"Our spreads are the lowest in the entire industry," Sudhanshu Agarwal, Tickmill

Today Sudhanshu Agarwal, CEO of a new company in the Russian market, is a guest of ForTrader.org magazine. Tickmill. We will ask him our traditional questions and find out what the broker plans to surprise traders with.

- How did it happen that you got acquainted with stock trading?

- About 10 years ago I was offered a job with a reputable broker who had recently started his trading activities in Australia. At first this offer made me wary, as I had heard a lot about illegal brokerage firms and fraudulent stockbrokers. Having thoroughly studied all available information on this subject, I came to the conclusion that there are HOPEFUL regulated brokers, and the company I was recommended can really be trusted.

Over the next few years I moved up the career ladder very high. I held a respectable position among the top sales managers in that company and soon became involved in global project management as well, which included managing brokerage activities. Eventually, I took it to the next level when I became involved in launching and managing other licensed Australian firms on my own.

- Exchange trading is becoming more and more a part of our life - many people know about it or are holders of certain securities. In your opinion, why is speculation popular in Russia and the CIS countries now?

- For Tickmill, Russia and the CIS countries are initially one of the regions with a high priority. This is also why part of our team, including the management, consists of Russian-speaking professionals.

In answer to this question, I will quote the head of development of Tickmill, Dmitry Litvinovich: "I believe that it has to do with a number of factors. Among them I can single out the most key ones, in my opinion. First, all people strive for financial independence. If we consider the historical factors inherent in this region, it becomes clear why this desire is more pronounced in the Russian and CIS space. The second reason is the amount of advertising on the local market, direct and indirect. For example, not so long ago a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio "The Wolf of Wall Street" came out, not to mention a lot of other direct advertising, movies, examples from books and newspapers. Thanks to this, any housewife now knows what the stock exchange is, what is traded there and how to make money on yachts. Thirdly, of course, this is connected with the development of Internet technologies infrastructure. Information is becoming more accessible, stock trading included. Earlier not many people knew about such possibilities, and not everybody had access to the Internet. Now you can trade on the exchange, wherever you are in the world, for example when fishing in Kamchatka with your smartphone.".

- Which exchanges are of interest to you and why?

- As a company, we are interested in markets where the risk of market speculation is minimal and where liquidity is high. This enables us to provide the most favorable trading conditions to our clients, which is one of the important reasons why clients choose Tickmill.

- What don't you like about the structure of exchange or OTC trading or would you like to change?

- Now, with the industry as a whole becoming more accessible and legislation still not 100% honed, there is a risk that unregulated brokers are popping up who are not always honest with clients. This should definitely be corrected. I am confident that the situation will improve in the near future.

- In your opinion, can anyone become a trader?

I don't think everyone can become a trader, but the advantage of trading is that everyone can at least try.

Each broker offers demo accountYou can try trading without any risks or losses, make decisions, monitor the results, and ultimately decide if you are ready to do it.

- What qualities should a trader have in order to become a professional?

- The most important quality is discipline, that is, the ability to stick to your own trading strategy no matter what. This seems easy, but in practice only a few do so.

- Many people think that trading on the exchange market is either a frivolous business or a fraud. What do you have to say about it?

- Work in the financial markets is just a job, and not the easiest one, where you first have to learn a lot from your own mistakes, and only then there is a chance to become a successful trader. There is no guaranteed salary in trading, like in a simple job, and many people are not satisfied with that.

Also, such opinion can be just because of unregulated brokers, which are dishonest with their clients. In order to limit oneself from possible risks, every trader should make sure of the reliability of the broker, with which he is planning to cooperate.

- In your opinion, what is the most common mistake traders make?

- Traders make two mistakes. First, they trade without any strategy, for example, they start buying or selling just because they think the exchange rate has gone up or down too much, and it's time for a correction. However, as it was noticed long time ago, the market can stay irrational much longer than the trader's solvency. The second mistake is making exceptions to one's own rules. That is, even with a clearly articulated trading strategyThe trader begins to trade his own self and look for entry points on the chart where the strategy does not show it.

- Why traders should work with your company?

- The competition on the market among brokers is as big as never before, that's why from the very beginning we have defined our advantages: minimum trader's trading costs and quick support of clients, we try to answer all client's letters within 1-2 hours, and our commission and spreads are among the lowest in the whole industry. This means that if you trade the same strategy in Tickmill and another broker, the final result on the trader's trading account will be completely different.

It's simple - we have one of the highest profit potentials for the client. This is echoed by thousands of our clients on the Internet. It has been proven many times that even with a small increase in the spread (the difference between the purchase and sale price), many strategies simply stop working.

- I'm sure you've had some funny situations with clients during your time with your company. Without mentioning any names, could you share one with us?

- Yes, there were a few instances. A couple of years ago, a potential client came into the office and wanted to make sure we were for real and talk to us in person. He berated us right off the bat, saying that our conditions were bad, our website wasn't reputable, our office wasn't that big, and all that kind of stuff. It was clear that he would never come to us and generally unlikely to trade, but just two days later he opened an account with us and transferred there about 100 000$. Can you imagine our surprise to such an event!

And the opposite situation often happens: in the chat, some potential client starts wondering from which bank it is better to transfer a large amount, how much it is insured, whether this transfer will not track Interpol, what is the maximum number of lots he can open one transaction. We answer that it is 100, he complains why it is so little, he says he will have to press several times. Then he asks what partner we are going to withdraw such large deals to, and whether it will not move the entire market, and all the questions in this vein. As a result, we get a trading account with less than 100$, and there have been dozens of such cases.

- What would you advise newcomers to the exchange?

- I would advise not some ephemeral things like "good luck" or "success," but quite concrete things.

The first thing to understand is, do you want to spend hundreds of hours in front of the monitor studying charts? If so, then before you open a real account and transfer real money there, you must have a clearly formulated trading strategy without any free interpretations like "I'll see how the situation plays out" or "I'll see how the map plays out". If you write down this strategy on paper and give it to another person, he must be able to start trading with it.

And the second is to strictly adhere to this strategy. If you reach, for example, the daily limit of deals/losses/profits, then you just need to cold-bloodedly close the terminal until the next trading day, rather than trying to trade on intuition. Believe me, there's no other way to a successful trading just don't.

I wish everyone patience and discipline!