BusinessWings: In your marketing for free Knowledge to Action seminars you claim to have made £19,000 in four minutes – how did that happen?
Greg Secker: The key is to really know the markets that you’re trading on and to anticipate how they’re going to behave. Obviously this isn’t an exact science and your predictions won’t always pan out, but if you are able to recognise certain indicators and trends you’ll find that your trades start to become more successful.
For example, in the video which shows me making 19,000 in four minutes, you can see that initially my trade started to rise and I began making money. After a while however, it bounced and the value began to fall.
As I had anticipated this bounce, I knew that the best option would be to ride it out and wait for the points to rise once again. As I had predicted, the value went up once more and I was able to close the trade on £19,000.
Obviously this is great if it goes to plan, but sometimes unsuspected dips can take even the best traders by surprise. In this situation the important thing to remember is: don’t panic!
It got to a point where I had people staying over throughout the week so that come 5am we could hit the markets!
When people get scared by unexpected downturns, they tend to make rash decisions and that’s when they really start to lose money. If something unplanned does happen, try to have confidence in your initial assessment, stay calm, and most importantly, think through your options before you do anything rash.
BW: You ‘retired’ at 27 – what made you set up Knowledge to Action rather than travel the world?
GS: I actually set up Knowledge to Action almost by chance. When I left Mellon Financial Corporation I didn’t really have any concrete plans to start my own company.
For the first three months I started trading from my living room floor, gradually getting more of my friends and family interested in what I was doing and how I was doing it. It got to a point where I had people staying over throughout the week so that come 5am we could hit the markets!
I loved teaching my friends about the markets, but I found that a lot of people felt that trading was inaccessible to them. I decided that I wanted to continue helping people to learn how to become successful traders, and that I would do my bit to demystify the trading profession – and so, Knowledge to Action was born.
BW: Can you outline the attractions and risks of being a financial trader, and the type of person the role suits?
GS: The obvious attraction of trading is the chance to make money and the rush of adrenaline that goes with it. This is often what causes the risk: when people get carried away with their trades and don’t stop to consider the wisdom of what they’re doing – that’s when they start to lose money.
Whilst anyone can learn how to trade successfully if they put their mind to it, the ideal personality type is someone who keeps calm under pressure and is able to listen to advice and instructions. They also need to have a degree of common sense and the initiative to act on their own to get things done.
BW: What do people get out of your seminars?
GS: The seminars are open to people with all levels of trading experience, but for those who have never traded before, our seminars offer an introduction to the rules and concepts of trading, as well as providing people a working knowledge of the top strategies used in trading.
BW: How have seminar attendees fared afterwards?
GS: We’ve had some great success stories from our traders, and they’ve all been from a range of backgrounds – proving that you needn’t have worked in the City to be a great trader.
Those who are really committed to trading obviously perform well, and we’ve even seen some people retire from their jobs completely in order to focus on trading full-time.
BW: Please tell us about the Knowledge to Action Foundation...
GS: I started the Knowledge to Action Foundation in 2011 as a not-for-profit organisation aimed at improving the quality of life for children around the world.
The Knowledge to Action Foundation holds various events which actively support Barnardo’s and The Ubuntu Education Fund, a charity which provides health and educational resources to over 40,000 orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa. My girlfriend, Katherine, actually heads the advisory board in London for Ubuntu, so she has been involved in the charity for a long time.
We also look to promote education, life skills and youth leadership initiatives. In October we are holding our first Youth Leadership Summit – a five-day event for 14-17 year olds which will focus on key personal development techniques, helping them to work towards a successful future.
