My Trading Journey: How I Went From Broke College Student to Trading Full-Time
Last updated: 3 July 2026 · By Spencer Li, CFTe
I started trading as a broke college student working part-time jobs to pay my way through school, and over about 15 years I built it into a full-time living and a teaching business. The short version: I got the formal credentials first (double degree in Accounting and Business Finance, then the Certified Financial Technician (CFTe) qualification and CFA Level 1), realised I did not want a desk-bound banking job, and spent more than 10,000 hours studying charts and backtesting strategies until I had a system I trusted. That system, the one I still use, takes about 15 minutes a day and works on any market. There was no shortcut and no single lucky trade. It was years of reading, screen time, and keeping a public record of my results, losses included.
This is the long version, from the part-time jobs to the speaking tours, and what I would tell you to copy and what to ignore.
Where I started: a broke college student, not a trust fund
I did not come from a well-to-do family. I worked several part-time jobs to pay my way through college, and I knew that if I wanted a different life, I had to earn the skills myself.
At first I assumed the most direct route was a formal degree leading to a high-paying bank job. So I worked hard for it. I got into a strong high school, then into one of the top business universities in Singapore, scored well across the board (top-few-percent SAT range), and on the side became a nationally ranked chess player (7th). In college I took double degrees in Accounting (B.Acc) and Business Finance (B.BM) to build the foundation and research skills to actually understand markets. I made the Dean’s list and picked up a few awards along the way.
Then I noticed the catch. Bankers are paid decently, but you largely sell your time and your soul to the job, with little room to enjoy the money. That is true of most corporate roles. I decided I would rather take on the markets myself than work for the bank.
Learning the hard way: 10,000 hours of books and backtesting
There was no clever hack here. I read hundreds of books on trading and investing (I still log every one on my Goodreads), and I put in well over 10,000 hours studying markets and charts. I backtested almost every strategy, indicator, and system I could get my hands on. The research was thorough to the point of obsessive.
That phase is unglamorous and most people quit during it. Personally, I think that is the real filter. The edge is not a secret indicator. It is the willingness to do the boring repetitions until you genuinely know what works and, more importantly, what does not.
[photo: snapshot of my Goodreads account where I log all my reading]
Getting certified: was the CFTe (and CFA) worth it?
Honestly, yes and no, and it depends on what you want.
I became a globally recognised Certified Financial Technician (CFTe), the technical-analysis qualification awarded by IFTA (the International Federation of Technical Analysts). It normally takes months or years of study to pass. I was also offered a scholarship by the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Institute, cleared Level 1, and then chose to stop, because by then I was close to finishing my own trading system and would rather spend the hours there.
Here is my honest take. The certifications taught me real structure and gave me credibility later when funds and institutions wanted to know I was not just lucky. But a certificate does not make you profitable. Plenty of certified people lose money, and plenty of profitable traders have no letters after their name. Treat credentials as a foundation, not a finish line.
Building the system: why “15 minutes a day” is the whole point
After years of studying, trading, testing, and tweaking, I finished what I call my “15-Minute System.” It mattered to me because of a few specific features:
- It needs about 15 minutes a day to trade, so I can run it in spare pockets of time.
- It works on any market: stocks, forex, futures, commodities, crypto, and so on.
- I only need a mobile phone to get the signals and place the trades, so I can trade anywhere.
- It does not require me to sit and monitor the screen all day.
- It is built on predictive price action and behavioural analysis rather than lagging indicators.
- It targets medium-term moves using four price-action strategies.
That last point is the bit most people miss, so let me explain it plainly. Short-term moves are dominated by computer algorithms, and long-term moves are dominated by fund managers. The medium-term swings in between are where a retail trader actually has room to compete. That is the lane the system trades. (If you want the full pattern set behind it, that lives in the Definitive Guide to Trading Price Chart Patterns.)
What the journey actually looked like, by stage
Here is the path in order, so you can see roughly what came when.
| Stage | What I did | What it taught me |
|---|---|---|
| Broke student | Part-time jobs, top-school grades, double degree (Accounting + Business Finance), chess at national level | Discipline and study habits, not money |
| Self-study | Hundreds of books, 10,000+ hours of charts, backtested almost everything | What actually works versus what only sounds clever |
| Certification | Earned the CFTe; cleared CFA Level 1, then stopped on purpose | Structure and credibility, but not profitability on their own |
| System | Built the 4-strategy, 15-minute, any-market system on price action | A repeatable process beats a clever one-off call |
| Trading and travel | Traded from a phone across 70+ countries and 6 continents | Freedom is the real payoff, not the flex |
| Teaching | Media features, fund and exchange trainings, global workshops | The skill compounds when you teach it |
Trading while travelling: the freedom was the real reward
Once the system worked, I only needed a phone and an internet connection. So I did the thing I had wanted to do for years and travelled. Over time I made it to 70+ countries and hundreds of cities across six continents, still spending about 15 minutes a day “working.” I keep the photos and routes in a separate travel log if you want ideas.
Alongside the trading, I funnelled profits into longer-term holdings to build more than one income stream: a mix of fixed income, ETFs, tech stocks, REITs, property, and some private businesses. I will be honest about the point of this section, and it is not to brag. I came from a humble background and earned every cent the slow way, so I have no interest in flashy cars, luxury watches, or branded clothes. I do not own a car. I am perfectly happy seeing the world in jeans and sneakers. I am only showing you what is possible if you are willing to do the work. Your version does not need to look anything like mine.
Teaching it: media, funds, and the speaking years
After a while the financial press started covering what I was doing, and the interview requests came in. I fit in around 20 media features around my travel schedule. The Business Times noted that I had “developed [my] own way of reading charts to understand markets,” and Synapse has since reached a large global audience through its articles, videos, and seminars.
That visibility led to funds and financial institutions, including the Singapore Exchange, asking me to share strategies and train their staff. I tried being a “professional trader” inside an institution for a year or two. It was profitable, but I missed the freedom of trading my own accounts rather than being desk-bound.
What I did love was the teaching. It struck me that retail traders rarely get the same quality of training that funds get, so I started running workshops, seminars, and full-weekend courses, and took guest-speaking slots where my schedule allowed. I shared stages over the years with speakers like Chris Gardner (the inspiration for “The Pursuit of Happyness”), Jim Rogers (co-founder of the Quantum Fund), Jay Abraham, Brian Tracy, and prop-trading manager Mike Bellafiore. In 2015 I spoke at the National Achievers Congress in Singapore to a live audience of more than 2,500 people.
[photo: speaking on stage at one of the live events]
My mission now: everything, online, for anyone willing to learn
These days I have stepped back from the constant guest-speaking circuit. The mission did not change, only the format. I took the time to consolidate everything I teach and put it online so anyone, anywhere, can learn it without needing to fly to a seminar.
That means the same system and the same training I used are now available to you directly. The only real question is whether you are ready to start.
One honest caveat: the system is the easy part
Here is the bit a good origin story usually leaves out. The four strategies and the daily routine are learnable. You can absorb the pattern recognition in weeks. The hard part is everything around it: standing aside when there is no clean setup, sizing so a bad run does not hurt you, and following the same boring process on day 400 the way you did on day 1.
A scanner can flag a setup in a second now. It will not supply the judgment to skip the bad one, or the discipline to keep your risk fixed when you are tempted to push. That judgment is the first of the Five Edges no tool can trade for you, and it is the part actually worth learning. The journey above is really just 15 years of building that judgment, one trade at a time.
FAQ
Who is Spencer Li?
Spencer Li is the founder of Synapse Trading and a Certified Financial Technician (CFTe) with around 15 years of trading across stocks, forex, crypto, commodities, and bonds. He keeps a public trade log with losses left in, and teaches a low-risk swing-trading system that takes about 15 minutes a day on any market.
How did Spencer Li get started in trading?
He started as a broke college student working part-time jobs, took double degrees in Accounting and Business Finance, then spent 10,000+ hours self-studying, reading hundreds of books, and backtesting strategies before building his own price-action system.
Is the CFTe certification worth it for traders?
The CFTe (Certified Financial Technician) gives you real structure in technical analysis and credibility with institutions, which is why I pursued it. It does not make you profitable on its own. Treat it as a foundation, not proof you can trade.
What is the “15-Minute System”?
It is a swing-trading approach built on four price-action strategies that targets medium-term market moves. It needs about 15 minutes a day, can be run from a phone, and works across stocks, forex, futures, commodities, and crypto.
Do I need a finance degree or certification to trade?
No. The degree and certifications helped me, but plenty of profitable traders have neither, and plenty of certified people still lose money. The screen time, the process, and the discipline matter far more than the credentials.
So that is the journey, the long way round and with no shortcut hiding in it. The question I will leave you with is the same one I asked myself back when I was broke and reading my first trading book: are you ready to start your own?
If you want the framework behind the system, start with the pillar: The Definitive Guide to Trading Price Chart Patterns.
Want the exact routine? Grab the free 15-Minute Swing Trading Starter Kit. It is the same once-a-day process I use to trade any market in 15 minutes.
About the author. Spencer Li is the founder of Synapse Trading and a Certified Financial Technician (CFTe) with 15 years of trading across stocks, forex, crypto, commodities, and bonds. His trade log is public, 404 trades, losses left in. He teaches low-risk swing trading in 15 minutes a day, one system for any market.
Education, not financial advice. Synapse Trading is not licensed by MAS to advise on investment products. Trading carries risk of loss; past performance is not indicative of future results.
Related
Definitive Guide to Price Chart Patterns (pillar) · The 15-Minute Swing Trading System · Expanding Triangle Strategy · About Synapse Trading
