OCTAGON GLOBAL ALLIANCES - Financial Breakthrough with Global Opportunities

A short introduction on my company OCTAGON GLOBAL ALLIANCES PTE LTD.

MISSION

OCTAGON GLOBAL ALLIANCES dedicates to provide a systematic platform for individuals to embark on a financial journey towards a better life and create financial abundance for themselves. We do this through ongoing research and resources development on the global business and financial environment.

VISION

To create the leading business network and provide individuals the financial advantages to achieve real-world financial success with the best business, trading and investment opportunities regionally and globally.

S$5,000

I was talking to a long-time primary school asking me to help her invest S$5,000.

She regarded FD as low returns, but when I told her about trading and some high-yield investment returns (which is in the range of 100% to 300%) as quite 'impossible'. I found that people normally gave all sorts of excuses to part their money into investment, yet readily spent them off as christmas gifts and some de-stress excuses.

Back to the S$5,000, I didn't give her an investment mode in the end. But rather, I told her to understand her own financial situation. Before I can tell her the right investment medium, she has to know her risk profile, expected returns, required liquidity of funds etc. And don't go for free gifts (this is especially silly when we look at investment products offered by most banks).

As always, one size doesn't fit all. Same goes to investment! Only by understand your own financial status, then will you be able to plan your Financial Routemap accordingly. When the whole Financial Routemap is firmed up, you can then consider the ERP* with the concept of Capital Preservation Model in mind.

* ERP = Early Recruitment Plan


p/s: I will talk about the ERP and Capital Preservation Model soon.

Money Management

An short and GOOD article on Money Management from traders.com.

I have been trying to find an article that talks about the right money management mindset, in the hope to remind many many many of my trading friends (and those who are going to join some trading courses in hope to make big bucks).

In my many years of trading, I realised sometimes the trading strategies is not the core of profitable trading. In fact, there is no trading strategy that works 100% (except it wins more and loses less).

Personally, I used to have a strategy that works monthly (and I assume it's 100% in the 'infant' stage of trading). That strategy works so well consecutively for 3 months, and everytime it gave a returns of 30% to 70% per trade. And every month, I used all my capitals (that capital belongs to my family account) to compound all I had. We started with US$10K that time and truly went up after 3 months. But on the 4th month, i lost everything as the strategy failed. And the account was left with US$137. This was the result of poor money management. And I'm the living testimonial of such a disaster.

1. Always look for strategies that works more than 60% of the time (ya, there is no 100% working trading strategy thus far), so those trading gurus (or should I say training gurus) mentioned blah blah blah blah blah blah, please take note.


2. Always consider if there is a predetermined profit take (PT) and stop loss (SL). I've been trading options with no predetermined PT and SL all these way.

If there is, ask about the magnitude of PT and SL. If the PT is less than SL, that's means you lose more. On the other hand, this means you always look for a PT that is more than SL. A rule of thumb: Look for PT > 150% SL (this means that you even breakeven when you lose 3 times and win 2 times), e.g. PT = 30 ticks/pips and SL = 20 ticks/pips.


3. Use less than 15% of your capital. If possible, use as low as 5%. This ensures you will not be 'emotionally' hurt when you lose. And you will not lose that much when you have consecutive loses.


4. It's ok to have a losing month once in a while. Actually, most successful trading strategies or systems tend to have an average of 2 losing months (within 1 years), based on my research.


It's your money, do take care of them!

My new company

A short intro and advertising for my new trading and investment company.

My new company sources and evaluates consistent exceptional investment opportunities, an area traditionally reserved for the wealthy, to individuals. With a unique propriety investment plan customized for every individual, The Financial Routemap is a personalised financial blueprint by combining trading, property and mutiple sources of passive income streams for individuals to reach their financial goals in a shorter possible time.

21 pips on Thanksgiving Day!

Today the US market is closed for Thanksgiving Day. And I have not been trading for a couple of days because of a couple of reasons.

I went JB Jusco to learn how to create Flash on tuesday evening. Then when I was happily back from dinner and learning Flash, I was caught up in a minor road accident. I ran up a kerb at high speed and the whole car bottom was severly damaged. Thus, I was busy running to Toyota and LTA for inspection and application etc etc.

Anyway, this is one trade on my favourite GBP/USD currency pair. Result is not as fabulous as before, probably because the US market is not open. Anyway, it's 21 pips!

Options Trading Championship 2007

Take a look at the CNBC report on the OTC2007 (yup, the one my team got 2nd!). You can also see our team photos at http://www.freely.com/options-trading-championship.html.

p/s: You can see me at -1:45 frame. Haha.

MIA for a week!

Have been MIA for a week for a couple of reasons:

1. I'd been very very busy with ACME MADE and iLuv.
2. I was in Options Trading Championship for the nites of Wednesday to Friday, trading real cash. Make 2% profit on a Dow Down Week!
3. Lose quite a bit of money on my family account, so really not in the mood to do any posting!

Will be back soon!


p/s: Anyway, I profited quite a lot from ISRG (132%, 1 day), NOK (47%, 1 day), STLD (64%, 30-minutes) and NE (68%, 1 day) last week too!

Internet Options Trading Contest

The internet marketing world is fascinating and constantly evolving. You now see an internet marketing campaign for a options trading course.

This is how I got linked from here and there:
1. I purchased Avi Frister's Forex Trading Machine eBook and Videos.
2. On his regular e-newsletter, he introduced Bill Poulos' Forex programme.
3. And now, Bill introduced this contest to me!

Here's the contest link by AJ Brown - for you to post a comment below and answer these two questions:

1. WHY do you want to become a world-class options trader (besides the money)? What does all that money get you?

2. HOW will going to my Million Dollar Options Trading Intensive and participating in my 6-month immersion Apprentice Program help you?

Yup, the best entries (as judged by AJ) will get (1) One FREE ticket to the Million Dollar Options Trading Intensive (valued at $2,495.00) and (2) FREE entry into the 6-month Apprentice Program starting in January 2008 (valued at $2,495.00).

Though I knew the odd is low, but just for the fun of it. I just joined. I'm the #156 entry!



My original unmoderated answers to the 2 questions:

(1) I started trading options at the age of 21. The amount of leverage is somewhat one of the highest among all the financial tools. During these few years, I started a magazine publishing business and a couple of smaller busines, but none of these provide me the ease of lesser manpower problems and all other typical brick-and-mortar businesses had. Options trading has always provided me the luxury of working at home, spending more time with my family and friends and have a more fulfilling life. As mentioned in my blog imgoingtoretireby26.blogspot.com and as the world-class options trader, I’m going to use options trading as my main vehicle to achieve financial freedom and abundance and YES, semi-retire by the age of 26 (now, I’m 25!).

(2) Through the Intensive course and Apprentice programme, I can realise my dreams to retire with my whole family on time and scale a greater height in options trading. I always believe options trading is not just about the money and the trade; it’s a journey of discovering oneself. Which is why trading is not just an transaction of cash and positions; it’s a transaction of fear, greed and all sorts of human emotions that come to trade!

Singapore is Top 5 Forex market

As mentioned, I just read 'Handbook to Forex Trading'. The book stated that the forex market is US$1.7 trillion daily. But recently, I went to a Forex preview and they said it's US$2 trillion.

Yesterday I came across this article on Straits Times and realised something else. Singapore forex market is top 5 in the world with more than $231 billion average volume. Not bad for a small red dot!

T. Harv Eker 'Secrets of the Millionaire Mind'

"You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if your "blueprint" isn't set for success, you're financially doomed." --T. Harv Eker

I'd been reading 2 books every month as part of my ongoing financial education. And typically, I will read them if I'm on a tour. In July-August when I was in Taipei, I read Adam Khoo 'Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires' and I bought (and read) a Chinese book there about the way of Investing by Warren Buffett.

And over the past 6 days, I just read T. Harv Eker 'Secrets of the Millionaire Mind' and Nicholas Tan 'Handbook of Forex Trading' The forex book is rather elementary and I recommend to those who know nuts about trading (it only covers the fundamental of forex and some trading basics - which I think personally will start your forex trading journey, but not able to propel it any further).

Anyway, what I'm interested now is to share more about Eker book. The #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller is definitely one book for reshaping your millionaire mindset. There are 2 major sections: (1) Your Money Blueprint, and (2) The Wealth Files.

Eker likes to ask 'Who the heck is T. Harv Eker, and Why Should I Read This Book?'. I think the answer is simple. Many of us want to be a millionaire and mastering the inner game of wealth is definitely not an obvious science! This book really demystifies why some people are destined to be rich while others, hmm, otherwise.

Definitely one of the more powerful, persuasive, and practical wealth management / personal improvement / NLP book!



p/s: I will talk more about this book as I discover more about it.

If You're into Forex trading...

When I'm going to start a forex trading account, I realised there are so many of them online.

These are som recommendations (or maybe considered as stringent criterias) to take note:

(1) You can open a mini account. A mini account can be funded with as low as US$250 (standard account is typically US$2,500). Mini Accounts feature smaller, 10k contract sizes and leverage of up to 200:1. For new forex traders, a mini account is a great way to get started trading in a live environment.

(2) Choose trading platform that provides you the convenience to fund your account via credit card or paypal. Do take note of the relevant banking fee - paypal (typically US$0.30 + 3.9% of the transferred fund) & credit card (US$10 to US$20 convenience fee).

(3) Look for platforms that suits your lifestyle. Some provides wireless platforms so you can trade on your PDA or mobile device. Some provides web platform while some others need you to download their real-time trading software.

(4) Commission-free forex trading - Pay no commissions, only the bid/offer spread. The bid-ask spread is already the commission for them. And also trade on spreads as low as 1-2 pips on the most widely traded currencies.

(5) Live chat is available to help you anytime '24/5' when you are trading.

(6) Additional forex resources are important. Chartings, trader educations & webinars will be helpful in your trading journey.

(7) Guaranteed fills on stop loss and limit orders. Stop loss and limit orders are an important part of every trader's risk management strategy.

Look out for all these before choosing your trading platform. With the right trading platform, victory is already half-way there.

Forex.com is one good one that I use; otherwise you can consider Oanda.com or Interbank FX.

First Straddle Win!

During the recent moody subprime happening, financial companies like Lehman Brothers (LEH), Morgan Stanley (MS), Goldman Sach (GS) and Bear Sterns (BSC) are expected to swing their stock price violently when they announce their quartetly earning report face-to-back this week.

Anticipating the swing of the stock price of Lehman Brothers (LEH) on Monday night, I entered the Straddle trade on Sep 60 Call ($1.90) and Put ($3.20). LEH announced their earning on Tuesday before market open and open with a gap up of $1.36. But surprisingly, both call and put options depreciated in value (call $1.55 and put $2.00) when market opened on Tuesday morning.

But I closed the put option when I see a steady rise in the stock price at $1.20 (ya, a loss of $2.00). And the great news was definitely the announcement by Fed chief to reduce rate at 2.15pm ET and the stock continued to rally more than $5 from previous close. At around 3.40pm ET, I closed the call option at $4.60 before market close.

No doubt the put option loses $2.00 of my bought value, it was the call option that brought me the glory by rising $2.70 in value! This resulted in a $0.70 profit (13.7% out of $5.10 that cost me on Monday).

Using Straddle strategy, it was the 'insurance' that I can profit no matter which direction the swing of the stock price.



Great! My first Straddle and first Straddle win!

First win on New Trading Platform

Recently, I found a trading platform called MB Trading that requires only $1 commission per contract (for options). I used to trade with (and still using) optionsXpress, but the commission is at least $14.95.

I just tried using MB Trading and managed to squeeze out my first win on this platform. Here's the details:

1. Underlying Stock: FMC, trading ~93.00

2. FMC's stock is spliting 2:1, payable on 13/9 and executing on 14/9.

3. Buy to Open @ 93.06 and Sell to Close @ 93.57

4. I bought FMC Oct 90 Call at 5.30 and sold at 5.70: 7.5% profit in 42 minutes.

Typically, if I trade only 1 contract with gross profit $40 (based on the same trade), I will only make $10.10 (= $40 - 2 comm x $14.95). But now, with MB Trading, I can make $38 (commission summed up to only $2). So if you are a new options trader and trade small number of contracts, it's good to use MB Trading. Otherwise, optionsXpress is excellent for big time traders.

ps: Please note MB Trading doesn't support options spread (MB Trading is incorporating the spreads within 2 to 3 months). Anyway, the spread order (up to 4 legs) optionsXpress also costs only $14.95, so it's not too bad and OX has excellent trading infrastructure.

pps: When I trade, I usually look into the ROI percentage rather than the absolute amount. You may not think $40 is any great; but if you see 7.5% return in 42 minutes, you'll know what I mean!

ppps: Imagine you are buying stock of FMC @ 93.06 and selling it @ 93.57, your ROI is only 0.5% compared to 7.5% through trading options. You do the math.