In today’s member feature, we are excited to introduce a skilled software engineer, trader, and fund manager from Indonesia with over 20 years of experience. He began trading in the stock market back in 1998 when he became interested in AI, particularly neural networks. Over time, his love for learning has led him to create more than 4,000 expert advisors and explore the forex and CFD markets.
A man of many interests, he combines his love for psychology, meditation, and finance to create a disciplined trading strategy. His experience training to become a monk taught him the importance of mental calmness, which he now applies to handle the emotional ups and downs of trading, particularly fear and greed.
He shares the key moments that shaped his career, including a night when he lost a lot of money. Instead of giving up, he used the experience to learn important lessons about patience, humility, and long-term thinking.
As he looks back, he is proud of how he overcame his struggles and kept moving forward. Now, his goals go beyond making money—he wants to give back to society by helping orphanages and supporting social projects. His journey shows how important it is to stay determined, keep learning, and have a strong mindset in the world of trading.
Without further ado, we welcome you, @TYGMedia!
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What are your hobbies, interests, favorites?
I’m a 30+ years old experienced software engineer, CFD, stock market trader, and investor. I’m also a fund manager. I live in Indonesia. I travel a lot to Australia and Singapore. They are just like my second home. However, most of the time, I traveled due to my job.
I love to read and learn something new, in particular something related to programming and chart analysis. I have developed more than 4000 expert advisors since around 2008. I’m an introvert, so having something to do alone is preferable for me. But I also enjoy having deep discussions with others about topics I’m interested in.
I have interest in the fields of finance, information technology, psychology, and meditation. I practiced to be a monk years ago. Until now, there have been times when I have gone to the forest just to meditate. I love pets as well, in particular cats, hamsters, fish, and lizards.
2. How long have you been trading and how did you get into forex trading?
My first contact with trading was with the stock market in 1998. That was when I learned about AI, particularly neural networks. I needed a subject for my research. Later on, I was attracted by the potential profit I could gain each month using AI.
When I moved to Singapore, a friend introduced me to Marketiva. When I registered, I got a $5 equity bonus. Within 1 week, it doubled. (Later on, I lost everything.) Since then, I’ve known about CFDs, and they have become my playground.
3. You mentioned in your trading journal that something was missing in your trading, which made you curious to learn more about the market. How has this curiosity changed the way you trade over the years?
I’m a very detailed person. In the early days, I always asked about the fundamentals of an opinion, which weren’t explained by the mentor. They always said it wasn’t important yet. During courses, the mentor showed us how they could magically avoid bad signals. They said it was a god feeling, obtained through years of experience. Most mentors used this reason back then.
I finally know how important it is to understand market dynamics. It was told many times but no further explanation. Many just talked about it without knowing the very details about it.
4. You’ve tried many courses and mentors since 2005 but didn’t find them helpful. What do you think was missing from those courses, and how did you eventually find what worked for you?
Since I was a mentor myself, I know exactly how the mind of a mentor works. Most mentors didn’t know how to trade. I believe this still happens today. Mentors only teach how to trade at a very basic level. Their techniques are not workable, and they are mostly not honest with their students. They only care about how much course fees they will get and how to attract more students to their advanced classes for more profit. If they knew how to trade profitably, they wouldn’t even bother teaching others. The profit from trading is much, much more.
Most mentors only teach technicalities. A successful trader needs to combine at least three aspects: strategy, money & risk management, and mentality. No one will survive in trading without these three. I finally realized this after looking back on my trading journey. It was a moment when I felt so desperate and just wanted to be honest with myself.
5. What was the biggest challenge for you when you started to trade?
My biggest challenge was fear and greed. They got into every aspect of life. I was restless and felt uneasy the whole day. I wanted to get rich fast and didn’t want to lose any single opportunity. In the end, greed consumed me. I got sick, anxious, and easily offended. Fortunately, I was still sober enough to seek help and digest things in a positive way.
6. Can you give 3 trading habits that have helped you the most in your trading career?
I believe that having good discipline, mental calmness, and an open mind will be the key to maintaining our skills. So, we should always look at ourselves when something goes wrong.
7. What do you think is the most overrated trading advice? Why?
Now, so many people are showing their trading results, earning big profits by using small caps. This alone is the biggest lie among traders. Trading skill is a combination of a few elements that need to be attained through hard work. The market is so dynamic; it’s a blunder to believe one can subdue it by having one or two techniques. Trading is a lifetime journey.
8. What’s the thing you enjoy most about working as a trader?
I love to analyze the market, looking for something new. I love the moment I get a new trading idea, developing it and finally optimizing it. By knowing new market perspectives, we learn more about humans, especially how the greed works.
9. If you could thank one person who contributed positively to your trading journey, who would you thank?
I will say thanks to Kathy Lien, who taught me sincerely during an event in Singapore. She taught me how fundamentals work and her trading strategy with very deep explanations. This helped me structure my trading method, allowing me to develop a more sophisticated methodology.
10. Looking back on your journey as a forex trader, what are you most proud of, and what do you hope to achieve in the future?
I was still young in 2008. I was a prideful and bold person. I believed I was unbeatable, and it made me a reckless person. I made 800k from 4k in around 2 years, and then I lost it all in one night.
I felt so desperate that I wanted to end my life. I thought deeply for days. It was the lowest point of my life. Fortunately, I didn’t hurt myself. My girlfriend kept giving me advice via Skype, even though we lived in different countries.
I’m proud that I didn’t do something stupid. I was able to bring my life back, looking back at the bad experience as a deadly lesson. It’s very important to remain humble and honest. We are nothing but merely a tiny life being on earth.
I hope I can give back to society properly. I hope I can support more orphanages and good social projects anonymously.
11. Non-forex related question: What’s your favorite book or movie of all time?
I love novels. I have a collection of books by Greg Iles. Reading a book lets me feel peaceful. I don’t watch movies a lot, but I watch a few anime, just like Overlord. I also watch The Good Doctor, CSI, and House MD.
It took me a while to find how to make it visible.