"I remember sitting and watching everything go to a margin call, but I couldn't bring myself to close a trade," Alexei Paliy, director of X-Trade Brokers' branch in Moscow.

Alexey Paliy, director of the Moscow branch of X-Trade Brokers, is a stock speculator. Higher education in the humanities. In 2004, he graduated with honors from the Gorlovka Institute of Foreign Languages. In the same year he began to be interested in markets. Today his long-term market analysis is based on the analysis of Fibonacci corrections and expansions.

Y.A.: Hello, Alexei. Our traditional first question for you as well: how did you first become acquainted with the markets?
А. П.: Good afternoon. I entered the market like everyone else - through one of the dealing center's courses. I lost my first two trading deposits rather quickly, but I did not give up. tradingI told myself, "I'll do it," and in the end, my adolescent maximalism took its toll. This experience taught me a lot, especially about psychological resilience and risk management.
After that there was a long trade on paper. And the starting point was a question from one of my esteemed friends: "How do you trade? I remember that I started to explain that I was using Elliott Waves, a few indicators and a lot of other things. But I immediately realized myself that I did not have any clear rules and therefore I could not claim for the stability of the results. And after a year of testing on historical data, which gave me the necessary confidence in my system, as it gave a steadily positive expectation and had a not very steep, but still directed upward balance curve, I went back to the real account.

Y.A.: Did you invent your new trading strategy yourself or did you learn it somewhere else?
А. П.: I made it up myself, but it is possible that my subconscious mind worked, which had a lot of information found in books and on forums.

Y.A.: How long did your third real account last?
А. П.: It is still alive and well, but in 2008 the system malfunctioned and went into a deep drawdown due to a sharp increase in volatility. Then it had to be fine-tuned and adapted to the changed market conditions, i.e. there was a break. And in early 2009 I continued trading with the updated version.

J.A.: Tell our readers a few of your rules Money Management-а?
А. П.: I will recommend our readers to work with a fixed lot at the stage of testing and testing the system on a real account. How to choose it? For example, I do the following: with a deposit of 10 000 and the leverage of 1:10, I choose a trivial 1 lot. Nevertheless, it has a certain basis.
So, each system, if it is mechanical, can be tested on historical data, which allows you not only to count on a certain return, but also to know what kind of drawdown it allows. I use following ruleMy lot should be such that there should be enough funds in the account to withstand the historically maximum drawdown two times in a row and there should still be margin left to open one trade. If you stick to this proportion, you can not only have a good method of accounting for risks, but also work on your mistakes in time if the drawdown is exceeded, saving most of your funds.
Another method that I suggest you become familiar with is Ryan Jones' Fixed-Proportional Method. I recommend it for large accounts where you need to gradually reduce risk.
Actually, the fixed lot method can be extrapolated to the choice of lot in the future, depending on the size of the account.

J.A.: Do you think all newcomers have to lose their first deposits? Or can this be avoided?
А. П.: I would like to believe in the best, of course, but I don't know anyone who hasn't lost a depot. The experience of losing money is very important. Some of the greats said that there is not a single great trader who has not suffered a crushing defeat.

J.A.: Have you ever wanted to quit everything and do something else?
А. П.: I worked as a teacher in the institute, worked in a bank, in an insurance company and all the same I was engaged in trading. Now my work allows me to do only trading and I like it, because I can improve my level all the time talking to other traders in the office, at conferences and exhibitions. I haven't even thought about doing anything else.

Y.A.: Who is, in your opinion, a professional trader?
А. П.: This is a person who sets goals and achieves them. The few professionals I know are successful in any of their endeavors because they know how to follow a plan and minimize risk. Mental toughness certainly adds to professionalism. The myth that mathematicians or economists are more successful in the market, in my opinion, has no basis.

Y.A.: In your opinion, from what professions do trading professionals grow up?
А. П.: I think it is more dominated by psycho-type, which determines the choice of profession. Phlegmatic people have an easier time mastering the market, and they always have a better chance of making money.

J.A.: And what is different about the Russian Trader from a foreign one? You probably know in your line of work...
А. П.: I think not. I read some foreign forums, so they say the same thing.

Y.A.: What is your attitude to automated trading?
А. П.: Extremely positive. It solves a lot of routine tasks. Because for me the mechanical trading systems are a priority, the use of Expert Advisors goes without saying. The possibility to test TS on the history is also an important factor for the optimization of a trading method.

Y.A.: Have you never used MTS yourself?
А. П.: It works for me. MTS for intraday work. He places "pending orders", moves "stops", removes orders. If it were not for the Expert Advisor, you would have to constantly monitor the market. And you would still miss opportunities when you need to act quickly.

J.A.: Do you remember your first real deal? What were the emotions?
А. П.: There was some euphoria, then panic, then I went out for a smoke (I suffered from this habit then), returned - and then the peerolls came out... The panic increased... In general, I was overwhelmed with emotions, and this is the main enemy of a professional trader.

J.A.: Was there a minus?
А. П.: What about. I remember sitting and watching everything go to Margin Call, but I couldn't bring myself to close the deal.

Y.A.: Since we're talking about bad things, let's talk about the best deal.

J.A.: Do you think trading can be a hobby? Or does it have to be a serious job?
А. П.: If the main purpose of your trading is to get emotion and adrenaline, you can do trading as a hobby. If you do it seriously, it's not so much fun and it's more like a chore, but you can make money. The first ones have no chance to make money. Unless trading equals long-term investments.

J.A.: Is a trader necessarily a lonely person? Or is it possible to work well in the company of your colleagues?
А. П.: You can work very well in a company. But only everyone has to work on their own system. It's great to chat and discuss trading ideas, but the account is personal. Working as a team in the sense of "trading together for an investor" has never been good, in my memory.

Y.A.: What is your attitude to female traders?
А. П.: К women traders I treat them very well, of course. They are always outstanding, bright personalities and interesting interlocutors. I think the percentage of successful female traders is many times higher than that of men. Natural conservatism determines the awareness of risk, the lack of tendency to embellish reality.

J.A.: What would you recommend to people who want to learn the profession of a trader to start with?
А. П.: If you have decided to get acquainted with stock trading, then I recommend to go through all the steps to become a pro trader:
1) The first thing you need to do is take a training course. I know for sure that even if you can do without it, you will spend time and money on mastering the required material which they give you at the courses. They definitely teach you how to use the trading terminal and give you the basics. Our company, for example, often holds free specialized courses for training traders, as well as master classes for specific trading tactics and strategies. For over a year, we have been continuously conducting free online seminars (webinars) on various aspects of trading. The archive can be easily found on the Internet. In our branch in Moscow all master classes are read by me.
2) Then you should continue to attend any master classes and, if possible, be aware of new trading ideas covered in special magazines for traders, i.e. be ready to actively acquire knowledge.
3) Gradually some trading approach will start to interest you more than others. You will begin to understand what you can build your personal trading method on, and you will begin to make transactions on a demo account, guided by more or less specific signals.
4) After optimizing the approach on historical data, you should gradually move to a real account and execute all entries and exits, trying not to pay attention to emotions, and get used to working with real money.

Y.A.: What would you advise beginner traders?
А. П.: Those who have set a goal to master trading, I advise to have patience. You should immediately put out of your mind the fairy tales that trading at the stock exchange is easy. Yes, it is an interesting and difficult business, but only a few are successful. It is not the fact that you will ever succeed. The only thing that works here is persistence to achieve the goal, not education or even intelligence. A trader is more like a boxer who was able to go all 12 rounds, skipping punches, falling down and getting up again and continuing to fight than a smart guy who rattles off terms and knows all the books on trading by heart. Do not multiply the essence in trading: do not try to correlate the complexity of the system with its profitability.
Also, you should always remember that of all the traders who lost - 95% lost deposit because of overestimated risks or because of a desire to win back. Cut losses and let profits grow. Also, use Breakeven.

Y.A. : Thank you for your advice, Alexei.
AP: I hope that my experience will be useful to someone. Invite more.