Hi,
I’m Rogier from Amsterdam, and have been a day trading student since March. In pursuit of improvement, I joined Bear Bull Traders in November.
For the last 20 years I’ve worked in media as a freelancer, mostly as a video editor for TV and advertisement. But since 2023 I've grown increasingly disillusioned with the state and direction of the industry, and felt more exploited than creatively challenged, having little faith this would improve in the future.
During my extensive search for alternative paths, it was ultimately Andrew's book that set me on my journey to become a day trader. What I most appreciated about How to Day Trade for a Living was its clear, straightforward, no-fluff approach. Focusing on day trading as a skilled profession that demands discipline and commitment. What resonated with me most was the emphasis on crafting a system that aligns with your personality, adapting methodologies rather than copying others, which mirrored my workflow as an editor. It’s this process that reignited my enthusiasm I had been sorely lacking in my other ventures.
After the theory introduction through the book, I decided to join a local community for my second phase of education. Living in the Netherlands, I wanted to learn from traders in the same time zone, as their schedule would be different from those trading in the morning. So, I enrolled in the Mentored Mastery course at the Trade Academy.
Unfortunately, this didn’t turn out to be the right fit for me. Too beginner focused and lacking the depth I desired. So I still relied a lot on alternate sources to educate myself.
Trade Academy has a collaboration with the all-in-one platform Ufunded, which is significantly inferior to DAS and lacks essential tools like paper trading, hotkeys, and replay functionality. Tools that have been most crucial to my process and progress, since I always start my trading days reviewing my previous day trades and replaying my mistakes. This has proven to be the most valuable trial and error loop for spotting my errors, refining my setups and building confidence.
At the moment I’m still paper trading and aim to go live at the start of 2025. My weaknesses are that I still experiment a lot and should cultivate patience better. Building consistency is my current priority. The biggest challenge is being able to assess all strategy necessary indicators at the same time. My mistakes are mostly some tiny element I overlooked, too focused on one indicator while forgetting to check another. So that is what I need to keep improving in the coming months.
My current circumstances are also not ideal for a Day Trader. I’m still active as a freelancer on a sinking ship and also have a nine year old son and family to support. And until you are profitable, it’s also not something your surroundings take very seriously, warning about risks without understanding the principles. Mistaken for a desire to get rich quick and other misconceptions, instead of being curious about what it actually entails.
It’s the analytical process of day trading that appeals to me the most, the discipline it requires, the room for creativity, designing a tailor-made systematic workflow around your personality, that you can perform independently and without the need for self promotion.
So I’m looking forward to making the shift from the amateurs to the pros at BBT, building on the fundamentals from Andrew’s book, that made me want to fully commit. I'm confident that BBT is the right fit for me. Very motivated to learn, share with this dedicated community, and take my trading to the next level.
