"Sweat on my forehead, my heart is racing, I can't seem to take a sit, I can't stand either, I start pacing, I'm getting annoyed, why won't you go back up, please just go up!"
Please note that this article is not to distract you or encourage you to get into anything you're not ready for, I'm not trying to promote any organization or broker, I'm simply sharing my first experience as a trader.
IT was the first semester break, the West African Exams had just being concluded, I was at home, I had no money. So I applied to be a Checker.
For those of us who don't know what the work entails I hope this explanation helps. Usually, after the West African exams has been conducted, it is then marked by the examiners within a specific period of time, due to this certain errors might have been made (addition error, omission error, transfer error, among others), a Checker is responsible for checking each candidate scripts, one after the other for all these errors every day until the exercise is complete for a token of 600 Naira daily which was just about $1 and a few cents for such a tasking and stressful job, and if you factor in daily transportation, my take home was just about 400 Naira, less than a dollar.
Most times I had to trek with my buddy Ron, we would be lucky to get free rides sometimes.
Now that I type this article, I can't help but give thanks to read.cash. I earn more than I did daily while I worked as a checker from just sharing my thoughts. This is indeed a gift.
Well, you get the gist, it was a really tough period but we didn't give up, it was better than not Earning anything.
On one faithful day, a friend of ours told us about trading the Forex market and how he had been earning a lot from it, the idea of making money from the comfort of our homes was so fascinating but I needed capital.
Now, I know I should have asked for help on how to go about it, but I didn't. I didn't think I would need anyone to figure it out
That day I got home, went on YouTube to see videos on how people were making money in the forex market, videos like "how to make $1000 daily" "the holy Grail of trading"... A lot like that, and this advertisement kept popping up so I decided to check it out.
"** **" was my first encounter, I went further to see what it was about, it felt like easy money, simply predict where the price would go, if you are correct you earn, if you are wrong, you lose. I immediately downloaded the Demo version, I kept on winning trades, I started planning how I would move out of the house, rent my own apartment, get a new car. I started watching inspirational videos of Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, trying to get a hint of the lifestyle I will soon be living.
I went online to get books on how to trade, how to make use of the custom indicators. In a week, I assumed I was a trading master.
It was payday at work, I worked for 12 days before they released me, so my pay was 7,200 Naira ( 5,200 Naira and some change essentially if you deduct my transportation fee).
I immediately funded my trading account with $10. Then I placed the first order which was going to last for 5 minutes (buy) while risking $1, it felt like forever, I was sweating and shaking, soon it changed direction going towards the opposite side (sell).
I couldn't believe my eyes, my first loss, I felt so bad but not discouraged, not when I could be the next Aliko Dangote. I went in again, I won....I was so proud of myself. I was so tensed and anxious that I placed another order, which I won (Wow, how much is Lamborghini these days?). I decided to pause for the day to gloat on my victory.
I told no one of this, I wanted it to be a surprise to everyone, except of course Ron, who knew what I had used my pay for. He tried to advise me to take it slow and learn and I didn't listen.
The following day didn't bring so much profit, I lost consecutive trades back to back, I was so convinced the Market was watching me. I placed a buy, it would sell, so I placed a sell, it bought, placed another sell, it kept on buying.
Arrgh, so frustrating.
I was so sad, I had no appetite, I didn't want to talk to anyone, I was just down. That night I couldn't sleep, I wanted to get back what I had lost (big mistake), I lost even more and blew the account. That type of pain is hard to describe.
You know you have lost the account and you can't do anything about it. I immediately felt what a rat would when cornered by a cat. That realisation of failure is completely depressing - No one warned me it would feel this way, but then again I didn't give anyone a chance - this was my fault.
I made a lot of rookie mistakes, if only I had just been patient to learn and understand how to trade perhaps I could have had a different result. Even though I lost money (that was a lot, given how hard I had to work to get it in the first place) I had learnt some important lesson.
1) Take your time to learn before you can start earning.
2) Confidence is good when it's applied moderately.
3) The market doesn't know you
4) Revenge trading is wrong and costly
You'd think I would have learnt my lesson, I went on further to make even mistakes, and yes it hurt each time but I learnt more as I went on.
Experience is the best teacher, it humbles even the best of us. As ridiculous as it sounds I'm glad I experienced such a loss.
Check out my wonderful sponsors
I agree with what you have said. Experience is the best experience. I guess, I'll fee the same if I were in your position.