Living Off Fx

Sounds like you've found the meaning of Holy Grail! Nice work.

So assuming you have a method that nets a positive return, say enough to live comfortably on, how do you structure your forex "business". Do you just report it on your 1040 as investment income? Why not trade through a legitimate business structure such as a corporation or LLC? Write off all your expenses, even travel to foreign countries to see "how their currency is doing". You could incorporate overseas, says as a Bahamian international company or foundation, and don't repatriate any more than you need to live on hence avoiding uneccessary taxes while at the same time protecting your assets from creditors or frivilous lawsuits.

Does anyone here trade as a business? How did you structure your business entity? Thanks.

FW

http://www.daytradertax.com/
http://www.tradersaccounting.com/index.php

I'm probably going to incorporate as an LLC next year.

Thanks for the reply, the links are useful

FW

Forex Factory looks like a trash dump but it is a gold mine filled with good ideas buried under a lot of trash. There is much wisdom that is drowned out by the popular crowd. What is the reason this thread hasn't had a reply in months? I found this topic by clicking on a link provided by another FF poster.

Post #32 in this thread contains an illuminating truth: BREAKOUTS WORK.

If breakouts are your trading weapon of choice, then the only reason for failure is you. If you keep your losses a constant size then sooner or later you will get a breakout trade the more than makes up for your losses.

Along with the Vegas Tunnel breakouts, I would add DIBS and Asian Box to your trading arsenal. I emphatically stress that your loss should be no more than 10 pips. You can always reenter the trade where you were stopped out, if/when price returns to that level. Think of the poor trader who went long GBPUSD at its peak above 2.11xx. A 10 pip stop loss prevented the impending doom of the GBPUSD decline. If after you get on the train you suddenly realize it is heading in the wrong direction, do you ride it until it turns around or do you exit at the next stop? Your trading decisions should be no different.

Now back to gold mining.

you just gave me a light-bulb moment. forex factory is indeed a gold mine filled with good ideas, buried under a lot of trash...thank you!

I formed an S Corproration before I began live trading and do all trading (forex, futures, and stocks) under that. I started a thread about it, see below...

http://static.forexfactory.com/forex...cons/icon1.gif The Business of Forex Trading

These threads about the business aspects of forex trading never seem to go very far on FF. Why? Probably because most traders active here are:

a) not making any money at all
b) trading micro or mini accounts & the profits are not enough to mean much
c) Trading profitably but flying under the radar

For any of those here who claim to be able to make a living off forex, would you care to PROVE it? I don't mean with a demo account, but either an actual live account or some other verifiable records. There are people here who have started and continue to have very long threads here on FF that aren't making a living off forex. Yet, we have people here who have never opened a thread making claims that they live off forex. I highly doubt it. There's only one person that I believe makes a bonafide living off forex, and that's a guy named Edgetrader.

I doubt I'll get any takers, because I've asked for PROOF before and get responsesd such as "Do you REALLY expect me to post a live account?" As if someone could hack into it and steal the money. Or I get posts of charts that show an ideal trade such as perhaps a breakout trade that worked as "proof" someone makes a living from forex.

The thread should be titled "Prove you make a living from forex and detail your CONSISTENT winning system", but if it was titled that, the rats would be deserting the ship.

As soon as you start talking about making money in spot forex, the doubters will start saying, "Prove it!" If you post a runoff of your account trade history showing winning trades and a net gain, well then obviously that was a photoshopped fabrication. I wonder if those who consistently make profits demand proof of others who claim to do the same? I doubt that.

It would be interesting to hear from those who trade for a living, even partially, re: how they deal with taxes, employees, business structure, etc. But hey, I guess they could be making all that up, too, right?

Maybe people who "make it" don't waste their time spewing away on public forums? I'll let you know if I ever get there myself.....

Or will I?

Unfortunately, darned few people that post on FF make a living trading forex. The Real Thing is probably an exception. I've seen his posts from time to time, and it's likely that he has achieved consistent success at forex trading.
But, look around. Scour the boards here on FF, as I have done literally full time for the last two years, in addition to trading forex for longer. That I am not able to yet mnake a living off forex does not disqualify me from saying that 99.9% of the posters here on FF do not make a living off trading forex.
It would be nice to have more than that 1/10th of 1%, which would mean it would be easier for the rest of us to achieve that goal of trading full time. Most all of the people who claim they trade full time and for a living are full of it. Most people here have other jobs and dabble in forex. The vast majority of those here on FF trade in DEMO accounts, and do that for years without ever even opening a live account. Many will tout successes in a demo account, or from an EA on a demo account, but can never duplicate those results on a live account.
Why? You ask. For many reasons. One is that a system that works today may not work tomorrow. Another is that their system works only in trending markets. Another is that the pair it works on suddenly peters out and goes haywire. An EA that worked last month falls apart because of heavy drawdowns. Another is that people bravely take a 35% drawdown with their monopoly money demo account, and freak out in a real account, and close out the trades at a loss, when had they stayed in the trades, it MAY have turned around. Another is that they tinker with the system they do have to try to squeeze out more pips, and it screws everything up. Another is greed. Another is fear.
The long and short of it is that you will not learn forex in a week, or a month, or even a year. You may learn a system and have it down pretty well, but you won't learn what to do when that system goes the other way on you for who knows what reason. All of a sudden, the fool proof system doesn't work, and you either pull out or load up, leaving your REAL account in shambles.
So, you add indicators in an attempt to optimize the system, leaving your board a mess of confusion with one indicator saying trade, and the other saying no, and another saying maybe.
There is no magic EA. There is no magic system. Those who trade full time, and there are darned few of them, have been in this game for YEARS. They have lost lots of money before they made any money. They have studied. They have tried numerous things. For them, it is a business, and not a demo trading game. You won't find many posting on FF, because trading for a living takes time and concentration.
So, pardon me if I poured some more ice on the fire. There's a good reason why so few succeed at forex. One is the spreads, and the other is what's spread between your ears. It takes time and it takes perserverance, and it takes nerve to watch a trade go $1,000.00 against you when it's REAL money. For many, this sort of thing happening when it's only a few hundred in real money is enough to scare them to death, making them do stupid things on real trading that they wouldn't do when they were practicing with monopoly money.
Can it be done? Of course it can. There's a price to pay, though. Not everyone is willing or able to pay that price. That's why I ask on these type threads that talk about trading for a living for the BSers to PROVE it. Yes, someone can photoshop an account. But, they can't very well photoshop their technique and an explanation of how and why the trades that are shown were made. If the poster is not willing or able to do that, then why even bother? If a poster wants to claim he's a full time trader, and has the time to post in the first, what's the big deal of PROVING it. I really get annoyed when people say they don't have to prove it, and we should just believe them. Usually the same people who don't have a thread on FF.
Do I trade full time? The question is irrelevant, but the answer is no. My every waking hour is consumed towards that goal. One day, I'll succeed, because I'm driven to, and I want to, and I need to. Far as I'm concerned, if anyone else isn't of the same mindset, they will fail.

Well, good luck P.

What was illuminated?

This link has all you need to know about trading forex:

http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...79&postcount=5

What is there to "learn"? There is more to unlearn than to learn. Most of what is taught is ambiguous. An example is "trade with the trend". What is trend? If price is above the previous hour's close is the trend up? If the price is below the previous day's close is the trend down? If the price is above the previous week's close is the trend up? Etc...

Look at all of the system threads. What does their existence tell you? If something actually worked, then only one thread would be needed. There are "nuggets of gold" to be found in forex factory threads. But those threads are not frequented often. There are no fancy named ex4 files to catch your attention. So those threads are passed over.

If you know how to ride a train from A to B then trading forex should be no problem at all. If you get on a train and find it heading in the wrong direction, you get off at the next stop and catch the train heading in the direction you meant to go in the first place.

I bet you a dollar to a doughnut that you're TRO. The person who finds his way into every successful thread and finds a way to screw it up. He says the same things as you do. "Price goes either up or down" as if that's some sort of revelation from on high. That may impress some newbies, but the statement is without meaning. Anyway, I see you've infiltrated the thread of a master trader called Edgetrader, which you never will be. Anyone interested in really learning how to trade for a living, check out Edgetraders thread.
Are you following me around, or what? PS to the uninitiated....this guy has many aliases. This is but one of many.

Who is TRO? "Price goes either up or down" is not a revelation, it's a true statement. I don't know who originated that quote. I think I may have heard it from Mark Douglas author of "Trading in the Zone".

Let me get this straight, you expect people who trade for a living to prove it to you by posting their "....technique and an explanation of how and why the trades that are shown were made..."?

Why ever would they want to do that, they probably couldn't care less whether you believe them or not! You said yourself "....Those who trade full time, and there are darned few of them, have been in this game for YEARS. They have lost lots of money before they made any money. They have studied. They have tried numerous things.....", now why on earth would they give all that away to someone who is in essence calling them a BS'er?

If someone posts something which makes sense to you then it's totally irrelevant whether they trade for a living or not. You can either take it or leave it, it's not going to make any difference to the poster who's freely giving up his time and experience to help others.

Sheesh, and people wonder why experienced traders can't be bothered to post on trading forums.....

Here, here!

Very well put, Mate.

remember try test and true!

more you do the better you well be!

trust in your self like NIKE "just do it"

Well great feedback so far, I definitely would keep tight money management tools in place. Don't chase a market that moves up wait for pullbacks and learn to understand how each pair reacts during the different trading sessions and you should be fine. I give examples of understanding market price action within the different trading sessions.

Paradoxical:

You're right about very few traders on here,I've talked about this B4.

Here's a cut/paste of an email I've sent out:

****We have thousands of multi year FF regulars, who maybe trade demos and give out advice like crazy to newbies.

As a trader,why should I spend my precious trading/sleeping time trying to help others who have a miniscule chance of making it?
My time can be worth thousands of dollars an hour,who's going to pay me for the trades I missed while babysitting (mostly) nitwits who expect to make $20 k a month by tweaking a robot for 6 hours a week?

There are a few traders who do post,and bless them for doing so-it's just not my thing.After trading 12 to 18 hours a day the last thing i want is a whiney email from some fool***

After 2 years of being on here "literally full time" had you considered dropping FX and trying S&P 500 e-minis?
If you have $$ for the acount it's afabulous thing-20 lots and 13 points for me today.

How about ETF options,currency options,emini options,SSO's?

It's frustrating to see the BS,but hanging out here getting frustrated about it is a waste of time.

Don't listen to others,find you own path,make your own mistakes.
Stay away from here,it's only dragging you down.

For me,I think it's funny-watching the monkeys dance.