The Backstory That You Never Asked For
No one on eToro (except for eToro themselves) have ever asked for my background, but I’m going to give it to you anyway.
I grew up in a poor part of South Africa — poor in Africa is different from “poor” in Europe e.g. my favourite toy was a rock called Pete. Through a combination of hard graft and good luck I landed in London in November 2008. This “good luck” ended up being quite bad, that period was the beginning of the financial crisis. After struggling to find a job and running my funds down to zero I finally landed a job as a software developer in West London.
Three years after that I founded a consulting company with a few other gentlemen, and five years after that we sold the company.
All through this time I have been trading, my first forays were at the age of 19 — I lost everything I made in those first few trades. It took me many, many years to define my technique and learn the patience to stick with it. Today I invest in stocks, index funds, startups and property.
A friend introduced me to eToro early in 2015, my approach then was an odd combination of caution and over confidence. I ended that year a few percent up, and with a new strategy dove head first into 2016. I had no intention of becoming a PI, I was just having fun and making money — 148.28% to be precise. Towards the end of 2016 people started to notice my returns, and found my attitude toward risk acceptable — the influx of copiers began and they started to enjoy my profits too.
As of February 2018, my lifelong return from eToro is several hundred percent, this makes me happy. I’ve also created several million dollars of profit for my copiers, this makes them happy. My plan is to turn “several hundred percent” into several thousand percent in the next few years — “How do you plan to do that?” you say? That’s a post for another day.
