Hey Derek - welcome to the forum. I'm also from Chicago and trade forex. I think some of the advice above is right on - take your time to educate yourself, don't quit the day job till you're really properly set up and remember that probably the #1 killer of newbie fx traders is overleveraging yourself. Good luck!
...........and Get this !!....no sooner after I wrote how I have been making 400 a day doing this in the demo (which was totally true) ....the last 2 days Ive been wiped out by the sharp movements I wasnt expecting ...'lost $3000 yesterday and 500 today...... so whats the lesson I'm learning now.... yes, it can be done, but Boy, watch out!?! and dont get cocky if you start succeeding.... it takes total mental concentration at all times (active day trading)..... and Ive been tired the last few days... not paying enough attention when I should.... not being patient enough....for example....the other day...after much analysis,I 'Knew' that the euro was going to drop at some point....I estimated ,down to the 146.80 area.....this was the other day when it blasted down to 146...I dont remember where it stopped146.06 something like that..... I got a margin call and it automatically closed my transactions for a loss. anyway, I knew a half hour ahead of the movement that there would be a drop, but for some rookie reason...I 'decided' that it wouldnt drop until later in the day....and that first for the next hour or so, it would go up into 147.25 territory...(which it did....THE NEXT DAY!!)....so I placed progressively ,3 buys (another rookie mistake) before anything happened (another rookie mistake) and 15 minutes later the euro crashed 100 points....!! and I sat there watching it and getting depressed....In a Demo trade !!??! the money was fake...but the depression was very real. and it is today again as well....why, because I really want to do this and make it work, and I see I have the talent, but I also see now that I have a long way to go still before I am ready to use real money. and now, its like the whole last month that Ive been making progress learning, is all washed away and I'm back to square one... what a roller coaster. I plan to keep at it, but ,whats the lesson, so many lessons.... a dozen lessons I'm learning every day. I guess this latest lesson is ...DONT decide to go and start trading with real money right after you FIRST get good..... wait...wait.... until you STAY good for (how long?) 4 months in a row ? Be patient. the 2 thousand fake dollars I made last week that took me 7 days to make....I lost 3 thousand in 2 hours because of bad rookie moves. it was a very important lesson. I'm glad it happened now..... I hope I never forget it. stay tuned...... this is journey is going to be Awful..... and I have to do it. I know I have to do it.to find out if it can work.
Make sure your first real $$ account is not much and only trade 1 - 2% of that. Odds are very high you will lose first account.
....thats what I hear..90% of people lose money. so of course the question is...what are the 10 % doing to make money.? I look at it like becoming an expert in anything. it takes natural talent,hard work and a lot of practice. and a little luck maybe... most people who play golf cant break 80...maybe only 10 % can shoot par,and 1/2 of 1 % become professional. maybe the 90% who fail are just regular folks who buy the 'get rich quick' hype of the forex marketers. the learning process is interesting at least ,so far. I imagine spending a half year doing the demo before I even think of putting real money down. in theory, for what its worth, it seems like the idea is to get really good at tuning into the process,the dynamic movements, and becoming expert at analysis.... and making the right decisions.... and if that can work, it shouldnt be necessary to worry too much about the 'amount of transaction,per se, playing at 10:1 leverage just to yield a 4 dollar gain...is not going to make any money.... why not play at 50:1 and make 25 dollars a pop,...if you know what youre doing,and you do it smartly...it ought to work. I cant imagine anyone making money with a 300 dollar account placing the lowest transactions in hopes of making 3 dollars a pop. you'd make more money standing on a corner with a homeless sign. so part of what I'm learning in the demo,is to not be afraid to wager a higher leverage transaction, watch it drop to a 60 dollar defecit in 2 minutes, and watch it come back , and go back down again, and then see it become a 150 dollar defecit, and sometimes end in a closing loss, and let it be ok, if Ive had 12 other transactions that have earned me 500 at the end of the trading day. I'm sure I would freak out when I lose my first 30 dollars. and then I would pick myself up, see a right moment,place my transaction and make the money back. if I cant do that after a year of practice then I will say it doesnt work,or I dont know how to do it. at least I've gone beyond the first rookie lessons...to forget about the green and red arrows....and the marketing hype...and get serious about learning real forex .
Personally, I like forex trading over equity trading. I realized my biases with equity trading and finding some decisions were influenced by my fundamental analysis of a stock. I found myself holding onto losing positions and letting winners ride longer because I was rooting for the stock. Unfortunately, no amount of cheering will drive the stock price. I have no attachments to currencies and trade based solely on technical analysis. I just started trading forex, I'm up 26% the last three days I started. I must've been taking that money from tom123 and other newbs on lower inclined learning curves. I'll admit I wasn't used to the wide spread in pips and the negative starting position when you entered a trade, but I learned to manage that quickly. You can find my trades here, http://elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=118332
Looks like youre doing well so far.... remember,dont get cocky over your success,if youre new to this...it only takes a few minutes to lose alot.... sometimes. what broker are you using? I'm just doing practice demo right now. I just read a bit about the issues of "non-dealing desk versus ....bucket shop dealing desk.... my demo is with FXCM...and I'm reading negative things about them. I like what I'm reading about EFX group.... .so much to learn about everything...yikes..... I want to start making real money but I know better not to even think about that until quite a while,even though the practice is going well so far....... my wife wants me to go back to my old job... ....idea: does anyone have any good links to really good tutorial web sites,places to learn faster, etc... I'm starting to find some myself , but would be eager to hear everyones favorite learning web sites, what things should I study about...for example....as I analyze the candlesticks....Ive yet to read anything about candlestick analysis,and I'm sure I need to read something that explains it all.... any good candlestick web sites out there to learn from? I appreciate any comments.thanks.
To learn all about candlesticks you'll want to read Nison's book, "Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques".
Hey how are you doing man? I remember exchanging with you those PM in the middle of the night. Did any of what we talked about helped/not helped? Glad you are doing well. What leverage having been using? I mean the size you open divided by the cash in account (not the broker leverage). cheers
Those PMs were helpful. I just needed to take some time and figure out what everything meant. Once I had that under control it was a cake walk. I'm using the same technical analysis for day trading stocks. My biggest problem was setting up the time table for my expectations based on the charts. For example, I would see resistance at a level and enter a short position, but either due to lack of trading activity or whatever, the position would take longer to follow the expected course of action. Based on the technical analysis, I was confident in the position and would wait the time it took. The positions I take have been profitable, usually stepping into and out of a position. When the position is a sure thing, I increase the leverage on the position I enter into. I will usually exit the higher leveraged positions with about the same pip difference on the profitable side. I use 2:1 leverage to scope out a position and usually pyramid in higher up to 4:1 leverage. Again, thanks for all the help. I know I'll never be able to say I have this all figured out, but from applying what I do know, I'm doing pretty well.