Poll - When did you start trading forex? Anyone had 10+ years here? | Forex Factory

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Poll - When did you start trading forex? Anyone had 10+ years here?

  • Poll

  • In what year did you adventure into this forex world?
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  • #1
  • First Post: Edited 9:21am Feb 7, 2007 8:57am | Edited 9:21am
Hi,

I am starting this thread and poll to see in what year our forum traders started to venture into the forex world. I am not sure on this, but was forex opened to the public for trading only around 1997?(if not, exactly when)? I think this is why even many of the major pure forex brokers out there (FXCM, Oanda, etc) had only a few years of history.

If so, who are the main traders pre-1997? Mostly banks? I have seen crazy data pre-1999, like in some weeks for some pairs it can gap up or down 300+ pips (no kidding) between Friday and Monday. How do traders (even the big banks) traded and adapted to this kind of trading enviroment? Any experienced traders having to deal with and trade in this kind of enviroment? What was your strategy like in those days and can you consistently make money? Volatility was huge at that time too. In 1998, USD/JPY lost more than 2400 pips in 1 week only. If you short USD/JPY, what was profit like at that time (what kind of contract size we have at that time?)

I think most of us traders in this forum have less than 4 years of experience. If you have 5+ experience in the forex world please share your experience with our forum traders about your trading during those early time, like which broker did you use, whether it was fun or stressful to trade during those high volatility periods, and most importantly, could you make money?

Any forum users with any years of forex experience feel free to join in the discussion.
  • #2
  • Feb 7, 2007 9:03am Feb 7, 2007 9:03am
I know of this guy giving 10% avg return on equity every month, he has at least 5 years of experience. I'm guessing experience teaches wisdon
  • #3
  • Feb 7, 2007 1:18pm Feb 7, 2007 1:18pm
Quoting don perry
I know of this guy giving 10% avg return on equity every month, he has at least 5 years of experience. I'm guessing experience teaches wisdon
That and you learn painful lessons blowing out a couple of accounts that kinda scares you straight. I'll be honest, I would kill to be able to go back and trade the way I know how to trade now with my old funds.
  • #4
  • Feb 7, 2007 1:56pm Feb 7, 2007 1:56pm
I started Trading live in November last year and Demo traded a few months before that. I've basically doing Forex for about 8 or 9 months now. I am going to give my self one year with the live account to see if i can be profitable. I dont want like crazy returns, although that would be nice. Maybe 15-20% per year. Although that might be too much as well. We'll see...
  • #5
  • Edited 6:28pm Feb 7, 2007 5:38pm | Edited 6:28pm
The market used to be a bit different in 90's. Especially in terms of volatility. My favorite pair used to be USD/DEM, whose normal intraday trading range at one time used to be in excess of 150 pips and it also posted daily ranges of 250+ pips at least once a week.
The biggest intraday profit I ever made in terms of pips was on 10.08.98. I pocketed then just a bit over 700 pips on USD/JPY long position bybuying it at 112.40 and liquidating at around 119.50.
Also remember profiting from each and every BoJ intervention made in 1995-1997. With automatic entry stops and limits for profit it was easy, like shooting fish in a barrel.
Have never seen 300-pip gaps on majors though.
Before 1995 retail trading was mostly conducted through some SE Asia dealers. The orders were placed via the phone. Normal dealing spreads used to be 10 pips on all the majors plus some commission on top of it. Minimal contract size was $100.000 with 1:100 maximum leverage.
Sometimes there were limitations of 30-40 pips for stops placement.
A "hedging/locking" scam, that allowed a trader to keep two opposite positions on the same currency pair, was commonly accepted and even encouraged by dealers and brokers.
CQG and Knight Rider were the most reliable original charting platforms. Future Source and E-Signal provided data feed for Omega Trade Station and Omega SuperCharts.
  • #6
  • Feb 7, 2007 6:12pm Feb 7, 2007 6:12pm
On my daily chart 10/8/98 for USDJPY it shows Open 121.70 High 123.10 Low 115.67 Close 119.82

Maybe it was a another day or symbol?
  • #7
  • Feb 7, 2007 7:06pm Feb 7, 2007 7:06pm
Is this only trading for personal account.. or does time trading for a bank count?

There must be a few of us who remembers/traded pre-Euro?

The intro of the Euro wiped out an extra 11 ccys and their crosses.
USD/DEM (thats the Deutschmark for you "youngsters" ) was THE main pair, and the DEM was also fairly heavily traded against the JPY and other European ccys; ITL, ESP, FRF, NLG, etc.

GBP/DEM was also a good one.... especially quoting it with 15/20 pip spreads lol


As for that week in October 98 on the USD/JPY....that was fun!
5 Oct:
Open.. 135.98
High... 135.99
Low... 133.71
Close... 134.01.......High/Low range 228 pips(this was the quiet start to the week!)

6 Oct:
Open: 134.02
High... 134.21
Low... 129.11
Close..129.76.......High/Low range 510 pips


7 Oct
Open..129.71
High...130.71
Low...118.66
Close..121.71........High/Low range 1205 pips



8 Oct
Open...121.75
High....123.46
Low... 111.64
Close...118.41........High/Low range 1182 pips



9 Oct
Open...118.31
High...118.71
Low... 115.31
Close... 116.62.........High/Low range 340 pips


I remember quoting 100 pip wide spreads... getting dealt and while still "confirming" that deal, the same counterparty would be asking for a fresh price to take a 100+ pip profit or loss!.. and believe me, some of my best trades that week were 100pip losses

And Yes..there were Technical Analysts coming up with garbage like
".. Well, the projected Fib 38.2 retracement of this downmove is....".or.."we have strong support on the 4hrly chart which should support....."
"Forget it Pal... Its just dropped another 400 pips while youre drawing a line on your f'ing chart!!"....Technical Analysis..what a load of ...


Oh yeah.. and what caused this move?

Correct.. The unwinding of JPY Carry Trades

So...those newbs who think youve found an easy way to make money...beware... your couple of a pips a day wont save your account if/when history repeats(which it always does...right?)...Just like any market.. when "Joe Public" thinks its a great idea......Its time to GET OUT !
  • #8
  • Edited 7:26pm Feb 7, 2007 7:16pm | Edited 7:26pm
Quoting SunTrader
On my daily chart 10/8/98 for USDJPY it shows Open 121.70 High 123.10 Low 115.67 Close 119.82

Maybe it was a another day or symbol?
There is no mistake. First of all, I remember it exactly. Second, on my charts the range for 10.08.98 has been between 123.43 and 111.73 (with open at 120.65 and close at 119.45). However open and close prices may vary cause different data providers use different time frames nowadays. The 24-hour cycle on my charts have always been based on 5 p.m. NY time mark.
I have been collecting this data myself at the end of the day and checking it every day since 1995. It's extremely accurate and goes back to as far as late 40's on some pairs and early 70's on others. The daily data for USD/JPY is available on my charts since 09.21.64.
Ironically enough, I have also never seen synthetic EUR charts (pre. 1999) from different data providers that would be identical.
  • #9
  • Edited 7:45pm Feb 7, 2007 7:28pm | Edited 7:45pm
Quoting Igrok
The market used to be a bit different in 90's. Especially in terms of volatility. My favorite pair used to be USD/DEM, whose normal intraday trading range at one time used to be in excess of 150 pips and it also posted daily ranges of 250+ pips at least once a week.
The biggest intraday profit I ever made in terms of pips was on 10.08.98. I pocketed then just a bit over 700 pips on USD/JPY long position bybuying it at 112.40 and liquidating at around 119.50.
Also remember profiting from each and every BoJ intervention made in 1995-1997. With automatic entry stops and limits for profit it was easy, like shooting fish in a barrel.
Have never seen 300-pip gaps on majors though.
Before 1995 retail trading was mostly conducted through some SE Asia dealers. The orders were placed via the phone. Normal dealing spreads used to be 10 pips on all the majors plus some commission on top of it. Minimal contract size was $100.000 with 1:100 maximum leverage.
Sometimes there were limitations of 30-40 pips for stops placement.
A "hedging/locking" scam, that allowed a trader to keep two opposite positions on the same currency pair, was commonly accepted and even encouraged by dealers and brokers.
CQG and Knight Rider were the most reliable original charting platforms. Future Source and E-Signal provided data feed for Omega Trade Station and Omega SuperCharts.
Thanks Igrok for your response. So, as a general public actually we can trade in the Forex Market in the early and mid 90's? Probably trading Forex is not common among the public at that time and we don't know about it during those periods. Do you think it's risker and harder to make money (in terms of money management technique, high volatility) at that time or actually it's easier because of the wide swing of the market?

Were there that many news annoncement (like CPI, GDP or minor one like ISM manufacturing) and did many people trade news (set strategies and trade just before the news) at that time?
  • #10
  • Feb 7, 2007 7:33pm Feb 7, 2007 7:33pm
Quoting Igrok
There is no mistake. First of all, I remember it exactly. Second, on my charts the range for 10.08.98 has been between 123.43 and 111.73 (with open at 120.65 and close at 119.45). However open and close prices may vary cause different data providers use different time frames nowadays. The 24-hour cycle on my charts have always been based on 5 p.m. NY time mark.
I have been collecting this data myself at the end of the day and checking it every day since 1995. It's extremely accurate and goes back to as far as late 40's on some pairs and early 70's on others. The daily data for USD/JPY is available on my charts since 09.21.64.
Ironically enough, I have also never seen synthetic EUR charts (pre. 1999) from different data providers that would be identical.
What are synthetic EUR charts pre 1999? I notice that for many EUR charts today it went back before 1999 and EUR was not existed before that year.
  • #11
  • Edited 7:55pm Feb 7, 2007 7:43pm | Edited 7:55pm
Quoting BigFace
I remember quoting 100 pip wide spreads... getting dealt and while still "confirming" that deal, the same counterparty would be asking for a fresh price to take a 100+ pip profit or loss!.. and believe me, some of my best trades that week were 100pip losses

And Yes..there were Technical Analysts coming up with garbage like
".. Well, the projected Fib 38.2 retracement of this downmove is....".or.."we have strong support on the 4hrly chart which should support....."
"Forget it Pal... Its just dropped another 400 pips while youre drawing a line on your f'ing chart!!"....Technical Analysis..what a load of ...
Ha! Ha! That was funny. That's why I was wondering how people even the big banks design their strategies during those days. A few hundred or a thousand pips gained or lost in just a day and it makes you rich or wipes your account in no time.

And BigFace, did you trade frequently during the 90's and did you make money on average? I think it must be tense with that kind of big movement (not limiting to your USD/JPY example in 1998. I noticed many majors trade with crazy swings within a short amount of time. Was it a sign of inefficiencies of the market due to the limited number of players? Was it mostly a game between the big banks? Nowadays we see some immature stock markets (in certain countries they got big swings as well while we see the Dows barely got +-1500 (that's around 15%) points in a month or in even few months. Getting out too early while the market was favouring your position later with a 1000+ pips gained in a week might make someone kicking himself, while not having proper trading psychology and money management it might make someone go broke if you didn't stop-loss.
  • #12
  • Feb 7, 2007 7:59pm Feb 7, 2007 7:59pm
Quoting forex778
Thanks Igrok for your response. So, as a general public actually we can trade in the Forex Market in the early and mid 90's? Probably trading Forex is not common among the public at that time and we don't know about it during those periods. Do you think it's risker and harder to make money (in terms of money management technique, high volatility) at that time or actually it's easier because of the wide swing of the market?

Were there that many news annoncement (like CPI, GDP or minor one like ISM manufacturing) and did many people trade news (set strategies and trade just before the new) at that time?
I began trading with my own funds in September or October of 1993. In a "bucket shop". Have been the only one among hundreds of individual speculators who survived there throughout 1993-1996. And I did it only because was lucky enough as I traded from an office along with others whose trades I could see. When I began losing from the very start, soon I realised that everyone else around is a loser. So, in order to make some profits I just began to take contrarian trades. Against the crowd. Was waiting till most of the traders get into their positions before taking my own in the opposite direction. My best results were mostly news related then as everyone was losing more in such days. Especially bloody used to be Non Farm Payroll released every first monday of each month.
Then it took about 3 years to develop my trading "templates" and about another year to test and to refine them. This is the method I still trade today. Got my first fund under management in 1997.
  • #13
  • Feb 7, 2007 8:02pm Feb 7, 2007 8:02pm
Quoting forex778
What are synthetic EUR charts pre 1999? I notice that for many EUR charts today it went back before 1999 and EUR was not existed before that year.
Those are the synthetic EUR charts calculated artificially and based on DEM and other european currencies pre 1999 exchange rates. Not reliable at all.
  • #14
  • Feb 7, 2007 8:08pm Feb 7, 2007 8:08pm
Quoting Igrok
I began trading with my own funds in September or October of 1993. In a "bucket shop". Have been the only one among hundreds of individual speculators who survived there throughout 1993-1996. And I did it only because was lucky enough as I traded from an office along with others whose trades I could see. When I began losing from the very start, soon I realised that everyone else around is a loser. So, in order to make some profits I just began to take contrarian trades. Against the crowd. Was waiting till most of the traders get into their positions before taking my own in the opposite direction. My best results were mostly news related then as everyone was losing more in such days. Especially bloody used to be Non Farm Payroll released every first monday of each month.
Then it took about 3 years to develop my trading "templates" and about another year to test and to refine them. This is the method I still trade today. Got my first fund under management in 1997.
If you are still around in this Forex World at this moment and was not scared away (losing money, etc,) I think you must be mature enough in terms of your trading skills now so you are making consistent profits over the last 7 -8 years, right? Was there a time that you take some big hits (or your strategies stop working as we saw trading enviroment changed so much over the last 5 years) where you started to re-evaluate whether Forex is for you? Did you take some big breaks when that happened? Did you make a living out of it or just part of your portfolio and you got other source of income?
  • #15
  • Feb 7, 2007 8:19pm Feb 7, 2007 8:19pm
IGROK

Did you trade ruble in '98 (i believe) when it was devaluated?
  • #16
  • Edited 8:46pm Feb 7, 2007 8:35pm | Edited 8:46pm
Quoting forex778
If you are still around in this Forex World at this moment and was not scared away (losing money, etc,) I think you must be mature enough in terms of your trading skills now so you are making consistent profits over the last 7 -8 years, right? Was there a time that you take some big hits (or your strategies stop working as we saw trading enviroment changed so much over the last 5 years) where you started to re-evaluate whether Forex is for you? Did you take some big breaks when that happened? Did you make a living out of it or just part of your portfolio and you got other source of income?
Thanks G-d, I never experienced any "big hits" over the last 10 years. At least, not so devastating ones (touching wood now). However remember that once I took a few days vacation break after losing about a mio in one day. Spent it in Vegas . By the end of that year my fund still was up about 63%. In 2003 I actually retired from trading. Also made my first book published then. In a year or two got bored of doing almost nothing and began trading again in 2005.
For a while I also used to have a hobby of teaching, but got bored with it as well eventually. For the last 14 years I haven't had any other income source that wouldn't be related to forex. Have never had a portfolio also.
  • #17
  • Feb 7, 2007 8:39pm Feb 7, 2007 8:39pm
Quoting Michaelw
IGROK
Did you trade ruble in '98 (i believe) when it was devaluated?
Why should I? The last time when I actually kept rubles in my hands was about 15 years ago.
  • #18
  • Feb 7, 2007 8:52pm Feb 7, 2007 8:52pm
Quoting Igrok
Thanks G-d, I never experienced any "big hits" over the last 10 years. At least, not so devastating ones (touching wood now). However remember that once I took a few days vacation break after losing about a mio in one day. Spent it in Vegas . By the end of that year my fund still was up about 63%. In 2003 I actually retired from trading. Also made my first book published then. In a year or two got bored of doing almost nothing and began trading again in 2005.
For a while I also used to have a hobby of teaching, but got bored with it as well eventually. For the last 14 years I haven't had any other income source that wouldn't be related to forex. Have never had a portfolio also.
What is your book called if you don't mind? (you can PM me if you don't want to make it public). You said you have a fund, is it your own fund or you managed a fund related to Forex for a big company? Was 2002 a bad year for most of the Forex traders? Volatility was very low that year even for the volatile pair like the GBP/USD and what caused that?
  • #19
  • Edited 10:15pm Feb 7, 2007 9:11pm | Edited 10:15pm
Quoting forex778
What is your book called if you don't mind? (you can PM me if you don't want to make it public). You said you have a fund, is it your own fund or you managed a fund related to Forex for a big company? Was 2002 a bad year for most of the Forex traders? Volatility was very low that year even for the volatile pair like the GBP/USD and what caused that?
1. The book info you can get from my site or amazon. Can search by my nick.
2. I don't like the idea of creating own fund. Too much of a headache. I prefer being an asset management company and to work as a contractor under LPOA.
3. Don't know about others. In 2002 I had three negative months with over 60% returns before fees and commissions at the end of the year. The fund, a part of which I was managing then, was featured in "Profit & Loss Magazine" several times that year as being one of the leaders in the industry.
  • #20
  • Feb 7, 2007 9:20pm Feb 7, 2007 9:20pm
Quoting Igrok
I began trading with my own funds in September or October of 1993. In a "bucket shop". Have been the only one among hundreds of individual speculators who survived there throughout 1993-1996. And I did it only because was lucky enough as I traded from an office along with others whose trades I could see. When I began losing from the very start, soon I realised that everyone else around is a loser. So, in order to make some profits I just began to take contrarian trades. Against the crowd. Was waiting till most of the traders get into their positions before taking my own in the opposite direction. My best results were mostly news related then as everyone was losing more in such days. Especially bloody used to be Non Farm Payroll released every first monday of each month.
Then it took about 3 years to develop my trading "templates" and about another year to test and to refine them. This is the method I still trade today. Got my first fund under management in 1997.
I'm a little more than confused.
I've {professionally} traded commodity futures, DX included for > 20 years but only remember the inception of Forex {not Globex} since ~1999 {1998} that is, if you go by the hype...,
Question;
Did you mean you have been Trading FX since 1993,
OR
You have been trading since 1993?
No Slam intended. Just wondering if I missed the boat...
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