How much money have you blown before consistantly making money in forex?

Hi everyone :slight_smile:
I am newbie here… going to start trading…… but before I want to know my money risks….
Guys, how much money have you blown before consistantly making money in forex??? Some say to trade demo until u become profitable in every demo account and only then fund your real account… some say demo account is only for to get used to the platform, but it is useless for trading practice…. What does your experience say?
:confused: :confused: :confused:

Everybody will have a different answer about the money. I don’t see how anyone could ever start trading without significant demo time at first. Just my opinion.

I started with an Oanda demo. Definitely seemed to be the easiest platform to use to decide if trading is for you.

The way I see things is that you should still minimize your losses before you start to make consistent wins with your trading plan. I never liked considering the idea that I was BOUND to lose money before I start making a profit, but I’m sure lots of other people on this forum would most likely disagree with me.

Personally, I have spent not even $200; purely on resources (books, seminars, etc.) But I have been demo-ing for nearly 3 months using different brokers, and platforms. Trying to get used to trading with play money while improving your mental psychology to prepare for real trading, in my opinion, the best way to lose minimal amounts while learning at the same time.

Some people may say that demo-ing is completely different compared to using your real investments, but I believe if you can overcome trading psychology at the same time as you are demo-ing you will be a lot smarter by the time you decide to use real money.

I’m still new to this, so some advice from more experienced traders would still be nice. :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s very subjective matter. But in my experience my self, I’ve been lost about $2400 in two years. When I started I limit my loss at $100 in micro account. Good luck to you Sarah.

100$… very very fast:rolleyes:

For most people $100 per month is very small. But 3 years ago for me when I was broke it’s huge amount of money. :slight_smile:

Hey guys please share your experiences so we can keep learning.

Thanks before…

$200 personally and I lost it in 3 trades = )

Like said before by people, it’s completely subjective. I definately didn’t enter this Forex venture with the notion I will have to lose in order to eventually win though. I trade live and moved quickly from demo to live. This is against what a lot of people say but I did this for 2 personal reasons-
1- I do this as my full time job so perhaps devote more time to this than others
2- I really believe trading psychology can’t be learnt from demo. The feeling of making or losing real money is just something that isn’t replicable without actually doing it. And in my personal opinion, trading psychology is one of, if not the most, important factor in trading.

You will lose all you can afford and then you will lose it again.
Expect to blow your account at least twice over the 1st year, then add an extra year for learning things properly, then you might start making money in about 2 years time.

Why do people say this? I see it quite a lot on this forum. What is this based on? Everybody is so different and there are so many variables that blanket statements like this simply aren’t true. For example, a person who devotes a lot of time to this will most likely do better than somebody who spends 2 mins a day.

Sadly a lot of people have a need to self sabotage.

It is based on experience and on human psychology (we all make the same mistakes in this game) :slight_smile:
Ask any professional - they all lost their accounts when first starting out and then repeated the same mistakes over and over.
Any professional cannot develop skill in their profession without time and dedication.

It’s based on the fact they’ve heard the same nonsense being peddled time & again by other clueless, ill prepared individuals & of course if it’s repeated often enough then it [B]must[/B] be true.

These are usually the same individuals who would plough money into a business start up without conducting the appropriate due diligence, correct preparation or required minimum of knowledge & application.

Who in their right mind would even consider opening a live trading (business) account without first taking steps to prepare, test & ensure they had a workable plan or foundation in place from which to operate from?

If the plan doesn’t work during demo testing & application then it’s highly unlikely to return a profit under the increased psychological pressures of a live market environment.

Any well rounded, mature individual with a modicum of common sense would insist that his action plan included a financial circuit breaker to forewarn him of potential problems so that he could put the brakes on & investigate further before haemorrahaging money.

But then in trading, as in the wider business world, the real & consistent success stories are generally the domain of the immaculately prepared, well balanced, emotionally mature few.

Probably 99/100 traders :slight_smile:
So, you didn’t “have a quick go” at a trade when you first started?
It’s true because most people lose money at first…and I’m talking averages here say over the 1st year of trading.

Of course I have, but it didn’t come anywhere near blowing up my account, & why would it?

Are you sure you’re not confusing professional traders with the novice, inexperienced posters typical of these bulletin board forums?

I mean come on, most of the people running around these boards can barely decipher simple instructions, let alone put in place a robust & workable risk & trade management plan.

Fair enough, my point was simply that a person asking about …err…what is the title of this thread again…“how much money have you blown before consistantly making money in forex???” is clearly going to blow their account. Many will make mistakes over and over before realising and unfortunately if you don’t have sound risk management, your capital will not survive long enough for you to “earn” your education in the trading world…add to that the spread commissions, which make FX a very difficult world indeed.
If you do the sums of the spread costs vs the targets that most people are applying (probably less than 20 pips), then they have a very difficult factor to overcome.

Professional traders are often dumped in at the deepend just as much but their risk is usually substantially more controlled (aside from the occasional dodgy prop shop).

I demo’d for 6 months or so and put £3k in my first live account. I’d have to agree that the psychology of live trading is totally different. Within a week I’d overtraded and my balance was down to £500. 4 months later I was up to £18k, only to go on holiday and come back with a margin call. I’d left one position open which was in profit and almost at TP. It had a SL but I’d stupidly miss typed it and hadnt realised. I still feel really bitter when I think about it.

Now days I double check everything, especially at the end of the day.

I think maybe someone is pulling your chain :stuck_out_tongue:

Professional firms & shops that cultivate respect for their clients & investors money don’t dump traders in at the deep end & leave them to sink or swim.
They ensure those individuals are familiar with best working practices & agenda’s, risk models & strategy aims & expectations.

They invest a lot of time & money into the procurement, training & direction of a potential trader. It’s counter productive to discourage & negatively impact the confidence & attitude of such a potentially lucrative income generator by resorting to those tactics.

Until they’re proven to operate satisfactorily under minimum supervision they’re monitored & observed under the stewardship of a senior trader or manager. At least they are in proper professional circles anyway.

It’s in the interests of these firms to generate as high a profitable return as possible, or at least actively manage & control losses.
That way they stand a pretty good chance of returning better than average numbers & encouraging further financial input.
They’re not in the habit of making life any more difficult than it already is by recklessly compromizing their business model.

Maybe at an investment bank with one of their Oxford, Cambridge, or Harvard graduates, yeah. Have you seen the standard prop shop model? You go in, put a deposit down, pay desk fees and if you lose more than a certain amount, you’re fired. They get to keep the good people just by nature of survival of the fittest.
Of course some of it is exaggerated but have a read of Liar’s Poker sometime - explains perfectly how the grad schemes work at even the top places.

Whuch means in theory you could fluke your way through.