Interview with Sylwia Dobosz - Forex trader

We invite you to read the interview with Sylwia Dobosz - a trader, who will be a special guest at the next investor meeting in Warsaw XTB Trading Club.

SYLWIA DOBOSZ - INTERVIEW

At the beginning, please tell me what you invest in and how did your adventure with investments begin?

For the first time I started to invest in investment funds in the years 90. Then,  when there was a boom for them,  I managed quite  earn a lot. But unfortunately my joy did not last too long -  with the appearance  crisis, problems began and one of them was that my capital began to decline dramatically. This is the first time  I realised,  that the investment fund does not work for me. A painful lesson that showed me that I have to take care of my money myself because nobody will do it for me! 
This situation forced me to look for other investment options. At that time, I did not have much choice on the Polish market:  or there were shares or contracts for WIG20.  After some time I realized that the contracts were more to me  they respond rather than shares mainly because of their dynamics. The actions just were too slow for me.
At the beginning I invested on the Polish market, later I switched  on contracts on foreign exchanges. I chose the ones that used to suit my personality. Now, when I look at contracts, I see two types:  those that are dynamic, elemental, pus and copper  and those that I perceive as more calm, i.e. cattle, wheat, oats.
Sometimes I wonder whether to invest  on CFDs, but somehow I still can not decide on them☺ All ahead of me.

And what exactly is the obstacle to trying to invest in CFD contracts?

Mostly, the lack of knowledge. I would have to get used to it  with these instruments and their behavior. The size of the position has a great influence on me as well  ie a security deposit and the method of its counting. The downside is also that I would have to learn another platform, for which I need to devote some time.

However, I can see that CFDs have a big plus - it is possible to buy part of the contract, which means that less capital is managed, and perhaps this would allow me to achieve better parameters of my investment strategy.

In our previous conversations, you mentioned about Maciek Goliński, whose view of the market suits you. Is this the only person who indicated the direction?

Before I started working with Maciek, I tried to act on the stock market myself.  At the beginning I experienced a great investor's emotions: frustration alternated with euphoria. Emotions were so intense that they affected my psyche too much. In addition, I had the impression that I was losing my time and money looking for solutions "blindfolded". I came to the conclusion that I need the help of an experienced trader, someone who knows how to invest. When I was looking for such a person, I found Maciek. I liked his approach and systematization of trading and we started cooperation. During the course of learning, I noticed his very realistic approach to investing, and I particularly liked the matching of the investment model in line with my personality and the time I could spend investing. I  For example, I am great at working on the D1 interval, I am satisfied with the time of doing the analysis and keeping the position in short- and medium-term. I think that adjusting the trading to the personality allows the trader to use his full potential.

How much time do you spend your time investing?

I devote less time to the traditions themselves, I spend a lot more time on reading and learning (which I do not perceive as trading, because it is pure pleasure for me).

Generally, I'm working on 20: 30 when I'm doing an initial analysis then. Then I know if I will have a signal to enter the market or not. If there is a signal, then I do a full analysis on closed markets and if all parameters are consistent with my strategy, I set the pending order. 

If, on the other hand, I see that I have absolutely nothing, 30 minutes later the computer is already closed.

Do you have the impression that you are currently devoting more or less time to that time?

I devote less to trading on myself.  I have specific hours when I operate in the markets, I also have my tools and procedures that I use. This makes trading more disciplined and less emotional. I spend more time on personal development now. For me, the study of trading is closely related to personal development. If I am able to better manage my emotions, then this is better for investing. These two elements form an integral whole.

You say you have your strategy, your plan. Do you always hold on to him or do you ever leave him?

Unfortunately, sometimes it happens to me to move away from the plan, but still my main goal is 100% compliance of the transaction with my plan. To achieve this, I discipline myself in various ways, eg through analysis, exercises. I am also supported by colleagues, with whom we regularly discuss trading topics, such as emotions that accompanied trading or mistakes. If I made a mistake, I am looking for an answer which caused this. Sometimes when submitting a transaction, you may not notice that it was submitted contrary to the assumptions, only after the fact I can see that something was wrong. That's when discussions with friends are useful - thanks to them, I can easily capture errors and immediately implement a recovery plan. As I have already mentioned, my goal is that all of my tracks are consistent with the plan and I am very happy every time I achieve this goal. 

You have experienced different market situations, both successes and failures. Do you still have extreme emotions such as euphoria or frustration?

No not anymore. It seems to me that this is a very big thing that I achieved in my development. Extreme / destructive  I do not have any emotions on the market anymore. There are, of course, moments of discouragement, but thanks to the tools that support me in trade, I am able to manage them. It seems to me that it is still there  the greatest emotional burden is this moment of loss. To reduce his impact on my psyche, I try not to constantly look at the platform and set up the transactions as planned. I had such a situation that I had several lossy transactions in a row. Fate is perverse and gives you the same lessons until you learn them. I talked about it with Maciek, who showed it  I have a different point of view saying:  you only need two profitable transactions to go to zero. For me it was such a fresh look and I actually went to zero. It was enough to change the point of view for positive emotions to appear. I have the impression that negative emotions are the worst thing that affects us, our assessment, perception  and thus on our trading.

Why do you trade? What is cool for you in investing?

At the beginning, it was probably just proving to myself that I can manage my own money, that I'm right. Now it's probably the coolest for me to look for new ideas that reduce emotions in trading. I start to work with a given element, then I transfer it to trading, and if  he works, I have enormous satisfaction then. I feel then rebuilt, I am making the next step in being a good trader, and I think it's the market that trades me the most. I believe that if I am disciplined, I will be better and more tradable, and if I will be better traded I will be more and more effective and I will earn more. I do not want trading to chew on me emotionally, I want it to be something that I do with pleasure and not with duty. Someone recently told me that you have to trade with lightness and I liked it very much.

Do you sometimes take breaks in investing? If so, how long did your longest break last?

Yes, I sometimes take longer breaks, e.g. last year I had a two-month break due to my return to Poland. Does not trade during holidays or difficult emotional situations. Additionally, within a month, I also allow myself the luxury of 1-2 days free from trading for no reason. I've noticed that I have often achieved better results thanks to a break and a reset.

What would you describe as your trading success?

This year I would successfully describe my process of discovering myself as a trader.

My dream, and probably many traders, was that I would not have to work full-time and concentrate only on trading. I realized this dream. But after some time it turned out  that this is not it. What bothered me the most was the famous "loneliness of the trader" - conversations over the phone or skype did not replace interpersonal contacts. In addition, they have come  psychic type loads  I have to earn my living money. 

Concentrating only on trading,  I've also gone through various problems:  overtrading, trading: from boredom,  without a plan, at low intervals, sitting non-stop in front of the computer, etc. I collided with many problems typical for traders.

For me, a really big success was that at some point I was aware of all these problems and I could concentrate on them  and work on them. During this time, I learned more about myself than in the last few years and this has moved on the quality of my trading!

What would you recommend to women who have just started to be interested in this subject?

First of all, I believe that you should use the knowledge and experience of others - there is no point in "breaking open doors" and wasting your time and money and generating a high level of frustration. You have to use experience  other and learn from the best.

I would recommend ladies, then  that they would start to consciously prepare for this trading: they chose the method that suits them and prepared their trading plan. A good place for support are, for example, investment clubs where ladies can exchange information with other traders, ask how others deal with their problems. Ideally, it would also be to have individual support in the form of a tradi- tional colleague / mentor.