I have been asked a number of times by beginners ‘is trading that easy?’ I often laugh and then go ahead to say ‘No’. I don’t blame them, that’s what these influential traders have made them to believe. I started my trading journey, particularly forex/crypto trading in 2015, I guess I have seen and experienced a lot to lead this dialogue. In the early years of my trading journey it was ups and downs, mostly downs, at a point I had to quit, but then I came back during the COVID 19 pandemic. There’s been a lot of memorable experiences along the journey but it isn’t always a glittering piece.
Many people have this wrong perception about trading, they believe it is one of the easiest way to make money online. This assertion is false and it is as a result of the information they see online. Many supposed gurus, mentors and masters often show their winning trades online and make it look so easy. You see the phrase like ‘How I flipped my $50 to $5000’ or ‘let’s grow this $10 to $10k’. Some also flaunt expensive cars, trips and other stuff claiming that is their proceeds from trading. Practically, everyone will assume it is easy to be a trader if one is made to believe they can turn $10 into $10k. It is a possibility but not as easy as it seems.
Is it always a win win scenario? Come to think of it, when you were in school and performed badly in some tests, how often did you show those results to your parents or colleagues? Also recall the enthusiasm, the joy, and vim with which you showed those tests you recorded 100% to everyone. That is basically what you see online. Many of us would hide our worst tests and make sure no one ever finds out about them but openly display the ones we performed so well to everyone we meet. That’s just it, nobody would love the whole world to see their worsts. The point I’m making here is that they are not showing you everything, they are only displaying what they want you to see, essentially what they want you to believe. They are not showing the bad experiences.
Are people genuinely making money from trading? Of course, with the right knowledge, strategy and experience one can make a living from trading, and yes one can make those big numbers. However, this doesn’t happen on a silver platter. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of learning and a whole lot of discipline to get there. Most of these flashy stuff you see online are purely for advertisements. Some gurus only want to drag enough traffic to their parent brokers to get commissions or to attract people to sign up for their classes. Behind closed doors they are going through the reality. I call them trading influencers, they aren’t making the money they claim they do, and even if they do, it might not totally be coming from direct trading.
What then must you do? Ignore most of the noise you see about trading, especially on youtube and telegram. Gain more knowledge about trading, take your time to practice, and exercise risk management and discipline. I believe by doing so you will write your own story in the history of trading.
I will share my personal experience with you in my next post.
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