Interview with the winner of Asian Forex Championship

The winner, an Indonesian trader Ariful Miftakhuddin, was awarded the title "The Best Asian Trader" and a PAMM ECN account worth $3000. Ariful Miftakhuddin should really be admired for his trading talents and outstanding results! The winner made more than 2000% profit, leaving his competitors far behind. It was a clear victory.

We were lucky to interview the most successful trader in the Asian Forex Market and asked him a few questions about the championship, his trading strategy and plans for the future.

1. Could you please tell us a few words about yourself? 
I am 25 years old and I am single. I live in Indonesia. My hobby is music and bird watching.

2. Could you please describe your “way in Forex”: how and when you started, how you moved on, when you managed to make the first profitable trade, etc.? 
I learnt about Forex trading about three years ago. Actually, I started learning by joining some thematic forums.

3. Do you trade with real money? Are you successful at it? 
Yes, I do trade in a real account. Well, what concerns profitability I consider it is enough for me, when my profit is bigger than my losses.

4. What is trading for you: your main source of income or just a nice pastime, which earns you some money?/ 
Trading is my main source of income. I consider it my job.

5. How did you learn about ForexCup contests? Have you ever participated in contests held by other brokers? 
For the first time I came across the mentioning of ForexCup contests at one of the forums, that I usually read. So, I decided to try - and now I like it very much. I have never participated in competitions, which are held by other brokers.

6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of ForexCup competitions? 
As for me, the main advantage of ForexCup competitions is free participation in most contests. I admire it because you do not lose anything even if you are not successful. And I cannot think of any disadvantages, the project is of high quality.

7. Let’s talk about the Championship you won – it was one of the biggest ForexCup events, how did you dare to participate? 
Actually, when I saw the announcement, I just decided to try. I thought “Why not?” and joined the championship.

8. We know that before that contest you have already participated in 16 other contests – what encourages you to try again and again? 
My main reason to participate in each contest is to learn from other traders and to develop my own trading skills.

9. Weren’t you scared by the high level of other traders in the contest? Did you follow the results of your competitors? 
I should say that I wasn’t afraid – if I already joined it, I just had to do my best at trading. And I didn’t follow the results of other participants – I was totally concentrated on my own tasks.

10. How did you make your trading decisions? Did you think everything over or did you let yourself risk sometimes? 
In most cases I carefully analyzed the situation, but sometimes I made risky decisions too.

11. Did you dream about the victory or you were just sure that you would win? 
I should confess that I haven’t even dreamed about the victory. So, it was a total surprise for me!

12. According to the contest statistics, you made a lot of trades – and you traded mainly GBPJPY or other GBP pairs – is it your favorite trading instrument? Why did you choose it? What other pairs do you like to trade? 
You are totally right, most of my trades were made on GBPJPY – just because it’s my favorite currency pair. Also I often used EURJPY and USDJPY, because those instruments usually have nice movements.

13. Also, we can see that you had really few losing trades – so, did it take you long to work out a profitable strategy? What is your strategy based on? 
I created my strategy while I was learning to trade at Forex. While preparing it, I tried to use different indicators, but finally I picked Ichimoku.

14. What did you feel at the end of the contest when your leadership was proved? 
I was very, very happy about my victory!

15. You got a PAMM ECN account with significant money in it as a reward – are you excited to start your PAMM manager career or would you prefer just a money prize? 
I enjoy having a PAMM ECN account – I have always dreamed about it. But if you had given me just a money prize, I would not be upset *smiling*.

16. How do you plan to manage your PAMM ECN account? 
I want to develop it, to attract Investors and manage it as long as possible – and make great profit, of course.

17. Are you going to participate in forex-contests again, after being awarded such a great title? 
Forex-contests are my hobby, so, you will see me in ForexCup competitions again and again.

18. Could you please give some tips of advice to newbies and to those who still plan to start participating in ForexCup contests? My main advice is “never give up!”. You should try again and again until you succeed. And do not forget to improve your skills by both learning theory and practicing it.

ForexCup team totally agrees with the winner: never stop on your way to your dream. Take every opportunity to improve it and develop your skills – and success will find you. Do everything possible – and you will be awarded!