An Inspiring Story of a Visually Impaired Stock Market Trader

Today we are going to unveil an inspiring real-life story of Mr. Amit Patel, a visually impaired banker who has managed to make consistent profits as a day trader for several years. Amit hails from Gujarat in Western India and works for the largest public sector bank in India. He is 100% visually impaired and uses screen reading software to operate a computer and mobile devices.

Are you already wondering how he trades in the stock market being unable to see anything in the real world? Read his story yourself and find out.

Below are the excerpts of the discussion I had with Amit about his profession, personal life, and trading journey.

Tell me more about yourself? Your background, profession, Education, etc.

My name is Amit Patel. I am banker/singer/guitarist/day trader. I was born and brought up at a small village named Varkhad situated in south Gujarat. I work with SBI as a customer assistant since 2011. I have my own musical band based in Ahmedabad. So by profession, I am a banker cum singer but I love trading more than anything. I have done MBA in human resource management.

I am 100 percent visually impaired. I use the computer as well as mobile with screen reading software.

Also Read: Kuntal Banerjee: A Medical Student cum Trader

How did you start your Trading Journey?

After completing my MBA, I started working with Kotak life insurance. But that job demanded 12 hours per day so I couldn’t concentrate much into music.

In 2009, I left my well-paying job to pursue a career in public sector bank, as public sector banks have fixed working hours

So I appeared in the entrance exam for SBI (a popular public sector bank in India). And I was sure that I would be clearing this exam. However, I was also aware that the interview and placement will take at least 1 year after exam results. So I had lots of time and nothing to do.

It was during this period that a friend of mine told me about stock markets and how one can start trading with minimum investment without any fancy degrees.

He cited a few examples of his friends and relatives who multiplied their investment within one month by trading in stock markets.

I was left awestruck and thought this is an amazing opportunity to make passive income. Immediately, I opened an account with a well-known broker and started trading.

I used call and trade facility as it was quite popular during those days. Initially, my broker used to suggest me scrips to trade on.

My first trade was in NSE Nifty, which earned me a decent 1200 bucks, though I did not know what is nifty and how to trade it.

But winning gave me confidence. So I started trading with 1 lakh capital and kept winning and losing.

Every single win increased my confidence level, but one day 50% of my capital wiped out. I immediately realized that it is not possible to earn without knowledge.

Somehow I started learning through friends who had previous experience this field and started trading again.

Since I used call and trade facility, I heavily relied on my broker for the execution of any trades. One fine day, since my broker did not pick up my call I could not square off my BankNifty options position on time and lost 70000 INR in a single trade.

This was the 2nd big loss in a row and it shattered me completely. As a learning from this loss, I started exploring online trading.

As I am visually impaired and used a computer with a screen reader, it looked far fetched to get any success in online trading. When I approached few people to teach me online trading they were reluctant as nobody thought I could do it.

As there were no other options, I started learning myself but lost all my capital during this learning phase.

Finally, I stopped trading as I had no money left to invest. But I didn’t stop learning as I was pretty convinced that there is a way to make consistent income from stock markets.

In the year 2011,  I got a job with State bank of India. I had a steady monthly income, so I started trading again with whatever knowledge I acquired within that short period

From 2012 to 2014, I lost more than 200000 INR, but every single loss taught me something new.

I took a break again and compiled all my learnings at a single place, also I started learning from other sources. In parallel, I was building capital for trading.

It was the year 2016 when I started trading seriously based on the knowledge I had. I stopped taking tips from my broker and traded solely based on my own strategies.

This was the point when I started making profits from stock market.

What is your Trading Style?

I prefer to trade in BankNifty and Stock Futures.

Mostly I do intraday trading, as I am quite impatient to hold any positions. My profit per trade is hardly 3%

I prefer short selling over buying any stocks. Mostly I trade during gap ups and trend reversals.

I don’t wait for a huge profit so my success ratio is very high.

I put a lot of thoughts and rules while entering a trade but  whenever my trade goes against me I immediately close the position

As I am blind, I trade using screen readers both in mobile as well as a computer. I can’t study candles and indicators. I rely only on price action.

In my opinion, the current price along with high and low tells everything you need.

I hardly trade in 10 scrips along with Nifty and BankNifty, so I understand their price movements well.

I never take entry without proper confirmation.

Many people tell me that without reading charts and indicators, one cannot trade successfully, but it is not true at all.

I feel fundamental analysis doesn’t help much in day trading, so I rely completely on technical analysis.

I consistently earn 20 to 30 percent on my capital per month, and I don’t trade with huge capital so I don’t heavily risk my investment money

I will gradually increase my trading capital once I get more comfortable.

Since 2017, I do make minor losses on some occasions but month on month I am profitable.

I have also won Zerodha 60 day challenge.

What are your long term goals?

I will start trading full time when I have enough capital for trading as well as my expense of 1 year. And it will happen soon.

Which is your favorite Book related to Trading?

Trading for a Living by Alexander Elder

Also Read: 5 best technical analysis books for stock trading

Any advice to fellow traders?

Self-learning is the most important in trading. Before choosing trading as a career it is important to understand your own personality and base your trading style accordingly.

And please don’t rely on any tips or experts. Start slowly, don’t invest much capital without learning the basics of the stock market.

Don’t try to predict market based on your gut feeling, as no one can do it.

Without discipline and proper risk management, no one can get success in trading.

Greed, fear, and hope are enemies of traders. Whenever you find that your trade is going against, exit immediately. This way, you will survive in the long run.

Decide per trade loss and per day loss. And stop as you cross your daily limit.

You will always make a mistake but don’t make the same mistake again.

Keep a record of your trades. Trade as per your strategy and rules. The money will follow. Let the market decide the outcome.

Never set a fixed goal as I want to earn 1 lakh or 2 lakhs in a month. Start thinking in percentage.

If you are day trader and trade with capital below 10 lakhs than anything above 10 percent per month is amazing.

And lastly, don’t trade with brokers money.

Bracket and cover orders are quite popular these days but please avoid them for the sake of survival. Use only normal order.

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Thank you, Amit for sharing your story on our platform! Guys isn’t it surprising that a visually impaired person has been trading successfully since years when most of us panic to hit the “Buy/Sell” button even when we can see it. He lost his entire capital couple of times but never lost hope. His story is a great example for the notion that “Nothing can stop you when you have a focused determination to do something”