How long did it take to become consistently profitable? | Page 4 | Forex Factory

Options

Go to
Permalinks
Print Thread

Similar Threads

Anyone consistently profitable using Expert Advisors? 45 replies

How long did it take you to become profitable 36 replies

Your definition of Consistently Profitable? 33 replies

Your consistently profitable trading style 37 replies

Consistently Profitable Signal Journal: Simple, Low Maintenance Gains 0 replies

Attachments: How long did it take to become consistently profitable?
Exit Attachments

How long did it take to become consistently profitable?

  • #61
  • Jun 4, 2009 3:33pm Jun 4, 2009 3:33pm
Quoting markmm
Depends on the timeframe, if you trade monthly you are taking a lot less trades than 5 min. IF you make 6 trades a day and are profitable for a year then I think you have an edge.
Yep. It's totally a matter of time frame you trade. 5M traders usually take many trades every day, so they would bust quite fast unless they are consistently profitable. Also the part of luck decrease the more you take trades.

Quoting hanover
I think the 'veiled warning' means that the shorter the perceived learning curve, the more likely it is that the knowledge attained may be incomplete. In other words, a trader who has studied the markets for 5 years is more likely to have experienced more different types of market conditions than one who has studied for 9 months.
It again depends on the time frame you trade. It takes a lot less time to learn the "tricks" of 5M and 15M charts and than 4H and daily, because there are more set-ups every day where to learn and evolve. And when trading small time frames with small stops (10-15pips) and targets (20-40pips) you don't have to take into account market conditions and major trends that much. Of course to some extent, but there is not so much things to observe compared to higher time frame trading. IMO.
  • #62
  • Mar 31, 2010 8:54am Mar 31, 2010 8:54am
Quoting fx-Junior
It would be nice to hear from succesful traders that how long it took to learn the skills that made you consistently profitable?

I have studied trading for about 9 months now, and finally I feel like I am pretty close to reach the consistently profitable status. It has been tough way to come, so much of studying and desparative feelings, but it has been worth it.

How about you, how long it took when forex really began to reward you?
Took me about 2 years of off and on demo acct. Once I went live, took about 6 months. Now I have a cut and dry system w/55 to 70% strike rate. The kicker is that my wins are always double in size from my losses. I'd go live and plan for 3 months of hard time. Since you seem to be off to a very good start, I'd imagine you will easily make back what you lost in learning.
  • #63
  • Mar 31, 2010 9:14am Mar 31, 2010 9:14am
I would say 2 to 3 years. It took me about 2 years to settle on the way I wanted to trade. Before that it was jumping from system to system, from indicator to indicator, from software to software. Now, I finally have my own way but the discipline was the hardest to learn (still tough at times) and without discipline there is no way become consistent.
The quality of your life is brought about by the quality of your thinking.
  • #64
  • Mar 31, 2010 3:43pm Mar 31, 2010 3:43pm
Firstly let me say i am not quite there yet so sorry for crashing this thread but would just like to say i am inspired by all the profitable traders in this thread. Sometimes you get the feeling you are fighting a losing battle but you guys have cheered me up and given lots of hope!
  • #65
  • Mar 31, 2010 4:16pm Mar 31, 2010 4:16pm
Hornet, yours is exactly my experience. Almost exactly 2-1/2 years to become consistently and reliably profitable, after swinging back-and-forth for months at a time between 10 indicators and 0 indicators, between 3-minutes and Daily - I even spent six weeks using Averaging-Down as my primary strategy. It took me that long to strip away all the bad stuff and get to what works for me.

Rob
  • #66
  • Mar 31, 2010 5:04pm Mar 31, 2010 5:04pm
i'm in my 4th year trading. 2007, I traded the dailies...no good. 2008 I traded with EAs..no good. 2009 I traded intraday..some promise but still suck. 2010 i'm up. But consistency is a vague term. Consistent for how long? 1 month? 6 months? 5 years?...just because you're in the black..doesn't mean you're consistent yet. i think it should be based on the number of trades taken just for statistical significance
  • #67
  • Mar 31, 2010 10:25pm Mar 31, 2010 10:25pm
Took about 1 year , it all varies for different people based on the amount of energy they put in and the kind of people that they converse in....

Many people i spoke with have claimed there is 1 defining factor which changed them from being NOT profitable to being profitable. mine was volume... but i heard every type of thing such as: bollinger bands, murry math levels etc.
  • #68
  • Edited Apr 1, 2010 7:31am Mar 31, 2010 11:39pm | Edited Apr 1, 2010 7:31am
I havent read so much BS in all my time on FF to date (and thats alot of BS). You would need two years of account growth with less than 10% draw to call yourself consistently profitable. I challenge each one of the consistently profitable traders on this thread to post their account statements via myfxbook to prove there claim for even just 6 months of consistent profitability. Now that would be inspiring!! Bemac is one of the few comments that is believable. Harsh words? Show me the money and ill humbly apologise without reservation
BTC Return This Year: na
  • #69
  • Apr 1, 2010 12:24am Apr 1, 2010 12:24am
Trading is the worlds toughest game. I can now understand why majority of traders loose.

Doctors, CPAs, Engineers, Politicans, Professors, Stock analyst etc all can fail in this game.

But i certainly believe trading requires understanding and learning market behaviour by practising daily.
  • #70
  • Apr 1, 2010 10:39am Apr 1, 2010 10:39am
For me it was 1 year and 2 months of full time trading before I was making consistent money. I quit my job and left uni to trade full time, (at the time i was 18 when i started). been making money consistently for 6 months now and for the last 16 weeks i haven't had a losing week (i make about 2% a day about or about 100pips/day). I know i'll continue to make money because I understand why/how i make my pips and I understand the risks involved in my trades.I got my initial capital from selling my project cars (which I know i'll get another project car in future).

I pretty much wake up and i'm on the computer trading (watching the charts) till i go to bed. I do go out lol (don't worry i do go out). I go to bed about 6am my time (New Zealand time) and wake up at 12ish and have mini naps during the day (when the markets boring). I find forex really fun, i got 3 screens to do other stuff while trading (caues sometimes markets boring), watch tv, play games stuff the net etc, (use to work in IT so a bit geeky).

I trade 30min TF hold trades for 36hrs at most (usually 2hrs - 10hrs on average) and i consider myself a successful trader. Its been a rough ride but definitely worth all the time and sacrifices I've made to do this.
  • #71
  • Apr 1, 2010 12:40pm Apr 1, 2010 12:40pm
Quoting M.A.C.Doug
I havent read so much BS in all my time on FF to date (and thats alot of BS). You would need two years of account growth with less than 10% draw to call yourself consistently profitable. I challenge each one of the consistently profitable traders on this thread to post their account statements via myfxbook to prove there claim for even just 6 months of consistent profitability. Now that would be inspiring!! Bemac is one of the few comments that is believable. Harsh words? Show me the money and ill humbly apologise without reservation
Having some control issues this morning, are we M.A.C.Doug?
  • #72
  • Apr 2, 2010 6:38am Apr 2, 2010 6:38am
Quoting Rob Mondave
Having some control issues this morning, are we M.A.C.Doug?
Yeah, you should have read the first draft
BTC Return This Year: na
  • #73
  • Apr 2, 2010 6:50am Apr 2, 2010 6:50am
Quote
For me it was 1 year and 2 months of full time trading before I was making consistent money. I quit my job and left uni to trade full time, (at the time i was 18 when i started). been making money consistently for 6 months now and for the last 16 weeks i haven't had a losing week (i make about 2% a day about or about 100pips/day). I know i'll continue to make money because I understand why/how i make my pips and I understand the risks involved in my trades.I got my initial capital from selling my project cars (which I know i'll get another...


Very motivating post. Traders in NZ/Aus have a time disadvantage as it is late evening in NZ/AUS when european sessin opens. But your post is highly motivating.

May i ask you:

1) How did you paid your bills when you were learning trading? I mean you took 1 year and 2 months to start making consistently, so it would have been financially tough during those 14 months?

2) Do you miss safety of a regular full time job? In a job we know we are going to get income after every week/month but in day trading forex, the uncertainity factory is always there.

3) How much trading capital do you think one needs to make a living out of forex?
  • #74
  • Apr 2, 2010 7:02am Apr 2, 2010 7:02am
I think I'm almost profitable. Take out the extreme emotional days for exterior reasons and I've been profitable since december. Count them and I've only had 2 profitable months in my 4 years of trading.
It's really hard but that just because it seems so complicated while it's simple. The possibilities are endless, you can trade any volume, any time, any instrument, with all kind of strategies and their inverse and that's the trap. Find a simple, basic and elegant way of trading, stick to it and it will work.

I'm certainly not officially out of the woods yet but I'm pretty convinced everything will work out very soon on my daily P&L statement


Good luck everyone and congrats for trying, for staying in the game in face of extreme adversity !
Churchill, a great potential trader, once said : never never never give up and that's all you really need.
Einstein, a wicked potential scalper said something like Genius is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration.
  • #75
  • Apr 2, 2010 10:16am Apr 2, 2010 10:16am
Quoting Dopey
Guess which post is mine.

http://worldheritagesite.org/sites/brugge.html
Hi Robert,

I wonder if you went back to see her , it would be nice to know.

Regards,

Somphol (from Thailand )
  • #76
  • Apr 3, 2010 1:10am Apr 3, 2010 1:10am
Quoting kingfisher
Very motivating post. Traders in NZ/Aus have a time disadvantage as it is late evening in NZ/AUS when european sessin opens. But your post is highly motivating.

May i ask you:

1) How did you paid your bills when you were learning trading? I mean you took 1 year and 2 months to start making consistently, so it would have been financially tough during those 14 months?

2) Do you miss safety of a regular full time job? In a job we know we are going to get income after every week/month but in day trading forex, the uncertainity factory is always there.

3)...
1. I'm 20 still living with my pearents and the support me in trading which is sweet (cause they know i really hate school and work). Been a very poor 14months yes, but if i was a uni student i don't think i have that much more money anyways.

2. Yes I miss the safety of a regular job, many times I've been tempted to just go get another job just to have some money again. (I don't take money out of my trading account as I'm growing it). I started a online custom computer business that gives me some money for gas, food, etc, car maintenance. (got a diploma in network engineering when I was 16, use to work in IT)

3. I'd say you'd need about/at least 20k account to make a living safely, making 0.5% a day which is pretty easy for someone who makes pips consistantly thats only 2mini lots for 50pips a day. And some savings, so your not living in the need of trading to pay the bills.

So for me I think i'll be living at home growing my account for a while.
  • #77
  • Apr 3, 2010 1:14am Apr 3, 2010 1:14am
Would you mind sharing very briefly how you trade. I assume you trade technically?

cheers,

Quoting curtains
1. I'm 20 still living with my pearents and the support me in trading which is sweet (cause they know i really hate school and work). Been a very poor 14months yes, but if i was a uni student i don't think i have that much more money anyways.

2. Yes I miss the safety of a regular job, many times I've been tempted to just go get another job just to have some money again. (I don't take money out of my trading account as I'm growing it). I started a online custom computer business that gives me some money for gas, food, etc, car maintenance. (got...
  • #78
  • Apr 3, 2010 1:45am Apr 3, 2010 1:45am
Quoting kk007
Would you mind sharing very briefly how you trade. I assume you trade technically?

cheers,
the blind leading the blind
Dude, this guy is full of shite, He claims he makes 100 pips for a 2% return everyday but if he even did that once a week he would be the greatest trader that ever lived. At 20 yo and only a little over 12 months trading experience do you really think you should be asking him for trading advice?. Again I ask for evidence to support the outrageous claims in this thread
BTC Return This Year: na
  • #79
  • Apr 3, 2010 2:15am Apr 3, 2010 2:15am
Be calm, and clear of prejudge. Did I say I believe his words or not? I just want to see how he describes his trading method.

Quoting M.A.C.Doug
the blind leading the blind
Dude, this guy is full of shite, He claims he makes 100 pips for a 2% return everyday but if he even did that once a week he would be the greatest trader that ever lived. At 20 yo and only a little over 12 months trading experience do you really think you should be asking him for trading advice?. Again I ask for evidence to support the outrageous claims in this thread
  • #80
  • Apr 3, 2010 3:22am Apr 3, 2010 3:22am
I started when I was 19. It was the year 2000. It took me 6.5 years, mid year of 2006. Have been profitable for the past 3.5 years, to date 2010.

For 2 years, I spent 2-4 hours a day. 7 days a week (whilst in university)
For 4.5 years I spent 6-8 hours a day, 5 days on weekday. 3 hours a day, 2 days on weekend (whilst working a 9-5 job)

I think the major enemy of the young-lings in their early 20's is that they think they're invincible. Heck, I thought I was Superman back then.

My goal was to retire by the age of 25. Now, the goal is to retire by 30-31.

How much effort did I put into this?... As much effort as Olympians.
0 traders viewing now