Mugenda: How I landed into forex trading - The Standard

Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:10 AM PDT

***Mr.*** ***Paul Mugenda, a forex trader based in Nairobi (PHOTO: Courtesy)***

The need to cope with the rising living standards has led many Kenyans into different creative ways of making an extra coin to take care of their daily life demands. Mr Paul Mugenda in his mid-20s says he realised upon completing college in 2014 that he needed to multi-task to comfortably sustain himself in the city and find extra money to support his family back home in Muranga County.He has tried his hands in several businesses and now sits comfortably as the founder of Paris Group, a Nairobi based company, which deals in Insurance, Forex and hospitality products.He has five employees helping to handle the various products at hand.

In an interview, he says he started as a tealeaves vendor in Nairobi's populous area of Githurai targeting employed people but slowly found himself also selling insurance and trading in forex to supplement his income.He used to buy butch of tealeaves from his home town of Muranga and sell them in small packets to his clients between 7 pm to 9 pm."I chose to operate at night because I targeted employed people and that was the best time to catch up with them at various bus terminus catching bus back home from tedious work," he says."It doesn't require a lot of capital to start as a tea vendor. I would buy tea in bulk then repackage it for sale, on a good day I would take home between Sh600 to Sh1000 before my expenses of roughly Sh260."After trading for sometimes, Mr Mugenda was convinced that the money earned from the tea business would not cater for his daily needs. Through his networks, he got an opportunity to work for Kenindia and Direct Line Assurance firms as a sales representative.

With a background in actuarial science, he was convinced that he could make a better sales representative and make additional income from the commissions earned from policy sales.The ability to present himself well and the sales experience from tealeaves sales enabled him to acquire more clients. He has since then expanded his tentacle in the industry to offer cover on fire, life, motor, marine, goods on transit and personal accident insurance"Starting the insurance hustle was not easy, you need a lot of patience before you start making money, it is a tricky venture for new comers but worth it when you start making money," he says.In-between his hustles, Mr Mugenda met a client who introduced him to the world of forex trading, which he says, has become a key source of his income. He has consolidated all his hustles under one group dubbed Paris, which boasts of five employees and runs forex, insurance and hospitality.Mr Mugenda says that he got interested in forex trading three years ago after an introduction to it by one of his insurance clients.

He started with Sh30, 000 borrowed from the same client. "I invested the money but never made money out of it, I burnt my finger, but that did not take away my determination to succeed in forex trading," he says."What I later realized is that forex trade needs a lot of patience, discipline and lack of greed for one to succeed, a few training by professionals is also important if you want to perfect the trade," he says.

Paul Mugenda; he also runs insurance business besides forex (PHOTO: Courtesy)

He says that unlike other hustles, he has tried his hands on; forex trading offers more flexibility and does not necessarily take a lot of one's time thereby leaving a trader with more space to engage in other businesses."Once you have a computer, Internet and necessary skills acquired from a professional, then you are good to go," he says.About Forex exchange

The foreign exchange market is largely made up of institutional investors, corporates, governments, banks, as well as currency speculators.Unlike the stock market and future markets that are housed in central physical exchanges, the foreign exchange market is an over the counter market, the decentralised market completely housed electronically.Though investors are familiar with the stock market, they are unaware how small it is in comparison to the forex market that is the largest financial market in the world open 24 hours a day, five and a half days a week.There are many benefits and advantages of trading forex. Nevertheless, key among them is that there is no waiting for the opening bell. From Sunday evening 8.30pm GMT to Friday Evening 9 pm GMT, the forex market never sleeps."You would think that getting started, as a currency trader would cost a ton of money. However, when compared to trading stocks, options or futures, it does not," he notes.Kenya's Capital Markets Authority estimates that about 50,000 people, including brokers, dealers and money managers, are in the business and are mainly using offshore platforms.EGM Securities and Standard Investment Bank are licensed, online forex dealers.EGM Securities launched the country's first locally regulated foreign exchange electronic trading platform in July last year before Standard Investment Bank joined it in December 2018.In an interview with Standard, the 24-year-old entrepreneur says the sky is the limit and plans to go big into the hospitality industry as the next hustle.

Juliet wairimu, mentored by Paul Mugenda into forext trading

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Forex trading Capital Markets Authority

Best Forex Brokers in Mexico: Pros, Cons & Fees • Benzinga - Benzinga

Posted: 16 Aug 2019 12:00 AM PDT

Trading forex in Mexico is relatively free of limitations and legal restrictions, although you will still want to select a broker operating under strict oversight from a reputable financial regulator.

Since not all forex brokerages have the same services and product offerings, you'll want to make sure any broker you select will be adequate for your online trading needs before you make a deposit with them.

Quick Look: Best Forex Brokers in Mexico

A Look at Forex Trading in Mexico

Mexico's national currency is the Mexican peso that has the ISO 4217 code MXN. The peso is further divided into 100 smaller units called centavos.

In its 2016 Triennial Central Bank Survey, The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) ranked the MXN 11^th among other currencies in terms of average turnover. The BIS also noted that the peso was involved in 1.9% of average daily turnover in the forex market on a net-net basis in April 2016, down from 2.5% in April 2013.

With respect to forex market oversight in Mexico, regulation of online contract for difference (CFD) and forex brokers comes under the responsibility of the Central Bank of Mexico (Banxico) that oversees forex-related activities.

Mexico is a participant in the Global Foreign Exchange Committee (GFEC) that was established in 2017 to bring together central banks and private sector forex market participants to promote a fair, liquid and transparent forex market. The GFEC also publishes a FX Global Code that lays out good forex market practices.

In Mexico, the Mexican Foreign Exchange Committee (MFXC) was established to promote adoption of the GFEC's FX Global Code among Mexican market participants. The MFXC maintains a public registry of companies on Banxico's website that formally commit to following the Code.

Furthermore, the National Banking and Securities Commission or Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) is responsible for promoting financial system stability and regulates and supervises financial institutions that include: banks, finance companies, brokerages and mutual fund firms.

As one of the more sophisticated emerging markets and one of the largest Latin American nations, Mexico is an increasingly popular locale for forex trading. Although few brokers based in Mexico support forex trading, many of the global online forex brokers will accept Mexicans as clients.

What to Look for in a Mexican Forex Broker

Any foreign forex broker should be reputable and submit to oversight by a strict official financial regulator, such as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K. Also, if you live in Mexico, you will probably want to find a broker that accept Mexican peso deposits and offers a website and customer service in Spanish.

In addition, any of the best online brokerage firms suitable for your needs will have these characteristics:

The ability to trade all major and minor forex currency pairs
A strong reputation among clients
An affordable minimum deposit
A maximum leverage ratio that suits your trading strategy and risk parameters
Competitive transaction fees and/or dealing spreads
Minimal order slippage and re-quotes
Convenient deposit and withdrawal methods
Provides negative balance protection
Keeps clients' money segregated

You'll also want to check out the broker's trading software to make sure it has all the features you want. Common features include charting capabilities, technical indicators, trading directly from charts, position management and a high-quality financial news feed.

This can be done by opening a demo or practice account funded with virtual money. Many brokers offer a proprietary trading platform, in addition to supporting popular third party trading platforms like MetaTrader 4 and 5 (MT4/5), cTrader and NinjaTrader.

The Best Forex Brokers in Mexico

Finding the best forex broker for you that services Mexican clients will depend on your unique situation and trading requirements. The list below provides some top broker choices based outside Mexico. Each of them is regulated by strict financial authorities in their local jurisdictions.

FOREX.com

Commissions

Spreads start as low as $1 But vary based on trading volume

Best For

Forex traders located in the United States
MetaTrader 4 users
Beginner forex traders
Active forex traders

FOREX.com is the top-ranked U.S.-based forex broker when it comes to client assets. It is regulated by the National Futures Association (NFA), as well as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) within the U.S.

FOREX.com also submits to financial regulation in the U.K., Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands.

You will need at least $250 to open an account at FOREX.com, and you can start trading in micro-lots if you wish to keep initial transactions small. The broker keeps client funds segregated from its own money and only allows traders to use a maximum leverage ratio of 50:1 due to U.S. restrictions.

FOREX.com provides a proprietary trading platform, although you can also use the popular MT4/5 platforms from MetaQuotes, as well as NinjaTrader. Desktop, web-based and mobile trading options are offered.

Read Benzinga's full FOREX.com Review

FXTM (ForexTime)

FXTM is based in Cyprus and also has offices in the U.K. and South Africa. The online broker will accept Mexican clients and submits to regulation by CySEC in Cyprus, the FSCA in South Africa's FSCA and the FCA in the U.K.

You can open an account at FXTM with just $10 for a Cent account or $100 for a Standard account, although the broker only offers rather modest leverage ratios of 30:1 for major currency pairs and 20:1 for minors. FXTM also lets you use the popular MT4/5 platforms for trading that have desktop, Web and mobile versions.

FXTM lets you trade hundreds of different assets, including forex pairs, precious metals, energy commodities, stock indices, and cryptocurrencies. FXTM also has strong customer service support and a website translated into Spanish, in addition to providing various educational materials that would suit less-experienced traders.

XM

XM is based in Cyprus and has offices in the U.K. and Australia. It submits to regulation under CySEC, the FSA and ASIC. The broker also offers negative balance protection, and it keeps clients funds segregated from its own.

You can open an account with just $5 at XM to trade in a wide range of forex currency pairs, in addition to precious metals, stocks and energy commodities. The broker also supports the popular MT4/5 platforms and the MT4 MultiTerminal platform that lets you manage multiple accounts using the same interface. Web, desktop and mobile versions are available.

XM allows you to use leverage up to its impressive maximum ratio of 500:1, and you can trade in micro-lots if you want to start small or fine-tune position sizes.

FxPro

FXPro is a No Dealing Desk (NDD) broker based in London with offices in South Africa, Cyprus, Dubai and the Bahamas. FXPro submits to an oversight in each of these jurisdictions, with its regulators include the FCA, FSCA, CySEC, the DFSA and the SCB.

FxPro offers a website translated into Spanish, and you'll need to make a deposit of at least $100 to open an account with FxPro that will have the benefit of negative balance protection. You can also trade in micro-lots and use leverage of up to 500:1 on forex trades less than 100 lots in size.

When it comes to trading platforms, FXPro offers its proprietary FxPro Markets software and cTrader. It also supports MT4/5 that has mobile, web-based and desktop versions and allows automated trading.

HotForex

HotForex is based in Cyprus and has offices in the U.K., South Africa and Dubai. The broker submits to regulation by CySEC, the FCA, the FSCA and the DFSA in their respective jurisdictions.

You need an initial deposit of just $5 to open an account with HotForex, and this broker excels when it comes to its maximum leverage ratio of 1,000:1 for forex trades in major and minor currency pairs.

HotForex also has its website translated into Spanish and lets Mexican residents trade forex pairs, bonds, cryptocurrencies and spot and futures contracts on commodities like metals, energy products and softs. CFDs on stock indices and high-cap stocks are also available to trade in, including Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook (FB) and Apple Inc. (AAPL).

HotForex supports the MT4/5 trading platforms that have desktop, mobile and web-based versions. The broker also offers its proprietary FIX/API platform to clients who can afford to make an especially large initial deposit of $200,000.

Final Thoughts

If you live in Mexico, most international brokers will accept you as a client if you can meet their initial deposit requirements and suitably identify yourself. Many top brokers also have their websites translated into Spanish and provide Spanish-speaking customer service staff to assist you with questions and issues. They should also be able to translate your documents written in Spanish.

Furthermore, you'll want to choose a well-regulated online broker to trade forex through that keeps its own money separate from that of its clients for greater security, since that protects you in case of the broker's insolvency. Some regulators also place restrictions on the maximum amount of leverage a broker can let you trade with, so keep that in mind if your trading strategy requires especially high leverage ratios.

Looking for more resources? Check out some of the best Mexican stocks to keep an eye on, or Benzinga's top picks for the best forex brokers.

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