Charting Success: How the Pros Navigate Risk and Build Smarter Trade Positions

Day trades comprise a large and increasing proportion of trading volumes. In January this year, stocks and ETF trading orders from retail investors accounted for 23% of the market’s total volume, above the previous high of 21% reached during 2021’s “meme mania.”

Participation is rising yet quality education is hard to find. That’s why multi-asset broker Exness has launched Exness Team Pro, an initiative which will inspire and motivate new traders to fulfil their true potential, via success stories and tested strategies. Day trading and swing trading are two common ways for traders to access the market. Both strategies can be powerful tools for diversification and capital growth within portfolios. While day traders may buy and sell several stocks in a single day, swing traders make moves over a longer time frame, usually from a few days to a few weeks.

Test different strategies

A flexible market approach is key, says Nicolás Palacios, one of Exness Team Pro’s expert traders. He’s found that a combination of day trading and swing trading has given him the best total returns. Palacios is particularly interested in “the science and psychology behind trading,” and how overcoming psychological barriers is one of the first things new traders need to get right.

In the four years since he began trading professionally, Palacios has road-tested many different strategies. He uses fundamental analysis to generate trading ideas, and technical analysis to see price trends, and leverages his analytical mindset, emotional control and deep market knowledge to achieve success in the markets. He has specialized in trading gold, Tesla shares and Bitcoin.

“I need volatility insight”

Team member Momen Medhat attributes his winning formula to using a diverse range of indicators to gain a comprehensive understanding of the assets he trades. His preferred indicator is ATR (average true range). “Unlike other indicators, which focus on price direction or momentum, the ATR provides insight into the volatility of price movement range,” he explains.

Medhat built his trading acumen slowly, immersing himself in educational resources until he felt confident to start trading small positions. Over time, his consistency and profitability increased. Now a full-time trader, he specializes in forex, and he mentors beginners to help them gain the knowledge and skills to succeed.

“Knowledge is your best defense”

Trading isn’t just about achieving financial gains. For Team Pro’s Mohsin Sher, trading has helped him find happiness and fulfillment. “Trading has completely transformed my life,” he says, adding that he now creates online content to help others learn.

Sher has experience trading cryptocurrencies, which come with a unique set of risks. He advises diversifying crypto assets to spread risk, and investing the time to understand the market and its technology. Keeping up with current events is also valuable.

“Knowledge is your best defense,” he says. He uses stop-loss orders to limit potential losses during sudden price drops, which are common with highly volatile cryptocurrencies. He emphasizes that position sizing is important, as you don’t want to invest more than you can afford to lose, and also the importance of choosing a reputable and established exchange to reduce the risk of fraud or hacks.

All the Team Pro traders have their own areas of interest and trading specialties, and individual approaches to risk. Sher’s specialties are forex and commodities, and he uses price action, relative strength index (RSI), moving averages and Fibonacci retracements to analyze trades. He argues that every well-rounded portfolio should include metals for their diversification benefits and protection against market volatility. “Metals, especially precious metals like gold and silver, tend to perform well during economic uncertainties. They often act as a hedge against inflation and currency fluctuations,” he says.

“I’m self-taught … it was costly”

Team Pro’s Dennis Okari didn’t have a mentor to learn from, so he taught himself everything he knows in his eight years as a trader, following a 20-year journalism career. Some of those lessons were costly. “So far, it’s been a rollercoaster ride filled with ups and downs, and some valuable or, rather, expensive lessons. I overcame the challenge of a lack of mentorship by teaching myself a technique that works well for me,” he says.

“But, before that, I dealt with scammers, tested different strategies, discovered the importance of trading discipline and more. Now, I trade with consistency in a style that suits me and my followers,” says Okari. A versatile trader, he shifts between day trading and swing trading, and focuses on trading major currency pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/JPY and USD/JPY.

Don’t “go big or go home”

Kojo is unusual among the team in that he doesn’t have a go-to technical indicator that drives his trades. “I subscribe to full price action trading using just trendlines and candlestick patterns,” he says. A swing trader in the forex market, he holds his trades for anywhere between two days and one month.

Kojo, from Ghana, describes his trading journey as going from “rags to riches.” He took a professional course in stock trading from the Ghana Stock Exchange, and studied and experimented to learn the ropes.

Trading has enabled him to build a strong financial foundation despite his humble financial background. He has also built up his professional profile. “I have already attained the reputation as a disciplined, talented and influential trader at the retail level in the African region,” he says.

Kojo admits that he made mistakes along the way, and learned the importance of discipline in managing risk. He advises beginner traders to avoid making sudden decisions to “go big or go home.”

“I blew a few accounts,” he recalls. “I had to go back to my basic learning around investment returns and compounding to remove impulsive behavior.” Looking to the future, Kojo aspires to achieve much more, and his dream is to establish a hedge fund in his home nation.

Risk Warning
General Risk Warning: This is not investment advice. Exness services relate to complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.