Kiana Danial, founder of InvestDiva.com, is an award winning humanitarian and TV personality. Her recent book, "?Invest Diva's Guide to Making Money in Forex" by McGraw-Hill contains not only advises on Forex Trading but tells the story of a woman who was born in Iran and ended up dedicating her life to empowering minorities, especially women in the male dominated industries.
Daily Forex caught up with Kiana who willingly took time out of her busy schedule to answer some of our questions:
Kiana, you went from studying electrical engineering in several countries to becoming a news commentator on Japanese television. How did this evolve into a trading career and what made you become interested in financial markets?
I was awarded a scholarship from the Japanese government to study EE in Japan and lived there for seven years. I actually became the commentator on Japanese National TV while I was studying EE in Tokyo, and continued there after graduation.
[My Japanese mother was a Forex trader and she got me interested in Forex. During the 2008 crash in the U.S. she helped me open a Forex account, exchanging my Yen for the falling US dollar and I made 1000,000 yen in one month. When I lost 10,000,000 yen to a money manager, I realized I needed to educate myself further and moved to New York to learn more about trading. That's when I discovered that almost 98% of traders are men, and most of them lose money.]
Why did you decide to specialize in Forex, instead of stocks or other financial instruments?
I have found many advantages to trading Forex as opposed to trading stocks. First and foremost is the fact that there are only 7 major currencies that I have to focus on as opposed to thousands of stocks.
It enables me to spend more time on analyzing the trading strategy as oppose to searching for the right stock to trade.
Another reason is the around-the-clock nature of Forex trading. There is no opening or closing bell. I can trade in the middle of the night, or any other time I choose to, from wherever in the world I am. This is especially appealing to me because it enables me to be flexible and do other things on the side, i.e. running an education company!
I see your favorite indicators are the Ichimoku and the RSI. What is it that you like in particular about them?
I certainly do use these two indicators often, and the reason (especially for Ichimoku) is the variety of moving averages I get by clicking on only one moving average.
Moving averages, including MACD, Bollinger Bands etc. generally require similar methods of analysis and it is only the matter of familiarity and comfort when it comes to deciding which ones to use.
That being said, when I get mixed signals from Ichimoku or RSI, I certainly expand to other tools.
Meanwhile, it is important to remember that these are all just indicators, and I always add them up to other means of technical analysis such as chart/ candlestick patterns, Elliot waves as well as Fibonacci retracements. These too, all should be backed up by fundamental analysis and market sentiment.
You focus on swing trading over position trading or scalping styles. Is this because it is easiest for most people? Do you feel that bigger rewards can be obtained by keeping at least partial profits for several weeks or months? Or is the strain of holding that long too hard for most?
The main reason why I hold trades over a day goes back to the type of a trader I am.
I can't and don't want to be glued to the charts throughout the day, and find it gives me less time to conduct a thorough analysis.
This has in fact proven to be more profitable for me, because it enables me not only to trade with confidence, but also to avoid making an emotional trading decision only to "?prove myself right" after losing trades or over confidence after winning trades.
It is known that one of the main goals your career is empowering minorities. How does your book, "?Invest Diva's Guide to Making Money in Forex" reach towards on this goal?
In the financial industry, women are certainly a minority. I believe there is no other trading education book that speaks directly to women, using feminine analogies and avoiding the Wall Street vocabulary that often makes the thought of trading intimidating for beginners.
The book has certainly been a success in this very goal, as I have gained loyal students who got introduced to trading by my book, and have been making money ever since, under my continuous guidance.
Living in New York, the hub of investing must be stressful and competitive. Do you find that being in the center of it all is an asset or a disadvantage?
Living in New York is the best thing that has ever happened to me! The opportunities are endless and the competitiveness makes me want to grow even more.
As far as Forex trading is concerned, it is much bigger than NYC, a true global and deep market that doesn't really require being in a certain city.
However since most traders and people who are familiar with the concept of trading and want to learn about it are located in NY, my job is to spread the word into other cities, and to people who can greatly benefit from trading from the comfort of their home.
You were born in Iran to Jewish parents. That makes you a minority three times over. How have you managed to go beyond minority limitations?
I have one word for you: Adaptation.
Since childhood, I always had to adapt myself to different environments. Wearing a veil in the Islamic country, obeying Islamic rules at school and keeping the Jewish tradition at home. Being in Japan and the only girl and the only foreigner in my class, there was a whole new level of adjustment.
These all prepared me for my biggest adaptation of all, becoming the female figure in the Forex trading industry.
On a CNN interview, you said that believe that Asian women make the best investors. Why do you think that?
The reason behind this only goes back to the cultural differences. Asian women are generally in charge of household income. The man's job is to bring in money and the woman manages it. This has given them the confidence and liberty to trade from home and to become very good at it too.
Women in general are scientifically proven to be better investors than their male counterparts due to a variety of reasons, namely lack of testosterone, being more "?teachable" and more risk averse.
My goal is to bring this culture into the US as well. Currently most of my students are single mothers who have finally begun to realize their natural power in money management. I'm working on adding more women into our community.
On InvestDiva you offer a 6-step online course for beginner traders. How successful has this course been for you and for the people who have signed up?
This has been an extraordinary and rewarding journey for me. We have students from all over the world, from North America, to Australia and the Middle East.
Students who have been under my direct and continuous guidance have all been profitable over the years with an average of 72% winning trades counting the ones who have shared their trading portfolios with me.
At what levels do you recommend taking profits?
This is a very broad question and depends on the up-to-date analysis of the trading instrument.
Do you use any statistical data in your programs to "?prove" to people they can make money trading Forex?
We are working on developing a system but it is not available yet.