This question may be a bit silly to some, but at which point did you know you succeeded as a trader? I know most will never enjoy long-lasting success and the numbers speak for themselves, but those who have succeeded or at least claim they have (no worries, nobody is asking you for any evidence of success) at which point did you qualify your trading as a success story?
Mine was when trading become my primary source of income and was able to rely on it 100% for an extended period of time.
think it’s a great question and one that everyone should try to define before they start trading. Example for me at this stage in my life my goals are spend more time with my family and don’t risk my reserve capital. So when I looked at forex trading, the first thing I saw was trading met my main goals. So I drew up my plan and started. Success for me come in stages. So success #1 was finding some thing I could do that met the 2 main goals. Success #2 Get enough education to be able to make good decisions based on:facts options and evils. Got a good foundation from babypips school. But this one is on going. Sucess#3. Put together a trading plan to test in a demo before going live. Success # 4 Trade live. Still have more stages to go, but that’s how I did it so far. Again great question, I hope a lot of newbies and not newbies take the time to be able to define what success means to them and then plan how to get there.
I would say most define success as become stinking rich!! :51:
but for more realistic people it would be simply being able to do it full time and not needing a “real job” to feed your family while still being able to afford luxury items/vacations etc… (atleast that’s my goal)
hell… if i could make even minimum wage a year on my trades just to supplement my income that would be a KINDA success in my book 
Work in progress! I will be back to answer you in few months or maybe in few years! 
I’m in a similar position, started looking into FX trading in late 2008. After much hard work, sleepless nights and aggravation I now have a trading system that has been profitable for the past three years up to today’s date (all be it from a historical testing point of view). However the trading method is 100% systematic with black and white rules which adapt to changing variables within the market place, therefore I feel I can have a higher degree of confidence in my results.
About to shoot off in six weeks around the world with a friend of mine for a few years working on a luxury small cruise ship, and then when I return I’m going to open up a £25,000 account ($40,000).
Thankfully my first three years of learning and trading FX was whilst at University, and I don’t need to mention the high level of free time I had to dedicate towards building and testing various system aspects. I’m rather confident I now have it, a sound system which averages a 15% return per month and has done so for the past 36 months.
I went through the stages of opening accounts up with a few thousand USD in the hope of building it up to huge figures (we all go through that stage) - and once you realize that is not the way to go about it you are ever so much closer to understanding what trading is about.
Also been working on a side project to keep me busy while out at sea, a personal trading blog ready for when I return. It’s not live yet and is still in design stages, but I’m sure you will get the point! BFX Equity Management
I hear you guys, I blew my first account down to £33… Have been slowly building it back up. Now on near on £200! 
I would not say its been easy, far from it. But I would recommend a good knowledge of not just technical analysis but please make sure you are also clear on fundamentals also!!! That gives you more of an edge if you understand it!
Anyway I do hope this helps you guys xx
I have not “succeeded” but it would be to pull consistent returns monthly. I guess I wouldn’t know if I’ve succeeded until after a good amount of time has passed and I’m still winning. For now, succeeding would be to create a trading plan where I can make sense of everything in every market condition because some things are still unclear to me.
Let me play with your method while you’re away at work. If I can pull the returns you do, I’ll give you half of my winnings (at least $40,000).
In Forex , Just like Trasimaco… I too in working progress…
I do realize that the more time I dedicate myself into this, reflect and evaluate what I have learn, what I need to improved and what not to do, I have learn more about myself of what I am capable of doing and what I’m not. It’s amazing how much I know now then when I first started almost 2 years ago. There are so much more to learn. Although, when I reach that point of success, I won’t stop from there. I will keep going and find new things to do and challenge myself what else I can do besides this. Until the moment that its time for me to stop then I stop…
stopping revenge trading for me was a big step forward ;]