SOMETHING FRESH(PART-2)

About Trading on Nymex

Though initially hesitant, Vishal approached UTI Bank to fill up the forms for remitting funds overseas. In Vishal's trading kitty was just Rs 50,000. The bank charged him a small commission and opened his account with Nat West Bank in London. On January 23, 2007, Vishal's bank account with Nat West showed a deposit of $1114. That is just 2% of the $50,000 that RBI permits him to remit for trading overseas.

Since, he is familiar with physical silver prices, Vishal decided to trade in the same metal on Nymex. Using CMC's platform, Vishal made his first Nymex trade on silver with $64 as margin money. On January 30, he put in another $64. Put together, he had bought 30 kg silver on Nymex by leveraging $134. As silver prices were rising, on February 1, he booked a profit of $570 (Rs 25,000) on his total investment of $134.

On February 3, Vishal checked Nymex silver prices and found that they were still at the level on which he had sold. Quick off his feet, he put in $135 at one shot this time to pick up 30 kgs silver. Last week, he again booked profits of $550. His Nat West account now shows $2277. Vishal's next plan is to buy 350gms gold on Nymex and see how it goes. But success has not gone to his head. I've no desire to become rich overnight, he says. Slow and steady is his mantra.
What makes Vishal special? Nothing really, Except that he is an apt symbol of young India who is not afraid of doing venturing out into the world. Unlike old-style sharpshooters, Vishal does not do arbitrage between Nymex and MCX metal prices, which is a notch better than satta. He has no due how dabba trade works.

But like Ratan Tata, L N Mittal and Kumaramanglam Birla, he too has understood that India has opened its doors to opportunity overseas. The facilities available to Vishal are available to all of us. It only needs thinking big. He is fully aware that index funds, professional traders, and punters across the world eat tiny investors like him for breakfast. As Vishal says, "FIIs are our enemies. They take money out from, the share market. We have to earn some of it back for India. “It's not a spirit you can ignore.