Interview with contest winners: “Experience is the best teacher for traders”

We think that it is important for traders to learn from their own mistakes and for that reason we asked our contest winners to share their most cringing mistakes. Despite the fails, they didn’t stop trading and have gained more than they’ve lost.  

Marina Zorina from Russia, the winner of round 2017 of Rally Trade contest with the main prize of $500 no-deposit bonus. Previously also won in Futures Trade

• Trading experience: 10 years 
• Favorite trading instruments: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and other majors
• Trading strategy: scalping

“I’ve been trading for a long time and my perspective on trading has changed significantly with time. When I just started there was this rush, adrenaline, but now I am more patient and steady going. Trading has become a daily work for me. I start my day with analysis of currency pairs, then I check the time of important news releases and build my trading strategy from there. I only trade major currency pairs as I don’t see the point in spreading your attention over a huge amount of trading instruments. I like Rally Trade contest because of the one-day time limit. It is the right time to test the trading strategy. In this round my main competitor was a trader from Kalinovka, I saw our balances constantly changing. I own my victory to scalping, which I use in my everyday trading.”

Alexey Kotlyarov from Belarus, winner of the 416th round of Drag Trade contest with the main prize of real $200

• Trading experience: 4 years
• Favourite trading instruments: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, sometimes GBP/JPY, EUR/JPY
• Favorite indicators: ZigZag and moving average

“I am 25 years old, I work as a window fitter. I learned to trade on my own by trial and error. At first I failed a lot. I consider my biggest mistake the loss of $4000, which I raised from only $500 in one month. Funny enough, losing it took only one hour :( Now I am more cautious. Experience is, indeed, the best teacher. When, sitting by that monitor, you realise that you can’t control your emotions, it is the best to just stand up and give yourself a good 5-10 minute walk. I don’t set extreme goals in trading, as it is more of an extra source of income for my family budget. What’s most important in Drag Trade is to determine which instruments you are going to trade with. You only have one hour and the volatility is extremely important here. That’s why I chose CAD for this round, because of the high volatility. As usual, I used wave analysis. Frankly speaking, I was surprised with my results. When the final results were published, I realized that “too cool for school” is not the line of thinking for this contest. My closest competitor was only a couple of pips behind.” 

Alexander Markov from Russia, the winner of the 417th round of Drag Trade contest. Received the real $200

• Trading experience: 3 years
• Favorite trading instruments: major currency pairs
• Trading strategy: intraday

“I am 22 and I work as a manager. My friend got me “hooked” with trading. As any novice, I’ve made lots and lots of mistakes. I remember elevating my balance during the whole week and ended up multiplying my deposit by 5 times and on Friday I’ve lost everything because of news. I was honestly grieving. I only trade currencies, It may seem really simple — all you need is to predict whether the price will go up or down. Oh, how much effort it takes to comprehend how it all works... I use intraday strategy and scalping. I can’t wait for too long and set 100-point stop losses. When I choose a broker I pay attention to the spread, execution speed, commissions and, of course, withdrawals. I like Grand Capital contests because they are short. I don’t have time for spending long days in front of a monitor. I pay my respects to my luck for winning this round. Last time I took the second place, I missed just a little. My advice for novices is to look for their strategy or a system. When you find it, don’t give us even if sometimes something goes wrong.”

You can read the contest rules and register for the next round here.

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