Let's adventure with the market's sage! The Unbeatable Jungle Cruise [Episode 1] Mr. Hayato Igarashi, known as the Garake Trader

[Episode 1]

Hayato Igarashi, known as the Garake Trader

- A man who challenges a massive market with a feature phone

In an age dominated by high-frequency trading, algorithms, and AI, there exists a man who faces and continually defeats the giants of such markets using only a feature phone.

"The Garake Trader," Hayato Igarashi (hereafter called Garake). As his name suggests, he loves feature phones and still conducts the majority of his trades on a Garake, making him a highly distinctive trader.

Together with his unique investment style and his striking masked appearance, he is frequently covered by various media.

Moreover, as a part-time trader, his investment style is highly versatile, spanning from scalping, day trading, and swing trading to mid- and long-term trades.

- He was interested, but couldn't win even at games

When asked what sparked him to start investing, he replied playfully, "Of course I want money! I want to grow my money!" but in truth his passion is anything but ordinary.

"My best friend worked at Nomura Securities, and learning FX from him was my turning point. I was already interested in stocks and even played stock games on the Nintendo DS, but I wasn't winning at all... So I talked it over with my friend."

Hearing his friend's story, I quickly got hooked on FX. I even started dropping by my friend's house on weekends.

"I think it was really annoying for him. It was almost one-on-one tutoring, grabbing and probing into every detail. Since then, he has been my teacher, and I've greedily absorbed knowledge."

- Entered at an all-time high, defying mentor's orders

Thus, Garake studied FX diligently, but his mentor had told him not to trade until he possessed basic skills. So he continued to accumulate knowledge via demo trading, but temptation got the better of him…

"I took a position myself while my mentor was on his honeymoon. In May 2008, around 103.76. I entered at an all-time high and then it dropped to about 102, and I went pale."

- Realizing I was a total amateur

That was Garake's first foray into such a staggering position, but…

"Carrying unrealized losses, I couldn't move at all. So I swallowed my pride and consulted my mentor, who gave me proper advice, and I ended up with a profit of 550,000 yen. But at that time I realized I was still a total amateur." Since then, with such bitter experiences as fuel, Garake continued to learn FX.

- Develops his own investment method

In addition to the methods taught by his mentor, Garake also develops his own investment methods.

"Back then, whenever I had something I didn't understand, I called the center. One day, while looking at a securities company screen, I saw that today's nakane (mid-rate) deficit numbers were in hundreds, and on the 50th day there were hundreds more deficits, which made me curious. After asking around at several securities companies, I learned that when deficit numbers are high, there is a dollar shortage, causing dollar buying and yen selling. I thought this could be used, so I started researching the pattern and began the 'Nakane Trade'. For anyone starting FX, you should use the securities company's call centers to the fullest. I used them as everyday conversation partners!

Primarily, he invests in high-yield currencies for the medium to long term, and now also invests in stocks and real estate. The fact that he is succeeding in these investments may be due to his proactive information gathering and insatiable curiosity.

INTERVIEWER

Mossan

After working as an editor for a certain automotive magazine, in November 2017 he joined GoGoJyan Co., Ltd. (Media Sales Department). He resonates with the corporate philosophy "Wisdom of investors for everyone," and is working hard to realize it.

He harbors the ambition to achieve financial freedom by interviewing outstanding investors and system developers.