Unplanned approach to Stock Market Trading is equivalent to gambling and a gambler cannot make money in the long run, the casino only wins. Learning the art of trading puts you in the position of a casino. I make sure my learners come out as successful traders.
Learning can become very difficult because of the excessive information available at our fingertips through internet. It is very difficult to identify the genuine material as internet is filled with lots of irrelevant information. “Learning is a continuous process and I make sure that my learners continue learning,” says Afzal Lokhandwala who is a Stock Trader by profession and a CA by qualification.
He started trading in stock markets in 2015. Till 2017, like most traders out there, he was on the losing end constantly, relying on tips and calls from scam advisories and social media. All of these led to a lot of frustration as he was also preparing for his Chartered Accountancy exams at that time. 2018 was a turnaround year for him where he started to introspect and asking questions like, “If I am losing so much of money consistently, there must be someone on the other side who must be making all that money” or “Why are my profits small and losses big?”
All of these eventually led him to start digging deeper. Hence, his journey towards learning about stock market trading began. Afzal became home-bound for months. According to him, 20% of his knowledge comes from books and YouTube videos, whereas, the rest of the 80% comes from his continuous chart observations. By the end of FY 2018-19, Afzal clocked astonishing returns over his capital and recovered major part of his losses. “I also have a video of my P&L Reports of that year on my YouTube channel,” shares Afzal. He started making profits consistently from trading in stock markets. That was when he decided to make a career in stock market trading after completing his CA.
Birth of the Classic Trading Course (CTC)
At the end of 2019, Afzal started to receive appreciation on Twitter for his analysis. He created a Telegram Channel which grew exponentially. Members had been requesting for teaching them online. Initially, he conducted a series of webinars free of cost. “I was exhausted but transforming traders gave me a huge kick to contribute more towards educating people,” describes Afzal. Knowing the fact that videos provide better value and clarity against time as compared to books, he, then decided to record a comprehensive course in a series of structured videos on trading in stock markets which upgrades a beginner to a professional trader and named it the Classic Trading Course (CTC).
The course is intentionally priced low to reach as many people as it can. The amount he charges is also for the time and efforts put into recording, resources and support. The response and the results of the course are phenomenal. “I did not know I could teach so well,” tells Afzal. He has uploaded many testimonials from the CTC members on his YouTube channel. Moreover, CTC is about the three pillars for successful trading:
- Technical Analysis
- Risk Management
- Trading Psychology
People often overlook the last two pillars which are the real secrets of a successful trader. One cannot succeed unless he or she is well equipped with all the three pillars. There are two kinds of people. There are those who have already burnt their hands in stock markets and those who are yet to burn their hands. The caveat here is both of these kinds of people have not mastered the art of trading. Afzal intends to reach all those and guide them to the right path.
In a way, he wants to save a lot of people from wealth destruction. Trading without learning surely destroys wealth and trading with learning generates consistent money. That consistent money has to be treated as business income and a part of which can be invested for long term to create wealth over long term.
The reason why CTC has gained immense recognition in a very short time is because of one word i.e. honesty. “I do not just share charts and analysis on my Telegram Channel,
I trade those myself and share the results for the people to see,” informs Afzal. He shows profitable as well as loss making trades with transparency. He reveals it all because his intention is to show the real picture of trading which is obviously, not a ‘quick get-rich career’ as being shown by other social media marketers. No doubt, it is greatly rewarding career but the journey is not as simple as one might think. People think they will start making money from the second day after learning few marketed “so-called” magical strategies from the internet. “I too had been in that phase once. Believe me, trading is much more than just a strategy.” Afzal explains.
The Man behind the Big Picture
Being a Chartered Accountant, Afzal could have started his own practice or worked somewhere. The reason he chose to be a stock market trader was independence and flexibility of life. “I am my own boss here and I have no employees to manage. As of now, I do not have any structured organization or any team. I believe that my real team is my family who has been supportive of all my decisions,” he says.
As being a Chartered Accountant requires a rigorous study time with books, Afzal could not spare spending any more time with the books when he started learning stock markets in 2018. He used to start a book, read few pages and go back to charts to understand practical applications of concepts. Just as practising CA is very different from theoretical exam studies, real life trading is very different from what you perceive from books. “There is a widespread deception on social media where they show fake screenshots of hefty profits every single day to play with the greed of beginners. Making profits every single day is impossible, beginners need to understand that first and stay away from such scammers. I am glad I did not pay any money to trading workshops back then,” he relishes. Afzal believes in philanthropy. A good proportion of the course fees directly go to charities. Recently, he was recognized by a local newspaper for a hefty contribution to the PM Cares Fund. If not Afzal, learners have an option to pay the course fees to approved Charitable Trusts to get the course.
Traders’ Treasure
On requests of his CTC learners, he created a Telegram Group where learners can interact with each other, and even Afzal himself participates wherever required. He even trades on the ideas shared by the learners in this group. This helps to learn, earn and grow together. This platform is invaluable. He has also shared few tools like Position Sizing Calculator, Self-Awareness Mastery Guide (Trading Psychology), Risk Management Guide, Trade Logger, etc. many of which are freely available on his YouTube or Telegram Channel.
He conducts interactive webinars on weekends to solve queries of learners and also discusses potential trade opportunities for the coming weeks. Afzal uploads YouTube videos on the trades that he undertakes whether the trades are profitable or loss making. His Telegram Channel is for everyone to see. He posts chart analysis, trades them, and share the results with transparency. “Events like COVID do not affect me, financially, since, as a trader, I am concerned with short term price movements. In fact, such events present great opportunities for profiting from the markets. Trading is a very independent occupation”, says Afzal.
Afzal has a lot of potential to grow financially in the training field which is a risk free income. “But I am a trader first. Training will always be secondary to Trading” he says. However, he does not like to compromise in any of his work and believes in transforming lives.
For more details, Visit : afzallokhandwala.com
