I just love these posts, making it all seem like it's the easiest thing in the world...if that is the case- why aren't everybody millionaires?
When I must believe the results a guy in another forum is posting it must be possible. He says he makes 15% a month auto "auto is on a distinguished road Lightbulb MA for Mid Term System This is a mid term system which catches the big moves .. Trade type: mid term trend and swings Trade Frequency: Many trades weekly. Trade size: constant 0.1% or less Target: 200 pips or more Stop: 100 pips max Pairs: many pairs diversified Monthly Avg: 10% (approx and subject to change) Draw down: 8% (approx and subject to change) Leverage: Medium (20% max margin used)"
joemiami can actually be right. Just because not everyone can make that amount it doesn't mean it can't be done. I actually make 20% on a good month, with about 14% on an average month. I could probably make more by raising the risk on each trade, but that is something i don't want to do, because every now and then volatility picks up, or cools down, events come up and i really don't want to blow it all up. I risk no more than 2% and the risk stands at 1.5% on an average trade. So... 50% can be done, although it is RISKY AS HELL. Stop being the know-it-all. With spot fx you can do it because of the huge leverage. However, if you don't know what you are doing or have little experience, you can lose it all. In order to actually get the money in your account, you need to withdraw every month and only keep margin money in the account. Basically, in terms of technicals, fx daytrading is the ultimate field of play. it pays good and it also rips 80% of the people off. If you stick long enough to it, you can cross over into the 20% lot. Wish you success.
Read Market Wizards by Schwagger, The Money Masters by John Train and other biographies of top traders and the performance numbers of various hedge funds, mutual funds, trading programs etc, then get back to us on how realistic it is to do 15-20% year after year after year, let alone 25/30. Can it be done?, certainly, and esp with a smaller (under $10million) account. People on ET always make the mistake of assuming one will compound their gains till cows fly over the moon, which is silly, but lets assume you do compound a $20,000 account, doing 27.5% per year. Twenty years out, which isnt really that long in the grand scheme of things you have grown $20,000 to $2.57 million. (this has some tax flaws etc in it, but you get the idea). Can it be done? Absolutly! Has it been done! Yes, by a good number of people, but a good number of people have also won the lotto. If you can average 25 to 30% annually over a 10 to 15 year period it will certainly put you in the top 10% of all traders, probably in the top 1%. It takes dedication, focus, and a little bit of luck along the way too (for example personal and family illness, divorce, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, children etc can exact a hell of a toll on your overall performance if you aint careful). Hope I'm being helpful here for you. Brandon
If trading was as easy as a lot of the folks on ET and most of the gurus out there make it seem to be none of us would have houses to live in, food to eat or cloths to wear. The world would drop what they do and trade...but then what would they trade if there is no production??
I simply don't think that mixing up stock trading, futures trading and currecy trading (spot) in a discussion about yeary percentage is right. One thing is institutional trading and talking about money managers and one thing is talking about private traders with smaller accounts. One thing is large size execution in stocks and one thing is large size spot fx execution .... Don't think that because top money mangers can have a return of 25% per year, nobody can beat that, because it is absolutely not true. And besides, there are people who are not in the spotlight and make millions. The problem is that the "market wizards" everyone looks up to need media exposure because in most cases they manage OPM. Think about it! I doubt they make less than 50% a year. They need to claim that in order for their funds to return a fair sum to people, so they don't go asking for 150% of their investment in the fund.... And that's a personal opinion noone can bash.
I think Brandon's post clears it. The account growing 100% is possible but if you were a professional, even if you can stomach such a drawdown, your clients would not love it at all. They would flee. A private trader with experience, guts and a money reserve, can stomach that drawdown and move along.
These types of threads are the most entertaining on ET. They are also indicative of the people who are the reason I actually do make about 30% return a year. Please keep them coming.