1. Tell us about what to expect at Traders carnival this year. The agenda, speaker and even the participants profile.

 

The participants are, as always, an eclectic mix of newbies and repeat offenders who span the whole spectrum of excited novice and super successful traders, those struggling to find a consistent process, discretionary traders who fly by the seat of their pants and system traders who relax while their system trades for them, rule based who trade every signal and rule breakers who trade some signals and also some who come to relax, enjoy just meeting and discussing with traders.

 

At the 15th Edition of Traders Carnival, the following are on offer.

a. 10 new Trading ideas by practitioners of the art. To my mind, these are some of the best Trading Talent in India who have severally traded their account from a few lakhs INR (between 10 and 30) to over 5 Cr INR in 36 months or less. These ideas will be articulated in an easy to consume format, would comprise of tangible takeaways and ready to implement from the next trading day onwards.

And the best part is, the speakers will all be available on all 4 days to clarify any nuances you may have doubts about. Their strategies, Money Management rules, etc.

 

Link to the speakers page here – https://traderscarnival.com/speakers/

 

These brilliant Traders can verifiably be called Mozarts of the charts and it would be a pleasure to hear then share their secrets in exhaustive interactive sessions at the Hyderabad Carnival.

a. Their ideas will include strategies on Unidirectional Option buying, Option selling, Paired option strategies, Price action based, Elliot wave based Futures Trading and more – This last, the bread and butter of many traders.

b. Crypto related Content for those Traders who like to ‘cross the line’ so to say. The high risk takers. 5 discrete strategies for deriving passive income from Crypto assets will be shared.

1. Staking
2. Mining
3. Yield Farming
4. Borrowing (yes, you can earn dividends for borrowing from certain Crypto platforms too! Surprising but true.
5. Lending Crypto Assets – BTC, ETC,USDT or other Stable Coins

 

 

On offer at the Hyderabad Carnival

Research used in the creation of metrics when unearthing new projects, new IDOs (IDOs are the equivalent of IPOs in the Equities space. Returns from IDOs could be highly lucrative. A research study will be showcased which led to a 22x trade (So far, and ongoing) in a recent IDO project.

Tools used in above research. Mostly available online, and free.

 

For the last few months, I have been working on some research on all things Crypto. Launchpads, IDOs, various new projects and the metrics to use to choose new projects.

I have had a few 5x and 20x Trades from allocations in a few projects. 20x is nice, but 100x is nicer, so will hold on to some of those projects I have entered after getting my initial out, since there is a vesting schedule for some of these projects. This is from my personal trading experience that I will share at the Carnival. Mileage may vary.

 

At Hyderabad this October, some of the points of my presentation will be focussing on the following. This is not an exhaustive list.

 

Different ways of earning passive income from Crypto

1. Staking
2. Mining
3. Yield Farming
4. Lending
5. Borrowing

How to DYOR – Do Your Own Research

Yes, did you know that using Crypto, you could function like a bank, and be rewarded for lending Crypto to some platforms?

Strange but true – you can be rewarded dividends for *borrowing* Crypto assets on a few platforms. Yes, this is a new one to me too and I am actively invested in some of those platforms. Will share the platforms I use, how to DYOR on all your projects and more.

 

The participant profile for Hyderabad who have registered so far are a mixed bag. Both Equities and Cryptocurrencies.

Under Equities, we have Traders who are part time traders with a day job, looking for passive income via selling options, while some are actively buying options.

Sample Participant Profile:

Under Crypto, we have some kids who are as young as 19 years old who have been mining Crypto for a while new using high powered GPUs and similar rigs. Here is a sample of a rig used by young Govind from Thrissur, Kerala who has been mining Ethereum.

Govind has registered for the Hyderabad Carnival looking to join a larger Crypto Community and try and learn all things Crypto during the Carnival.

Here is Govind mining ETH in his bedroom in Kerala. Since he does not have a garage 🙂

 

 

2. Markets largely have been headed one-way this year, and at every step of the way investors have been surprised by the market. From a trader’s perspective, would you describe this past year as tricky one to navigate?

My reply to this would probably be more skewed towards Crypto since I have moved all my assets from Equities into Crypto from Oct 26, 2020.

As for Crypto, I do a few things.

1. HODL away in perpetuity.
2. Trade via a 3rd party Trading engine that gave 675 winning trades of 1% profit each out of 680 trades during a 60 day study. This study was shared at the Goa Carnival in March. Happy to revisit this depending on participant interest.
3. Enter IDOs based on my research. Have had a few 5x, 22x trades on those projects, the methods of which I plan to share in detail at the Hyderabad Carnival.
4. And finally, HODLing is far easier than constant speculation, so I wouldnt really call it ‘tricky’

 

3. From your own experience last year, what is the one big lesson you learnt, if at all there was anything different or surprising.

 

One of the biggest lessons was the realization that we in India have been almost left out of the huge growth opportunities in the Crypto market. The sheer size and diversity of this market is mind blowing. This is a definite must-add in any diversified asset portfolio. Understanding this asset class and should be the one of the key goals this year for all investors and market participants. This is the reason Traders Carnival has made Crypto such an important vertical at the event. For the second time, after the Goa Carnival earlier.

 

There have been quite a few lessons I have learnt.

Research away endlessly.

It pays well. Though 12 months is too short a sampling size to determine definite results, it could be a good indicator of things going forward.

Surprisingly, most of the best resources are available online. for FREE. One only has to know where to look for them. ALL of these resources and tools will be discussed at length at the Hyderabad Carnival.

On a side note, I made a small investment in Bitcoin and Ethereum on 26 October 2020, more as a birthday gift to myself. As of today, BTC has made 4x and ETH has made 10x on that investment.

 

4) The face of trading is changing dramatically with both data and tools becoming accessible to ordinary traders. How is this transforming the way people approach trading now.

 

 

 

Very True. Technology has been advancing at a much rapid pace over time. Having been in Technology myself for over 20 years working at various assignments, I can readily accept this.

Traders are increasingly using Tech and Tech tools for their Trading. Whether it is to automate their trades in the Equities or Crypto space, more reliance is seen here. Some of these tools will be showcased at the Hyderabad Carnival.

Along these lines,

We have made 3 strategic partnerships prior to the Hyderabad Carnival.

a. A Clean and Robust Trading Platform for trading equities, Futures and Options – @Espressoinvest

b. A Crypto Exchange where one can buy, HODL, stake, farm, mine Crypto assets and automate trades – @Bitbns

c. An Option tool – where Traders can make smart trading decisions based on Open Interest for Option Trades – @OIPulse

These tools and platforms should go a long way in minimising risk, execute options based strategies and earn passive income via Crypto Assets.

 

We have found that a lot of youngsters have started trading during the pandemic and a huge number of trading accounts have been opened. Many of them are highly educated and extremely tech savvy. They are used to filtering through a plethora of data and brainstorming in online groups to discuss. They are a new breed of traders. It is indeed an exciting time to be in the markets.

5) Are machines and algorithms making human experience and instincts less relevant? Can you recount some of your experiences, and may be even those of your friends in the trading circle.

Algo trading is here to stay. Algos remove the human element of emotions from trading and is very suitable to some traders who are prone to be swayed by the common twin emotions – greed and fear. It forces a Traders to be more disciplined. . Many traders run both an algo as well as a discretionary trading account. Some opportunities are better captured by one system and some by the other. At the end of the day the algo is only as good as the logic used to code it. Standard Caveat – Coding errors, if not monitored, can also lead to huge losses.

6) There are a lot of young people now interested in the stock market. New DP accounts, subscriptions for companies like Zomato all bear out this trend. Do you see a new breed of young traders emerging?

As I mentioned earlier, definitely! Us old school folk never had to juggle so much concurrent information in our formative years. i believe this is what sets them apart from us. They also communicate differenly and more effectively. The new battlegrounds in trading have become Instagram, Reddit and Twitter.

7) Everyone is interested in tips! Give us three tips to maximising returns through trading, and three tips to never lose money. Are these mutual exclusive principles, when it comes to trading?

…….. Oh thats easy. Maximising returns is the name of the game. The truth is most good traders have about a 40 % win rate. Those who manage to keep most of what the make while giving back the least in trades that don’t work are the winners. Hedging and judicious stop losses are the tickets to that ship. Keep your losses small and you will do better and better. Having a longer term mindset and managing position sizes is an integral part of that mindset. Capital preservation is rule number one. You cant be in the game if you lose all your capital. Thats the dealbreaker.

As for the tips to ‘never lose money’, I take that as a trick question

Never losing money is impossible. Take up a job. Get into the comfort zone of a monthly salary – Which is one of the more common addictions known to man.

Look forward to seeing some of you at the Hyderabad Carnival later this month. Over 40% repeat attendees will be seen again.

Heads-up – At the time of submission, a limited number of seats (less than 10%) remain. Seats are being offered on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.

 

I will wind this up with one of my favorite one liners.

 

Don’t take life too seriously. No one gets out alive.

 

Have fun, stay safe!

 

You can follow Traders Carnival at their Twitter handle @traderscarnival for updates in real time