Making Real Money in FX | Forex Factory

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Making Real Money in FX

  • #1
  • First Post: Oct 27, 2006 10:49am Oct 27, 2006 10:49am
Is it possible to make money on a consistent basis in Forex? Or do the brokers and banks have the extreme edge so that over time the little guy can't rise to the top? I keep hearing stories of guys who start making money in their forex account and then the broker adjusts their spread or slows the platform down or directly tells them to go elsewhere.

I may not make a living at it, but I don't want to put at lot of effort into FX if it's going to down the shute. It looks possible to make money, but is it really?

BIG QUESTION: Are you making money consistently in FX?

If so, how long?

If so, what's working for you?



If we're not making money, then what in the world are we doing here?


Thanks fellow traders.
"May your pips have grandchildren."
  • #2
  • Oct 27, 2006 1:40pm Oct 27, 2006 1:40pm
i am just reading,...well i didnt trade forex for real money, only 2 shoot, both lost minor profit...you may be right,...but most times brokers were right aprox. 70-80 %...so far.

<TABLE class=GenericReport id=tblReport style="WIDTH: 100%; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=oddrow><TD>example.</TD></TR><TR class=row><TD vAlign=top noWrap></TD><TD> </TD><TD>FX: EURUSD posting a 3 month low just blw 1.2500. Market talk of rather large bids found here.</TD></TR><TR class=oddrow><TD vAlign=top noWrap> </TD><TD> </TD><TD>We just went short EURUSD@ 1.2498, Stop @ 1.2516. Target@ 1.2380</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
and u should go long right then !!... and close it right now,....i didnt, and this kind of mesages totally demotivate me from catching the lowest or highest break. And those...large stops seen,...they should have no access to our stops, not that they are leting that fact known to us!
its just money
  • #3
  • Edited 6:59pm Oct 27, 2006 1:54pm | Edited 6:59pm
[Links removed by moderator. Poster is under 50 posts]

It can be done, but you won't get there system jumping on this forum.
Use online forums to get a handle on the basics and what does not work (which forums are great for), learn to backtest and then start trying to think out of the box. The truth that it seems most people don't want to face is that forex is just a numbers game, there is no magic indicator or setting, you find a edge in the data and use it. When that stops working, find another.
The breaking of a wave cannot explain the whole sea.
  • #4
  • Oct 27, 2006 2:07pm Oct 27, 2006 2:07pm
Quoting KudzuFX
Is it possible to make money on a consistent basis in Forex? Or do the brokers and banks have the extreme edge so that over time the little guy can't rise to the top? I keep hearing stories of guys who start making money in their forex account and then the broker adjusts their spread or slows the platform down or directly tells them to go elsewhere.

I may not make a living at it, but I don't want to put at lot of effort into FX if it's going to down the shute. It looks possible to make money, but is it really?

BIG QUESTION: Are you making money consistently in FX?

If so, how long?

If so, what's working for you?



If we're not making money, then what in the world are we doing here?


Thanks fellow traders.
"May your pips have grandchildren."
I beleive it is possible. However, you need a great sense of purpose, dedication to learning and evolving, discipline, following money management rule, and a good broker.

Almost every broker may get naughty every now and again but if you trade right and pick a relatively acceptable broker you definitely make money. It's a hard path but achievable.


Happy trading,
Al
  • #5
  • Oct 27, 2006 4:51pm Oct 27, 2006 4:51pm
Quote
I keep hearing stories of guys who start making money in their forex account and then the broker adjusts their spread or slows the platform down or directly tells them to go elsewhere.

i doubt that all of those tales are true, but its true that some brokers widen their spread in volatile times. About slowing platform down, every system may get down sometimes, or is there really a button on broker computer which says "sabotage user"

i thought that broker gets his profit anyway if u lose or win, by spread.
  • #6
  • Oct 27, 2006 9:23pm Oct 27, 2006 9:23pm
Quoting Pertti
i doubt that all of those tales are true, but its true that some brokers widen their spread in volatile times. About slowing platform down, every system may get down sometimes, or is there really a button on broker computer which says "sabotage user"

i thought that broker gets his profit anyway if u lose or win, by spread.
Pertti,
Actually the broker makes some of his profit off the spread, but he makes a bundle on taking the other side of your trade. I use IBFX for my live account. If you read their fine print you will see that when you're trading with them (at with a mini account) you're trading in a secondary market. They use the feed from the primary market and then trade against you in their synthetic market which gets its liquidity from all the traders in the same pool as you are in.

They want you to think that it's about getting the lowest spreads.

So my question still stands. Can you make REAL money in FX even if you are using discipline, good methods and a proven system?
Will a given broker make things harder for you when you start to make it?
I'm not arguing that this is always the case. I just would like some evidence that if I try hard enough and smart enough and long enough that eventually the REAL money will come.
Thanks for your input Pertti
  • #7
  • Oct 28, 2006 2:20am Oct 28, 2006 2:20am
Quoting KudzuFX
Pertti,
Actually the broker makes some of his profit off the spread, but he makes a bundle on taking the other side of your trade. I use IBFX for my live account. If you read their fine print you will see that when you're trading with them (at with a mini account) you're trading in a secondary market. They use the feed from the primary market and then trade against you in their synthetic market which gets its liquidity from all the traders in the same pool as you are in.

They want you to think that it's about getting the lowest spreads.

So my question still stands. Can you make REAL money in FX even if you are using discipline, good methods and a proven system?
Will a given broker make things harder for you when you start to make it?
I'm not arguing that this is always the case. I just would like some evidence that if I try hard enough and smart enough and long enough that eventually the REAL money will come.
Thanks for your input Pertti
So, in the "real world", for every knucklehead that goes long "x" amount of lots, does the broker goes short the same # of lots, or do they "hedge" their bet and short even more lots to make the longs lose???? And somehow, if I compare the price feeds of 10 different brokers at any given moment they are, for the most part, within 1-2 pips of each other??? Please educate me on how the retail broker's actvities cause our longs to lose, and vice-versa?

Kind of makes me curious.......with so many methods, psychologies, account sizes, discipline levels, personal loss thresholds, times and points of entry and exit.....how the brokers, as individual entities, manage to collectively trade "against" every position and screw every little guy out of money when we've all entered the alledged "right" trade (ironically no matter how many of us are long or short on a particular pair at any particular time, regardless of how long we decide to hang with that losing trade).....wish I was that frikin' smart???????

Actually, when I read some of these threads, I wonder how much business management experience is out there? It almost seems like some people think the spread should be "0" on all pairs and they should have the ability to stare at live feeds and move money at any given nano- second without the broker profiting handsomely???? Guess what....it doesn't, and probably will never work that way. I suppose there is no way that broker competition is healthy and keeps trader costs lower than they could be???

We are all bound by the policies of the platform we choose to do business with. Learn to adapt and work within their framework or don't trade! We do not all have a God given right and freedom to make a 1 hr per day living by trading currencies, or any other market. To believe that any individual that dares to make a profit can get screwed is a joke....................if you believe that, Taco Bell is hiring....go get 'em ace....Fx is not your bag. I'm sure mistakes occur and it is your responsibilty to catch and challenge them........hey, I was charged $2 more than I should of been for a sandwich the other day, but I caught it, challenged it, and got the right price......the sandwich tasted that much better!!

BTW- this is not a flame on anyone in this thread....it's general frustration of individuals needing to blame another source for everything and anything except putting a reasonable share on themselves. I've lost trades due to my ignorance with my broker(s) policies, but it's like touching the hot stove......you learn not to do it again!?!?!?

I'm off my soapbox.....happy trading to all
  • #8
  • Nov 4, 2007 4:15pm Nov 4, 2007 4:15pm
Well, i know a good technique to start making money in forex, it need from 2 to 3 years to be accomplished, here it is:


1) start a demo account, and trade it untill you are profitable on it.
2) (1-2 weeks later) open a mini live account, and blow it.
3) (2 weeks later) Read and try everything, then start again a demo account, trade it, and being profitable in it.
4) (1 month later) open a live account, and blow it again!
5) (1 month later) obsess your life reading and thinking 16hrs/day about every strategy and every indicator that can you trade correctly, read read try try, open a lot of demo accounts and continue to trade, being profitable, and be sure about your trading and your strategy.
6) (1 year later) open a live account, and blow it again!
7) (1 month later) stop trading and stop thinking about forex, do your normal life, find a bad job (it is needed to be a very hard, bad and poor job, not an office job, but just a job where you really go back to home everyday very tired and very sleepy) and see and understand how the money are hard to earn (you work 12hours/daily everyday, havin' no time for have fun, and got a income that help u just to live a normal life, without any luxury).
8) think again about forex, and think about it seriously.
9) forget every strategy or indicator or everything you learned in the past, open a demo account, open a naked chart, and start trading using YOUR OWN INTELLIGENCE (and not waiting for and indicator to tell you that is the time to buy or sell), enter the market, take some pips, and exit position, you have to buy when everybody is too much afraid of do it, and close position when people are starting to buy, you have to be smart, and fast, there is no a magic system or a magic indicator that tell you what to do, learn how to trade ONLY high probability setups, with always a little stoploss, and forget the idea of "100% profit trades", do your trades, win some, loss some, end everyday in profit, little profit.
10) open a live account, and slowly start making little money.

What do u think ?
  • #9
  • Nov 4, 2007 9:30pm Nov 4, 2007 9:30pm
Quoting tunera
Well, i know a good technique to start making money in forex, it need from 2 to 3 years to be accomplished, here it is:


1) start a demo account, and trade it untill you are profitable on it.
2) (1-2 weeks later) open a mini live account, and blow it.
3) (2 weeks later) Read and try everything, then start again a demo account, trade it, and being profitable in it.
4) (1 month later) open a live account, and blow it again!
5) (1 month later) obsess your life reading and thinking 16hrs/day about every strategy and every indicator that can you trade correctly, read read try try, open a lot of demo accounts and continue to trade, being profitable, and be sure about your trading and your strategy.
6) (1 year later) open a live account, and blow it again!
7) (1 month later) stop trading and stop thinking about forex, do your normal life, find a bad job (it is needed to be a very hard, bad and poor job, not an office job, but just a job where you really go back to home everyday very tired and very sleepy) and see and understand how the money are hard to earn (you work 12hours/daily everyday, havin' no time for have fun, and got a income that help u just to live a normal life, without any luxury).
8) think again about forex, and think about it seriously.
9) forget every strategy or indicator or everything you learned in the past, open a demo account, open a naked chart, and start trading using YOUR OWN INTELLIGENCE (and not waiting for and indicator to tell you that is the time to buy or sell), enter the market, take some pips, and exit position, you have to buy when everybody is too much afraid of do it, and close position when people are starting to buy, you have to be smart, and fast, there is no a magic system or a magic indicator that tell you what to do, learn how to trade ONLY high probability setups, with always a little stoploss, and forget the idea of "100% profit trades", do your trades, win some, loss some, end everyday in profit, little profit.
10) open a live account, and slowly start making little money.

What do u think ?
sounds about right but,
11) money keeps compounding until you get fatter while you keep your day job.
12) plan your transition into full-time trading.

Good post.
  • #10
  • Last Post: Nov 5, 2007 12:25am Nov 5, 2007 12:25am
yes i make money consistently with forex, and lost occasionally .... enough to blow the account thou,

1 st account traded by some hired man in the brokerage, blown into pieces in half year

2 nd account in ibfx, considered it blown since i get margin call.

the only thing that is worked well is the swap, keep it small, and hold onto it and cover the loss with intraday trade. ps: it is 3 pip swap on gbp/jpy,
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