Could you describe your standard workday? What take the most of your time when it comes to trading and proper preparations to it?

I get up about an hour before the stock market opens and then look at the Globex session. I review the 5 minute, 60 minute, daily, weekly, and monthly charts, looking for support and resistance. I look at the overall context. For example, was yesterday a buy climax? I never enter the day with an opinion.

Our reader would like to know how Al Brooks manages risk, how opens and closes position and how copes with the stress. Can you unveil a little bit?

Once I am in a trade, I am open to the possibility that I will have an exact opposite belief within seconds. I no emotional attachment to any trade, and I am quick to get out if I think that my premise is no longer valid. If the market is going up, I get long. If it is going down, I get short. The location of the stop is always obvious. Even if it is far away, I use the correct stop.

I never feel more than minimum stress, although 20 years ago, I spent much of the day feeling horrible. I now feel like I know that the market is trying to do at every second during the day. I understand both the bear case and the bull case. I watch them struggle for control, and I am never surprised when either wins. A very important part of being able to remain objective and calm is to trade small enough so that you do not worry about losing money. This is the “I don’t care” position size. Trade small enough so that you really don’t care. Yes, you don’t get rich fast, buy you are then on the path to riches, and you an increase your size as you get experience. If you get really good, trading becomes magical and it changes your life.

How you will address the popular opinion that an effective trader should be emotionless? Emotions actually hinder everyday trading, or are they indispensable part of it?

Major markets are controlled by computers. They use many variables when they make decisions. Emotions are not part of their calculation. A trader who is feeling more than minimum emotions will not be objective, and he should wait to trade. When he trades, he should trade the “I don’t care” position size. Most traders rarely reverse because they cannot quickly be objective about the trade in the opposite direction. When a trader cannot be objective, he should wait. A great trader has only a small advantage. If he trades with any handicap, his advantage no longer exists and he will lose money.

In your honest opinion, person have to be born to trade? How it looked like in your case?

I do not think a person is born to trade, just like a 7 foot tall man is not born to play basketball. The desire to trade is in our genes, and it is a survival skill. We all love to trade. It is a skill like any other and it can be learned. As with any career, a person should only choose it if it makes him happy. If his goal is to get rich, but he feels miserable trading, he should choose another career to achieve his goal.  A person can get rich in any field. Happiness is the most important goal in life. If getting rich is also very important, choose a career that also brings happiness. If happiness comes from trading, as it does for me, then choose trading, but make sure to learn how to do it well.

And now for something completely different – what do you know and think about Poland and how would you encourage polish investors to read one of your books or take a part in trading course?

I have always had a fondness and respect for Poland. I think, however, that trading in Poland is the same as it is everywhere. Price charts are a reflection of human behavior, and are therefore genetically based. We all have the same genes, and behave the same way. Traders everywhere have to learn how to read price action and how to manage trades. That is why I created my trading course, and why I am spending so much time revising it. I am getting old. This is the final huge project of my life. I want it to be as helpful as possible for traders, and I believe I will achieve my goal. Learning how to trade takes a lot of study, and a lot of practice time. Some of the most successful traders who have taken my course have told me about the hours of study they do at the end of every day. Several have made hundreds of pages of note from the videos. I do not think that this is necessary, but someone who works hard has a better chance of success and quicker success than someone who does not.

You can find more about Al’s books, trading course and strategy at https://www.brookspriceaction.com/ or just vitis hist daily blog: https://brookstradingcourse.com/price-action-trading-blog/

Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 3)
1
2
3
SHARE
Previous articleOvertrading – Gambler’s Mistake?
Next articleWhat is SWAP?
Member and editor of Finance Magnates - the biggest FX, and binary options B2B website. A graduate of the University of Economics in Krakow, active publicist since 2012. Technical analysis is always more important to him than the fundamentals – however, he does not reject the importance of macro data. As he assumes that, the simpler the better, he is a strong fan of Price Action trading strategy and Fibonacci retracements.