Meet James Walters

We’re kicking off the TMC Member Interview Series for 2022, with long-time TMC Member, James Walters! James is an integral part of our community, and is a trader through and through. James never gives up, he learns from his mistakes, and he comes back stronger no matter what challenge is placed in front of him. We know without a shadow of a doubt that big things are in store for James’ trading career, and we couldn’t be more honoured to be a part of it. In this interview, James shares some key insights for new traders, and gives some invaluable advice for those wanting to succeed in this industry.

When did your trading journey first begin?

11th November, 2017. My colleagues at work were hyping up about some website called Coinspot and something called Bitcoin so while at work they helped me make an account and I bought $10 of Bitcoin because it sounded cool and I’m an IT nerd. Overnight I made 50c just from holding. Previous to this I had never invested before. My life, and entire perspective of making money changed that morning.

What was it that made you want to pursue trading?

I’m building a generational wealth foundation for my future family. Growing up I lived in a hoarder house as only my mum brought in consistent money from house cleaning and later being a high school librarian, while dad pursued creating inventions which unfortunately didn’t provide much for the family income. Mum passed from cancer in 2010 so it was just my dad, my sister and I, while dad pursued his projects and being a temporary teacher for two years, our bills were piling up hard. We were on final official strikes of having our power, electric and gas cut from lack of payment. This was during my TAFE and uni years without a job so the situation was quite stressful. From this experience, I decided I never want my future family to experience such turmoil with money, or bills ever again.

Another factor is knowing I can get to 7 figures quicker than my 9-5 career with trading by decades. Lastly, being able to make money clicking a few times and making a day’s wage within a few hours, or a week’s wage with management is very fun.

What is something unexpected that you love about trading?

Nothing has come close to making me learn about peak performance like trading. Trading always humbles you real quick if you get out of line, while teaching discipline and emotional control. I’ve listened to more trading, psychology, economic and political books in the last 4 years than the entirety of my childhood to early 20s to optimise my mind for trading now.

"Nothing has come close to making me learn about peak performance like trading."

How has Trading MasterClass assisted your evolution?

I’ve grown to love the course, community, and mentorship. TMC feels like a second family for me who’s held me accountable for my trading mistakes, psychology and positive reinforcement when almost no one I know in life has done otherwise for my trading. Out of all the trading courses and groups out there, I’m incredibly thankful TMC was the first I found and never deviated from.

What advice would you give to an inspired, driven individual about to step into the trading world?

Less is more. Trading works the same way as many things in life, quality over quantity. There were months where I’d do up to 20 average trades due to FOMO and revenge trading, and the result was -12%. Or I could have just been more patient, done a great 1:1 setup and come out positive for the month.

When you’re first about to step into the trading world, you naturally want to learn everything as quickly as possible. It’s important to give the mind some breathing room to process and absorb the new information. Then review the information as there’ll be details missed. Each revision you’ll notice something small, yet significant to get you one step closer to being profitable.

"Trading works the same way as many things in life, quality over quantity."

What is your most memorable trade to date? Why?

When I was on holiday in Sydney with friends, after a long night out at the bars and clubs, I arrived home and decided to do a quick scan of the Crypto charts before heading to bed. I noticed Bitcoin starting to pull back and form an IBO on the 1H. I`ntuition told me it was going to get heavy bearish momentum soon and fall, so I placed a short position playing the weekly and daily momentum, the target was down to the next major daily resistance making a 7.5:1 RR trade. I placed the short and crashed to sleep.

The next day I woke up and had forgotten about the trade, went to have breakfast with friends and we were playing a card game. After a bit my phone buzzes so I look and see ‘BTC IBO S TP hit’, so I check the chart my target was hit. Excitedly telling my friends I just made 2 weeks wage overnight!

When you’re experiencing chaos, struggling with your performance, or are in drawdown, what do you do?

Boy have I experienced this a tremendous amount. Emotional outbursts in general and wanting to give up trading too many times to count now over the years. However, every single time the support I’ve received from TMC was second to none which kept me pushing through it, you will not get such backing in most groups/communities/workplaces.

I strive to be a logical thinker. Thinking from as many angles as I can from a logical perspective for what is most efficient. However there’s often an unnoticed major detail, whether in trading or life. If I’m on a loss streak, and I feel the emotional buildup while starting to get agitated, I let my mind cool off for a day by going for a walk, playing video games (World of Warcraft is the guilty pleasure, 13 year veteran) and just watching Netflix. I can then bring my mind back to a neutral emotional state for focus.

I go through a few of the trades which failed and analyze them. What detail was missed (did I miss some support/resistance on 4H, was daily DDP wrong)? How can I structure my view to see the missed detail in the future? I may post a trade to TMC to see if the community sees anything else that was missed also.

Music is a primary tool I use often to get me back on track for focus. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ The Social Network is my favourite OST. I’ve listened to it since university when I was staying up late writing code for my uni projects. Otherwise for exercise it’s heavy metal such as Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Thy Art is Murder etc to get amped for the day and market scans.

My favourite inspiration video is from Denzel Washington: Falling forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM-MqsWjQd4

“Without commitment you will never start and without consistency you will never finish.”

Are there any members from the TMC Club who have profoundly impacted your journey? Why?

There are 3 members who have always stood out to me for different reasons. 

The first is Alan Lowe, throughout the years in trading since way back in Infinite Prosperity we’ve had similar trading ups and downs and he’s the closest person I relate to with going through the struggles of consistency and learning. I’m incredibly happy he’s finding consistency now with his trading style and is making solid gains.

The second is Tom Johnston, he’s always been a very knowledgeable person to learn with the Crypto side of things and has helped me a great deal with trading Crypto. He’s not half bad at Valorant either.

The third is Efren Rios, the dude is a pure energy force of radiant positivity. His social media and TMC community posts are always positive and remembering to be grateful for what you have which I take to heart.

"...remembering to be grateful for what you have which I take to heart."

What is your next immediate trading goal?

Reaching consistent results to provide myself confidence to do the FTMO $260k AUD challenge. While saving funds to start trading with 6 figures.

Any final words of wisdom?

Respond, don’t react. Trading will continuously test the limits of what you can mentally endure, and it will grow you as a person to become the best version of yourself.

How can we keep up with you?

IG: helixzqt

TMC: @James Walters