What is your weekly return?

[quote=ondskap;8850796]{quote} If you are asking yourself that question, then just look at his publicly viewable Trade Explorer. It's the thing that most people on here, especially the ones who make wild claims of making shitloads of money DON'T have.

when some very good traders here had trade explorer , it became a easy thing for poor traders to follow us and when we had a loss the traders became aggressive towards us so THAT IS A REASON WHY SOME OF US DONT HAVE THE TRADE EXPLORER AND I DONT MAKE WILD CLAIMS

My goal is quite simple -- the profit per week is higher than max drawdown.

For this week, my goal is accomplished

I just want to say that the thread is completely irrelevant for a number of reasons.

1) people who fail, do not believe success is possible
2) People lie, and want to promote success

The Main reason it is completely irrelevant is because someone else's performance has absolutely ZERO effect on you. Whether they are profitable and earning 100% of their account each day, or earning 2% of an account in a decade... THEY are not paying YOUR bills.

I can understand the rationale to ask... I really can... but trying to compare yourself to others, or comparing others to others has no bearing on you as a trader (or a bystander for what seems to be most of the people here....).

It is very easy to plug into a spreadsheet and compound earnings over the long term.. 100% every day for 52 weeks... But it only tells half a story.

The bigger question is are YOU happy with YOUR return.

You can easily become a millionaire earning 0.5% of your account over x amount of x time units, but it comes down to are YOU happy with it?

It is not even a question of how much do you need to earn to be a pro trader... it is different to EVERY one. Would I be happy with a return of 2%? Yes with the consistency of 2% per month, i would take that happily. Would I want to ONLY have 2% per month, no, i would want more. But the very fact that a percentage is arbitrary... I would much rather have 0.5% of a million than 50% of a hundred...

Also, retail traders and hedge funds are COMPLETELY different. As you go up the money scale, your margin gets reduced, your leverage gets reduced to the point where you can not scale effectively. That is the simple reason it is far easier to double a hundred bucks than it is to double a million. It really is not rocket science.

So the spreadsheet compounding becomes arbitrary, simply because it is not scalable - the goal posts change dramatically. If you are really planning on having a million dollar position, i am afraid, your leverage will be 1:1... ie, you will be investing your Million, not 'lots'. The movements become smaller in relation to the position size, and you are UNABLE to make the returns of a small account.

As i say though, it is completely irrelevant what someone ELSE earns, as either a percentage, or as a size. They dont pay your bills.

You are right, but don´t be so dramatic...Some people want (mainly the newbies) just to believe and when some traders post here that they make money it is call ¨motivation¨, peple need motivation, need to believe, need hope...some times that is all they need to stay....

I Dont think it is particularly dramatic to say it is irrelevant - because it is, and it is more a dig at the ACTUAL dramatic people who are swearing and being abusive earlier in the thread.

As i said in my post, i can understand the reason why the question is asked, but it bears no relevance to any one,or any system!

That's exactly it. Threads like this aren't pointless. They serve as good motivation for people losing hope.
This thread really helped me realise what is possible and to not be put off by all the negativity you get on FF.
It got me out of a dark patch in my trading and was just what I needed.

Its possible to make money trading Forex. Just follow the rules that have been posted on here a thousand times. Manage risk, be consistent, don't take profits too soon, cut losses quickly. If you analyse your past trades for long enough and iron out everything you are doing wrong you will eventually get there.

bloody good point of view and some sound advice

Hi All,

Unfortunately the statistics are not on the side of the amateur trader. A portion of our trading activity has now been regulated and as such I have been fortunate to gain an insight on how things 'really' work out there. And if I'd known before I started I might have investigated another vocation...

However, to stick to topic:
Our trading team uses a 0.25% risk at trade inception and we consistently return a crack over 20% per month. Our combined activity round tripped a little over £3 billion last year at considerably lower than 50:1 leverage, so we are probably not minnows.

By extension, a 1% risk would return 80% a month. In theory. This however does not model our risk strategy so we don't do it. But its entirely possible. I would suggest anything beyond this is either heavily leveraged, or so insanely risky that a bad days trading of 10 consecutive losses would demolish an account.

I hope this helps.

Oh, that is so true!!

A few of my observations: (for those familiar with these I apologise in advance)

Within our trading setup we have a section that reaches retail traders. That means those who don't trade for a living and need the support of various organisations specifically set up to facilitate their trading. For the most part, these are folks using free charting software and off-the-shelf execution platforms. Think MT4 with FXCM.

There are a few stand-out behaviours that appear consistent across all of those who are losing. While this is not exhaustive (I don't want to waffle) these are a few of the things I notice pretty much every time I see big losers. You might notice a thread.

- No risk management. The naive belief that simply buying and selling will ultimately make money, with little or no consideration for the journey to get there. Most obviously, absolutely no idea about what the impact even 2 days of losing trades will have on their account. They tend almost exclusively to be reactive traders, where they start with a big position, lose, take another big position, lose, then scale back dramatically to refit with their now lower account balance.

- No plan. How many trades does your system generate per day? At x risk/exposure, what are you likely to make back? How many times can you lose at x, before you will modify your exposure? In a perfect world, how many times over the last 100 days has your system actually met or exceeded your objectives. If you are completely wrong, by 50%, what impact will it have on your account? What times are you able to trade? What has the instrument you are trading done in the last 1/5/20 days? What are your costs/fees associated with your instrument and are they competitive? Are you keeping a journal of your trades so you are able to deconstruct your losers and confirm they were executed within your clearly defined rules?

- The belief that one cap fits all. Humans are in a constant state of change. The markets are quite literally alive. Beasts. Our approach sees a CONSTANT (and I mean CONSTANT assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of our activity) revision of the markets at the end of every day. Even the days we don't trade. There is a constant stream of discussion and observation that is being evaluated by the team. Retail traders sit at their computer, with one free to use tool and hammer away not understanding why they lose. They become emotionally married to a product and stick with it for months, even years. Never winning, but just holding on.

- Not giving themselves a chance to become a relative 'expert'.

I could carry on but I realise this might all be a little much gas. You will notice a trend above, this all comes down to the activity and attitude of the trader, and probably has little or nothing to do with the actual system or product they are trading.

Right this moment (well, I'm writing this but I have it open on another screen) I have a spreadsheet of all of the currency pairs we traded this week with a blow-by blow summary of every trade we took, every one we missed, every one that met or exceeded our target and each one that failed. I am able within a few moments to determine exactly how well I performed. Nothing in the spreadsheet surprises me. Nothing. It plots 4,992 data points using our activity. And people ask us why we are trading profitably.

We are surrounded by some of the most magnificent tools. We have better live info than any broker ever had on the trading floor perhaps even 5 years ago. We have deltas and matrixes, we have volumes and levels, we have order books and fills. The picture really is quite bright, if you have a plan. Folks who know me know I have a patent dislike for the free stuff out there. There is a reason its free. While not exhaustive, if someone is charging $10,000 for a course and is able to provide independently audited track records and a live trading room as part of the fee, there is probably a reason. The independent audit is the key here.

Keep an open mind. If your system isn't working today, take a look at something else. Not the system, the product. The DAX is a fantastic index, yet when I speak to amateur traders they say they don't know what it is. Well, its just another set of candles on a screen. Thats it. They just happen to be coming from a considerably different data source, with a particular personality, but if I hid the labels and asked you to look at a 15m GA chart and a 15m DAX chart, you might not be able to tell them apart. So why not look at them? Don't change the system, change the product. Look at CFDs, look at futures, look at indexes, look at currencies. They mean absolutely nothing to us other than a vehicle to generate profit. They are no more scary than the first day you looked at the GBPAUD.

We probably consider ourselves experts at our particular system. It relies on range and tick data over time-based charts, and incorporates range bars amongst others, with clear trend identification. Members of our team are invited to lecture at modest assemblies of traders and I have yet to hear a question posed that someone on our team has not been able to answer. None of us started off as an expert, in exactly the way I probably wouldn't be able to remove and overhaul a Mercedes engine. But, start me with a spanner and a manual and let me learn. Put me in a workshop surrounded by Merc engineers and you will probably find by the end of the year I will be able to do it with a relative confidence. Why is it traders feel they can do the same then get sad when the engine falls out when they press the window button? My metaphor isn't great but you get the idea.

Anyway, I have burnt up half an hour writing this, I hope it has some value to someone. This isn't easy. Anyone who tells you this is lying. There is no grail. There is no EA that wins. Yes, market conditions will adapt to fit a robot at some point and it will work, but at some point it will fall on a tit.

In summary. Yes, you can make a steady and predictable return trading. Note I did not say trading forex, I said trading.

Good trading folks.

Small but still return

You can look in my profile (one of my account, this account uses leverage less than 4). It depends on market conditions, for me, my goal is NAV next week is higher than this week.

I remember discovering forex factory when I turned $3000 into 9000 in 3 weeks (the old A/c got lost):
after watching random posts and thinking "thats a great idea" and having my lesson about margins: I lost it.
So many methods, go choose one, go perhaps 2 forex pairs or commodities, perhaps the indices.
Learn it, learn patience; then perhaps expand when you have your deposit back in your bank A/c.

sorry, can I ask? have you turned 3000 into 9000 on live account or on demo? it's really good result if you have made it with live money. When I started on demo I was rather successful, but when I tried on live account I found out that it's not so easy)

Just read this again , and it's absolute proper bullshit. You do NOT make 50-100% each month jonny and you know it. Complete bollocks. Why would you say such a thing?

What a useless thread. What you can do and what other people can do are two parts of a coin. No matter if you´re a retail forex trader, billion dollar hedge fund or working at the burger restaurant.

that's why Demo's are useless (pretty much) to compare performance between different persons.
personaly i think there is no diference if i use the demos not to show off but test new strategies or somethings like that.

i use demo accounts to provide proof of concept to myself.
so there is a emotional pressure for my ego not to loose on a demo account as well.

its the same with Contest traders, some peoples gain 5000% with no sweat.


but with real money its a whole other story .. if you can seperate (and i think this is the hardest part in trading)
the emotions over loosing money, then the demo result will be equal to the real money result ...

but hey ..we are emotional controlled animals .. so i don't think there is a switch one can flip, have to be born for it
my own experience is very much like that .. i did however blow a few live accounts as well already

once you trade to trade and not trade for your P/L things are very much different. (i think)

Not fully agreed with you dear.
I think demo account are useless until you use them on a strategy proven on your study day by day charts and market behavior.
Then this is gifts for you to getting confidence and consistent.
Thanks..

Only real!: http://www.myfxbook.com/members/szaf...e-pamm/1754970 Best regards

thats exactly what i wrote