Does anyone make money in Forex Trading?

[mshwanz]

Hi,
There are 5-10 % traders who make money. The reaosn for their making money , i think, is that they are more deciplined than others. By decipline I mean, that they take a certain range of loss and certain range of profit, neither get inot fear nor into greed.
If you start with small amount, you must understand the level of your risk. And think in terms of trading for atleast 2 to 3 months because only then you would be able to get the true picture.
I would also suggest a good forex advisory service to go with your trading.

Best of luck.
Micheal

[mrEURO]

Like anything in life, your heart has to be committed. You have to love to trade for the thrill of the game. If you think you are going to study a few strategies, read a few books, etc and then begin to make your trading account grow on a constant basis...you will likely not succeed.

Number One - Commit or accept the results that come with all endevours that are half hearted.

Number Two - Decide mentally that you have a learning curve to go thru. I used to pretend I was in "Trading College". It will take at least 4 years to graduate and like any institution of higher learning....you will pay for your degree. You will churn through a lot of your tution depending on your trading style. Accept it, embrace it and enjoy the journey.

Trading is for those business men and women who enjoy the returns associated with a venture that has well above average risk.

You gotta love it, have a passion for it and above all else...know your purpose.

[mshwanz]

i agree 100% with mrEuro

[Croesus]

If I answer positively will you start to trading properly?

Then I say...

YES

[TheSundanceKid]

Originally posted by gibsonmh
I'd like to know if anyone is able to make any money, consistently, in forex trading.

Brokers do!

[Medran]

Originally posted by gibsonmh
I'd like to know if anyone is able to make any money, consistently, in forex trading. I've been trying for three months now, and I find my self 70 pips down, and wanting to quit.

Are there any success stories out there anyone is willing to share. I see great opportunity in Forex, but I'm not sure I have the financial strength to bear with the losses I'm incurring.

Gibsonmh

It all depends upon what you mean by "consistently".

My research suggests that nobody can make money consistently every day or even every week. But you CAN make money consistently if you expand your event horizon to one year. In other words it is possible to end every year with higher equity than the year before.

The obvious next question is "how much can you make consistenty" if you want to trade for a living. There are three important factors that influence this:-

(a) The size of your fund.
(b) The success of your Entry, Stop Loss and Exit strategies.
(c) Your compounding (or Money Management) strategy.

The last is the most influential. If you want a nice smooth equity curve with very little in the way of drawdowns you need to set your sights low but if you are not risk-adverse and can take large losses at times your potential gains increase dramatically.

My strategy is to wait until my tradng fund reaches a specific point and then I draw out 30%. I don't think of the fund as being "real money" at all, only my drawings.

At any given time my fund should always be approximately 70% of my drawings to date.

Have fun

[tim_nn]

Originally posted by mrEURO I used to pretend I was in "Trading College". It will take at least 4 years to graduate and like any institution of higher learning....you will pay for your degree. You will churn through a lot of your tution depending on your trading style. Accept it, embrace it and enjoy the journey.

I agree entirely with the concept and the analogy, but not with the "at least 4 years" part. I think that if you go into it expecting it to take 4 years to graduate, then it's bound to take you 4 years. If you go into it knowing that some people get through it in 6 months while others take 2 or 3 or 4 years, that's more realistic and doesn't weigh you down with so much of a self-imposed limitation. A lot depends on your own perceptions and the people whose advice you choose to listen to.

I admit that I speak with some bias on this subject, being myself one of a small and lucky minority who started off with no losses at all, because I limited myself to learning thoroughly one fairly simple technique which I believed was going to be reliable for me. So by the time I started doing all the "real work" I was actually trading and making a profit already. Such things are possible, but not for someone who starts off with a "4-year mental millstone" round their neck.

I should also admit that when I read your initial post, though, and saw that you were 70 points down after 3 months' trading, my initial reaction was "hey - that's a pretty good start"!

Again, let me stress that I _do_ agree entirely with the concept and analogy which Mr. Euro's using in his explanation. I'm only quibbling about imposing a long and fixed time-scale on yourself.

[bratzdoll]

I have a friend who trades GBPUSD using 4XMadeEasy and she makes profit almost every week, and not ever had a loosing month in her two years of trading. She watches the European and American markets for 9 to 12 hours five days each week. I have stayed overnight with her on occassion, and if I fall asleep and then wake up in the middle of the night, she will be glued to the screen and will not allow me to disturb her. When asked why she trades, the answer she gives "Its a passion."

You said that you have been backtesting strategies. You sound like you have an analytical bent, so if you think you are not cut out for "chart watching", you might check out Trade Robot. I have had good success with their Forex Commerce and Forex Surf and Seeker FX systems this year, but I analyzed their historical results in a spreadsheet and picked my own way to trade their strategies, rather than using their prepackaged systems. Good luck.