How I lost $740 in Forex by not following the RussiaUkranie War

Welcome to my first blog post of the year and there could be no better time to blog than during this conflict in Ukraine. I know you must already have your conclusions about me talking money when people are losing lives. Well, there is not much I can do other than shed a little light on an already well-broadcasted geopolitical event. At least I help reach a few more people regardless of how they receive it and the question is what have you done about it before judging me?

As always, I'll keep things short. The day is drawing to a close and my neighborhood is as silent as ever with everyone sleeping. This happens to be my best time putting into words the shit that goes on in my mind. Forex refers to foreign exchange and a milieu where currencies are exchanged is referred to as the Forex market. Like every market, there are people who provide a place for others to buy and sell ( in this case exchange currencies). These people/platforms/market places are referred to as brokers. I have my own brokers where I go to buy and sell currencies online.

I know you really want to know how I lost my money and I will tell you haha. Usually, there are currencies that people tend to prefer buying whenever the world is in a major crisis or if people believe for some reason that the world is in dangerous times, they opt to buy certain currencies like the US dollar, the Japanese yen, and the Swiss Franc. These three currencies are known to experienced traders as safe-haven currencies. Thus, most businesses and transactions tend to demand these currencies in times of world fear, uncertainty, etc. 

I knew nothing about safe-haven currencies up until the point I had lost $740. I looked at the Forex market like those guys do on Wall Street and while feeling confident (yet ignorant and stupid) I placed a trade selling Japanese Yen. I then went downstairs knowing by the time I had finished preparing my lunch, I will come back to meet a profit of at least $500. Of course, that was not the case because Russia was gearing towards invading Ukraine and while I cooked and fantasized about the aroma of the food (which was not so good anyway), Ukraine was invaded. That was Thursday 24th February 2022 at about 5 pm (GMT +1) and behold I quickly closed the trade and accepted my loss in pain. 

It did not immediately occur to me what had happened because I had followed my trading strategy and while I looked at the other currencies, I noticed the Euro and Sterling pound falling drastically against the US dollar. Of course, I turned the news on Bloomberg quick take Bloomberg Quicktake and they were busy analyzing markets based on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I logged on to FX street FXStreet - The Foreign Exchange Market to read a few articles and experts were writing about the same war and impacts on currencies, commodities, and stocks. It was on Babypips Learn Forex Trading With BabyPips.com that I first read about safe-haven currencies and they classified it into what is known as sentiment analysis. That's because fear and uncertainty are sentiments and they were causing markets to move with people buying the Yen because of the war. Simply put Japan is a lot stable. 

That's how I ended up losing due to ignorance and without carefully considering the geopolitics of our world. A lot of people I know made and are making so much money in the markets from this war. Others are suffering and many are losing lives but I promised to keep it short so I will leave my take on the war for the next episode. The consequences are huge for all of us. It doesn't matter where you are or live but this war affects you one way or another. I will share my thoughts on this next time. For now, I need to sleep after learning my lesson. Learn from my mistake and if you can't then go and make the same error and experience the adrenaline rush for yourself for experience is indeed and without an iota of doubt, the best teacher. 

Since most people these days are all about feelings, you can criticize me for even daring to talk about money in a war but I feel for the innocent Ukrainian people the same as I feel for my own people whom the world has refused to talk about, and all the Middle Eastern people and Arab nations western influence has helped plunge into chaos. Life is unfair and problems will always remain relative so never sit there and think I have to meet up to your expectations. 

God bless you all.