{"id":3163,"date":"2014-05-22T22:07:17","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T16:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/?p=3163"},"modified":"2024-02-02T15:34:46","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T10:04:46","slug":"10th-std-pass-market-wizard-from-thrissur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zerodha.com\/z-connect\/winners\/10th-std-pass-market-wizard-from-thrissur","title":{"rendered":"10th Std Pass, Market Wizard from Thrissur"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traders,<\/p>\n

After putting up the first<\/span>\u00a0five interviews<\/a>\u00a0of some of our top traders and winners of the\u00a0<\/span>Zerodha 60 day Challenge<\/a>, I\u00a0was asked many times if engineers have better odds to win at trading, as each one of the five featured until now came from a similar background. The search to break the pattern amongst our winners ended at Joby, a 10th standard pass-out from a small town in Kerala with no access to fancy tools or resources, who has still managed to be up over 300% from active F&O trading in the last couple of years trading at Zerodha. His winnings from the market runs into crores\u00a0over the many years trading F&O actively.\u00a0I\u00a0had to use a translator as the only language he speaks is Malayalam. Following is my interaction with Joby.<\/span><\/p>\n

Name: Joby \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Age: 47 Years<\/p>\n

\"joby\"<\/a>

Joby<\/p><\/div>\n

Running a Bakery to Trading full time. How did that happen?<\/h3>\n

I was running my own Bakery in the early 1990\u2032s and had people visiting the shop regularly after trading at the Cochin Stock Exchange. The bug bit me and without any knowledge of\u00a0capital markets, I quit my bakery business to become a full time equity trader. Until 2000, my trading was only in equities and I started trading F&O when it was introduced in 2001. I am thankful to God that the risk I took by shutting down\u00a0my bakery worked out well for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much money did you start off with?<\/h3>\n

It all started with just around Rs 500 back when I started and today whatever I have made is all out of that Rs 500. Over a period of 22 years, I have also taken profits\u00a0out of trading and invested into other avenues, and that trade also has worked out very well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Investment into other avenues? Why not into stocks?<\/h3>\n

I have always traded the markets, but all my investments till date have never been\u00a0in stocks. I guess the reason for this is because it is very tough to trade and invest at the same time, I was never comfortable doing that. \u00a0For example, I am shorting Nifty futures because I am feeling bearish, but what do I do with the stocks that I am holding for long term–hold or sell? It is very easy to say that you will hold for long term, but such scenarios where there is indecision or time taken can be\u00a0detrimental to the outcome of your trade.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you trade on, mostly? Are they intraday or positional?<\/h3>\n

I have mostly been trading options from when it\u00a0was introduced on NSE in 2000, and almost all of it shorting\/writing options. I usually hold the positions overnight and sometimes take intraday trades as well.<\/p>\n

Why mostly option writing?<\/h3>\n

I feel options give higher flexibility and shorting options inherently improves the winning odds as long as you have a risk management policy to cover when you are wrong, as the losses writing options can be unlimited. The opportunity to profit from \u00a0trading options prior to 2010 was much higher.<\/p>\n

What is your risk management policy\/money management rule?<\/h3>\n

I haven\u2019t ever had any big losses from the time I started trading and you will be surprised to know that I don\u2019t really have a risk management policy as such. I don\u2019t have fixed stop losses, I average my position when in loss, I go against the trend, break many\u00a0rules that a lot of analysts keep shouting out on TV asking to follow. One of those things I do though is that when I take a wrong trade that was not intended to, I immediately book the loss if any and try to stay away from trading on that particular day.<\/p>\n

Also, from when I started, I have made sure that only a small portion (1 to 3%) of my net-worth is\u00a0used for trading, I guess that is the money management rule that you are asking me for.<\/p>\n

So what about the\u00a0trading strategy, how do you enter or exit?<\/h3>\n

It is based on support and resistance, I wait with a lot \u00a0of patience for market to show a range and\u00a0when it displays the same, I start writing options which will benefit if the market stays within the range. Most of these trades typically are hedged because I would be shorting calls and puts at the same time so that I can benefit from both the calls and puts premium losing its value when in the range. From the time India VIX \u00a0was launched in 2009, I also keep a tab on it to decide how aggressive I should be writing options, the best times being when value of VIX is\u00a0relatively higher.<\/p>\n

When convinced that the range is getting broken, \u00a0I will start taking single sided trades either long or short and these could sometimes be plain long options or buying\/selling futures. I also as a rule completely avoid writing naked put options.<\/p>\n

\n

How do you determine this support and resistance in charts?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

I don\u2019 t follow any technical analysis or look at any charts. To be very honest I don\u2019t even know how to use computers properly. But all the years I have been trading actively, I have spent countless hours looking at the terminal on\u00a0how Nifty prices move. If the market is trading, I am looking at the screen if I am in a trade or not. I have my own unique way of calculating the resistance and support just by watching\u00a0and analyzing the price and volume. I don\u2019t need to look at the chart for this, just a market depth window (Snap quote window) is enough.<\/p>\n

\n

Do you know that what you are saying sounds like \u201cTape Reading or Reading the Tape<\/a>\u201c?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

As I said earlier, have studied only till 10th, don\u2019t browse the internet, have never followed tips, don\u2019t believe in stop losses, I am able to look at the symptoms of Nifty and predict if it will be in a range or breakout.<\/p>\n

No stop loss? So how do you exit when in profits or losses?<\/h3>\n
\n

It is based on how I feel about my trade with respect to how the markets are moving. I don\u2019t really have preset exit points and there have been\u00a0many times where I have averaged when the price has gone against my trade. I will book a loss or profit based on my conviction of\u00a0the trade.<\/p>\n

What do you do when not trading?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

My routine is working out in the morning, playing football and going on family vacations with my wife Seena and two kids once or twice every year.<\/p>\n

\n

It is a special achievement to\u00a0be up so much trading actively on F&O, any plans to scale up in the future?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n

I \u00a0love what I am doing presently which is trading but not very aggressively, and wish to continue the same. Also before we end the conversation, I want to thank Zerodha for putting up a very unique initiative like the 60 Day Challenge that gives additional motivation to profit and be amongst the winners.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

I quizzed Joby for quite a while trying to figure out on how he determines the range, support and resistance\u00a0and\u00a0if there was any method to it. I\u00a0was also astonished\u00a0that he remembered the exact expiry settlement prices for almost the last 10 years. I could only conclude that he has a special skillset and importantly also the discipline to go along with it. For all the naysayers of \u201cTape Reading\u201d, Joby proves it can be done and I think a critical element to his success is also the fact that only a small portion of his networth is used for trading, that in itself is his risk\/money management rule.<\/p>\n

Wishing Joby all the best,<\/p>\n

If you haven’t taken up the 60 day challenge yet, visit here to know more<\/a> and get started.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Traders, After putting up the first\u00a0five interviews\u00a0of some of our top traders and winners of the\u00a0Zerodha 60 day Challenge, I\u00a0was asked many times if engineers have better odds to win at trading, as each one of the five featured until now came from a similar background. The search to break the pattern amongst our winners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[531,48],"tags":[197,199],"class_list":["post-3163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-winners","tag-60-day-challenge","tag-winners-2"],"yoast_head":"\n10th Std Pass, Market Wizard from Thrissur – Z-Connect by Zerodha<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Traders, After putting up the first\u00a0five interviews\u00a0of some of our top traders and winners of the\u00a0Zerodha 60 day Challenge, I\u00a0was asked many times if\" \/>\n<meta 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