While studying in university, Jay Tun learned to trade from a colleague during a part-time working stint. Since then, he became entranced with reading charts and the markets. After graduating, Jay Tun started trading right out of school in 2012.
At the same time, Jay Tun also started coaching in a trading programme he had attended when initially learning the ropes. In 2015, he left this coaching gig to start Swim Trading – adopting his own trading learnings and methods.
Today, Swim Trading employs 3 staff – 1 content strategist, 1 technical strategist and another manager whose duties span the entire business. However, it wasn’t smooth sailing even approaching this point.
Having To Rely On His Parents For Financial Support, While His Peers Were Earning A Good Living
During the initial phase, Jay Tun still had to rely on his parents for an allowance, while finding his way to trading success. At the same time, he was seeing his friends and peers all going out to find good jobs and earning a good pay packet.
While it was financially taxing, Jay Tun describes the experience as “humbling and allowed him to understand the value of money, and how hard it was to earn even $10.”
In turn, this completely changed his spending habits.
Starting Swim Training To Mentor And Learn From Others
After a few years of honing his skills and building experience in the markets, Jay Tun was started finding success as a profitable trader. This led him on the next phase of his journey – which he actually had no intention to ever start – Swim Trading.
Swim Trading started during a chance meeting with a friend asked. Knowing Jay Tun was trading full time, his friend asked if he could help coach him. Jay Tun turned him down a few times because he wasn’t sure if he could impart what he knew into teaching materials to help others.
Again, Jay Tun took the opportunity to create a syllabus, which could be delivered in a 4-week period. After coaching his friend (who also became his first student), many other people that he had interacted with during the previous coaching programme started reaching out to Jay Tun.
“That really kickstarted what Swim Trading has become today, and my journey to train and mentor budding traders. I realised I was not alone in my initial struggles and having overcome it, I also realised I could make a different to people stuck in the same predicaments I was in.”
During our conversation, Jay Tun also points out that Swim Trading isn’t a highly commercialised one-sized-fits-all programme. This can be both a good and bad thing – from a scale point of view, this makes it harder to grow – but Jay Tun prefers interviewing potential students before working with them – which ensures they are more aligned in the learning journey.
Making The Best Of The COVID-19 Downturn
Traders thrive on volatility. In 2020, the markets crashed at breakneck speeds, and also recovered relatively speedily. Jay Tun was forced to cut loss or scratch some of the trades giving back big chunks of his profits.
Nevertheless, he took the opportunity to switch gears into day trading (trades that last within the day). This move not just recovered the losses and it propelled my portfolio to very healthy gains.
He also took advantage of the depressed share prices for his longer-term investment portfolio to buy companies at very good prices.
As he turned his trading strategy around, Jay Tun also had to evolve Swim Trading. He was able to grow his community several folds by making use of technology (Zoom, webinars, FB lives, telegram) to keep everyone together and loop more people into his network. While Jay Tun describes the process as “painful”, he also acknowledged that it “was a great move and a much-needed trigger to force me to act swiftly” as well as develop new skills in online presentation, hosting webinars and creating and delivering e-courses.
This week, we speak to Jay Tun in our 5 Question With…column to understand his entrepreneurship journey better.
Dinesh Dayani (Dinesh): You started trading right out of school (i.e. without ever getting a job), was your parents against this or were they supportive?
Jay Tun: As traditional parents, naturally they were hoping for me to seek formal employment, especially after supporting me through university. But, even as they were not 100% onboard with this route, they were supportive enough to give me the runway I needed to explore and figure things out.
Without their blessing and support, especially since I was still financially dependent on them in the initial stages despite completing my university degree, I would never have persevered and made it to where I am today. This was also at the stage where most of my peers were earning good stable income from their jobs.
Dinesh: Being a trader, you have to keep close tabs on the markets, and at odd hours as well. How much sleep do you get each day, and what does your wife say about your sleeping habits?!
Jay Tun: (HAHAHAHA) She gave up. As we have been together since 2004, we know our lifestyles inside out.
I sleep mostly at 2-3am and wake up around 11am. My wife is extremely supportive and she manages our toddler at times where I have to trade (at night) and sleep (mornings).
Dinesh: Why do successful traders want to teach? If you dedicated this time to your own trading, wouldn’t you be better off?
Jay Tun: Choices in this world is not in scarcity. It doesn’t mean that if I dedicate myself to my trading, and kept everything to myself I would be better.
Moreover, the bulk of my income is still made through my trading, and not training. This allows me to spend my time to coach serious traders than to earn a living from just educating others. With that, comes other problems as well, when traders can’t get rich “quick enough”.
One of the greatest benefits I have today, with the Swim Trading community of traders, is that I have hundreds of students that are forging on towards the same goal – trade consistently.
And to be “preaching” the right trading decisions and processes daily to my community also keeps me in check. It also forces me to be a role model and carry out my trades the right way it should have been.
Also, having hundreds of pair of eyeballs to shout out potential trades, and to be able to tap into my community member’s insights also allows me to relook at things from a refreshed perspective. I am also motivated to be a better trader, for them and for me.
I cannot count the numerous occasions I got into good trades because some members highlighted it and brought it to my attention. This is the power of leverage we get with the right community.
Dinesh: As a trader, the more funds you have in your trading accounts, the more you can trade. How do you balance between growing your trading portfolio and taking money out of the business for personal expenses?
Jay Tun: Trading, no matter how profitable, is an active source of income. i.e. if we stop trading we will not get “paid”.
Hence my objectives are clear. I make use of trading to super charge the growth of my funds. And from time to time, I would channel the excess funds to investments that gives me a positive cash flow.
I do have investments in properties, exotic investment products and ad-hoc projects/ventures that gives me a consistent cashflow that I require for expenses.
As much as possible, I would spend below my means and not withdraw excessively from my trading account (unless I am going to invest it elsewhere). After all, how much I make is a sub-set of the funds I have. Think 1% of $50,000 vs 1% vs $500,000. It’s a difference of night and day.
Dinesh: What is your advice to graduates who are aspiring to become entrepreneurs right out of school?
Entrepreneurship is a tough journey. It’s one where we trade a 40-hour work week to bootstrap and slog for a 80-hour work week. And to top it off, we might not even get paid the same as what we might get in our full time employment.
Think it through, talk to your family. They might discourage you, but in the talks, you will also know if you have their support (financially and mentally). Without your family involvement, you will give up eventually. I have seen so many entrepreneurs fail in my last 10 years, especially those that has to “fight” their own family on their choices too.
And, always strive to be a better version of yourself. That’s all you need. Just keep doing, and get in touch with people that has been there and done that. They will be able to offer you the right advices that will save you a lot of time, and pain.
You won’t know until you ask. So don’t be afraid of rejections. It’s just part of parcel of life. Not everyone will like you, you just have to attract those that likes you and is willing to help you.
Read Also: 5 Questions With…Kenneth Lou, Co-Founder & CEO of Seedly
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