How many real accounts have you blown before consistently making money in FX?

Only two

Chicky's history:
1. Started trading: early 1990s
2. Blown number of demo accounts - countless
3. Demo money blown - several million dollars
4. Started live trading: 3 years ago
5. Blown number of real accounts: 10 (ten)
6. Real money blown: $70,000+

7. Demo traded pair for over 10 years: USD/JPY
8. Real traded pair: EUR/USD + occasionally few more
9. Pair will NEVER trade again in my life: All pair of JPY

10. Major reason of blown accounts: Brokers' trap/tricks (this is no joke)
11. Other reason of blown accounts: Lack of market knowledge and how price moves.
12. Some other reasons of blown accounts: Lack of money management/fear/greed/impatience

13. Consistently profitable since: No such thing exists or can exist.
However, make more than I lose on yearly basis.

Wow, you demo'ed for 15 years?!
I too started in the 90's (late) and lost over $70k.
And, cheaper broke r, more trades -- Read that way, seven accounts lost.

Overall, I've been too rash and careless, so I failed to catch onto any instances of the other reasons.
12, then: Perfectionism versus a need to join broke my confidence.

Trading live was(/is) like a drug, so I kept feeding it money until $12.50 on a penny stock couldn't do it for me anymore.
I broke even the first year I studied chart technicals seriously (2004), and then my older trading habits caught up with me and I lost every penny I could get.
After this, only demo'ed and demo simulator'ed for a couple of years to now in forex, a place I consider the most ripe for chart technicals.
Risk management still a big issue.

HOLY SHIT!

you people have blown more money on trading than i have EVER HAD!

so what is the point of wasting your life trading forex if you havent made a penny yet ? gosh man, do u not have anything else to do ? why dont you try buying selling shares. trust me you will make a lot more..

I think the account blowing fact is strictly related to expectations (profits expectations of course).
No matter if your expectations are of make 100% a week or 10% a year.
When you have some kind of expectations in your trading, a mind-mechanism just start working, a powerful and dangerous mechanism.

It is the same mechanism that at one point in your trading let you think "i will risk to blown my account if needed, i don't care anymore about have my account it if i can't reach such expectations".

Looks like a fantasy mechanism or something not real, but it is very real and very POWERFUL, it act on subcounscious level so traders are not aware of it at all, and such mechanism cause account-blowns or big losses.

The first pass to avoid big losses or account blowns is just stop having expectations, just stay in the present moment, don't think about how much profit/loss have you made till now or how much you expect/want to make in the near/far future.
Just trade the market, take what it gives you (profit or loss depend on your knowledge/trading-strategy).

And if you catch yourself thinking something like:
"i want to make at least 1% today" or
"i want to make at least 10% this month" or
"damn i should be at +10% right now instead i'm at -5%", etc..
If you catch yourself having such kind of thinkings, just stop trading and take some time to relax and meditate about expectations and how can they wipe out your trading-mind, trading is all about have a balanced and clear mind, without it even the best trading-strategy will resultin an account blown.

Some traders have such kind of balance from the beginning of their trading career, some others learn how to achieve it after blown 10 accounts, some simply never learn it and give up.
It doesn't matter, we all start from different points, but with time (experience) everything can be learned.

Merry Christmas!

Two accounts so far, one with 2000 USD and the other with 1000 USD.

Now I have one with 1500 left, started with 5K and hit a bottom of 200 bucks, now going up.

This is the last account I will use, if it doesn't work, I will probably quit. Been trying to make this work for almost 3 years and still can't.

It's the most difficult business I have been involved in. Very very very hard.

Do you feel that you are "almost there"? I have felt that way for quite some time now.

I feel like I can "almost do it"........I recognize my biggest single recurring error and know that WHEN I fix it, I will have a much greater probablity of success.

I would suggest that you develop a more positive mental attitude, perhaps listen to some success tapes.

only 1 when I started trading, then lost 10% to 30% on few others while moving from a broker to another.
It could have been worse, though I keep repeating some of the old mistakes. Now it is alright, I go into panic-mode at -5%

None. I had my trial and error on my demo accounts. Started of slow, gaining just a few pips per day. Got scared constantly. Now it's alright.

Such a fun thread this is. Thank you very much

Everyone is talking like "oh yeah but now I'm fine".... yet not even one attachment with any prove of anyone making a $1 at least on demo!

Wahaha...

Oh damn forgot to mention. I lost 2 real ones (10K total).
And like 50 demos. And still loosing one demo (in my signature).

That is almost 5 years. And never yet I saw a profitable trading statement which had more that a few days of info...

Great post as usual.

Too add

#8 LOVE your small losses, embrace them as you are doing what your are meant to be doing and minimising the losses, your are taking account of the fact that this time around you were wrong. If you can take comfort in taking small losses then your account will last longer for you to get it right. Also wipe the loss from your emotion memory. Holding onto it will usually lead to revenge trading or just looking to make it back. Let it go and move on

The old saying let your profits run: let them run but once you are comfortable with the gain close out and re-evaluate the market conditions as you look for another opportunity. Have a goal to make and take it. Take Break Even trades as a win also, you had the opportunity, you took it but the market did get to where you wanted. Hey you lived to see another trade without the loss. Once again Move On.

Understand leverage and how quickly it will wipe that penny account of yours if you fail to respect it. Yes it will get you from 1 to 10k quickly but even quicker will be the 10 - not even enough margin to open a small trade. Employ sound risk management, wipe the whole 'gotta get rich' mentality. You should be in this to gain the trust and confidence to go out and open a large account which returns a simple income, whether that be main or secondary income without the blow out factor.

Dedicate at least 30 mins before trading to clear your mind, remove distractions and to be mentally ready to go through and plan your day. This can go hand in hand with writting down your reasons for the trades you have taken.

Avoid threads and forums that have high return hype. There is a reason why the thread starter hasnt posted in 6 months and no it isnt because he is on his 5 million dollar yacht sailing the Bahamas, its because he is back at the shoe factory churning out overtime so he can pay off his mistake. This goes with high return Robots that sell for $199US. If my robot was making me 1000% per year I couldnt give a toss for selling it for $199 just because I care. These people make 1000% per year off the sales of those robots.

Before going live after 6 months of profitable trading write out a business plan. Treat this as a business and run it that way. Have clear goals that cover all the bases. Have thresholds for banking profit and aim to improve the capital base over the year.

Avoid labelling yourself a trader to friends. I dont know why but for some reason it sounds good, but on the same side it becomes a weight of expectation. Just like having a public journal, your out there to impress everyone when the only person/thing you should worry about is you and your capital.

Take periodic breaks/holidays. Like any job/business it can become tiring and you need to step away for a period of time. Close out or protect positions and head away for a week. It will help clear the mind and give you a fresh outlook.

Love trading. I have always said that if you dont like your job then quit and find something that it more catered for you. I have quit numerous jobs over the past 15 years at the drop of a hat. I found that working for someone else was my biggest problem because I didnt like the view of working harder to produce money for someone else while being thrown some scraps to live off. The harder you work the more you make for someone else and usually the less you recieve as an over production:your share ratio. Hence I started a small business (not trading) and turned out the same pay figure as the year before off an average of 25 hours a week (not 60 hours). Point being that trading can have great rewards if you show some respect for your account and if you have the passion and drive to make money for yourself. If it is just a fly by trial then you should work out whether it suits you before going live. Analysing bar/candles is mundane and boring (according to my wife) but I love the challenge of trying to find the best way to extract some money from those pixels.

Account blows up are unneccesary. I like most have endured my periods of drawdown, some substaintial but something I have learnt over time it that it is damn hard to make back those funds. If your down by 20% you now need to make 25% of that capital base to get back to break even. The further down you are the more you have to work at getting back. How you do that and whether you achieve it should be enough for the paradigm shift needed to steer that focus in the correct direction.

I hope this is under the word count allowed or I am going to need to do some editing

Take care

RT

Excellent stuff, guys.

Hi all,

just opened my demo account of 5 k with fxcm and i'm really decided to learn currency trading as i want to become financially free and retire early. i believe this is just way too much to ask, but if anyone here will be kind enough to share their simple way or methods to constantly and effectively making pips will be very much appreciated.

i am currently using only few indicatores like 50 and 150 sma's, atr and MACD... to be honest, i have been reading a lot of e-books and youtube video on how to properly use them and be profitable... but sadly until now i just manage to deplete my funds... not yet blown though but i know it's just a matter of time.

is there anybody who have a good system, even for a small fee will be consider...

i'm just a newbie

regards and thanks to all.

Kam

I too had the same experience.

I blew my account for $12,000, it is the money that I could not afford to lose,

very very very painful experience, I lost a of money because of overleveraging my account.

Now I learned a lot from my experience

Forex is very hard.....

Not all traders will be profitable, regardless of the number of years they spend trading. Reason? because they are unwilling to learn & to change their belief. you cant beat it neither can you breakeven. you win only when you play by its rules.

I have blown 30k in stock market and about 6k in forex. I am still not making profit consistantly.

After believing in holy grains, all the indicators and trading system, at this point I am only believing in Price action.

Hopefully I am still learning and hopefully in the very near future I can make profit in everyday bases.

There is no reason to blow an account, that won't stop most doing it.

I began trading with about .5% risk and still rarely risk more than 1% of my equity on a single open position.

I lost maybe 20% of my account at my lowest ebb but never got close to the whole shooting match. Keeping my risk low prevented major losses.

Am I the only one that blow out more than 30 live account with more than 50k in sum before making consistent profits monthly from FX ?