T-Model Trader Interviews James Orr - Part 3

This is the third part of T-Model Trader interviewing me. I hope you're all enjoying it.

James Orr

Question 8

Firstly....thanks to Charmaine and Kristy for their additional comments. 

I was hoping for some good dirt to help kick start my fledgling investigative journalism career. But it just seems that you are a well adjusted, honest, supportive and hard working nice guy. I guess that I won't be calling Rupert just yet!

In blog 2 I tried to put into words the impact that the live trading experience had on me in the early part of 2016 and have often wondered what it was like from your end.

For a self confessed private person, that was opening yourself right up in a very public way.

What was that experience like for you?

  

James Orr

Hell on Earth would be the best way to describe it. I jumped in too fast, trying to do something completely different to what I do every day as a trader. It brought on a whole new set of trading psychology issues I never even knew existed. I began worrying about the people in the room. Things like:

‘I need to make sure I make these people make money today. I need at least one trade.’

‘This one isn’t quite perfect, but the chat function is going wild and I don’t want them to miss out on a trade.’

After a loss, I would literally be torn apart. I felt responsible and it would take me over 24 hours to get over it.

At the time I made the right decision and that was to walk away. I jumped in too fast and I didn’t consider (because I didn’t know about) the new issues that would arise. I went from someone who trades with minimum screen time, setting alarms and ignoring the market the rest of the time, to sitting in front of the screen all day managing lists of questions, watching the market, managing trades, making sure everyone understood what I was doing.

However I said at the time that it wouldn’t be the end of it and it definitely isn’t. I have spent a long time working on a way around this and I am getting pretty close. In fact, I am into the testing stage of what would be a type of signal service. Everything would be explained in the morning alongside the review video. The trade then triggers or it doesn’t. I would be looking at between 5 – 10 setups per month.

I am hoping the results continue to be good on this now. As I say, I want six months proper testing (although I have been watching and mentally designing this for a lot longer). Another month of paper, then I will risk my own money for two months, then I will also begin emailing a few people each morning for a further two months.

That way I am easing into all of the different emotional aspects of what I am trying to do.

I am at the early stages, and I wont ever bring something forward I am not completely happy with again. However I am quietly confident in what I am doing here and the results thus far have been fantastic.

As I say – If life knocks you on your back. Laugh. Pick yourself up and ask life if that’s all that it has.

Question 9

I did think that the live room would have been intense, but I wasn't expecting "hell on earth". Learning curves can be brutal!

You have an upcoming live event soon, which is another major milestone in the overall Decisive Trading development.

How are you feeling about this next step?

James Orr

I’ve carried out speeches in front of 3 Royal Navy Admirals, and also in front of Royal Marine Generals, so the actual act of speaking isn’t of too much concern. I find that I really don’t think about it too much, then there’s a wave of nervousness right before I start which seems to ebb away after the first few minutes.

I am actually looking forward to Manchester. It will allow me to see the faces and hear the voices on the other end of the names I see so frequently in my email inbox or on the Zone Trader chat window. Everyone gets to see and hear me fairly regular, but I am always in the dark as to who is on the other end of the screen.

Hopefully everyone finds some value in what I have to offer.

Question 10

The notion of "determination" has popped up in some of your responses so far. I also remember in a video posting last year some time, that you mentioned about this quality in yourself.

Along with determination exists a family of terms like.....motivation....drive.....focus.....willpower.....resoluteness.....tenacity and many more. These terms thou could well be seen as just parts of a larger quality or greater picture, for which we use the term "ambition".

I am interested in your thoughts regarding your own "ambitions" with trading?

Do you think that people fail in trading because they might not step into it with sufficient "ambition" which in turn fuels the determination and so on when the going gets tough?

James Orr

If you glue the word ‘determination’ onto ‘ambition’, then I completely agree.

Everyone in the world is ambitious. Speak to anyone about what they want to do, or what their dream career or calling would be, and it almost always leans toward something that would be considered a ‘step up’ from what they are doing at present.

Maybe they want to become a landlord with a rental empire.

Maybe they want to open a restaurant.

Maybe they want to become a trader.

Whatever it is, I don’t think a lack of ambition is the problem. I think the real problem is that 99% of the population want things to come easily. They envision themselves in that dream job, or living the dream life, but for most people what I have found is that they think society ‘owes them it.’

I don’t know where this comes from, but you can see it in every walk of life. I guess it comes back to that belief that we are all special. Everyone wants it for free. They are ambitious, but they are ‘lazy ambitious.’ And when things don’t work out the way they had hoped, then it is everyone else’s fault.

An example would be to look at something like the X-Factor. Countless thousands of people turn up for it every year. And a huge portion of them haven’t had a single singing lesson, haven’t got a voice anywhere near good enough to win. But those people aren’t there to fill the numbers. They genuinely believe they have a chance of winning. It’s ‘lazy ambition’ mixed right in with feeling special. The problem is that it is being encouraged more and more. Did you know at some schools now you get medals just for participating in sport events? To me that is ridiculous. It leaves no drive to improve, train and become better. It sets the precedent for everything else they do.

I suppose I am ranting here now. I do have a habit of doing that!

What I am saying is that I think everyone who comes to trading is ambitious. But I think only a tiny portion of them have the determination to drive that ambition into something that counts.