I've just recently started trading (5 days today), and I've already turned a 36% increase as of this moment in time. Unfortunately, I only funded with $1000...... I'm just trying to get my feet wet. I was down more than 20% through the first two days (I fell asleep with a short position that I'd intended to close out, and thus had no trailing stop, and thus got hammered).
I'm an active equities trader, but the heat in the kitchen sent me looking for an alternative spot for my cash. So far, forex seems like Shangra-la....
I'm using a variation on a short term trading strategy I use (or, used until the last few weeks) on stocks, utilizing prevailing trends, price momentum and a few different bollinger bands as entry indicators. As with every trading strategem I use, there is a bit of gut tossed in as to timing.
Realistically, what kind of returns should a vigilant short term trader expect to see over the long term? I know it's a murky question, but I obviously can't count on 36% every 5 days or I'm moving all my cash to forex (as well as selling my house and valuables for extra funding).
I've meandered around the forums and seen various posts that touch on the subject, and some players seem to think that annualized returns much above 10% are a pip(e) dream. So far, not my experience - from the first few days, it seems like taking candy from a baby (naps with open euro shorts not withstanding). I'm sure it's not that easy, and I hope I don't throw fuel on what seems to be a contentious fire.
All of my gains are from Euros (I wanted to start out in the shallow end of the pool with just one currency). Any advice from more seasoned traders with a similar time horizon? I'm basically a day trader, with 2-5 trades a day. I keep relatively loose stops (25-40) until I'm running on the houses money, and tighten up after that (10-20) if I don't manually close the position.
I read the tutorial posted by one of the longer term members (name escapes me for the moment) who uses the 50% fibonacci along with prevailing trends, and it has a very similar methodology to what I do. Just looking for a quantifiable idea of what I should expect. I tend to beat the market (+32% ytd on equities), but I don't have a good handle on currency exchange yet. I'm wondering whether to chalk it up to beginners luck, or whether I've found the pot o gold at the rainbows end.....
I'm an active equities trader, but the heat in the kitchen sent me looking for an alternative spot for my cash. So far, forex seems like Shangra-la....
I'm using a variation on a short term trading strategy I use (or, used until the last few weeks) on stocks, utilizing prevailing trends, price momentum and a few different bollinger bands as entry indicators. As with every trading strategem I use, there is a bit of gut tossed in as to timing.
Realistically, what kind of returns should a vigilant short term trader expect to see over the long term? I know it's a murky question, but I obviously can't count on 36% every 5 days or I'm moving all my cash to forex (as well as selling my house and valuables for extra funding).
I've meandered around the forums and seen various posts that touch on the subject, and some players seem to think that annualized returns much above 10% are a pip(e) dream. So far, not my experience - from the first few days, it seems like taking candy from a baby (naps with open euro shorts not withstanding). I'm sure it's not that easy, and I hope I don't throw fuel on what seems to be a contentious fire.
All of my gains are from Euros (I wanted to start out in the shallow end of the pool with just one currency). Any advice from more seasoned traders with a similar time horizon? I'm basically a day trader, with 2-5 trades a day. I keep relatively loose stops (25-40) until I'm running on the houses money, and tighten up after that (10-20) if I don't manually close the position.
I read the tutorial posted by one of the longer term members (name escapes me for the moment) who uses the 50% fibonacci along with prevailing trends, and it has a very similar methodology to what I do. Just looking for a quantifiable idea of what I should expect. I tend to beat the market (+32% ytd on equities), but I don't have a good handle on currency exchange yet. I'm wondering whether to chalk it up to beginners luck, or whether I've found the pot o gold at the rainbows end.....