Firstly I’d like to give you an overview of the reasons behind this meeting and then later I’ll share with you on a more personal level my experiences in trading.

The main reason Leah and I have initiated the women in trading network is that studies have proven that there is a difference between how men and women trade.

Louise Bedford, a well known trader and author in Australia dedicated an entire chapter to these differences in her book, Trading Secrets.

In summary she explained that

- men face several specific trading challenges, including overconfidence, overtrading and aggression; whereas

- women on the other hand -  tend to encounter a lack of confidence; which results in a need to talk about their results and a concern that trading is a male domain

Rather than stand in judgment though – by embracing these differences we can establish action plans to enable us to  trade more effectively, regardless of our gender.

I think the key point Louise makes that stands out to me, is that women have a need to talk about their results. 

For example; when we’re upset or stressed, besides going shopping or eating chocolate, we will want to talk about our problems.  To us - sharing, is a sign of trust. 

When Men on the other hand, when feeling stressed, they generally drink alcohol or invade other countries. They tend to react aggressively.

So besides wanting to share our trading experiences, the next challenge is to find the right person, to share our results – good or bad – and without the fear or perception of being judged. It’s not an easy task – and that’s one of the reasons we’re hoping these events will continue - to provide a platform for you to meet other ladies looking for similar support.

The other key factor that is becoming more common and applies across both genders, is that fact that trading can be very isolating.  Nowadays you can trade from anywhere as long as you have a computer which means not a lot of interaction with other peers.

For example, we run an online forum for share traders and the general trend amongst both Australian and NZ forums is that they are experiencing a real BOOM in their popularity  - which I think can be attributed to the increasing number of solo traders.

Forums fulfil the sense of belonging to a community of like-minded people who they can share ideas with.  Our sharetrader forum is a prime example, some of these posters have been members for over five years and clocked up thousands and thousands of posts.  They have even taken it a step further by instigating pub meet-ups in the main centres so they can get together face to face.

Another good way to interact with traders is to join organisations such as STANZ and the NZ Shareholders Assn.

In summary, we thought by actively bringing you together as a group we can use this gathering as a basis for you to share and learn in a non-threatening environment.