The past year of 2018 has been one of my most inspiring for many years. I live in South Africa and the economy is based on a rather limited third world setup, with a fiat currency over fourteen times weaker than the US dollar. So it has been a rather humble life for me.
On top of that a historic fire swept through the south Cape coast the year before and destroyed my rental home with all its contents. I basically lost everything except my laptop and car. Over a thousand homes were destroyed in this life changing event. Few people have experienced such a devastating loss and lived to tell the tale. I have, and it has made me stronger for it. A decade as a monk in a yoga ashram in my twenties helped to train me up to be resilient and detached enough to rise above the material loss.
In December 2017, exactly a year ago, I discovered Bitcoin and crytpocurrency. For the past year I have immersed myself in learning this new subject matter. I taught myself technical analysis, day trading and the beauty of blockchain technology, smart contracts and the future of both tech and finance. The most important lessons that I have learned came in 2018 where I succeeded in buying Bitcoin and Ethereum, opening accounts on exchanges like Binance, and then most exciting of all – I learned how to be a day trader using technical analysis to become my own sovereign broker, banker and investor. Never before had I had any exposure to economics, finance or any such subject matter.
Accomplishing this has been empowering and inspiring. The three most important lessons that I have learned, besides, adapting to a life after the total loss of my home and belongings, was how to day trade, how to use TA, and most recently, how to trade Forex. The bear market in crypto left me out of opportunities to do much day trading in recent months, as my coins lost value and I wasn’t able to do much more than “hodl” now, until the price returns to a level where I am in profit again to continue day trading. It has been truly empowering and most exciting. But I had to set it aside. That gave me time to focus on research and writing on Steemit.
However, just this past week, in the last days of 2018, I came across a website that offered margin trading on Forex. I invested my last bit of spare fiat (less than three hundred dollars by 1st world standards) and tried my TA skills and day trading which I had learned via crypto. I dove into the deep end, not sure what margin even was or what I was doing.
Miraculously, in one day I doubled my money in this super high stakes day trading platform. By the next day I lost half of my profit in the same way, not knowing what I was fully doing. By the third day I had learned a bit more and so withdrew my principal investment, something I recommend all traders in crypto or Forex do. I then went on to trade with my remaining profit – 50% of what I originally had, and in a matter of two days was making more profit again. My dream to be a profitable Forex trader has come true.
My goals based on the "SMART criteria" of being Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound are as follows:
I wish to improve my day trading skills to make 100 000 in my own currency by year’s end. This fulfills all the SMART criteria. I know it is possible because I have had a sample of it in this past week for the first time ever, trading Forex. What a comeback story this will be. That is my one goal. If you like it let me know. And tell me what your goal is for the coming year of 2019.
And may the goddess of fortune be with you too. I know she is with me.
Good article
Thank you.
Your story is very inspiring Julian! Wish you the best of luck in 2019. In trading and generally, in life. You are on the right track, aligned with the bigger picture of the age of abundance.
I always wanted to get into Forex trading but never did as I thought it was too complicated and I had very little money to invest.
You should do a post on that website you are referring to and how you are trading. Would love to read more on that.
What's that website called anyway?
Thanks @runicar I appreciate your feedback my friend. The website is called 24option.com. One can trade stocks, commodities like metals, and all sorts of Forex pairs. They provide you with extra cash and you are trading on margin, as if you are borrowing. So your trade is much more profitable, but also more high risk if it goes the wrong way on you. Your broker calls you up on the phone - a margin call - if you are about to go bust or reach your limit because the trade you are in is losing too much.
Curiously it looks like I'm not actually buying the Forex or metal or stock. I'm just trading the price movement. It is day trading, very quick, in and out within a few hours or less. They are open 5 days a week 24 hours for trading it seems. Not weekends or holidays like over new year etc. It seems to be legit, as they have already returned my original principal investment which is back in my bank account. So I only have the profit I made on their exchange now, and I trade with that. They also recommended that I go to their page on tradingview.com which has posts coming in constantly regarding trade opportunities or analysis.
So purely based on TA, watching the price movements on the graph, without any info on fundamentals of the stock or currency, I am able to make small profits, buying low and selling high, regardless of the actual price on the day compared to the previous day or week. Also you can short as well as long, or enter a trade as it goes down, as well as up, and make profit if you are correct with your entry and direction.
I will keep you informed as I go along. With my target for end of 2019 at 100 000, I am currently at 3000 in the first week. It's high risk so lets see if i can maintain the growth. It takes up your time of course, as you need to watch the charts and price action very closely, like a sniper, so I've heard it called, lol.
This is only for people who have experience in day trading, as there is no buy and hold facility, as in crypto. If you choose wrongly in your trade, you could lose money there and then if you are forced to sell at a loss. However, there are tactics and strategies to increase the odds in your favour.
Check it out if you are keen.
Checked out the site but I'll definitely have to look into it a lot more before making any trades. Day trading has been rough on me before, mostly because I had so little to play around with but this time I'll only get in if I have at least 500$ to invest in.
I know what you mean, there will be losses along the way. Need to set a stop loss is what I've learned. I also only trade with a small amount of cash.
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New follower here. Great post. Hope you'll do an update at some point.