Intro

Hi,
My name is Mike, aka Helicopter Mike. I am a full time helicopter pilot (hence the nickname) with a number of other interests. I have been flying since 1978, full time since 1990. After so many years of flying it has become kind of like just a job. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself very fortunate to do what I do, but the thrill of flight is gone for the most part. When people start flying everything revolves around building flight time. I stopped logging time six or seven years ago, the last time I looked I had well over 12,000 hours. It has been a fantastic career in that I have been to places I would never have seen any other way and I have quite a bit of time off and that allows me to pursue many things that interest me. Some of these interests are as hobby's and some of them are geared more towards profit and possible next career development. Along that line is what this blog will focus on.
I began trading in the 1980's but was done after a few years. Then I picked it up again and over the past five years or so I have been trading. Trading a number of different markets. I have traded Futures, Stocks, Options and Foreign Exchange. I began developing an interest in trading after picking up a book. I can't quite remember the title, something about a stock traders first million or something along those lines. But, the more I read, the more interested I became. This was in the early  19080's and over the years that has remained my only trading education, pick up a book and try to apply what I learned from the book. To fund the various accounts that I have had I have had to get creative, such as saving all of the change I received after purchases, etc. That is one rule I have always followed, "Never trade with money you can't afford to lose". And that has worked out OK since by the time I read, learn, plan, practice, test, adjust, test again and MAYBE implement something new into my trading, I have plenty of time to scrap a few bucks together.
Currently I am trading spot forex and stock options, with most of my daily activity being the forex market due to the nature of these markets and my trading style for each of these markets. Of these two markets, I have been trading forex quite a bit longer and this market has some things that I really like that other markets, including stock options, don't have, such as 24 hour trading and more liquidity than just about anything else available to trade. I can also trade forex cheaper that other markets which makes trying out a new technique or indicator in a real time environment much more viable.
In any event, due to my activity levels in each market, most of what I will write about will be on forex, but when an option trade comes along I will detail those trades as well.
Until next time!