This week, we had the pleasure of speaking with 30A_Trades, known in real life as Devon Deon. In our conversation, Devon shared his remarkable journey from starting with stock trading to becoming a full-time Forex trader, earning between $500 and $1,000 a day. He delved into the challenges he faced, the strategies he developed, and the key moments that defined his trading career. We will go over the best advices Devon has suggested, spanning from his early starts up until he found the best way to become a full time trader.
Early setbacks
My journey into trading began with an initial foray into the stock market. I started trading stocks and, by sheer luck, managed to invest $1.5k into a stock that went parabolic, resulting in a substantial profit of $12,000. This initial success ignited a passion for trading and led me to explore other avenues, including Forex trading.
Initially, I was heavily influenced by my brother, who introduced me to Forex trading concepts and ICT (Inner Circle Trader) methodologies. He had a deep understanding of market dynamics and could predict price movements without even looking at the charts. Despite his guidance, I found the concepts overwhelming. Terms like “pips” and “market structure” were new and confusing. I tried to grasp these fundamentals but often found myself lost.
To accelerate my learning, I joined various signal groups and tried different trading strategies. I was keen on finding a quick path to success, but the results were inconsistent. Some groups promised significant returns but often failed to deliver. I was spending money on these groups and not seeing the returns I hoped for.
Facing challenges and working a job to learn investing
During this period, I faced numerous financial challenges. Despite my early success in the stock market, my initial attempts in Forex trading were financially draining. I lost significant amounts of money, often the entire capital I had invested from my stock profits. This period was marked by financial instability, where I constantly needed to find new sources of income to fund my trading ventures.
I worked various jobs to support myself, reinvesting earnings into my trading account, only to face further losses. It was a frustrating cycle of earning, investing, and losing. The financial strain was immense, and I had to manage other responsibilities, including bills and household expenses, which added to the pressure.
Antonio: What would you say is your main reason for doing this? Why are you so happy about being a full-time trader now? Is it because you wanted to escape the 9-to-5 grind, or was it something else? Were you working towards a specific goal or wanting to buy something in particular?
I can’t work for anybody; I just can’t do it. Even when I was in the military, I was hardheaded and stubborn. If a superior gave us some unnecessary work to do when we had more important tasks, I would speak up, and that always got me into trouble
“My mouth always gets me in trouble, which made it clear that a traditional 9-to-5 job isn’t for me. Now, I have all the time in the world to do what I want. It’s amazing. I love spending time with my family and my son during the day.”
All my jobs were overnight warehouse positions. If they were during the day, I’d start at noon and wouldn’t finish until 7 or 8 at night, just to go to bed. There’s no life in that. When I was working, I couldn’t see myself continuing like that. I’d be trading Forex while working, sneaking peeks at my phone and waiting for the right moment. I’d sit there for an hour or two, and then they’d be looking for me, and I’d pop out like nothing happened, saying I was in the bathroom or working on something else.”
Staying focused and creating the best strategy
I remained determined. I realized that my approach needed refinement. I decided to move away from relying heavily on indicators, which often misled me, and instead focused on understanding price action and market behavior. This shift was crucial. I began to observe market movements more closely and developed a strategy centered around price action breakouts and fakeouts.
“I decided to go live with my strategy on a Tuesday, using $1,500 when Bitcoin was at its peak. That $1,500 grew to $23,000. My strategy involved taking one-lot entries and having two lots open simultaneously, which resulted in the $23,000 profit in just six days”
I spent a significant amount of time studying charts and refining my strategy. I experimented with different approaches, learning from each failure and gradually improving my understanding of market dynamics. This period of intense learning and experimentation was challenging but necessary for my growth as a trader.
30A_Trades Trading Strategy
Devon says he begins his analysis on the 4-hour chart. That helps identify the broader market trends and key levels of support and resistance.
“I like to start on the 4-hour because I day trade. I go to the 4-hour, the 1-hour, 30-minute, 15-minute, and 5-minute charts.” – Devon says.
By starting on the higher time frames, Deon can see the bigger picture and avoid getting caught in minor price fluctuations.
Using the rectangle tool, marks the previous day’s high and low on his chart. This helps him define the range within which the price has been moving.
“I mark up the previous day’s low and the previous day’s high” he says.
Identifying these levels is crucial because they act as potential points where the price could reverse or break out. This is called consolidation trading and it is crucial to how 30A_Trades makes his trades. But the key in this isn’t to buy right when the price exits the consolidation range. The key is in the retest.
“You see how the price broke out of the 1-hour range here and also broke out of the 4-hour range. I’m not going to enter on a buy [on the exit], and I’m not even going to enter on a buy [on the retest]. I’m not buying on the retest, even though the retest occurred. In this instance, it’s a 50-50 chance like everything else.”
He explained how he sets a buy stop on the first price peak.
“Once you get that breakout, you wait for the structure to build, like this right here. See where the price exhausted itself? That’s what I like to see. The price has to exhaust itself at some point to continue. If the price wants to continue, it’s going to hit back to that newly created high.”
The reason why is because when a price moves outside of the range it can easily turn into a fakeout. Fakeouts are a key plays in the trading world where if you know how to anticipate them you can earn a lot of money just by shorting the asset.
Example of a Fakeout
“This is an easy example of a fakeout, so I’ll use it to show you my strategy. Here, we have the price consolidating on the 5-minute chart. If you extend it, you can see the consolidation starting right here. Now, look at this fakeout on the 5-minute chart—it breaks out to the upside, which is what we want to see. This is where my buy stop would be placed.”
Right here—there it is—this is the fakeout on the 30-minute timeframe. Look at the consolidation. You couldn’t even refine the consolidation precisely. This is where the breakout occurs on the 5-minute chart. You would have to wait for that 30-minute candle before even thinking about taking a buy because that 30-minute candle just went straight down. I guarantee you, people got wrecked yesterday off of that. Gold left us a little bit, but that’s all I do.
Questions from the Audience
Q: Do you trade imbalance?
A: No, I don’t worry about any of that. I don’t concern myself with fair value gaps or imbalances. I don’t focus on learning all the terms. For me, it’s all about trading simple price action. That’s all it is – just simple price action. There’s nothing more to it. I kept trading simple. You see Wyckoff and all the CHOCH marks and think, “Am I in a science lab or trading?” ****I don’t play into any of that. It’s just price action, price action, price action.
Q: Where do you get your targets for where the price is going to go?
A: Like anyone else, I look left. I look for liquidity areas on higher timeframes, not necessarily on the 5-minute chart. For example, gold will eventually trade up to certain gaps, like down to the 1880s as it did last October. But my approach is simple: I use a rectangle tool and consolidation zones. Trading is not that hard—just avoid complicating it with fancy terms. My strategy revolves around simple price action and avoiding fakeouts. I stack trades carefully and manage them according to straightforward rules.
Q: How do you manage your stop loss and daily targets?
A: I use a mental stop loss and aim for $500 to $1,000 a day. I can achieve this easily, whether I stack trades with four 0.25 lot sizes or use a single two-lot or one-lot trade. On my Instagram and TikTok, you can see some of my trades. With gold, I’ll sometimes catch the entire move, sometimes half of it, and sometimes just a little bit before I walk away.
Q: What assets do you primarily trade?
A: I mainly trade gold and Bitcoin. Occasionally, I trade NASDAQ. This morning, for example, I considered trading NASDAQ. There’s a gap on the 5-minute chart, and I thought about throwing a one-lot trade just because of that. I mentioned this to someone I know who also trades NASDAQ. I’m not sure if he took my advice, but that’s what I was looking at.
Q: Why do you like playing gaps in the market?
A: I like playing gaps because they usually play out, though not all the time. With NASDAQ, that gap did play out, and I wish I had placed that one-lot trade; I’m a bit upset about missing it.
Q: Did you split your risk into the four trades, or were they all the same lot size?
A: The four trades were all the same lot size. Since yesterday, I only had a lot running on gold and a nice position on Bitcoin, but I closed it because of the swap fees. Swap fees can be crazy, around $24.
Q: Do you think NASDAQ will continue bearish?
A: I don’t know. When people ask if I think NASDAQ or gold will continue buying or selling tomorrow, I honestly don’t know. No one does. That’s why we trade—to find out. Right now, NASDAQ is in a key area with some consolidation on the 5-minute chart. It could go either way; we might see it move down to retest lower levels or retest higher levels. There’s no confirmation yet, so I can’t say for sure. I focus on waiting for confirmations and not on predicting the direction.
Q: Does it benefit you to change the candles to lines?
A: I don’t use lines; I just use candles. I focus on marking up consolidation zones and price ranges rather than support and resistance levels. For example, trading back into a consolidation zone can indicate potential buys.
Q: Do you use trend lines to help with entry?
A: I don’t really use trend lines very often. They can be useful, but I don’t focus on them. For example, if you use a trend line for a bearish move and the price trades back above it, you might incorporate it into your strategy. However, I primarily rely on other methods for entries.
Q: How long do you hold your trades?
A: The duration varies. Some trades last just five minutes, especially if I make over $1,000 quickly. Others can last all day, particularly when I stack positions, like on Bitcoin. I hold trades longer if I expect the price to keep moving in my favor, but I usually close out once I hit my profit target.
Q: Do you see Bitcoin pulling back anytime soon?
A: No, I don’t see Bitcoin pulling back in the near future. I think Bitcoin is going to shoot up into the $60,000 range, especially leading up to the next halving. After the halving in April, we might see a strong pullback. For now, I expect Bitcoin to continue its upward trend, possibly reaching $64,000.
Final Advice: Dedication and Persistence in Forex Trading
Hey, if you’re thinking about giving up on Forex, don’t. There are a lot of people out there who will say it’s a scam. Yes, there are many scammers, but you just have to be smart and cautious. Luckily, I haven’t been scammed by any Forex-related stuff, but the key is to stay committed. Keep studying the charts and learning from them.
I would push myself to the point of exhaustion. My wife often had to pull me away from the computer because I’d be falling asleep at it, looking like a zombie. I felt physically sick from lack of sleep. My advice? Study, study, study. If you have the money and want to live trade to learn, do it. Otherwise, use a demo account. When you demo trade, treat it like real money. Get into the mindset that it’s live money and trade it accordingly.
When I was testing my strategy, I used a $3,000 demo account because that’s what I typically keep in my live account. I avoided unrealistic amounts like $100K demo accounts. Backtest your strategies. If you find something that works for you, test it thoroughly on a demo account. Push through the learning curve and make it work for you. Make money from it. Hone your skills and commit to it fully.
You can’t expect to learn Forex by opening the chart once a week. If you think you can replace your job with Forex without dedicating significant time to it, it’s not going to happen. Dedication is key. You need to put in the time and effort. Dedicate time to it, and you will see results.