Episode 63 ... Nicola Duke (44:00)

Has a posh? British accent [I'm no judge of accents]
Mom gave her money when in her teens and she bought stocks
Joined the Royal Air Force
Later worked as air traffic controller at Heathrow
Chemical Bank did experiment training air traffic controllers as traders, before her time
Working in Toronto, running a company
Boyfriend gave her a copy of Victor Sperandeo's book, she thought, "I can do this"
Trading FX from Toronto, not getting much sleep
Sold company and went full time trading FX
Air traffic controllers feel they're always minutes away from disaster
Trading is similar, you're often uncomfortable
Must learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable
Joined a live trading room, learned a lot
Doesn't believe people should trade alone, should at least have a mentor
Blew out first account ($10,000) within a month after being "the queen of paper trading"
Got a mentor who helped her with discipline
Got through her first year flat, mentor said "this proves that you can make it"
Bad days where you stick to your rules are good days -- treat yourself!
Mentor was friend of Tom Dante's ... met in a forum
Mentor taught her how to take emotion out when you win or lose
She's an introvert, doesn't like shouting
Mentor never gave her a single trade idea or set-up ... just worked on her mental game
In Toronto she would trade London open (2 AM her time), no social life for two years
Trading knocks keep you from getting full of yourself
2008 lots of money to be made, went full time
Got lucky to sell her travel? business before the crash
Swing trader using Fibonacci levels for entries / exits
Uses Heiken-Ashi charts and moving averages as triggers
Looks at 36 markets every day
Scans weekly and daily charts
Average trade lasts a couple of days in 2016
In 2015 she would hold trades for two or three weeks
Volatile markets hard to trade as a discretionary trader -- too much emotion
Rules-based triggers, targets, stop adjustment ... all systematic now, no discretion
Won't move a stop until price has made a new high or low
Looks at closing prices only, close below a 50-period MA would instantly get her out
Has lots of "time of day" rules
Don't spend mental capital in an "offside position" for too long, use a time stop
Don't be patient with losers -- they don't just cost money, but "mental capital"
Only risks 3% of her capital at any one time
Avoids news events
Looks at monthly, weekly, daily charts
Finds entries on intraday chart
Planning is everything
Looks at Fibonacci patterns, measured moves ... marks all the levels on the chart
Levels of confluence, high probability of reversal (or support)
People who can make a plan and stick to it can be good traders
Trading is really hard work, not a hobby, don't treat it that way
She is not competitive, you're only accountable to yourself, be better than you were yesterday
Compete with yourself, cooperate with others
When she sees squeezes, she feels that "us versus them" thing, but fleetingly
People fail because they can't lose money well -- it's all about mindset
Trading is the hardest simple thing to do
Everyone she follows or re-tweets on Twitter is awesome
She uses:

CQG for charts (expensive, over GBP1000 a month),
TTX Trader to execute,
started off on MetaTrader 4

Twitter: @NicTrades