5 Top Trades For 2020

With great trading comes great responsibility and a little sacrifice.

It is not something you should take lightly, into your life.

This is a forever business where you can either screw it up or you can make a success from trading.

Before the year is up, I’m going to share with you my 5 top trades, you’ll need to take in order to achieve your trading goals for 2020 starting with…

Trade #1: 
Heavy nights out

Have you ever gone out in the week, downed a couple of beers and shots with your friends and then regretted it the next morning?

The next day, feel groggy, tired and you probably will feel like writing the day off to recover.
As a trader, you have got to be more responsible.

It can take just of those day’s where you miss out on that trade that could’ve taken your portfolio into a positive portfolio territory for the month.

Take this trade.

“I will trade nights out in the week and instead, I will prepare for the next trading day”

Trade #2: 
Netflix and chill

How many hours do you spend on social media and TV? 

3, 4, maybe even 5 hours a day? 

I’m asking you to just cut out just half an hour out of those 5 hours to spend it on trading instead. 

Just take half an hour to back test and forward test your trading strategy on other markets.

You might just find the one extra profitable market, to add onto your watch list which could help you boost your win rate. 

Take this trade.  

“I will trade out, of the time spent on social media and TV, just half an hour a day to focus on trading for my financial future”

Trade #3: 
Revenge trades  

This next one, is quite common for a new trader. 
A trade lines up, the trader follows the rules and gets into the trade as they should. 

Next day, the trade goes against them, taking them out for a loss. 

The new trader then feels that this situation is unacceptable. 

“Nobody takes my money and runs.” 

Without thinking twice, they punch in a couple of buttons on their trading platform, to get into another trade.   

At this point, they want nothing more than to just take revenge and make up for that small trading loss. 

However, this time, he doesn’t follow his strategy and forgets to put in a stop loss.

The result: Another loss is taken, but this time it’s bigger. 

Losing comes with the territory. Your historical track record should tell you that. When you take an impulsive trade, you’re doing two things.  

1. You’re setting a precedent to take impulsive trades for the future. It’s these type of trades, that will cause you to blow your account.  

2. You’re fooling yourself with this present oriented way of thinking. 

So, take this trade…

“I will trade revenge trades and instead, I will step away, get a drink, calm down and I will wait for my next trading signal to kick in.”

Trade #4: 
Listening to others

Look up any trading group on Facebook or on Skype.

You’ll see similar comments such as, 

“I just bought Old Mutual, what price should I get out at?.”

“Dude I would get out of your trade, if I were you.” 

“You must buy Bitcoin now, it’s going to $50,000 this year.” 

I don’t know about you but, I’ve never heard of a trader who’s made a success from listening to a whole lot of random people.  

The only thing you should ever listen to is your historical track record based on your proven trading strategy.  

In fact, I only base my decisions on my 18 year traded and tested MATI Trader System and that’s it!

Everything else is noise that is detrimental to your trading. 

Nobody cares about your money more than you, so make sure you be wary with who you listen to.  

Here’s a trade I want you to take.  

“I will trade listening to random people and instead, I will only listen to my winning trading strategy which tells me when to get in, hold and out of my trade.”

Trade #5: 
Wasting money

Richard Branson said it best at one of the summit’s I attended.  

Here was his analogy. 

“If I’m given R1,000,000, and I spend it on luxuries the money will go. If I invest the money wisely, I’ll have the opportunity to grow it.” 

The same goes with every time you get a pay cheque. Before you spend it on restaurants, gifts and holidays – make sure you invest in yourself first.  

As soon as you get paid, deposit a portion of your money into different investment streams. 

Maybe 5% of your savings can go into trading, while 10% goes into investing. Whatever you can afford to risk, make sure you pay yourself first  

Here’s the trade I want you to take.  

“I will trade spending on unnecessary things and instead, will deposit a portion of the funds into my trading account each month.” 

You can read more ways to save money to trade by downloading my free e-book “27 Ways To Save Money To Trade” by clicking here…

Final Words

These 5 trades, should help you prioritise what it takes to succeed as a trader in 2020 and beyond…

10 Step Checklist To Choose Your Ideal Broker

Are you looking for the right broker in 2020 and beyond but unsure what to look for? With the high competition nowadays, each broker offers different features, instruments and advantages. That’s why choosing one not an easy task for a beginner or even an experienced trader. You’ll need to drill down exactly what suits your trading style, personality and risk profile. I say this because, in the last two decades, I’ve been through a fair share of brokers. So, I know how difficult this decision can be and how it can determine whether you make money or not as a trader. In this article, I’ll share with you an easy-to-follow checklist which you can use to help you choose the right online broker in 2020 and beyond. What a broker is… A broker is a company or institution that gives a trader access to a live trading account and trading platform which enables them to buy, sell and monitor different instruments and assets. Here’s my checklist to find your ideal broker… Checklist item #1: Make sure the broker or dealer is regulated! This is a must… Whenever you sign up with a broker, make sure they are authorised, regulated and recognised by leading regulation authorities. You will most likely find this stated on the company’s website, in the ‘About Us’ or in their ‘Disclaimer’, along with their license number they hold with that regulator. Countries with dedicated financial regulatory agencies include: South Africa (FSB) – Financial Services Board. USA (SEC) – Securities And Exchange Commission         (FINRA) – Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Eurozone (MiFID) – Markets In Financial Instruments Directive UK (FCA) – Financial Conduct Authority Australia  (ASIC) – Australian Securities and Investments Commission India (SEBI) – Securities and Exchange Board of India Japan (JSDA) – Japan Securities Dealers Association Switzerland (FINMA) – Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority When you sign up with a regulated broker, you’ll at least have the security and assurance that they have met certain standards approved by the regulatory body, such as: Having the right capital to protect the clients’ funds Ensure the firm won’t go bust Confirm they have met certain requirements from the financial service provider. Checklist item #2: Check their reviews and testimonials Before you make any decisions, you’ll need to see what others have said and are saying about the broker or the dealer company. You can do this by searching on Google, ‘Hello Peter’, trading forums or go onto their social media pages to read what other unbiased REAL clients have written about them when it comes to reviews, testimonials and ratings. Checklist item #3: Broker minimum requirements There are two minimums to take into account: Minimum balance and minimum deposit per trade. Most brokers require you to start with a certain minimum balance to set up your trading account. Nowadays, with the high competition, you should easily be able to find brokers or dealers who require no more than R1,000 up to R5,000 to open a trading account. If they require any more to open your trading account, just know that there are other brokers out their where you can start with less. As with the minimum deposit to take a trade, you can easily find reputable brokers where the minimum is under R200 per trade. Checklist item #4: Availability: What they can offer you You should have a good idea on what you’d like to trade. This is why before you sign up with the broker, you’ll need to see the availability and range of trading instruments the company has to offer. What assets do you want to trade? Shares, CFDs, Options, Futures, Spread Betting etc... What markets do you want to trade? Stocks, currencies, commodities, indices, bonds, ETFs or crypto-currencies… Where do you want to trade? Via phone, mobile or computer. What times would you like to trade? Morning, noon or night? What gearing and leverage would you like to trade? Whether you’re a Forex trader or a stock trader you’ll need to find out what gearing the broker has to offer. Such as 5:1 – 20:1 (for stocks) and 50:1 up to 200:1 (for Forex). E.g. With gearing (or leverage) of 50:1 this means if you deposit R1,000 into a trade you can hold a position exposed and valued up to R50,000. REMEMBER: the higher the leverage offered, the higher the reward but also the potential risk. Do they offer a demo account or a trial period? You should never rush into trading with real money, before getting to know your broker and your trading platform. That’s why you should ask your broker if they have a demo trading platform or account that you can use to test out what they have to offer with your strategies. Checklist item #5: Do they offer trading education and training? A good and genuine broker should want you to be successful as a trader. And to do this, they should offer you a whole range of free education, training sources and tools such as: Training guides Glossary Trading videos, podcasts, forums Written articles Step-by-step trading tutorials Support staff Opinion-based resources Live trading events and webinars Trading calculators, tools and calendars Checklist item #6: The trading platform itself Majority of your analyses, preparation and the execution of trades are going to take place on the trading platform itself. This is why you’ll need to try it out, test it and learn how to use it, to see if it will suit your trading. Here is a list of items to watch out for with your trading platform: Item #1: Chart types: E.g. Line chart and candle sticks Item #2: Time frame options of: E.g. 1 hour, 4 hour, daily, weekly & monthly Item #3: Trading indicators and oscillators: E.g. RSI, Stochastics, MACD, OBV, ADX, Bollinger Bands etc... Item #4: Real time charts: E.g. Not having to refresh your screen every 15 minutes or download anything unnecessarily. Item #5: Live streaming data: E.g. News feed, live speeches & announcements, and SENS (Stock Exchange News Service). Item #6: Customized watch lists: Make sure there is a functionality to create, modify and monitor a watchlist with the markets you’ll be trading. Item #7: Trading order variety: E.g. Market, buy, sell, limit, stops, trailing stop loss and guaranteed stop losses Item #8: Trading journal: E.g. Portfolio profit & loss summary of open, closed and historical trades. Item #9: Trading order box: Where you’ll place your entry, stop loss, take profit, margin requirements, order quantity, gain potential, risk potential and risk to reward. Item #10: Reliability: When you’re testing the trading platform, this is where you can ensure it’s reliable in a way that: It runs smoothly It saves your layout, charts and profile It doesn’t crash The speed is good The features all work as they should The web-based (java) or desktop application works great The mobile app is easy-to-use and handle NOTE: Some great trading platforms include: MetaTrader 4 & 5, ProTrader, Oanda, IG Markets and TradingView.    Checklist item #7: Customer support It’s important to find out where you can contact your broker, in case you need help due to some technical or trading reason. Which mediums can you contact them through? •    Phone •    Email •    Online live chat •    WhatsApp •    Skype •    Forums Also when you give the representative a call, make sure they sound knowledgeable and confident in what they tell you. Think about how they respond to your questions, how quickly do they solve your queries, are they friendly and approachable? The contact support will also confirm their quality, efficiency, reliability and credibility for what the company already portrays and offers. Checklist item #8: Costs and fees You will never be able to avoid costs and fees completely, but you can minimize them by choosing the right broker. You’ll need to do a bit of research to compare the costs of buying, selling and holding trades. Make sure you look at the following: Spreads (Fixed or variable) Note: The spreads should be low for high volume traded markets Commissions (When you enter and when you exit) Margin interest Service charges Minimum charge per trade e.g. R100 Checklist item #9: Ease of deposits and withdrawals This is an important one… Each broker or dealer has their own measures and policies when it comes to their clients depositing into their trading accounts or withdrawing back into their bank accounts. Ask your broker how you can make a deposit whether it be via: EFT Credit Card PayPal Wire transfer Then confirm with your broker to send you their policies and costs on how you can withdraw your money and how long it will take whether it be: Via email to ask for a withdraw which will take under 3 trading days. Via the trading platform where you can withdraw through an authentication process. Via the broker who can only proceed with a withdrawal on the phone which will take three working days. Note: A withdrawal and deposit with a reputable and regulated broker should NEVER take more than three working days or warning bells should ring. Checklist item #10: Safety, security and legitimacy   There are a few ways to check if the broker is safe and secure including: Their website starts with HTTPS: and not HTTP: They are insured and deal with top banks around the world. They have secured encryption processes. They have proven to show growth for their clients over the last five years. They have won broker awards or are listed in the top brokers in the country you’re looking at. Final words… You now have an idea on how to find the most ideal broker for you. Take your time to do the research and go through each line item one by one. Never rush into choosing a broker as this can be a significant decision for your financial future.