The top things I wish I knew before starting to trade in forex

Sylvia Muchai is the founder of Sylvia’s Traders Lounge, a consultancy firm based in Nairobi that provides advisory services on online foreign exchange and the financial markets such as commodities, energies, equities, stock indices, ETFs (exchange traded funds) and options trading

I borrowed large amounts at the initial stages of my trading before I grasped the realities of how the forex trading business really works. Once you begin trading, the brokerage firm gives you access to debt equity or loan commonly known as leverage. This allows you to have a sizable investment in any tradable asset. I was not very familiar with proper risk management tools at the time. This saw me blow up several trading accounts wiping out my entire trading capital and getting into unnecessary debt. I learned bitterly that the markets can be cold and ruthless. The financial markets, in particular online forex trading, do not favor the ignorant.

It took me more than two years and a bold decision to focus on forex trading education before I could qualify myself as an online retail forex trader. Retail forex trading is capital intensive if one is to pursue it as a sole business. Also, transitioning from one on one training and physical seminars to a virtually run business was quite challenging at the onset of Covid-19 last year. 

I was very curious about forex trading. This curiosity saw me lose $250 (Sh27,000) in my first live trading account within a span of less than a week in 2014. Naturally, I am a risk taker and my initial capital was meant to test out the waters before I immersed myself fully in the business. There was a forex education gap that existed in the country at the time. I didn’t know who could teach me. I started Sylvia’s Traders Lounge as a network of eight friends who met every Tuesday and Thursday night between 8pm and 9pm via Skype to discuss markets and how to approach trading. In February of 2016, I saw an advertisement online about a forex seminar that was being held at Pride Inn Westlands in Nairobi from a UK trader and invited three of my friends. We were sold the dream of working from home and becoming millionaires. But we didn't know the time, skill, effort and trading capital it takes to actually become successful at trading.

I was in employment before I ventured out into forex trading. I worked as a finance assistant for a startup that was later shut down. Following that shut down, I decided not to immediately look for another job. I had saved up some money from my salary and this enabled me to transition slowly into my own business.

My greatest business moment has been seeing my business consult for reputable and licensed local and internationally stakeholders in the financial markets. These have included brokerage firms and local banks. Achieving this took more than five years.

I would put more emphasis on getting trained if I could start my forex trading journey all over again. I would look for a credible institution such as a bank that actually deals in online forex trading in their treasury department and have one of their top traders guide and coach me in the skill instead of a self-taught journey. 

Compounding is a powerful tool to save money. Taking partial profits and re-investing them in my trading account has been a great avenue to save. This has grown my equity and enabled me to trade with a bigger capital size. [email protected]

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