Interview with Bogdan – Five Years In the Making Series
ThatSucks.com (former BinaryOptionsThatSuck.com) celebrates 5 years in the making with 5 interviews you must read!
Q: So, you’ve been with us for almost 5 years now and you’ve been an important part of BOTS’ “rise to fame”. Tell us about your personal experience of being part of this project.
A: Man, when I became a part of this project, I never thought that I’d still be part of it 5 years down the line. The website was pretty small back then and I figured I’d write a few educational articles maybe a strategy or two and that’s it. Fortunately I found here a tightknit group of people who know how to do their jobs and I was able to help grow the website. To be honest, BOTS now is kinda like my nephew – I can’t say “son” because you’re its dad, obviously ;)
Q: You’ve been on the BOTS Forum since its very inception. Give us your opinion on its evolution.
A: When you told me you want to build a binary options forum I thought it was a great idea, but I wondered how other traders will see it and I remember the early days when we – the BOTS team – were the only forum members. Yea, it was tough in the beginning, but it’s amazing to see how big it has grown. Of course, I don’t have exact numbers but everyday new members join and the range of topics discussed is huge. I believe that now a guy who is totally new to binary options can come on our forum and have almost any question answered. If it’s not already answered, he will surely get an answer from one of us. The evolution has been a constant flourish and I believe it can only go higher from here.
Q: Being on the scam watch in the binary options business is a tedious job. What keeps you going in this never ending battle, where every day a new guru discloses the secrets of everlasting wealth for just $99.99?
A: Ah, the scam part of binary options is the worst. I’ve been scammed before (not in binary options) and I know the feeling… it’s gut-wrenching. Since that day I made a promise to myself to keep my eyes open at all times. Also, if I can help others avoid getting scammed, I will. Anyway, it’s tough because sometimes I feel people don’t listen and the same scam works over and over again. Think about robots/autotraders: one comes out, promising the world, then it’s proven a scam, then another one comes (with the same characteristics) and people still fall for it. Then another, then another. I mean how many times can you get fooled by one trick?
Q: How did you first come in contact with trading?
A: I believe it was about 10 years ago, by accident (I clicked on a Forex ad), but I didn’t follow through. A few years later I clicked on another ad and decided to invest some money which I lost in a heartbeat lol. Hopefully it wasn’t much. Then I decided that if I want to do this, I have to take my time and learn so I took the long and hard path: for a few months I didn’t even touch a live account, I started reading everything I could get my hands on and I traded on demo. Then I started to invest real money… slowly and carefully.
Q: Do you see any differences between the trading world/industry now as opposed to when you started trading?
A: Yea, tons! The biggest is the social aspect. Let me explain: when I first started trading, forums were not a big thing. Even Forex Factory (which is arguably the biggest forex forum now) was small. I remember reading a discussion somewhere (not on FF) and a guy saying something like “pa and sr is all you need”. I didn’t know much about trading and needless to say as was confused as f***. I had no idea what “pa” and “sr” meant but the guy said it was all I need to make money so I had to know what it was. I googled it but I didn’t find anything so I decided to ask. Bad mistake! The answer was something along the lines: Get lost, noob. Nowadays if someone like noob-me comes along and asks what is “pa” and “sr”, he will get the polite answer: price action and support/resistance. Bottom line is that today, information is widely available and there are a lot more people willing to help novices. Unfortunately, many of today’s novices act like spoiled brats who don’t even think of doing research of their own and want everything on a silver platter.
Q: Describe your trading style
A: I like to trade the trend, or the mini-trend or micro trend, whatever you wanna call it. Once I see a solid one, I wait for a move against it and when that move becomes exhausted, I trade in the direction of the original trend.
Q: Do you believe that trading is a sure way to a steady income? Can someone live exclusively from trading?
A: I say: don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. If you have a good job, why throw it away? Trading and a job can be easily balanced and you can do both – assuming you don’t trade 60 seconds exclusively. To answer the question: yea, I believe so, but it takes a LOT of work.
Q: You obviously write for BOTS and trade. How do you split your time between these two activities? Tell us a bit about a regular working day in your life.
A: It’s actually quite easy: I have a big desk :D I write on one laptop and to the left I have another laptop with charts so I actually do both things at the same time and I don’t have to split my time. Usually I wake up and the first thing I do is have a cup of coffee (big one), then open my charts and shift through them. I try to not trade until the coffee kicks in but if I see something juicy, I jump in. The writing stuff I start a bit later than trading because I consider it more difficult so I need to be perfectly “awake”. I always think of myself as a trader who writes, not a writer who trades, so trading comes easier still after so many years of writing.
Q: Why don’t you simply trade and forget about writing? I mean, why bother with writing if you are a trader?
A: No, no, writing keeps my mind off trading in a way. I tend to overtrade sometimes and when I do that, I usually end up wiping out my profits or even losing. Having something else to do besides trading helps me focus and keeps me on a schedule. I am more organized if I know I have to meet a writing deadline and this fact has a positive impact on my trading. I believe that a good trader has to be an organized person and writing keeps me organized.
Q: I know this might sound like a job interview question, but I have to ask: where do you see BOTS in another 5 years from now?
A: Man, if it’s going at the same pace as it does now, I believe we will engulf all other websites and will have a monopoly on binary options content. New brokers will have to ask us for permission to operate and CySEC will come to us for advice. We will have our own Binary Options Worldwide Conference, attended by Mario Draghi and Janet Yellen (ok, Carney and Kuroda will get in too), SpotOption will be renamed to SuckOption and will become a BOTS white label. Ok, joking side, I believe that if we keep on working as we did so far, only good things can come of it and we will continue growing. I mean, we had about 20 articles 5 years ago and now I believe we are above 1000 and tens of thousands of readers.
Q: And where do you see binary options in 5 years from now?
A: Well, binary options as a financial instrument is great but the bad brokers and scammers smear it with… I don’t even want to say with what. However, when I started trading, forex was just how binaries are now (more or less) and it’s obvious that the forex industry is now a safe (-ish) place. I believe the same thing will happen to binary options: regulation will become tighter and people will stop taking all the BS that brokers and scammers throw their way. 5 years from now the binary options industry will be a safer place I hope.
More 5 Years in the Making Interviews: