by Ntombi Malatsi | Jul 10, 2016 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
Managed Forex accounts
”Ntombi do you manage your client’s accounts?” One of the frequently asked questions, and the answer to that is No, I do not manage client’s accounts because I am not a fund manager. There are people who would love to participate in financial markets but they simply do not have time to learn or are not interested in learning. There are options for such individuals. Read more about managed forex accounts.
Copycat trading
You can find a broker that offers mirror/copycat trading. Copycat trading is when you open an account with a broker and have it linked to one of their recommended top traders. When they execute a trade, it automatically goes to your account as well and you can see open positions and you can even close some (if you know how to). The copied trader has total control but you can also see everything and can uncopy anytime. Read more about copycat trading HERE . If you like the idea of copycat trading and you’d like to have one, Whatsapp me on +27 76 966 9392 for more information or for a recommended copycat trading broker. I will be happy to assist.
PAMM account
PAMM: Percent Allocation Money Management
It is an application used by Forex brokers to allow their clients to attach money to a specific trader managing one or more accounts permitted on a basis of a limited power of attorney. PAMM allows a head trader to simultaneously manage trading accounts of clients on one trading platform. Each account has it’s own ratio depending on the money deposited in the account (which is why the investors in most cases are required to invest a large sum of money) . Investor’s profits are allocated between managed accounts accordingly. Each investor gets profits according to their ratio which is based on a deposit/investment. PAMM account holder also gets a cut from profits made (after all he/she is the one trading the funds). This is all done under the broker’s supervision and it is a legit way to invest in managed Forex accounts. Let’s assume Ntombi is the fund manager and she charges 30% for her performance fee on monthly basis. Let’s assume again that after one month of trading she makes about 40% return of initial investments (combined) from:
- Investor Tumelo
- Investor S
- Investor N
- Investor V
The total amount invested in this PAMM account is $11 500 and 40% = $4600.
How much will each investor be allocated?
Investor Tumelo will get $2000 (40% of $5000) and Ntombi will get her 30% cut (which is $600) as per signed agreement. Tumelo will then keep $1400 ($2000-$600). Total amount on investor Tumelo’s account = $6 400
Investor S will get $1400 (40% of $3 500) and Ntombi will get her 30% cut (which is $420) as per signed agreement. Investor S will then keep $980 ($1400-$420). Total amount on investor S’s account = $ 4 480.
Investor N will get $800 (40% of $2000) and Ntombi will get her 30% cut (which is $240) as per signed agreement. Investor N will then keep $560 ($800-$240). Total amount on investor N’s account = $ 2 560.
Investor V will get $ 400 (40% of $1000) and Ntombi will get her 30% cut (which is $120) as per signed agreement. Investor V will then keep $280 ($400-$120). Total amount on investor V’s account= $1 280.
After the first month Ntombi has earned $600+$420+$240+$120= $1 380 and her investors are happy.
All the above mentioned sounds so awesome. But it doesn’t always play out like that and things aren’t always as beautiful as they are on paper. Everything will depend on market conditions at the end. But at least you do have an idea of how you can participate in Forex market without being hands on. I have a regulated broker who offers PAMM accounts. Please note that I personally do not offer PAMM accounts or managed Forex accounts. I am just dishing out information and trying to save you from being scammed by “fund managers”. I am also not claiming that all fund managers are scammers, there are good managers out there. For more information on how to get a PAMM account, WhatsApp me on +27 76 966 9392 or +27 64 510 4132 and I’ll be happy to assist. Or register for your account HERE.
Facebook “Forex account managers”
I get so shocked sometimes when people come to my Facebook inbox crying because some guy/lady on Facebook was advertising the managed Forex account services and people invested thousands of dollars and the “fund manager” disappeared with their money. My advice to a person who wants to participate in the markets, do it with a regulated fund manager, not with someone you found on FB and they showed you a trading history or screenshots. Be smart and take care of your hard-earned cash.
Conclusion
Nothing will ever be greater than understanding the markets and trading your own funds. Thank you for reading. I hope you found this post informative, please kindly share with your peers.
by Ntombi Malatsi | May 22, 2016 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
Choosing a currency pair to start with as a beginner.
Let me get straight to the point. There are several currency pairs available on mt4 market watch, but that does not mean a trader has to trade all of them. Knowing the different groups of currencies, their characteristics and the sessions at which they trade well in, is very crucial in making that decision. It is also important to consider your location, if you are located in South Africa like me, you are very lucky as the most traded currency pairs are traded during London session (which is the most traded session of all four sessions). London session is during our day time. Many traders who are located in other countries have to wake up for London session as it is during their night-time. I am that type of trader who analyses fundamentally and execute technically, so my views will mostly be backed up by the method of trading that I personally use (which is fundamentally based), but which ever method of trading a trader uses, sessions are sessions and there is only one London session, read about my method of trading HERE.
As a beginner trader, you are always overwhelmed by the markets, which is why I think choosing few currency pairs to trade is a good start. I know of a very successful trader who trades only Eur pairs, be it as a major or a cross currency. He trades nothing else but Eur. A trader who trades currencies when the businesses of that country are open (during the day) is likely to make money, this is simply because of the activities like the exchange of money or transactions in their respective currency during their daily business dealings. Try to trade GBP pairs during Asian session, you might not get much out of your trade.
Currencies like GBP, EUR and USD are mostly involved in daily speeches/economic news. They are easy to follow. You can definitely start with one of them, if you chose to start with GBP (I know some traders in my class are probably saying, ahem!), you can easily follow news releases like UK GDP,UK bank rates, UK CPI, Unemployment changes just for starters. GBP and EUR would be a good start, and by the way, those two are highly correlated and Eur has the lowest spread of all major currencies, even though GBP has higher margin than most, but it trades very well during London session, read more about currency pairs to trade during London session HERE. Trading one or two currency pairs gives a trader a chance to learn as much as they can about that specific currency and it also eliminates confusion, of course you can always add a pair, you do not have to trade only one pair, but the more you trade a currency pair, there more you get to know it better and therefore trade it better. Thank you for reading here, I hope you found something practical that you can use in your own trading.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Apr 10, 2016 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
Forex trading robots – do they really work?
Definition by Google: Forex robot is a computer program based on a set of Forex trading signals that help to determine whether to buy or sell a currency pair at anytime. Forex robots are designed to remove psychological element of trading, which can be detrimental.
Wow!! it sounds like a dream right?, unfortunately for the users, it remain just that, a very nice dream. I think they are missing one line in the definition above, which is “Forex trading robots are the quickest way to make money, only if you are a developer or a consultant promoting them”. I have a little problem as soon as I see these words “make money while you sleep, without lifting a finger“, before I even start to unpack this topic, I have one thing to say, if it was too easy, we would all be opening trading accounts even for our grandparents and purchase a robot, plug it and let it make millions for us while we mind our own businesses. I wouldn’t be here trying to educate you and sharing my experiences, I would be somewhere in a beach with my super robot plugged in and making money for me, I would go to orphanages and donate one robot to make millions for them, and the more it makes money, I would visit every underprivileged household and open a Forex account for them and donate one robot, now lets stop dreaming. Let me unpack this topic and share my thoughts, I think big financial firms keep their systems locked up and they keep it a secret, but every Forex robot sold online has one famous line “Trade like big banks”. That is another thing that makes me so uncomfortable, and the fact that the promoters make you believe that a”holy grail” has landed on your lap, the promoters are very talented salespeople who cannot even trade.
Who is likely to be a victim of Forex trading robots?
Because these are too expensive, I cannot say the poor are victims, but the victims are usually middle class citizens who are really trying to open an extra pipeline of cash flow, they are trying to run away from joining pyramid schemes and they are very aware that there is something called financial markets (which appeals more to them because it is kind of sophisticated). What these individuals (victims) lack, is research. I get tons of emails requesting this information about Forex trading robots found online. I am not a software developer or a Forex Robot developer, I am just a lady Forex trader who happened to understand Forex markets, I always tell them what I know (which is trading in currencies), then tell them to make up their own minds, if the robots make sense to them or not. One of the questions that I always ask them is “what would you do if you get to the airport and you are told that, the plane you are about to board has no pilot, but it will be controlled by a super state of the art robot, would you get in?, of course you wouldn’t right?, simply because even though technology has taken over many things, no robots can replace pilots or human beings, an airplane still needs that human eye, there are things that can only be seen by a human being, super robots have not yet replaced accountants, we can self-service online, but we still need human beings as accountants (which is why I would never encourage people to drop out of school). Forex trading is a human activity business, and nothing can replace human instincts.
Who is likely to make money with Forex trading robots?
There are two people who can benefit from Forex trading robots, unfortunately, buyers are not included.
- Robot builder/developer
- Promoter/consultant/ seller
And both of the above mentioned individuals usually do not even use what they are trying to sell to you (Forex trading robots). I am not making up a story here, more than once, I spoke to a software/robot consultants who admitted to me that they do not use the robots, they just promote them, when these individuals came to me for some assistance, at first I thought they were trying to get something out of me or they were just spying on me (because I could see their profiles that they were consultants promoting Forex robots, until they admitted to not using them, they told me that they are just promoting them and providing assistance to the users on how to install). How about the users or buyers?, I do not know, I am still waiting for that one person who can confirm to me that they have been making money using a robot consistently for about a year or so, I tried few robots few years ago, some robots work for few months and just stop, there are people who I went out of my way to warn against using robots, they went ahead and purchased anyway (because they could afford), their excitement was short-lived, they eventually lost everything. I cannot decide for you, I was just sharing, just like I did with Forex trading signals and copy trading. When you lose money trading with Forex robots, there is no way you can know what went wrong, and there is no way you can improve or fix the mistakes, you cannot become a better or seasoned trader, because you cannot fix what you don’t know, the only solution for you, is to purchase another robot and lose more money, most victims get these robots from seminars which are meant to hype them up. Thank you for stopping by, and if you find this information valuable, please do share with your friends, you might protect them from being victimized.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Apr 7, 2016 | FOREX TRAINING
I used to spend almost the whole night watching YouTube videos trying to learn this and that and trading was not fun at all. It became this one thing that I so wanted to learn and master, but it was taking over my life in a very bad and overwhelming way. Most of the time I felt like I was suffering from some rare mental disorder *smiles, it wasn’t nice at all, not to mention emotionally draining and exhausting. I was also not a fun person to be around anymore.
I would make a lot and lose it all again. Funding my account month after month was normal to me. When I started, I did not really have clear goals of where I wanted to take this trading thing. I was just excited to be one of the female traders and learning a new skill.
Personality plays an important role in whatever we do
I believe that when choosing a career or business venture, one needs to consider his/her personality. I am naturally a very calm and a reserved woman. I love peace and quiet, I do not like noise and overcrowded places.
I really enjoy being on my own. There I was trying to get into Forex trading and it took over my whole life. I am a wife and I have a son. Trading took me away from everything that matters to me. Because of the amount of work and efforts that I was putting into it, the long hours and staying up all night, friends and family members assumed that I was making a lot of money, and that alone added some pressure and I just had to keep up.
The truth is, I was living a very stressful life hiding behind charts. Those charts are very attractive when you are still a newbie and the more lines I could draw on charts, the smarter I felt. where am I going with all this? I am trying to show you how important it is to consider our personalities in everything that we do because our personalities lead us to do things the way that we do them.
How was my quality of life affected?
I struggled to balance life and everything else. I loved trading and I knew that I could make money but it was just too much. I would stay up all night studying charts, I would be glued to my laptop the whole day watching over charts, it was emotionally draining for real.
How do I trade now?
I am no longer consumed by charts and I sleep very well at night. If I happen to be up and trading at night, it is always by choice. I set up an alarm and wake up to trade then go back to sleep again, isn’t it lovely?
I can do my own trading, teach and coach 8-10 people every month, run this blog and still manage to take care of my other business, cook, sit with my family in the evenings and attend to social media and tons and tons of emails that I get daily. Life feels so normal
I trade the economic news and I only use technical analysis to confirm my entries and exits. I am not saying other methods are bad, but probably bad for me, my personality, my lifestyle and my needs. This method that I use works better for me and what matters the most is that I am now trading less, living a normal and simple life but I make more money than I used to.
I used to stay away from the markets during the high impact economic events until I learned how to trade them, (most traders still do, but the economic news are my bread and butter). I listen to what the market says and follow it where it goes. I strive to be on the right side of the markets by trading only after the daily speeches are released.
Try something new
We usually shut down any ideas that are not popular or that are not “in your face” or when we do not understand how it’s done. I am loving this form of trading and I have no regrets. The economic news makes sense to me, knowing what moves the currencies make sense to me. I can trade and still find time to do everything else that matters to me, if I can learn how to bake a cake, my life will be complete *smiles.
Benefits of how I trade
- My trading sessions are pre-planned, I do not do random trades, I wait for the market to decide, then follow.
- Emotions are far less than when I was consumed by charts.
- I do not worry about the quantity of trades, but the quality, therefore I do not trade 20 times a day.
- I make more money than I used to do before, and I actually keep what I make and it does get into my bank account.
- I have monthly targets which I break down into weekly and right down to daily, read more HERE.
- I can do other things that I enjoy, like cooking, and ooh well, I am about to learn how to bake a cake (sorry, I am too excited about that, I keep mentioning it).
- I can also get to spend time with my family and I am not always irritated ( I used to stress a lot, my son would even say that I control the mood in the house, he was joking but it was the sad truth).
- I do not miss my beauty sleep, not even by chance (unless I choose to)
- I spend less hours trading.
- In the beginning of the week, I always know the currencies that I would be trading the whole week. I check my weekly economic calendar and do my weekly trading schedule every Sunday and know my 3 W’s (what, why, when)
- I get time to check up on my mentees on a daily basis and also plan our trading sessions and trade together during news release (1-2 times a day ) depending on our economic calendar. Our sessions take about an hour or so, making it possible for people who are at work to manage. Sometimes we don’t trade on a specific day and it’s still OK not to trade 5 days a week, remember it’s quality over quantity.
Remember it is all about your needs, your lifestyle and most importantly your personality. If you are trading already and it feels like you are not the same person that you were before you started trading, you are constantly worried and you do not have time to do anything else, your life is now all about charts and markets, it is about time you change how you do it.
Trading should not be a stressful event, if you feel that you are like me, maybe you need to explore this method, but learn first. Thank you for stopping by and kindly share this post with your peers.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Mar 25, 2016 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
How much can you make in Forex trading-Set your daily targets
I am on a mission to provide practical solutions to traders out there. I have been doing this trading for some few years now and I have seen the key points that causes failure in trading. This post is not for traders who are hyped up as it won’t be providing any adrenaline rush or even appealing to them, but this is definitely going to speak to the kind of a trader who is looking at building a healthy Forex trading account, this is not meant to be exciting at all. To a trader who is looking for excitement, I am so sorry, you won’t find it in this post. This post is for a trader who is into Forex trading as an investment and actually looking at growing it further, and learning how to protect his/her capital and be sustainable in the markets, the small changes that we make in our daily trading activities can have a huge impact in how things turn out for us, this is not about certain strategies, most of the time, failing has nothing to do with your strategy. If this is you, then keep reading and if it is not you, then you might as well just stop reading now because this is going to sound so boring, too slow and too simple for your liking, investing is not supposed to be exciting and I am also not trying to get you excited.
Every aspiring trader wants to know how much they can make, it is mostly the first question people ask me daily, when they enquire about Forex trading. I speak to many people on daily basis, but most of them are turned off by my honesty, when they ask me how much they can make, I always start by saying ” I don’t know” and continue to tell them the facts and the truth (which is not what they want to hear), most people who are enquiring about Forex trading are always hyped up by what they see on social media (which is not the reality, well mostly). But I am so far, very glad that the people who end up working with me, are mostly the people who are realists, which then makes my work very easy, because I am a realist too (of course it is not attractive in this industry). On my previous post I covered an issue about TRADING CAPITAL and how it can impact your returns/profits. If you have a goal, and your goal is to be sustainable in the market for years and years and you also want to do away with “every trader needs to blow some few accounts before making it” mentality, then you are at the right place right now, keep reading and I hope you do find this post helpful, if you do, kindly share it with your peers, I will try to keep it simple and as practical as possible.
There is a massive range of income potential when it comes to day-trading, but there is also a huge percentage of people who are flooding the markets only to donate their money daily, the latter are the traders who have unrealistic goals and are impatient and undisciplined (discipline is something that each and every trader needs to teach him/herself, a mentor can only do so much and the trader needs to come to the “party”). I promised you to be practical, therefore I will not confuse you with jargon but I will keep it simple, I am a big fan of simplicity. For a clever trader, the table below might appear as a “stupid table” and too slow or too small amounts, but for a trader who is financially savvy (who understands how other investments work), will see a very good plan and not slow at all. If you are trading already, you should try it (you have nothing to lose), go back to your trading account while you are reading here and start planning right away and see if it won’t bring changes in your trading activities (you can thank me later). If you do not have a trading plan, find it HERE. Before you can try to implement this to your own trading, try showing it to your fellow traders, most of them will laugh at you and ridicule you for having such “small goals”, never mind them, just implement it anyway and watch them grinding daily with their big goals and making huge cash while you stick to your plan, at the end, you are the one who is going to take money home soon, while the ones who are chasing dollars keep on funding their trading account from time to time because they got wiped out by one bad trade (we all get bad trades from time to time, but it shouldn’t harm your account).
What if I do not reach my daily target or what if I make nothing?
If you do not reach your daily target but make less or even nothing (there is no loss there), walk away and come back tomorrow, it could be the market not providing trading opportunities or you are simply not seeing your setups ( it happens), tomorrow will come and you’ll trade again and make even more than your daily target, but make sure you do not feel like you have to force yourself to the markets even when the trading opportunities aren’t there and the market is sleepy ( maybe due to bank holiday ), that is something that has to come within you, you have to teach yourself to walk away if you have to, your mentor can give you support and all, but you are the one who is doing the actual trading and it is your money after all, you have to look after it, and you have to be emotionally matured and know when to walk away. Stop putting pressure on yourself, it is OK to trade few hours per day, your life doesn’t have to stop just because you have a live Forex trading account, have a plan and trade smart. I treat my trading account as a private property and that alone, takes pressure away, try to avoid over trading by all means.
I am not going to talk about some risk ratios and refer you to some online calculator that might just confuse you, I am here to keep it simple for you, you can use it or lose it. I am all about simplicity, this is not a fancy formula, but it works, daily targets seems like nothing at all, but wait until you see them accumulating nicely in your account without worrying about loosing all your capital.
Please kindly give feedback (should you decide to use the table), you can do so by leaving a comment, or for your privacy, you can email ntombimalatsi@learnfxtrading.net and tell me if you are finding it helpful, see table below with some few examples, you can alter it to work for your own trading capital, this is just a guide, but a guide that has kept me and my mentees consistent, on a bad day, a trader is still not supposed to lose all his/her capital.
Formula:
Trading capital times 40% (monthly target in percentage) , divide by 4 weeks (weekly target in dollars) and then divide that by 5 days = daily target in dollars. Of course, results may vary, considering other factors or events that lead to this particular event (profit taking) that we are discussing here, sometimes you might not trade the whole 5 days, (which is OK), but I hope you do get the idea of the table.
Thank you for stopping by and reading till the end, I hope it was worth it.
| Capital In your Account |
Monthly Target In Percentage |
Monthly Target In Dollars |
Weekly Target In Dollars |
Daily Target In Dollars |
| $500 |
40% |
$200 monthly |
$50 |
$10 daily |
| $750 |
40% |
$300 monthly |
$75 |
$15 daily |
| $1000 |
40% |
$400 monthly |
$100 |
$20 daily |
| $1500 |
40% |
$600 monthly |
$150 |
$30 daily |
| $2000 |
40% |
$800 monthly |
$200 |
$40 daily |
by Ntombi Malatsi | Mar 21, 2016 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
Trading capital-how much do you really need for your live account?
Ok, I think it is about time I address this question about trading capital. Most people are not going to like this, but I have to say it anyway, someone has to say it, and the truth shall set you free. Your earning potential depends on your start up capital. Every trader dreams of turning his/her account into a million dollar account. It is definitely not impossible, it is doable but not everyone can do it ( I am so sorry to burst your bubble). Forex trading is good money, but it is also exaggerated a lot by most traders who are vocal about it. Most are either selling dreams or their flashy lifestyle, and aspiring traders are buying into that. Millionaire traders are out there selling their lifestyle to you and they forget to mention to you that you are not going to make a million out of $500. They also forget to tell you that what they are showing you cannot be achieved by a start-up cash of $500, your trading capital does play a huge role in determining your returns. Forex market is flooded by new traders with unrealistic dreams and goals on a daily basis, these unrealistic goals are as a result of what is being sold to them through the seminars and social media.
The brokers can tell you that you can start with as a little as $30, but realistically speaking, it is impossible to make money with that amount. Then there are brokers which have a minimum deposit of R5000, when I started trading a few years ago, the rand was trading at R10 to the US Dollar, which then meant that R5000 was actually $500. Things have changed a lot since then, the rand is now trading at +-R16 which means R5000 is no longer $500 but +-$300. Now again because I am a realist, $300 is too little to trade with, you cannot trade much with it, yes you can start there, but I always advise my team to work on topping it up (if they can). This is to create a better trading environment, as well as trading commodities and other financial instruments within the Fx markets. Your goals are a deciding factor, it all depends on what you are trying to achieve with your trading account. 0.01 volume is recommended for a $300 account, but if you want to take some money home month end, you cannot expect that from $300 right away. A trader who doesn’t gamble can compound his/her profits and gradually increase the lot size, but it does not always happen that way, it is something that is easily achievable on paper. It takes a lot of patience to trade such account and the quantity traded is too small. You have two choices if you want to start with a small account or if you already have a small account, you can either top it up/invest more or stick to the recommended size, which is 0.01 and exercise patience and lots of it.
Common issues associated with trading an account with small trading capital
I believe the most important part of trading is to get it right more than anything. Learning how to protect your equity, learning to accept when you are wrong, learning to let go of bad trades, being disciplined and having a trading plan with good money management skills to accompany all that (that is what I preach to those under my mentor ship), setting monthly targets, breaking it down to weekly and all the way down to daily. The consistency come as a result of practicing all the above mentioned ( it doesn’t happen over night). The amount of money that you start with, does not make any difference if you do not pay attention to the above mentioned. If you are a profits only trader, rather start with that $30 and lose it all. There are certain challenges that are associated with trading small account.
A trader who is trading an account of about $1000 and above, is likely to relax and trade without feeling pressure, but a trader who is trading with below $500 equity is likely to stress too much and end up taking large positions in order to grow the account faster, even when the market conditions aren’t really favorable, this trader just wants to trade. Even though profits can be accumulated and be compounded, this trader becomes too emotionally attached to the account. So how about we agree that when trading small account , you should not expect to take some money home at least for some few months, just so your account can grow and you can also increase your lot size (quantity traded) to create a better trading environment and to make more money . Am I saying you should start with large sum of money? No, not at all, if you can manage a $500 account, you can do the same thing with a bigger account, but consider the facts above, if you do start small, start with a minimum and top it up later just like with any other business, you are likely to use your money to grow it at the beginning. You can also just save up towards your trading account on a monthly basis, say maybe set aside R1000 and top up your account month after month, it works wonders for serious traders who are willing to grow their accounts. Everything depends on you, it all depends on what do you want to achieve with your trading account, but it all begins with being a realist. A trader who is unrealistic will always face disappointments and be at risk of over trading and end up getting a margin call. Thank you again for stopping by, sharing is caring, if you find this post informative, please do share with your peers, for further assistance, leave your comment or send an email to: ntombimalatsi@learnfxtrading.net
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