It was late January 2018 when I decided to quit sports betting after losing 300,000 Kenyan shillings in just two weeks. I was searching for something more predictable and stable than gambling. Looking back, I realize I wasn’t deeply addicted—when I decided to stop, I still had 100,000 Kenyan shillings left in my Mpesa account.
Naturally, I was announcing to everyone that I was done with betting and was asking for ideas on what to do next. It wasn’t surprising that people were eager to share their suggestions. However, I can’t recall most of their advice, as I quickly dismissed it for one reason or another. I wasn’t interested in anything that required my physical presence, as I needed to maintain a normal lifestyle and have time to do other things in my life.
I had just graduated from Form 4 (high school) and, like most people, I was busy attending driving school. I refused to go to computer school, telling my dad that I already knew more than what they could teach me. He didn’t push further—keeping me occupied with something was enough for him. I also joined the local football club. Now, I know what you’re thinking, but I promise it was a strategic move. After all, 19-year-olds were earning millions of dollars per week playing football!
My daily routine was pretty straightforward: driving school from 10 AM to 12 PM, football practice from 5 PM to 8 PM, and repeat. Let me get ahead of myself and say I did finish driving school and even passed the test—despite not really knowing how to drive. You can probably see how sports betting fit neatly into that schedule. But enough about that. One day, James (not his real name, as he prefers to remain anonymous) randomly said, 'Why don’t you try forex trading?' Wait, what’s that? His response was simple—he sent me a link to 'Babypips.com'.
To convince me further, James mentioned how 'a guy' he knew had made a killing through forex trading. Normally, I would’ve asked for proof, but for some reason, I didn’t—which still baffles me to this day. Anyway, Babypips is a free online course for learning Forex trading, and in hindsight, it’s one of the best resources out there. Six hours later, I had completed the course and was ready to start making millions. I was cautious, though, because just a few weeks earlier, we had gambled big. We even bought tickets to Dubai, confident we’d win a huge payout by betting on three football teams. Two had already won, so the last one seemed like a sure thing. Let’s just say I spent the next few days frantically calling Fly Emirates to cancel that flight.
I told my group I was done with betting and was now a forex trader. While they continued losing money betting, I started exploring this new thing called Forex. It felt like an initiation—everyone had to complete the Babypips course and provide proof to join an exclusive WhatsApp group. This helped filter out the unserious and uncommitted. I shared the link to the course in our betting group, which had around 35 members. In the end, only three of us made the cut. Two more joined later, but the original crew was just the three of us.
In February 2018, we set up demo accounts—accounts with fake money that simulate real trading—and for 30 days straight, we immersed ourselves in learning. We tested every strategy we could find online and in books. I even organized Zoom meetings to share what I’d learned and discuss the strategies the gang had come across. For the first time in my life, I voluntarily went to the library looking for forex books. I didn’t find any, but I did stumble upon Warren Buffett’s book on investing, which I immediately bought. After that, I proudly started telling my friends I was an investor. A few months later, I solved the lack of forex resources by creating my own Telegram channel filled with forex books. I think my Cameroonian friend, Klein, manages it now.
By late February, we felt ready to invest real money. Ironically, we had lost over $20,000 in our demo accounts, which were just simulations. So, in reality, we were far from being prepared. Nevertheless, we pressed on. We started with $20—equivalent to 2,000 Kenyan shillings at the time. We analyzed various currencies, such as the US dollar, Canadian dollar, and Euro, to predict whether their prices would rise or fall. If we anticipated a rise, we would buy the currency and plan to sell it later at a higher price. If we expected a decline, we would borrow the currency at the current price, sell it immediately, and then repurchase it at the lower price later, pocketing the difference when we returned it to the broker.
Currencies move very slowly, so investing $20 in Canadian dollars might only yield a $1 profit over several months. The key to amplifying gains is using margin—essentially a loan from your broker. With a $20 deposit, you can access $100,000 in margin. This leverage means that even small price movements can lead to significant gains or losses. Here’s the catch: if you start with $100,020 and end up with $100,005, you’ve effectively lost $15. If your account balance drops below a certain threshold, known as a margin call, your broker will automatically close all your trades to protect their loan. The broker’s primary interest is to safeguard the loan they’ve extended to you, and this process is automated to ensure they minimize their risk.
Despite the complexities, we were fortunate to make $100 in a week, which felt like a significant achievement and validated that we were on the right track. To give you some context, Forex markets operate 24 hours a day, five days a week. We were on a rotation, monitoring the account closely. The strategy was to close any bad trades before the automation triggered a margin call. This was crucial because even if our margin (loan) was reduced, it would still give us a fighting chance.
At this point in my life, I had finished driving school and passed with flying colors. My dad then asked if I wanted to learn Chinese, and I thought, 'Why not?' So, I enrolled in an afternoon Chinese class. Soon after, I added an Automotive Engineering class at Kenya Coast National Polytechnic, which ran from 3 PM to 5 PM. I continued training with the soccer team from 5 PM to 8 PM. My nights were dedicated to monitoring the Forex markets from 8 PM to 1 AM, and my mornings were focused on the craft. We even had a Zoom meeting at 8 AM, long before Zoom became popular. The toughest nights were those when it was my turn to watch the markets. I remember my dad started to notice my red eyes and, I think, suspected I was up to something like smoking. As a result, he stopped giving me extra money.
The initial win of $100 was crucial because it allowed my four friends to each receive $25. I didn’t need the money, as I had a substantial amount saved from my betting days. As the head of the group, I used my funds to start my first forex account with $50. It didn’t take long before my forex account grew to $1,000. I remember going to the bank to withdraw $300, and I had to explain and document the source of the income. I used the first withdrawal to buy used laptops. Since I lived in Mombasa and two of the guys were in Eldoret, I had to fly to Eldoret to personally deliver the laptops.
At this stage of my life, I was in the process of applying to schools in the U.S., and a trip to Eldoret felt like a strategic move since I needed to take the TOEFL, an English proficiency exam. Ironically, I later found out that Kenya, being an English-speaking country, is exempt from the test. Looking back, it’s one of those moments where you realize some lessons only make sense in hindsight.
From this point on, we experienced both significant gains and losses, but the most striking was a $5,000 loss that took six months to accumulate. The painful part was that these were highly calculated and planned trades, not careless ones. The issue arose because, on higher timeframes, currency movements were moving sideways. We were quick to cut our losses, which meant that what might have been long-term winners turned into losses. This pattern continued for six months, leading to substantial losses. It was further complicated by the fact that I was in the U.S. at this time, juggling college, trading, and managing a forex community that had 256 members at its peak.
To make matters worse, I was also making extra money by selling trading tips, so the losses affected more than just me. When my recommendations didn’t pan out as expected, it not only impacted my own finances but also those of people who relied on me. This situation created a ripple effect, where my financial setbacks began to affect my reputation and the trust others had placed in me. The pressure of managing these expectations, combined with the stress of my own losses, made the situation increasingly difficult to handle. Soon enough I quit trading.
A few months later the original gang stopped trading. The happy ending to this story is the whole gang made it out of Kenya with three of us in the US and two moving to Australia.