In a country where the median age is only 24 years old (Indexmundi, 2017 estimate), financial literacy may still well be at its infancy stage in the Philippines.
Traditional institutions still continuously educate their consumers on how to utilize and maximize financial products such as investing in time deposits, paying credit card bills on time, taking care of their credit history and so on.
At the other end of this spectrum is more active engagement on using financial products: online trading. There is only a minority of the population who are versed in the stock markets and currency trading, and many of those who dabble into it, give up because of the lack of knowledge and skills in navigating what seems to be a very complex financial activity. This is something we do not learn in kindergarten, after all.
But this is a challenge SmarTrade is driven to overcome as it puts majority of its efforts in helping people understand how they can be successful in online trading.
“Our goal is to build a fair and transparent trading community and at the same time, to uplift and innovate financial education in the country by giving free learning sessions for everyone,” this was a strong visionary statement from SmarTrades President, Joyce Mayo.
Recently, SmarTrade organized Strategy or Tragedy: The Truth and Myths about Trading and Investment, a one-day seminar help at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City. The event was joined by more than 300 participants who were interested to improve their trading skills through the lecture series given by experts from different financial institutions.
The event started with a talk from one of the prominent financial educators in Singapore, Ang Kar Yong, Chief Currency Strategist of Alpha Play Forex Trading School. Kar Yong outlined several practical techniques on how to gain income from trading without spending unnecessary time and money.
Martin Lam, Chief Analyst for Asia Pacific of AT Global Markets (ATFX), a leading global online trading company, highlighted the necessity of studying the different strategies in trading such as monitoring market movements. Other Speakers namely, Jason Tee and Justin Lee from ATFX also talked about assessing different financial instruments, trading psychology, and reading charts, among others.
The roster of international speakers was also joined by local personalities. Mike Acosta, founder of MacEconomics Financial Market Consultancy, Inc., engaged the audience with his talk on the different investment products such as shares, indices, and cryptocurrencies. Alex Samson, Director of Philippine Association of Forex Traders, Inc. (PAFTI), talked about different methods on how to manage different kinds of investments and financial instruments.
With the robust lineup of topics, participants came out of the seminar with better understanding of the world of online trading.
“We are very grateful to everyone who attended and who continuously supports all our learning sessions, and to our speakers who unselfishly shared their knowledge and expertise in the field,” Mayo ended with a positive note.
SmarTrade remains true to the vision of its leaders by holding free introductory seminars on online trading every Thursday and Friday and advanced workshops every Wednesday at the SmarTrade Training Center, 25/F Philam Life Building, Paseo De Roxas Street, Makati. To know more, visit or call 02 8 8213638 | 02 8 8213639 and 0998-588-3746.