I just got back from the first ever Truth About Forex Conference in London, England and it was a blast!
It was only the second trading conference that I have ever been to and the first one was good, but this was much better.
…and I'm not the only one who loved it.
Here's what some of the other traders had to say about it.
(This is also what it looks like when you shove six traders into a tiny ass Pod)
So why else was it so cool?
Here are the top 7 things that I learned at the conference.
Although it was more beneficial to be there in person, I hope that you learn a few things from my experience too.
1. Hanging Out With the Right People Makes a Difference
We all know this deep down.
But it's purely intellectual until you actually experience it.
There are many examples of full-time traders who learned how to trade successfully…by themselves. But when you hang out with people who have similar goals, it can really accelerate your learning.
In addition, their positive energy rubs off and can help you get excited about trading again…even if your trading isn't going that well at the moment. One person who personified that was Alex Upton.
When you meet him in person, his enthusiasm is infectious. His presentation on positive psychology was very useful and I'm going to have to watch the recording a couple more times because there was so much that I missed the first time.
Alex is just starting his speaking career and he did a great job. If you are looking for a speaker for your next event, you should watch Alex's recording.
As soon as I left on the last day of the conference, there were a couple of takeaways that I implemented right away. That's one of the biggest benefits of hanging out with the right people.
They get you to take action.
2. Ordinary People Can do Extraordinary Things in Trading
I have demonstrated this fact on my Podcast, but hearing trading success stories never gets old. One example was Frank, who was a TV reporter before he learned to trade.
As a reporter, he had some really cool stories, including meeting Jim Rogers.
But after he learned to trade profitably, that's when things really started to get fun. He talked about his experience trading for a family office, going into business with other traders and much more.
Denis was another trader who kept at it and ultimately became the #1 trader on one of the signal platforms. Now he trades for clients. He showed us his exact setups and how he achieves solid returns with very low drawdown, only taking 1 to 2 trades a month.
…and yes, profitable trading is not sexy.
Caroline also shared her story of how she manages FX trading at a company and how she applied to be a trader at a hedge fund. It was really cool to get an idea of what goes on behind the scenes at a company that needs to hedge its FX exposure.
I also enjoyed her story of how her son became an elite chess player and how that applies to learning to trade.
3. Whenever You Think You've Seen Everything in Trading, Someone Usually Surprises You
The trading strategy that had everyone at the conference talking was the Coastline Strategy that Gonçalo Moreira from FXStreet presented. Before learning this method, working at FXStreet gave Gonçalo unique access to successful traders from all over the world.
One thing that he noticed was that traders who won trading contests were usually trading one type of trading method. He learned the method, backtested it and started trading it in the FXStreet account. You can see his verified results here.
The actual trading strategy might be unlike anything you have ever seen before. There are two things that make it very different…
- You are always in the market
- Your entry and exit are not important
Yeah, they aren't important…at all. If you feel like trading, you can just pull your phone out of your pocket and start trading. If you don't want to trade, you can take the day off.
Now, that might sound crazy, but when you hear Gonçalo explain it in person, everything makes sense. You can listen to his interview with Walter here.
To learn the entire strategy, listen to the conference recordings.
4. It's Actually Really Weird to Talk About Forex Trading in Public
Have you ever talked about Forex trading in public for more than 5 minutes? How about being in a group of people where everyone was talking about trading?
Yeah right, good luck with that 😉
I never thought about it before, but when that actually happens, it's kind of a surreal feeling. When you think about it, we go through most of our lives trading alone at our own desks.
When people ask us about our trading at parties, they are usually just being polite. Most of the time, you can see their eyes glass over in the first 10 seconds.
It's not that they don't understand, it's usually because they just aren't that interested in trading.
But after we got on the train to head back to the hotel, after the VIP dinner on Friday night, there were so many trading conversations going on at the same time, that a few people commented on how strange that felt.
I agreed.
One of the many insightful conversations that I had over the weekend was with Raul. We talked about how he trades at a bank and the restrictions that come with that type of trading. He also shared his experiences with going from trading at a bank to trading full-time at home.
5. Resources I Discovered
One of the reasons that I like talking to other traders is that I always pick up some great resources that I would otherwise have difficulty discovering on my own. I uncovered a lot of resources over the weekend, but here are just a few that might help you too.
- Book: Presence – Amy Cuddy (books thanks to Alex)
- Book: Grit – Angela Duckworth
- Book: How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big – Scott Adams
- Self Improvement Tool: Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) – Totally free complete course here (thanks to Adam)
- Meditation App: Insight Timer (thanks to Caroline)
Adam's presentation on EFT was especially helpful for me. I have heard about EFT in the past, but I had not taken the time to explore exactly what it is and how to implement it.
He did a very simple demonstration on how to “erase” negative beliefs.
Of course, this isn't going to work on everyone and everything. Some issues take longer to solve than others.
But it is simply one of the tools that we can use to help us improve ourselves. I've started using it and I already feel the difference.
6. The Most Successful Trading Methods are Usually Very Simple
I always talk about this, but sometimes it can be easy to forget how simple trading can be. We just need to get out of our own way.
This theme was present in the talks by the traders mentioned above, but this was also evident in another conversation I had was with a trader who started trading for a fund.
He only trades one strategy and one currency pair.
Of course it depends on the strategy and your goals. But sometimes, you really don't need more than that.
Enho also brought up a great point in his talk when he mentioned that he had a simple technical trading method, but he actually needed more. So now he trades a simple fundamental trading method and it fits his personality much better.
So just because you have a simple strategy, that doesn't mean that you should stop there. Maybe you need to refine it or even change it altogether.
7. Refinements to My Own Strategy
Finally, there were a couple of conversations that helped me refine my own trading strategy.
One of them was with Reima. He shared how he built confidence in his trading system and how he actually trades.
This was very useful to me because we trade a similar system and his presentation gave me some refinements that I can test and possibly implement too.
Conclusion
One more thing that I didn't learn, but I was reminded of on this trip, was that traders are some of the coolest people to hang out with. I met many traders at the conference that I've only known from their online thumbnail image.
There was way too much great information to cover in one blog post, so be sure to purchase the seminar recordings if you want to watch all the presentations. For a limited time, get $197 off the purchase price, when you buy through this link.
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