Maybe this is the wrong forum for this... But after reading the Forex thread about the guy who loses half his annual salary in a week...and then reading the forexbastards.com site...and after talking with thousands of people who trust Florida/California bucketshops to do well by them (but instead charge a ridiculous vig and make silly gunslinging trades if at all)... I wonder... How do these firms/scammers open SO many accounts? Do people really get what they want out of the market (losses)... How do these scumbags look at themselves in the mirror in the morning? If I were offering someone a managed account targeting a 25-50% annual return, I would get few takers. If I were promising the moon and were an expert in circular logic, I would be flooded with accounts. Ohhhhhh, the humanity! The STUPIDITY!!!!
One problem is that these new 'traders' don't have easy access to independent information to hear the other side of the story. Despite the fact that Forex sites are filled with risk disclosures, they're ignored. Even here, sad to say, where you would think experienced traders would provide realistic risk disclaimers to newbies, you always find threads like this one, currently under Forex Trading. >>How much can u make from a $2000 account in forex Now, I would lay odds that the majority of those who are posting have never netted a dime in long term trading of foreign currencies. But they are full of advice, some with hundreds of posts. And yet another one is fed to the wolves. Life goes on.
"...and so far, looks like it all works out in the end !" Anyway, we can see a really honest statement indeed --- in the end all losers! http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79831&perpage=6&pagenumber=43
markets work because they prey on human nature, as long as that doesn't change - markets will always be here - they gotta have some to buy and sell to...
To expand on that, it's primarily two kinds of people; one who is aggressive and full of shit and another who is gullible and seeking some easy money. Plenty of examples of each can be found here on ET.
Actually... The world can be roughly divided into 2 kinds of people: (1) Builders - honorable people who believe in doing honest work... And "building" something worthwhile or providing an important service to their community. (2) Exploiters - people who spend their lives scheming of ways to fleece Group #1 of their hard earned money. These people are actually worse than common criminals, pimps and drug dealers... Because it takes COURAGE to be an outlaw... Being just an ordinary sleazebag is the Height of Cowardice. By age 30 most people are firmly in Group #1 or Group #2. An experienced person should be able to easliy spot most Exploiters in a 5 minute conversation. They are shallow, materialistic, and have no spiritual dimension to their lives. The Sell Side of the securities business hires a very high percentage of talented Exploiters... And then trains them with tried and true methodologies... To fleece average people with Financial Jive Talkin' Bullshit. The Buy Side of the securities business... Is where an honorable person can have an honorable career... And mostly avoid sleazebags... If one does not eventually get corrupted by the money and culture.