Is 10% return per month possible?

Hi, am a newbie and am wondering how much percentage returns per month is possible/achievable/attainable (lol) when mixed with a good trading system, money management and psychology. Is 10% returns possible or too much to ask for? plus i would love it if you guys tell me how much % return do you make per month and how consistence?

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I too would like to know this and from personal experience how long did it take to start having consistant profits?

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I started two years ago, and Iā€™m now in the ā€˜getting break-even most of the timeā€™ phase.
Ok, I have a full-time job, and am learning and trading on the evenings and week-ends only. But I think it wouldnā€™t be different if I make trading my full-time profession (danger of overtrading!)

The most important thing is to get the right mind-set. And it seems there is no easy and quicky way to gain this, only year-long experience which has to build slowly. Donā€™t underestimate this time, as in any profession you need your time of apprenticeship and hard learning. You wonā€™t want to become a cardiac surgeon after only two months of training, donā€™t you?

You can look in this forum for an entry ā€˜The five steps of tradingā€™, this is an extremely interesting essay on this topic, including some time estimates for the different steps on the way to become a master trader.

Here is the link: 301 Moved Permanently

As Iā€™ve heard from some successful traders, plan for several years until getting profitable. The trick is a) not to lose all your money in the learning phase and b) not to give up frustrated in the learning phase.

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Wao, thank you for your advice. Iā€™ll definitely try demo trading and all that youā€™ve advised me.

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I know for a FACT that my post will get under the skin, and even upset, of a lot of my veteran fellow traders but some things have to be said.
I have seen people taking issue with a target of 1% per month so imagine what they must be saying about a target of 10%, which is 10 times one percent, lol. Anyway, as I have said in the past, because YOU personally cant run the hundred meters in under 9.6 seconds doesnt mean that some else cannot do it.
Another of the many fallacies I see being perpetrated out there is that starting out with a small sum of money like US$100.00 is of little benefit and will end up nowhere. ANYBODY who tells me that cannot say anything to me going forward and I take them seriously.
I have recently noticed that there are some traders who are following me and the attached screenshot is for you. It is not to boast or garner likes, but to motivate, inspire, show you what is possible, and help you on your forex journey.
In closing just one more point. Two days ago I learned an important lesson regarding this business of forex trading. Ego will beat the $h!t out of you. A large part of the strategy I had developed involved me not losing any trades at all. I have made some adjustments and decided to take some losses for the greater good. As a result yesterday I closed three trades (bottom of screenshot) for a loss of around US$60.00. Funny enough I ended the day with nearly three times that much in profit. A similar thing had happened the day before. You could say I had a eureka moment.
So we are mid April and all the figures here relate to April. I had deposited US$100 at the start of the month and withdrew US$105 yesterday. What that means is that all the money on the account now is trading profit. Funny enough my strategy dictates that I should be using a 0.08 lot size at this point but I was kinda being cautious and was working with 0.06.
I was never any good at math but If I ceased trading for a year and averaged out the percentage here would I have made 10% per month for the year?
The people who tell you 10% per month is unsustainableā€¦well.

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Making 10% a Month year over year is impossible. Sure you might make 120% in one year but over the period of many years no one is doing 10% a year. If you calculate 10% a month for 10 years with a 10 000 starting balance it would be 26,559,922.79. These are just unrealistic numbers.
Imagine you are a bank or had deep pockets and had 1 000 000 to start. After 10 years it would be 2,655,992,279.14. That is 2.5 trillion

Math does no lie. It is not possible

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You are correct in stating that maths do not lie.

So letā€™s suppose you have a strategy which is profitable but has only modest statistics -
It has a low win rate (60%), a low r:r (1:1.5), a low capital risk per trade (1%), and a low opportunity rate (1 trade per day).

This strategy makes 10% a month. And none of the individual parameters are very ambitious - nobody could say they are impossible. So the question s not whether 10% a month is possible, it is why are we all not doing it?

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Thereā€™s more factors than just 10% at risk.

Firstly, risk. You arenā€™t going to risk Ā£1 million on a trade, thatā€™s just crazy. We all have losing trades at some points and once you get so high through compounding you withdraw profits and trade with a reasonable amount.

Secondly your broker doesnā€™t let you place infinite trade sizes. Most limit it to 50 lots and thereā€™s a limit on maximum positions on a symbol or maximum volume. So that will stop you at some point too.

The reason why most people wonā€™t even achieve a modest return of 10% per month over a long period of time is emotion, greed and narcissism. You think you have it nailed and place bigger and bigger risks, eventually the loss wipes you out.

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Yes, it is, even more. This is a very conservative and safe margin. The recommended margin is 2% per day, so for 30 days it adds up to more than 60%.
From my 10 year experience, three qualities are needed to be consistent and successful, strategy strict discipline and patience. It took me years to settle on a strategy, gain patience and maintain discipline.

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When I see people who posit supposedly intelligent arguments such as these I can only shake my head and smile. Like Iā€™ve said a few times already because YOU PERSONALLY cannot run the hundred meters in under 9.6 seconds doesnt mean another individual cannot do it. They ALWAYS come with some extreme scenarios. Isnt it funny how they NEVER EVER happen to mention the person withdrawing ANY of the profits along the way to buy a house or car?
Soā€¦ what I am being told authoritatively, is that it is impossible for me to start with US$1000.00 and make US$100.00 on that sum in a month for a few years.
I am not even going to reference the trading Iā€™ve been doing and those percentages as per my screenshot a few posts up.
Picture thisā€¦the end game is not trading, it is owning a sizeable chunk of shares in the BIGGEST lottery company down here in Jamaica. Forex trading is merely a vehicle to that end. 10% of US$1000.00 is US$100.00 and assuming there are 20 trading days per month that is a paltry goal of US$5.00 per day. Each month I exercise that discipline/consistency thing and religiously withdraw my profits, purchase some shares, and repeat the process all over again starting at my original US$1000.00.
Now how any sensible individual who knows anything about trading could conclude that is impossible is beyond me.
You cant make this stuff up.

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i can see that owning a sizeable chunk of shares in the biggest lottery company down there is a very attractive and safe-looking long-term financial aspiration, but i have a question (and i suspect i may not be the only person wondering about it):-

i think the share value - however good an investment - canā€™t possibly be increasing by anything like 10% per month? and in that case, when youā€™re steadily and consistently making 10%+ per month from the forex, wouldnā€™t you do much better leaving some/most/all of the monthly profits in there and compounding that?

even if you did exactly what youā€™re doing now, but just withdrew all the profits to buy more shares quarterly rather than monthly, wouldnā€™t you still be far better off in the long run?

forgive me if iā€™ve misunderstood something ā€¦

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16 years after the OP and weā€™re still arguing this question, lol. I can only assume that @ladex142 is living on his own private island now with his billions. I donā€™t expect a reply because Forex is now probably the furthest thing from his mind.

Cheers to the rest of you who are actually averaging 10% per month yet still hanging out here with us at BP.

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Entirely true but we have a saying down hereā€¦seven different brothers seven different minds. I personally have no intention to be filthy rich like other people. I simply want me and those in my circle to be comfortable.
No matter how you slice it trading is stressful business and doing it long term as people are suggesting is not for me. The way I choose to approach it is like a game and serves to maintain my health and sanity. Why do you think people like Cue Banks with his how many millions doesnt trade all day every day and amass trillions?

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lol, weā€™ll still be arguing it after another 16 years, too :laughing:

in a sense, itā€™s quite topical in these parts, given all the recent discussions here about funding companies requiring people to make 10% profit in a month (once, not steadily!) to earn a funded account

(many ask for more like 6% or 8%, rather than 10%)

in the case of FTMO, for example (who do require 10% profit on the nominal sim account, to qualify, though theyā€™ll extend the month to 6 weeks if people are in profit at all and havenā€™t broken rules), only 8% of people trying it can manage, apparently - but thatā€™s not surprising when you think that there are no entry barriers at all and so many people have an inflated impression of their own skills and abilities?

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I like to draw people out and get their responses to questions such as posed by the OP.
That guy further up didnt say ā€œIn my opinionā€. What he said was It is impossible, which to me sounds like he was stating a fact.

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Of course itā€™s possible, the numbers exist, therefor itā€™s possible.

Is it achievable though? With the random nature of the markets I would have a hard time believing anyone who said they have actually achieved this over a reasonable time-span.

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hello and welcome :slight_smile:
i guess it is not something measurable. it is not something easy to earn. it needs a good risk management and requires a great focus on market also control your emotionsā€¦:slight_smile:

As per: https://cmtassociation.org/presenter/larry-williams/ :

Larry won the 1987 World Cup Championship of Futures Trading taking $10,000 to over $1,100,000 (11,300%) in a 12-month competition with real money.

94.5% is a lot in a year!

Larry Williams traded futures, not forex. Still, thatā€™s impressive. It just makes you wonder, why not do that process 5 or 6 times? Youā€™d get enough money to buy Earth!

Yet, no one really even knows who he is. Heā€™s not a celebrity, heā€™s not on Forbesā€™ wealthiest list.

Heā€™s written several books and has taught several courses. Why? Why do ANYTHING if you can trade like that? If you can trade like that, why work? Why travel and speak? Why not just hang with your family? Why not just pass your free time with your dog or building model airplanes in your garage?

These are questions Iā€™ve asked to traders here on the forum who talk about making steady profits every month with their scalping system or whatever strategy.

Maybe Iā€™m the one who should shut up! Perhaps some people enjoy trading $50 accounts, get 10% a month/week/day and thatā€™s all they want.

Who am I to judge them?

I have no idea what their lives are like, or what their goals are. If theyā€™re trading demo and profit 20%/month, why should I challenge them for not trading live? If theyā€™re fine with it, why do I feel the need to challenge them to trade live?

Sounds like Iā€™m the one with the problem. I should take my frustrations elsewhere.

This is calculated using a interest calculator. It is elementary math that you disagree with. Does it seem Extreme to you. What part is extreme to you. The 10% was given by the poster. The calculation where done on a compound interest calculator. Its Math . You wish 10% a month is possible

Beyond me how people get so offended by simple arithmeticā€™s. There is no bias here it is MATH. Anyone who thinks it is possible has never traded through a drawdown. You can make MATH up

First place did not even make 10% a month second place made 3% a month