By day he’s a language teacher imparting German grammar skills, by night he’s an Index CFD trader unleashing his competitiveness.
By day he’s a language teacher imparting German grammar skills to Year 8-12 students at a state high school in Queensland.
By night he’s an Index CFD trader unleashing his competitiveness in trading the global markets including the FTSE 100 (UK Index), SPI (Share Price Index) and the ASX200 Index.
Johann Kupeczki is one of the growing legions of competitive and aspirational people who have taken up CFD trading as an additional income stream.
“I’ve always been competitive. I like sports. I like challenges,” said Johann after learning that he’s won the second CMC Markets CFD trading competition where he bested more than 1,100 other traders. He made a total of 4,738.6 per cent return on investment (ROI) on his trading capital which assured him the title for this year.
“I’m still teaching (during the day) and so I had quite limited time to trade during the competition. However, I made some very good trades right at the start of the competition and that set me up quite well,” he said.
At this stage Johann spends approximately four hours a day trading, which he said is still quite a lot considering he’s got a day job, two kids and a wife who needs his time as well.
“My wife and kids are very important to me as they keep me grounded. They also help reinforce the important things in life,” Johann said.
A big fan of Index CFD trading, Johan said, “I trade Index CFDs because the profit margins are much higher and they are open and tradeable 22 hours a day. Unlike share CFDs where price movements can gap (while the Australian markets are closed and overseas markets are trading), I feel I have more control trading Index CFDs.”
While he didn’t deviate much from his usual trading strategy and he stuck to trading what he knows best (Index CFDs) during the competition, Johann said he must have taken some calculated risks to make sure that he’s in contention for the top prize.
“You can’t be in a competition and be complacent. You have to be cautious but you need to take some calculated risks at some stage,” Johann said.
Describing himself as a short-term trader Johann said, “Generally I don't hold positions overnight just because I tend not to sleep very well if I have open positions.”
He added that, “I’ve been trading for several years now and one of the things I’ve learned, particularly during the past couple years, is that you have to be flexible. You need to adjust your trading with the market.”
“Gone were the days that you could almost predict what the market would do. It’s quite easy to trade when the market is predictable. The past few months have been very challenging because of the very big moves. I think there is so much greed and fear in the markets these days.”
For his part, Johann said he’s got one antidote to greed: to walk away after a big win.
“I know some people would say it is difficult and challenging to cope with losses, but for some it is also difficult and challenging when they have big wins. I think this is because when you have a big winning trade you feel invincible. You think you’re the best trader and you can do no wrong. And that’s when you start to give back to the market,” Johann said.
He added that at times, particularly when he needed to control his emotion he found it best to walk away from trading even for just a few days. “Sometimes I know I need to step away,” he said.
When it comes to inspiration and drive for his trading Johann said, “It’s really the small traders – like myself and others in the competition, who are putting their own money on the line and taking on the market everyday – they’re the ones that inspire me and I want to recognise and acknowledge them.”
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