Earning with Forex

With a decent strategy, is it possible to double your money consistently every year?

there are people that will say YES with no hesitation.

there are people that will say NO equally as fast.

then there are those that are just not sure..... they haven't found an edge, but they are still searching.


for me, it comes down to having a clearly defined edge that goes beyond chart formations..... ie) having cause / effect on your side.....

now some people may have a strategy that looked good historically, and then they traded it on a live account and it makes a fortune. others may have a different strategy that looked good historically, and even if they followed the rules to a T, they wipe out the account.

so your people that have a real edge or get lucky will tell you YES. that's about as clear as it can be made.

It is possible, even with good money management, depending on the strategy. Think about it... if you take one trade a week and only risk 1%, you will never manage it. If you take 50 trades a day, risking 1% and average 1.5% profit per trade, then it is possible. Plug some numbers in a calculator. Or Excel.

we all know that it is "possible."

the question deals with "consistency." and if forex is truly a zero sum game (as hanover likes to discuss) then we are prone to break even with no edge, and pay a spread for every trade.

to the original poster: i recommend reading the thread titled "are the odds staked against us?" (mispelled purposefully) it will explain what the trader is up against as he pushes his bolder up the mountain.

Tdion is right. It's all about having a defined edge. Not necessarily defined mathematically or deliberately in legalese, so long as it's defined to you and your mindset.

From then you can build consistency, and from then, your proposition of earning from trading currencies begins to materialize.

It's taken me four years and literally thousands and thousands of dollars, but I've finally gotten there, so yes it is possible.

However, I have to split your question into two. Do you want to try and build capital in an account, or do you want to try and earn an income stream from a built up capital? Those are two very different objectives, believe me; and they require two very different approaches.

I did assume by decent strategy, the OP meant one that had an edge, otherwise it wouldn't be very decent at all.

Why limit yourself to Forex?

With a decent strategy, you can double your money every year putting it on black as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaemons

making 100% profit is a very reasonable target for a whole year. when you have a well defined edge as everyone has been saying and you are consistent, that could always make it realistic. a target like this will prevent you into involving into too many risks like overtrading, trading too large lot sizes in relation to the account size e.t.c not like many newbies and miseducated forex traders who only sees the forex business and wants to double their money in a day/week/month, why would they not soon crash out ?

I don't think you can do that anymore in the big casinos. The wheels are monitored by a computer and at the first sign they are deviating from randomness they are shut down and adjusted.

The old slot machines could be beaten too. The ones from the late 40s and early 50s.
We had one of those in the NCO club when I was in the service. You could milk it like a cow by waiting exactly 7 seconds to pull the handle after something that paid off showed up. For example- get two cherries - wait exactly 7 seconds- pull it again- you keep repeating the two cherries. Unfortunately, it was a penny machine and even worse they finally caught on to it.

That may be true but it was completely besides the point I was trying to make.

I was trying to explain that yes, it's possible to double your money in a year. It's even possible to double it in a day.

But the opposite is also true. You can lose it all in a matter of seconds.

Got it.
I agree.

Thanks for the input here.

Yes, I have 2 systems that I have tried for a year now. Finally, I think I am ready to build on my capital.

Hi mazdaz,

I'm one of those guy's that is going to say yes without hesitation.

The only thing I will add to the above anwsers is that it will come down to your ability to handle the size of the trade you are in, eg a guy I'm coaching was doing extremely well on mini lots averaging 24 out of 30 positive trades and without consultation went from trading 1 mini contract to 10 standard contracts and lost.

The thing in this case is that he didn't develope the ability to focus on the trade, he was too attached to the money on the trade.

The way I explain it to people is that there is a Past, Present and Future.
When trading you need to be Present, if you are thinking about your past glories you will bring that into your trading room and stuff up your trade, the same is said if you are thinking about your Future, you will bring that back to the present and again hinder your trading. If you keep yourself in the present you then have the ability to focus purely on your game and generally produce the results without any distractions.

By the way the Guy I was talking about now trades full time and it is his sole income.

I don't know why I mentioned that but I hope it helps.

cheers

If you find someone please let me know. I'm simply looking for several good traders that can avg. 5% per month to help me manage my fund. I would like a vacation.

Ro

5-6% compounded over a 12 month period will double your money.

I guess you haven't looked in the right places. Just kidding.

A good system, dedicated time to trade, good money management and a mentor to turn to when you have problems is a key to being successful.

Also, have knowledge on how to use the MT4 system and demo trade is important.