Lessons From Jane Foley, A Female Forex Strategist

Have you ever felt confused when learning about forex? If so, don't let it distraught you, for even Jane Foley had experienced the same thing. Here is her full story.

Have you ever felt confounded when learning about forex? If so, don't let it distraught you for even Jane Foley had experienced the same thing. She is actually one of the most prominent female figures in forex, who currently serves as Senior FX Strategist in Rabobank. Seeing her position now, who ever thought that she once got confused when asked to write something about USD? So how did she end up working as an expert in financial world if she knew next to nothing in the beginning? Here, we will not only know about her success story, but also her perception and experience that we can learn from.

How She Started

After completing her master degree in economy, she applied for a job in S&P's MMS International, based only on her feeling that the descriptions drawn in the job vacancy ad would suit her. On her third day of work, she was asked to write an analysis on USD and had to ask around for help. Yet, she enjoyed working there as there was always something new to learn and write about. Enjoying the challenge seemed to be her most reliable weapon to overcome the difficulties in the early years of her career.

Now, she is an experienced strategist specializing in currency. With more than 20 years of experience, Foley's writing on fundamental analysis garners a lot of attention. Before working as Senior FX Strategist in Rabobank, her resume was already filled with impressing job positions in several outstanding financial institutions. She worked for 8 years in Barclays Capital as Director of FX Strategy, and then moved to Gain Capital where she was employed as Research Director. Jane Foley is also known to have research roles at Redtower Asset Management, NSS Asset Management, Samba Asset Management and S&P's MMS International.

What Makes Currency Market Special

In her early days, Foley was employed as an active fixed income fund manager with a team that was responsible for currency overlay business of the equity fund managers. She was so attracted by dynamic in currency market that she joined Barclays in 1997 as FX strategist. Compared with other traded products, Jane Foley cited that foreign exchange provides a window on the world. I find that very exciting, in which she gave the reflection of global economic and political backdrop in the price levels of EUR/USD and USD/JPY as an example.

See also: Forex Volatility Chart

Why We Can't Forget Technical Analysis

Technical versus Fundamental is probably the most common feud we can find in trading analysis. When it comes to each trader's preference, obviously there is no right answer as to which is the better one. As one of the most watched FX strategists basing her view on fundamentals, Jane Foley delivered uncommon comebacks when asked about the importance of technical analysis.

It would be unwise for anyone trading foreign exchange to ignore technical indicators, she said in an interview with FXStreet. They are, in Foley's view, always useful and sometimes hold the most important influence. She even went further by acknowledging many traders' view on technical indicators who consider them as more important than fundamentals, particularly over the short-term.

Then, which indicator would she choose as the best one to accompany a fundamental trader? Although not mentioning any specific answer, Foley commented that getting familiar with key support and resistance levels was the very least thing to do for fundamental traders when engaging themselves with technical indicators. This answer can be quite justified by looking at how variable are the choices of technical indicators in the present time. There is almost no limit in what range you can limit your indicators' choices. ...it is almost impossible to make a judgment as to which is best. The answer will almost certainly vary over time and according to specific currency pairs. said Foley.

Are Women The Better Traders?

In the previous articles, female figures in forex had explicitly stated their opinion on women's chance to be more successful in forex trading. This allegation was backed up by women's psychological tendencies that seemed more patient, more thorough in learning, and more risk adverse than men's.

Quite surprisingly, Jane Foley decided not to comment on that. Apparently, she didn't meet enough women in forex to feel capable of giving her answer. Instead, she provided an interesting comparison to give a hint on her stance about this matter.

"Interestingly, it (how women can be better traders judging from their psychological tendencies) is exactly the same as that made my motorcycle instructor as to why women are easier to teach and can make safer riders. However, different and exceptional qualities make a star bike rider and quite likely the same can be said of star traders."

Unlike Valeria Bednarik who had difficulties in imagining women to dominate in FX market, Foley didn't see any problem in visioning that idea. Still, she gave a distinctive insight on what change that women could bring if they manage to become a majority in this field. According to Foley, ...the market may be less volatile if women were the dominate players since many knee jerk reactions to data and events would probably be dampened. She emphasized her concern with bringing up the impact it could create on central bankers and investors. This would suit central bankers but would provide less opportunity for some investors, said her.

What Changes For Women

As a female strategist who has been working since more than 20 years ago, Jane Foley has a lot of experiences to share. From being one of the only two women graduating in economic major to being laughed at after saying that she was an economist, Foley certainly had it all. Even so, she couldn't recall any significant experience that can be classified as being overly sexist. Looking from the current condition, Foley can sense attitude change, in which she feels many young men are aware that young women are more qualified than they are.

Jane Foley also noticed that the changing ratio starts to move in favor of woman now. There were barely any women enrolling in university when she studied in 1980s, much less those majoring in economy. But now, we can find a lot of female students and graduates coming from economic field

Speaking from her own experience as a high-ranked woman in male-dominated institutional trading circles, Foley shared a precious tip for other women to learn. Maybe women have to be a little more determined to prevail in a male-dominated work environment, suggested her. She also mentioned that there was not much difference between a man and woman at work, as long as you do your job meticulously.

What We Can learn

There are 4 condluding points we can take as valuable lessons from Jane Foley's story:

• Learning thoroughly and pursuing what you are interested in can be beneficial for you, even though you just decided to dive into something new that you almost know nothing of. Jane Foley's story in her S&P's early days was an ecouraging piece of experience to newbies. If she could do it just by asking her surroundings and increasing her interest in learning new things, then why can't you apply it for forex trading?
• Opening yourself to challenge and  can give you unlimitied opportunities. Jane Foley's awesome resume was not made out of nothing. You don't need to take this advice to such measure; changingjobs and always aim for big companies. In fact, this can be implemented to a much smaller aspect like your trading mindset. In facing risks, don't be too closed-minded and afraid. Be brave to take risk if you want to capitalize your account, and be aware of any possible risk so you can prepare yourself better.
• Technical and fundamental are both important. You can focus on one of them, but you can't completely abandon the other one. Their degree of importance can change from time to time, so make sure to equip your trading tool with at least the basic of either technical indicators or fundamental knowledge.
• There are no certain gender-based qualities when it comes to success chance. Enough said, Jane Foley's achievement has proven that determination can break boundaries created to divide men and women potential in their careers.