FXOpen has recently announced the results of the Forex Article Contest-3 held in February 2014. The contest organizers were happy to discover new talented traders with both a profound knowledge of the FX market mechanisms and the ability to describe them in an engaging way.

In total, 7 authors of the most interesting articles were awarded money prizes. An article by Marcin Nowogórski won the 1^st prize. FXOpen team has contacted Marcin to ask him a few questions regarding his impressions of the contest and his personal experience in the Forex market in general.

FXOpen: “Could you tell us a few words about yourself?”

Winner: “I am a 28 year old guy from Poland who has family and struggle to make for a living. I work as a Business Analyst for the software company with connections to financial industry and I also do some part time job for the biggest Polish Forex Portal. I'm very focused on self-improvement and my goal is to hook up in the FX industry for the full time.”

FXOpen: “Participation in the Forex Article Contest does not require trading actively in the market. You just have to be well-informed of its mechanisms and be skilled enough to tell about them correctly. Are you an active trader or more of a casual observer?”

Winner: “I started my adventure with Forex almost 3 years ago and then I wanted so much to make day-trading my profession. After 2 years of trying, learning and failing I gave up and changed my approach. I found a job as close as possible to the financial industry to be near the market. Despite having a job, yes, I am still an active trader.”

FXOpen: “Can you explain the choice of your article topic?”

Winner: “I read about Forex a lot. I read forums, articles, blogs and I am tired of the same articles and same talks in style of "whatever number of reasons why you fail" or "golden, super, grail, holy system", etc. The Internet is flooded with this, and I wanted to come up with something fresh, what can't be found easily in the Internet. Over the years of Forex trading I've found lots of decent information, so I focused on picking something up from this pool. Soon I realized that I'd like to write about a couple of useful, related things. And so it is: "Few facts that can do something for you" ;-)”

FXOpen: “Could you please describe your “way in Forex”, i.e. how you started trading, developed your trading strategy, made your first profitable trade?”

Winner: “I've started probably as many traders do. My colleague introduced me to Forex saying, that I could probably make some money there. After a short period of trading in demo accounts I decided to go on with real money. Generally, my way was long and painful. I've lost many times – luckily I deposited small accounts. Each time it forced me to improve and seek for knowledge. Thanks to my appetite for wisdom I've met many valuable traders to share knowledge, experience and mutual support. Personal relations from that time are priceless to me, and crucial for my further development.

Actually, I hardly remember my first trades and profits. The thing I recall pretty often is something that happened after the first two months of my FX adventure – it was summer 2011. I was trading in a real account having +100% score then, and I left opened positions for the weekend. It happened to be THE weekend when Fitch downgraded the US credit rating from AAA. I was shocked when I saw my account totally blown up on Monday morning. The funniest thing is that a couple of days later the market reached my target point without me. This particular event taught me several important lessons.”

FXOpen: “Have you made any significant progress trading with a ‘live’ account?”

Winner: “If not losing is a progress, then yes. I have very little profit during the whole 2013 but when I took fees under considerations then I realized that I had to make healthy profits to cover them up ;-). Actually I have made great progress dealing with my emotions and controlling the risk I take. I’ve had very tough time to realize that I won't make lots of money in a reasonable time trading with small initial deposit. Who wouldn't want that? ;-)”

FXOpen: “What is Forex trading for you – your main source of income, or more of a hobby that provides you with some extra money?

Winner: “I wish it would be my main source of income, but it's not. It's rather a passion that sometimes gives extra money… and sometimes takes. ;-)”

FXOpen: “How did you learn about the Forex Article Contest? What made you take part in it?”

Winner: “My colleague has an account at your firm and he told me about FXOpen. I was surprised, that I haven't ever heard about you so I made some research and among other things I've found information about the contest. I took part because I like such contests where several prizes are offered instead of one big prize. It increases your chances to get 'any' reward and makes it worth your effort. Also it's more fun when many people can win and not only "the king."

FXOpen: “Have you ever taken part in other Forex contests? If so, please, tell us a few words about them.”

Winner: “Actually I had this time when I tried my luck in a few competitions. But what I don't like in trading contests is that you have to bare an extreme risk otherwise you don't stand a chance. For me such "shot and pray" games weren’t really interesting. As I said, I'm focused on minimizing risk and having stable returns based on wise decisions made repeatedly. One of my last trading contests was Crosstrade Championship in Poland in 2013 where I won a minor prize – there were something about 20 prizes for different categories.”

FXOpen: “What distinguishes our Forex Article Contest from other competitions in your opinion? What would you change or improve?”

Winner: “I think the idea of the Forex Article Contest is very good. It is very social – make people share their knowledge. I don't see any exact con. I think I would recommend changing images on your Facebook publications. They are all pretty same. It would be nice to make them individual, at least for the users’ content.”

FXOpen: “Did you watch your competitors and voting results unfolding?”

Winner: “Yes, I did look from time to time. There were a few good articles with good potential to be popular.”

FXOpen: “Was your victory a dream come true? Or were you sure of your success from the beginning?”

Winner: “Close to the end I was hoping for 2nd or 3rd place. But the 1st place was a huge surprise for me.”

FXOpen: “What did you feel when the contest was over and you won in the “Forex Theory” category? What became the biggest reward for you – the prestigious winner’s title, or the US$400 prize?”

Winner: “I was very happy and I took my wife to a festive dinner to celebrate. I feel joy that my work and my knowledge have both been appreciated. Money isn’t the most important but I’ll find a good way to use it.”  

FXOpen: “You also won in the “People’s Choice Award” category. Did you expect to win twice at a single competition?”

Winner: “Hah, so much happiness! No, I didn't expect this one. There were two articles that get so many Facebook shares in the last few days…”

FXOpen: “There will be another round of the Forex Article Contest in the near future. Are you going to participate again?”

Winner: “Definitely. I just need to think of something interesting for a new article.”

FXOpen: “Not everyone feels enthusiastic about such Forex competitions for various reasons, and yet you were not discouraged and decided to try. As we see, your efforts and optimism were rewarded. Can you share any secrets of writing the contest article? What was the most important thing during the preparation?”     

Winner: “You know what? I have written this article during my 12 hour transfer at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport while waiting for my second flight. Of course I gave it proper check later but the main idea and everything were born there. The 12 hours I was about to lose on just sitting there, turned to be the greatest investment. It's like you need to take that time you waste and look for opportunities that you can catch.”

FXOpen: “What would be your advice to all those who did not believe in their success and stayed aside?”

Winner: “Don't you ever stay aside. Find out what you want and how to do it, and then give it a shot. Of course, you won't succeed every time, but sitting and waiting won't lead you anywhere. I often think that, if I'd known from the beginning what I’d have to go through these 3 years of my Forex trading, most likely I wouldn't have even decided to start it. That would have been probably the biggest mistake of my entire life.”

FXOpen would like to thank all the participants of the February Forex Article Contest and invites everyone to join the next rounds of the competition.

This article represents the opinion of the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand only. It is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation with respect to products and services provided by the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand, nor is it to be considered financial advice.