How do so many people lose money?

[tymen1]

While I am here, I would like to apologize on behalf of Petronix, who is from Australia as I am.

His posts on this thread indicate an arrogance, self-rightousness and pompousness that is completely un-Australian.

The only people that display that attitude in this country are politicians, judges and lawyers and police.

The rest of us are totally normal.

We are just a happy, easy-going, friendly people.

Petronix claims 3000 pips/week trading..........gold! Yeah???

Lets do some maths......At 1 standard lot = $10/pip........

thats 52x3000x10 = $1.5 million dollars per year!!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I wonder if the tax department knows about him?

Bet they don't.


But then maybe he is trading a micro, or probably a nano account!!

Thats more like $150 per year. Ha Ha.

He says that we are wasting too much of our time posting on this forum.

Well, I am a retired school teacher and I love teaching........that is why I have devoted so much time on my candlestick thread which is now more than 60 pages long.

I prefer to do that than make 3000 pips per week - yes, really, because I find it more rewarding.

I make sufficient on the stock market.

Having been on this forum for a while now, I have seen his ilk come and go.
Unfortunately they contribute nothing useful to this forum, end up telling blatant lies, and arrogantly tell the rest of us that we are ignorant.

I would like to see Petronix say that to Rhodytrader, who has rubbed shoulders with people like John Bollinger, Gerald Appel and many other world famous market greats.

But maybe they are ignorant too!!

Shame Petronix, shame!!!!!!!!!

[ewokuk]

hmmm I was looking at easy-forex after one website gave them a good review. website looks clean but its web trading only, which isnt too bad as i can check on things from work then but its a pain in the ass having to go get charts etc from elsewhere.

easy-forex spread on gbp/usd is only 3 pips though and i believe it may be possible to get it lower if you ask them. ibfx is 4 pips. it also seems funding your account on ibfx with a debit card costs $20 "convenience fee"!?!?!?! and then you cant make a withdrawal for 30 days, or you can use a bank transfer which must be in USD (meaning anyone in uk gets charged a fee from their own bank, usually 2.75% both in and out again) and THEN wait 5 days for it to get there.

seems like easy-forex and mt4 may be better than ibfx? no fee debit card deposit and withdrawals, 3 pip spread.

this will be my first attempt so i want to pick a good one rather than chop and change trying to find one.

perhaps bad brokers are one reason why some people lose money :P

[Andrewunknown]

Originally Posted by ewokuk

seems like easy-forex and mt4 may be better than ibfx? no fee debit card deposit and withdrawals, 3 pip spread.

this will be my first attempt so i want to pick a good one rather than chop and change trying to find one.

perhaps bad brokers are one reason why some people lose money :P

no fee debit card deposit and withdrawals, 3 pip spread on GBP/USD...but have you considered that easy-forex may be a scam?

http://forums.babypips.com/54209-post290.html

Maybe they're not; but the mere suggestion of it is sufficient reason to steer clear. There are too many other brokers out there without the stigma (and possibly legitimate claims of criminal activity) attached.

Anyway, that's tangential to the larger discussion here.

[BrianSNJ]

EASY FOREX has a VERY BAD reputation in Forex forums all over the web. It is well believed that people at Easy Forex post positive reviews in forums to boost sales. Some forums have traced the IP addresses of the posters back to the same location. THAT IS OBVIOUSLY BAD NEWS.

I would definitely choose IBFX over Easy Forex. Hands down. But again, I trade with an ECN...MB Trading. I have never been a client with IBFX so I cannot give personal experience, but their rep is solid.

[JonnyFX]

Some people have some truly bizarre manner of judging
brokers/firms. People actually quibble over $20 fees
for credit card deposits and fluctuating spreads?
You can all send a personal check to your brokers/firms
you know. And if you knew the level of credit card
fraud these days, you would agree with the terms that
it is more than reasonable. But again, you can send in
a check but something tells me that if you are inclined
towards the likes of easyfx and are quibbling over a lousy
$20 fee, you probably don't belong anywhere near FX trading
or any trading for that matter. And once again blaming the
brokers. Let's get this straight... only losers and completely
unwinning traders blame the brokers. People lose money
because they make poor choices thinking easyfx are legitimate
while totally ignoring what a lousy traders they truly are.

[BrianSNJ]

True. You cannot 100% blame bad trades on the broker. I have been trading since 2001. I can tell you that choosing a broker CAREFULLY is very important. I can also tell you that very deceptive practices occur and very sneaky things are done by the "fancy, get rich quick" brokers.

A serious broker will provide quality services, will be regulated, will be able to fill your orders quickly, etc.

Now, if you don't know how to trade properly or have no plan, then you are screwed no matter how great the broker is.

[rrram2]

So if you can trade and win 50% of the time. All you have to do is set your entries with Tp targets at say 50 and set your stop loss orders at say 30.
This way if you win 5 and lose 5 you will be up 250 pips and down only 150 for a net profit of 100 pips.

And for all the money that someone loses someone else makes.
So 80% of the people are supporting the 20% of people.
I used to be in the 80% but I have switched over to the 20% side

Originally Posted by triphop

Going back to the original poster, why so many people lose money, I met a broker who said:

1) 80% of clients regularly lose money (not 95% - I'd always wandered where this figure came from).

2) Almost every losing customer has more winning trades than losing trades. Which is odd when you think of it. Only these winning trades are generally only a few pips, with the losers being 100+

So back to the usual issues of cutting winners short and letting losers run. I'd add to that they'll doubtlessly be bad money management thrown into the mix as well. And finally, you'd be amazed /horrified how bad so many of the systems are if you backtest them properly. The vast majority have the same expectancy as coin-tossing.

Good luck - question everything!

[BrianSNJ]

Ahhh the rule of 80/20. One of my all time favorites because it is so true. lol

All you have to do is set your entries with Tp targets at say 50 and set your stop loss orders at say 30.
This way if you win 5 and lose 5 you will be up 250 pips and down only 150 for a net profit of 100 pips.

Absolutely true and a PRIME example of just how important MONEY MANAGEMENT is in trading and other areas of life.

I always have a low RISK, high PROFIT target in my trading. I always trade at least 1:1 if not 1:1.5 or better.

Forex, IMO, will make you work your rear off if you are not smart about your trading. I believe most systems and styles will work if you are careful with the money over the long run.

[ewokuk]

Originally Posted by BrianSNJ

EASY FOREX has a VERY BAD reputation in Forex forums all over the web. It is well believed that people at Easy Forex post positive reviews in forums to boost sales. Some forums have traced the IP addresses of the posters back to the same location. THAT IS OBVIOUSLY BAD NEWS.

I would definitely choose IBFX over Easy Forex. Hands down. But again, I trade with an ECN...MB Trading. I have never been a client with IBFX so I cannot give personal experience, but their rep is solid.

Well Ive been searching for broker reviews for 2 weeks and to be honest i havent yet found one that doesnt have dozens of bad reviews saying scam this and scam that. Granted many of those are probably from idiots losing their own money from their own lack of knowledge, but it doesnt make it any easier to find reliable reviews of any of them that you can actually believe.

[JonnyFX]

You need reliable reviews of FX brokers/firms?

It's simple!

Pick one from the top 5 biggest regulated,
well capitalized, and reputable firms.
Why is this such a difficult task?

You think that some magical broker/firm
will not "cheat" you and not "rob" you
like you read in all of these stupid
scam reviews on stupid sites like
ForexBastards'?

And as for EasyFX, they actually do have a history
of having scammed, robbed, and stolen from
people. They aren't regulated, never will be,
and their capitalization is a joke not worth mentioning.

It's your money, hopefully hard earned right and not
stolen from others? Right?

Then pick 5 top regulated, over capitalized, reputable
firms in Canada, USA, or UK and pick one!

If you are twiddling your thumbs over a broker/firm
while thinking EasyFX is some wonderful firm, you
truly have no business even contemplating FX trading
or any type of trading or even investments. HYIP or
MLM may be your thing.