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Making a living trading forex

  • #1
  • First Post: Feb 9, 2010 11:35pm Feb 9, 2010 11:35pm
Hi,

I've been trading for a couple of months. I have health issues that require that I try to make an income from home. Is it possible to make $1500 monthly from a trading account balance of $5000? What would be the best pair(s) to trade?

I have tried several robots, and most of them have been junk. A couple promised to make 30% monthly but have not come anywhere near that. One barely breaks even and the other will blow your account if you're not very careful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
  • #2
  • Feb 10, 2010 12:49am Feb 10, 2010 12:49am
Quoting sevenjones
Hi,

I've been trading for a couple of months. I have health issues that require that I try to make an income from home. Is it possible to make $1500 monthly from a trading account balance of $5000? What would be the best pair(s) to trade?

I have tried several robots, and most of them have been junk. A couple promised to make 30% monthly but have not come anywhere near that. One barely breaks even and the other will blow your account if you're not very careful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
My opinion. Stay away from robots. The market is relative and alive.

I believe it is possible to earn $ 1500 monthly with your account balance.

$1500/20 days in a month = $75 per day. Set a target for $100 per day, that is achievable, so that your account balance can grow while you earn an income.

Choose a strategy with a good win/loss ratio and stick with it. Only risk 2% ($100) of your account balance.

Hope you all the best.
  • #3
  • Feb 10, 2010 1:13am Feb 10, 2010 1:13am
Like you i am also a newbie at FX trading.

I hope inshallah that your health will improve and I pray that God will use this FX trading to help your medical bills and provide for your family.


Try experimenting on longer EMA 100 or less and then another EMA for less than 50... try several combinations and I am sure you will find one that suits your strategy.... i have found one that I have been using for several weeks now and i am quite happy with the result.. my losses have minimized, only when i get arrogant and trade away from my signal hoping for the trend to go my expectation, but the signal remains very reliable

I hope you will pray for guidance and wisdom in finding your strategy..and my wishes for your recovery and provisions


yusuf
jeddah
ksa
  • #4
  • Feb 10, 2010 1:48am Feb 10, 2010 1:48am
I think you might be asking a bit to much with your account size of 5000$
Remember never risk more than 2% of your account on any given trade. If you are in one trade with risk of 2% and another setup comes. Then I would stay out unless I can take some out on first trade and move S/L to BE.

2% of 5000 is 100

if you then have an average S/L of lets say 50 pip then you should go in with lot size of no more then 0.2 to keep you under 2%
If trade requries more than 50pip S/L then a smaller lot size is needed.
So to make 1500$ with you would need 750pip, it is posible.

Also when your account size goes up you then also can up you lot size. And from there on it will become easier and easier to make you personal goal.
But always remember with good money management comes succes.

Happy trading to you.

With the right mindset we will enter winning trades
  • #5
  • Feb 10, 2010 2:55am Feb 10, 2010 2:55am
Quoting sevenjones
Hi,

I've been trading for a couple of months. I have health issues that require that I try to make an income from home.......
Read these posts:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...57#post3170457
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...68#post2311668
http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...799#post205799

This is in no way being negative. All three of these folk are apparently profitable traders. But their lesson is clear: don't under-estimate the level of proficiency, experience and commitment required. It's widely documented that the vast majority of newcomers (95% is the figure that's frequently touted) lose their shirts. The day you open a live account, your apprenticeship is over; you're immediately up against banks and institutions with multi-million dollar R&D budgets, and experts who've been honing their trading skills for several years, in a cut-throat, zero sum game.

Learn to trade profitably BEFORE you create the added stress of attempting to trade for a living. $1500 on a $5000 account is 30% return per month: understand that you'll likely need to take on significant risk in order to have any chance of achieving that. And keep in mind that profitable trading doesn't necessarily mean consistent income: you'll likely have winning months and losing months. Trading is not like an 8-to-5 job where a consistent, risk-free income is guaranteed. And if it's one's primary income source, then account growth is restricted by the constant necessity to withdraw money to pay household bills.

Anyway, good luck, I wish you all the best.
  • #6
  • Feb 10, 2010 6:31am Feb 10, 2010 6:31am
Thanks to everyone who has replied - very good advice, suggestions, etc, and very informative.

I thought maybe forum member "nanningbob" had some EA's which might help me achieve my goals. Does anyone know about these?
  • #7
  • Feb 10, 2010 6:59am Feb 10, 2010 6:59am
Quoting sevenjones
Hi,

I've been trading for a couple of months. I have health issues that require that I try to make an income from home. Is it possible to make $1500 monthly from a trading account balance of $5000? What would be the best pair(s) to trade?
YES its easily Possible with Gbd/Jpy even if ur an expert trader and know how to handle the beast(Gbd/Jpy) Than its easy to make even more than that...
  • #8
  • Feb 10, 2010 7:22am Feb 10, 2010 7:22am
To be honest 30% return a month, consistently, is pretty much impossible.
  • #9
  • Feb 10, 2010 6:42pm Feb 10, 2010 6:42pm
Quoting jim987
To be honest 30% return a month, consistently, is pretty much impossible.
There are two ways of looking at this.

The first way is something along the lines of: There are folk who post here that say they make 5%–10% monthly, but nobody who claims 30%. On that basis, 5%–10% is realistically achievable, while 30% is impossible. 30% compounded equates to something like 2,200% per year, which seems massively "too good to be true". There's nothing wrong with seeing things that way, IMO.

However, the second way is to see return as a function of risk. If it's possible to make 10% per month, then 30% is equally possible by simply tripling position size, e.g. risking 3% of the account per trade instead of 1%. Of course this more than triples the risk of irretrievable drawdown, and flouts the fact that the primary goal of MM must be capital preservation.

Return is also related to the magnitude of one's edge, and also how frequently one trades. With a more robust edge that delivers a higher win rate and/or higher average win-to-loss size, one is mathematically justified in taking larger position sizes, a nice double whammy. Everything else being equal, more frequent trading will allow faster opportunity for compounding (e.g. given the same profit factor per trade, 5 trades per day will massively outperform 5 trades per week), and a smoother rate of income (5 consecutive losses represents a negative day, rather than a negative week). But finding a winning edge, and one that locates superior probability setups, on the smaller timeframes, is not necessarily easy. But to whatever extent it can be achieved, then high frequency + leverage + compounding opens up the possibility for potentially massive gains.

Quoting sevenjones
I thought maybe forum member "nanningbob" had some EA's which might help me achieve my goals. Does anyone know about these?
I don't want to say anything against nanningbob, especially as I respect both his views and his philanthropy. He's certainly put in a tremendous amount of time researching and testing his systems. But I would issue a general warning against methods that employ any kind of progressive position sizing. I posted some thoughts about this here.

Re my earlier comment about finding edges on smaller timeframes, you might like to check out this thread. I haven't followed it personally, but it does seem to be widely read, and has stood the test of time. To have any chance of attaining 30% monthly, you'll likely need to trade the smaller timeframes, and apparently eohater does this.

Here's a thread that trades the M5 timeframe, that's also been around for a while.

You might like to also look for posts by magnumfreak; if I understand correctly, he does a lot of his trading from M1 charts.
  • #10
  • Feb 11, 2010 12:01am Feb 11, 2010 12:01am
Quote


I believe it is possible to earn $ 1500 monthly with your account balance.

$1500/20 days in a month = $75 per day. Set a target for $100 per day, that is achievable, so that your account balance can grow while you earn an income.


This is the reason IMO, newbie traders meet failure. Day trading is incredibly tough. It is not means for new traders.

A new trader should start with position trading.
  • #11
  • Feb 11, 2010 3:07am Feb 11, 2010 3:07am
Quoting hanover

However, the second way is to see return as a function of risk. If it's possible to make 10% per month, then 30% is equally possible by simply tripling position size, e.g. risking 3% of the account per trade instead of 1%. Of course this more than triples the risk of irretrievable drawdown, and flouts the fact that the primary goal of MM must be capital preservation.
Agreed, but i would love to meet the man/woman who can get 30% on their account month in, month out, I would gladly give them a job...... I know that's not what you were saying, but just think of the account you could build on a 30% monthly increase?
  • #12
  • Feb 11, 2010 3:34am Feb 11, 2010 3:34am
Quoting jim987
Agreed, but i would love to meet the man/woman who can get 30% on their account month in, month out, I would gladly give them a job...... I know that's not what you were saying, but just think of the account you could build on a 30% monthly increase?
Imagine what 300% monthly increase would do to your account. On paper everything looks nice of course.

@sevenjones

Don't put your hope in to EAs. Espcially commerical EAs. Ask yourself "What does Wealth cost today?" 79 USD like most people want to charge you for their automated System? Yeah right....

If you want to make money there is no effortless way to get it. Unless you commit enourmous amounts of time and energy to Trading you won't make it.

Most new people don't want to accept that. That's why they fail.
  • #13
  • Feb 11, 2010 9:04am Feb 11, 2010 9:04am
possible, but think about your losses too, are you ready to loss $1500 in one month? for me, this is the most important thing, i often forget to think about losses, i just see high target and feel down when i loss...
  • #14
  • Feb 12, 2010 12:06am Feb 12, 2010 12:06am
Quoting TJPLD
If you want to make money there is no effortless way to get it. Unless you commit enourmous amounts of time and energy to Trading you won't make it.

Most new people don't want to accept that. That's why they fail.
If a person new to currency trading visited Forex Factory and only picked up one nugget of wisdom to help make them successful, the above quote would be it!!

So many want to get into trading and just jump ahead and start making money and you can't do that for any length of time. It is comparable to not going to college but wanting to graduate. You HAVE to put in the time and effort on your own.

But if you do, I believe the efforts are very much worth it, and I don't think thousands of dollars a week is uncommon as you progress, but you have to learn the trade and build your skill set. Time is not some rite of initiation or anything like that, it is just needed to build the understanding. Some people do it faster than others. But if it is wasted (such as jumping from one system to another to another), it counts for nothing.

I've never used EAs, but I would doubt one that you buy off ebay or any website for $9.99-$99 is going to be able to get you the kind of money knowing and understanding the markets will. The kind of money that can easily take the place of a good salary.

But to answer your question: yes, you can make $1500/month off of $5000, but it will be a challenge for someone trading only a few months. Hopefully your health issues will allow you time to build up your initial starting capital above that, and give you time to learn more and increase your skills. But I agree with TJPLD that a commercial EA is not going to be how you do it.
  • #15
  • Feb 13, 2010 11:01pm Feb 13, 2010 11:01pm
Seven Jones

There is no way - NO WAY - that a robot will make you $1500 on $5000 every month. It may get lucky and do it in a month or two out of a year but sooner or later it will blow your account. These are hard coded pieces of software they don't adjust to current conditions, they don't think, don't analyze, for them there is no gray its always black or white. A manual system with a trader with less then 2-3 years of experience probably can't even do it consistently.

I'd advise that you take the time to study the market yourself, if your medical condition prevents you from working outside your home I'm sure you can find some time for that.

I'd also advise that whatever money you're thinking of dedicating to this endeavor you divide that amount by 4 or even 5 Then open account in that amount, since if you blow it and you will blow it, you only loose 20%-25% of it and for gods sake don't add more money to the account when you get a margin call or its almost at that margin level since it will just defeat what I just said. Take your lessons and start over again. This will give you 4-5 lessons instead of just one, hopefully you wont need all of them.

If you're going to make you're going to make it regardless of your starting capital and if you make it you can grow that rather fast.

last advice - don't take advice on fx from anyone always make your own decisions.
  • #16
  • Feb 14, 2010 3:12am Feb 14, 2010 3:12am
Thanks to all who have contributed to my thread.

For those who don't think I could make $1500 monthly off a $5000 balance, what balance amount do you think I would need to make $1500?
  • #17
  • Feb 14, 2010 6:23am Feb 14, 2010 6:23am
Getting 1500 USD on average with moderate risk sustaibable over serveral years after years of extensive practicing I'd say 50k+.

That's around 3% monthly increase in the first year or 42% per annum.
If you can do this every year consider yourself one of the best traders in the world.

Needless to say that if you can't get such results with 100 USD you won't get them with any amount of money.
  • #18
  • Feb 14, 2010 8:44am Feb 14, 2010 8:44am
Quoting sevenjones
Thanks to all who have contributed to my thread.

For those who don't think I could make $1500 monthly off a $5000 balance, what balance amount do you think I would need to make $1500?
The question may be simple to answer but very difficult to swallow. If you are looking at withdrawing $1500 from the account at the end of every month then you need to work out what you think is a practical growth % per month, and at what amount does that % allow you to

a) withdraw $1500 without taking the account back past the original capital and
b) still leave enough for some compounding to take place.

$50k is not a bad amount however in order to increase by $2000 per month ($1500 withdraw and $500 compound for growth) you need to achieve at least 4%.

4% is a fairly big deal to achieve on a regular basis but if you can achieve at least 3% then you would miss the compounding, more than than that and it will take some pressure off the following months.

With all the above I will give you a word of advice. There is no guarentee that you will make a set amount each month. The best thing to do is not to aim for a set amount but to allow yourself to take whatever is given. Some months the amount will be great, some months it will go backward (tough business huh) but dont get hooked up on the figures. The benefit of perhaps starting with this amount is if you can get it right and there is no need to withdraw at the end of some months, then you will give your capital a better chance at growth.

Take the baby steps. I know there are a good number of people here who claim to make big %'s but they are much like your original thoughts which might work occasional but in the end most go boom.

Razor
  • #19
  • Feb 14, 2010 10:08am Feb 14, 2010 10:08am
Quoting sevenjones
Hi,

I've been trading for a couple of months. I have health issues that require that I try to make an income from home. Is it possible to make $1500 monthly from a trading account balance of $5000? What would be the best pair(s) to trade?

I have tried several robots, and most of them have been junk. A couple promised to make 30% monthly but have not come anywhere near that. One barely breaks even and the other will blow your account if you're not very careful.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...5&postcount=18

This is only with 1 pair. Add 5-6 more and.................
and this IMO is the most conservative way to trade.

If you are interested, come to J16 thread we will be glad to help.
  • #20
  • Feb 14, 2010 10:13am Feb 14, 2010 10:13am
there is lots of trader in the world trade for living.
all the great traders trade for living than they become famouse.

dont worry i am still learning.
i will be famouse soon.
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