What are my odds...

[amd123]

hey mud, i've heard of meta trader 4. Is it good, is it free? One more thing, currently in my demo account I only trade 3 currencies aud/usd, eur/usd, nzd/usd as these 3 give me the most $ per pip. Are there any other good ones i should trade that offer a high $ per pip?

[muddbuddha]

Margin levels are only as dangerous as you allow them to be.

If you trade 10,000 units (1 mini lot) on a $500 account utilizing 50:1, you are more at risk than trading 2000 units on a $500 account utlizing 400:1.

It's all a matter of common sense.

If you're using 400:1 on a $500 account, I would trade no more than 1000 units (1/10th of a mini lot) with no more than 4 positions at once. Ta da! Money management all wrapped up and simple!

All the margin level allows you to do is use less money of your own as security of positon and more of the brokers. So, with 400:1 you can open more positions with the same amount of money than when trading with a 50:1 broker. That's the death blow as it limits your ability to withstand whipsaws depending on your stop out tolerance.

10 open positions at 1 mini lot apiece using a 50 pip stop out on a $1000 account..... get what I'm saying?

Personally I don't care what my leverage is, though I always use 50:1 on Oanda. I limit the number of trades and amount per trade I take so I never have to concern myself with the money management or leverage. This doesn't work for everyone as most want to make as much as they can on each trade. Me, I just want to be consistent.

[muddbuddha]

Originally Posted by amd123

hey mud, i've heard of meta trader 4. Is it good, is it free?

Yes on both. I don't use it myself, but it is a decent charting/trading platform.

You can get it from the developers website: StrategyBuilderFx.com

[amd123]

this may sound rude but on average what are YOUR earnings per week/month?

[muddbuddha]

Originally Posted by amd123

One more thing, currently in my demo account I only trade 3 currencies aud/usd, eur/usd, nzd/usd as these 3 give me the most $ per pip. Are there any other good ones i should trade that offer a high $ per pip?

Those are excellent pairs to trade as they offer more profit per pip and don't cost as much to carry on margin. Good observation.

Cost to carry on margin is also you want to keep in mind when trading smaller account balances.

Pairs such as the GBP and CAD cost more than the EUR to carry and don't earn as much. The exotics, DKK, NOK, SAR being a few, can cost even more and you may pay some ugly spreads.

Look at the required margin off of FXsol's profit calculator and it will give you and idea of cost to carry on margin.

[amd123]

Originally Posted by amd123

this may sound rude but on average what are YOUR earnings per week/month?

hmm you wanna keep your earnings private?

[muddbuddha]

Originally Posted by amd123

this may sound rude but on average what are YOUR earnings per week/month?

I've never averaged my earnings, per se. I try for a minimum of 200 pips per week which can be anywhere from $186 to $2000 depending on my lot usage. If the market is in whipsaw state, I normally choke down my lots to preserve capital and will take it back up once market conditions are more favorable.
Last week being a good example. The chop on the GBP/JPY & EUR/JPY took me down about 20% on account balance which I recovered by the end of the week, but only broke slightly higher than even on Friday.

Usually I end up much higher than 200 pips, but 200 is my personal minimum. A couple of the trades from last week that lost were jsut plain my fault. So I evaluated why and moved on.

If you're wanting to know how much you can earn?

If you work to make you balance=

At $25,000 balance, you could probably earn a decent living. At $50,000 balance a comfortable living. At $100,000 +, you shouldn't have a care in the World.

[jlmac27]

Hello,
I was wondering if you trade for a living?Or if you are just part time as of now.We are almost neighbors,I live in northwest indiana

[muddbuddha]

Part time for now. If we lose the contract with the State next Summer, I may go full time trading as well as relocate up north; but for now my job pays too well to give up.

I'm just south of Indy by about 9 miles.