A Proficient Trader | Forex Factory

Options

Permalinks
Print Thread

Similar Threads

Are you a trend trader or a counter-trend trader? 29 replies

My trip from amateur to proficient forex trader 49 replies

Discipline Trader and Voice Trader EA/IND 16 replies

IkonFX Viking Trader or Pfgbest Viking Trader? 2 replies

Any Coders Proficient in VTT to MT? 4 replies

A Proficient Trader

  • Poll

  • Years to be a Proficient Trader?
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  • #1
  • First Post: May 14, 2012 6:29pm May 14, 2012 6:29pm
How many years do you guys thinks it takes to become a proficient trader?

I remember when I first began, I thought it was going to take me 6 months of studying - ha! was I wrong.

Proficient in this case means - trading for a living, with at least making 10% ror a year, and managing greater than $1 million in assets (either yours or as a money manager).

Please share experience...
  • #2
  • May 15, 2012 12:06am May 15, 2012 12:06am
Quoting Dick Clark
How many years do you guys thinks it takes to become a proficient trader?

I remember when I first began, I thought it was going to take me 6 months of studying - ha! was I wrong.

Proficient in this case means - trading for a living, with at least making 10% ror a year, and managing greater than $1 million in assets (either yours or as a money manager).

Please share experience...
I think it really depends how lucky you are. If you find right away the right things that work and have 1 million dollar, then 6 months might be enough.
Unfortunately the crap written here on forex factory hindered my progress in enormous proportions. You get a lot of useless ideas that have never been tested, sound good in theory but fail miserably in practice. I would have been far sooner far better off if I had never discovered this forum.
  • #3
  • May 15, 2012 3:22am May 15, 2012 3:22am
Quoting Custos
I think it really depends how lucky you are. If you find right away the right things that work and have 1 million dollar, then 6 months might be enough.
Unfortunately the crap written here on forex factory hindered my progress in enormous proportions. You get a lot of useless ideas that have never been tested, sound good in theory but fail miserably in practice. I would have been far sooner far better off if I had never discovered this forum.
Agreed. Every week there seems to be some fantastic new system that has made the originator so much money that they felt compelled to come here and give it away for free. Newbies follow these like lemmings.
  • #4
  • May 15, 2012 3:29am May 15, 2012 3:29am
Quoting Dick Clark
How many years do you guys thinks it takes to become a proficient trader?

I remember when I first began, I thought it was going to take me 6 months of studying - ha! was I wrong.

Proficient in this case means - trading for a living, with at least making 10% ror a year, and managing greater than $1 million in assets (either yours or as a money manager).

Please share experience...
You missed off an option on the poll - NEVER
  • #5
  • May 15, 2012 7:40pm May 15, 2012 7:40pm
Quoting Custos
I think it really depends how lucky you are. If you find right away the right things that work and have 1 million dollar, then 6 months might be enough.
Unfortunately the crap written here on forex factory hindered my progress in enormous proportions. You get a lot of useless ideas that have never been tested, sound good in theory but fail miserably in practice. I would have been far sooner far better off if I had never discovered this forum.
I agree, there is so much information out there, it can really get you dizzy. There is a few thread which look ok though - like the Renko thread. To me Renko is a nice chart, anything that takes time away from prize I dig.

I think anyone that has a solid background managing risk, or a quantitative background has a shot at becoming a proficient trader a lot sooner - maybe 1 - 3 years. For the rest of us, it may take a while.
  • #6
  • May 15, 2012 7:42pm May 15, 2012 7:42pm
Quoting willf
Agreed. Every week there seems to be some fantastic new system that has made the originator so much money that they felt compelled to come here and give it away for free. Newbies follow these like lemmings.

hahaha - never is for certain an option...

There a lot of eager traders out there - sometimes they beleive their own lies...
  • #7
  • May 15, 2012 7:45pm May 15, 2012 7:45pm
I think in general this is a good thread for new traders - because so many people come in with misconceptions of how quick they can make money in the market. Perhaps the community scope can shed some light and provide a good estimate for those new folks starting -

so vote!
  • #8
  • May 15, 2012 7:47pm May 15, 2012 7:47pm
I think the sooner you can let go of indicators and focus on the reason why market moves (supply and demand) the better chances you have of becoming consistent and profitable trader.
  • #9
  • May 15, 2012 7:54pm May 15, 2012 7:54pm
Quoting cisco92111
I think the sooner you can let go of indicators and focus on the reason why market moves (supply and demand) the better chances you have of becoming consistent and profitable trader.
Totally with you on that one - how can anyone use a calculation done by someone else? Indicators are fine as long as you have done the calculation from scratch and understand how that specific tool will be used. Perhaps that is the reason why it works for the creator and not so well for the followers?

See folks all the time using MACD, and if you ask what it is and how it is calculated, they respond, "I don't know, I just buy when the blue line crosses the red one" - and they bet thousands of dollars on something they don't even understand.
  • #10
  • May 18, 2012 12:56am May 18, 2012 12:56am
there are some very good threads in FF that more than halved my learning curve.....once a poster wrote something I thought was a revelation I would then read all their posts and I found gold.

there are few posters of this caliber, almost all of them are now inactive after being frustrated with trolls.

also by studying trades taken by a certain member who has grown astronomically on FF trade explorer I was able to figure out some short term trading tactics.

you have to know where to look, everything is here.
wo-yoy! wo-yoy! wo-yoy! wo-yoi! wo-yoy-yoy-yoy!
  • #11
  • Oct 3, 2013 11:31pm Oct 3, 2013 11:31pm
Let's start back to our original question... What brought me here. "Proficient trader"... That takes years my friends. They say an expert is one that's survived not 1 but 2 bear markets. 10% ROR? Most people don't have ROR's, let alone for any period of time, and certainly don't know how to calculate one.

Let's get real. Trading takes a life time. Don't kid yourself. Because if you do... You're just in denial until you get burned real bad. #1 rule, respect the market. You are not as smart as you think you are. If you do think that, eventually you'll get burned.

Let's face it. How many short term traders do you know that have been doing that for the long term? Unless you do it successfully, and live off your assets with several 7 digit numbers as your capital base, you are not a "long term, short term" proficient trader. You're a part-time gambler. And nothing more. 6 months... 1 year... 3 years... HAH! That's just getting started.

My answer... 10 -20 years. Definitely.
  • #12
  • Oct 4, 2013 5:47am Oct 4, 2013 5:47am
I think it's probably different for everyone. So much depends on personal aptitude and the time one has available to learn. I have tried many different systems, some i paid money for which promise the earth but never work. I must have tried every indicator there is but with no success and in doing these things i wasted my first two years of trying to learn this business and blew a few accounts along the way. The good news though is that it can be done. Once i abandoned the stupid systems i had been trying to use it took me about three years to become proficient. Now i trade for a living, both my own account and that of a consortium of investors. I don't manage in excess of $1 million, which was part of your criteria but my ROR is far in excess of 10%. The biggest irony is that after using all the indicators and some expensive proprietary systems, the way i trade successfully now is, like all the best things in life, so simple. Almost naked chart just using S/R lines which i draw myself and trade off those. Swing trading really. In my opinion there is no future in trying to scalp this market with 1:1 or 1:2 r/r ratios, it will kill you every time. Also, by going for the larger pip moves and proper trade management most people would be very surprised how much you can make with minute % risk. Remember two things, pro traders manage risk first and foremost, and also very important there is not a trade every day. Don't try to find something that is not there. Hope all this helps. I must also say that most of the opinions on this (and other) websites can be very distracting until you learn to filter it out. Good luck with your trading guys.
  • #13
  • Mar 21, 2026 12:58pm Mar 21, 2026 12:58pm
Quoting dick clark
how many years do you guys thinks it takes to become a proficient trader? I remember when i first began, i thought it was going to take me 6 months of studying - ha! Was i wrong. Proficient in this case means - trading for a living, with at least making 10% ror a year, and managing greater than $1 million in assets (either yours or as a money manager). Please share experience...
heeey dick clark, is there any way to contact you, sir
  • #14
  • Last Post: Mar 27, 2026 9:33am Mar 27, 2026 9:33am
I traded manually first, and then bought EA, now I code EA for myself
Zenith Multi Strategy EA developer
0 traders viewing now