Who Am I?

My name is Matthew J. Slabosz and I’m a 32-year-old full-time retail trader from Australia.

What Do I Do?

I help traders learn how to code so they can develop tools and scripts to enhance their trading results.

Since you’re here you already know that I write on this trading blog in my free time – but I also create TradingView scripts, teach people how to create their own TradingView scripts, run the new Art of Trading Podcast, and I create video content for my YouTube channel covering all trading subjects under the sun that interest me.

My Story

I placed my first trade in December of 2016, and became consistently profitable in late 2018… after many mistakes and lessons learned the hard way, which I document on this blog.

But if you had asked me a few years ago if I’d end up being a trader I would have laughed. I never for a moment imagined I’d end up here.

I was a musician studying audio engineering before I became a trader. I thought I’d be performing in bands, producing records and running my own business in the music industry for the rest of my days.

But my life took a different and unexpected turn several years ago when a chronic pain injury disrupted my plans.

I was slowly robbed of dexterity in my hands and developed permanent aches and pains in various areas of my body due to damaging some nerves in my back which have proved extremely difficult to treat or fix despite years of ongoing medical attention, surgeries and expensive therapies.

In 2015 I was forced to finally hang up my guitars, quit my band of 12 years, drop out of university in my final semester and leave that career path and my dreams behind with no job, barely a dollar to my name and $50,000 worth of student debt.

In hindsight, if I’d known how difficult it was to become a successful trader (and how much money was required), I would have never bothered to try my hand at trading or investing.

But somehow, after years of soul-searching – including overcoming a difficult struggle with drug addiction, a near-suicidal depression and extremely lucky timing with an investment in crypto which ballooned into well over six figures – in 2017 I became obsessed with navigating the financial markets… and here we are.

Now, in spite of the chronic pain which still affects me to this day – I’m clean-living, full of renewed ambition, loving every minute of my work more than I ever thought possible, and making a new and exciting life for myself outside of the craft of music while managing almost $1,000,000 in capital.

My Style

My focus is on generating long-term consistent returns with the most minimal drawdowns possible. I’m a systematic trader and I prefer operating with simple rules-based price action strategies and trading processes.

I specialize in forex trading using technical analysis, but I’m also very interested (and invested) in stocks and crypto. I run this website and operate my trading & education business with the help of Jade – my beautiful partner of 10+ years.

Everything we do is handled by only the two of us. So if you reach out and we’re slow to get back to you please don’t be offended! We’re both extremely busy and we need to prioritize paying clients, but we do our best to get back to everyone who contacts us – which I’m grateful to say is a lot of people these days.

I created the Zen & The Art of Trading blog and YouTube channel because I got bored of staring at charts all day waiting for trades, and I wanted to take my trading to the next level. I knew that I required accountability to maintain motivation and inspiration, and without a prop firm or peers to push me, I needed to turn to the online community.

Plus I really miss being creative and going through the creative process, and creating content for the trading community fills that hole for me. I love writing and I get a kick out of recording videos and helping other traders on their journey, so it’s a healthy arrangement for me.

I also run the Pine Script education website Pine Script Mastery where I teach traders how to code their own scripts. I’ve always had a weird passion for programming and it has been a hobby of mine since I was 15 years old.

It’s funny how things work out – that seemingly benign hobby that I tinkered with for 15+ years just for fun has turned into both an extremely successful business and a huge advantage in my own trading.

And as for the name of my brand… I’m a passionate practitioner of Zen philosophy, and I believe that trading is an art more than a science (although it’s really a combination of both).

In 2021 I was interviewed by a highly reputable Australian broker by the name of Global Prime. If you are curious to hear more about my style of trading, why I perceive the markets the way I do, and why I am so fascinated with the Pine Script coding language, you can check that interview out here:

My Content

Three questions I ask myself before publishing my content are:

• Am I confident I know the subject I’m discussing intimately and from personal experience?
• Am I confident I got the facts straight?
• Is this content going to create value for others? 

I’m passionate about being transparent, honest and humble in the face of the markets.

Trading saved my life in the most literal sense, and I have the utmost respect for the craft.

That means this is not a get-rich-quick or parasitic marketing website. The content on my website is intended for committed traders who are extremely serious about mastering the craft of trading.

My content is mostly intended for retail traders since I’m a retail trader, but much of it applies to any form of professional trading.

In any case – if you’re here for the easy quick-fix, you will be disappointed. And so be it. It is my belief that nothing worthwhile comes easy in this life.

That’s why I’m obsessed with trading psychology and determined to be the best I can possibly be both in trading and in life. I’m in this for the long haul. And so the theme of this website is mostly focused on trading psychology (and forex).

But I also have some lessons on how to create your own indicators in Pine Script, a bunch of free TradingView indicators, a public forex trading journal, a YouTube video library and YouTube Channel as well as a podcast and a number of other useful tools and resources.

You can find links to everything important at our Resources Hub – www.theartoftrading.com.

Now, I’m not here to tell you that my way is the best way.

Far from it – I know that there are thousands of ways to be profitable in the markets, and I still have plenty left to learn before I can call myself even close to a master trader.

But between 2017 and now I have gone from a broke and consistently struggling trader to a consistently profitable trader managing hundreds of thousands of dollars with the help of some great mentorship, and so I think I have an interesting and ongoing story to tell which will help those who wish to follow in my footsteps as I’ve followed in those who guided me.

I plan to share it all on this blog for whoever is interested – or crazy enough – to join me in this endeavor. I want to be completely transparent throughout my trading journey and share what has worked for me (and what hasn’t).

Maybe I can help you avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made and learn from some of the insights I’ve had over the past few years, and maybe you can teach me a thing or two from your own experiences – and we can become better traders together.

I hope you enjoy your time here and that you find constant value. I’m extremely passionate about trading and I look forward to sharing my journey, insights and creations with you and the rest of the trading community!

Sincerely,
Matthew (& Jade).

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