my personal
fx trading
journey
Why I trade Forex
What is Forex Trading?
Forex trading, short for foreign exchange trading, involves buying and selling currencies worldwide. The goal is to make a profit based on changes in currency values.
Imagine you’re trading your dollars for euros, hoping the euro’s value will increase. If it does, you can sell the euros back for more dollars. It’s like a global money exchange game where people try to predict currency value changes to make money.
history
how I got started
Dabbling in the Philippine Stock Market
In 2014, I read someone’s post about learning how to invest in stocks. At the time, I thought stock investing was for people with a ton of money. I didn’t know there were retail investors.
I was curious, so I bought a book: My Maid Invests in the Stock Market by Bo Sanchez. This opened my eyes to the world of stocks. I learned that you can trade and own shares even if you’re not a millionaire. I opened a Col Financial account and invested 5000.00. I bought BDO and JFC.
I opened an Investagrams account in 2016. The platform was new at the time. I invested the virtual money and got 50% up in 6 months (BDO). I was so happy, I thought it was so simple. Just buy and hold. I didn’t know that it was a bull market then.
I traded with real money in 2017 using my Col Financial account. I didn’t know it was a bear market. I used to buy the tip of the candle before it crashed. I was devastated. I bought 2 books that were poorly written and self-published by a Filipino trading “guru” and they didn’t help. Everyone was trash-talking and bragging while my port was red. The internet was very noisy.
I enrolled in a trading school, but it did not work for me. The market was bearish, and I was not patient enough to do the required tasks. They were so tedious: backtesting, creating a watchlist (I hate this) and waiting while in front of a screen. All the rollercoaster of emotions, and I thought I’d go crazy!
I stopped trading stocks in 2019.
Trying CFD Trading
In 2020, I was a medical SEO content writer earning $200 monthly. I used to earn $800, but I had to cut my workload because I needed to care for my eldest. And with a reduced workload comes a smaller paycheck.
Of course, my money wasn’t enough. I started to find other ways to make more money. One of them was getting an online writing job that pays more. This didn’t go well because the market was saturated, and there was too much instability in the world economy.
I came across a CFD training program online, and I enrolled. Only traded one instrument, 1 hour daily at the exact same time every day. No more watchlisting (yay!).
Unfortunately, I never got the hang of it. I did everything to a T, but I never profited. Just breakeven.
I stopped trading after six months.
Instead, I saved up and enrolled in an SEO course and became an SEO specialist/strategist. That’s how I got my first 6-digit monthly income.
Finally, Going Into Forex Trading
I never really stopped thinking about trading for a living. Even as a freelancer earning 6-digits, I don’t have financial freedom. I can achieve it ultimately if I work harder and build a business, but I feel like learning how to trade well will accelerate everything.
So, I enrolled again in a 3rd trading school, Leo Advantage. I’d heard about them before enrolling in the stock trading school in 2018. The reason why I did not try Forex is because I had this belief that Forex = high risk. And high risk=losing money. Yes on the first, but boy, I was wrong about the second.
Anyway, the Leo Advantage way allows me to trade for less than 5 minutes a day on only 1 pair (still no watchlist, yay!). The volatility that I used to fear is actually what I like about Fx now. It moves fast, so you can profit (or lose) fast. You can set your TP and SL, which you can’t do in PSEI..
If only I enrolled sooner, I think I would’ve achieved my trading milestones sooner. But everything happens for a reason.
Now, I’m off to achieving my trading targets and living the fat FIRE lifestyle.
I’m not there yet, but I’m on my way.
TRADING MILESTONES
Here are the 1-year milestones I’m setting for myself in my trading journey.
1. Grow account to $2,000
Status: ✅
I achieved this in August 2023. I wrote about my progress/journey in a post you can read below
2. Grow account to $5,000
Status: On-going
This is my target in September 2023. The focus is on proper execution and looking at pips, not the $.
3. Grow account to $20,000
Status: Pending
This is my target by June 2024 or earlier. The focus is on proper execution.
4. Withdraw $20,000 Fx profits
Status: Pending
This is my target by September 2024 or earlier. I’ll pay our debt with the $.