of inflammation and anticipation, which will immediately tell you go with this one, or let's step back and rather, rather leave this one alone, it's not panning out the way we thought it might. You have that information, which is hugely advantageous, rather than ignoring what is happening out there, with the big institutions and the central bank from those big, big comments that come out and how they can affect the charts. To me, it's been an amazing education around and just so much more aware of what is moving in the global economic picture. Since you've introduced me to those fundamental basics, you've taken an enormous subject in the material could have been incredibly complex in your course, but in fact The way you boiled it down, we're looking at three sessions, we're looking at eight types of events, we're looking at eight major currencies, what could be simpler?

And taking those very clear and simple black and white parameters and feeding into that framework, the news events that we know are coming. And what we hear coming through on the on all those resources that you that you give us, to us, is the most amazing, clinical, logical strategy I could I could have imagined. It's really broadened my perspective as well, in the sense that I'm so much more aware of what is going on globally and economically. I think one is just a better educated trader. Yeah, I was just gonna touch on that point, because what many technical purely technical based traders often say to me is that they're a little bit taken aback or shocked. When there's a big move in the market, and they don't know the reasons why all of a sudden euro dollar has just dropped 100 pips in 10 minutes or pound dollars just headed up 70 pips in the last hour.

Do you feel like that? By knowing the fundamentals and the economic outlook that you've just mentioned there? It, it tunes you into why the moves have happened, so you can better understand and use it to your advantage in your trades. Absolutely, Tom. Absolutely. And, you know, it's, it's not even just in retrospect, but as a technical trader, you know, you look at something Have you think what, what just happened?

Yeah. You can actually anticipate and be intelligent about it and say to yourself, right, I see it 330 something is coming out. I must be aware of the possibilities, the variables that play here that could be that could affect what I am planning. And you just feel that much more informed. It's almost If you develop a little bit of X ray vision, if I can put it that way, yeah, you can see it a little bit deeper, then a technical trader really wants to see a technical trader really doesn't want to see all that stuff. Because when immediately thinks it's complex, it's contrived.

It's unexpected. It is. It's scatters you, you know, all those sort of emotions. No one can be cool and calm. You can plan you can plan your week, you can plan your day, you can make your decision in a very clear, logical way. As opposed to being blindsided.

You've hit the nail on the head there with regards to the whole approach with the course the course has been built for us to be able to be proactive to news events. So rather than scratching our heads afterwards going, why did the why why why is there just been a massive move. We can actually prepare ourselves prior to that. So we can take advantage of the move because we understand why they Could be a move before that takes place. So you've absolutely hit the nail on the head there. And and that's really pleasing to hear, because that's essentially why I wanted to produce the course to help traders be more proactive and plan better for their trades.

So they can actually take advantage of those big moves. Because they're often they're often quite scary in their nature. And it's understandable because you can think, Oh, that's a fast move. What if I get caught out by that, but if you know, and you're educated as to why there is likely to be a move like that. So recently, we had Mr. Draghi from the ECB who was on the calendar, he was scheduled to speak. And going into that event, we knew that if he was going to talk about further action in December, that could then create a lot of weakness on the euro.

So even before he started to talk, we knew what we wanted to see happen before it happens so that if that then comes to fruition, we can look to trade those big moves, but with lots more confidence that we've got a direction No bias, and we know which currency pair to trade for maximum effect off the back of that. Absolutely, absolutely. And that that, for me was is, is an enormous advantage because as a technical trader, I was on the cautious side and often hesitated found it difficult to click the button. With the fundamental Foundation, you feel somehow more in control, because you can take a logical decision, you hear doggy speak, you're listening to your squawk service, you're picking up the comments that are coming out. And what you what you thought you might hear, you don't hear, then it's so simple just to fold your hands and decide, right I'm sitting this one out, because what I was expecting to see I'm not seeing so I'm just not going to do anything.

And that gives you a measure of control as well. But when you do see what you're expecting, you don't have that hesitation you actually have the logical backup. The intelligent take on what is going on to save Now I know one of the big institutional traders will be doing right now. And I'm going to be doing exactly the same thing. Brilliant. So would you say that now, it's very, it's much more black and white in terms of your trading decisions.

They're much more black and white than they used to be in terms of it's either comes in one way and you trade it or it doesn't. And you don't? Absolutely. And even if there is a move to start, and you see a move, begin to Peter out, that's also fun because you thought, your bias is correct, you're heading in the right direction. So what are the pieces that you take what the market gives you, and you're happy to spit back when it's moving? It's, it's coming to an end.

And that also takes the emotion out of exiting a trade. So you have a cool, logical head going in. And the cool logical head coming out, you don't have any of the trauma and drama comes around an entry and an exit, which After all, it's like taking off and landing a plane. Those are the two most dangerous times on Thank you. Yeah and you're absolutely right that and that Do you find that that helps from a emotional perspective because you'll have heard me talk about trader psychology for till the cows come home is I feel that when you get your mindset right and you're able to control your emotions that's when you can truly master the markets now having that black and why approach and be more confident in going into the trade you feel that really helps support the psychological side of trading because the the theory around the fundamentals is one thing, but also it's the the emotional side as well to make sure that we have the strength of mind and character to take a trade and also to know when to hold it and when to fold it.

Very, very much. So Tom, very much so it's made in the space of a few months. If I recall, I finished the course with you about three months ago. And in that space of time. I've seen the change in my my own trading style in that I don't stop breathing. You know, those panic attacks about Oh, should I come out now?

Should I should I carry on? Should I hold this? You actually have almost a dare I said, a big banker. Head on your shoulders you think? Here's the news, I was thinking there was a 50% chance of seeing happen. Right here it is.

I'm in and if I'm only in for 10 or 12 pips. Great. Goodbye. Thank you very much. We'll move on to the next trade after that. If it runs for 50 or 60 pips.

Wonderful. I'm on board. So definitely it hasn't changed my lifestyle to a far more calm and Zen approach. She might see my entries and exits. Yeah. Yeah, that can't be underestimated because indecision in trading can be can be fatal, both with entering a trade and also exiting.

So that's really pleasing for me to hear is that students are becoming more confident because everything's more black and white. And because of that confidence that's infiltrating into their decisiveness to know when to take a trade and to when to either leave it to realize a greater profit, or if it's not doing what they expect to cut it out. And that's where the feedback from you is brilliant for me to hear, because that's what I wanted the court to do was to build confidence, build decisiveness, and in turn build results. And it's very, very different because both confidence for me and said, those those crucial points, the entry and the exit, I've had far more conviction in taking the steps and the actions that I take, as I as I was before. There certainly is more ease of decisiveness if I can put it that way.

Yeah. Brilliant. No, not that that emotional. I don't want to leave pets on the table. I don't care anymore because I'm No, I look at the calendar and I see how many opportunities there are. And well isn't sitting at the screen all day.

Absolutely not. You don't have to you can actually pick your events. Don't always be something when you when you add your screen, you can. You can plan as I say, plan your weekend day that way. But when doesn't have, I had a huge fear of missing out, which was a very difficult thing to work around. And your course, definitely can't have that.

Because you know, there's so much activity around the globe every day, that there's always going to be something and whether it's a wonderful 50 6080 foot move. That happens once in a week and a few smaller moves. That's wonderful. That's absolutely great. It all adds up. You don't have that feeling of hanging on to a trade, seeing a turn against you, simply because you don't want to miss out.

Yeah, and I think I'm talking from personal experience here. A board trader is a dangerous trader When you're twiddling your thumbs and going out and taking a trade for a couple of weeks now or a week or even a couple of days, we can start to see mirages on the charts. Oh, that looks like a nice opportunity when really there's nothing there. However, with the new style of trading, as you can see from the Forex factory calendar, most weeks, there is an abundance of opportunities. And alongside that, I know we're bringing you up to speed slowly but surely, because the course is mainly the black and white economic events. But you're now starting to see from the examples I'm posting that you can also take advantage of breaking news comments, you can also take advantage of breaking, breaking economic events, things that aren't scheduled.

You can also tune in and know very, very quickly what it means for certain currencies. So for example, if Bank of England's Carney Mark Carney comes out and says something bullish for the dollar, which relates to interest rates, you can quickly take a trade off that so yeah, in addition To the scheduled events, you've got stuff on top of that. So I always say to traders that you get quieter weeks than others, but there is normally an abundance of opportunities. And we're not talking about weak opportunities. We're talking about strong fundamental based opportunities to take each week, which can't be underestimated, because as I said, At the start, as board traders make dangerous to make dangerous traders because we start to execute trades that really aren't there. We take lower probability trades, and that leads to inconsistency in returns.

Very definitely, very definitely. cerned. And And certainly, seeing those that abundance of opportunities puts one of these on that on that school. And I certainly have shrugged off that sense of fear of missing out. Definitely. Excellent.

Excellent. So in regards to value for money, because that's one thing that's posed all the time and in terms of the the pricing of the course, you're quite unique because you're from South Africa. So obviously the exchange rate is absolutely Shocking from your perspective, so you have paid from a local currency perspective, a little bit more than others. But I just want to hear your opinion in terms of now that you've been on the course for three months and you've gone through the various lectures, you've obviously had the ongoing discussions and the sport and answers to your questions. How would you rate it in regards to value for money? Because that's something that keeps coming up time and time and time again, if I'm going to spend this money, what sort of value Am I going to get back from it?

You know, I, I was jotting down thoughts. Knowing that we were going to have this chat. And the one thing I wrote down is, this is the course no serious trader can afford to miss it. You and I had a laugh at the time because I don't think you knew how hungry today's rate was. And it was simply a ghost in my head. I'd been on one or two other courses.

In fact, only two other courses that were really, really expensive. doesn't begin to compel us to, you know, get get down to basics here. It is incredibly reasonable. But the flip side, which is far more important is the ongoing value. Now, let me start with the course itself. If it is incredibly well structured, as I know you, you put an enormous amount of work into it.

It's a vast complex field of information that you've reduced to a very easily digestible framework which one can put into practice immediately. You can do the course in your own time you practice as you go, because you can actually start putting on some trades before you've even finished the course I certainly did. I was getting a feel of it and getting a feel of using those great resources that you that you put us on to forex news gun and the Forex factory I've been using for many years, I know well, but you've emphasized the importance of it. And armed with all those tools, the minute one finishes that Cause you can actually, you underway, you're already starting to, to put all those tools to use. And I'm starting to see some results. And for me that is absolutely invaluable.

It's something I wasn't able to experience with either of the other two courses, which were purely technical that I've done before. Also, the amazing ongoing support a new material that I find on the site every day. I mean, I feel as if I have you sitting here in my my study every day because I sort of check and see if there's a new video or there's a new comment with as a kind of currency update. It feels as if one has a trading partner sitting in working with you, I think, more than I think, I think touching on that point is not many people realize that they're within the course as well as the lectures there's obviously gives me the ability to give ongoing discussion. Because markets are imperfect, I obviously have built the course to make it quite black and white, but markets do change.

So in order for me to keep students abreast of these changes, I need to continuously update the course with, as you say, new material, but also discussions. Okay, something has just happened, which I feel is very, very important for us to know about. So I'll just post a little discussion, just to keep you tuned in. And then when things change on the currencies from a fundamental perspective, I'll update the watch list so that you guys know exactly what that change has been. So as an example, we've recently been very, very bullish on the pound. So we've been looking to buy the pound on any good data out of the UK.

However, recently, there was a sharp shift in the Bank of England stance to a more bearish downbeat approach. So my thinking there was I need to update the students that we don't really want to be buying the pound right now because the central bank is changing. their stance completely. So that gives me the course foundation gives me the ability to update you guys on a day to day basis to make sure that you're tuned in to the markets as best as possible so that you're able to adapt and be flexible to markets, which are imperfect. Yes. And when one can put a value on that, that's an amazing support.

It really has has been such a learning curve for me. And it's a sense of, as I say, having having a trading partner that you feel as someone who you can ask a question anytime and you'll get a reply virtually straightaway. You can just read what's been posted there and you get a good sense of what's going on during any particular day or part of the day. For me that is invaluable. And and you're also a key component of that because you've been very active on the discussions as well as asking questions, sharing your trades, giving your thoughts and it's a two way thing as well. I want to be putting those discussions on and for you, too.

Go Actually, I don't quite get that what would your thoughts be on this or that? So it's a two way thing as well. So obviously, your progress and seeing the progress you've made with some of the fantastic trades you've taken has also been on an important part from your perspective as well to get involved in those discussions and, and to contribute, and then send me emails to ask questions, etc, etc, to make sure that your learnings are progressing as well. It's wonderful to have that that that sense that you are there as a sounding board and as a coach and a trainer. It is, I guess I can put a value on that. For me that's incredibly generous, and really so important.

That's brilliant. And as I've said all along, I know it sounds a bit cheesy and it's in my head. It sounds cheesy, but it's really, really important to me that that because of my struggles in my journey of like being young and not having that much money is I want people to be able to see a return on their investment quite soon. That's why I've purposely kept what I feel but the price of the course fairly low. People can, as you say, Take trades within the first few weeks and start to see a return on that investment and cover the cost of the course quite quickly. Because then anything above that is obviously profit on top of that.

It's just then been once. Yes, absolutely. I mean, then you've covered your costs, and you're on your way. So I can't, I can't over emphasize how, what an amazing range of resources you've put at our disposal as your students for a very modest sum on an ongoing basis. Absolutely. It's marvelous.

It really is Thomas Berry. It really is something I treasure. Fantastic. So moving on from from that one. Often the posed question about the cost of the courses. The next one is, I get a lot of emails coming in in terms of I don't feel like I can take advantage of the course because I can't spend all day at my charts and I know you've touched upon it a bit so far, but what would you say to people that are a little bit younger They don't have that much time available to them to take advantage of these news events because they're they're busy with the with their work and and other things because you're similar to that is you're a busy lady, and you're over in in South Africa or a different country.

So slight time difference there. What would you say to people that are worried about not having the time to trade each and every news event? Tom, in fact, trading around the news is, is perfectly suited to someone who doesn't want to be sitting in front of a screen all day or can't be because you can look at your forex factory calendar at the beginning of the week, you can see the primary events that are coming out. You can almost plan your week and each day around events where you want to be present at your screen. I'm fortunate in the sense that I've freelance now so I can, I can leave my appointments around the time that I really want to be at the screen. But even if you're working nine to five sessions around the globe, you've got Asian, European and New York, there's so much to choose from that even if you take advantage of 20% of what is going on each week, you can still make a profit.

It's, I think, ideally suited to busy people, quite frankly. And I think of, for example mums doing the school run and working girls, whatever we might be doing, you can actually build your own week and daily planning around events that you want to be present for. If you're restricted nine to five, there's still events that you can that you can take advantage of outside of those hours without having to be awake all night. So for me, it's absolutely ideal. If you're lucky enough to have free time that you can you can choose exactly which which timezone you want to you want to trade. Well, that's wonderful.

But it's it's a field with so many choices, that in fact, you can't take The more you have to pick and choose. And if you if your schedule allows for a certain time zone or for a certain number of screen opportunities a week, that's fine, you can choose them. Amazing. So would you say would you say it's more flexible than than purely technical trading from a time perspective in terms of its ability? Yes, I would say so. If I think for example, take my own my own routine.

I would do my analysis early in the morning, sort of towards the end of the asian session. Just to see what's happened overnight, have there been announcements during the night I'm looking to buy factory at the moment. Now we've got some news coming out of New Zealand and Japan tonight. So I'll be checking tomorrow morning to see if anything moved as a result of those. Kind of just get a feel early in the morning of what is what is going on and what's coming up. Then I might go to the gym and go and swim for half an hour or an hour.

Come back. Because then I know I want to be back by 1215. To hear what Mr. Doggy has to say. Yeah. So when can really, you can you can plan your day around what you do choose to be involved in, I think the flexibility is greater. That's brilliant.

That's brilliant to hear. And I think there's a misconception, a big, big Miss misconception of news based trading because people think you have to be at your charts between certain times you need to be at your charts all day every day. And that's not the case because you can look at your economic calendar at the start of the week, and plan where you need to or when, when and where you can actually get your charts for those news events. And as we mentioned earlier, there's an abundance of news events every single week that we can at least schedule in 20% of them and it only takes one or two very good trades to generate a really nice profit each week and then each month. Absolutely tomac I couldn't agree with you more. I think it's it's it lends itself to Someone who's working full time, right through to someone who has all the time in the world available.

I think across that spectrum, there's there is a there is a positive outcome for any one of those people within that range. And obviously, you're now you've become very evangelical about the fundamental side of trading, because you've seen how much you've progressed from previously, where you're purely technical to now, utilizing the fundamentals. Now, there's still and, again, based on your comment, you mentioned earlier, many, many people out there saying, don't use the news, ignore it. It's dangerous. There's obviously people bring that into their trading and I again, I get objections and questions and challenges that I've been told, the fundamentals don't matter what what would your what would your comments that those people be in regards to now seeing two sides of the coin? Well, I think yeah, it was, it was a huge mind shift for me because of my Early training.

But price action as we now see is driven by data points is driven by announcements, interned by the big instant institutional traders. And all we do is just hop on their coattails. That is what we do. And so often, Tom This is what is so it looks like alchemy to me because so often when I'm in a fundamental trade fundamental base trade, the technicals kind of weave themselves in, they, they somehow singing off the same hymn sheet if I can put it that way. But you'll fundamental reinforce the technical. If you start from fundamental perspective, the fundamentals actually provide a firm framework for the technicals that's how I'm seeing it Yeah.

I actually now begin to wonder how on earth I ever traded without knowing what was going on, they said all principle of not knowing What's happening, not know what's happening. And even for someone who doesn't want to trade the news, if I can play devil's advocate here, even if someone says to me, I don't want to trade the news, knowing what is going on in the news gives you an advantage, even if you don't specifically trade it, if I can put it that way. But I mean, you're so much smarter if you do actually trade it, as we've seen, because that's where the movement originates. The the announcements and the figures that come out, drive the big institutions, and after all, how can we argue with them? Yeah, and yeah, I was gonna bring me on to my next question now that knowing what you know, now, are the markets the FX market specifically, are they driven fundamentally or technically I think I know your answer from that, but out adoption fundamentally that I can see so clearly, even the days where I take no trades, I just sit and watch and wait for nonsense to come off.

And I watched. I think I mentioned to there was an event quite late one evening, and I didn't I didn't trust myself to try to stay late, but I actually watched it. And you can, because it makes such logical sense. You can you can really know with absolute conviction that moves happened because Mr. X said Why? Yeah. And hence, the big institutions took note of it.

We looked at our five live comments, one of the sites that you refers to where they're really useful little short clips, and hopefully one can pick up in real time. And they say, right, this is why things have reacted this way because the SEC said why, if I were looking at that purely as a technical trader, I would be trading as I say with with a blindfold on. That's what I would feel. So even if someone says to me, they comfortable and they have Happy trading as a technical trader I would still say Robin know what's going on and not known yet. And I think, based on the feedback that I've had from from students on the course, it's quite funny, because when they've gone through all the theory and they've been almost first couple of first couple of news events, they just want to watch test the water, see how it feels.

And first couple they think, oh, that's, that's a bit of a coincidence. That's a bit of a surprise. But once they've seen 10 1520 do a similar thing where a news event happens and then there's a massive move. All of a sudden the coincidence becomes a regular event and you go actually it's not a coincidence. This is a purposeful move and reaction to a dedicated piece of news and then after that point, the traders whole mindset towards news shift sharply they go wow, this is powerful stuff because now I know that I can plan ahead of time and prepare for for it and know exactly what scenario want to play out before I consider trading it. So it's Really interesting to see the shift in thought process from looking at it, looking at the first news event and thinking, well, that's just a bit of a coincidence then thinking, actually, no, this coincidence is happening 75% of the time, we're getting a really big reaction.

Now, my job as a, as a student, very new to news based trading, my job now is to be able to take advantage of these moves, I've seen them happen several times, now I need to be able to take advantage of it. And that's where the course then brings in the strategy and the approach and the tools in order to be able to do that. And it's really powerful. And that's why I love to get feedback from clients that have taken these trades these news events, which I'm taking myself but now it's getting to the point where my students are making more pips on trades than I am personally myself and so it's it's becoming a double edged sword because on one side I'm thinking or wonderful, my students are making pips and making money. On the flip side, I'm thinking I should have held my trade a little bit longer.

Yeah, I think you get to know your identity and me I'm quite an impatient person. So when I've got 15 pips on the table after 10 minutes. And even if I believe it could go further, it's just there. And I just want to push the button because once it's in the bank, it's in, it's in the bank. So you get to know your own personality as a trader, and some will be much more comfortable holding trades longer, and others will want to take the profits sooner, but when you start to see a number of news events, deliver big moves, then really, you don't really want to focus on too much else. Absolutely.

And Tom Absolutely. And I think that even though you've you've, you've poking fun at yourself about having a chicken finger, it was strategy that you teach us in this course, allows us to do that it doesn't matter. You know, it's it's that, as you say, the balance of the frequency of trades, the success ratio, and the risk reward. If one if you calculate and get the aggregate of all of those, as long as you get a bite, it's fun. You actually are not contravening this strategy you not, you know being a bad trader? No, this is what I'm starting to get used to now, it doesn't invalidate my taking the trade if only take 10 or 12 pips, or 20 pips or what have you?

It's absolutely fine. It's something that was planned, that was structured that you took for specific reasons or didn't take for specific reasons. But say you took for specific reasons. You take what's on the table, thank you very much. And we move on. It allows one to do that, which I think from a psychological point of view, gives one an amazing sort of sense of control, which is important for control flexibility to adapt to the to the markets, which are always going to be the same.

They're not always going to work out perfectly for us, but having the flexibility to adapt and get very immediate feedback from the market is so so important because I know a lot of traders that will say, adamantly that I must take a trade and it must Be left for this period of time. But if the markets giving you clear, obvious feedback that your trade is not working, jobs should be immediate thinking about risk management, this trade is not done what I expected, I am going to use my flexibility with my strategy to just cut it out. I don't care what happens afterwards, I have concerns about this trade. So rather than hold it for the full hour, which the strategy defines, I'm going to use the flexibility to say, No, it's not done what I expected. So I'm going to cut the tray out for breakeven, a small profit or a small loss.

So losing trades never, never damaged us. Now, it doesn't hurt us as much as as sitting out, you know, with those with it with a very, very sort of rigid structure where you feel you haven't done your job properly if you don't let it run and then next thing you know, you stopped out for a big stop. Doesn't it doesn't happen easily here, because you are given clues by the speed at which the market moves the direction admitted moves, you're given a few days away, right? We will go here or No, we're not. So we'll just say, right, we're going to exit here. Take what the market gives us, and say thank you very much and move on.

Absolutely. So if we can keep, because within our trading month, we're gonna have some trades that absolutely fly and some trades that don't. But our job as a trader, at the end of the month is to net the positive amount of pips, so we make money at the same time. And if we can, those trades that really go, they normally tell you straight away and you leave them to breathe, or the ones that don't, we cut them dead so that at the end of the month, we we have a percentage of losing trades and a percentage of winning trades, but our losing trades collectively, don't allow too much, but our big trades are 60 7080 pick trades, see us through to a nice profit. And that's absolutely novel approach. Very, very definitely.

It's a big shift from where I was before I did the course very definitely brilliant. I'm moving on to that obviously, no doubt the substance drivers or the people following the blog are going to want to hear just a bit of background in terms of your results. I know about your results and some of the trades you've taken because you've, you've shared those with me, but talk is about just through talking about some of your highlights in terms of the best trades you've taken. Well, I had an interesting hour, and this Thursday has just passed with the Thursday the 12th of November. Like You I was watching, but it will eventually hopper three times that will come with one in London. And you and I saw the same thing.

It was illegible, nothing's going to happen. But I was as I was at my screen. unemployment figures Kmart was at the same afternoon we just see Thursday. The 12th Yes, unemployment figures came out of the US which was slightly disappointing. Did you spot those one it's underrated when you when you start thinking back to the week. very confused because of the different news events.

I'm always the same was it Wednesday Tuesday was at this event. So looking back, it's obviously harder than looking forward. It is actually jotted this down because I thought it's the most recent one and was quite interesting, because it was quite a gentle disappointment. It wasn't a huge disappointment. There was a previous figure of 270 6000 claims from the US unemployment claims. They were hoping for 270 and in fact, came in at 276 again, so in other words higher it was worse than expected, but exactly the same as previous.

Yeah. So it wasn't a huge data, data point as such, but learn behold, about half an hour after the figures came out because nothing happened when the figures came out. And how the three but then when the next bar started on the on the one hour charts at four o'clock our time two o'clock us I sold it the dollar was starting to suffer So I took and within my risk parameters, I usually have 3% risk open at any one time. So keeping sticking to that. I took three trades with with a soft dollar in mind, and they were, they were small, they were all about between 10 and 15 pips when I close them off because I could see if there's going to be a soft move a short move. It wasn't going to be a huge three arm move.

So when I saw it was beginning to petered out, I took my profit, thank you and looked at the next lot of charts. Then got the first three I took on the Euro, the yen and the Swiss at about half us four, which was about 10 minutes later those were closed already. I then took a trade on the kiwi and would you believe that the South African Rand those again the same sort of move 10 or 1520 pips, they will close them off, and then it's about quarter to five our time which was four Within that hour, I took the dollar shot against the CAD, which sounds a bit different, but it actually was running soft against the CAD. So that hour of just studying a little bit of softness, a little bit of disappointment on the dollar. I made 140 pips. Wow, that's incredible.

And the good thing to hear now is now that you've been on the course for three, four months is you starting to gradually move away from the very rigid rules, because, of course, when I'm producing the course, I want to make it quite black and white in terms of making it easier for people to digest. But in time, I want people to then start using a bit of flexibility to those rules so they can add some discretion into their trading. So you're clearly starting to now move and evolve to that level of discretion. So no matter what's going on in the market, you can utilize that feedback into designing and executing high probability trading opportunities. So yes, wonderful. You've been getting these sort of results.

Since almost A couple of weeks after, after you started the course I remember there was a few pound trades that you took a couple of weeks after the course, which were hitting their full 80 PIP targets and getting that sort of feedback and seeing you realize those returns so quickly has been been wonderful. And is that how has that been the case throughout the three months? It has, it has been I've unfortunately had sort of busy patches in between workwise and so on, which of which have kept me away from the screens more than I would have wanted. But again, making the time to be able to screen but I really wanted to still been enough for me to be Yeah, I've been able to track enough of a positive curve to give to give me confidence to to feel that I've actually understood what you are, what you what you're getting across to us not only in the course but more particularly in the articles.

You post and the finer tuning, which is so interesting. And that I think is probably one of the reasons why I picked up a little bit of activity on Thursday afternoon was because sometimes early on when I was reading your your posts of Thomas breaking his own rule there. Yeah, but but you weren't perfect exactly as you say you, you were showing us that because of what the markets are they have their own temperament. And what all we need to do is just listen to what they're saying. And even hear the dollar is our frontrunner at the moment, but there was a little bit of disappointment coming out of the states and I could then relate to something that you've said, for example, on the pound, which is also intrinsically strong, but a little bit of disappointing news and a big bit of disappointing news came out and the pants off and straight away.

And it was a it was a parallel that I applied to hearing that from you. I could then apply to what has happened on the employment figures coming out of the states. Amazing. So you're seeing that You're picking up, you're learning a lot from just that the live trade examples I'm showing you because you've hit, you've again illustrated a really powerful point there is that we can have a longer term view on a currency. Let's say we're, we're bearish on the yen. So we want to sell the M because we feel it's leap.

It's weak based on longer term fundamentals. But we also know that the yen can find strength during times of uncertainty and fear and panic in the market. So it can get stronger because it's a safe haven and money will flow into the yen during times of fear and uncertainty. So I will, in fact, by the yen when there is a or use it as a strong currency when there are times of fear and uncertainty but my bigger picture analysis is that it's a weak currency because of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy approach. So that goes to show that we can add in elements of discretion. Yes, we've got the black and white rules, but we know the markets are ever changeable and we want to still be able to take advantage of them on times where they're communicating slightly different messages.

To what we may think from a longer term perspective. So the fact that you've now utilize that or taken that learning from an example that I traded and utilized it with $1 is exceptional, because now really, your toolkit is full to be able to take advantage of market conditions no matter what they're doing, because the important thing is, you know, why the dollars just all of a sudden change to a weak currency from a short term perspective? Or you know why the pound has just changed from a strong a strong perspective to a weak perspective. And that I think, is the, the core foundation of the course is you always know why you're taking a trade, it's based on a solid fundamental reason rather than a nice technical clue. You are actually understanding why the big institutional traders would want to sell or buy a currency and you're pairing strong and weak to give you maximum effect.

So yeah, absolutely wonderful. And as you mentioned, you're utilizing the time that you have available to yourself to take advantage of those those moves and those 140 pips Was that in a couple of hours? Two or three hours? One, one between between? Four? Yeah, I got, I got home, I think at about three o'clock our time.

And these are the 123456 trades I took in the space an hour. But at no time did they have more than 3% open, which was what I was pleased about managing risk at the same time, which is I could close, I could close off the first three before I opened the next two and so on. So that to me was a real eye opener that that was possible that I could actually do that, while still keeping my risk exactly where it should be. But by the same token, not in a technical requirement of any of those trades. I was rather based on what I saw you do with a pound listening instead of talking if I can put it that way. Yeah.

Amazing. And so would you say then that that this approach or this style of trading is very effective? On the call from a time invested perspective, so your return on the returns that you're getting from your trades based on the time that you're committing to it, which sets pretty, pretty good approach rather than holding a position for several days and getting 50 pips, you're holding a position for an hour and getting 50 pips absolutely, definitely dominates all about the planning that is that is that one is able to do, which you you tell us so clearly hard to do. And it's so easy. You look ahead. When you have a look at economic calendar and see what's lying ahead for the week, you know exactly which days you're going to be or which times on which days you really want to be present at the screens.

As the day starts, you have another look at economic content to see if anything's changed. Anything that was tentative has not been confirmed before on the way etc. So you can really, really plan for yourself. exactly when you want to be just granted does not entail and certainly not in my case, sitting at you Screen staring at them and then possibly making up trades. For for a whole day with out adapt, definitely not. So it is very economical from a time point of view, if you do your planning properly, which is very easy to do with the tools that you've given us.

Yeah, of course, and I don't want people to get the misconception that It is that easy, you can just turn up and click a button off the back of a news event. As you say, a lot of the time that we do invest is the pre planning. But this can be done at the weekend. It can be done at the start of the day or the end of the day in preparation for the next day. So the pre planning is the most important thing and that was what my recent blog was on in terms of hype planning and being proactive to know what expectations you have is so so important and does require a little bit of time and effort on the part of the individual and the trader. So it's not all easy peasy where you just turn up to an event click a button and make some pips you do need to do some upfront work to get to that point but because of the calendar giving you a listing of all the other You can be very flexible in terms of what events you plan for.

Very definitely. And I think the the time investment comes from listening and getting tuned in to what goes on and what you can expect to hear and who the big movers are. And I think that takes takes a little bit of thinking in and changing to. But that is so fascinating. I find it incredibly interesting. So it's made my whole sort of outlook on what's going on in the world different.

And it is that I think there was a quote from Funny enough, also a female trader, I forget her name an American girl, who said, All she does is listen to the music of other markets. And it's that learning to tune your ear in that takes the time investment. So certainly note, it's not just a question of turning up and pressing the button. You actually do need to think into the fiber of what going on, and keep your finger on the pulse of what's going on. From that point of view, there is your time investment and in your planning, before the actual execution and exit, as I say that's the, that's the end of the line. And that's the final result of everything else that you do.

That's, that's brilliant to hear and almost just repeating, it's probably because of going through the course repeating a lot of the phrases that I use, I talk about tuning in, I talk about not the music of the market, but a similar thing in terms of thinking of his radio station, like the old, the old radios, where you'd search for the frequency that you want. And that's exactly what we have to do with the markets us we need to tune in every week, every day in terms of what is moving the markets and we might get a lot of a lot of crackling and a lot of noise. But by doing your reading, all of a sudden you find the station and you tune into the pulse of the market and the effort you go to to find the pulse of the market and what's moving it is the thing that will reward you the most turning up to a news event and thinking we can just click Buy or Sell will not result in that system profits but doing a little bit of work beforehand.

So you have your trading plan and your trading idea before the event is what will bring you the results that every trader is after. Absolutely, absolutely. Tom. Yes, brilliant. So leading on to the penultimate question is, what would you What would your feedback or comments to other traders being traders I mean, that are maybe considering the course or struggling with their trading a little bit disappointed, despondent and not sure where to go from here? What would what would your guidance be to those those guys?

Well, I think it's my turn to repeat myself, Tom, I would say again, this is the course that no serious trader can afford to miss. And wouldn't we all rather or something but not know something? If this material is, which I see as an enormous field which you've covered In this course, and reduced in such a lovely, digestible, accessible, logical framework, it's there on a plate at an incredibly reasonable cost. Even for South Africans, it's, it's something I don't feel any trader can not be equipped with. It gives you that little bit of X ray vision. It gives you that tuning in, you have a capacity to anticipate when something might happen, you know, never know exactly what which way it's going to go.

And that's another thing I think we must be clear on that it isn't a predictive strategy at all. It is a strategy which says something something is going to happen here. We don't know what it's going to be. Something will happen. Let's be there. And and listen to what happens.

And once we hear what has happened, we'll know what to do. So my sense is to anyone who is struggling or feeling A little bit blocked with their trading. This is an amazing eye opener because it gives you that inside check. Fantastic, wonderful. And then finally is really just just to really know what your future trading goals are. Where do you want your trading to tell you what you will be trading goals for the future?

Some I already have one career behind me. I would love to have to have to be a full time trader and to make trading my second career. That is that is it In brief, it is something I'm absolutely passionate about. I fell in love with it. The moment I came across it, I had no doubt and huge feather in your cap. You were there to inspire me right at the start.

When I walked out of your first course, I just knew this is not something I can ignore. It's something that has grown on me. Like I can't I could write books about Artists I won't but I could it is the most fascinating I don't want to call it it's it's a mixture of skill and artists and it's and it's it's it's a medium that I had never encountered before being a word practitioner in my previous career I worked with words this has got something to do with words but certainly a whole lot more. It would it would make it would make me incredibly happy if I could say to you in the near future, right, I am now a full time trader. Brilliant, and then that would be music to my ears as well. And I think if you progress at the the rate you've been progressing at since you first started the the news based course and now starting to really get the confidence in your ability to generate a profit each month.

I think you're only a few steps away from from reaching that goal and I'll certainly be, be toasting a glass of champagne when you reach that point and joining you in, in South Africa to obviously benefit from a nice trip out there at the same time. Wonderful, Tom, thank you for all your support and your inspiration, and which is ongoing, and the absolute enjoyment of, of, of taking part in this course and chatting with you and with the other students on the course. It's been such a delightful journey and continues to be and yes, may maybe continue for many years to come. Awesome. Well, I'm just gonna wrap up there and and say that that gene like Paul, who we heard from recently, she has very many similarities in her in her approach to trading to Paul, and always engaging with the discussions on the course as we've as we've mentioned, asking questions, getting feedback from me and sharing both good good and bad trades.

And I personally feel that it's due to that engagement. That she's really starting to see some, some very, very good progress and has taken some absolutely fantastic, fantastic trades. And, and that was a key factor in me wanting to to interview her and to demonstrate that the very best guys and girls on the course are the ones that are really engaging with the material and more importantly putting it into practice. Now, as we've mentioned, learning the fundamental side of trading, like any skill takes a bit of time, but after a few weeks of practice implementation and good old market feedback, before long, we can really start to master the tools and utilize them in our day to day trading. And it gives gives people a whole new way of seeing the markets as both Paul and Gene have demonstrated having come from technical backgrounds to fundamental backgrounds, even though they've been trading a long time.

The fundamentals have helped them see the markets in a completely different lighting has given them the confidence and the conviction to follow that through to some decent Some results. And I'm going to continue with the interviews and hopefully get another interview in before the year is out. Because I'm keen for you to hear about the progression of, of several of my students and to get the feedback really from them and not myself because I feel that's so much more powerful. So Jean just leads me to thank you again for your time. It's much much appreciated. You'll have no doubt encouraged many followers of the blog and the people watching this video.

So it just leads me to wrap up there and hopefully we can catch up face to face in your beautiful country in the in the not too distant future but will no doubt speak in due course on the course. Thank you so much, Tom. All the very best. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.