How much do you make a month?

u guys want real figures? Here it is. I played with 10 or so demo accounts with a bunch of brokers for a couple weeks then I thought I was the shit.... Until I opened a real account. (rolls eyes) Yeah = 1st micro account deposited 65 dollars.. lost it all but 6 bucks in a matter of 4 days. 2nd micro account with another broker deposited 100 dollars got a 20% bonus so 120 in 3 weeks brought it up $356 and change then lost most of it... 3rd micro account back to the first broker i used initially,deposited 300 and I have 267 left in that account...

then i went back to demo then thought i was king shit again (rolls eyes again..)

deposited $3000cad in a small account said f my life risked 80% on all trades ended up with $7 356 in a couple of hours ( i got lucky and the market shot up right when i entered long and i just sat and watched)

then greed took over and 2 days later my 9k drained in 2 trades to a $900 balance

then i smartened up and went to babypips school and studied and now with 5k deposit i'm making about 350-500 a week. consistently now for a month... it's paying for my txtbooks and gas and movie tickets.. while my other part time wal mart job allows me to save good change while i go to school.

Drug business going well every year.


Not a question how much you make per month. Question is how may month in a row you make more than you lose.

Hello,

Before going demo and then live I spent three years studying trading and technical analysis. In that period I did not spend a dollar more than i needed to and i worked as much overtime as i could. I watched little TV and I spent a great portion of my free time reading and studying trading.

I started trading demo in december 2010. I thought this demo period would last a long time and that i would need more time to get a feel for trading, However things went well and i sent a sizable check in and started trading live in january 2011. I started trading 1/10 of my starting capital at this point. I lost 7% (of 1/10) my first day of live trading.

It was a rocky road for the first couple of weeks but i was managing breakeven. There were a lot of mistakes that i was able to learn from. Averaging down was my biggest flaw.

since that time (a month in a half ago) I gradually started trading more of my full account size (increaseing weekly if prior week was possitive and rules were followed). This week i am trading the full account and i have sent in a check 5x the size of my first check to in anticipation for an increase in capital for next week.

This week I have had no more than .5% drawdown (per day) on my full account and i have made a total of 6.3% for the week (so far, still tomorrow (to either win or lose ). My ratio of drawdawn to increase on capital is improving every week!

Trading is possible, the markets (so far for me) are not random. Be as disciplined as you can, and dont start undercapitalized.

If anyone has any questions about my trading i would love to tell you what i have learned, please email me.

joe

Hi Joe, it much been better if you step into to the uncertain immediately. You'll learn more by making it to live account and risk yourself. We might lose but theres a wisdom after it. It's the experience, the skill, the knowledge earned and more.
I have been playing demo account for months while looking for the right school to learn this thing. Demo account will let us get familiarized with the platform and make us step into a new world.
Then i took the course in Philippines manila where im living and then after taking the course for one week, i go for live account. That took me one month plus to make it there. While waiting, i played demo.
But when i get to the live account, the world seems different because im playing with real money and taking the first step to get my dreams.

I learned a lot with live account as my mentor told me. I read and read and read, watch world news, exploring the forex factory, daily fx, fx360, getting into blogs and forums which i havent learned while playing demo.

and then heres my plan for trading.


Everyday get at least 5% - 15% or something better.

20 days market open.

Feasibility Study
5% x 20 days trading. = 100% gain per month.

8% x 20 days = 160% gain / month

10% x 20 days = 200% gain / month

15% x 20 days = 300% gain / month.

what if u have gain 100% per month then what will you get in 10 months of experience? Knowledge? skills?

what if u have gain 50% per month then what will you get in 10 months of experience? Knowledge? skills?



it depends on the people on how they will spend time with trading.

but thats the way it is.

I hope this post is useful.. Thanks.

hello jeromesmyle, thank you for your reply and your help, however, i only traded demo for 1 month in december. I have been trading live with real money since 1-1-11. I completly agree with you that demo is a waste of time (once you are familiar with the platform and have a basic understanding of your trading).

Your goals are very large 5-15%/day is extraordinary. i believe with those expectations you will have significant drawdown and overwhelming emotions to control. That is my personal opinion and i would do things differantley, but you are in control.

I ussually risk 1% on each one of my trades, never more than 2% for me. More than that and i would increase my risk of ruin. I know for me, when i start losing, i increase my trading size and i dont wait for correct entries. I start losing more and more. The time will come when i will have 10 maybe 15 losses in a row and i want to come out of that with money to trade.

we make money at this game by increasing our skill and decreasing our risk.

I also wanted to comment on you calculations for account growth,

5%/day x 20 days is 165% if you are compounding you gains dailey. I am not trading my full account size yet, but when i do, i will probly be compounding my account weekly. compounding gains is one of the most attractive parts of trading.

I hope everyone's trading is going well this morning mine is not. hopefully i can turn it around.

joe

absolutely. I've found compounding to be the most powerful factor. Which is why trade management is so important. If you control risk first, this keeps you in the game and allows compounding to work for you as long as you have an edge.

At the end of each day i write in my journal and i put my -

open:
high:
low:
close:

at the top.

I write a summary for the day and then list my rules and state if i followed them or not -

- no risking more than 2%/trade - yes/no
- no risking more than 5%/day - yes/no
- no averaging down - yes/no
- using stops on all trades - yes/no
- no trading after 10am - yes/no (i trade 6-10am mt time)

Then i write what i made/lost for the day in relation to the capital of the account i was using.

I take this number and i chart it in excel, each day has three numbers, the dailey p/l, the cumulative p/l (this one i use in relation to the full amount of my account, since i use differant capital amounts/week), and another number i put on excel (and one of the most important numbers) is my drawdown for the day.

When i add up my P/L for each day i get 21.47% since i started in january (1-1-11) (this is what i would have if i traded the full amount of my account since i started). My cumulative p/L for the account is 10.10%.

thats where i am in relation to this thread. It will be hard to get a feel for how the general population of retail trades perform. Even when traders are losing they dont think of themselves as the 95% of unprofitable traders. At the moment i dont consider myself as part of the 5% profitable traders either. Its a wash until the trader has probly a year of live trading under their belt.

p.s. I was able to turn todays trading around for those who read my post this morning - 11 winning days in a row, that doesnt sound like random markets to me!

Hi Joe.

Maybe you should clear first all of your hindrances in mind.

Those are the mind sets that limits peoples mind.
Its like a journey who propose to walk rather than take the risk of riding in a bicycle or driving a car.

People have to THINK BIG for them to ACHIEVE BIG.

I only use 10-20% of my account which can yield 5-10% gaining + 20+ pips for each position.

My mentor told me to only use 10% of account to cut losses. i followed it then it makes me lose a little and gain a little. When im learning continously and minimize the risk. im much more confident to trade with higher than 10% in conservative and risk free trades and get higher gains. It much makes me more happy and feel good.
I lose sometimes but i dont count it. i forget it and focus on gains. there were times that i have lot of losses rather than gains but still im very thankful i still have gains and my assume for the trade was correct but it only hit my stop loss when im away. But still i was happy.

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS.. FOCUS ON THE BRIGHTER SIDE.

These we're my words which i learned from business books, leadership books and articles, from successful people in different fields.
From robert kiyosaki of rich dad poor dad, and so on.

Ive been a motivator of a small group of people and a leader. I talk in stage or in front of people to share.
For you to be successful in a certain field,
you should decide first
clear limiting beliefs,
believe that you can,
and share it with people.
count your blessings.

always FEEL GOOD.

This will make u stronger.


LONG LIVE PHILIPPINES!

See yourself in abundance.

I already posted P/L for January here
30 day free try it.

i agree with jerom ...
i also prefer ursing a certain percentage of the equity ... but i always do a position with a stop loss.. never without it ... it all depends on what strategy u think is best for ur trading style...

Unfortunately, I lose per month more than I make. Hope this will change soon.
I'm agree with opinion. No very important to have large profit per month, more important to have profit EVERY month.

That is a good sign that you are able to say this. It gives other traders hope and lets them see the reality that we all lost at first. keep it up, study and if you have not already, get firm rules on money managment. Set the maximum amount of risk per trade and the max. risk/day. If you are a day trader find out the best times to trade. (for me it is the overlap of the london and new york session) 6-10am mt. u.s. time. get a system and stick with it. back test it and see that it works and then stay with it! dont increase your account size until you are getting possitive results. I am personally a discretionary based trader but i started with a system and developed a feeling for the market from that.

I am slowly getting to my full account size and im positive 24.47% (based on percent/day/capital used that day) overall and i havent lost for 12 days straight.

if anyone wants more information on my trading ill send you some charts of my trades with some explanations, email me.

Joe

I think that guyes, who makes money every month will not answer to this thread, for safety reason And guyes, who lost money will not answer, because they dont want to be loosers

It all depends on the size of your account. If you are trading $15 million plus, you should be earning 2% per month. If you are trading less than $100,000, you should be earning 6% to 8% per month.

It’s an amusing thing really cause I think the general population that might want to boast about the amount they make - have nothing to gloat about. In any case, the general population that have a remark about don't need you to realize what they make, don't want to gloat, and don't come here to do as such. I was quite recently inquisitive to perceive what sort of rate pick up individuals on this gathering were accomplishing, I don't think of it as boasting, it may be in a few regards yet I would rather consider it looking at comes about.

Good to see a lot of people making something which would be incredibly mad money for any business 25% MONTHLY profit, well, up to it. Some loosing as well, I just took the biggest thing. Or here looses also counts, I think it's fantastic amount.

which monthly return is appropriate, it depends on trading equity , in order to trading balance 20-25% is comfortable , over and unrealistic monthly target always make us greedy and emotional. so we have to be practical and careful.

Making money from this market is not so easy. You have to be very expert and knowledgeable to make.money.

I aim for 2% per month anything above is a bonus