Time it takes to be a Successful Forex trader | Forex Factory

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Time it takes to be a Successful Forex trader

  • #1
  • First Post: Jul 9, 2008 11:55pm Jul 9, 2008 11:55pm
I decided to be a full-time forex trader a few months ago. Leaving my contractual job was not a problem + I had sufficient funds to support myself for 6 months. It's been about 4 months and I have been gulping down information fast, primarily learning from books written by successful well known traders. My goal was to read for one more month, demo trade for 1 month or so and go live after ensuring that I knew the game inside out. I have no prior experience trading, however I am fascinated by the idea of living anywhere and making money at the same time. I also realize that my success would depend on the broker that I am going to choose, so after doing some research I have come to the conclusion that market makers are a major factor in making someone a loser. So i have decided to choose an ECN instead. I hope I'm on the right track.

However, after reading some threads, it seems that it's not that easy to make money in forex. I consider myself above-average in learning new subjects and am very thorough. So I usually go deep into whatever I am learning.


Knowing myself and my abilities, I thought that I would be doing well in forex once I go live by following proper trading strategies, money-management and psychology.

Am I being unrealistic? Most of you are making it sound as if nobody can really make money in Forex without spending at least a year trading. Is that the story with everyone who is successful in forex trading?

I am having second thoughts about continue to do it full-time. Maybe I should go back to work and trade part-time. I know this is something that I have work out on my own, but it would help to know others' journey to success in the forex world also.
  • #2
  • Jul 10, 2008 12:24am Jul 10, 2008 12:24am
Quoting trader35
Am I being unrealistic?
Yes

Quoting trader35
Most of you are making it sound as if nobody can really make money in Forex without spending at least a year trading. Is that the story with everyone who is successful in forex trading?
Some take a year to learn. Some never learn. It's not that nobody can really make money in Forex without spending a year at it. It's that Forex is not for just everybody. It takes patience, a good sense of analysis, risk management and some will argue, brass balls.

Quoting trader35
I am having second thoughts about continue to do it full-time. Maybe I should go back to work and trade part-time.
That would be the smart way to go.

By the way, welcome to FF and happy trading
Not all sins are created equal
  • #3
  • Jul 10, 2008 12:43am Jul 10, 2008 12:43am
It will certainly help you save a lot if you get a good mentor to walk you through.
Don't try try to save in the wrong place.
If you don't know where to go to, join James16 PF for 2 months
Good luck
  • #4
  • Jul 10, 2008 12:55am Jul 10, 2008 12:55am
Expect five years to be successful, i.e. to breakeven.
Mr. Trend
  • #5
  • Jul 10, 2008 2:19am Jul 10, 2008 2:19am
Hey there, just thought I'd give you a little hope.
I've been trading for a year now, and it took me 6months to stop bleeding money, and now another 6 months to really figure out my niche.(I'm only making a very little money, but I am) I think the reason it takes so long is that we are always looking for the holy grail at this early stage. So when we start a system, lose a little money, we imediately drop it and move on. We do this again and again making it a very painful process. Finally after 6 months I realized that the way i had started had actually been the best way for me personally. Trading the Daily just using very obvious levels of support and resistance.

I will quickly throw out some things that will get in your way when you begin trading.

#1 the temptation to trade lower timeframes..don't : )

#2 Using to many indicators, truthfully I don't use any now.

#3 Over trading, better to wait a whole week looking at all the pairs and pick the one obvious trade that will make money than throw your self at a dozen maybes.

You will of course do all of these things and only when you learn your self and remember these words will you become profitable.... thats why it takes so long. And of course there really is a lot to learn and the more you watch those charts the more they will speak to you.

Anyway, just my two cents. I really am still pretty much just a noob. And as they say there are many ways to skin a cat!

One of the best threads for me on picking just the obvious no brainer support and resistance trades is this thread http://forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=86429
  • #6
  • Jul 10, 2008 2:52am Jul 10, 2008 2:52am
Hello, trader35

pl contac me if you are from India-mumbai, may be i can guide you.

Best Regards
Ramdas
  • #7
  • Edited 5:21am Jul 10, 2008 3:25am | Edited 5:21am
I am D HOLY ONE sent from heaven to warn u and tell u dat the dis forex biz is a JUNGLE OF DEATH . it will gulp from u a great deal of courage, interest, determination, discipline, self-control to live alive in it on the long run. Many that come in therein die young and alive with their millions, only 5-10% live alive on the long run.

So if u have decided, THERE IS POWER IN WILL , do not invest yet until you have possesed all the teknical, fundamental, psychological, behavioural and sociological qualities o. Spend vast time for like one and half month studying , demotrading and understand all the teknical and fundamental intrigues of dis market. Learn a good proper money management all that while.

After, you make your first live investment a small capital, that which you can afford to throw by the ditch and use that to imbibe all the psychological qualities u might hav not while demotrading and while trading that be determined not to loose that, if u can be be able to hold that money for a full month and half without loosing all, then i can give u kudos to then invest proper.
know thy edge and abide by it ! 4 in it shall thou be successful !
  • #8
  • Jul 10, 2008 3:41am Jul 10, 2008 3:41am
Quoting robertsonakp
i am sent from heaven to warn u and tell u dat the dis forex biz is a JUNGLE OF DEATH . it will gulp from u a great deal of courage, interest, determination, discipline, self-control to live alive in it on the long run. Many that come in therein die young and alive with their millions, only 5-10% live alive on the long run.So if u have decided, do not invest yet until you have possesed all the teknical, fundamental, psychological, behavioural and sociological qualities o.Spend vast time studying , demotrading and understand all the teknical and fundamental intrigues of dis market.After, you make your first investment a small capital, that which you can afford to throw by the ditch and use that to imbibe all the psychological qualities u might hav not while demotrading and while trading that be determined not to loose that, if u can be be able to hold that money for a full month and half without loosing all, then i can give u kudos to then invest proper.


I can understand every word you mention.
New trader will read it..and then in next 10min he will forget it and start hunting new stratergy...new indicator....new thread.....
My laptop hard disk is full of material collected from year 2005 from various forums, sites. Now when i read it i ......
Only one good learning i remember all time is
Post 1 of this link http://www.moneytec.com/forums/f14/l...-trader-12879/
  • #9
  • Jul 10, 2008 5:26am Jul 10, 2008 5:26am
Thanks so far to everyone that has replied. I am looking forward to hear from more traders
  • #10
  • Jul 10, 2008 10:50am Jul 10, 2008 10:50am
my two cents is that there is risk trading fulltime if you can't afford to lose the money

let me repeat.... if you lose forex money you need to pay the bills, it is worse than not making anything


a lot of trading is based on luck unless you have a definable edge. do you have a definable edge? if not, it doesn't matter how smart you are... a few people have no edge and are simply lucky awhile, but its hard to beat the house for very long on luck alone.
  • #11
  • Jul 10, 2008 2:20pm Jul 10, 2008 2:20pm
No one can measure the time it takes you to become a successful trader. For me, it took me 3 years to become seasoned and proficient enough to know that I can trade full time.

You can ask 100 different professional traders how long it took them to become successful and you will get 100 different answers.
"To Be A Successful Forex Trader, You Need A Successful Forex Mentor."
  • #12
  • Jul 13, 2008 8:36pm Jul 13, 2008 8:36pm
Trader35,

I'm pretty much in the exact same situation as you. Lost a job, had a nice severance package and money saved up, and figured that now was the time to try something I've always dreamed about.

Lost 20% of my risk capital in the first two months. So now I've been focusing on the basics, reading everything, books, forums, anything. And treating my demo account "money" like the real thing. Also, landed some part-time work to help out with bills.

Some of my lessons learned....

1) Become a master of some of the major pairs in fairly long time frames, like 1 hour as the fastest. Try 4 hour or even daily charts first. This gives you more time to think. The faster time frames and volatile cross pairs will eat you alive.

2) Write down in a journal a trade plan before you send the order. Write down your reasons for the trade, justify your plan like you would to your boss. Write down the conditions that you'll both enter and exit the trade.
This reinforces the idea of taking your time with longer time frames.

3) After a trade has closed, go back to your journal and write down what went wrong (or right!) with the trade. Learn from your mistakes.

I know I should do all this stuff and when I follow it, even if I lose money I learn something from the loss. If I don't follow it I end up losing money, learning nothing, and end up being frustrated and angry with my lack of patience and discipline.

Good luck, and hang in there!
  • #13
  • Jul 14, 2008 2:00am Jul 14, 2008 2:00am
I suggest you find a trading method which fit your personality. Then tweat it until you feel comfortable. Some people like to trade long time. Some people hold trade for a few hours. There are scalpers which trade on tick chart.
There are profitable traders in all these styles. If someone comes out saying one of these style do not, I bet there will be hundreds of people coming out defending their style with their account statement. So don't disrespect one style over the other.

Go back to what I say in the beginning. You need to find a style which fit your personality. Some people like to take hours to analysis a trade, do not like to stuck in front of the screen all the time. Long term position trading will be more fit for those people. If you like to sit in front of the screen all the time, scalping maybe the way to go. As it will keep you occupy. Some people do not like to hold position overnight so position trading is not for them.

Find a style and develop your niche, otherwise it will be very painful. Every style can make money. Good luck!
  • #14
  • Jul 14, 2008 3:46am Jul 14, 2008 3:46am
Thanks to everyone who has given me valuable advice. I will certainly take notes of all that's been written here.
My biggest fear is not really trading, although it is one of them - it is being with a "wrong" broker and getting robbed.
It's scary to read reviews about stop-hunters, made-up slippage etc.
There is no broker that meets expectations of even 50% of its customers.
This is truly sad.
I wish there was an honest broker and maybe there is but I'm not aware of.
If I ever become successful trading and if I acquire appropriate skills, I would help form a non-profit brokerage.
  • #15
  • Jul 14, 2008 4:08am Jul 14, 2008 4:08am
1) Become a master of some of the major pairs in fairly long time frames, like 1 hour as the fastest. Try 4 hour or even daily charts first. This gives you more time to think. The faster time frames and volatile cross pairs will eat you alive.

2) Write down in a journal a trade plan before you send the order. Write down your reasons for the trade, justify your plan like you would to your boss. Write down the conditions that you'll both enter and exit the trade.
This reinforces the idea of taking your time with longer time frames.

3) After a trade has closed, go back to your journal and write down what went wrong (or right!) with the trade. Learn from your mistakes.

I know I should do all this stuff and when I follow it, even if I lose money I learn something from the loss. If I don't follow it I end up losing money, learning nothing, and end up being frustrated and angry with my lack of patience and discipline.


Yap, i culd remember i did all dis during those fraustrating early days of my demo practise.
know thy edge and abide by it ! 4 in it shall thou be successful !
  • #16
  • Jul 14, 2008 2:35pm Jul 14, 2008 2:35pm
Quoting trader35
My biggest fear is not really trading, although it is one of them - it is being with a "wrong" broker and getting robbed.
That's the least of your worries.
Quoting trader35
It's scary to read reviews about stop-hunters, made-up slippage etc.
Nothing scary about stop-hunters. That's how the market works. Banks run stops to create liquidity. Before you even think about making this a profession and not having a day job, you need to understand how the market works.
Quoting trader35
If I ever become successful trading and if I acquire appropriate skills, I would help form a non-profit brokerage.
LOL. No you wouldn't. Also, I hate to say this, but you need to hear it -- if you really think you're going to need a few months to "know this game inside and out", you're seriously mistaken. If it were that easy, everyone would be a trader.

The big joke amongst successful traders is the FOREX commercials you see on TV. You get all of these people thinking they can make money overnight. I wish it were that easy. What actually happens is they just end up becoming more canon fodder.

If you are still here actively posting on this forum a year from now, I will be thoroughly impressed. That's not a mean statement. But I'm just giving it to you like it is...I would much rather see you get pissed and say, this isn't for me, and maybe lose $500, and know that this isn't for you, then to not hear any of this and go on to lose thousands and thousands of dollars...
Mr. Trend
  • #17
  • Jul 14, 2008 3:31pm Jul 14, 2008 3:31pm
Quoting trader35
If I ever become successful trading and if I acquire appropriate skills, I would help form a non-profit brokerage.

Damn, thats a good one.

Pay attention to Mr Trends post - he's not BS'ing you.
In trading, there is no bullshit. You either make money or you don't.
  • #18
  • Jul 14, 2008 4:11pm Jul 14, 2008 4:11pm
"If I ever become successful trading and if I acquire appropriate skills, I would help form a non-profit brokerage."

This is bargaining with the Lord/Karma/Whatever Higher Power You Happen To Believe In. This higher power has been around the block a few times and can see through the bargaining. It won't work.
We're more likely to get rewarded for what we do (study, learn, practice, etc.) rather than for what we promise we'll do if the reward is given in advance. There are no shortcuts; not even by promising to be a better person.
  • #19
  • Jul 14, 2008 4:13pm Jul 14, 2008 4:13pm
Canon fodder = added liquidity lol on a more serious note you state that you have 6 months saved up for living expenses but you did not state how much you plan to open an account with, this should not be your #1 concern right now as you need to listen to Mr. Trend and CTGUY but your #2 concern after finding an edge and becoming profitable etc. should be how much are you going to fund your account with? This can be detrimental to your failure/success especially if you plan to replace your income from a full time job. Too many people think they can invest $500 or the likes and make BIG bucks the first year. This is very far from the truth.
  • #20
  • Jul 14, 2008 6:48pm Jul 14, 2008 6:48pm
Quoting Mr Trend
That's the least of your worries....
Sage advice ! Print it & stick it to your Trading Monitor. Then Print it in ESREVER and stick it on your forehead just so you are reminded Every time you look in the mirror.

Sounds like a joke,I know, but I am absolutely serious.
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