Tank Farm Trader

15 years in oil & gas - mostly tank farms. Trading for 10. Learned money the hard way so you don't have to.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Trader's Failure:

5 years ago I left a very solid job to start a small fund. A friend and I opened an LLP and funded it. One month later I was up over 100%, it was a good time to be shorting the S&P (COVID). This attracted another investor who essentially doubled the whole account. The market settled down but I was still up another 150% 5 months later. I had only hit an 18% max drawdown at my worst and it only took a week to recover. I was on cloud 9.

But there are things I never planned for... a smarter person would have. This is one reason I always assume anyone I meet is either smarter than me, more successful, or both. I had a year's worth of savings set aside to begin with. But I was on track to millions by the end of the year... I was a hot shot, I could enjoy my life a little. I was golden. The deal was that I'd simply draw the minimum I needed from the account each month. In return for this I didn't charge any fees. The LLP would be dissolved once I hit $1M and we would all walk away happy.

So 12 months of savings was gone in 6, cause I was at genius (i.e. dumbass). I drew my bills from the account for the first time... and I froze. Everything was different. I suddenly couldn't shake the feeling that every trade I put on was triple my monthly bills and 3/4 of the account wasn't mine. It was no longer money I could afford to lose. I began to override my system, took trades that "looked safe" and lost while the trades I skipped made money. 6 months later I was down 50%. I pulled as little as I could from the account and made up the difference in credit cards. While it wasn't a blow up per se, it was a spiral nonetheless. I closed it down, returned the money. I was broke, ashamed, humiliated, wanted to die. I let down my friends and worse, my family.

The most painful part wasn't that I failed in trading, in fact, the system was excellent. It was that I knew I put my family in a dicey situation. Something I thought I'd never do. The markets will humble you in ways you can't predict if you lose sight of what's important. Trading will make you hate the person you see in the mirror if you get cocky. But this all teaches you. If it doesn't kill you and you keep going, you will see it teaches you EXACTLY where you're a fuck up. If you take the time to brutally and relentlessly analyze and fix these areas you will succeed.

It took several years for me to financially recover. Slowly I climbed back to financial safety, I built my base cautiously and put my family's security before my own aspirations. I did some rough calculations and figured if I had stayed at work and only took 1/4 of my set ups I'd have $4M as of Q1 2025. So that's my new target: $4M, after taxes, and I'll leave work again. Half of that goes to a system I built that consistently makes 10% a year with 10% drawdowns.

Why so little? Because that's my base. That's what I need to make sure my family is secure. Everything else I can comfortably trade as I see fit. All of this is to say a few things to aspiring traders and to be entirely transparent with anyone who reads my posts:

-KNOW YOURSELF: trading is not hard... at all. Being honest with yourself, your intentions, your pitfalls, and managing all of this is where 90% of your work will be. Some people are born to trade, some people must be beaten into success. Don't wait to find out which one you are, just do it right from the beginning.

-NEVER, under any circumstance, risk what you cant afford to lose. If you find yourself in this position, stop. Reasses. Go back the the drawing board. Fix your mistakes and make it back to safety before risking a thing else.

-Take EXTREME responsibility. The level of responsibility that is past the line of mentally insane. Always, always, always find a way to take responsibility for everything that happens to you in and out of the market.

[Rahul @sairahul1]

Apple went public at under $2 billion.
15x revenue.
1980.

SpaceX wants you to buy at $2 trillion.
100x revenue.
2026.

That is not getting in early.

That is being the exit for venture capitalists who bought in years ago at a fraction of what you are being asked to pay.

Almost none of the retail investors buying this IPO will read the 300 pages before the book closes on June 11.

I fed all 300 into AI and read them for you.

Here is what you will miss ↓

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

3/3
These are what kill success. Track them religiously.

Understand your personal shortcomings, ruthlessly exterminate them.

Every month, week, day, trade. Keep the identify-exterminate cycle going. Whatever strategy fits you will end up making money.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Strategies Suck
1/3

Dead serious. Literally the least important part of trading.

"95%+ of traders fail, make that make sense..."

There are literally hundreds of tried and true strategies and analysis frameworks... for free.

Pick one that fits your schedule, personality, and is profitable.

So where's the real magic?

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

2/3
Continuous improvement systems

Specifically: tracking and fixing issues

The commonly thought of "fat finger" mistakes are easy and obvious.

The ones that cause the real damage aren't so concrete.

FOMO, rationalizing, all-or-nothing, gambling, revenge trading, loss aversion, etc.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

BTC - Bull or Bear?

Daily trend up by most measures after bounce from 8/24 low... can't get too excited yet considering the weekly looks like it may just be a PB to the 20wk.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

2/2
NY opening range in the middle of early London session H/L. Price consolidation on top of range and momentum confirmed entry before the rally. Half profit taken at London high, other half taken shortly after on failing momentum.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

1/2
First trade since moving to FX due to scheduling. I like a daily 50sma to get a big picture feel. Divergence bottom off March resistance and 50sma was especially telling.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

3/3
Everything lining up with new release. 15m gave the cleanest and earliest entry with first lower high pullback uder the 10ema right at the hourly 160.5 divergence and multiple clean add points on 3 bar breaks.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Wish I was working... 1/3

Nights aren't my favorite but this move makes me wish I wasn't off last night. Likely to lead to more downside over the next few days.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

2/3
Every timeframe screaming divergence sell. Hourly screaming divergence right at major 160.5 resistance. Multiple clean entries. These dont happen often.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Pivot, Pivot, Pivot

Not pivot points on a chart.

Pivoting in life.

I like futures. But as life would have it, I work nights now.

Not good for futures... Great for FX.

Don't freeze waiting for the ideal.

Pivot & use the opportunity you have NOW.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

4/4

Don't repeat my mistake: getting in a rush to be free. Plan it out right, take your time, enjoy the process.

It's better to take an extra year to prepare than 3 to restart.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Freedom Fast-Track 1/4

Pay attention cause there's not many people telling you all the messy details about transitioning from salary-slave to lasting freedom.

Do it right the first time or set yourself back several years. I know.

Easier if young, single, & no kids. But even with a family and mortgage you can make it work.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

2/4
First, if you've thought about it, you know you have 3 variables:

Cash
Cash flow
Expenses

Whatever those variables look like for you, here's my rule of thumb: 22.5

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

3/4

22.5:
Double the cash you think you need.
Double the cash flow you think you need.
Halve the expenses you think you can handle.

In my case my trading was great. My personal financial planning was not.

Had I followed this rule I'd be doing far better than I am now.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Can't win them all. Stopped out below Friday's afternoon consolidation.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

3. Problem-solution

Look at your logs every month. Whats the biggest thing you're screwing up?

Define it.

Fix it.

That's it.

1, 2, and 3 are self-reinforcing systems that work together.

Once you see it, it's easy.
Stop making it hard.
Follow the steps.

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

Trading: Shut Up, It's EASY
1/4

You make it hard: Impatient, emotional, greedy, lazy.

To be fair, we all start that way.

I went through hell to figure it out.
Once I figured it out though? Easy.

So here's a thread to jumpstart your trading...

[Tank Farm Trader @TankFarmTrader]

2. Practice and tracking

What gets missed by the failures is tracking. Yes, you have to practice, but if you dont log the what and the why its just spitting in the wind.

3 is where the magic happens...