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Living in China, trading for a living 18 replies

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Trading for a living

  • #141
  • Edited 4:58am Oct 10, 2025 4:02am | Edited 4:58am
Quoting GEfx
{quote} It's not that I think you should quit, or that you've been trying too long. I think you should never fund a trading account until you can prove that you know what you are trading, how that market works, and what is required to be successful. You should not be thinking about money until you can consistently achieve net positive pips every week for at least 6 months. You're talking about funding your life before you can reliably fund your lunch tomorrow.
Yes, I agree with you and I currently don't have any money of my own in a trading account. I think it's still legitimate to want to think about it, especially after such a long time, how I could make a living from it and what paths there are that realistically lead to that, even if I'm also busy trying to find a profitable trading approach that can work for me. Of course I know that this is the first step. I'm also not the type of person who can or even wants to do trading on the side in addition to a full-time job, whether as an employee or self-employed person in another area. That wouldn't work for me at all. I like being able to devote myself completely to something or not do it at all.

Quote
The yen moved over 500 pips this week. I've gotten over 600 pips trading it. If you didn't get 5 pips on a slam-dunk set up like that, you should probably step aside and work harder on understanding currency valuations before wondering if you can make money trading currencies. Just my 2 cents.

You see, that's one of the reasons why I was hesitant to even open a thread like this, because I already knew that I would be bombarded with all the experiences and trading approaches from people who wouldn't even take the time to read what my style is and what I'm trying to do. On top of that, I get bullied by people who think they know what my personality is or just want to personally attack people here because their own lives are either too boring or whatever.

Back to the point. I'm not trying any more forex. I'm not interested in currency valuation or any fundamental factors. Based on your profile, I see that you have expertise there, but I really don't know anything about it and don't want to. I am aware of the basics of how the Forex market works and that fundamental influences may play a larger role than in other markets and that is why you should perhaps pay more attention to them, although I believe that in short-term trading (which would be more my style) such fundamental aspects are less interesting.

On a side note. My uncle (76) sold trading software and data from Reuters to South African banks in the early 1990s, where electronic trading was still largely in its infancy, and he also traded Forex himself for a few years afterwards. He made a fortune with it and then unfortunately lost most of it in real estate and other businesses. He even had to move back to Berlin after living in South Africa like a king for over 30 years and now receives a small pension here. Since then he has only been a long-term investor and is doing quite well with it. He always tells me when we talk occasionally that I should try to do something "decent" and not get hung up on the idea of being able to make a living from trading or even making a fortune. I can understand him, but I still hope that there is a way for me to make this happen.
  • #142
  • Oct 10, 2025 4:11am Oct 10, 2025 4:11am
Quoting medici
{quote} I'd agree with that, but what I see here, 10-15 years of unsuccessful trial-and-error, I've seen before. And it typically ends in one of two ways: (1) The aspirant is forced by circumstances to give up without ever finding success, or (2) The aspirant "wakes up" and realises that he is completely lost. Only then does the mind open up to receiving a possible way forward. Alternative (2) usually happens in one of two ways: (i) Seemingly by coincidence the aspirant, finally with mind open, stumbles upon something that that offers a way forward,...
I am at (2) minus (i) or (ii)

"self-indulgently"

I am neither a narcissist nor self-indulgent. People who REALLY know me would say completely the opposite. I tend to be very reserved, humble and willing to help others. You are welcome to ask my therapist. I'm currently looking for help myself on how to achieve a clear goal with trading and unfortunately I can't give much in return, even though I occasionally try to give good advice to others with even less experience than I do.

Anyhow.
  • #143
  • Oct 10, 2025 7:19am Oct 10, 2025 7:19am
Quoting Noisy
You see, that's one of the reasons why I was hesitant to even open a thread like this, because I already knew that I would be bombarded with all the experiences and trading approaches from people who wouldn't even take the time to read what my style is and what I'm trying to do. On top of that, I get bullied by people who think they know what my personality is or just want to personally attack people here because their own lives are either too boring or whatever.

Back to the point. I'm not trying any more forex. I'm not interested in currency...
First, you opened a thread on a public forum that is dedicated to Forex trading, asking for advice and information on earning a living as a trader, and you expected everyone, or even anyone, to take time to establish a deep and thoughtful understanding of you and your "system"? I think that is a check in favor of Medici's arguments of self-indulgence and narcissism.

Second, and as I just stated, Forex Factory is dedicated to currency trading. You just stated that you are not interesting in currency valuations or Forex trading, so I assume that means that your journey towards earning a living as a trader does not involve anything that goes on in Forex Factory. I'm confused about your presence here, and why anyone should continue posting on this thread. Another check for Medici.
  • #144
  • Edited 8:00am Oct 10, 2025 7:34am | Edited 8:00am
Quoting Noisy
{quote} I am at (2) minus (i) or (ii) "self-indulgently" I am neither a narcissist nor self-indulgent. People who REALLY know me would say completely the opposite. I tend to be very reserved, humble and willing to help others. You are welcome to ask my therapist. I'm currently looking for help myself on how to achieve a clear goal with trading and unfortunately I can't give much in return, even though I occasionally try to give good advice to others with even less experience than I do. Anyhow.
Very well, but I didn't mean self-indulgent in a moral sense but in an epistemological/ontological sense. Your significant self-indulgence is displayed in your statement "...I feel like I know far too much..." as well as how that self-indulgence colours pretty much everything you seem to be saying, thinking and doing in relation to the topics discussed here.

It may very well be that you "know" a lot, but I don't think you really understand much of what you think you "know".

To illustrate what I mean let me tell you another story: When I was a student one of my mates got a full scholarship to do his Ph.D. at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where most professors are Nobel Laureates, and where Albert Einstein spent the second half of his life.

My friend dropped out after a year. Why? The short explanation was "I had expected more. They were all idiots." So my friend went to Silicon Valley to work on theoretical solid state physics instead, but he later got his doctorate from another top university on the East Coast.

How does that relate to you? Well, there are different levels of knowing or understanding things. Those professors may know a lot, and may once upon a time have possessed deep understanding, but maybe not any longer, at least if my friend is to be believed.

And that's where I think you are stuck. Like those professors you may think you know something, but you don't have the living understanding of the things you think you know that is required to turn that knowledge into consistent trading profits. Just like the person (who thought that ICT saved him) that I used as an example in my most recent post.
  • #145
  • Edited 8:45am Oct 10, 2025 8:18am | Edited 8:45am
Quoting GEfx
{quote} First, you opened a thread on a public forum that is dedicated to Forex trading, asking for advice and information on earning a living as a trader, and you expected everyone, or even anyone, to take time to establish a deep and thoughtful understanding of you and your "system"? I think that is a check in favor of Medici's arguments of self-indulgence and narcissism. Second, and as I just stated, Forex Factory is dedicated to currency trading. You just stated that you are not interesting in currency valuations or Forex trading, so I assume...
Fair comment. Yes, this forum may be intended specifically for Forex traders, although I see that there are a lot of traders here and threads from people who trade other markets. I personally have nothing against Forex and I think at the end of the day it doesn't really matter which market you trade, provided you have found an approach that works and is profitable for you. I started with Forex back then and focused on it for a long time. I tried a similar ORB approach to the one I'm currently trying out on stock indices to trade manually on GBP/USD for 1-2 years, but I didn't really get anywhere and didn't find any real help on how I could make it profitable for myself or whether it could even work to achieve my goals. I then heard a lot of advice from self-proclaimed experts who advised me to use stock indices for this approach, because there is a real opening there and also because the daily ranges for stock indices probably look a little better and this type of short-term oriented "day trading" seems to be more suitable for it. Feel my confusion?

Everyone KNOWS something, no one can show you, even for 3 months, how a clear daily routine with clear rules on how and what to act, based on a transparent approach that includes risk management and everything, leads to a clear minimum return that I intend to achieve in the hope of being able to make a living from it. That underlines what medici says, that 99% of the people here definitely have no idea what to do to make a living from trading or even how to be consistently profitable with something. Unfortunately, I don't know of any better places to ask for help. I tried a few places. A personal mentor who has an idea of how to achieve such a goal and could help me understandably create such a plan seems like winning the lottery...
  • #146
  • Oct 10, 2025 8:31am Oct 10, 2025 8:31am
Quoting medici
{quote} Very well, but I didn't mean self-indulgent in a moral sense but in an epistemological/ontological sense. Your significant self-indulgence is displayed in your statement "...I feel like I know far too much..." as well as how that self-indulgence colours pretty much everything you seem to be saying, thinking and doing in relation to the topics discussed here. It may very well be that you "know" a lot, but I don't think you really understand much of what you think you "know". To illustrate what I mean let me tell you another story: When I...
OK. I understand better now. That may be true., but I never claimed to have in-depth knowledge of how I could make a living or become profitable from trading otherwise I probably wouldn't spend my time on a trading forum anymore. I can imagine much better things to do with my time.

I took a closer look at the linked idea for the ORB approach that you posted to me (TradingView), and it makes a good impression on me. As far as trading stocks is concerned, I think that seems less likely since the available leverage that you get would hardly be sufficient with my available capital. I also don't want to have to pick out the hottest stocks of the day every time or even have to trade dozens of them at once.

What I can imagine.

A) A fully automated approach where I focus purely on the technical infrastructure and the execution of the system as cleanly and error-free as possible.
B) A manual approach that allows me to execute trades at a specific time of day for a maximum limited period of time, adhering to a clear daily structure, according to clear, predefined, and, for me, objectively repeatable rules, preferably on only one market (forex pair - whatever) that always remains the same.
  • #147
  • Oct 10, 2025 9:42am Oct 10, 2025 9:42am
Quote
Everyone KNOWS something, no one can show you, even for 3 months, how a clear daily routine with clear rules on how and what to act, based on a transparent approach that includes risk management and everything, leads to a clear minimum return that I intend to achieve in the hope of being able to make a living from it. That underlines what medici says, that 99% of the people here definitely have no idea what to do to make a living from trading or even how to be consistently profitable with something. Unfortunately, I don't know of any better places...

That's not true - I showed you a perfectly workable method, which you've dismissed - must be all that knowledge you have

Here it is covering 3 months on GBPUSD, last example was for the FTSE100 Index - works on ANY liquid market and ANY time-frame

If you can count to 3 you can apply the method - enter a trade at the breakout of swing position number 2 (horizontal line if that needs explaining) and stop goes at swing position number 3 (pink DOT if that needs explaining)

You're quite capable of working out the maths around risk reward and what you would of made etc and how you would manage the trades - you can then work out the income it makes and then its your problem not the methods, to resolve

Oh Livermore used to trade like this too so 100+ years later we still find it works!

So there we have a profitable method covering 3 months

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Now its not the best trading system or method out there - but it clearly works and its stupidly simple

You seem to want the world and not do anything for it - for 15 years you've missed a simple method, that by now would of allowed you to trade as you wish

You cannot demand what you want from a market, you get what it chooses to give you

Seems to have mysteriously appeared on this weekly time-frame too of a totally unrelated market!

I've left the break out points and stops off that chart but oh look we have those cycles I originally mentioned too appearing

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PS on the cycles - the smart move is just to buy and hold when they are due and let it ride out

PPS - ANY profitable trading/Investing strategy or method can be completely cocked up in the wrong hands - so its often the TRADER at Issue and NOT the method!
  • #148
  • Oct 10, 2025 11:24am Oct 10, 2025 11:24am
Quoting Thtpro
{quote} That's not true - I showed you a perfectly workable method, which you've dismissed - must be all that knowledge you have Here it is covering 3 months on GBPUSD, last example was for the FTSE100 Index - works on ANY liquid market and ANY time-frame If you can count to 3 you can apply the method - enter a trade at the breakout of swing position number 2 (horizontal line if that needs explaining) and stop goes at swing position number 3 (pink DOT if that needs explaining) You're quite capable of working out the maths around risk reward and...

Thanks. Not discarded, but my current focus is on the ORB approach and stock indices. I can't do everything at the same time. But I believe you that this may be a profitable method. I said that I have a hard time interpreting and trading charts manually. Especially from subjective lines that I would have to draw. Could these lines and points on your chart be drawn automatically with more precise marking? In retrospect, such charts always look good and profitable, but recognizing and acting in real time is something else. I also believe that this is more of a swing trading style? Do you think this would achieve a constant minimum return on a monthly or at least quarterly basis?
  • #149
  • Oct 10, 2025 11:27am Oct 10, 2025 11:27am
Btw, I am currently up +8.1% for the last 20 days under a -5.3% max. drawdown. The good news is that it cost me 0 minutes of chart time. The bad thing is that it's only been 20 days and this isn't really meaningful yet.
  • #150
  • Oct 11, 2025 5:21am Oct 11, 2025 5:21am
Hi everybody
Hi have been trading 5 years for a living.
And i make around 6-8k a month.
What i did was to rent a smal office where i could trade from.
So this way i could trade as a business.

Prohexa
  • #151
  • Oct 11, 2025 5:45am Oct 11, 2025 5:45am
"A crypto whale has reportedly made a profit of over $160 million by shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum ahead of President Trump's announcement of a 100% tariff on China. The trader closed leveraged positions on Hyperliquid and possibly netted a profit of $190 million-$200 million in just one day. The whale's open position in BTC is still worth $92.84 million with a leverage of 5.38 times"

We're doing something wrong hehe...
  • #152
  • Oct 11, 2025 5:34pm Oct 11, 2025 5:34pm
https://tradethatswing.com/opening-r...400-this-year/
  • #153
  • Oct 11, 2025 6:01pm Oct 11, 2025 6:01pm
Quoting Noisy
"A crypto whale has reportedly made a profit of over $160 million by shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum ahead of President Trump's announcement of a 100% tariff on China. The trader closed leveraged positions on Hyperliquid and possibly netted a profit of $190 million-$200 million in just one day. The whale's open position in BTC is still worth $92.84 million with a leverage of 5.38 times" We're doing something wrong hehe...
i to could have made 100x on this if i seen this but havnt been paying much attention to crypto, looks like the holy mother of all setups
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  • #154
  • Oct 12, 2025 1:12am Oct 12, 2025 1:12am
Quoting Noisy
"A crypto whale has reportedly made a profit of over $160 million by shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum ahead of President Trump's announcement of a 100% tariff on China. The trader closed leveraged positions on Hyperliquid and possibly netted a profit of $190 million-$200 million in just one day. The whale's open position in BTC is still worth $92.84 million with a leverage of 5.38 times" We're doing something wrong hehe...
there is a similarity in your trading charts in both your live account and demo and the pattern formed in the bitcoin chart i showed, probably useless information for u since u dont like watching charts but it could be useful for some observer, its a pattern i like and trade, i fully dont understand it yet but i like to call it the A, i think it has emotion behind it, it could be a pattern of life, these show in a lot of places not just in money charts but other charts, i bet if u slapped an rsi on your charts itll be a divergence
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  • #155
  • Oct 12, 2025 6:42am Oct 12, 2025 6:42am
Quoting Fx-Blitz
{quote} there is a similarity in your trading charts in both your live account and demo and the pattern formed in the bitcoin chart i showed, probably useless information for u since u dont like watching charts but it could be useful for some observer, its a pattern i like and trade, i fully dont understand it yet but i like to call it the A, i think it has emotion behind it, it could be a pattern of life, these show in a lot of places not just in money charts but other charts, i bet if u slapped an rsi on your charts itll be a divergence {image}...
Yes. No idea about chart patterns. I know there are many and sometimes they seem to work, sometimes not so much.
  • #156
  • Oct 12, 2025 6:46am Oct 12, 2025 6:46am
Clean and simple
supply and demand + liquidity pools.
Very power full once you learn it
and also it comes with experience.

Prohexa
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  • #157
  • Oct 12, 2025 3:58pm Oct 12, 2025 3:58pm
Quoting Noisy
{quote} Yes. No idea about chart patterns. I know there are many and sometimes they seem to work, sometimes not so much.
try an experiment, when u look for a trade post it here, name your chart, show us your price action, your thought process leading into it, your thought process when your in it, and your thought process when u exit, the idea of this test will be to analyze how u think, how u analyze your trade and your emotional state during and after be as detailed and honest as possible
  • #158
  • Oct 12, 2025 9:42pm Oct 12, 2025 9:42pm
After trading professionally for almost 5 years, I personally would recommend starting with a sim and working your strategy for a year if you're serious. I mean you can trade with small cash so you can feel it. But it takes a lot of time to get consistently proficient.

The weekly chart builds my patience, my discipline, and my wealth all at the same time. Weekly and daily will not only make trading much simpler, but it will also keep you a lot more calm. #FOSHOO
  • #159
  • Oct 13, 2025 3:05am Oct 13, 2025 3:05am
Quoting Noisy
{quote} Thanks. Not discarded, but my current focus is on the ORB approach and stock indices. I can't do everything at the same time. But I believe you that this may be a profitable method. I said that I have a hard time interpreting and trading charts manually. Especially from subjective lines that I would have to draw. Could these lines and points on your chart be drawn automatically with more precise marking? In retrospect, such charts always look good and profitable, but recognizing and acting in real time is something else. I also believe that...
My sons 21st birthday weekend, hence delayed reply

I'm very visual so charts are perfect for me viewing wise

I don't recommend this, but you can buy blindly if you know cycles - but you'd need a buffer zone for price to move, its much better tightening things up by watch and waiting for trend reversal qualifiers - I got in that Fresnillo trade near the £5 mark, once reversal signals appeared

You can do the 123 buy on 2, stop at 3 break out method on ANY time-frame, what you do is spend a little time setting up a SWING file zigzag Indicator, then you manually set the % size of the swing file to suit the swings you wish to trade, this could be a % number or a factor of volatility etc - so depending upon time-frame, it could be an intra-day trade, it could be a swing trade etc - I just showed you a 30 min chart as an example - to show you that it WORKS

You've ALWAYS got to step in front of the bus in trading - this is WHY you HAVE to KNOW all the numbers of the trading method - win rate/av win amount and av loss amount, then you can work out if its worth trading - its ALL about expectancy

Traders can always cock up any method - Livermore used it, Gann used a version of it

I trade a version of it (that I built myself) to reduce the false trades - now I don't need to trade all the time, so nowadays I pick and choose what I do, when I do it etc, but back in the 2010's I traded it full-time and made about 25% per week with it - that is 100% per month I know - no leverage either, just risking 1% per trade

You'll NOT make anywhere near that with the version I have shown you, but you can clearly see the market works to those swings

You can easily do the maths on that 30 min chart, then you can move time-frames to suit your aims - I'm not going to work that out for you, that's up to you to do

This is basically an ORB but you're using a SWING instead of an opening bars range
  • #160
  • Edited 6:00am Oct 13, 2025 5:26am | Edited 6:00am
Quoting hashzar
{quote} Thank you so much for your post. Can you please let us know if your video series has been done and where we can see them.
Hey buddy. Sorry for the long delay but here is the system with videos and all. It can be used as a primary or supplementary system depending on your trading needs.

Templates, Indicators, Rules PDF and more here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...XC?usp=sharing

Full 3 Keys System Video Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...7X1aq2oQsOUMng

Prezi Presentation: https://prezi.com/view/H2a8iqLLJo4YcGL1kjjM/

All of this is free. I will never sell you anything.

There is a scanner that scans all the pairs in markets watch but it only scans one condition automatically and you have to check each hour and each 4 hours for this one condition which is a bit annoying to have to scan at the end of every hour and every 4 hour. However in order to get 2-5 setups a week I have to do this scan.

What I am working on is an EA that alerts only when the first 2 Buy and Sell conditions are met so I dont have to check the scanners every hour. I tried coding the EA with chatgpt but it was terrible haha. Shame on me for thinking that AI could code better than FF lol.

So can anyone who codes make an EA that scans all assets in Marketswatch and gives a popup window alert when the following conditions are met? I would greatly appreciate it:

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