Brief Story Of My Life and How I Stumbled In Forex Trading

This is a summary of my 14 years of pains, hard work, failures, career turbulence, frustration, delays, disappointment & academic problems in higher institution. I will not talk about my family and my spiritual life as both can end up 100 pages. Life sometimes doesn’t play out according to our script. If you are born without a silver spoon is not a reason to die poor or dishonest! If you were born poor it’s never your mistake, but if you die poor it’s your mistake. No excuse for failure in life. PLEASE PARDON MY POOR USE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE


PART 1
When I was much younger about 12/13 year old, I've always wanted to be a computer scientist, entrepreneur & professor in economics because of the successes & passion I had for business studies, business mathematics & computer. Actually I was graciously brilliant in all of these then.. I also like so much of legitimate labor, work or jobs that produces goods & services to humanity and acceptable to God Almighty,


By the year 2000, things started sliding academically & otherwise for me. I could barely remember two lines of a sentence in a material. These problems intensified in the college and I started .having slipping grades. My confidence level died, social life gone and you know the rest? The beginning of troubles, impatient, worries & low self esteem. This was why I turned to the street for hustling and pursuance of other legitimate skills and jobs but these too were hell. I then decided to set up a business but unfortunately no capital. In this part of the world no such things as social welfare scheme. Government don’t care about your welfare and living. You must work it out yourself. It is you and God!


Fast forward to 2007, I now knew my problem got a spiritual undertone. Since this place is not a religious forum, I will skip this part.


I attended the first money making seminar this same year that sweet tongue and deceived me into multilevel and affiliate marketing I was happy I’ve found a biz that will fetch me the capital I was dreaming of. So, I invested in MLM scheme called GetAwayClub ($700) after the seminar. They didn’t tell us the secret behind it. This mlm didn't produce a penny because there was no down liner. I luckily sold all my positions to the man that organized the seminar at $600 & six months later the company died. I later reinvested in another investment program introduce by this same seminar man that promised 30% monthly return. The so called fund manager he invested with sent a message 3 weeks after “the platform crash and all fund disappeared”. I was in shock and disappointed. It was 2 years later I heard he invested in forex and nothing as platform crash causing an entire equity being wiped out. Let me not talk about my unsuccessful "study overseas program" that steals my time & fund wasted in 2008/9. Later I ventured into traveling agency biz in 2011/12. This one never saw the light, I got scammed $400 first month into the business. That man still ask me to bring him client to traffic abroad to compensate for my fund.

PART 2
In 2008, I heard a SEMINAR on a local television/radio about forex trading & blogging & how to monetize it using GOOGLE ADSENSE. Frankly speaking I attended that seminar because of blogging for profit not because of forex. Of course it wasn't free (10k local money). At the seminar, the lecture was a complete nonsense. It was simple as setting up a gmail account & then place advert. That was all the guy thought using blogspot. The forex aspect was basically the same. We where thought forex trading is an ATM that prints money with a click of the mouse & that your account can be wiped out also if you don't know what you are doing. You know what follow next. Teaching of some nonsensical indy on the platform. To cut the story short, after the seminar the whole stuff looks like rocket science & scam. I just didn't bother to visit the forex thing again until late 2010 when I stumble on the handout given at the seminar.


This time, my like for forex started awakening because of the many testimonies & successes I see when I visit & read about forex online from the so called gurus. It was then I started seeing the true picture of forex. Was it really a picture or a snare? Please read on!


Fast forward to 2012, I began live trading with a $100 bonus from a broker. It was just trial & error thing basically like playing video game because you are to trade 10 lots in a month to claim money. That account eventually margin called. It was from here I knew forex was very bitter. I began jumping from strategy to strategy reading what & what not. Later, I came across a Nigerian online forum thread where traders post signals.


By the year 2013, I officially registered as a member of that forum so as to join traders raking pips. Did I really rake pips or pips raked my accounts?

PART 3

2013 & beyond: my forex darkest days further compounding my prior financial debacle
To cut story short, I began real trading in 2013. Between 2013- June 2015, I have lost a total of $2895 compounded capital blowing 49. WHY and HOW? I will fund 25, 50, 75 100 & 150. This loses further triggered my frustrations, anger & pains always thinking how to recoup this loses back. Most of these loses were as a result of big lot sizes, mistakes, greed, emotion, power electricity and signals from other traders. It turns out that whenever I lose my capital to the signal poster, I immediately turn a beggar & pained, frustrated & negatively charged. The evil in internet & faceless forum is that no one cares to believe or trust the honest folks. Their responses are always "you have to carry your cross, you are a thief, a scammer, laughed, scorned" e.t.c. Some of them basically beat & wanted me dead. I wouldn't blame them it is the heart of man. The world is now merciless that the love of many has waxed cold. Worst of, some will promise to help me with fund only for them to start playing with my emotions. Im still waiting for the money for over a year now lol. Do I blame them? Nay. Trading was a hell for me because I was trading without electricity. Sometimes 2 hours power supply a day or week. I live in a country where national power supply is a curse even till this day. You either own a gasoline generating set or go elsewhere to get some paid private power for few hours. Before you get any of these, signal is gone or your open trades gets roasted along side your equity.


In middle of last year I opted for a low end tecno android phone with screen size 3.5 inches for the sole aim of trading via mt4 mobile. Little did I know I was using problem to solve another problem. The only advantage was quick access to the chart at anytime but the disadvantage were far worse than I thought - over trading, repainting, fake candles, happy clicking, looking at chart every time when even working, etc. If you don't know what you are doing don't trade through mobile mt4. I know many traders rakes pips through mobile mt4. What works for you may be my own discomfort. Let me purse this part here.

PART 4
On March 2015, I begged another trader who seems to be very rich & successful. His trade signal was the very first lost I encountered when I took the first trade call on that forum. At this time his account balance & equity has grown to $400,000 (four hundred). He was always displaying his account on social sites & display pix. But when I asked this young man for $100, I got the shocking reply below
"trading is not for you bro move on with your life"
I got hurt by this the more due to the boasting & proudness of this trader. He will tell you how he made 10k, 50k yesterday & just now but can't cough out 100 bucks. It was then I knew a mans heart is desperately wicked. So much for an ego in FX


I continue doing my site job (menial jobs) & hoping to see what really works in the market and what suit me because I strongly believe it existed. In some months I will save $20 -30$. I totally stopped following strategy & believed strongly in myself that hope is not lost.


CLOSE TO HOLYGRAIL EXIST ONLY ON DEMO NOT LIVE ACCOUNT
Processing stage of the supposed close to holygrail trading method


On May/June, when the method was seen, I tried to convinced myself I got the holygrail after luckily being successful in demo for a week. I decided to go live with $25 & first week balance was $78 while equity rose to $91. Little did I know it was fraction of the main method. On first day of the second week, account was melting before my eyes & I hold on until it crashes down to $24 & then to $9 before $0 balance. I went back to drawing board it was loads of confusion. It dawn on me I was gambling, digging my accounts grave & just dreaming. Gambling is a deadly sin. More so, it was like the Spirit is trying to show me the way but my impatient & desperation to trade wouldn't allow me to. Truth be told, insufficient margin, poor account, weak money management & lack of concrete knowledge of my method led to force closure of all trades . Few minutes later all positions came back to their entries & printed profits. Hmm medicine after death.


After this incident, I knew undercapitalization posses a threat to my trading owing to the fact I already have a prior PA strategy that can consistently net 15-25% monthly without greed. Albeit very positive that the true way of my latter method will be solved so I kept digging for it.


By 1 July, 2015 why studying as usual the supposed near holygrail method full understanding & working was revealed. I was happy I finally found the holygrail but the market again proved me wrong on demo/live with a test of $55. I've always wanted the holygrail because of the many boasting, bragging, misinformation, doubting thomases, selfish traders, ego traders, scammers etc parading themselves as traders as if nobody can do or live without them. We are all insignificant before God. He gives grace to the humble.



Earlier in June I asked someone in that forum to borrow me $500 for prudent trading base on the first PA strategy that can prudently earn 15% monthly by simply trading PA around previous week high/low & she agrees after some prove of the strategy strength. I told her that I'm a better trader psychologically & otherwise. That I'm honest just that I approached forex market the wrong way and that a bitter lesson has been learnt by me by experience the bitter way.. She agrees to send me $250.


By July ending, I received $221 from the kind hearted friend that promised me $250. She did as promised just that commission cost and exchange rate hate up $29. I began live trading with the balance $200+ on first week of August. First/second week of trading were fine until suddenly the strategy began generating every single fake signal. I was soon becoming impatient and emotional. I then conclude I was trading a mirage strategy. Before month end, I withdraw back my capital and small profit made. I cannot allow this fund suffer like the rest so I use it in settling some back log of my debt..
Insufficient trading capital was the major reason I kept digging for strategy that works 90% to 97% all the time. The evil in paltry funding is that it spark greed and emotion because you want to increase lot size to see some profit. The recurring decimal is always a blown account. What can a trader achieve with 30,50 100 dollar other than wait for years of compounding or use the NEAR HOLYGRAIL SYSTEM. Sadly I have not seen anyone done it. It very possible to double at the beginning but most times it end up a margin call due to impatient, over-confidence, fear & greed. Brokers are enjoying your gift and smiling. This trend wouldnt stop soon. It is very easy to earn 5-10% monthly with a $10,000 or 100k deposit and be very satisfied as against meager fund below $1000. The profits alone cannot buy internet subscription and other running cost. Hope someone is learning.

THE DYNAMIC NATURE OF FOREX MARKET
After years of battling this thing and getting it right finally, I cannot but agree with some personal truth and experiences that I believe up coming newbies should thread cautiously. Forex trading is not bed of roses if work blindly. You must work it out yourself dear or find a successful forex trader to coach you freely. It is not rocket science. It is the easiest-difficult thing there is. You do not need the holygrail to make money consistently as there are a thousand way to make profit.


Advanced and Simple Price Action is overrated. Go back to your chart and see how many times bullish/bearish engulfing candle, head & shoulder, butterfly, trend lines, fibonacci ratio, pivots, double top/bottom, pin bar, hammer, doji, railroad, marabozu, soldiers etc were all roasted at key zone what we were all thought in trading books as support & resistance level, overbought and oversold. I personally like calling the level demand and supply. What am saying is that if any of these do not work for you. it is time to discard and find what suit and work for you to the best of your ability. You must not follow the crowd newbies lest you end up repeating my mistake. Market move in range, random and trend. The random / range aspect is the most deadly, most profitable and most powerful. Ignore at your own peril.
An holygrail is to be patient, adopt working method, contented, consistency, fearless, emotionless, disciplined more than a soldier, well capitalized and tsunamically ready at all times.

PART 5
Some Bitter Truth Behind Trading: My Personal Findings/Experience
1. Market does not change but waved by scheduled and unscheduled news, forces of demand and supply, government, natural disaster & smart money causing unnecessary price spike more like the stormy sea. These are the shakers and movers of market that causes newbies high failure rate thinking market is manipulated against them. Market don't care or owes you anything. Don't allow these events trap you in market


2 . Money Management alone wouldn't save you if your edge is faulty. You need solid method/system.


3. Forex is not a get quick rich scheme


4. If you are a gambler, stop polluting the market and quit forex trading because you will keep chasing shadows.


5. Forex is a serious business & investment platform.


6. Don't be greedy & fearful in the market


7. Forex trading is parallel to sports betting, binary options, casinos, lotto & other dice throwing games. Likening all these to forex trading & treating it as gambling is the beginning of your financial sorrow. Stocks, futures & forex are not gambling in the true sense of the word.


8. If you can't trade, leave your money in a savings account.


9. Since forex trading cannot be said to be a real job, please always invest along side offline business like supermarket, farming or big businesses that can employ say 10 - 100 people & growing. Don't hoard your wealth when you become a successful trader.


10. Personal discovery is the best form of forex training along with what you learnt from a real mentor with a real account. Unfortunately I was not opportune to find a one on one mentor. This is why there are many forex junks online. I learned myself the hard way reading and burning countless unnecessary candles amidst my forgetfulness problem.

11. The statement "nothing is guaranteed in forex" is not or totally true in this market unless market dies. If nothing is garantee why venture into it at all, is this not foolish saying?


12. Undercapitalization is very dangerous in trading. It leads to greed & gambling. A trader ought to start with minimum $1000 unless you know what you doing.


13. There is nothing as "Do not invest what you cannot afford to lose". Every penny invested is very important.


14. Do not begin telling everyone you are trader: friends, neighbor, family members etc. most basically see forex as gambling & you taking money from the world and other losing traders without labor or working legitimately for it. This is why it is called "Zero Sum Game". See point 9. It is bad reputation we need to address perhaps because of huge failure rates at newbie level.


15. Stop reading all forex books. Most if not all are bulls crap. From Price Action bla bla candlesticks, pattern e.t.c to the least indy on your platform. Why this things make money, you don't need them to trade actually. Price action is over rated


16. Do not see forex as an alternative to your financial freedom. Don't think forex is a place where free money is printed daily as you wish and like. You will be disappointed.


17. Forex trading is not a do or die affair. It is not competition & do not compete with any body.


18. Using the word 'MUST' in trading makes you arrogant, boastful, proud, chest beating. etc. Market must humble you soon trust me.


19. It is unwise demo trading with 1k 3k and 10k and trading different capital on a live account. A good trader should be able to transfer all the successes and experience he learnt on demo to real account.)


20. A good system does not know whether market range or trend it does not change. Follow it wherever it goes.

21. Do not predict the market. It is not casinos. Act on the signals you see now. Only God knows the future.

22. If you have small capital scalp & big capital then swing.

My personal definition as follows:

SCALPING for me means any trade that last several minutes to several hours within 24 hours period.
DAY TRADING is holding a trade from several hours to several days
SWINGING is simply holding security from several weeks to several months.

23. A good strategy does not know whether market range or trend it does not change. Both are needed. Follow price wherever it goes.

24. Focus on returns rather than bragging on pips earned.

25. Forex should be seen as a place to boost capital for the real economy (starting a biz, industry or company) and not necessarily trading for a living. This is better than obtaining bank loan.

26. Trading should always be a side income to you along side regular jobs/offline biz & not primary earner when you are new to trading whether you earn good profits or not.

27. If you are addicted to trading, quit because you will keep losing.

28. Do not repeat my mistake of blindly following the so called gurus that lured us into trading through mouth watery seminar and flashing dollars on the internet by other traders . No body is guru.

29. Do not learn by experience please. It is too painful & wasteful. It is better to copy & paste a successful trader that wasted 8 years. Real successful traders do not need your dime to teach you or better do it yourself.

30. Run from anyone who claimed to have the holygrail or near-holygrail or promising you unrealistic returns on your investment but still posting affiliate links, offering signal services for money, e.t.c. These are the thieves and jokers in forex industry. Repent or perish and stop deceiving people.

31. Trade only one pair at a time. Trading everything that moves at the same time is stressful & greedy. It makes you lose focus. Most pairs are the same except differences in average daily pips range. Do not allow correlation pairs trap and wound you. Don't think you are smart to take advantage of correlation. If you like refute, it is my candid opinion anyway


32. Do not try to catch tops & bottom in trading. See No. 21. Wait for price to establish tops/bottom (patient pays)


33. There is nothing like late entry in forex trading . Entries opportunities are limitless. You just have to find your own price level (let it be at the right time) & not someone else level. We see things differently.


34. It is better to take 20 pips profits now than feeling like a King to enter early so as to pick 200 pips you are not sure of. Eventually it reverses half way to close in breakeven or hit stop loss. Accurate entry and exit are myth in trading. Don't be deceived!


34. Every trader is supposed to have at least 9000 pips worth of free equity to weather any terrible shock capable of dropping 1000 - 5000 pips in minutes & quickly rebounding after wrecking havoc on accounts.


In simple language:


$1000 deposit trade 0.01 only (just one trade at a time)

$10,000 = 0.1 ($1 per pip)

$100,000 = 1.0 ($10 per pip) and so on.



If things are fixed this way & no leverage, I tell you forex trading will become unattractive with nearly zero risk. Again this is my personal opinion.


35. The spiritual world controls the physical. Believe this or not. These are the times those graced cannot be caught in things like SNB tsunami, massive shocks dropping 1000 - 10,000 pips against you. You are either favored or no position before events.


36. Always determine your risk before placing any order. If you are using a 500 pip mental STOP, divide it by percentage to be risked. Example 5% of $1000 is $50. This means you are using 0.01 lot. Not blindly clicking buy and sell with any lot size printed in your heart. You are going to be a funding customer till you are exhausted. Home run and luck wouldn't save you.


37. keep following your own system that earns you some money so long as it is consistent and beware of greed, big lot, over trading, multiple entries, multiple pairs if not you will repeat my 3 years plus error.



38. Don't imitate those doubling account daily, weekly, and monthly on this forum or any other platform. I know many of them doubling account for years now yet they are still trading below 1k balance and refunding every time. Let them keep chasing shadows & running viciously. It takes 1 trade to melt off 3 months labor, gain and capital in FX so it is not wise following their ways. If you see me show you too, NEVER EVER imitate me. The end is very terrible. Patient pays long term in FX.


39. Do you know most times daily news releases on forex site & platform have already been priced on the price chart. Watching news Calendar every time inhibit fear & causes emotion. The most important news to beware of are SNB kind of news, rate cut . or any other news capable of dropping thousands of pips within several minutes . Sudden news or shock is the most dangerous and can caught you unprepared. see point NO 34 for preparation and lesser exposure of your account should in case it happens any time soon. Remember stop loss is useless during this time. Many are not always lucky during this time except those behind it like government & insider traders. Hope you now see why forex is not a play ground or get quick rich or using big lot size venture. "You go cry put hands for head if this news jam you".


41. In the market, you don't think, assume, presume, wish or hope for what price will do. You just follow it as long as your method says you are good. I have seen it happen over and over again. Everything is possible in the market especially when a particular instrument is showing immense strength across


42. I will be posting my live explorer by next years ending Gods willing as I returned back to real prudent trading first quarter of 2016. It is just for statistical analysis to proof right or wrong the myth about only 5% of day traders or retail fx traders making it in forex and to see if day traders are running in an endless mirror maze.


43. Do not imitate me. I do not claim to be smart & better than any body. DO NOT PM ME FOR ANYTHING PLEASE I WOULDN'T RESPOND NOT EVEN ON THIS THREAD OR ELSEWHERE CLAIMING TO BE ME. Please dont lose money like me before doing the right thing.

SUMMARY
Truth is you don't need an holygrail or even the so called 90% system accuracy to be a successful trader. What you need is discipline, good capital, proper risk management and a solid edge of 50% and your results will be amazing each month with just risk to reward ratio of 1:1 to 1:2 target alone. If I had the appropriate knowledge, the right mindset and trading method 3 years ago I wouldn't have been writing this episode. Like they say it is better late than never.
NEWSFLASH: The Close to Holygrail (97% - 99% accuracy) was finally achieved & I intend to prove this only through explorer not for ego but to encourage someone that nothing is impossible in this business. All odds & negative perception against trading were all defied by the method.



To your success & wishing you happy trading

Nothing is hard and fast.
Read charts for your trading style.
Adopt a strategy and implying it consists basis
Same lot size and stop
U got very good results..
Last one and most important forget forex..
Trade in commodities oil and gold.

Thank you for taking your time in sharing your story / experiences with us

Thank you sir for sharing your story i will be back to it reading it my bipolar disorder not helping me in that
have a nice day please

Yup..... think I'm done with trading forums. It's not even fun breakin' balls anymore. What a load of shit.

Change She's to He's

interesting read - some valid points (some gross generalisations based on your failures without the proven success that validates them). But confused/disappointed that you spent time in forums messaging people, begging to be taught, borrowing money from them to feed your trading habit and yet you demand that no-one should contact you because you won't respond. Comes across like the first guy you mentioned and not exactly the attitude to others that the 'Spirit' would want. Nevertheless thanks for posting and I genuinely hope it goes well for you.

boy...that was quiet a story...

mmmh...all i can say you are almost close...

dnt be bitter with FX... be cheerful... count it all joy...

tom29reloaded of nairaland.com welcome on board...u gonna av more stories to tell 3years from now....its a journey bro and we are all in it.......

that was addressed to people who he borrowed money from

I'm sorry to hear about your hard luck, but it won't change by forex trading. In fact, forex will take money from you. Walk away from it, it's not worth it.

Tom29, the biggest concern about your story, is that you were still struggling this year, several months ago.

So, an obvious question would be, how long have you been profitable? Assuming you have some consistency in your trading now?

It cannot be longer than some months. This is not much of a track record to base confidence on. You could really be on your way to being a successful trader, I cannot know that. However, be careful, as it is easy to gain confidence, but even easier to lose confidence, as you no doubt agree....