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Success stories

  • #1
  • First Post: Jul 19, 2006 9:24am Jul 19, 2006 9:24am
Hi everybody, my name is Mike W. Im a fairly new trader and I've had some crazy times with forex. haha. Right now im in the hole pretty bad but im not giving this up for anything. i thought id start a forum to see how everyone is doing trading forex. lets hear some success stories to get morale up!
I dream, therefore I become.
  • #2
  • Jul 19, 2006 10:01am Jul 19, 2006 10:01am
Still demo trading 2 months now. Lucky for me my bank stuffed up the payment because I've changed my trading system 5 times and made several mindnumbingly important discoveries that only newbies make.

So I'm being successful for my stage of the game.
  • #3
  • Edited 10:59am Jul 19, 2006 10:06am | Edited 10:59am
Quoting mike w
Hi everybody, my name is Mike W. Im a fairly new trader and I've had some crazy times with forex. haha. Right now im in the hole pretty bad but im not giving this up for anything. i thought id start a forum to see how everyone is doing trading forex. lets hear some success stories to get morale up!
When I was younger I did 3 women in one afternoon It was a succes
Just jocking.
If you want to see succes take a look at Warren Buffet, he lost 1 billion in forex , as i heard
Try hard, think fast, die young
  • #4
  • Jul 19, 2006 10:09am Jul 19, 2006 10:09am
Quoting dof
When I was younger I did 3 women in one afternoon It was a succes
Just joking.
If you want to see succes take a look at Warren Buffet, he lost 1 billion in forex , as i heard
haha nice job on that!
I dream, therefore I become.
  • #5
  • Jul 19, 2006 10:11am Jul 19, 2006 10:11am
Quoting minute
Still demo trading 2 months now. Lucky for me my bank stuffed up the payment because I've changed my trading system 5 times and made several mindnumbingly important discoveries that only newbies make.

So I'm being successful for my stage of the game.
Thats good to hear! I made a few of those discoveries too haha i think everybody does at one point or another and i guess its better to make them earlier than later on when your trading real money.
I dream, therefore I become.
  • #6
  • Jul 19, 2006 10:57am Jul 19, 2006 10:57am
My greatest success is that I have been demo trading since March and I resisted temptations to go live. This saved me a lot of money.

I didn't lose a single $ in forex, other than spending money on a few books and james16 private forum membership. Say what you will, I'm actually very proud of this.

Happy trading,

Dane
  • #7
  • Jul 19, 2006 11:19am Jul 19, 2006 11:19am
I'm with ya on that one Dane. I am still demo trading and going pretty good (up 40% in 2 months) but I'm still waiting for that big wipeout to see how I handle it. I'm kind of proud too that the only real money flowing out of my wallet right now is for books at this point.

Squid


Quoting great*dane
My greatest success is that I have been demo trading since March and I resisted temptations to go live. This saved me a lot of money.

I didn't lose a single $ in forex, other than spending money on a few books and james16 private forum membership. Say what you will, I'm actually very proud of this.

Happy trading,

Dane
  • #8
  • Edited 2:55pm Jul 19, 2006 12:39pm | Edited 2:55pm
I feel bad every time I see one of these posts. The only people who seem to respond are demo traders and it gives the impression that no one is really profitable.

I am profitable, but as with most profitable traders I am not inclined to discuss it in dollars and cents. You CAN make some insane profits but it isn't going to be easy. Keep working at it and you will get there someday. Good luck!

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am "real money" profitable. Not sure if that was evident given the response...
  • #9
  • Jul 19, 2006 1:01pm Jul 19, 2006 1:01pm
Quoting Darkstar
I feel bad every time I see one of these posts. The only people who seem to respond are demo traders and it gives the impression that no one is really profitable.

I am profitable, but as with most profitable traders I am not inclined to discuss it in dollars and cents. You CAN make some insane profits but it isn't going to be easy. Keep working at it and you will get there someday. Good luck!
I'm with you on that dude. Now I am a "live" trader, and yes, I will have to reload the account again, but I have learned from previous mistakes and I will get to the point of "insane" profitability with a lot of hard work. Here is the thing with demo trading....while you learn systems and indicators and all that good stuff, you are missing THE BIGGEST PIECE OF THE ENTIRE TRADING PUZZLE, and that is the mental aspect of making and losing money. That, in and of itself is the biggest factor to success in trading, or any kindo of speculation for that matter, even in poker. People who demo trade remind me of people who play online poker with "play money". Well, it's a nice tool to learn a little about the game, but the money has no meaning to you. You are completely detached and disassociated from the money because it's play money, thus you really aren't LEARNING the real game. It's easy to call a raise of $10,000 when it's play money since if you lose it..really you've lost nothing.

The same issue applies to trading. Ok, so you've demo traded and have had wild success with it..or not.. Big deal. Until you can deal with the real emotions of money, you haven't learned much. You can program, code, optimize all of the systems and indicators in the world, but until you actually put some money behind it...well...it doesn't matter. I guarantee once real money comes in the game, now fear and greed come into play. You will be fearful of losing money so profits are becoming cut wayyy to short and you will be greedy in holding onto losers because you just might make that money back.

If you see your system and say "oooh, hey it works, I would have made $2000 on that trade", it's meaningless, because I guarantee you wouldn't have held it that long regardless of what the indicators are saying..


Long story short>>>>it's easy to go target shooting when the targets don't shoot back at you.....give them a gun, and we'll see who does the running now. It's that simple.

All this is just something to think about. Either way, it doesn't matter to me what you do, live or demo, but just offering friendly advice that's all.
Once you get in the game, only then will you really learn.

The Hun.
  • #10
  • Jul 19, 2006 1:28pm Jul 19, 2006 1:28pm
Quite a few different lines of feedback which all give a good aspect of trading. Thanx a lot everybody! I think that it is a good job to be able to have a demo account and not be down in it, but I agree with the last two posts also that real money is the deciding factor because of fear of losing all of it. I know that for a fact because I have let losses run in the past hoping they will come back which didn't. haha lessons well learned. I applaud everybody in their efforts of trading because on the way to insane profits you will most likely become a little insane! I know I have and I haven't made the profit yet! haha all in due time.
I dream, therefore I become.
  • #11
  • Jul 19, 2006 1:45pm Jul 19, 2006 1:45pm
Quoting mike w
Quite a few different lines of feedback which all give a good aspect of trading. Thanx a lot everybody!
I think that it is a good job to be able to have a demo account and not be down in it,
I agree you have to use paper trading to get an idea of what you're getting into

Quote
but I agree with the last two posts also that real money is the deciding factor because of fear of losing all of it.
there's nothing like the discipline you have to develop using real cash

Quote
I know that for a fact because I have let losses run in the past hoping they will come back which didn't. haha lessons well learned. I applaud everybody in their efforts of trading because on the way to insane profits you will most likely become a little insane! I know I have and I haven't made the profit yet! haha all in due time.
Good to end on a positive note
Pete
  • #12
  • Jul 19, 2006 1:48pm Jul 19, 2006 1:48pm
allright, now let's all open up some real accounts hug and sing koombaya....hahaha....had to get that in there...but in all honesty I do like the positivity on this board...
  • #13
  • Jul 19, 2006 2:23pm Jul 19, 2006 2:23pm
Quoting thehun
I'm with you on that dude. Now I am a "live" trader, and yes, I will have to reload the account again, but I have learned from previous mistakes and I will get to the point of "insane" profitability with a lot of hard work. Here is the thing with demo trading....while you learn systems and indicators and all that good stuff, you are missing THE BIGGEST PIECE OF THE ENTIRE TRADING PUZZLE, and that is the mental aspect of making and losing money. That, in and of itself is the biggest factor to success in trading, or any kindo of speculation for that matter, even in poker. People who demo trade remind me of people who play online poker with "play money". Well, it's a nice tool to learn a little about the game, but the money has no meaning to you. You are completely detached and disassociated from the money because it's play money, thus you really aren't LEARNING the real game. It's easy to call a raise of $10,000 when it's play money since if you lose it..really you've lost nothing.

The same issue applies to trading. Ok, so you've demo traded and have had wild success with it..or not.. Big deal. Until you can deal with the real emotions of money, you haven't learned much. You can program, code, optimize all of the systems and indicators in the world, but until you actually put some money behind it...well...it doesn't matter. I guarantee once real money comes in the game, now fear and greed come into play. You will be fearful of losing money so profits are becoming cut wayyy to short and you will be greedy in holding onto losers because you just might make that money back.

If you see your system and say "oooh, hey it works, I would have made $2000 on that trade", it's meaningless, because I guarantee you wouldn't have held it that long regardless of what the indicators are saying..


Long story short>>>>it's easy to go target shooting when the targets don't shoot back at you.....give them a gun, and we'll see who does the running now. It's that simple.

All this is just something to think about. Either way, it doesn't matter to me what you do, live or demo, but just offering friendly advice that's all.
Once you get in the game, only then will you really learn.

The Hun.
I agree with you, but my point is that I do not want to add the emotions of live trading to lack of trading skills. I do not see any value in being stressed out AND unsure about your methodology. WHEN I am profitable in demo, THEN I will go live and deal with the emotional aspects. It's easier to learn how to point and pull the trigger if the targets don't shoot back at you. I want to have the mechanics of the business figured out first, so that I don't have to worry about my strategy when I deal with real money. I hope I didn't make it all unclear?

It's just my personality, I don't jump in the water all at once, I get my feet wet first, then the rest, gradually, until I'm all in.

All this said, I'm taking notes and try to learn something even from posts that express strategies quite opposite than my own...

Happy trading -

Dane
  • #14
  • Jul 19, 2006 2:37pm Jul 19, 2006 2:37pm
Quoting dof
If you want to see succes take a look at Warren Buffet, he lost 1 billion in forex , as i heard
Can someone confirm that please? Thanks.
  • #15
  • Jul 19, 2006 2:51pm Jul 19, 2006 2:51pm
It is important to trade small enough, in the beginning, that you do not care whether any trade wins or hits it's stop-loss.

It is important to use stop-losses.

It is okay to care whether you do well in any week, or any month, although most profitable systems involve losing months (although I wouldn't use once that could have a losing year!). But you must not care whether any trade, or any five trades, do well.

If need be find a platform which allows you to read mini-lots, or less.

Plenty of traders end up with two or three platforms and brokers, using one for scalping, one for monthly positions, etc. Each broker will have different spreads, each platform different strengths in terms of it's charts, execution, and interface.

But start small enough that your losses are not bothersome, even if that means your wins are small also. Raise the stakes gradually, and keep track of each system or approach you use to see what is profitable, what is risky, etc.

So far I have made less than ten bucks an hour trading live, but I consider it a success not to have lost my shirt, to have had fun, to have learned skills that might come in handy. I consider making any money a bonus, alsthough I hope in the next year or two it becomes a significant bonus in some practical sense.
  • #16
  • Jul 19, 2006 2:53pm Jul 19, 2006 2:53pm
Quoting guillo
Can someone confirm that please? Thanks.
He MADE and LOST the billion. Big Deal! To him, it's nothing. I'm sure he learned from it and is making and keeping billions by now.
  • #17
  • Jul 19, 2006 2:58pm Jul 19, 2006 2:58pm
Quoting Big Pippen
He MADE and LOST the billion. Big Deal! To him, it's nothing. I'm sure he learned from it and is making and keeping billions by now.
Buffet is a consistent loser in the currency markets. He loses because he is under the mistaken impression that fundamentals are relevant.
  • #18
  • Jul 19, 2006 3:08pm Jul 19, 2006 3:08pm
Quoting Darkstar
Buffet is a consistent loser in the currency markets. He loses because he is under the mistaken impression that fundamentals are relevant.
One would think he would want to use the currencies for more of a commodity play to lock in value of goods... and stock price. Is trading profit his first concern in currencies?
  • #19
  • Jul 19, 2006 3:13pm Jul 19, 2006 3:13pm
This is my first post on this forum, so I here it goes. I've been learning forex for about 8 months, and I've been trading live for about the last three months now, mainly with small amounts (mini-lots, or less sometimes).

What I have found is that trading with real money helps me to learn a LOT FASTER! One of my mentors in this business is constantly telling me that "if losses it don't sting a little bit, you don't learn anything." Its not that you don't learn by studying while demo trading, because I did, but I have learned more this past 3 months trading with real money, than the first five months when I was demo trading.

Sometimes I learn by "seeing the light," but it seems with forex, most of the time I have to "feel the heat." That's my two cents....

Keith
  • #20
  • Jul 19, 2006 3:17pm Jul 19, 2006 3:17pm
Quoting great*dane
I agree with you, but my point is that I do not want to add the emotions of live trading to lack of trading skills. I do not see any value in being stressed out AND unsure about your methodology.


All this said, I'm taking notes and try to learn something even from posts that express strategies quite opposite than my own...

Happy trading -

Dane
Good point. Finding the right method will take time, and if you are not finding success with it, then it is probably a good idea to have some level of success with your method before you plunk down some real cashola. My point was that once you have found that system, then the REAL learning begins.

I'm still tinkering in the lab and still learning, which is the most important part....I think I'm getting closer...what I have found is that I do my best trading when I am using methods that I can relate to. That is, they make sense to me and they fit my psychology and my philosophy and interpretation of the markets. I don't buy into some plug and play kind of system that I have NO CLUE as to how it works, or why it works, but "ohhh doesn't the shiny lights look nice" and just "look at the cross overs". To be successful, the method and tools that you trade with have to fit with your psychology and style.

The Hun.
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