Work Life: My Journey Into Trading for a Living

If you’ve ever wondered what the world of Foreign Exchange (Forex) Trading can offer you, here Rory McCann, a former miner shares his story about learning to trade the currency markets.

My trading journey began in March, 2013 whilst at home on R&R.  At the time I was working as a leading hand on the MCJV QGC export pipeline.  I was based in camps from Chinchilla to Gladstone working a FIFO roster of 28 and 9.

Rory McCann

On that break I attended a two day Foreign Exchange Trading Workshop with Learn to Trade, held at their live trading floor in North Sydney. I did not have much knowledge of Forex, nor the extraordinary size of the market – $US5 trillion traded daily! I knew this was what I had been looking for- endless opportunities for an additional income stream that I could access anytime, anywhere.

When I started trading, I became over-excited and made lots of mistakes.  I saw the AUD/USD shoot up and placed a trade that had potential to make huge cash returns – but I didn’t stick to the strict risk management techniques I’d been taught at the course, and lost my entire stake instead.

Since then I’ve learnt I have to be disciplined, follow the risk management rules and a trading strategy that works for me.  This year I was invited to the launch of a new charting software package, SmartCharts. This innovative software has turned trading on its head for me. I previously spent pain-staking hours looking over possible trade set-ups and there was always room for calculation errors and missed opportunities. Now, I simply nominate the top ‘flashing choices’ that have shown all the right signals for being potentially good trades, I check the sets ups are indeed good and then take the trade by hitting the BUY or SELL signal suggested.  These are entry, exit and stop-loss levels that I can double check and of course adjust later as the trade unfolds within the risk and strategy rules I’ve learnt.  Then I sit back and wait for pending orders to trigger! My profits took off straight away and I was able to take twice as many trades and double the profit!  Of course I have wins and losses but with the right strategies and especially trading risk discipline it’s been working well for me.

Now, only two years into my FX trading journey I have been lucky enough to leave my job and focus on becoming a ‘full-time trader’.   I aim be at my screen trading for about 10 hours per week. I am also working alongside Learn to Trade to reach-out to other miners who may also be looking for an interesting new money making skill.  My lifestyle now allows more time to do the things I enjoy, spending time with my family and reaping the benefits of working from home.

For anyone looking to try their hand at currency trading or simply looking for a secondary income now is a great time to start!  The volatility of the market is increasing and accessible tools like SmartCharts enable every day people to find and exploit those trading opportunities.

Living the good life, Rory McCann.

If you’re in interested in learning to trade currencies using risk management techniques, get in touch with Learn to Trade today for a FREE 2 hour on-site introductory workshop.