Do full-time forex traders exist or is it just make believe?

Discussion in 'Forex' started by zbojnik, Apr 4, 2013.

  1. I am trading forex for the last 10 years ,waiste of time , switching to stocks and maybe futures like sp500
     
    #961     Jul 10, 2014
  2. I've met many people who claim to be successful Forex traders but ironically, they also were sellers of so-called "coaching" programs.
     
    #962     Jul 10, 2014
  3. I am full-time retail forex trader since 2010 (More precisely, my computer is, because I am 100% automated). Over this period, I averaged 2.5% per month from trading (before taxes). My average performance has decreased over time (yes, decreased !) because I decreased my risk with increasing capital.
    I think higher average returns (2-5% per month) in Forex with reasonable risk is achievable but requires significant expertise and hard work.

    My advice to aspiring full time traders (from home) is : Do NOT leave your current job until :
    1) Your average net income from trading is at least 2x your current income. This requires a significant amount of capital
    2) You have at least 1 year of capital on a bank account which is not at risk (or you keep a part time/full time job to pay the bills).

    Once you meet 1) and 2), you may want to give a try to "Full Time Forex Trading, No other income". It may not suit everyone personality because of the level of stress (Am I going to recover from this drawdown soon ? The baby needs a new pair of shoes) + trading from home is a lonely venture.
     
    #963     Jul 11, 2014
  4. Nighthawk

    Nighthawk

    Check out www.fxim-markets.com .

    They consist of

    a) institutional FX Brokerage (Prime Brokers ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, HSBC)
    b) 2 or 3 FX hedge funds
    c) FX Managed Account Platform (more than 120 money managers in one database)
    d) FX Hedge Fund formation services

    I would describe them as a "FX asset class" boutique firm.
     
    #964     Aug 2, 2014
  5. Excellent no-bullshit-just-give-me-the-facts-Mam post! :)
     
    #965     Aug 2, 2014
  6. xandman

    xandman

    At least for the US, the reason you don't have a lot of full time forex traders is that you can more easily go full time with other financial products.

    -with options you can be biased with selling premium until you blow up from a black swan

    -with stocks you can lean on the upward bias until the end of the (comparatively regular) business cycle

    Leverage is actually the bane of forex. At 50:1, even 20:1, the price series looks extremely noisy. I used GP to create algos based on breakouts, trend following, and mean reversion strategies. Even with some likely curve fitting, it looks like forex has a really poor risk/reward ratio compared to algos for stocks.

    Additionally, the spread costs scale up with your sizing. there's a very good reason IOM seats for currency futures is worth $250K. That seat should be your minimum investment for a career solely based on currency trading.

    People in other countries have the rebate game working for them, so they can scalp all day.
     
    #966     Aug 2, 2014
  7. LOL, so true! I actually no longer listen to any of these professional advertisers. I switched from day trading to swing trading as of May 2014 and fully developed a system that I think will win atleast 40% of the time as of August 1st. So as long as continue using "good money management" I will get back in the green and excel.

    Laugh, criticize, or ......, I'm going to post my trading results from trading the Currency Market. I was laid off on September 5th, 2013 and started trading full time September 9th, 2013. Here are my results so far and I will continue to post my results until I reach $100,000.00.

    September 2013 +8.15%
    October 2013 +12.16%
    November 2013 +13.25%
    December 2013 +45.63%
    January 2014 +3.46%
    February 2014 -22.56%
    March 2014 -3.38%
    April 2014 -32.41%
    May 2014 -18.77%
    June 2014 +1.59%
    July 2014 -22.15%
    August 2014 As of 8-21: -3.88%
    September 2014
    October 2014
    November 2014
    December 2014

    This is real real results from an "average currency fulltime trader".
     
    #967     Aug 21, 2014

  8. Forex traders became extinct a long time ago - the trades you see here are done from the afterlife with Confucius acting as the broker
     
    #968     Aug 24, 2014
  9. Surprise

    Surprise

    The trillion dollar a day ... etc is the Currency exchange volume , banks , institutions , Govs ... etc
     
    #969     Aug 24, 2014
  10. i still keep my day job and make extra on forex trading with hotforex, im not confident enough to go full time and i trade manually, I'd like to go automated but have no idea where and when to start. how i wish there was 28 hours in a day
     
    #970     Aug 26, 2014