by Ntombi Malatsi | Nov 26, 2019 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
Hello readers, welcome back. I have been operating on a very tight schedule lately. I finally got a chance to share one more tip here. Today’s topic is about the importance of unlearning in order to learn.
About 10 years ago, I embarked on this journey of learning how to trade. At first, I did not really think that there’s so much that I would need to learn. For me, just like most people who are starting out, it was just all about learning how to place a trade, buying the latest robot and learning a gazillion strategies. All of that was really fruitless. I was just too busy but less productive and it all seemed normal at that time.
After loosing so much money trying to find the way that would work best for me, I was challenged by the fact that I needed to unlearn a lot, it wasn’t easy at all, but it had to be done and I am so glad that I finally managed. Below are the few things that I had to unlearn.
Following every Forex group
One of the biggest mistakes that most traders do is to follow every social media group in search for more knowledge, which makes it very difficult to focus especially when you have your own trading plan that you are trying to follow and stick to.
I used to be that person who was everywhere on social media groups as long as I would see the word “Forex” I would definitely follow or join the group. I did that a lot when I was trading without any trading plan, but I continued to do that even when I had just done my own trading plan which I never followed of course due to being all over social media groups.
I would be on the right track for the day but as soon as I logged in to those groups, I would follow all the gurus who were claiming to be the best. I would literally place all their trades from their posted screenshots. I continued to make losses until I had to put a stop to it by leaving all those groups. That was the first thing that I had to unlearn. Learning how to trade is not easy in this kind of a setup as it can bring so much confusion.
Being glued to my screen all day and night
This was the most difficult one. For some reason, I felt like I needed to struggle and to have sleepless nights because that made me look like I knew what I was doing and I was smart (I know I sound silly right now, but this is a true story). When I finally learned that I don’t really have to stay up all day & night babysitting trades, I stopped. It wasn’t easy though, but I managed with the help of a good mentor.
Most of my mentees are faced with this challenge. Just 2 weeks ago, I had a weekly coaching session with one of my mentees (I do those with live traders every Fridays) and we were trying to sort out such issues for her. “Even when I am driving, I would open charts to see what’s going on” ~ Mentee. This particular mentee is struggling to unlearn those habits of being glued to her screen. She is definitely working on it though and I am positive that she will overcome as long as she is willing to and put in the work that is needed.
Trading more brings more money
OK, on a daily basis I used to place a minimum of 30-40 trades because I actually believed that the more I traded, the more money I would make. It was the total opposite though. I had to unlearn that but what made it more difficult to unlearn was the fact that everyone I knew seemed to be doing the same thing and it seemed very normal to me.
The sooner I unlearned that, the sooner I started to relax more, became less grumpy and I was able to think straight (it’s not easy to think straight when you have so many open trades at once which are keeping you on your toes).
I believe that if we can manage ourselves better, we can definitely manage our finances better. It starts with us. One of the things that I focus more on, on my training and mentorship program , is trading psychology which is basically about how one can manage his/her emotions and so forth. Learning a certain trading strategy is the easiest part, but implementing it is a case of will and strength.
Thank you for stopping by. If you find this post valuable, kindly share with your peers using share buttons on the sidebar. Should you need any private assistance, don’t hesitate to contact me.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Oct 6, 2019 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
One of the key ingredients to successful trading is to have self Confidence
Hello readers, it’s been a while since I shared some practical tips which may help you in your own trading. The tips that I mostly share here are not strategy based, they are not only meant for a specific trading strategy. Experience has taught me that most failures in trading are as a result of not managing ourselves well.
The tips shared on this blog will help you to work on yourself because you are your biggest asset or resource. When you are in control of yourself, you can be in control of your trading account and you’ll manage your money better. After all, your Forex trading account needs you more than it needs strategies and capital. No matter how large your capital may be, if you are not working on yourself, you’ll soon lose it all.
What is Confidence?
Confidence has a common meaning of a certainty about handling something, such as work, family, social events, or relationships, source: Wikipedia. To have confidence means that you have a feeling of trust and a firm belief in yourself and your abilities. Now this makes so much more sense as to why you will have to build confidence in your Forex trading. Below are the 3 steps that can help you to build confidence in your trading.
1. Identify the areas where you are doing well
I agree, I also do have areas in my life where I am less confident (I guess we all do). As a results driven mentor, I recently invited The Voice of Confidence, a Confidence Coach to coach my mentees once a week over a period of 4 weeks on issues of confidence and how they can teleport (as she would say) confidence from the areas where they are doing excellent to the areas where they are not doing so well or less confident.
What made me to even speak to a Confidence Coach and invite her was the fact that I realized that most mentees were doing good but their lack of confidence was holding them back. I don’t regret the decision as it made a huge difference in their trading journey . I took lessons for myself from her coaching during that 4 weeks she was with us and I can proudly say that life has been great and I have since improved in the areas (not Forex related) where I was less confident. In short, nothing great can be accomplished without confidence, Forex trading inclusive.
Back to identifying the areas where you are more confident. If you have noticed that you are more confident in doing your analysis more than executing the actual trades, do that more and while you are at it, observe how you feel when you get all your analysis on point and note it in your trading journal
2. Celebrate your successes
Celebrate and acknowledge those moments where you’ve analysed the currency and you did see it moving towards the direction at which your analysis pointed at, even though you did not execute the trade. Repeat the step above (identifying the areas where you are more confident) and don’t forget to celebrate, it’s very important.
By celebrating, you are not only recognizing that you are not all bad and you just need to improve in some areas, you are actually putting yourself in a happy space. The more you think about the things that you are confident in, the more you are able to think about how you can improve on the things that you are not so confident in and working on them becomes easier.
3. Be intentional
This is when you are making a decision on how you are going to improve. Being intentional means that you are actively interacting and engaging with yourself because the answers that you are looking for are actually inside you. You wake up every day and ask yourself, “how can I improve to build my confidence” and you do that with intention. Soon, you will find a way. But finding a way will come as a result of paying attention to the things that you are more confident in and trying to copy those things that you are currently doing to improve your confidence in the things that you are less confident in.
Being a successful trader is more about who you are more than about which strategies you use. My mentorship program focuses more on trading psychology because I understand that winning starts in the mind. We fix the mind, we win. You can have all great strategies but if you are lacking self-confidence and self-control you are likely to mess up. Self-belief is crucial.
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you found some useful tips from this post. If you did , kindly share with your peers. If you feel that you may need a Confidence Coach in your life, you can contact the Confidence Coach and book yourself a coaching session . WhatsApp “Confidence” to +27 71 448 2332 to claim your 20% OFF all courses from the voice of confidence. If all you need is to find a way to trade successfully, contact me for Forex private coaching sessions.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Aug 4, 2019 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
How To Gain Consistency In Forex Trading?
Hello subscribers and visitors, welcome to my blog and thank you for stopping by and reading this post. Today I want to address the issue of consistency in Forex trading. As usual, I am not about giving signals but rather practical tips on how to make our trading journey successful.
Most failures aren’t as a result of bad trading strategies, but as a result of lacking consistency. Before I start sharing, please remember that no one has ever gained great muscles from exercising just once. Keep that in mind.
Consistency comes by repeating and practicing what you’ve learned. Today I will share 3 steps on how to gain consistency in Forex trading. These are practical steps that have helped me and they continue to help my mentees. Maybe they can help you as well, just try. If you still can’t get it right on your own after reading, do contact me for coaching.
1. Fall in love with the process
In anything that we do, if we do it without love, we are likely to fail or give up. When it comes to Forex trading, most people are only in it for the money. Yes, the goal is to make money but it’s going to be a process. It becomes hard to make money if we are not in love with the process because we easily get discouraged when we are challenged.
If you decide to venture into Forex trading, consistency and success won’t happen overnight. There’s going to be a process and you’ll have to fall in love with it in order to be able to nurture it. So, do fall in love with it and it makes all the difference. I know it does, just try it.
2. Have a trading plan and stick to it
Creating a trading plan is easy, but sticking to it will require you to have some discipline. You must understand that having your own trading plan means you are not bothered by what other traders are doing out there and you are also not feeling like you are missing out on anything if your trading plan suggests that you are not trading on a particular day.
3. Learn one trading strategy and stick to it until you can’t get it wrong
There is power in practicing without ceasing, I always preach this to my mentees. There are a gazillion Forex trading strategies on the Internet but one cannot learn all of them. I’ve had my fair share of trying out every Forex trading strategy that I would find on the net and I know how overwhelming and confusing that can be. I can assure you that it was a very costly exercise.
There’s so much “noise” and when you rely on the information that you are trying to grab there and there from the internet, you become so confused and end up not knowing what to do. One site tells you how bad the other strategies are and the other site swears by the same strategies which may not even be suitable for your lifestyle and personality, it’s a lot. It also becomes too much when you don’t know what you don’t know.
If you feel exhausted already by all the information that you find online, do yourself a favour and find a mentor/coach who will help you to eliminate all the noise and teach you that one strategy that you can practice without ceasing until you can’t get it wrong. Also note that I have been trading the same way since 2012 after running around from 2009 trying to find what works for me.
Thank you for stopping by. If you find value in this post, kindly share with your peers and help more traders to gain consistency. Also subscribe for future publications by clicking “subscribe” on the sidebar, wait for a confirmation email (it could be on spam) and confirm your subscription. Thank you, happy trading.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Jul 21, 2019 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
How to overcome fear in Forex trading
Hello subscribers and readers. Today I want to talk about fear and how it can affect your outcome in your Forex trading. There are different types of fear that one can experience in Forex trading. But before we get into that, let’s have a look at what exactly is fear.
What is Fear?
Fear is an unpleasant feeling triggered by the perception of possible danger. It could be real or imaginary. We are likely to feel our hearts beating faster, shaking or even sweating when we experience fear. It’s not a great feeling at all. Imagine having all those feelings where money is involved, real bad right?.
There are different types of fear, but in this post I will only focus on 3 types that are the most common when it comes to Forex trading.
1.Fear of failure/ loosing money
This is the most common fear that Forex traders experience. It could be because most traders go through a lot of losses due to jumping into investing in the markets without proper education and being misinformed. And because of that, by the time they acquire knowledge, they are already numb and carrying the memories of their past losses and it’s hard to let go of the past. Let go of the past and focus on the current and the future.
When you approach the Forex markets with these kinds of emotions and thoughts, you are setting yourself up for failure. It is hard to believe in your Forex trading strategy or plan if you are a scared being.
There is no formula that I can give anyone who is feeling scared every time that they enter the markets besides telling them that they must face their fears (of course it is a different story if I am coaching you because we do coaching sessions until you manage to overcome the fear) . Fear is normal and it does subside with time. The more you are active in the markets, the more you get comfortable. You just have to do it consistently.
It is also difficult to face the unknown. The best way is to start by identifying what really scares you. If it is the past losses that are scaring you, start by finding out what caused the past losses and fix that. Once that is done, you can then work on avoiding those mistakes by doing things differently this time around. If you still find it difficult to identify the issue , you definitely need a mentor to help you clear your path and identify that. You can check out my mentorship program HERE.
2. Fear of missing out
This type of fear happens when you do not have a clear understanding of how do you trade and why do you even trade. Most people who are Forex traders are still finding it so hard to plan for their Forex trading sessions. Some people are even unaware that it can be done. Most people still need to unlearn that as a Forex trader,you are supposed to be glued to your screen and stay up all night babysitting trades and have zero life outside of the markets.
Then there are those Forex traders who understand that they can actually draft a Forex trading plan and follow it (which is great, I do that as well and that’s what I teach my mentees to do).
The challenge though is learning to be content. If you find yourself being too busy at work or in your business to sit down and trade according to your plan, you are likely to feel like you are missing out on some great trading opportunities and that could be very frustrating. When you feel frustrated, chances are, you’ll enter the markets too late and loose. Again, there is nothing that I can say besides that one needs to understand that a missed trade is never a loss. There is so much power in understanding that.
If for some reason you could not sit and trade during your planned session, there’s always going to be other opportunities. Also understanding that when you don’t do any activity in your Forex trading account, you will never come back and your money has disappeared. That can happen though if you are trading with unregulated brokers. It is so important to trade with regulated Forex brokers. It is for the safety of your funds.
3. Fear of success
This is the most confusing type of fear for most people and it took me so long to understand it as well. It is confusing because no one in their right mind would intentionally feel scared to be successful. We all want to be successful. The reason why you are even trading and reading on this blog is because you are looking for ways and tips to be successful in Forex trading. So,there’s definitely no way that you can trade and be fearful of success but it happens, and it happens a lot.
With my mentees or the traders that I coach, I have realized that most of them are sabotaging themselves by “running” away from excellent trading opportunities and they’ll make all kinds of excuses why they are always identifying great trading opportunities but they never act on them or they take on demo. As a result, they are mostly making money on demo and when they eventually do take the same trades on live account, they always take the wrong ones.
The fear of success is very difficult to identify because it does not happen consciously but it happens in our subconscious minds. I believe that Forex trading is more of a “work on me first before focusing more on strategies” kind of business.
On a day to day basis, I speak to different individuals who are struggling with Forex trading. I can tell you now that most of the failures are not about trading strategies but are about how the person thinks and how they handle their emotions and self control being the number one cause of failure. With some Forex traders, it is just a feeling of not being enough or thinking that making money is for certain people (more of these lessons on my mentorship program)
I hope you found this post valuable, please kindly share so it can reach more Forex traders. Please leave a comment and share if you can identify with any of the fears mentioned above. If you wish to receive my next publication direct to your email, you can subscribe and your confirmation email could be on spam if not on inbox. Thank you for stopping by.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Jul 7, 2019 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
OK, this is it. I am honestly tired of seeing posts on the net about amazing Forex trading robots or systems. After trading for so many years, I can tell you that there’s no magic pill that would make anyone successful in Forex trading. I’ve spent some years looking for it and I know there’s no such.
Forex trading is an activity that needs focused human beings and it requires those who participate in it to have a well checked mindset. If you are struggling with discipline, you might need a coach to help you overcome that challenge. You can check out my private coaching services HERE.
The 3 steps that I am going to share are not about any best Forex trading strategy or system. If you’ve read my blog posts before, you probably know that I don’t do write ups on Forex trading strategies. The 3 steps are about our mindsets. I am a strong believer of winning in the mind first.
Step 1 #Mind your personality and your lifestyle, know if this is for you
I always emphasize that in everything that we do, we should never overlook our personalities. Some people find it hard to grow in their careers or businesses simply because they ignored their personalities and as a result, they become so miserable and stuck.
Just like any other skill, Forex trading needs someone who can commit and understand that they have to do the work and it won’t take 2 days to master it. There’s no one way to trade the markets, but there’s absolutely that one way that can suit your personality and your lifestyle. Choose a method that will work for you. If you aren’t even sure about how to choose or know which one will suit you, WhatsApp +27 76 966 9392 for a quick chat/ free assessment. You may also like to know why do I trade the way that I do. It could be the method that can suit you.
Step 2 #Be available
Once you have decided that you want to invest your money in Forex, you must be available for the process, otherwise it’s not gonna happen or work for you. You must love the process because it is definitely going to be a process (everything in life is a process anyway).
If you don’t love the process, you are likely to give up. Those who are seeing great results are those who keep on doing and doing until they can’t get it wrong. It is impossible to keep on doing something that you are not enjoying or loving. So, by all means, fall in love with the process.
Step 3 #Have a plan and stick to it
Having a plan starts with knowing why you are even trading. Is it for an extra income or a long-term investment? Whatever you choose it to be, you still need to know how you are going to reach your goal. Drafting a plan is not so difficult, we can all just draft a nice plan.
Following and sticking to it can be a bit challenging. It shouldn’t be the case though. I have already shared the other 2 steps. Your task is to see how you can use the other 2 steps mentioned above to get to this last step where you are now sticking to your own plan and trade happily & profitably ever after. It is possible and you still find it difficult, you definitely need a coach, someone who will hold you by the hand and do this with you. Do contact me.
Thank you for stopping by. If by any chance you found this post valuable, kindly share with your peers using the share buttons on the side bar. Stay tuned for more practical tips and happy trading.
by Ntombi Malatsi | Jun 9, 2019 | FOREX FOR BEGINNERS, FOREX TRAINING
Will Forex ever end or disappear?
On a daily basis my WhatsApp, emails, social media inboxes are flooded with lots of Forex related questions. Some questions are simple but a bit tricky to respond too. Take for instance this question “What is Forex trading?”. That’s the simplest question but it is impossible for me to respond to it over one chat because there is no one straight line answer to it.
OK, back to the topic of today. Today I want to answer the public regarding this question. Over the past few weeks, this question has been very popular, it keeps coming up. People are asking me if Forex trading will ever end or disappear.
These are the people who are following me and have probably read online about Forex trading and they are a bit skeptical. I am not great at convincing people regarding Forex trading. I am however very giving in terms of information and that is what I do best. People can then decide if my information is useful or not.
Why Do People Even Ask This Question?
I will start by saying that whoever asks if Forex will ever end or disappear is clearly lacking information of what exactly Forex is all about. I also do understand why most people are confused. Most of the times when people see/ hear the word “Forex”, words like scam, easiest way of making a quick buck without putting any effort, pyramid schemes etc quickly come to mind. It is simply because of how it is misrepresented by those who are involved in it.
I have published a blog post and tried to simplify it and answered some of the questions that you may have regarding this subject. You can check out the blog post HERE before you continue reading here. Whatever that I am about to say will make more sense after reading the blog post mentioned above because you first need to understand what it is all about.
Will Forex end/ disappear then?
As long as there are different countries using different currencies, they’ll always be Forex. It will always exist because Forex is all about exchanging money. We all participate in Forex in some way. When you go to the UK from SA, you won’t be able to use your ZAR in UK. You’ll definitely need to exchange your ZAR to GBP. That is now you, participating in Forex because you just sold your ZAR and bought GBP.
Where Does Forex Takes Place?
Forex market has no physical location where it takes place, but the exchange of money is something that happens daily via banks. I always say there are no stupid questions in my books and I mean it. I am glad that people are asking me this question more often and now I finally got a chance to sit down and pen this blog post responding to it.
As long as there are still Central Banks and no universal currency, there’ll always be Forex. Maybe the question should be around regulation and about whether it is legal or not. Ending or disappearing? I really don’t think so. Is Forex trading even legal in South Africa? Find out Here
Why Is It so Important To Trade With A Regulated Broker?
Talking about regulations, please ensure that whatever broker you trade with is regulated. It can be an international Forex Broker, but it must also be regulated by the regulatory body in your country. I always prefer to use FSCA regulated brokers formerly known as FSB. This is for the safety of your funds and for your peace of mind.
Trading with unregulated Forex Brokers can be a cause for Forex trading to end or disappear for you when they disappear with your money, that’s what they usually do. Otherwise, feel free to explore how you can make money through Forex trading. Should you need to be coached on that subject, you can enroll for my Private Coaching. Thank you for stopping by and kindly share this post.
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