BRIDGING TO THE TRILLIONS MARKET

A beginner’s guide to the fast-paced world of currency trading.

More than $3 trillion changes hands each day in foreign exchange markets, and Abang, in this debut guide, tells how he figured out how to snatch a piece of it. As a career entrepreneur who’s swapped currencies for more than 12 years, he outlines a trading system based on well-established technical indicators. Using straightforward language and easy-to-follow sample charts, he demystifies terms such as “pips” and “spreads” in a brisk introduction to “forex” fundamentals. That’s not to say that he promises readers that they’ll be able to spin straw into gold; he cautions that currency speculation is a risky venture that requires more than just the ability to spot price trends. He also argues that psychological and behavioral factors separate those who reap profits from those who are perennially in the red. The market doesn’t doom traders, he says—traders doom themselves. Abang learned this lesson the hard way after losing money as a novice, and now he seeks to help others avoid common pitfalls. He addresses often ignored subjects such as trading addiction, desperation trading and work-life balance. His central message is that traders must first adopt a proper mental attitude: “[K]nowing your strengths and limitations and fine tuning your emotions and habits to the demands of the job are what will make you a successful trader,” he says. The text’s practical component includes a step-by-step explanation of how to identify buy and sell points by using price tools such as moving averages and convergence/divergence crossovers. The techniques themselves aren’t new, but combined with Abang’s psychological insights, the book is a suitable starting point for newcomers. Because currency trading relies on high amounts of leverage, the book could have devoted more space to sound money management. Still, at fewer than 100 pages, it’s remarkably well-rounded. Most importantly, it confronts the two demons that haunt the brain of every trader: fear and greed.

A slender but information-packed primer for those daring enough to enter the world’s largest financial market.