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

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

  1. If that's your attitude, then it may not be a good idea for you to trade until you lose that emotional attachment to money. It'll cloud your judgment.
     
    #951     Apr 13, 2014
  2. For myself, I don't pay any commissions when trading in the spot FX market and I can also control how small or big I trade instead of being tied to a fixed amount of currency.
     
    #952     Apr 13, 2014
  3. You have to learn to manage a volatile income.
    The ideal is to sweep your account regularly and have someone else manage the cash - this is actually a "job".
     
    #953     Apr 16, 2014
  4. It's just fantasy-- outside of the institutions in FX
     
    #954     Apr 16, 2014
  5. camil7

    camil7

    Don't underestimate the cost of spread. If a market moves 60 pips in a day and you pay 3 pips spread to enter and exit, that's 6 pips or 10% of the day's range. I've worked in markets at an institutional level for years so I fully appreciate the cost of spread. Banks on the other hand are market making and therefore earning the spread all day. On $1b+ worth of flow. You can do the math.

    If you're going to give trading a go full time get a broker with tight spreads and you'll have given yourself a major advantage. I use Pepperstone out of Australia, there spreads are about as tight as I've seen. No complaints.
     
    #955     Apr 16, 2014
  6. Maybe you should consider "Swing Trading" and work. This will alleviate the "bills to pay" pressure. In trading you may have a bad run, personally I'm on month 4 of a bad run. It takes alot of money in savings and a shoe string budget to survive.
     
    #956     Apr 17, 2014
  7. Maybe you should consider "Swing Trading" while working. This will alleviate the "bills to pay" pressure. In trading you may have a bad run, personally I'm on month 4 of a bad run. It takes alot of money in savings and a shoe string budget to survive.
     
    #957     Apr 17, 2014
  8. I'm personally contemplating if it's time to go full time after being a FX student for 7 years. I've always been a star employee, thinking it's time for me to make money for myself and like to share a few things I've picked up over the years.

    Going full time doesn't mean you are actively looking at the charts in excess of 8+ hours a day. I actually spend a good amount of time combing over the news, anticipating how the market will react to upcoming news. I also review my trades, good or bad to see if there's anything I missed.

    I trade off the 1hr chart. To me, this provides the best trading cues, but this is for me, not necessarily everyone else, but my profit % has improved trading off of this, this is my style that I've developed.

    I dont' necessarily agree that all trades must be opened via limit orders. But I do believe to always wait for a better entry when looking at the chart, esp if you just missed a move, DON'T chase it! But exits should almost always be Limits or Stops, unless you want to cash out and walk away for the day.

    My goals aren't huge, I have a daily cap of 5 trades and a maximal profit amount to keep my trading to a minimum. It is true, overtrading will kill your account. I do better at 5 trades than 10 trades. 5x20pips is still 100pips a day.

    I still ponder if I should have a part time job on the side to maintain some solid income, but if I can keep what I have going, it might not be necessary and I can look into making money with another type of business.

    I welcome any feedback since I'm here to get my head checked..lol.
     
    #958     Jul 8, 2014
    limcheese22 likes this.
  9. Definitely get a part-time job...even better...full-time
     
    #959     Jul 8, 2014
  10. w3c

    w3c

    Of course there are full-time traders and they are working in bank, broker,... If there is no full-time trader, so who do trade money worth trillion dollar a day? Part-time trader?
     
    #960     Jul 10, 2014