Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Time really flies in that we are approaching the final week of 2008. As most hedge fund managers have already gone for holidays, I do expect there isn't much to do with the forex market until next year. As a result, I have officially closed shop in my forex business for 2008.

Looking back what I have done during the first year of running this new (forex) business, I have learnt a couple of things:

1. Believe in yourself and you will find ways to achieve certain goals - my limiting belief of not being able to stomach the volatility in the forex market over the last decade, has been thrown away. Now that I am able to trade forex simply means that limiting belief is just limiting belief. If I give myself a complete stretch, I have progressed to the next step.

2. Successful trading is all but psychology - I could have the so-called "best and powerful" trading strategies and also the "best" forex guru in town to teach me, and yet the progress could not be achieved until I have got the trader's attutide right in this business. That's how the psychology comes about. Have an attitude that is deemed correct in my own circumstances. Follow the rules, and keep myself discplined. Further, remember the importance of continious improvement - Kaizan. I followed faithfully what I called "7 Essential Credentials of a Successful Trader" to work on this new business. I am glad to see significant progress in the first year and trust that I will be able to deal with the challenges in 2009.

3. Always have a back-up plan - this forex business was the result of my contingency plan in 2008. By anticipating the challenges in the equity and index markets, I started equipping myself with additional knowledge in another area of practice and I was glad that this anticipation resulted in a successful launch of my forex business. The fact that I could start the real operation within a couple of months means that I could make a difference from my old days as an options trader. So, what's my back-up plan for 2009? I am going to look at the next level of challenges - i.e. futures market. This means that I will be essentially one day able to trade anything under the sun. Having said that, I do anticipate a come-back to the index options market in 2009 as I expect that the trend will likely be a side-way for 2009 and perhaps 2010. I did quite well in 2005 in the sideways market by deploying sideways strategies - something which I am very good at. So, I am ready to play sideways strategies again in 2009 at least.

Finally, this will be my last post for 2008. I wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas and look forward to the upcoming challenges in 2009.

Believe in yourself and you will make a difference! This is our Patterns of Excellence!!