Interview with contest winners: "You can only learn trading fast with a mentor"

Our new contest winners share their advice on how to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again, how to handle failed trades and speak on the importance of rest.

Yevgeny Karpov, Russia, the winner of the 410th round of Drag Trade, received real $200

• Trading experience: about 12–15 years
• Preferred instruments: EUR/USD, GBP/JPY, sometimes GOLD
• Preferred indicators: Fibo, Parabolic SAR, Moving Average with various settings
• Trading strategies: Fibonacci levels

“I’m 36 and work as a system administrator, programmer, and a tester. All my hobbies are connected to the world of IT in one way or another. I learned trading on my own, but I think one would learn faster under the supervision of a mentor that guides them on a beaten path and you don’t have to keep making the same mistakes over and over again. However, it applies only to beginners, while later on, you need to practice yourself. The market is a fickle thing and the basics are not enough to know your way around. I placed my most successful trade at the time of Brexit, though usually, I try not to get involved with “gambling”. Things like these are nearly impossible to predict and highly volatile. In these situations, I normally “sit on a fence” and follow the quotes. I hardly believed I could win this round. I used my usual strategy that involves Fibonacci levels. There was a surge of GBP/JPY quotes in the beginning and then they went flat between the levels of 61 and 100. That’s when I sold at 100 and bought at 61.”

Alisher Gapirov, Uzbekistan, the winner of the 215th round of Rally Trade, received $500 no-deposit bonus

• Trading experience: 8 years
• Preferred instruments: major currency pairs
• Preferred indicators: various oscillators
• Trading strategies: breakout trading

“I’m a multichannel communication engineer. I learned about financial markets from a person I know. I decided to give it a shot and I liked it. I won’t lie, at first I blew many accounts like a typical newbie. Though eventually, I got the hang of it. I owe my skills to various contests. You have to get better all the time to succeed in trading. Even if it’s not working out at the moment, try again. My least successful trade was when I tried trading at the time of Scottish independence referendum. I lost a large sum of money. After 8 years on the market and after all the roller coasters I no longer worry when placing a trade. I grew a shell and now I just trade. I wish all the newcomers diligence. Be patient and if you don’t succeed at first, just try again.”

Serhyi Ganzha, Ukraine, the winner of the 413th round of Drag Trade, received real $200

• Trading experience: 9 years
• Preferred instruments: EUR/USD, GBP/USD
• Preferred indicators: Moving Averages
• Trading strategies: multicurrency strategies

“My attitude towards financial markets hasn’t changed over the years. I still think that trading is a promising and profitable occupation that has lots of advantages over a regular job. Namely, you can work anywhere, don’t have bosses, work your own hours. I see myself as a successful manager in the future, someone who knows how to multiply their own funds and that of the investors. My most successful trades were placed at the times of important news in the US and the UK. My unsuccessful trades are always limited by stop loss. I believe in myself and in my trading system and that helps me control my emotions. Another important thing is to rest. This round was on Good Friday, that’s why trading volumes and volatility were very low. In the first trade, I managed to gain four points from the fall of EUR/USD and I decided to stop trading. The decision proved correct. My advice for beginners is to have patience, learn from professionals, work out your own trading system, try it out on a demo account and only then start real trading. Good luck!”

Read the contest rules and sign-up for the next round here.