Weekly Newsletter @ TradeMax Sydney (2)

Welcome to the series of weekly reports capturing my learnings from my summer internship at TradeMax Group in Sydney. Interested in Forex Trading? Check this out.

November 16, 2019

Go Beyond The Numbers Week #2

Happy weekend! This Friday Nov 15, China announced its FDI (YTD) YoY （国际直接投资指数）, and the EU announced it’s YoY and MoM Inflation Rate, as well as Balance of Trade. On Saturday, Nov 16, the US will announce the Core Retail Sales & Retail Sales MoM index, aka “the horror index” （不包括服务业在内的零售销售指数，可相对预测美国及全球经济前景）, with a 0.5% increase predicted* (Source: DailyFX/Forex Factory). It might be a good day to trade EURUSD… if you are risk-seeking enough.

The theme for my second week at TradeMax involved quite some discussions on linking economics and politics, as well as to refer to the key index for better trading predictions. Some in-group discussions covered current big topics such as the China-US Trade War, Brexit, China Direct Investment, and Blockchain (future development & application). The main takeaway is that not any single national/international political event can be seen as itself. They will always influence the economics and people’s views on the future economics trend. Actions from the leading institutions around the world, such as FOMC (open market & hourly rate), G7 & G20 Groups (major economies & currencies), ECB (EUR), and OPEC (Bronte oil). Investment strategies when facing unpredictable political and natural circumstances are also important. How to invest when there are wars? Buy gold. What about natural disasters such as terrorism and tsunami? Short sell domestic currency and buy (save) gold. Yet the Japanese Yen, due to its risk-averse attribute, actually increases its value during natural disasters. The Japanese central bank, its pricing strategy using JPY, and its large amount of domestic debt also helps to maintain its currency.

Also, in order to cultivate the sharpness at identifying potential forex opportunities, we need to pay attention to some common index that can indicate the trends in which the national/international economics is heading to. Some of the most common ones include: (national) interest rate/cash rate, CPI/PPI, GDP (=C+1+G+X-M) , Trade Balance, current accounts (=assets-liabilities, surplus or deficit. One of the more credible future prediction index based on real data), PMI (predict unemployment rate/performance of non-agriculture population, if <50% then the economics is weakening). 4 more important ones are: Average hourly rate (which the Federal Reserve uses to determine if it should lower the interest rate), non-agricultural payroll employment changes, average non-agriculture population, and unemployment rate.

Demo Account Tradings

(My week of trading overview, from Nov 11 to Nov 15)

REAL, MONEY (or is it?)! This week I was activated with a Trademax demo account to “win a lucky draw” soon from real tradings. I treated it like having real money, aka. I didn’t do crazy lots of tradings. However, I wasn’t too well off either. Small gains, small wins, step by step.

Statistics:

• Total profit: $1488.38 (with a last-min USDCHF buy 1.5 lot profit of $124.52)
• Ongoing loss: $3900 (with 3 tradings)
• My best bet: EURUSD, sell 1.5 lot, $348.64
• My worst bet: AUDJPY, sell 1.5 lot, now -$2705
• Most traded currencies: GBP (sell), USD (buy)
• Potential opportunity missed: NZDUSD (buy) on Nov 13, large rise due to the NZ government lowering interest rate

Things to think about:

• Always follow the market trend and key index that could influence the market! Don’t miss out on big international events
• Adjust the investment amounts, start small and build solid foundations to get to know the market & currency trading trends
• Remember to go with personal flow when doing investments. Fake money can be fake money, but if really invests, then a good mindset will do more benefit than going volatile with the unpredictable market
• Always accept unpredictability

What should you know about me?

Good things don’t come easy! But I’m ready to present myself and pitch for this great opportunity to join an exciting field. My agenda will look like this:

• About me

Marketer, interviewer, teacher, executer. Chinese with an international twist, creative with a professional touch.

• What did I learn from the past 2 weeks

The importance of putting the subtle and big hints of the financial/political updates into real-world trading. When considering forex trading, one has to pay attention not only to understand the market but also make smart/educated guess based on the national/international environment as a whole.

• My understanding of forex trading

A smart combination of techniques to trade, and an eye to the big picture.
1. Stocks are closely connected with economics and business performance, while forex is more connected with the national/international economics and political situations
2. MT4 (forex) and IRESS (stock) are the trading platforms used by TradeMax. There are more than 4000 products on the TradeMax platform available for trading.
3. Forex trading is a more convenient way of investing in the financial market, thanks to its 24/5 trading flexibility, high leverage, and high liquidity. However, in order to play the games well, one needs to have a good mindset that can deal with mood & market volatility.

• What excites me to work here

A new field (financial trading), new ways to improve my understanding of the market and learn, new sales skills to pick up

• What can I bring to the table

Ability to communicate with people, attentiveness to be professional, persistence & resilience to wait and hold until things work out.

• What I would like from you

Instructions to bring me up to speed, especially on the parts of potential customer hunting, coaching support during the internship & potential continuing PT2 opportunities.

I hope I’m just as credible, if not more, as the 55broker’s evaluation of TradeMax as a “safe trader”. Let’s do this!