How long you been at this? | Forex Factory

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How long you been at this?

  • #1
  • First Post: Jun 14, 2007 5:49pm Jun 14, 2007 5:49pm
As the topic suggests. How long have you guys been trading be it paper and or live.

At 23 years of age I started paper trading middle 2002 and went live middle of last year. I have also been browsing these forums for about a year as a guest only decide to join the other month.

On a whole I got in to trading as my situation at the time left me with 4 years of nothing to do but play games, and I had also played the economy of those games. So when one day I was browsing google news I came across an article involving the EURUSD and the rest is history. I now suplement my income with it and have long term goals to use it as a platform/footing for other forms of investment so I can retire young and go fishing.

I think we all have similar plans and was just wondering how long other had been in it and what got you in to it. My father has since picked it up with me as he used to be a stock trader and always new about FX just never looked in to it till I did.

I also find the members here at FF absolutely awesome the whole site is amazing and beats hands down most of the other boards I frequent (not all of them are about FX).

So yeah how long you guys been at it?
  • #2
  • Jun 14, 2007 6:03pm Jun 14, 2007 6:03pm
I have been doing this for about 3 months, 1 month paper trading and 2 months live, boy I have a lot to learn, thus my reading lots of info on these pages, and you right about this site the people here are great, some stuff is over my head but for the most part I'm learning, reading and learning.
  • #3
  • Jun 14, 2007 6:13pm Jun 14, 2007 6:13pm
Traded 5 years ago for 5 months or so with my dad. We basically just clicked buttons, added random indicators...it was helluva good time. Actually made a few bucks too, but had no clue what we were doing, or even that anyone traded anything but the euro

After I graduated college I decided to look into forex again that was almost a year ago now, really glad to have stumbled onto FF
  • #4
  • Jun 14, 2007 7:17pm Jun 14, 2007 7:17pm
Hi !
I traded on practice accounts for a couple months then started trading ten cent pips. Then about 10 months of trades of $1.00 to $20.00 per pip. I could make money but couldn't keep it. I lost $12,000.00 in that year. A friend mentored me (for a fee). I stopped losing money December 2006. Since then I would have made plenty, (I'm at break even for the year) but I keep making mistakes and bad trades. My gambling mentality from years at the roulette table is hard to turn off. Fear and greed will kill you in forex. I rarely look at forums. I was just here checking the news when I saw this one. My advice is stay at 10 cent pips until you get a strategy that works more often than not. Research chart history for motion. You can only make money where there is motion.

Good luck
  • #5
  • Jun 14, 2007 7:20pm Jun 14, 2007 7:20pm
Quoting Dr Blues
Hi !
I traded on practice accounts for a couple months then started trading ten cent pips. Then about 10 months of trades of $1.00 to $20.00 per pip. I could make money but couldn't keep it. I lost $12,000.00 in that year. A friend mentored me (for a fee). I stopped losing money December 2006. Since then I would have made plenty, (I'm at break even for the year) but I keep making mistakes and bad trades. My gambling mentality from years at the roulette table is hard to turn off. Fear and greed will kill you in forex. I rarely look at forums. I was just here checking the news when I saw this one. My advice is stay at 10 cent pips until you get a strategy that works more often than not. Research chart history for motion. You can only make money where there is motion.

Good luck
Yeah when I first went live I had a poker addiction thinking it would help me that I was addicted to it. Hell no. Over it now doing much better
  • #6
  • Jun 14, 2007 7:23pm Jun 14, 2007 7:23pm
Trading full time for 25+ years.
  • #7
  • Jun 14, 2007 7:24pm Jun 14, 2007 7:24pm
Quoting Phase_1
Trading full time for 25+ years.
Wow
  • #8
  • Jun 14, 2007 7:30pm Jun 14, 2007 7:30pm
I first started looking at Forex and studying it, about 2 years ago.
Then started trading live about 1.5 year ago, and really started trading consistently and making it a priority about 1 year ago.

Now I've finally made my first million.

wait a minute..... *checks bank account statement*

Damn it! Never mind...

I still have to go into work tomorrow.

All the best,
Tom
  • #9
  • Jun 14, 2007 7:55pm Jun 14, 2007 7:55pm
Hi !
I lost $12,000 my first year of trading. (gambler mentality) I stopped losing money December 2006. I'm still at break even June 2006. I would be way ahead except for mistakes and the hard to repress gambler mentality.
  • #10
  • Jun 14, 2007 8:17pm Jun 14, 2007 8:17pm
ive never been the gambling type, thank god! whenever im out with my friends and they decide to loose some money gambling black jack or whatever they are up to, im in the bar and atleast get alcohol for my cash. first heard of forex about 6month ago, wasnt up to much at the time so i have been at since then. still trading small and i still make mistakes, you know, those greedy mistakes when you know you should be sitting on your hands, and still you pull the trigger...

trading might be the perfect way to get rid of a gambling problem, or atleast a good way not to developing one.
  • #11
  • Jun 14, 2007 8:24pm Jun 14, 2007 8:24pm
live in the net since Tuesday, November 7 2006.

if only i know it 1 year early, i may skip 1000 loss from locale broker... for comparison , it provide mini account with mini lot only.... since that time, i'm a bit obsesed with very very small position...
  • #12
  • Jun 14, 2007 9:03pm Jun 14, 2007 9:03pm
Quoting Gwan
live in the net since Tuesday, November 7 2006.

if only i know it 1 year early, i may skip 1000 loss from locale broker... for comparison , it provide mini account with mini lot only.... since that time, i'm a bit obsesed with very very small position...
if you wanna be able to take small positions, i would suggest checking out oanda.com they dont have any kind of minimum position size.
  • #13
  • Jun 14, 2007 9:53pm Jun 14, 2007 9:53pm
  •  CWH
  • | Joined Feb 2007 | Status: United We Buy, Divided We Sell | 249 Posts
Quoting Dr Blues
Hi !
I traded on practice accounts for a couple months then started trading ten cent pips. Then about 10 months of trades of $1.00 to $20.00 per pip. I could make money but couldn't keep it. I lost $12,000.00 in that year. A friend mentored me (for a fee). I stopped losing money December 2006. Since then I would have made plenty, (I'm at break even for the year) but I keep making mistakes and bad trades. My gambling mentality from years at the roulette table is hard to turn off. Fear and greed will kill you in forex. I rarely look at forums. I was just here checking the news when I saw this one. My advice is stay at 10 cent pips until you get a strategy that works more often than not. Research chart history for motion. You can only make money where there is motion. Good luck
Most of us novice start out clicking the demo buttons without knowing what we are doing. Then, open a live account after a couple of months to feel the thrill & flop! Oh yeah, that's what happened to me.. Anyway, I totally agree with your idea of trading 10 cent per pip until we gain enough experience.
"If, at first, you don't succeed, try, try, try again" - Winston Churchill
  • #14
  • Jun 14, 2007 9:58pm Jun 14, 2007 9:58pm
Quoting CWH
Most of us novice start out clicking the demo buttons without knowing what we are doing. Then, open a live account after a couple of months to feel the thrill & flop! Oh yeah, that's what happened to me.. Anyway, I totally agree with your idea of trading 10 cent per pip until we gain enough experience.

When I went live I did really well for the first few minutes till I opened and order. Not being used to real money I almost blew my $10k bank roll. Almost because I landed at about 2k in 3 months took a break, came back and clawed my way back up.

Happier trading now days. If only there was a spidey sense for the FX market.
  • #15
  • Jun 14, 2007 10:05pm Jun 14, 2007 10:05pm
I started with paper money (equities) from as early as 2002. I opened my first live (stock) trading account in March 2004. Paper traded currencies from the beginning of 2006. Opened the first live FX account in September 2006. Opened a 2nd in December. Opened a 3rd in May of this year... I needed a new account every time I decided to change strategies because the broker didn't offer the products that I wanted to trade.
  • #16
  • Jun 14, 2007 10:07pm Jun 14, 2007 10:07pm
Quoting ragingbull94mtx
I started with paper money (equities) from as early as 2002. I opened my first live (stock) trading account in March 2004. Paper traded currencies from the beginning of 2006. Opened the first live FX account in September 2006. Opened a 2nd in December. Opened a 3rd in May of this year... I needed a new account every time I decided to change strategies because the broker didn't offer the products that I wanted to trade.

that sux about brokers. Who did you end up with?
  • #17
  • Jun 14, 2007 10:11pm Jun 14, 2007 10:11pm
  •  CWH
  • | Joined Feb 2007 | Status: United We Buy, Divided We Sell | 249 Posts
Quoting ragingbull94mtx
I started with paper money (equities) from as early as 2002. I opened my first live (stock) trading account in March 2004. Paper traded currencies from the beginning of 2006. Opened the first live FX account in September 2006. Opened a 2nd in December. Opened a 3rd in May of this year... I needed a new account every time I decided to change strategies because the broker didn't offer the products that I wanted to trade.
Same thing here! I opened my second account only last week to test a different strategy like you.. I realized it is necessary to open a few accounts with different brokers because I find each has its own advantages & disadvantages.
"If, at first, you don't succeed, try, try, try again" - Winston Churchill
  • #18
  • Jun 14, 2007 10:13pm Jun 14, 2007 10:13pm
  •  CWH
  • | Joined Feb 2007 | Status: United We Buy, Divided We Sell | 249 Posts
Quoting Sniper
When I went live I did really well for the first few minutes till I opened and order. Not being used to real money I almost blew my $10k bank roll. Almost because I landed at about 2k in 3 months took a break, came back and clawed my way back up. Happier trading now days. If only there was a spidey sense for the FX market.
My case is not as bad as yours. I only lost less than $500 within a month trading GBP/USD. Phew!
"If, at first, you don't succeed, try, try, try again" - Winston Churchill
  • #19
  • Jun 14, 2007 10:17pm Jun 14, 2007 10:17pm
What I found hardest when I went live was digesting the information available. That stuffed me up big time. While it was demo money I had no problem but when it became real I lost all focus and was overwhelmed really really quickly. Trying to look for trades on any market currently looking active then trying to find fundamentals behind it and second guessing myself constantly

Since then I have learned to not second guess myself and have narrowed it to 3 primary pairs. Every now and then I dabble in the other but mainly GY, NY and EY
  • #20
  • Jun 14, 2007 10:37pm Jun 14, 2007 10:37pm
Quoting Sniper
that sux about brokers. Who did you end up with?
Quoting CWH
Same thing here! I opened my second account only last week to test a different strategy like you.. I realized it is necessary to open a few accounts with different brokers because I find each has its own advantages & disadvantages.
Agreed. I guess it comes with the territory.

Broker 1: MB Trading... tight spreads, but spot only
...then I wanted to trade options...
Broker 2: Oanda... "exotic" only, can't sell them short
...then I wanted to trade vanilla options...
Broker 3: Synthesis Bank
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