When I first started trading forex macroeconomics scared me, mainly because I didn’t understand it and it seemed to create all sorts of chaos on the charts. My technical analysis was on point but if I ever placed a trade which was text book technical analysis and then it unexplainably got stopped out on a spike I would just say ‘some big new must have happened, that was unlucky’. While I was correct that some big news often did happen, it probably wasn’t unlucky as we are actually told in advance when they are being released (more or less, sometimes they are a surprise). When I first started trading forex I was told about NFP and I was told don’t trade it. It causes a lot of volatility, spiking and strange reactions in the markets. This is all true. But one of the wonderful things about NFP is it happens once a month at the same time each month so we get plenty of warning. However as I had already dismissed it as something I wasn’t going to bother trading or understanding because it was too difficult and wasn’t worth it I often ended up completely forgetting when it was taking place and still letting it cause problems for me If I left trades open beforehand.
OK, I GET YOU WERE SCARED OF IT BUT WHAT IS IT
So the short version of the long story is that NFP stands for Non-Farm Payroll and is big economical data which comes out on the first Friday of every month (usually). This month, March 2024, it’s one of the few occasions it’s on the second Friday of the month. If you are in the UK like I am it will be released at 13:30 in the afternoon. As the name suggests it’s to do with payroll in America which ISN’T farm related. Which means, most payroll. The numbers when released show us how many jobs have been added or removed in the US over the past month. High numbers are generally good for the US dollar as its showing a healthy economy where people are in work and low numbers suggest a weakening US economy and can therefore can be seen as bad for the US dollar. While this might sound super easy to trade, just buy USD pairs when the numbers are high and sell when the numbers are low, there are actually some nuances which make it slightly less straightforward. What we get on our economical calendar is the previous number, and the consensus for what is expected to be announced on NFP. If, for example, the consensus shows we are expecting the numbers to be high and when they are released they are high, but not as high as expected but still higher than previous – this could be interpreted as bad news, or just confused news. You might see on a 5M chart a whipsaw of bull and bear candles trying to make sense of whether this is actually good news for the US economy or bad news. And that is why it’s not easy to trade NFP.
I’VE HAD A CHANGE OF HEART
Having said all of this I’ve actually recently become a little bit obsessed with NFP and all other forms of macroeconomic data. Having realised that my technical analysis was on point but my macroeconomics could do with some TLC I decided to book myself in for classes with my very own trading mentor. An expert in macroeconomics called Patrick Reid who works for a company called Adamis Principle. I could not recommend the mentor programme enough for those who need a bit of help with their fundamental analysis. Having a better understanding of financial news and economic data and how it moves the markets in the short term, long term and semi long term, I have now made friends with NFP. I stand by the fact that it can be difficult to trade on the day when the news is immediately released but paying attention to the numbers which come out and how this affects sentiment on the US dollar over the following weeks is incredible valuable. These sorts of big economic data releases can often be the thing which reverses trends and causes the markets to move in another direction, so paying attention to what comes out on NFP day, even if you don’t trade the day itself, can be really helpful for the following weeks.
FINANCIAL MARKETS HAVE A HOLISTIC RELATIONSHIP
And while NFP is referring to economical data in America and predominantly affects the USD pairs, the global financial markets have a sort of holistic relationship with each other and you’ll often notice that big news for one market can often have a big impact on other markets aswell. For example, often indices like SPX and NASDAQ can move in the opposite direction to the USD and XAUUSD or Gold can often move in the opposite direction to the USD. European stock markets like DAX or FTSE can then follow the lead of the American index funds and often move in a similar direction. And often AUD can move in the same direction as XAUUSD which means it will be moving in the opposite direction to the USD. I know there is a lot of information here but my point is basically to not leave any trade open during NFP thinking it won’t be affected just because its not USD!
I’d love to hear if you trade NFP or how you use the information or even if you found this information helpful
When I first started trading forex macroeconomics scared me, mainly because I didn’t understand it and it seemed to create all sorts of chaos on the charts. My technical analysis was on point but if I ever placed a trade which was text book technical analysis and then it unexplainably got stopped out on a spike I would just say ‘some big new must have happened, that was unlucky’. While I was correct that some big news often did happen, it probably wasn’t unlucky as we are actually told in advance when they are being released (more or less, sometimes they are a surprise). When I first started trading forex I was told about NFP and I was told don’t trade it. It causes a lot of volatility, spiking and strange reactions in the markets. This is all true. But one of the wonderful things about NFP is it happens once a month at the same time each month so we get plenty of warning. However as I had already dismissed it as something I wasn’t going to bother trading or understanding because it was too difficult and wasn’t worth it I often ended up completely forgetting when it was taking place and still letting it cause problems for me If I left trades open beforehand.
OK, I GET YOU WERE SCARED OF IT BUT WHAT IS IT
So the short version of the long story is that NFP stands for Non-Farm Payroll and is big economical data which comes out on the first Friday of every month (usually). This month, March 2023, it’s one of the few occasions it’s on the second Friday of the month. If you are in the UK like I am it will be released at 13:30 in the afternoon. As the name suggests it’s to do with payroll in America which ISN’T farm related. Which means, most payroll. The numbers when released show us how many jobs have been added or removed in the US over the past month. High numbers are generally good for the US dollar as its showing a healthy economy where people are in work and low numbers suggest a weakening US economy and can therefore can be seen as bad for the US dollar. While this might sound super easy to trade, just buy USD pairs when the numbers are high and sell when the numbers are low, there are actually some nuances which make it slightly less straightforward. What we get on our economical calendar is the previous number, and the consensus for what is expected to be announced on NFP. If, for example, the consensus shows we are expecting the numbers to be high and when they are released they are high, but not as high as expected but still higher than previous – this could be interpreted as bad news, or just confused news. You might see on a 5M chart a whipsaw of bull and bear candles trying to make sense of whether this is actually good news for the US economy or bad news. And that is why it’s not easy to trade NFP.
I’VE HAD A CHANGE OF HEART
Having said all of this I’ve actually recently become a little bit obsessed with NFP and all other forms of macroeconomic data. Having realised that my technical analysis was on point but my macroeconomics could do with some TLC I decided to book myself in for classes with my very own trading mentor. An expert in macroeconomics called Patrick Reid who works for a company called Adamis Principle. I could not recommend the mentor programme enough for those who need a bit of help with their fundamental analysis. Having a better understanding of financial news and economic data and how it moves the markets in the short term, long term and semi long term, I have now made friends with NFP. I stand by the fact that it can be difficult to trade on the day when the news is immediately released but paying attention to the numbers which come out and how this affects sentiment on the US dollar over the following weeks is incredible valuable. These sorts of big economic data releases can often be the thing which reverses trends and causes the markets to move in another direction, so paying attention to what comes out on NFP day, even if you don’t trade the day itself, can be really helpful for the following weeks.
FINANCIAL MARKETS HAVE A HOLISTIC RELATIONSHIP
And while NFP is referring to economical data in America and predominantly affects the USD pairs, the global financial markets have a sort of holistic relationship with each other and you’ll often notice that big news for one market can often have a big impact on other markets aswell. For example, often indices like SPX and NASDAQ can move in the opposite direction to the USD and XAUUSD or Gold can often move in the opposite direction to the USD. European stock markets like DAX or FTSE can then follow the lead of the American index funds and often move in a similar direction. And often AUD can move in the same direction as XAUUSD which means it will be moving in the opposite direction to the USD. I know there is a lot of information here but my point is basically to not leave any trade open during NFP thinking it won’t be affected just because its not USD!
I’d love to hear if you trade NFP or how you use the information or even if you found this information helpful
I was told it was a good idea to trade on a demo account for several months before moving onto a live trading account. This is good advice but I didn’t listen to it. To be honest I got bored on a demo account and I really didn’t learn much about trading until I put real money on the line. But having said that I also self taught and didn’t have a trading mentor to tell me the correct approach. So this is what I tell my trading students and what I wish someone had told me when I first started trading forex.
DEMO ACCOUNTS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO LIVE ACCOUNTS BUT THEY DO HAVE THEIR PLACE
There is a well known phenomena in forex trading where everyone seems to make thousands of pounds with no problem on a demo trading account which leads them believe they are the best trader in the world, and then as soon as they switch to live trading with hopeful enthusiasm they end up losing all their money because they weren’t quite prepared for how big a role trading psychology plays in your ability to trade well. There is an excellent book on this subject called Trading In The Zone which i’ll amazon link here
https://amzn.to/3Y0GrbQ
but if you can’t be bothered to read a whole book then the summery is basically that the trick to making money as a forex trader is to not care about money and to focus on trading well instead. Ironically most traders when they first start trading actually care the most about making money, it’s what made them decide to be a trader in the first place. They were so confident when it was pretend demo money and then as soon as it was their life savings, the trader fear kicked in and suddenly they started second guessing every trade, closing it early, the second it fluctuated in the opposite direction, only to watch it go back the way they originally thought it was going as soon as it was closed at a loss. Ever been here? If you answered ‘no’ you’re probably still trading on demo.
DEMO TRADING IS GOOD FOR NAVIGATION
So while a demo trading account doesn’t actually prepare you for certain elements of trading psychology, what it does do very nicely is to give you practice navigating your way around a trading platform. Sometimes these can seem confusing at first. I use MetaTrader which I now find super easy but I can remember the day when I was tearing my hair out thinking it was the most complicated thing in the world. You definitely don’t want to be going through this while you have real money on the line. You want to be fully fluent in the platform you use, knowing exactly how to adjust the lot sizes when needed, where to place your stop loss and take profit and exactly how to close the trade. You also want to be able see all the trades you have closed, your profit and loss and how to add currency pairs to you watchlist.
ALWAYS DEVELOP NEW STRATEGIES ON DEMO ACCOUNTS
Not only do you want to be fully fluent in the trading platform you are using before you switch from demo trading to live trading but you also want to be happy with your strategy on demo first. This is the stage which I missed out and I wish I’d taken a bit more time and care over. I tested out my strategy on a live account which pretty much meant I lost all of my money, because that’s what happens when you develop your own strategy. Even when you are trading a pre-tested strategy which your trading mentor has given you, its still advisable to start off on demo. There are so many nuances in trading and it’s just far safer to have a couple test drives with play money first.
NOTHING BEATS THE REAL THING
Having said all of this, if you tell me you are bored on demo and it feels like it doesn’t mean anything to you and you’re not learning, I do understand. This is exactly how I felt as well. While it’s clever to spend a bit of time on a demo trading account I do honestly believe there is such a thing as spending too long on one. Nothing is going to make you pay attention to the way the financial markets moves quite like having real money at stake, even if its the smallest lot size possible and the trade has only gone £2 against you, you will still be paying attention and staring at those candles intensely as they move up and down.
I was told it was a good idea to trade on a demo account for several months before moving onto a live trading account. This is good advice but I didn’t listen to it. To be honest I got bored on a demo account and I really didn’t learn much about trading until I put real money on the line. But having said that I also self taught and didn’t have a trading mentor to tell me the correct approach. So this is what I tell my trading students and what I wish someone had told me when I first started trading forex.
DEMO ACCOUNTS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TO LIVE ACCOUNTS BUT THEY DO HAVE THEIR PLACE
There is a well known phenomena in forex trading where everyone seems to make thousands of pounds with no problem on a demo trading account which leads them believe they are the best trader in the world, and then as soon as they switch to live trading with hopeful enthusiasm they end up losing all their money because they weren’t quite prepared for how big a role trading psychology plays in your ability to trade well. There is an excellent book on this subject called Trading In The Zone which i’ll amazon link here
https://amzn.to/3Y0GrbQ
but if you can’t be bothered to read a whole book then the summery is basically that the trick to making money as a forex trader is to not care about money and to focus on trading well instead. Ironically most traders when they first start trading actually care the most about making money, it’s what made them decide to be a trader in the first place. They were so confident when it was pretend demo money and then as soon as it was their life savings, the trader fear kicked in and suddenly they started second guessing every trade, closing it early, the second it fluctuated in the opposite direction, only to watch it go back the way they originally thought it was going as soon as it was closed at a loss. Ever been here? If you answered ‘no’ you’re probably still trading on demo.
DEMO TRADING IS GOOD FOR NAVIGATION
So while a demo trading account doesn’t actually prepare you for certain elements of trading psychology, what it does do very nicely is to give you practice navigating your way around a trading platform. Sometimes these can seem confusing at first. I use MetaTrader which I now find super easy but I can remember the day when I was tearing my hair out thinking it was the most complicated thing in the world. You definitely don’t want to be going through this while you have real money on the line. You want to be fully fluent in the platform you use, knowing exactly how to adjust the lot sizes when needed, where to place your stop loss and take profit and exactly how to close the trade. You also want to be able see all the trades you have closed, your profit and loss and how to add currency pairs to you watchlist.
ALWAYS DEVELOP NEW STRATEGIES ON DEMO ACCOUNTS
Not only do you want to be fully fluent in the trading platform you are using before you switch from demo trading to live trading but you also want to be happy with your strategy on demo first. This is the stage which I missed out and I wish I’d taken a bit more time and care over. I tested out my strategy on a live account which pretty much meant I lost all of my money, because that’s what happens when you develop your own strategy. Even when you are trading a pre-tested strategy which your trading mentor has given you, its still advisable to start off on demo. There are so many nuances in trading and it’s just far safer to have a couple test drives with play money first.
NOTHING BEATS THE REAL THING
Having said all of this, if you tell me you are bored on demo and it feels like it doesn’t mean anything to you and you’re not learning, I do understand. This is exactly how I felt as well. While it’s clever to spend a bit of time on a demo trading account I do honestly believe there is such a thing as spending too long on one. Nothing is going to make you pay attention to the way the financial markets moves quite like having real money at stake, even if its the smallest lot size possible and the trade has only gone £2 against you, you will still be paying attention and staring at those candles intensely as they move up and down.
Obviously I am your forex trading coach in forex-blog-world but as there is only one of me and many traders to help, it would be impossible for me to be everyone’s forex coach one to one, as much as I would love that. Plus picking the right forex coach for you is a very personal choice and there are a few things to consider. So in this post we are going to look at what a forex trading coach is, what makes a good trading coach, where you can find the right trading coach for you, and what your other options are if you decide not to invest in trading coaching.
ONE OF THE GREATEST LIFE HACKS AVAILABLE
Firstly, what is a forex trading coach? A coach can be anyone who is closer to where you want to be then you are at the moment. Or they are exactly where you want to be. A trading coach can be someone with just a couple years more experience than you, or someone with many more years experience. Ultimately, getting a coach in any area is really one of the greatest life hacks there is. Having a good coach is excellent leverage getting to the next stage in your career. Some careers are so difficult to climb that it’s almost impossible to do without a coach. And most of the time it’s just easier and quicker to succeed if you do have a coach.
TRADERS DON’T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SPEND THEIR MONEY – APPARENTLY
Trading isn’t easy which is why it’s one of the careers choices where it is advisable to have a trading coach. When I first started learning how to trade forex I remember that one of the key piece of advice I was given was to get myself a trading coach. And guess what? I’m so stubborn I actually didn’t listen and decided to self teach. Which I do regret a bit. Later on in my forex trading journey I did end up paying for a trading coach and I realise now with hindsight, that the time I saved getting to where I wanted to be was well worth the money I spent.
If you are unfamiliar with my forex trading journey then here is a bit of background:
I first started reading about forex trading in 2015 but I had been interested in it since about 2005. I remember when I was at school and was told I needed to think about what I wanted to do with my life I immediately asked the question ‘well, what job pays the best?’. One of my friends who I considered to be a lot smarter than me, told me that forex traders made A LOT of money. So I said ‘that’s settled, I’ll be a forex trader’ but then she told me that they often died early because of the stress. So I weighted it up as an option and decided it probably wasn’t worth making all that money if I wasn’t going to live long enough to spend it, so I ruled forex trading out for the time being and decided to work in radio instead, because it sounded fun.
By the time I realised there wasn’t enough money in radio to live comfortably on in the UK, and in particular, in the South East of England in an expensive seaside town called Brighton, most of my twenties had gone by and I was hesitant to start paying lots of money for expensive trading courses or investing in trading mentors if I wasn’t 100% sure it was going to pay off. So I went the half hearted route into forex trading and self taught thinking I was being clever and hedging against the possibility that I might not actually be good enough to make it as a full time trader.
There are elements of this approach which I stand by today as being clever. I didn’t spend a lot of money on my trading education which was a big plus as I didn’t have a lot of money to spend. I decided I wanted to learn how to trade forex because I needed more money so giving over all the money I didn’t have for something that might not work seemed too big a risk.
On the flip side, I realise that learning to trade is like most skills in life, the more you practice, the better you get, and if you can learn from someone else who has been there, you can save yourself a lot of time in the process. I do wish I’d invested in a trading coach sooner.
Overall the process of learning to trade forex took a lot longer than I had expected but I also realise that I went the very very long way around things. I didn’t have the money at the time to invest in a trading coach but I wish I had at least started talking to other traders sooner as there really is no quicker way to learn then from someone who has already been there. When I started my trading business, Trading Angel in 2019, I wanted it to be the service which I wish I’d had for myself when I first started trading forex.
WHY DID PAYING FOR A COACH SAVE ME SO MUCH TIME
When I did eventually decide to fork out for a trading coach of my own, it was because I had done a lot of work to teach myself and master technical analysis but I realised there was bit of a gap in my knowledge when it came to fundamental analysis. I did search all over YouTube to try and find a good channel which could help explain how news affects the forex markets but I struggled to find one which gave a clear answer. Eventually I found a trading coach who had actually worked as an institutional trader for 15 years and was very knowledgeable about macroeconomics and how news releases such as interest rates decision affect the long term direction of the currency pairs.
Firstly, and very obviously, what saved me time here was that he had 15 years of experience working at institutional level which I didn’t have and lets be honest, I wasn’t prepared to do. So, he was able to sum up those years of experience for me in a few hours and really just tell me the key points which I needed to know. He told me all the big mistakes which he made and how not to make them and little things to focus on which I would never have thought about before.
15 YEARS EXPERIENCE SUMMED UP IN ONE MINUTE
I remember well the day when I decided that I wanted to pay him to teach me. We were on a zoom call having a catch up from one trader to another, and we discussed the fact that we had both taken a position on USDJPY. There was a big explosive move up followed by a move down afterward. We took opposite positions on the trade and both made money. He bought the big explosive move up and I traded the reversal. I was a bit jealous he’d caught the big move and I had traded the weaker one. So I asked him how he knew the market was going to explode up. It took him about one minute to explain to me and to show me, and the pattern he showed me is to this day, one of my favourites to trade. So I was sold! I’m a big fan of learning to trade from YouTube or free content where possible but getting that very impactful and concise direction from an expert is really priceless.
If you are just starting your forex journey and you’re hesitant to invest in a forex coach, like I was when I first started trading, then my best suggestion is to watch as many YouTube videos as possible and read as many books as possible. This is the probably the least expensive way to learn from other traders. I release new YouTube videos on trading the financial markets very week, you can subscribe to Trading Angel’s channel here:
A good trading coach is a really personal choice. We all have different learning styles so it’s really important you take your time selecting someone who you feel can teach you in the way that you need to learn. Firstly, you want to make sure you pick someone who is getting results or at the very least has been able to get good results from their coachees, someone who can prove both is ideal. It’s worth taking the time to read reviews and testimonials to see what experience other people have had with their trading coach before you invest in one yourself.
HOW TO FIND A TRADING COACH
Unless you are working in finance you may not come across many trading coaches in your day to day life which means you may need to do a bit of research in order to find one. First things first, Google is a wonderful search engine, you might have heard of it. Type in trading mentor followed by the country you are in and see who comes up on the top page. You may need to read a few profiles and reviews before you find the one which resonates with your learning style and specific needs. Although most coaching for trading is done remotely these days on zoom, the reason why I suggest typing in your country is so that you find someone with no language barriers or run into difficulties with someone in a different time zone. So for example, if I was to look for a forex trading coach I might type into Google “trading coach UK”.
Another way you can find a trading coach is on social media sites like YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. Just be really careful as a lot of trading coaches these days have scammers copying their profiles daily in order to try and get money out of people by pretending its trading money. So if you do decide to use social media always make sure you find the original profile of the person you are following and not one of the copy cat accounts. My real Instagram account is @trading_angel_caroline but there are countless fakes out there just adding an extra ‘I’ or a dash. Here are the links to all of my social media sites:
Another place you could look for a trading coach is at trading events. These are networking events where traders can meet up. I met my trading coach at an event put on by a forex broker where a few traders where giving presentations on trading. These can be great places to network and often they are completely free.
IS GETTING A TRADING COACH THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU?
Often getting a trading coach is not a cheap endeavour but it can be worth it. Just make sure you aren’t throwing money at the furness. If you are not ready to invest the time into practicing what you have learned then it might not be the right time for you to invest in coaching.
Also, if you have a difficult work schedule and you don’t even have regular spaces in it to meet with your trading coach you might be better off opting for an online trading course instead. If you go for a trading course then you have the option of watching the videos as many times as you like and also when you have the time. Make sure you check what the limitations are on the trading course as some will only allow you to log in for three month or a year. I have created a forex trading course for my coachees to be able to re-watch the video classes as many times as they like and there is no time limit at all.
If you’re interested in this option here are the details:
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN TRADING ANGEL ACADEMY
Trading Angel Academy teaches you through an online video course by your trading coach a step by step guide to trading forex like a Trading Angel. This is a comprehensive programme which not only teaches you the three strategies which I have been using in my day to day trading for the past three years but also offers you a clear structure for your day and how to prioritise and manage your day as a trader.
Trading Angel Academy is £950, this is what you will receive with this offer:
You will be given lifetime access, as long as the course is up and the platform is running you can log in and access the content. There is no time limit or time restrictions
3 strategies with printable rules and checklists, if any additional strategies are added to Trading Angel Academy over time you will get automatic free access
Step by Step video guides on how to trade like a Trading Angel for you to re-watch as many times as you like
Stages Of A Trading Angel Trade – a clear 7step structured guideline of the stages you need to be going through for each trade, this guideline was created by your trading mentor specifically for this programme
Downloadable or printable Stages Of A Trade guideline so you can keep this at your trading desk to refer back when needed
Clear guidance on how to structure your day if you want to trade like your trading mentor
Guidance on how to transition to either a part time or full time trader
Separate videos for each trading tool or indicator used making it easy to rewatch the sections you need the most
Monthly updated Economical Calendar Cheat Sheet
Priority to attend Live Trading Sessions – in these you can watch your trading mentor looking for and placing the set ups you have learned in the video tutorials. This is a great bonus to allow you to see exactly what the process of looking for and placing trades should look like and an excellent opportunity to ask your trading mentor any questions
Discount on 1-2-1 trading sessions with your trading coach
Free automatic access to any updates and improvements made on this course by your trading mentor
You can sign up to Trading Angel Academy here:
https://tradingangel.mykajabi.com/offers/EqUQQy4K
Happy Trading!
Love From, Your Trading Coach x
Trading Angel has mentored and coached over 100 traders and understands that most people who decide to start trading the financial markets often do so from a place of frustration where they are currently at. Often they feel over worked and tired in their current job and are looking for a way to spend more time with their family, go traveling, or work on a passion project. Understanding that your time is valuable to you, Trading Angel’s mentorship programme was created with the mission of saving traders as much time as possible on their journey learning how to trade forex and the other financial markets. All the best sports people have coaches and all the best entrepreneurs had mentors including Elon Musk who had several mentors, Steve Jobs mentored Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet mentored Bill Gates and Dumbledore was Harry Potter’s mentor!
Obviously I am your forex trading mentor in forex-blog-world but as there is only one of me and many traders to help, it would be impossible for me to be everyones forex mentor one to one, as much as I would love that. Plus picking the right forex mentor for you is a very personal choice and there are a few things to consider. So in this post we are going to look at what a forex trading mentor is, what makes a good trading mentor, where you can find the right trading mentor for you, and what your other options are if you decide not to invest in trading mentorship.
ONE OF THE GREATEST LIFE HACKS AVAILABLE
Firstly, what is a forex trading mentor? A mentor is anyone who is closer to where you want to be then you are at the moment. Or they are exactly where you want to be. A trading mentor can be someone with just a couple years more experience than you, or someone with many more years experience. Ultimately, getting a mentor in any area is really one of the greatest life hacks there is. Having a good mentor is excellent leverage getting to the next stage in your career. Some careers are so difficult to climb that it’s almost impossible to do without a mentor. And most of the time it’s just easier and quicker to succeed if you do have a mentor.
TRADERS DON’T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO SPEND THEIR MONEY – APPARENTLY
Trading isn’t easy which is why it’s one of the careers choices where it is advisable to have a trading mentor. When I first started learning how to trade forex I remember that one of the key piece of advice I was given was to get myself a trading mentor. And guess what? I’m so stubborn I actually didn’t listen and decided to self teach. Which I do regret a bit. Later on in my forex trading journey I did end up paying for a trading mentor and I realise now with hindsight, that the time I saved getting to where I wanted to be was well worth the money I spent.
If you are unfamiliar with my forex trading journey then here is a bit of background:
I first started reading about forex trading in 2015 but I had been interested in it since about 2005. I remember when I was at school and was told I needed to think about what I wanted to do with my life I immediately asked the question ‘well, what job pays the best?’. One of my friends who I considered to be a lot smarter than me, told me that forex traders made A LOT of money. So I said ‘that’s settled, I’ll be a forex trader’ but then she told me that they often died early because of the stress. So I weighted it up as an option and decided it probably wasn’t worth making all that money if I wasn’t going to live long enough to spend it, so I ruled forex trading out for the time being and decided to work in radio instead, because it sounded fun.
By the time I realised there wasn’t enough money in radio to live comfortably on in the UK, and in particular, in the South East of England in an expensive seaside town called Brighton, most of my twenties had gone by and I was hesitant to start paying lots of money for expensive trading courses or investing in trading mentors if I wasn’t 100% sure it was going to pay off. So I went the half hearted route into forex trading and self taught thinking I was being clever and hedging against the possibility that I might not actually be good enough to make it as a full time trader.
There are elements of this approach which I stand by today as being clever. I didn’t spend a lot of money on my trading education which was a big plus as I didn’t have a lot of money to spend. I decided I wanted to learn how to trade forex because I needed more money so giving over all the money I didn’t have for something that might not work seemed too big a risk.
On the flip side, I realise that learning to trade is like most skills in life, the more you practice, the better you get, and if you can learn from someone else who has been there, you can save yourself a lot of time in the process. I do wish I’d invested in a trading mentor sooner.
Overall the process of learning to trade forex took a lot longer than I had expected but I also realise that I went the very very long way around things. I didn’t have the money at the time to invest in a trading mentor but I wish I had at least started talking to other traders sooner as there really is no quicker way to learn then from someone who has already been there. When I started my trading business, Trading Angel in 2019, I wanted it to be the service which I wish I’d had for myself when I first started trading forex.
WHY DID PAYING FOR A MENTOR SAVE ME SO MUCH TIME
When I did eventually decide to fork out for a trading mentor of my own, it was because I had done a lot of work to teach myself and master technical analysis but I realised there was bit of a gap in my knowledge when it came to fundamental analysis. I did search all over YouTube to try and find a good channel which could help explain how news affects the forex markets but I struggled to find one which gave a clear answer. Eventually I found a trading mentor who had actually worked as an institutional trader for 15 years and was very knowledgable about macroeconomics and how news releases such as interest rates decision affect the long term direction of the currency pairs.
Firstly, and very obviously, what saved me time here was that he had 15 years of experience working at institutional level which I didn’t have and lets be honest, I wasn’t prepared to do. So, he was able to sum up those years of experience for me in a few hours and really just tell me the key points which I needed to know. He told me all the big mistakes which he made and how not to make them and little things to focus on which I would never have thought about before.
15 YEARS EXPERIENCE SUMMED UP IN ONE MINUTE
I remember well the day when I decided that I wanted to pay him to teach me. We were on a zoom call having a catch up from one trader to another, and we discussed the fact that we had both taken a position on USDJPY. There was a big explosive move up followed by a move down afterward. We took opposite positions on the trade and both made money. He bought the big explosive move up and I traded the reversal. I was a bit jealous he’d caught the big move and I had traded the weaker one. So I asked him how he knew the market was going to explode up. It took him about one minute to explain to me and to show me, and the pattern he showed me is to this day, one of my favourites to trade. So I was sold! I’m a big fan of learning to trade from YouTube or free content where possible but getting that very impactful and concise direction from an expert is really priceless.
If you are just starting your forex journey and you’re hesitant to invest in a forex mentor, like I was when I first started trading, then my best suggestion is to watch as many YouTube videos as possible and read as many books as possible. This is the probably the least expensive way to learn from other traders. I release new YouTube videos on trading the financial markets very week, you can subscribe to Trading Angel’s channel here:
A good trading mentor is a really personal choice. We all have different learning styles so it’s really important you take your time selecting someone who you feel can teach you in the way that you need to learn. Firstly, you want to make sure you pick someone who is getting results or at the very least has been able to get good results from their mentees, someone who can prove both is ideal. It’s worth taking the time to read reviews and testimonials to see what experience other people have had with their trading mentor before you invest in one yourself.
HOW TO FIND A TRADING MENTOR
Unless you are working in finance you may not come across many trading mentors in your day to day life which means you may need to do a bit of research in order to find one. First things first, Google is a wonderful search engine, you might have heard of it. Type in trading mentor followed by the country you are in and see who comes up on the top page. You may need to read a few profiles and reviews before you find the one which resonates with your learning style and specific needs. Although most mentoring for trading is done remotely these days on zoom, the reason why I suggest typing in your country is so that you find someone with no language barriers or run into difficulties with someone in a different time zone. So for example, if I was to look for a forex trading mentor I might type into Google “trading mentor UK”.
Another way you can find a trading mentor is on social media sites like YouTube, TikTok or Instagram. Just be really careful as a lot of trading mentors these days have scammers copying their profiles daily in order to try and get money out of people by pretending its trading money. So if you do decide to use social media always make sure you find the original profile of the person you are following and not one of the copy cat accounts. My real instagram account is @trading_angel_caroline but there are countless fakes out there just adding an extra ‘I’ or a dash. Here are the links to all of my social media sites:
Another place you could look for a trading mentor is at trading events. These are networking events where traders can meet up. I met my trading mentor at an event put on by a forex broker where a few traders where giving presentations on trading. These can be great places to network and often they are completely free.
IS GETTING A TRADING MENTOR THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR YOU?
Often getting a trading mentor is not a cheap endeavour but it can be worth it. Just make sure you aren’t throwing money at the furness. If you are not ready to invest the time into practicing what you have learned then it might not be the right time for you to invest in coaching.
Also, if you have a difficult work schedule and you don’t even have regular spaces in it to meet with your trading mentor you might be better off opting for an online trading course instead. If you go for a trading course then you have the option of watching the videos as many times as you like and also when you have the time. Make sure you check what the limitations are on the trading course as some will only allow you to log in for three month or a year. I have created a forex trading course for my mentees to be able to rewatch the video classes as many times as they like and there is no time limit at all.
If you’re interested in this option here are the details:
WHAT’S INCLUDED IN TRADING ANGEL ACADEMY
Trading Angel Academy teaches you through an online video course by your trading mentor a step by step guide to trading forex like a Trading Angel. This is a comprehensive programme which not only teaches you the three strategies which I have been using in my day to day trading for the past three years but also offers you a clear structure for your day and how to prioritise and manage your day as a trader.
Trading Angel Academy is £950, this is what you will receive with this offer:
You will be given lifetime access, as long as the course is up and the platform is running you can log in and access the content. There is no time limit or time restrictions
3 strategies with printable rules and checklists, if any additional strategies are added to Trading Angel Academy over time you will get automatic free access
Step by Step video guides on how to trade like a Trading Angel for you to re-watch as many times as you like
Stages Of A Trading Angel Trade – a clear 7step structured guideline of the stages you need to be going through for each trade, this guideline was created by your trading mentor specifically for this programme
Downloadable or printable Stages Of A Trade guideline so you can keep this at your trading desk to refer back when needed
Clear guidance on how to structure your day if you want to trade like your trading mentor
Guidance on how to transition to either a part time or full time trader
Separate videos for each trading tool or indicator used making it easy to rewatch the sections you need the most
Monthly updated Economical Calendar Cheat Sheet
Priority to attend Live Trading Sessions – in these you can watch your trading mentor looking for and placing the set ups you have learned in the video tutorials. This is a great bonus to allow you to see exactly what the process of looking for and placing trades should look like and an excellent opportunity to ask your trading mentor any questions
Discount on 1-2-1 trading sessions with your trading mentor
Free automatic access to any updates and improvements made on this course by your trading mentor
You can sign up to Trading Angel Academy here:
https://tradingangel.mykajabi.com/offers/EqUQQy4K
Happy Trading!
Love From, Your Trading Mentor x
Trading Angel has mentored and coached over 100 traders and understands that most people who decide to start trading the financial markets often do so from a place of frustration where they are currently at. Often they feel over worked and tired in their current job and are looking for a way to spend more time with their family, go traveling, or work on a passion project. Understanding that your time is valuable to you, Trading Angel’s mentorship programme was created with the mission of saving traders as much time as possible on their journey learning how to trade forex and the other financial markets. All the best sports people have coaches and all the best entrepreneurs had mentors including Elon Musk who had several mentors, Steve Jobs mentored Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffet mentored Bill Gates and Dumbledore was Harry Potter’s mentor!
One of the questions which I get asked the most as a trading coach is ‘How much money do I need to start trading forex?’ Sensible question. If you don’t have enough to start trading properly then you shouldn’t bother at all right? Not necessarily! I started trading forex on a £200 account. Did I turn that into a million pounds? No, obviously I didn’t. Did I turn that into any substantial profit? Again, no. But I did learn how to trade without losing a load of money in the process which was pretty valuable. And you can use those skills to later apply for funding which I’ll go on to explain later.
TRADING FOREX IS LIKE DRIVING A CAR
I have several analogies where I compare learning to trade the financial markets to learning to drive a car. Let me share one of them with you. Would you suggest a brand new driver in their first year of passing their test drive a Lamborghini? Probably not. No matter how good a driver you are in your first year, there will undoubtably be a few unexpected bumps and bruises along the way, and anyone who’s been driving for long enough knows that. Your first car usually ends up with a few scratches and dents, no mater how careful you were or how you passed your test on your first go. Think of your first car as your first trading account, don’t spend too much on it because it’s probably not going to last too long anyway! Obviously most people go on to drive more or less ok without causing too much daily damage after a few years, this is why your insurance tends to go down. Most traders give up before they get to this point as they don’t need to run a trading account every day to get to work so they don’t get forced to get better through daily practice. I can do a whole other blog post on how the key to success is consistent practice but that’s for another day when I’ll compare learning to trade to training as an athlete.
Most traders don’t make millions in their first year trading. Most don’t even break even. The first year should be seen as a year when you are learning. Like with any job, you have to learn what you are doing first before you can expect to be good or to make money from it. There’s an unrealistic expectation (which I partly blame fake gurus on Instagram for) that everyone who learns how to trade should be making silly money straight away.
LETS TALK NUMBERS
How much can you reasonably expect to make as a forex trader once you are good at it? Let’s assume you’ve put in at least a year of practice and you are a wizard at both technical and fundamental analysis, maybe you could make around 1-10% a month in profit of your total capital if you are very good BUT don’t expect that it’s going to be 10% every month. Not all months present good opportunities and you might not be at your best every month. Let’s stay humble and keep to the bottom end of that and say you make 1% profit a month (that’s 12% a year which is better then most savings accounts but not as good as Warren Buffett who reportedly makes around 20% a year trading) If you are trading a £200 account, like I was, that’s about £2 in profit at the end of a month of work. So let’s go to the other end and say you have a £100,000 trading account, that 1% then becomes £1,000 a month. A little disappointing right? Obviously 10% is £10,000 a month which is more exciting but we’ve already established we can’t bank on that happening every month plus we also need a spare £100,000 sitting around doing nothing. The solution? Well there are these wonderful things called prop firms.
FLIP A SMALL FOREX ACCOUNT
So if you’re not familiar with the concept of a prop firm its a company which will allow you to trade their money for them in exchange for a percentage of the profits. There is usually a fee to sign up and a test which needs to be passed to prove that you are a responsible trader. But to me, this is very clearly the solution for those who can trade but who don’t have the capital to make their trading profits actually mean anything significant.
Trading Angel recommends the prop firm FTUK for forex traders in the UK. What I like about about them is that you can actually go straight to being funded without having to go through the challenge part. There is a small fee for this so you will need to pay £150 as your sign up fee rather than £119. Profit splits to begin are 50/50 however as you scale up you can actually progress to an 80/2- split in your favour.
If you’d like to sign up to FTUK you can use this link
So to conclude, How much money do you need to start trading forex? None at all, technically. You can self teach and learn on a demo account and when you’re good enough, then apply to a prop firm. Do I think this is realistic? Not really. I think that live trading with real money is definitely helpful to practicing your strategy first before applying to a prop firm. And you will defiantly need a clear strategy or set of rules in place to practice with. So either you can compile this yourself or you can pay a trading mentor or sign up to a trading course. Trading Angel teaches four strategies as part of the basic package so this includes a trend trading strategy, a reversal strategy, a momentum strategy and a breakout strategy. For details of how to be added to the waitlist for trading coaching by Trading Angel you can visit the website here:
One of the questions which I get asked the most as a trading mentor is ‘How much money do I need to start trading forex?’ Sensible question. If you don’t have enough to start trading properly then you shouldn’t bother at all right? Not necessarily! I started trading forex on a £200 account. Did I turn that into a million pounds? No, obviously I didn’t. Did I turn that into any substantial profit? Again, no. But I did learn how to trade without losing a load of money in the process which was pretty valuable. And you can use those skills to later apply for funding which I’ll go on to explain later.
TRADING FOREX IS LIKE DRIVING A CAR
I have several analogies where I compare learning to trade the financial markets to learning to drive a car. Let me share one of them with you. Would you suggest a brand new driver in their first year of passing their test drive a Lamborghini? Probably not. No matter how good a driver you are in your first year, there will undoubtably be a few unexpected bumps and bruises along the way, and anyone who’s been driving for long enough knows that. Your first car usually ends up with a few scratches and dents, no mater how careful you were or how you passed your test on your first go. Think of your first car as your first trading account, don’t spend too much on it because it’s probably not going to last too long anyway! Obviously most people go on to drive more or less ok without causing too much daily damage after a few years, this is why your insurance tends to go down. Most traders give up before they get to this point as they don’t need to run a trading account every day to get to work so they don’t get forced to get better through daily practice. I can do a whole other blog post on how the key to success is consistent practice but that’s for another day when I’ll compare learning to trade to training as an athlete.
Most traders don’t make millions in their first year trading. Most don’t even break even. The first year should be seen as a year when you are learning. Like with any job, you have to learn what you are doing first before you can expect to be good or to make money from it. There’s an unrealistic expectation (which I partly blame fake gurus on Instagram for) that everyone who learns how to trade should be making silly money straight away.
LETS TALK NUMBERS
How much can you reasonably expect to make as a forex trader once you are good at it? Let’s assume you’ve put in at least a year of practice and you are a wizard at both technical and fundamental analysis, maybe you could make around 1-10% a month in profit of your total capital if you are very good BUT don’t expect that it’s going to be 10% every month. Not all months present good opportunities and you might not be at your best every month. Let’s stay humble and keep to the bottom end of that and say you make 1% profit a month (that’s 12% a year which is better then most savings accounts but not as good as Warren Buffett who reportedly makes around 20% a year trading) If you are trading a £200 account, like I was, that’s about £2 in profit at the end of a month of work. So let’s go to the other end and say you have a £100,000 trading account, that 1% then becomes £1,000 a month. A little disappointing right? Obviously 10% is £10,000 a month which is more exciting but we’ve already established we can’t bank on that happening every month plus we also need a spare £100,000 sitting around doing nothing. The solution? Well there are these wonderful things called prop firms.
FLIP A SMALL FOREX ACCOUNT
So if you’re not familiar with the concept of a prop firm its a company which will allow you to trade their money for them in exchange for a percentage of the profits. There is usually a fee to sign up and a test which needs to be passed to prove that you are a responsible trader. But to me, this is very clearly the solution for those who can trade but who don’t have the capital to make their trading profits actually mean anything significant.
Trading Angel recommends the prop firm FTUK for forex traders in the UK. What I like about about them is that you can actually go straight to being funded without having to go through the challenge part. There is a small fee for this so you will need to pay £150 as your sign up fee rather than £119. Profit splits to begin are 50/50 however as you scale up you can actually progress to an 80/2- split in your favour.
If you’d like to sign up to FTUK you can use this link
So to conclude, How much money do you need to start trading forex? None at all, technically. You can self teach and learn on a demo account and when you’re good enough, then apply to a prop firm. Do I think this is realistic? Not really. I think that live trading with real money is definitely helpful to practicing your strategy first before applying to a prop firm. And you will defiantly need a clear strategy or set of rules in place to practice with. So either you can compile this yourself or you can pay a trading mentor or sign up to a trading course. Trading Angel teaches four strategies as part of the basic package so this includes a trend trading strategy, a reversal strategy, a momentum strategy and a breakout strategy. For details of how to be added to the waitlist for mentorship by Trading Angel you can visit the website here:
If you’re interested in forex trading, which I am guessing you are if you are reading this blog, then you may have realised that there are a lot of dodgy “gurus” out there. Some are just bad traders who are giving out bad advice and others are not even traders and just people impersonating forex traders on social media to convince other people, after a quick buck, to let them trade their money. Those people who were after a quick buck never see their money again. Turns out the “forex trader” offering 500% returns guaranteed in one week, whilst begging people for scraps of cash on instagram, wasn’t actually a real forex trader. Who’d have thought?!
My photos have been stolen by countless people on instagram pretending to be me and messaging my friends and family begging them for trading money. Luckily most people I know are aware it’s not me but there have been a few occasions when some of my friends, bless their hearts, genuinely thought I was in trouble and needed money to keep my business alive. For the record my real Instagram account is @trading_angel_caroline if it says anything other then this or has two ii’s or two dashes, its probably a scammer (plus I’ll never message you begging for trading money, I promise!).
This spate in copycat accounts led me to question why the industry ISN’T regulated in regards to trading education, I spent several hours googling this subject and trying to find a definitive answer. How come financial advisors have to pass extensive exams to give financial advice on low risk investments but ANYONE can teach anyone else how to trade a high risk, high reward market like forex? It didn’t make sense.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t find too much of a definitive answer as to why my job as a forex trading coach is actually legal and unregulated, other then it would restrict genuine people being able to pass on their knowledge to others. However, there remains a niggle at the back of my head which tells me that maybe it should be regulated and maybe someone else will realise this soon and maybe the regulations will come into force suddenly and unexpectedly. Which would suddenly make my own job illegal for me to do.
WHO PAYS TO TAKE EXAMS FOR QUALIFICATIONS THEY DON’T ACTUALLY NEED?
Back in 2019 when I first set up my trading coaching business, Trading Angel, I remember goggling what it would take to become a fully licensed financial advisor and I remember thinking it took too long and cost too much so I ruled it out as being ridiculous. As it turns out I didn’t actually do my research properly as a level 4 DipFA, which is the minimum requirement to be a financial advisor in the UK, is only about £1,000 and only takes about a year for most people to pass AND it can be done by distance learning. So if you do the maths it’s kind of a no brainer really, and I have no idea what I read back in 2019 which scared me so much.
So to answer the question ‘why am I paying to take exams for qualifications I don’t need?’ Answer: Because I’m concerned that I may need qualifications in the future and I don’t want to stop my business for 12 months while study for them.
If you have read my previous blog post about my forex journey and how I started forex trading by self teaching and stubbornly refusing to get a trading coach myself, you might have any idea of my incredibly cautious approach to starting something new. (If you haven’t read it yet you can read it here:)
In which case it might not surprise you that when I decided to take my DipFA I actually bought a second hand text book on eBay before I paid for the course so I could read it a couple times first and get an idea if I felt like the exams were actually passable before I decided to pay for them. Half of me looks back and laughs at how ridiculously risk averse this is for someone who trades a very risky market like forex, and the other half of me smiles smugly at how clever I am in my risk management.
ALL FOREX MENTORS SHOULD PASS THEIR DIPFA
Now I’m not actually campaigning hard for for the forex education industry to be tightly regulated just yet as I still haven’t passed all my exams so I defiantly don’t want to shoot myself in the foot here. But having read the textbook a couple times I have decided I am definitely going to go ahead and take the exams and try and get my qualification. And I think anyone else in my situation would be clever to as well. And here’s why:
The first exam is all about the financial system in the UK as a whole and looks at regulation and how the financial system is set up – If you are genuinely interested in forex trading and helping other forex traders succeed, you’ll need a solid understanding of everything in this exam anyway.
Forex trading is high risk, high reward which means it’s not actually for everyone, one thing which comes up a lot in the financial advisor text book is that you need to understand the persons risk appetite and advise accordingly AND this can change over time so risk appetite needs to be assessed at every meeting.
As a forex trading coach one thing which comes up a lot while I’m on a zoom call to my clients is that they have other financial stresses. Sometime they aren’t sure what to do about their mortgage or investments and I’m constantly having to tell them I’m not a licensed financial advisor and I can’t help. But every time I say that I wish I could help and I wish I knew the answer.
I’m just interested in finance and I enjoy helping other people – maybe this should have been at the top – I don’t find being a forex coach ‘work’ I find it fulfilling and it makes me happy when clients get results and are happy. And I obviously love forex and trading and all things finance related. And if I could expand into more areas of finance then its a no brainer for me, I think I would genuinely love to do this as work.
I like being busy. I know this is weird but I’ve stopped trying to fight it and just accept it. I like having things to work towards, I like filling my days up with activities that I feel are moving me forward in life, and I like progression, I like studying for exams and having things to work towards keeps me motivated. I’m aware about 75% of people think I’m weird but I’m hoping that if you’re not in the 25% that get what I’m on about you wouldn’t be reading this blog in the first place. Maybe. Feel free to call me weird if you got this far and don’t get it.
With so many bad trading coaches out there and people giving out poor advice I really wanted to have a qualification and the appropriate accreditation to prove that I knew the financial system in the UK well enough to pass an exam at least.
I am hoping to pass my first exam towards my DipFA in April 2023 so I will keep you updated on how I get on with this! If you’ve take it yourself and have any insights or thoughts on this subject I would love to hear them.
If you’re interested in forex trading, which I am guessing you are if you are reading this blog, then you may have realised that there are a lot of dodgy “gurus” out there. Some are just bad traders who are giving out bad advice and others are not even traders and just people impersonating forex traders on social media to convince other people, after a quick buck, to let them trade their money. Those people who were after a quick buck never see their money again. Turns out the “forex trader” offering 500% returns guaranteed in one week, whilst begging people for scraps of cash on instagram, wasn’t actually a real forex trader. Who’d have thought?!
My photos have been stolen by countless people on instagram pretending to be me and messaging my friends and family begging them for trading money. Luckily most people I know are aware it’s not me but there have been a few occasions when some of my friends, bless their hearts, genuinely thought I was in trouble and needed money to keep my business alive. For the record my real Instagram account is @trading_angel_caroline if it says anything other then this or has two ii’s or two dashes, its probably a scammer (plus I’ll never message you begging for trading money, I promise!).
This spate in copycat accounts led me to question why the industry ISN’T regulated in regards to trading education, I spent several hours googling this subject and trying to find a definitive answer. How come financial advisors have to pass extensive exams to give financial advice on low risk investments but ANYONE can teach anyone else how to trade a high risk, high reward market like forex? It didn’t make sense.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t find too much of a definitive answer as to why my job as a forex trading mentor is actually legal and unregulated, other then it would restrict genuine people being able to pass on their knowledge to others. However, there remains a niggle at the back of my head which tells me that maybe it should be regulated and maybe someone else will realise this soon and maybe the regulations will come into force suddenly and unexpectedly. Which would suddenly make my own job illegal for me to do.
WHO PAYS TO TAKE EXAMS FOR QUALIFICATIONS THEY DON’T ACTUALLY NEED?
Back in 2019 when I first set up my trading mentor business, Trading Angel, I remember goggling what it would take to become a fully licensed financial advisor and I remember thinking it took too long and cost too much so I ruled it out as being ridiculous. As it turns out I didn’t actually do my research properly as a level 4 DipFA, which is the minimum requirement to be a financial advisor in the UK, is only about £1,000 and only takes about a year for most people to pass AND it can be done by distance learning. So if you do the maths it’s kind of a no brainer really, and I have no idea what I read back in 2019 which scared me so much.
So to answer the question ‘why am I paying to take exams for qualifications I don’t need?’ Answer: Because I’m concerned that I may need qualifications in the future and I don’t want to stop my business for 12 months while study for them.
If you have read my previous blog post about my forex journey and how I started forex trading by self teaching and stubbornly refusing to get a trading mentor myself, you might have any idea of my incredibly cautious approach to starting something new. (If you haven’t read it yet you can read it here:)
In which case it might not surprise you that when I decided to take my DipFA I actually bought a second hand text book on eBay before I paid for the course so I could read it a couple times first and get an idea if I felt like the exams were actually passable before I decided to pay for them. Half of me looks back and laughs at how ridiculously risk averse this is for someone who trades a very risky market like forex, and the other half of me smiles smugly at how clever I am in my risk management.
ALL FOREX MENTORS SHOULD PASS THEIR DIPFA
Now I’m not actually campaigning hard for for the forex education industry to be tightly regulated just yet as I still haven’t passed all my exams so I defiantly don’t want to shoot myself in the foot here. But having read the textbook a couple times I have decided I am definitely going to go ahead and take the exams and try and get my qualification. And I think anyone else in my situation would be clever to as well. And here’s why:
The first exam is all about the financial system in the UK as a whole and looks at regulation and how the financial system is set up – If you are genuinely interested in forex trading and helping other forex traders succeed, you’ll need a solid understanding of everything in this exam anyway.
Forex trading is high risk, high reward which means it’s not actually for everyone, one thing which comes up a lot in the financial advisor text book is that you need to understand the persons risk appetite and advise accordingly AND this can change over time so risk appetite needs to be assessed at every meeting.
As a forex trading mentor one thing which comes up a lot while I’m on a zoom call to my clients is that they have other financial stresses. Sometime they aren’t sure what to do about their mortgage or investments and I’m constantly having to tell them I’m not a licensed financial advisor and I can’t help. But every time I say that I wish I could help and I wish I knew the answer.
I’m just interested in finance and I enjoy helping other people – maybe this should have been at the top – I don’t find being a forex mentor ‘work’ I find it fulfilling and it makes me happy when clients get results and are happy. And I obviously love forex and trading and all things finance related. And if I could expand into more areas of finance then its a no brainer for me, I think I would genuinely love to do this as work.
I like being busy. I know this is weird but I’ve stopped trying to fight it and just accept it. I like having things to work towards, I like filling my days up with activities that I feel are moving me forward in life, and I like progression, I like studying for exams and having things to work towards keeps me motivated. I’m aware about 75% of people think I’m weird but I’m hoping that if you’re not in the 25% that get what I’m on about you wouldn’t be reading this blog in the first place. Maybe. Feel free to call me weird if you got this far and don’t get it.
With so many bad trading mentors out there and people giving out poor advice I really wanted to have a qualification and the appropriate accreditation to prove that I knew the financial system in the UK well enough to pass an exam at least.
I am hoping to pass my first exam towards my DipFA in April 2023 so I will keep you updated on how I get on with this! If you’ve take it yourself and have any insights or thoughts on this subject I would love to hear them.
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This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
