How much does the average forex trader make?

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering how much the average full-time forex trader makes. You can express this amount either as a percent return on their investment, or a dollar amount. I realize that there is likely swings in their return, but I just mean on average over the course of the year.

What kind of initial deposit is required to successfully trade full-time and make a decent living at it?

Finally, is there a large difference in return between day-traders and swing-traders?

The reason I ask is because I will be done college at the end of this month, and I would really prefer to trade forex full-time rather than get a regular office job if it is at all feasible. I’ve been trading forex in a demo account for over 2 months now and I’ve had relatively good results. I started with a $10,000 balance and some days I can be up $1,000 or more… of course I got a margin call and went broke once, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. I plan on spending at least the summer honing my forex skills, but I was hoping I could make this a viable alternative to the average mind-numbing desk job some day.

Thanks for the input!

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i don’t know if i’m average or not, I do about 10% a month give or take.

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[B]Well according to my point of view your two month demo practice is nothing …You need more experience… Take your time , Do any Job and meanwhile learn also in your free time… Forex is not so easy as you are thinking…It’s a deadly dangerous business… Just two months practice will never truns you out to be a full time successfull forex trader…You May blow out your account while doing experiments and testing new & new stratigies and techniques on real as your experience is of just two month’s…
& about your question that how much a fulltime forex trader may make…Then answer is its experience… If a trader is with excellent experience not less than 2-Year’s than he can make good Pip’s… Also no system in a world is perfect…Its just your Brain…
You have to find the key to success by your ownself & I Know its impossible to find the key to success in just 2-Months lol…
GoodLuck:)
PipHacker:D [/B]

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Yeah, I should have mentioned that I’m going to university for 2 more years and I will spend that spare time experimenting, reading, and breathing forex to learn as much as I can about it.

I’m just curious if I stand any chance at being able to trade full-time in the future, or if I should just keep it as a hobby, or alternative investment to the stock market.

Well, seeing as there’s a statistics that says ‘95% of all traders lose their money’ i would assume the average trader is losing money. Can you make a lot of money very quickly? Yes, if you trade using some good sound principles. Get a good method, have good money management and your half way there.

If your serious about trading full time in the future, then don’t consider it a hobby because your probably less likely to make money that way.

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I know 3 people who trade. One’s been doing it for many many years and makes well over 10% a month. And the other two have been doing it for about 2 years one of them makes anywhere from -5% to +10%, in the green more often than not, and the other makes +10% to +100% a month. I demo and after two months I’m at +2 %, I might add that most of my losses are due to panic, greed, and over exitement:o . I’ve had some pretty good gains only to give the money back with a few horrible trades.

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Keep trying. Find your weak areas and weed them out. Good Luck!

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[B]This will be excellent for you If you spend more and more time while practicing on demo…:stuck_out_tongue: & Specially Two Year’s demo practice will be like a gold for you…
Im Optimistic About you that you will trun out to be an excellent forex trader after your hard practice of two year’s…:cool: [/B]

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I disagree to a certain extent. He needs to spend more and more time doing the REAL thing. 2 more years of demo trading is a wast of your time. You did 2 months, that’s enough, now it’s time to add money into your trading account of choice, start small and use real coin.

Take up a 1st and 2nd job, hopefully one that pays pretty well so you can afford to add siginifacant amounts of money into your account over time. I’m personally going to start trading seriously again at the 5,000 mark. At some point when you get good, you really want it to be worth your time…but for now, start with a small 250 to 500$ account.

8/10, your going to blow it all, but atleast if you didn’t know at this point, you know now lol. That’s the 2nd reason to start really small, so it won’t hurt as much as losing 5k - 10k initiallly.

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[B]Hahahaha Hey Forex Kid this is why Aggresive people like you blow out there account… Never consider experience as a waste of time…it’s a Jem & by doing different experiment’s and testing new and new stratigies and system’s on real is a straight way to blow out your account… & by testing the same new & new stratigies & system’s on demo you can select a system which suit’s you & after that one must have to become the habitual of getting pip’s by practiciting it on demo with the development of his confidence… & I dont think so that just two month practice is enough for that. Im not saying that must do practice for 2-Years on demo but atleast 4/5 Month’s … & why blowing out even $250-$500 again & again on real??? Isn’t it batter to came on real with proper planning , practice & reliable forex system with all your own made rules & regulation:D
There is no comparison of !!!

  1. Two Month’s Practice…
  2. Two Year’s Practice…
    PipHacker!!!:smiley: [/B]
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Id say the average forex trader does not make money. I have been reading a lot of posts and just hiding in the shadows. But it seems that most people dont even try to learn more about the markets, or even read about ‘mental fortitude’.

I think with proper money management and a good system that you know well, and the pair you are trading well… over time you can make more. Use a bit more leverage and try to make bigger gains on patterns you have seen before and know are usually going to go in your favor. Dont forget bigger losses though!

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It is very possible that most wouldbe traders end up quitting out of frustration and generally not having the work handed to them on a silver platter, but it’s important for you to remember…that you arn’t them.

90% of all ppl who venture into real estate fail.

90% of all people who venture into the music business quit

90% of all people who had but a simple dream - gave up

That’s the path they choose…there were never any special circumstances that prevented/prevents anyone from being who they want be and a make a great living. It’s all you.

Basically, you can succeed only if you want to. I made that choice to suceed and you can to.

To the guy who responded to my previous statement - I don’t hold forum arguments with kids - there are better things to do with my time. All i can say to the poster is do your research and prepare yourself, as i tell all other newbies, to study VERY hard…pretty soon, it’ll be 2nd nature to you.

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The question is: How many pips can you make a day? If you can make just 15 pips a day, you can be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

�The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest� - Albert Einstein

Run this through your calculator: Start with $5000.00 capital, make 15 pips a day. Pay yourself a 40% salary of earnings. Reinvest 60% into your trading account. Risk 5% of your capital on each trade for the first year, 2% in the second and 1% in the third.

You will make over $200,000 salary in the first year. Your trading account will very quickly grow to over a million dollars.

Can you average 15 pips a day is the question?

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I don’t know how you got $200,000 out of this… ESPECIALLY if you are taking a 40% cut. I’m all for playing the spreadsheet “what if” game, but this one just doesn’t work out.

You can’t increase your lot size after every trade or anything… you have to increase it proportionally with your portfolio size or your risk will go way out of whack.

I did everything you described, except risking only 4% of your portfolio instead of 5%… I only worked it out to about $40,000 in the first year… less than that. I increased lot size in increments of 0.1 at a time

$5,000… start with 0.2 lot size, 15 pips per trade = $30 per trade.

You have to wait until you get to $7,000 before you can increase lot sizes to 0.3 ($7,000x0.04.) That takes 68 days. Then you start making $45 per trade (0.3 lot = $3 per pip). And so on.

Although I worked out 50 pips a day, and that would result in a 600% return in 100 days…

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Wow, I used to have this cool dream of becoming the unquestioned supreme leader of the world, everybody would be my unquestioned slaves and beautiful girls would all be mine, and I’d be delightfully evil :cool:

But somehow my dream never came true :frowning:

So I recently decided to become a Forex Trader. Who knows if I am successfull and very rich maybe I can make my evil dream finally come true …

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We share the same dream…

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Here is how it should be calculated.




Isn’t one mini lot considered 0.1 lots, or $100? (Assuming you’re using 100:1 leverage…)

Then 8 mini lots = $800.

$800 / $5,000 = 16% of your portfolio per trade, not 5%

And towards the end of year 3 it’s using 3%, not 1%.

Unless I’m using the wrong numbers… it’s quite possible.

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Depends on which broker you use. I use GFT and they do 400:1 leverage on mini lots.

It doesn’t really matter though, you are still only risking the same amount on each trade no matter what.

I would suggest any trader use mini lots regardless of account size, it gives you better control over your risk management.

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ok, just for arguments sake, that we actually are up there in those numbers and actually placing those “hundreds” of mini lots in one position…I’d just like to know if anyone knows if the brokers would have any problems with that? I mean would they have limits?