Dear Jason,
I am up to +102.39 at present, although I have some floating positions waiting to pan out (my equity is 664.00 and my balance is 702.39).
As for leverage, I know that FXCM has a fixed 200-to-1 leverage, so I am ordering 1k lots, as 1,000 : 200 = 5 GBP,
with 600(my deposit) : 1% = 6 GBP… In other words, 1% of my account is more or less the amount I need to command the smallest lot (1k) using FXCM’s fixed 200-to-1 leverage.
Did I understand your question right?
PipNRoll, I know I said this before, but
now I know what you are an FX-Women honorary member! You really did earn your cred and your stars!
14% gains! That is pretty impressive! Keep up the good MyFXbook policy, it is transparently honest… I liked
having a good nosey in there… thoroughly enjoyed fumbling through your stats!
Thank you! Well, we will see in about 6 months or so if the consistency keeps up. I am just tired of people just goofing around here with all kinds of unnecessary things. There is always time for everything but you come to appoint where you needed to get serious if this is what a person wants to do…besides, very few that I see who have a good track records and who can actually trade. So, why not I create one…what’s the big deal… As long I don’t call any live trades lol then Zulu trade will be back behind me…
Yep, I too like my stats 
I like your style. You should keep us posted every so often and let us know how it is going.
I agree that it is about profit, in the end, so unless someone can trade successfully, it really
means nothing that they give ‘advice’. I am fully behind you, as anyone else on here.
I know that you are very busy, so thank you for taking time to post on here, it is generous of you.
Thank you and…
RESPECT.
Happy trading.
Thanks again for your kind words. I really appreciate it
I think I am settle for 13.09% for this month (took a lose from yesterday) then start fresh again next month. I think when you do take on trades " less is more"… Less trade (s) , you’ve get a better chance of fewer mistakes…
Happy trading to you too… Keep up the good work you have been putting on. Rinse, Repeat and keep what you have…
2 things:
[B]1. Effective Leverage vs. Maximum Leverage:[/B] FXCM does not have a “fixed 200-to-1 leverage”. Rather, our minimum margin requirement (MMR) for opening a trade allows you a maximum leverage of approximately 200:1. For example, as you can see in the Simple Dealing Rates window of Trading Station (shown below), the MMR for GBP/USD is £5.00
Since the minimum trade size is 1k GBP/USD, that means you can control £1000.00 in the market and only have to set aside £5.00 as used margin (Usd Mr). That means each pound you set aside can control £200. So your maximum leverage is 200:1. That’s not to say you should use all the leverage available to you, because that would leave you with no usable margin (Usbl Mr) to withstand drawdowns.
(Usable margin is what’s left of your equity after subtracted the used margin that has to be set aside for open positions. So if you have £600 in equity and with one trade open for 1k GBP/USD, then your usable margin will £580 after setting aside that £20 used margin. If you lost that £580, then your usable margin would drop to zero and the system would automatically close out your trade to prevent further losses.)
Since it’s not wise to max out your leverage when trading, what’s important to consider is what effective leverage you want to use. For example, with £600 in equity and one trade open for 1k GBP/USD, your effective leverage is 1.667-to-1 (or £1000/£600). If you have 2k open, then your effective leverage would be 3.333-to-1 (or £2000/£600). Personally, I try never to exceed 10-to-1 leverage on my account, so with £600 in equity, I would never open more than 6k total. Otherwise, I might be risking too much relative to the size of my account.
[B]2. Equity vs. Balance:[/B] As I mentioned before, balance is really a look into the past. I don’t pay attention to that column in my accounts window at all. Much more important is the Equity column. That is the real money in your account. Based on what you’ve said, I would say that you’re up £64.00 (still fantastic!) not £102.39.
Dear Jason,
thank you for this useful clarification.
I actually have completely discounted the leverage amount (that is why I said 200-to-1 without fear) in my trading… In other words: by trial and error, I worked a system where I know that, at 1k per position, even a 300-pip move is not going to do much damage at all to my available margin… So the leverage is not something I see in practical terms (whether 200 to 1 or other) because I go by lot size in relation to the overall size of the account. This cautious approach, while not mathematically very subtle, has kept me trading out of sticky errors, thanks to the low risks taken. I have read everything you said and I understood some of it but I will have to go back to it and digest it, as it is not something I work with.
I will make an effort to digest it, though, as anything from you is worth gold - and any advice from my broker is worth listening to!
Ps: re-read the info with a fresh, morning brain and it makes perfect sense. Thank you, Jason, for taking the time to write it out - I think it will be useful to others too (FXCM users or other).
Happy Trading!
What you’ve described here is effective leverage to a tee. It seems like you’ve already been taking your effective leverage into account, even though you weren’t using that exact terminology to describe what you are doing.
A pair of Air Jordans won’t help a bad basketball player win the NBA championship. We may have provided you with the equipment, but your trading success is all your own. Congrats! 
As long as its making money do whatever you desire my friend.
Hello Ayyaz7!
Yes, you are right, and it is!
The latest stats… see photo…
All is well…
If using my current equity (= Balance minus Floating/Open Positions total) as the total sum, I am
up c. 19% in profit from the initial deposit (600GBP); if using my current balance, I am up c.26%
in profit from the initial deposit… All of this, trading since the 24th of December, so less than one
trading month.
This is not a miracle and I am not amazing, but it is certainly not something I am winning through
sheer luck, every day! I must be doing something right… So I hope, at least… May those hard-won
pips be the start of many more. The strategy is: steady does it (few pips regularly is better than lots
of pips once in a blue moon). I do not have a daily pip target, but certainly I hope to be in profit
every day, if possible.
Happy trading!
What a day!
I made a stupid amount of money!
[B]+68.52 GBP[/B] (Pounds), and counting…
Traded pairs:
LONG: USD/CHF, AUD/NZD, GBP/CAD;
SHORT: USD/CAD, EUR/GBP.
A Fantastic Day!!!
[B]
Account balance now up to 806.50 (from the initial 600 GBP[/B] when I started trading on 24th December), with
the Equity not far behind, at 779.40 GBP.
So, from the balance, the account is up 34,41%; from the equity, up 29.9%.
[B]Long live the Forex market.
[/B]
Happy trading.
Your challenge will be… How are you going to beat this performance next month!
Good for you I guess I have to put my A game next month lol…
Wow, an excellent month! Good luck for next month.
Thank you PipNRoll, and KevinLaCoste!
Believe you me, I am not bragging!! I feel it a must to share my successes (and my failures) with the forums… Not for validation or self-boosting, not for self-publicity, not for marketing FXCM (they do not pay me), not for any other reason other than to give hope to others that it can be done. . . and if I can do it, without an economics degree, then I am sure many others with my same tools and sense of observation (and good risk management) can also do it.
As PipNRoll and you say, let us see how I will perform next month!
PipNRoll, you are a Forex Mistress, an Honorary FX-Woman! I will bow to you now and be done with it…
No… I don’t think it is bragging at all! It is really impressive getting that kind of return first time going live! So, I really applaud you for that… And Mr. Jason Rogers over here should give you a nice bouquet of flowers just for incentives plugging away FXCM lol…
I can’t stop laughing calling me a Forex Mistress! Oh god… It’s cute and it’s funny!! thank you…
I felt so ashame now lol… Keep it up!!
Jason… you heard the lady… Roses will do fine, but I am not fussy…
Seriously, though, PipNRoll, I admit that it is impressive, considering that I work full time and only trade as and when I can!
And that is why I would recommend demo trading: I had sixteen months of it before going live… Did it help?
I think it is too early to say, but certainly it feels like it has…
Thank you for all your encouragement and inspiration, my FX-Mistress…
Ok, I will stop now …
Great job! Just remember: Equity, not Balance 
