LeapRate caught up Rahul Ghosh this weekend, a multiple time winner of the Dukascopy Trade Leader Competition. Rahul is a self directed trader and fund manager, his recent accomplishments consist of winning the Dukascopy Trader Contest four times (June 2011, July 2011, September 2011, September 2014) where no one else has won more than once. Furthermore, he is number one (out of 5000+ traders) in PnL and pips on the Dukascopy Contest over the contest history. For his efforts Rahul was flown to Geneva for a Dukascopy Monthly Forex Event.
He set the record for most equity within a given month at $1,650,986 and also the record for most pips within a given month at +6623 (both September 2011). He is now focused on his proprietary strategy in which he aims to average a whopping 15% per month. Rahul is an interesting guy with a high IQ to power his trading, he skipped 5 grades and is the youngest UCLA grad with a B.S. in Biochemistry. Check out some of his thoughts below which should be interesting to any aspiring or current trader.
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Rahul finished in the top 1% in PnL during 2014 on the Dukascopy Contest
How did you first become interested in forex trading?
I became interested in markets from the age of 9. I first started demo FX trading during my second year of college at the age of 15. Since then was when I started calculating compounding interest and I realized the power of it.
How would you describe your trading style or system?
I trade against retail positioning. I have special methods in risk control and leveraging to maximize returns relative to risk.
Were you always profitable trading this way?
Yes. But I lost a lot of money at the start. However, I have absolutely no regrets of my losses as it made me a better trader.
Did you prepare yourself for actively trading by learning from someone else or reading any books?
I read many books and actively traded. I would say the best way to learn is to a trade a live account and go broke.
Do you talk to or learn from anyone else about trading?
Initially I did learn from some people on the forums. However, I should note most people on forums aren’t that good of teachers or traders.
Could you describe your trading day at this time?
I monitor positions on an hourly basis during London trading hours. I constantly change my positioning based on my models and size based on account equity.
Do you manage any investor account or trade your own money?
I trade both my own money and investor money.
How did you get involved with trading on Dukascopy?
I saw they had a contest and decided to enroll in it. I traded with Dukascopy for two years beforehand.
And can you describe your experience to become #1 on Dukascopy trading competition?
It was very tough. But I knew that I could do it and did it. I got to the position of #1 not just once but 4 times. More than any other person.
Do you have a publicly available track record?
Yes. You may view Myfxbook which is the only account I have that can be connected to the public.
What is your attitude towards drawdowns and managing your way out?
I am open to drawdowns. For my main system I have up to 80% drawdowns. I think drawdown tolerance should be higher for retail traders to make more money over the long run. Good investments have large drawdowns. Take AAPL for instance. It has gone up 100 fold over the last 15 years but has seen 80% drawdowns.
How do you see your trading career progressing and do you see yourself sticking solely with FX?
I plan on sticking just to FX for the next decade. Within the next few years I plan on starting a hedge fund.
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To follow Rahul, check out his website and view his latest Myfxbook system here.