Trading has been a lonely and long journey for me ... from the point when I started my trading adventure as a newbie in end of Dec 2007, started to buy my first stock(Astro) in Jan 2008 ... hours of reading and learning, it has been a lonely journey.

In Mac 2008, when BN unexpectedly lost few states during the election, I lost more than 30% of my initial capital(RM10k) ... holding on to paper-loss(in Ranhill, Jaks and LionDiv). I struggled to learn ... those terms, economics and finance are totally a new subject to me. To read about businesses and managements ... that was extremely tough and till to-date I do not know anything much about these subjects(and never will). I bought books to read (Adam Khoo, Othman Yong, Bill Wermaine ... my initial books) ...

It is a lonely journey ... seriously. I woke up 5am in the morning to listen to China-biz ... at nights after my wife and kids aslept, I will read some broker reports, read DynaQuest to know about some companies traded in KLSE, the rating given ... and many more works which I could only laugh at myself now. Haha. Silly me, many of the times I asked so-called silly questions ... and only to read more and learn about those basic and silly questions months or even years later!! Haha ... Yes, I will never laugh at anyone who ask basic questions as I knew and could understand much better what newbies going through ... and bear in mind, it was 2008, a huge bear-market ... where I lost much more when Lehman collapsed. Bear-Stearns ... and many more financial institutions collapsed in US.

Pain ... pain of losing, pain of being an ignorant, pain of spending hours in reading, spending more money to buy more investing-trading books ... and I do live through the pace ... all by myself.

I started this blog ... and started to write about some stocks I am looking at, reading and with a hope some readers will 'teach' me, pointing out my mistakes ... giving me some support and sharing knowledge ... it was really a long journey I am taking ... I have about 30-50 clicks per day back then. And some even e-mail asking me some questions instead!! Haha ... I was so free then ... replying those e-mail and started some 'friendships'(thanks JJ). I attended some talks ... there are very few in KK. I always go alone too ... and seriously, I am the only lecturer interested with stock-markets(LL, a colleague of mine will ask me questions too!!)

I told my aunts, bro-sis ... they really dislike the idea of me gambling in stock-markets!! Yes, I wont dare to tell them I lost thousands and that was my only saving I have back then. I was financially VERY tight.

So ... it was nothing easy ... it is a DAILY few hours of observing market movements, reading hundreds of reports, weekly reading of THE EDGE(page by page) ... and it is unbelievable to reflect on my tough going-ons. By the way, I have just failed in myu keropok-business, trying to heal from the failure and losing of my colleague-friend(DT). I was still in the last months of my goreng keropok business in 2008, before finally stopped. Pain?? ... That is pain ... ouch.

My journey continues ... I done quite well during the sharp recovery in Nov08-Jan09. I learnt many lessons from the crash, still do lots of mistakes along the way. Then, I started to understand about market corrections and such.

In Mac2009, Dr JL ... one of few good friends that I have in KK ... came into my lonely trading journey. My new adventure started ... we are partners and I was so willing to guide him(from ground zero ... even advised him how to open a trading account). The partnership doesnt work well, I lost a friend ... it is more than the RM8k he still 'owe' me. Reflecting on it ... that was my most painful months in market!! Not the RM8k(which was VERY huge to me back then) ... but the friendship. I DO NOT have many friends and losing him was very painful. My wife will always remind me NOT to be kind to others anymore, not to teach trading or even doubt my abilities in trading. I kept telling her that I need at least 5 years to understand how market works!! 5 long painful years of losing money?! She used to say I am most stubborn person she ever knew ... but admired my persistance. Yes, I do not QUIT.

My five-year plan stayed in tact ... I am currently in my 5th year now!! I could not say I am a newbie anymore ... I am not a newbie but still very much a novice. Yes, I planned to teach trading EVEN before I am in market!! You dont find many stupid yet resilient people like me, you know.

Note : For new readers, one need to follow my 2008 posts, started 8th Aug 08 till end of 2009 to understand the above 'stories'. Yes, I do have an average of 1500 clicks now, no longer only 50 clicks per day!!

Fast forward ... 2010, I decided to move back to KL. Yes ... another sacrifice as in my heart, I love Sabah so much. I m really a 'nature' jungle person, who enjoy beaches-mountains. So, I bought a beach-apartment in Sabah, put my things there ... and bring my family here to KL. Again ... it was VERY tough going through the changes!! Uprooting never easy ... but it is necessary for me. Besides, my whole family is here in KL. They are very dear to me ... in my heart. Yeah, I am an emotional geek.

In May, I spent another few thousands to learn technical-analysis. I do have prior knowledge before I attended the 4-day trading courses and actually I only attended 2 days(of the 4) as I m working. Nope, it was VERY hard to grasp those concepts of technical trading ... I am a 'live' trader, a Math brain person ... with prior knowledge, yet ... I admit I struggled. I got to know KW there and he is also very good in his Maths, yet ... we agreed that it is NOT for normal average persons.

Understanding that trading is difficult is the first step we make out trading simplier, personalised it to our needs, our own time frame and risk appetite. If you are a newbie ... you won't even understand what I meant by time frame. You won't even understand what is called risk-appetite and risk managements.

Well ... my wife no longer 'nag' me about the amount of money I used to buy books, and more books. We could not afford anything much at all, honestly. But, I will still spend in buying those investing-trading books. Then, she will see me ... waking up early in the morning, checking those charts with books that I was reading. That is lonely ... I no longer listen to china-biz, moved out of Bloomberg ... but using books and some business magz, reading those charts ... back-testing on RSI, MACD and such. I started to learn about strategies ... and in weekly basis, USED them in my trading!! Of coz I done many mistakes and coming out with many theories that I read, I used real money(to give me real pain) to trade ...

Financially, I m improving ... the transferred from KK's college to KL's college, I have a 25% jumped in my basic salary, I have more tuition here(KL) where the rate is doubled those in KK and markets have been kind to me(2009-2010 was very good profit year). I could take out some money from my trading account to clear my credit-cards(accumulated as I was financially tight, living in credits).

In Dec 2010, after few months attended the technical-analysis course, I started to write more 'professionally' and posting more charts. I have few readers very interested with my analysis and I was doing very well in market too). So, I started 'chart-analysis' for some of my readers ... trying to promote it here in my blog and attracted a few(about 10). I was analysing some charts for them ... regularly, and sent through e-mail. I was excited ... and thought I could start it as a part-time job, besides my full time teaching and part-time tuition!! Well ... I was not doing so well in marketing myself, markets start to go opposite direction ... my dad passed away ... I was down ... and I was down for 3-4 months!! Most of the time, I won't allow myself to be down more than 1 day!! The stock-analysis idea ... failed. I hv to apologised to my 'clients'. I know ... I failed but I know I wont quit!! I might re-start that again in future!!

In Dec 2010, I gave a talk about stock-markets and what to see to 7 of my colleagues!! That was amazing ...7 Saturday nights and each of them paying me RM50. I was using my small white board, teaching stock-markets(FA) like giving tuitions!! Haha ...not even a chart shown! I have wanted to start my trading classes for my readers ... some enquiries came in but ... err ... I chicken-out. Lack of confidence in myself. Or perhaps, I do not like crowd. I do not like attention. Honestly, I prefer to be alone!! But ... why being selfish? Besides, I really wish I could help many out there who need some guidance(I know better ... I was a totally newbie) ... why not helping others? My postings in my blog did help many in learning too, right?

Last year ... 2011 Aug-Sept, I started my trading course(cohort-1) ... from nothing!! I dont even remember how I started, I was charging RM150 per hour(shared by all) and it is very cheap!! It is like a way to thank my readers for being supportive ... I rented my tuition-place for it and I was amazed with the response!! I have 10 of them to start with!! It is beyond my expectation. I thought of ... well, just two-hours ... give them some talk for 4 sessions, each paying RM50, done with it. We have great time ... staying up for mamak till 1am. That was nice!!

Since then ... I am no longer alone in my trading!! I have my tratle's group .... I started my e-learning Jan2012(will start a new batch in July2012 ... e-mail me if you wish to join, ok?) ... and having my cohort-6 now. In our group, I have about 70 of them now ... and my main objective remain the same : To help those newbies in investing/trading. I am going to start my cohort-7(next month or August?) as I do have enquiries now. I do not promote myself much ... as I am just an individual, a teacher trying to help many. I have limited time too.

Trading in a group, speaking similar launguge ... with some house-rules is very important. Many of my tratles telling me that they appreciate my efforts of guiding them and many have personally thanked me(AL bought me a chesse cake! haha). These day, I have free-lunch, free drinks ... when I am going yam-char with them. But the main satisfaction came from teaching is to see many learnt something from you and they appreciate you, as a teacher.

One could never understand why I am in teaching line for 20+ years, despite being lowly paid. It is the satisfaction of teaching ... it is education!! Those trainers in many trading courses do not have as strong passion as I have in teaching, seeing everyone learning and benefit from the lessons. Many other trading courses could not give you personal attention with the trainer!! You never walk alone theme here! Haha ... I dont know how many more I could take in ... but, yes ... I m no longer newbie, I am no longer alone.

I will be having a gathering with some of my tratles later for lunch. I will 'interview' few of them as testimonial to be posted here for promoting my cohort-7 and e-learning. Hehe

I shall end this long post about my painful lonely journey with a happy ending ... a comment posted by one of our latest tratle(cohort-6)

AS : I'm an experienced trader. Been in and out for the past five years, still learning. Didn't really went serious into the market as I had my studies to attend but I kept eye on the market on daily basis. Only recently went into Bursa. I started from the forex market learning technical analysis there, so everything I knew almost everything that u went through from your classes.

It's just that when applying the same thing in Bursa, it takes a different approach and things move much slower here (since I don't leverage in Bursa) The way I see it, other so called courses are meant to make the organizers rich. Of course they leverage on their brand/name to charge exorbitant amount of fees to people with thick pockets. These people thought that they can transform to be a successful trader by just going through all those courses. I really prefer your style of doing classes and the follow-ups through facebook. It works for me. It should work because follow ups are like revisions. Most so called courses dont to follow ups. And I really appreciate that it is very affordable. Attending your classes has been a valuable investment for me. At the end of the day, trading is just a matter of knowledge and experience. U need both to be good at it. No shortcuts

I did not ask him to write a comment or testimonial. He has been so kind to give me such a good testimonial and place the comment in my blog. Of coz, I feel so glad ... thanks AS. You are so young, but you could could understand learning, logic and being so humble. I admire your will to learn. Thanks!!

Now, can you feel my satisfaction? Can my money give me THAT? Not everything in our lives we do related to MONEY, ok? There is something we called "passion". That is in me ... so, if one still asking why am I teaching trading, please ask my tratles. They know better ... why I am so dedicated in THEIR learning while I do still learn in daily basis!

Enjoy this simple song ... read the lyric. It is simple and nice.

Yael Naim - New Soul



I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit but how to give and take
But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake

La, la, la, la (21x)
La, la, la, la (21x)

See I'm a young soul in this very strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit but what is true and fake
But why all this hate? try to communicate
Finding trust and love is not always easy to make

La, la, la, la (21x)
La, la, la, la (21x)

This is a happy end
Cause you don't understand
Everything you have done
Why's everything so wrong

This is a happy end
Come and give me your hand
I'll take you far away

I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit but how to give and take
But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake

New soul... (la, la, la, la,...)
In this very strange world...
Every possible mistake
Possible mistake
Every possible mistake
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes...

p/s : Can you see how I relate the song to my journey in market?
Thanks and have a nice weekend.

TEH