Genuine question, not trying to be condescending. I really want to know what the catch is or where people are getting hung up. Background: I started practicing forex trading as a hobby a couple weeks ago using TDAmeritrade's thinkorswim and then with a practice account on Oanda (TD won't let me trade forex with my amount of money). I haven't started trading real money yet. I wanted to make sure I knew what I'm getting into. Anyway, since I started trading, I haven't had a negative day. In fact, most days I'm positive 5-10%, and that's with my extremely limited knowledge of trading. I just did some research on the Internet and then jumped in. I have zero method whatsoever, I just keep in mind some basic tips I gleaned online combined with patience and common sense. Yet, whenever I look online I see tons of negative people saying this and that, that Forex trading is a gamble, scam, etc., that you might as well go to the casino, that 90% of people lose money according to official sources, that the brokers have to profit somehow, etc. I was reading through the terms when I signed up for Oanda and even they said that 2/3s or their users lose money. How can this be? Aren't these people taking this seriously? I mean it's their money and everything. I understand some people are brash or just trying to get rich quick, but certainly not the majority of them? Could it just be that I have what they call beginner's luck? Is it somehow different with real money, will new forces working against me appear as soon as I start trading with my own money? I want to know what the catch is. Again, not trying to show off my skillz or anything, I'm just skeptical. I really just jumped into this and the returns seem too good for someone who just started with no knowledge whatsoever. Thanks in advance.
Paper trading does not count. That simple. Years ago, I played online poker. Made money consistently with play money. Then I funded an account with $200. Lost that. Did it three more times over a month, Lost that too. The TradersEXPO New York comes around each year in February. I started going is 2011. In 2011 many of the booths were FOREX. We talked to two of the brokers. We asked a lot of questions to see if we wanted to add FOREX at my old firm. These were the metrics we were told by two different FOREX brokers. Same numbers. Overall, average account starting size $5000. Number of account that lose money in the first 90 days, 90%. Amount they lose, 90%. Leverage is lower now, but still. Good luck. Bob
The magic word you're needing to learn is hubris. As in, "He had the hubris to think that the market he saw right then, with it's natural rhythms and manifest (if massed) agendas, was the market he would see tomorrow. He did not know of "Hard Days." He did not know of those grotesque exceptions to the Mean Reverting mantra that would come to seem so obvious -- so forgiven -- in hindsight. He had not learned the awesome, awful truth of Keynes' "The Market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."
Demo account fills are a joke. You can buy on the bid and sell the offer all day on those simulators.
Yes Yes. When you start trading with real money, you will know as you will experience firsthand everything that you have read online. Good luck!
This is definitely the case - and forget weeks, there are folks who made money for YEARS (e.g. in the late tech boom, or nonstop buying the dip in index futures over the last decade) without ever actually learning how to trade, then gave it all back and more once market conditions changed.
"The less you know about something, the more convinced you are about what you know." - Charles Faulkner "It's not what you don't know that gets you in trouble, it's what you know for certain that isn't true." - Mark Twain
I'm sorry but I just burst out laughing reading this. Son, you are in for a rude awakening. Lucky for you there are a lot of replies to your post already and you will learn something. I didn't have the privilege of anyone telling me what not to do in the beginning and painfully paid the price but today is your lucky day. 1. Sim trade for a long time until you learn all the technical aspects of trading. And I mean a long time so you don't make Entry and Exit errors, position sizing etc and are totally comfortable with the trading platform. 2. While Sim trading: develop a viable Edge. Whatever it is. Read books, online posts, find out what an Edge is and then make sure you have one - hone it, trust it and make sure it is an edge. It can be as simple as being able to spot a trend and then entering in the same direction. This aspect of trading: developing an Edge and learning to trust it will take most of your time. 3. Have a set of written rules to trade. This is a business, you need a methodology to operate it, it has to be tested, proven it works and of course written down. This can never be broken. 4. When you start to trade with real money. Trade very very small - in fact you will eventually learn to trade small if you last in this business - this way when your trade goes against you, you will only lose 1% to 2% of your equity and more importantly you won't lose your self confidence. 5. Make sure you have a stop on your trade and never ever move it. This is super important. If you even move your stop once, you are building a terrible habit and you will take a massive loss one time or the other which will more than likely knock you out and more importantly drain you of self confidence. 6. Letting your winner's run, this will be very hard in the beginning. This has a lot to do with your self worth outside of trading - how you see yourself really. Good luck with this part it's all psychology. 7. And talking about psychology - the first real trade you put on you will discover what trading psychology is all about. This will take you years to master. Eventually you will read books on it. These are the ones you should read: Trading in the Zone and The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas. Good luck to you. You're gonna need it. And no you have no trading Skillz, but with enough time and patience you might develop it. I would read this a few times. This is the journey you are on from now on here: http://www.thecrosshairstrader.com/2009/12/the-six-stages-of-trading/