OK, I see the $1,000 figure now, thanks. However, that still doesn't account for those "additional deposits" mentioned at the very top that he conveniently forgot about in that sentence. A real 1,000-fold increase in 18 months would crush even Larry Williams' well-documented win (with online images of actual trade-by-trade account statements) at the 1987 Robbins World Cup Championship of Futures Trading. A mere 114-fold increase in 12 months, from $10,000 to $1,147,607. Forgive me if I'm more than a bit skeptical (it's my nature).
It seems probably they both have about the same returns %, turning $1,000 to $1,000,000 in 18 months.
"(Turning $5,000 to) $1 million in 35 weeks?" "Starting capital: $5,000 Ending capital: $1 million Number of trades: Approx 70 Risk per trade: 5% Stops: 30 pips Time period: 35 weeks Pair: eur/usd Time held: trades held less than 24 hrs Is it possible? I am going to run this. Naked screen trading. Channel continuations and reversals. Mostly discretionary. Risk at 5% is high - but hell, I'm a cowboy. My projections say it's possible, maybe even likely. It will depend on how much discipline I can exercise ... absolutely critical to be self-controlled, especially with so much discretion involved."
The above post of mine, which originally provided with just an external link, has been changed by our moderators. In order to avoid misunderstanding, please note that was only a quote from the link, not my own wrting. I'm not that good, yet.
Sure, all it takes is an average gain of a mere 41 pips a week for 35 weeks at 50:1 leverage on Euro, to score that 20,000%. Too bad the forex cowboy's NAV is down 5% so far. Both his risk per trade and his stop are deliriously, impossibly small.
Hey RedDuke (I can't decide if RedDuke is a better ID than DrawDown...), I read somewhere that hardcore investors want someone with 8 to 15 years trading experience before they will invest money with that person (such as with a hedge fund manager), and get this... the trader has to have double digit returns on average for all those years. If this is true then... it may indicate that even the best traders - ones who can attain superior trading results - end up blowing up accounts prior to the 8 to 15 year mark. The reality to that may be... there are many guys who can get high returns... for awhile. Then the market vaporizes them. I'll have to stick by my 10%+ a year take with lowest risk feasible to make profits continously as being a superior trading system. Keep in mind though, that it sounds like you and me are not playing the same game time-wise. Starting in January this year, I chose not to put in the grueling hours I had previously done that enabled me to book staggering gains. I think it's better to trade a 10, 15 or even 25 million dollar account... and get a steady check each month for a percent or better of the trading account size - and be able to spend 80% to 90% doing other things besides trading, than to try to "MAKE MONEY" with an inferior-sized account... at the expense of higher risk. Albeit, you've indicated that you are able to reach the highest returns using minimal risk. I take my digital hat off to you. I have not advanced to such levels. I may be around in 15 years. Whereas those who go for much higher gains may not. If I can do better then I may see you on the other side of the losers who clutter the markets with their 50%+ gains (for awhile). This scenario suits me just fine, as I've seen no way to increase profits without severely increasing risk off the scale of practicality. If I were you, I'd keep my records and in a few years gather some heavy hitter investors to fund an account you can trade - then pad your pockets big time with a hefty cut of the profits you take from the market using their money. Oh yeah, one other thing... $10k into $20k is feasible and so on, as you indicated, but then you cast doubt on turning $100mln into $200mln, etc., pointing to a lack of liquidity. I've thought otherwise, seeings that the ForEx market (supposedly) does around 2 trillion dollars a day in volume. Plenty of liquidity there, I'd think, to continue doubling into the $100s of billions I would imagine. Regards, DD
DrawDown, Unfortunately for me I do not have an access to 10s and 20s mil of $ yet. I am not smart/wise enough to trade long term trends. I do not know what the future will bring. One thing that I do know is that the only way I would loose my account if FCM becomes insolvent for some weird reason my funds are gone. Trading wise, I have plenty of safeguard that will protect my capital. It may sound ridiculous to some but trading 1 or 3 min charts is easier than daily. The main draw back is of course the screen time, but it is well offset by reduced risk. I go through cycles of trades very quick and do not care what market conditions are as long as volatility is there and it is not insane. As far as trading yards in currencies. It is a totally different game, I can not see myself being even close to it. Cheers, redduke
hmmmm, good point. When you trade futures (and it is not the same as trading stocks because stocks are issued by a company in a definite quantity) what you buy, is what somebody sell. So, if you gain money, somebody (or maybe more than one individual) is giving that money from their own pockets. So on average, future traders will gain 0. If you are trading E-Minis, trading fees will move the average to a negative value. So, from all of us that write on this thread, several will be losing money. Some others will be winners. This reasoning tells me that what I should wish is that all of you loose money, so I have more chance of winning. Is my reasoning correct? If not, which is the wrong point?
RedDuke, Yeah, I don't trade trends either - don't believe in 'em. They do happen but... only as an after-the-fact type deal. My trading systems can profit from longer trend moves (over 1000-pts)... and from shorter moves (15 up to 50+ pts) too. Sounds like you're on the right course, and you'll succeed. If you'd ever like to get into spot currency trading, PM me... I can get into the market for $1.00, account open, making trades... the whole deal. I'll get ya up and running. See ya in the market! (It's all about...) The DrawDown
Clarification - you can open a ForEx account for a $1.00, and make trades on the account (as little as .02 cents of your money per trade) - there's no commission in the FX market for most brokers. Heck, I could trade $1.00 for a year! Probably make 10%+ on it, too. I won't charge you anything. Just wanted to clarify that. DD