Hey guys, Welcome back to day 27.  This is a bit of a special one because I’ve figured out how I can combine days to produce longer content. Here’s the time: And let’s continue

How The Algorithm Works

So I don’t think a post on this investment opportunity would be right without pointing out that from the start I was told this was a speculative investment. For the 24 hours a day; 5-days a week my money would be out being traded on the market - there was always the chance I could lose my income. This was always the risk that came with Forex; and it continues to be a risk. The way this works is as follows -  The algorithm had been programmed based upon current + historical market conditions. What I enjoyed about this journey so far was that I had a genuinely committed account manager who really cared about the investment I had. So rather than this being a ‘we’ll turn the algo on and forget about it’ type scenario; the team were turning things off or on, manually stopping it sometimes.  Whilst 90% of the time the algorithm was doing the work; 10% of the time (and a very important 10% there was manual intervention. Furthermore, there were different algorithms for different investment appetite’s. One was more conservative, and others more speculative. I deferred to the knowledge and experience of their team. I wanted this to be straightforward whilst I focussed on other aspects of my business.

My First Loss

The first year there were two key moments in 12-months (the first being more key) where I got my scares and learnt more about how this process worked - how I should behave and respond and how to treat this. Around 4-months into my adventure I suffered my first major drawdown.  As effective as the algo’s were; there would sometimes be unforseen economic events (Covid-19 being a great example of this) or otherwise that the algo couldn’t instantly cater for. So in August of 2018 I got hit by my first significant draw-down. A draw-down is when effectively a position on the market is opened and then unexpectedly the market goes against you. So then you’d have a ‘floating balance’: Here’s an example of a floating balance right now (i.e current at this time of writing) So the number you see above is effectively in a position in the market that’s a ‘negative’ one.  The first time this happened I sh*t myself - assuming that all my money was about to be lost.  My broker had to work hard to reassure me - he’d seen this happen dozens of times and the important thing was that there was tons of equity (i.e positive balance) on the account which meant three important things were in play:

1. We could hedge (i.e effectively bet) against the position meaning that if we were banking on the Euro needing to strengthen in value for this to increase (but it was still going down) - they’d open up bets that would involve the Euro going down - so again either way we’d win
2. The equity that was available on the account meant that in parallel we could continue making trades and actually bank daily profits even whilst there was a floating balance
3. Their team Oliver and all were with me to make sure the money was being looked after. His income was (and is) fixed to mine - which meant it was in his interest to see it come back to glory

So in this period whilst I was scared witless - I did a couple of things. I panicked and worried about ‘losing my money’. I didn’t withdraw my remaining income and ‘take the loss’ I did exactly what my team told me to do in terms of how to treat this. A few months followed and I went (at that time) from a 50% drawdown (44k of 86k I had invested at that time) to unlocking actual big profits along the way! (i.e £7-15,000+) I’d stuck to the path that had been laid out for me - and within 3-months I was back to black (i.e all positive equity) with 0 drawdown. It was an amazing experience for me in hindsight. I got to understand the rhythm of the market; I got to test my mettle as an investor, and rather than opening manual trades (as some other clients did sometimes) or pulling the money out (and suffering the losses - as some other clients did sometimes)... I remained patient and that in the end was my saving grace. By the way drawdowns happened everyday in some respects - but the algorithm would then open positions against this drawdown to effectively hedge the position (part of the reason it’s considered spread betting - because you take positions across the overall spread - so as long as there are swings in currency value - you win). At this stage - the way I would monitor the markets was via the metatrader 4 app: We’ll talk through this screen in a second And so, several months later, I actually took my first loss of around £30,000. That sucked.  And Oli was in pieces about the whole thing. At the time I was in Kew Gardens with my partner Strawberry and her two nieces that were visiting us on holiday from Italy. It was a difficult thing to take in that moment. It’d been a strange move on the market and consequently I’d taken a loss. This was around 12 months into being with my broker and over that period I’d invested more money into both Forex (100k+) alongside opening a Pension, ISA and beginning to get more deeply involved in property. At that point, because of the storm I’d weathered historically we measured the numbers and we still able to demonstrate that I was around £50,000+ up. There is nowhere else I knew of I could put money into an investment vehicle and generate £50,000 without doing anything (and god I was trying). So it made sense to continue. Oli promised me we would make the money back; and low and behold - month on month we’d make £8,400, £7,900, £10,300 and so on. Bring it back he did.

Considering The Risks

So this is where it’s worthwhile pointing out that Forex is definitely not for everyone. For those who are already investing, and are looking at diversification - which is where I was on my journey - OR you want a liquid investment that you can access instantly - it’s brilliant. There are risks that definitely come with Forex because you can lose potentially all of your income. 

My Record Month

This relationship has been huge for me in terms of my own personal growth and this is how I now manage my investments. Pearl Lemon is able to generate cashflow as well as profit on a monthly basis. I take a proportion of that profit and put it into Forex. And so - when I had my record month - netting a return of around £13,400 - I began to realise I could pull some of the profits from Forex also into other vehicles. I’ve currently exchanged and completed on two properties - and the total balance of £90,000 across both of them that comprised the mortgage, lawyer, mortgage broker and other fees such as stamp duty. All came from my forex investment. Fundamentally I’m a small business owner (whose trying to become a big business owner haha) and Forex has become an integral part of my investment strategy. For example - one of the properties I bought is a 3 minute walk from my parents home - and so they take care of the property. My dad took care of all of the costs to renovate which in total cost around £3,500.  This was yesterday: With the money I made yesterday (granted it was a record day) - I’d be able to pay for the renovation fees 2x. This is just one in a series of things Forex has been able to give me in terms of income streams. Right now we’re in the midst of the Coronavirus worldwide crisis - and if your work/business is anything like mine - you’re losing clients in spades. So far we have lost 6 clients (could be 7 by the end of the day), and it’s a really tough time.  I’ve had to let go of two people so far and it may mean I need to let go of a third :( In the midst of all of this of course - I’ve also in the last week made over £10,000. This could well be (and should well be) a new record month for us of maybe over £20,000.  We will see. Ok guys, my time allotted has finished for today :P