From Beginner to 500% Growth:
Lisa’s Trading Journey with IDTA
Interview with IDTA Member Lisa G
In this case study interview, we sit down with Lisa G, a new trader from Melbourne, to discuss her impressive trading journey and the challenges she’s faced along the way.
Having started her trading education with IDTA *just 6 months ago*, Lisa shares how she progressed from simulated trading to achieving a 500% account growth in just one month.
She opens up about her learning experiences, the importance of risk management, and how the live trading rooms (LTRs) helped her develop a strategic approach to the futures market.
Key topics discussed include:
- Why trading futures markets offers flexibility and opportunity
- How fast trade execution limits risk exposure
- The benefits of ongoing support from professional moderators in live trading rooms
- Strategies to maximize returns by reading market trends
- The mindset and patience required to hold winning trades
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced trader, Lisa’s insights are a valuable reminder of the potential trading offers in both financial freedom and lifestyle flexibility. Tune in to learn how trading the right way can help you reach your goals!
Transcript:
Cameron: Hi, everyone. I’ve got Lisa G here from Melbourne, one of our new traders. Hey, Lisa.
Lisa: Hi, Cam. Hi, everyone. Hello.
Cameron: Look, thank you for coming in today. I just wanted to ask you some questions about your trading journey because you’ve been a bit of a standout for us and in terms of what you’re achieving. And I just want to know a little bit about how long you’ve been trading for.
Lisa: So, my IDTA journey started, I think it was around March or February this year only. So it’s probably been about six months. Yeah, yeah.
And I’ve done the Essentials course and I keep looking at that, honestly, like I actually still refer to it quite often. And yeah, it started obviously in like in Sim mode. I loved joining those LTRs.
I think they’re so helpful and gives you a good insight on learning how to read the market and, you know, seeing what’s happening and what direction you’re going to be going in for that day. And I think I’ve missed a trading room. I mean, definitely Euro.
I’m always in the trading room or not. You know, it might not be the case because I might be a kid swimming and I’m just, you know, watching to just to see sort of what’s happening. And it’s I don’t know, I really enjoy it.
I must say, I really enjoy the LTRs. I get into the US Open. I don’t think I’ve really ever traded in the US Open session.
I’ve gone into one US close because I just wanted to go in to see what they were like. But obviously the hours are a bit tricky on my side. And yeah, so then I started, yeah, in Sim, I think we were going, yeah, started in Sim for a couple of months and then really just wanted to sort of get my feet wet and get in there and start live trading.
Cameron: Brilliant. And how long have you been live trading for now? What, three or four months?
Lisa: Yeah, I reckon three or four months. Yeah.
Cameron: And, if you don’t mind me asking, what type of return are you achieving at the moment? And what are your goals in that?
Lisa: Look, so in terms of the moment, I did, I guess the first couple of months were challenging. Let’s put it that, you know, put it in a, that’s probably a nice word.
You learn a lot. And I think to learn that learning, part of that learning comes losses.
And, you know, yeah, I did have losses and I still do have losses. But overall, I think this last, let’s say this last month, I’ve probably increased my account balance by about 500%.
Cameron: Wow.
Lisa: And that, I mean, that’s just for the month of September. Like, I’ve been really focused, look, that the big trade we had the other day, obviously, did help with, with that increase. But overall, I’ve just, you know, tried to be a lot smarter and really thinking about that, you know, the trade that I enter and really managing, like risk management is super, super important.
So yeah, it’s actually been a really good month. And I think moving forward, I’m hoping that my mindset and everything like that with all the learning that I’m doing can help me. Look, I think that was just a really extraordinary month.
But if I can keep consistency and just keep going and I really, I don’t know, I just feel like it’s sky’s the limit. Like I can just take it to wherever I want it to go. Yeah, it’s brilliant.
Cameron: Now, now you’re talking about that other, that big trade you had in the live trading room on Thursday night. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about that one?
Lisa: So that was the LTR.
Yeah, jumped in, had the root of the market with John Freeman, obviously, we got into, I think I got into one of the trade, the first trades that John called. And that was, we went down, I think about 75 ticks. We got stopped out one of our trades.
And I was sorry, before that prior to that, I’d already taken two trades. So I was probably up. Ticks wise, I can’t remember, but it was probably about 1000 year where so I was up already for the day.
And then we had we had that pullback and we got stopped out. I was like, Okay, that’s fine. We’re still up for the day.
So that’s all good. And then I just love John’s mentality of like, even though you stopped out, you know, you know what you wanted to see, you think the jump back in. So like, all right, yeah, we’ll get back in.
So we got back in. I think it got back in twice. Another time took a small, a small profit, and then one like a tiny little stop out on this because I took two contracts.
Yes, then one little stop out. And then the next one was a big one. So one, two contracts in one went out at profit.
And then because John was really positive on that night of like, it’s going to go to 20,200 the market. I was like, you know, well, I’m kind of up for the day and I’m up for a bit of a challenge. Let’s see how long my nerves can hold this trade form.
So basically, yeah, let it ride. I just thought, you know what, I’m willing to take a 10 tick profit. So it would have paid my commissions on that trade.
Take a 10 tick profit. And let’s just see where this is going to go. And we just left it.
I think the trade overall went for six hours. And that was about 1230 p.m. when I closed it. Not at not at the target that John had mentioned, because I was like, too tired.
I was like, I just need to and it was already at, you know, 900 ticks of profit. But look, we had a lot of pullbacks along the way. And you kind of go, Oh, no, should I stop out now? Should I get out? What should I do? And I just said, you know what, you told yourself at the start, like, you’re willing to, you know, see it out.
And I kind of did and just let it say it out. And it was unbelievable.
Like to think that for one and cue contract that I could get that I was just like, yeah, That’s it when you can get those trends and you can hold on to them. Yeah, I think that in Monday’s LTR with Bruce, I’d taken something similar. So two contracts, one, you know, the two kind of profit targets.
And I think I got 183 ticks on the second contract. So that was at that time, my biggest one. And then this one just far exceeded it.
Cameron: Well, it’s so great, you’re doing that so early in your learning career, just to learn to be patient enough to stay in the trade, because that’s, yeah, that’s the toughest skill and that traders really struggle with is because the mentality.
Lisa: Yeah, definitely. The mentality of most humans is like, I’ve made profit, I don’t want to lose it.
So we’ll get out now. Yeah. And, and that’s normally you’re going to be fighting that in every trade.
So when you see it go up, it’s gone up, you know, quite a lot. And then it pulls back maybe more than half. You’re like, Oh, my gosh, yeah, like seeing that drop in that in that profit, you don’t know, like, what have I done? Like, why didn’t I just take it? Or, you know, but yeah, because I’m so sort of prepared my mind, and I guess we went for a walk, I left the computer, I didn’t really, you know, watch it all that time.
Yes, we’re a walk, you know, just the computer was on down in the study, like here, I’m going into the kitchen, we’re just, you know, hanging around and then I’m like, Okay, so then I kind of watch the, I got into the US Open LTR with Danny, still watching the train watching the LTR. Okay. And then I think 1230, I was just so tired.
I’m like, this is great. It’s amazing. I don’t think it’s gonna, there’s no point waiting anymore.
I just closed it. Yeah. Well, you pick the top, you pick the top.
I didn’t pick the top. Yeah, you probably have to stay another four hours to get the floor. It was, it was four hours more.
Yeah, a lot. But the great thing about it, you manage your risk the whole time through it. So yeah, definitely.
I think towards the end, I had, I did bring my, I think I’ve had brought up my, my risk to 183 ticks. Do you know what I mean? Like, I wasn’t at the plus 10 that I thought I’d get out at because by then I was like, you know, I’m over it.
Whatever whole lift up wasn’t my stop. And if it takes me, it takes me out. But then it just closed it.
Cameron: Yeah. Well, you, you, you, um, you didn’t strangle it. Yeah, you let it run.
So well done. Now, just final question is, I just want to know why, why did you get into trading and why did you choose IDTA to do your training and study under?
Lisa: So what I get to trading, I’ve always had an interest in like, yeah, she trading that kind of thing. But obviously, it’s so much different to wasn’t really a shared trader in that I was buy shares and long term hold.
Do you know what I mean? I wasn’t interested in the up and down kind of, yeah, yeah. So shares that I’ll buy, I’ll just buy and hold. Not really trading as such.
So I’ve always had interest, I got a financial background, I love numbers, that kind of thing. And I wasn’t working at the time, I just come out of selling a business. So I was looking at, you know, what I want to do with myself, I don’t want to have another full time job that because I guess I was in it.
Yeah, I was in a cafe business seven days a week. It’s quite taxing on you. And yeah, I just wanted something around family that I might be able to work with.
And then, yeah, I actually found a different course, a different trading course that I did. But it was really a two day kind of a course, it was more focused on futures, but it was focusing more on commodities. So yeah, this year, oil, your gold, your soybean, coffee, blah, blah.
I did that. And I don’t know, I found that I couldn’t really apply it as much as in the market as you know, like, during the training, I guess, maybe the concert, you know, the strategies weren’t really something that I really picked up on and liked. So I was looking around for something different.
And obviously, some of the course you guys love the fact that it was Australia based. And yeah, it just looked a lot more involved and, and so much more, I guess because it was a three months or six months, I chose to go six months worth of, of, of support. And yeah, it’s just been phenomenal.
Like, it’s just the fact that it’s there all the time. It wasn’t just a two day course where you got in and then you got out and then see later. Like, there wasn’t that additional support.
There wasn’t, they didn’t have trading rooms and that that you could get, you know, like, you know, immersed in and, and see actually how people take trades. So I think that’s why IDTA has just been amazing. Like in that sense, all the court like everything in your portal, like all the notes or the everything is just really, really helpful.
Cameron: Yeah, thanks, Lisa. Yeah, I think it’s, it’s so important. I think when you’re, you’re learning because there’s the theoretical component, which you can, anyone can learn all the technical analysis, but really like any, any business, the technicals, it’s great to have, but it’s not going to make it profitable.
Lisa: You can, and that’s why it’s so good to have the guidance of the, of the moderators, the pro traders in the live trading rooms and having you guys, the members coming in and the students coming in and, and learning and feeding in it creates a really great fun community too. So it’s great seeing, you know, other traders holding onto their trades and having the patience to stay in there. It can give a lot of other traders, a lot of inspiration that it’s, it’s possible and they can achieve their goals.
And the intensives, like those, yeah, those, those weekly intensives, those sessions are amazing. Dani’s fantastic. Yeah.
Like just being, you can go off into your little trading rooms that, you know, have, you can talk with the other guys. It’s really, it’s really, really good. Yeah.
Cameron: Thank you so much for, for joining today. And thank you for having me. We look forward to being a part of your trading journey.
Lisa: Yeah. I look forward to seeing you at the conference actually. Yeah.
Cameron: Yeah. It’ll be great. Yeah. Thank you. Bye Lisa.
Lisa: Bye.