The industry I came from was mortgage finance. Having spent 18 years in the mortgage industry, I saw its growth from a conservative and stodgy business into a phenomenal business opportunity. One of the core competencies of the mortgage industry as a whole was the abundance of great trainers. This leads me to more questions than answers.
One, where are the trainers for the foreign currency industry?
Two, is there an organization that fosters, mentors, and trains the future leaders of the retail spot market Forex community?
Three, if there were a company designed and founded to make the training of these future leaders a part of its core business, what that company look like?
The foreign currency retail spot market trading industry was until recently was relatively unregulated.When your author was first introduced to the Forex business, there were few regulations on who could train, trade, and most incredibly, trade the money of others. Thanks to a Farm bill becoming law in September 2008, the world of Forex spot market trading by individual investors is far more regulated that before. The Forex dealers where individuals and companies open their accounts and make trades is far more regulated than before. The Introducing Broker, who doesn't take possession of money or make trades for their referred traders to a dealer has to now be a legitimate business with financials, audited financials, a Series 30 broker on staff and considerable research into the Principals of the organization. All this serves to lay a foundation on which a real company could begin to form to organize a plan to train future instructors and leaders.
There were several organizations that served to train mortgage professionals during the time I spent in the mortgage industry.The associations were active and mortgage trainers were in abundance. The mortgage training industry was more that a cottage industry in size with different companies specializing in different areas. Sales, compliance, operations, marketing, government guidelines, and secondary marketing were all industry training topics that entire companies built their businesses around. A similar model could be built in the Forex market. The individual investor may have interest first, in just the basics. Babypips.com is the closest thing I have seen to effective, high grade, professional but basic training meant to reach a mass audience. As to the use of EA's, expert advisers, mechanical trading systems, trading methods, systems, software, and so on, there are few, very few, real options for the individual or corporate investor desiring a real training on what to do to succeed in the Forex market.
A company or two could step up and capture legitimate market share with some thoughtful strategic implementation of a plan to meet the needs of an investing public. Larger Forex Dealers or FCM's can't seem to do this for fear of violating certain regs that have them tied up. Investment advisers know nothing of the industry to speak of. What is a person to do?
A great training company equips leaders. It instructs its students, not on get rich quick schemes, but real tangible ways to empower students and learners to become success stories.The Forex training success story, if one is to come, will be built on the success of the students that pay the trainer or provider of the training. The company may have a global network of support. The company may end up piggy backing on the platform of an online education system that is already in place. The company will undoubtedly be a social media friendly company with an understanding that it takes a local presence to really train someone to succeed in the Forex trading market place. This company should have a strong team of trainers who aren't afraid to share the real risk of the Forex market place and therefore end up providing risk management strategies that lead to real success stories in the industry.
At this point, I can name perhaps two companies that truly train people to succeed in trading the foreign currency market. Both of those companies are years in the making and share as much about the mindset of a successful trader as they do the techniques and systems used by that trader. In other words, they know success in business, trading, and life are indeed interconnected. These two companies are likely on the verge of something significant. I would like to think my company is as well but only time will tell.
In the meantime, it should be the goal of all of us in the foreign currency spot market business to reach out to others. We should share the potential of this market, and remember, that only if an individual's account stays open long enough for them to make marginal gains until they can truly thrive will we have an industry with a true future.