Ryan L Johnson
- Futures & FX Strategist at Silk Road Trading LLC
- United States
- 5891
Futures & FX Strategist
at
Silk Road Trading LLC
Beginning on March 6, 2026 I am PROGRAMMING MQL5 INDICATORS, EA's, AND SCRIPTS FOR FREE as announced in my Blog.
I started out in the afterschool of hard knocks as a kid... Hog farm, trailer park, firewood, etc. but I got my hands on an Apple IIe computer early too. I ended up with more degrees than a thermometer later in life and began trading in 1999. My most valuable bits of education helpful to trading were probably Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Math I and II, Statistics, and Computer Math. That's Computer Science for the younger generation, or hey... just Programming for the next younger.
The retail trading industry is comprised of a multitude of central exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ, CME, etc.), captive off-exchange markets (forex, CFD's, etc.), broker-dealers, hedge funds, investment banks, proprietary trading firms, HFT firms, pension funds, software providers, and data providers which take profits whether retail traders win or lose. The level of conflicting interests of commercial participants versus retail traders varies widely from one market to another. An important factor in developing a profitable trading strategy is choosing the best market(s) to trade.
Another important factor is, frankly, knowing what not to do. Professional traders and proprietary trading firms cap their risk per trade at 1 to 2% of account balance─because that time-tested approach has statistically proven to be the only way to stay profitable in the long-term. I like to refer to that rule as a risk-based law of diminishing returns. The problem for the overwhelming majority of beginning or inexperienced retail traders is the fact that they start with a small amount of trading capital. As a result, trading 1 to 2% of account balance is perceived as "not profitable enough" by those retail traders.
Also as a result, such retail traders are attracted to high risk strategies in hopes of receiving high returns. The widespread proliferation of Martingale (Martingarbage) or grid strategies among beginning or inexperienced retail traders serves as a prime example thereof. The more that you exceed the aforementioned risk-based law of diminishing returns, the faster that you will blow your account. The financially responsible way to grow your account is to simply follow the rule and allow your reasonable profits to add to your balance, the 1 to 2% of that now higher balance to increase your trade size, which allows now higher profits to increase your balance, and so on.
If you have been dismissing strategies that you deem "not profitable enough" for say, the last 3 years, and you continue to lose money each year, it's time to acknowledge who and what you're up against and the statistical rule that they and it are following. I realize that this is an uncomfortable truth for most beginning or inexperienced traders. It means that you will not get rich quick and you may not even be able to trade certain markets having low leverage. The situation is what it is. Just imagine that if you had been aware of the rule when you started trading, say, 3 years ago, what your account balance would be a this very moment.
The rule also inherently invalidates about 95% of the strategies/EA's that you see online. The people who are selling that stuff are professional web marketers─not professional traders. The overwhelming majority of retail traders are beginning or inexperienced because the trader turnover rate is sky high. In that regard, the web marketers are simply responding to a massive target market of new traders that is glaringly obvious to the entire retail trading industry.
Having traded so many markets and instruments over the years, I now help beginning or struggling traders for free when they contact me. I have helped many other traders select a market, instrument, chart type, and strategy components without pushing commercial products on anyone... no strings attached. The one thing that we the retail traders can do, that commercial traders will not, is help each other for free. (I must admit... I have given free help to beginning fund managers).
And by the way, other people have identified me as a part-time comedian... which I also admit.
Happy trading!🙂
I started out in the afterschool of hard knocks as a kid... Hog farm, trailer park, firewood, etc. but I got my hands on an Apple IIe computer early too. I ended up with more degrees than a thermometer later in life and began trading in 1999. My most valuable bits of education helpful to trading were probably Algebra, Geometry, Advanced Math I and II, Statistics, and Computer Math. That's Computer Science for the younger generation, or hey... just Programming for the next younger.
The retail trading industry is comprised of a multitude of central exchanges (NYSE, NASDAQ, CME, etc.), captive off-exchange markets (forex, CFD's, etc.), broker-dealers, hedge funds, investment banks, proprietary trading firms, HFT firms, pension funds, software providers, and data providers which take profits whether retail traders win or lose. The level of conflicting interests of commercial participants versus retail traders varies widely from one market to another. An important factor in developing a profitable trading strategy is choosing the best market(s) to trade.
Another important factor is, frankly, knowing what not to do. Professional traders and proprietary trading firms cap their risk per trade at 1 to 2% of account balance─because that time-tested approach has statistically proven to be the only way to stay profitable in the long-term. I like to refer to that rule as a risk-based law of diminishing returns. The problem for the overwhelming majority of beginning or inexperienced retail traders is the fact that they start with a small amount of trading capital. As a result, trading 1 to 2% of account balance is perceived as "not profitable enough" by those retail traders.
Also as a result, such retail traders are attracted to high risk strategies in hopes of receiving high returns. The widespread proliferation of Martingale (Martingarbage) or grid strategies among beginning or inexperienced retail traders serves as a prime example thereof. The more that you exceed the aforementioned risk-based law of diminishing returns, the faster that you will blow your account. The financially responsible way to grow your account is to simply follow the rule and allow your reasonable profits to add to your balance, the 1 to 2% of that now higher balance to increase your trade size, which allows now higher profits to increase your balance, and so on.
If you have been dismissing strategies that you deem "not profitable enough" for say, the last 3 years, and you continue to lose money each year, it's time to acknowledge who and what you're up against and the statistical rule that they and it are following. I realize that this is an uncomfortable truth for most beginning or inexperienced traders. It means that you will not get rich quick and you may not even be able to trade certain markets having low leverage. The situation is what it is. Just imagine that if you had been aware of the rule when you started trading, say, 3 years ago, what your account balance would be a this very moment.
The rule also inherently invalidates about 95% of the strategies/EA's that you see online. The people who are selling that stuff are professional web marketers─not professional traders. The overwhelming majority of retail traders are beginning or inexperienced because the trader turnover rate is sky high. In that regard, the web marketers are simply responding to a massive target market of new traders that is glaringly obvious to the entire retail trading industry.
Having traded so many markets and instruments over the years, I now help beginning or struggling traders for free when they contact me. I have helped many other traders select a market, instrument, chart type, and strategy components without pushing commercial products on anyone... no strings attached. The one thing that we the retail traders can do, that commercial traders will not, is help each other for free. (I must admit... I have given free help to beginning fund managers).
And by the way, other people have identified me as a part-time comedian... which I also admit.
Happy trading!🙂
Ryan L Johnson
Added topic MT5 Beta Demo platform - switch from Netting mode to Hedging mode
When I first registered my MQ Demo account in the MT5 Beta platform, it was set to Hedging mode. Shortly after registering, MQ switched it to Netting mode likely because I'm in the U.S. where live hedging is prohibited. Obviously, I'm only using the
6
Ryan L Johnson
Many U.S. retail traders wonder where to turn when they discover that they have been cheated by a broker-dealer. (Information for U.K., E.U., and Canadian traders also appears below). If you have been trading for a while, this has likely happened to you at least once...
· 1
395
Ryan L Johnson
Introduction In this blog post, I will share general principles which I learned over the course of 25 years of trading stocks, futures, and forex. Learning these principles gradually enabled me to succeed in the markets...
399
Ryan L Johnson
A more legible example file has been attached to the U.S. Income Tax Strategies for Forex and Futures Traders article at https://www.mql5.com/en/blogs/post/756757
Ryan L Johnson
Upon becoming profitable, traders should begin to think about the most advantageous income tax strategy to use. The written and signed statement in the attached file at the bottom of this post is a redacted copy of my actual U.S. IRS Code Section 1256 Election. For income tax purposes in the U.S...
461