It is always pleasing to discover young people interested in the markets. Developing a savings and investment habit early in life can put you in a strong position to cope with life’s big events as you get older such as buying a house or even being able to retire early.

Shares’ managing director Mike Boydell recently helped with a student investment competition run by The London Institute of Banking & Finance. One presentation, in particular, caught his eye due to the knowledge of 15 year-old team leader Ryan Rahimikia from Springfield School in Portsmouth.

He was so impressed that we asked Ryan to write a short article for Shares about his interest in investing and trading and his involvement in the competition.

‘Consistency Is Key’ by Ryan Rahimikia

From the day I began trading, four years ago, I can certainly say that I have learned many valuable lessons.

Many feel that our winning positions define the successes of our strategies – but it is actually a paradoxical reality, presented through our losing trades.

I personally feel that trading psychology is a topic of massive importance: the whole essence of resisting from having an emotional attachment with a position. And thus, I would discourage those who aren’t prepared to be flexible with their investments from continuing trading.

I believe that trading is best suited to those who are fully committed and I have always made sure the markets have my full attention. Through this dedication, we are able to develop our own unique and personal strategies.

I choose to always factor in sentimental, fundamental and technical analysis, in order to create an informed judgement on a particular equity.

Some of my trades have included EVR, Premier Oil and Ferrexpo. Once my targets are met, I close my positions accordingly, as discipline is required at all times.

I recently participated in a student investing competition as a way of testing the reliability of my strategy. I organised a team and coached them using my experience on topics such as cash flow analysis and technical analysis, in terms of using simple moving average indicators.

My team finished the practice portfolio round in first position (+12.7% in a month). We then went on to win the first round (+48.6% in three months), outperforming the FTSE (by 46.6%), against 33,000 students.

We then used technical analysis in the semi-final, qualifying for the final. The final consisted of a presentation round and a trading round. We closely missed out on first place, coming in second.

I aspire to one day become a hedge fund manager.

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