Rate of Return, what is considered normal?

hi i have been trading my current trading strategy live for 8 months and demo for 1 year before that so for just over a year and a half.
my weekly rate of return is 2.5% - this is averaged over time. i have some losing weeks and some winning.
So on my live account i have managed to more than double my initial balance ( example - starting balance $100 and now it is at @ $250)
is this an normal rate of return for trading Forex or should i be aiming for more?

Any value, per month, where you believe the return is as good or better than the time/effort you're putting in is good, and probably better than "normal". Did you mean 'normal' as those that actually make a profit or 'normal' for all traders?

As you already know, the situation the market provides varies from day to day, week to week. Therefore, an overall average (looking back) is what you want to do.

I would strongly suggest never evaluating the current week, nor the week prior as single or a combined entity. The reason for this is that it could lead to attempting to over-trade in a given week, which may be almost as likely as increase losses as increasing your gains.

If anything, what you can do is assess the amount of risk you're taking per trade or per pair and perhaps try altering your trade size (moderately, up or down) to see what effect that has on your results. Secondly, review any major drawdowns you've had (either as a weekly or monthly assessment). Again, reconsider what you did that helped to contribute to that large drawdown and see what you can do going forward to avoid it.

Nice work. Many people that post here are not consistent, although they may talk about large gains from time to time. What you won't see are their days/weeks when the opposite is occurring.

Keep doing what you're doing (doubling).

Cheers,
Nefser


P.S. If you're curious, wander over to the Trend Trading thread, as that's a great way to trade and get decent results over time.