Why FX? Things I wanted to consider before searching for methods

When I was doing FX, I was always thinking about "how can I win?"

Which method is good?

Which timeframe is best?

Where should I enter?

How should I cut losses?

What should I improve to be stable?

But after I stopped FX, I started to feel that there were questions I should have considered even earlier.

"Why FX in the first place?"

That is the question.

I didn't necessarily like FX itself

Looking back,

I didn't particularly love the foreign exchange itself.

I didn't want to study the global economy.

I didn't want to make chart watching my life’s work.

The purpose was simpler than that.

I wanted to earn money.

If possible, I wanted to earn income without being bound by place or time, with my own ability.

FX looked attractive as a way to do that.

FX looked very rational

FX has parts that look attractive.

If you have a computer, you can do it.

You don't need large facilities.

You don't have to hire people.

You don't have to make products.

You don't have to look for customers.

You look at the market,

and decide whether to buy or sell.

If your judgment is correct, you make a profit.

It seems very simple.

So I spent time thinking about

"how to win in FX."

But,

"why choose FX as a way to earn money"

I hardly compared.

If the goal is money, originally you should have compared the "methods"

If the goal is,

"to master FX"

then continuing FX would be straightforward.

But my goal was,

to earn money

If so, originally,

before comparing FX methods with each other,

maybe I should have compared the methods of earning money itself

instead of FX methods.

In addition to FX,

work for a company.

learn a professional skill.

help someone’s work.

write documents.

make goods or services.

do business.

There are various ways.

Of course, none of them are easy.

It isn’t a guarantee that you’ll succeed by quitting FX and getting a job.

There is a possibility of failing in other things as well.

However, I think there was room for comparison.

"FX can be completed by oneself" was attractive

One of the reasons I was drawn to FX was

that one could complete it alone

I didn’t have to look for clients.

I didn’t have to market to people.

I didn’t have to bow to anyone.

In the market, I could test only my own judgments.

This was quite appealing.

But later I realized

there is a downside to that charm as well.

If you deal with people through work,

you might develop the ability to explain things.

you might develop the ability to understand others' needs.

you might gain experience in collaborating with someone.

you might build trust and relationships.

In FX, you can avoid those hassles more easily.

But at the same time,

you might be avoiding part of what you could gain from work

as well.

A method without hassles comes with another cost

If you dislike dealing with clients,

a way to earn money without clients looks attractive.

If you hate the company,

a method you can do alone appears attractive.

But,

if you choose a method just because you want to stay away from the unpleasant things,

you may end up not really wanting that method itself.

For me,

I didn’t love FX so much as

I saw FX as a way to escape another kind of suffering

instead.

"Before winning, ask 'why am I doing this?'

Back then,

I compared methods a lot.

Is this approach good?

Is that approach good?

Scalping?

Day trading?

Under other conditions?

But now, before the method, I compare

"where to spend that time"

instead.

Why FX?

Would you want to use that time to do it even so?

If you didn’t win, could you still feel meaning in that time?

If you had this question first,

the way you use five years might have been a bit different.

What remains when things don’t go well

Now, when I spend time on something,

not only when it succeeds,

what remains if it fails

I consider as well.

The skills remain.

Experiences remain.

Connections with people remain.

What you created remains.

Track records remain.

Of course, nothing you do will necessarily leave something behind.

But,

"even if it doesn’t go well, is there something you can take with you next time?"

is a criterion for where to spend time, I think.

I’m not trying to deny FX

Here,

I’m not saying, "FX has no meaning."

Some people love the market itself.

Some enjoy analyzing things.

Some trade while understanding the risks.

To those people,

I don’t intend to say, "there is no reason to do it."

What I’m considering is

when you don’t love FX itself, but you search for a winning method for years just to earn money

Then, I think it’s okay to reverse the order once.

Not, "how can I win in FX"

but

"why do you want to earn money with FX"

to think from there.

If the purpose is clear,

FX no longer becomes the only option.

Think about your time before the method

For five years,

I kept thinking, "which method will win?"

Now, before that, I ask this.

Do you want to spend your time on this method?

What do you gain if it works?

What remains if it doesn’t?

do you truly want what you want to obtain, that FX is the only way to get it?

"Why FX"

It’s okay if you can’t answer the question.

But,

before you start looking for a method, consider it just once.

Even that might change the way you use your time a little.