Living as a FOREX trader... Is it real?

I´m new in the Forex environment, but I could realize there are more people selling Forex " knowledge" than making money trading. Am I wrong? I hope so…
I´ve been studying Forex for a couple of months and I´m fascinated with it, I really want to chance my life to this direction, but my doubts are: Is it possible to live exclusively from Forex? I want to make 5%/month is it real? I´ll appreciate very much your answer and comments. By the way, what I awesome place is Babypips!!!

Ualaite

[U]The pedantic answer[/U]: there are no “officially collated figures” anywhere, so it isn’t really possible for anyone to answer any of your good questions above with certainty or objectivity. (Apart from “whether one [I]can[/I] make a living from trading forex”: I [I]know[/I] the answer to that is “yes”.)

[U]My own impressions[/U]:

  • There are far more people making money by selling products/services to aspiring traders than there are by trading
  • There [I]are[/I] people whose annual returns work out at 5% profit per month on average, or higher, but to be realistic they’re a pretty small proportion of traders. I know it sounds dispiriting, but the great majority of people who take up forex trading never get as far as making steady profits at all. What [U]matters[/U] is how one decides to become one of the exceptions, because there really are some.

And welcome to the forum. :slight_smile:

It seems to me that there is really not so many people who earn good money on forex. It’s easier to make up some courses and to write a book. Theory only. It’s all because it’s another, more easy way.
It takes much more time and efforts to practice really profitable trading. But some traders do show good results. I’m inspired by people as Andy Krieger etc. They made sooo profitable deals that people still talk about them. Hope to do something like that too in future!

I have been interested in 4x for 5 yrs now. I have lost more than I have made. Yet I will not quit because I believe it is possible to be successful at it. I know what I did wrong so all I need is to correct the problem which for me is discipline. I play at forex like I am at the casino. Not too many gamblers are rich. Like anything, it is work and for most people if you don’t pay your dues and put in the time and effort to learn the ropes you will not succeed. As for selling stuff, I can say from experience that that is actually more work than trading for your money. I think people trying to sell something are just trying to cash in on all the work they did learning. There’s so much excellent free information out there that you really don’t need to buy anything, that is the beauty of forex. Unfortunately most people fall prey to the salesman early in their forex education while the promises of getting rich are still clouding their minds. I’m sure that there are good products out there worth paying for but I would suggest going threw the free stuff to get a better understanding of what you are in need of.

Occasionally you can find knowledgeable people and pay them for one on one mentorship, and you can really learn something from them. For the most part, however, Forex trading information is free and readily available and I really wouldn’t recommend, to newbies at least, to pay for it.

yup, that is true now more people are getting inclined to selling forex “knowledge” as it is easy to make some courses, strategies and publishing some articles as it is much easier way to get business then actually generating returns in trading.
Learning about forex trading is very fascinating and interesting in theory, however when you actually step in to the arena of trading you might have some different experience.
You can live exclusively from forex there in no doubt over it but don’t expect smooth sailing. You might have bumpy rides with some bad and good months, but that is kinda of written on walls for the person who chooses this option.
I have been in to the trading from last six years and have seen extreme ups and downs in my investments, but one thing I can say few things from my experience:

  • it is very tough to generate consistent return in trading, only some percentage of trader start making some meaningful return after getting few years of experience
  • Trading require patience and it actually take time to start seeing some meaning full result
  • Don’t go with emotions and trade with rules
    I believe I might be sounding tough but that is reality, there is no sure short way to make returns but you can thrive for it.

What about the main players on BPips - the FX-Men, Big Pippin’, Cyclopip, PipSurfer, Dr. Pipslow, Pipcrawler, etc.? Do they make a living exclusively by trading?

In the poker world it is clearly possible to make a very good living playing poker professionally. There are very public results.

To my knowledge in the forex world there has [B]never[/B] been a mentor that has published results or audited accounts. Any that did promptly had huge drawdowns or blew their accounts up.

Draw your own conclusions.

There are verified accounts on forex factory, myfxbook and fxblue that have been profitable for many years though. Surely some of these are making a living at it?

I was more responding to the latest comments referring to mentors/guru’s/trainers or what have you.

I don’t see anyone from those profitable accounts teaching.

When the statics says that only 5% of all traders succeed, so it possible. But there is no easy way to success. The main thing is your motivation and desire.

Hello ualaite,
You will have to be a very good trader to do forex trading for a living. Being a very good trader does not mean that you found a nice strategy and that it will work for the rest of your life or made some good money lately. It means that you are able to be more right than wrong to be profitable. For most people, getting to this level need to spend lot of time and practice to have the ability to earn money.

I really hope it’s possible. But the thing is, it will be really hard during your first few months (learning curve). Once you get the hang of it, that’s when money start to come in I think.

Yeah, and not being too greedy and an understanding that success doesn’t happen overnight

7 years on this. The las 3 finally profitable, still not living from this. You have to take into account real life events such as loans and medical fees and your fx account has to be touched to cover that.

but is this 7years of everyday grinding or trading when you find time?

Could it be said that the guys who really make money from Forex are not interested in the spotlight of teaching people to trade?
I know a few people who live off of this, and they are not starting any school or growing awareness because they understand the risk that comes with this. I’d never willingly bring in someone into this way of making money. Rather, I’d mentor someone in becoming a good trader.

Regarding the original question – it is indeed possible to live off trading alone, but possible is not the same as probable. Getting to the point where you can earn enough in this way consistently enough takes a long time and a lot of effort and you need to be prepared for that.

This should answer the question which has been asked - and it’s very much the reality. If you want to get to the level of living from FX trading (or any type of financial trading), then it will take a very very long time to achieve this.

This is keeping in touch with the markets every single day of the year, and even more so when you have the time. Part time research just wont cut it, and that’s the unfortunate reality.

If it was easy, we would all be making a living.

Take the 5% of people are in profit/making a living…that Percentage is a lot smaller for young guys who want to play pro football etc.