An Interview with a Trading Coach

I WON”T QUIT TRADING!

Hello:

Today’s article features an interview with a professional trading coach, portfolio manager and trading signals provider. Mr. Odulaja Femi [preferred to be called Phemy] is a market veteran and a successful trader in his own world. He’s been on the battlefield of the financial markets for years and has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in trading. Many people have benefited from his mentorship and trading views; so I think what he’s to say would help someone else out there. You’d do well to learn what he got to say about trading, plus his advice for both new and advanced traders.

Azeez: How did you get in touch with the markets?

O. Phemy: Mr. Azeez, I’d first want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to say something about trading. You see, during my teenage years, I had a burning desire to attain financial freedom in my life. I was involved in several attempts to become legitimately rich, but what I discovered is that it’s very hard to become rich by doing what’s easy for most people to do or acquiring the skills many people have. It dawned on me that I needed to acquire a rare skill; doing easily what most people find very hard and difficult to do. Success is guaranteed when you have a unique ability to do what most people can’t do. There’s no big deal in you doing what most others can do. I got in touch with the markets through a friend of mine who gave me some training. It was a little training, but I’ve developed my trading skill over the years. Yes there are pitfalls in trading, but I got over them also.

Azeez: What other business do you do apart from trading?

O. Phemy: In addition to my trading and coaching activities, I provide specialized services for companies. I provide environmental services, such as environmental impact assessment, safety management, pest control and fumigation. You don’t need to sit in front of your PC screen all the day – I was doing that when I was having a wrong opinion about trading. You need to spend minimal time trading, yet making money. This is what freedom means. It’s all about making passive income and having the time to do other things you enjoy.

Azeez: Do you notice that Forex trading has become very unpopular with some people. Some even discourage others from trading. What do you have to say about this? Why do you think certain people are so afraid of trading? Is their fear justified?

O. Phemy: Their fear might be justified to some extent since it arises out of harsh experiences. Perhaps some of them were formerly traders, apart from the fact that there are some who haven’t done trading and they’ll be telling you the reasons why you shouldn’t trade. It’s people that make silly mistakes on the markets: the markets are not to blame. People tend to look for short-cuts to lasting success, and the markets offer no such. They don’t want to make any sacrifices and they want consistent success on the markets. The truth about trading goes against the way they prefer to think, yet they blame Forex. They give way to their inordinate greed and fall prey to con artists and scam artists who appeal to their sense of greed and hoodwink them in the name of trading. When people abandon those who tell them the truth and patronize deceptive crooks who’d tell them what they want to hear, do we blame the markets for that? The markets are no more at fault than a car manufacturer would be for an accident caused by a driver using a cell phone. The defamation of trading can be likened to a supposed defamation of travel by air because of some incidents of plane crashes. If you decide never to become a pilot because of what it takes to be a qualified pilot or never to be an airline passenger because of a possibility of losing your life in a crash, does that mean that flying isn’t popular? Take marriage for example. Is marriage as an institution evil? The fact that millions of marriages crash doesn’t mean that marriage as an institution doesn’t work. If some marriages crash, other marriages are successful. Most people set wrong and selfish priorities in relationships, ignoring the factors that can make a marriage last. These factors are commitment, true love, honesty, humility, reasonableness, selflessness, personal sacrifices, fear of God, faithfulness and the spirit of forgiveness. They focus on beauty, money, education, flashy wedding ceremony, fame, intelligence and other factors that are really of significant importance as far as the connubial success is concerned. People cause marriage failures, but they blame the marital institution. They look for the right person, and they themselves have a wrong mindset. You see, we need to respect trading for what it stands for. Laying a very good trading foundation for yourself will go a long way in making you successful. Forex is a level playing ground – everybody is welcome. No market can be compare to the currency market: it’s unique.

Azeez: How do you rate your present trading performances?

O. Phemy: I’ve been humbled by consistently nice performances over the past years. I sometimes go ahead by only a very small percentage on a quarterly basis, and sometimes I make far more than my quarterly target. I can say that my performances have been satisfactory, although the most important thing is my ability to survive on the markets and recover losses.

Azeez: What kind of analysis do you use, fundamental technical or a combination of both?

O. Phemy: I’ve enjoyed technical analysis for many years. Fundamental analysis is good for knowing the underlying causes of price movements, but I think technical analysis is better.

Azeez: Could you please explain how you use your strategy to make decisions on the markets?

O. Phemy: I’m a lover of swing trading, using 4, daily and weekly charts to make my decisions. I open positions with the 4 hour charts and ride the markets with the daily and weekly charts.

Azeez: Are there any customized indicators or chart-based indicators that you really prefer?

O. Phemy: You see, there’s nothing special about those customized indicators and expensive charting software. Those who enter the markets based on pure price actions can make money as well. What I discovered about most of those so-called proprietary indicators is that in most cases, they’re just being tweaked, reprogrammed and rebranded; using the popular indicators that have already been around. A trader can use one indicator successfully while another trader fails with the same indicator woefully. A highly creative market speculator might take a popular indicator, study it and then adapt its rules for personal use – and of course with a measure of success. What I mean is that, you need to desist from following the crowd if you want to succeed (majority are losers). This is because if you’re right on the markets, the majority of the traders would be against you. I can take an indicator and devise an effective new rule for it. One indicator I like very much is the RSI (Relative Strength Index). I have a unique way of using it to speculate on the markets.

Azeez: How do you apply risk management?

O. Phemy: This topic is what I take extremely seriously. It’s one of the most important areas of my trading. I risk between 1%-2% of my account per trade, while targeting about 3%-6% per trade.

Azeez: Don’t you ever think of automating your strategy, and if no, why?

O. Phemy: There are lots of criteria and market behavior you need to consider discretionally when trading. You need common sense also. When it comes to the use of common sense, a robot can’t come to any picture. I don’t think I’d want to entrust my financial destiny in the hands of an automated trader; I can’t use any robots any longer. I used to depend completely on robots some years ago, but there were no long-term statistical improvements. Depending on robots would seriously hamper one’s metamorphosing from a novice trader into a competent trader, and then into an expert, and then into a trading master. If you’re really good, you’ll never need a robot. If you think you can’t control your emotions, then you might need to consider quitting trading and thinking of what you can do with your life.

Azeez: Do you have any interest in other types of financial markets?

O. Phemy: I’m interested in precious metals like gold and silver, and a commodity like oil. I’ve seen that my trading methodology is also effective on them. I use candlesticks charts. Are the candles on other markets not showing the same data patterns on the foreign exchange markets? Don’t they also show the open, the close, the high, and the low of each candlestick in a given timeframe?

Azeez: Yes, they do. Are you involved in other activities in the trading world apart from being a private trader?

O. Phemy: Sure, Forex trading signals provision and coaching.

Azeez: What’s your coaching policy and for how long do you coach a beginner?

O. Phemy: I don’t coach because I think I know something about trading. I coach because I love it and got some talent for it. I coach a beginner rigorously for 3 months, and then offer free mentorship for life. I mentor through telephone, instant messaging, email and personal visits. Important trading ideas are constantly passed on to my former trainees. I’m very much happy when I see a former trainee making consistent success on the market. A trainee pays once and enjoys a benefit of a lifetime.

Azeez: Had you ever thought of quitting trading in future if you had another guaranteed way of making easy money?

O. Phemy: I won’t quit trading! I’ll never do that. Although I’ll welcome any other opportunities to make more money apart from trading, but that doesn’t mean I’ll quit trading. Why should I quit now that I’ve invested my time, energy and resources in trading. I’ve gained much knowledge and the knowledge has been paying off. Trading has, and will continue to augment my overall income.

Azeez: Do you have any advice for new traders?

O. Phemy: New traders should lay a solid foundation for themselves by getting a very good trading coach. They need to ignore anybody who promises to coach them only for a few days. They need to respect what the markets stand for. Trading is a lifelong journey; please be patient and don’t be greedy.

Azeez: Any advice for advanced traders?

O. Phemy: Advanced traders should delve deeper into the secret of trading psychology, good money management and risk management. You must try to be the best trader you can. Be true to yourself and tell your followers (if you have any) the truth about trading.

PS: Mr. O. Phemy can be contacted through Yahoo! Messenger. His ID is: lajafemi005.

A future article would discuss specific ways of handling FEAR – the trader’s most dangerous enemy.

Your questions and opinions are highly welcome.

Thank you.

With best regards,

Azeez Mustapha

Forex Signals Strategist, Funds Manager &Coach

Senior Analyst

FX Instructor, LLC

Email: amustapha@fxinstructor.com

Get my Forex trading signals at: http://www.fxinstructor.com/en/analytics/ituglobal

And my past articles are also available at: www.ituglobalforex.blogspot.com

Yahoo! Messenger ID: saazalmu

NB: There is risk of loss in trading, but it is possible to be a successful trader.