Hi all,
I am new to forex. I have done the basic studies though I have not started trading. Part of my trading plan involves at least doubling my account each month.
So, my question is: With 5% money management, 3 trades per day and a leverage of 100:1, how many pips must I target per trade to double my account monthly?
Thanks
Entirely too much missing info.
Like initial balance, and win rate for starters.
But none of that really matters in light of the fact that you’re shootin’ a little high there Tex.
See if you can just break even for the first six months, and THEN we’ll talk.
Thanks but the initial capital does not really matter. It could be anything (but let’s just say $1000). Let’s say at average win rate of 75%.
Also talking about breaking even after six months. I don’t think anyone can effectively access himself without a plan and a target.
And the small matter of a consistantly profitable strat… there’s three years of 16 hours a day monitor watching and learning. 
Double your money every month…
Echelon, how much trading experience do you have? Just out of curiousity of course…
And do you know what the average ROI of some of the world’s largest hedge funds are annually…?
I agree with Master Tang, if you can breakeven for 6 straight months, and not overleverage or blow out your account, I’d give you props.
Regards,
Clark
Thanks for all contributions. What then is the proposed average ROI for a starter? I ask these questions because I like giving myself a clear target and working towards it.
For a starter BE is way over average. The best guys on BP if your a beleiver? Average 10-20% a month? With a proven track record like that over say three years… they could switch to pro trader in a heart beat! :35:
Breaking even SHOULD be a target at first.
As for doubling the account monthly, you’ll need 18% weekly, compounded.
You all are the good, thanks for your answers and support. I look forward to being a pro one day, but for now I should concerntrate on consistent returns, right?
Atta kid.
Now you’re on the right track:)
Getting those great big dollar signs out of your eyes will help you keep realistic goals.
3 trades a day on average is overtrading in my view, I’m not saying it’s not possible to have 3 winning setups in a day or maybe more.
And I’m not saying that 100% a month is not possible either, but it is one hell of a touch target, but it’s better to aim for much less at first, trying to aim for 100% a month is like saying I’m going to be a Chief Exec after I leave school!
echelon - get a demo account with let’s say $5k and see how much money you can make from that in 6 months. Journal everything you do then look back at your trades. You’ll probably find you are gambling rather than strategically placing a high probability trade (I’m basing this on your comments)…
Hi Echelon, I started trading a couple of months ago and within the first week I’d lost 10%, then I made back 45% and 4 weeks later had lost 90% of my cash. My problem - I overtraded BIG STYLE and while this is good for getting quick profits it’s also great for quickly losing your money. Now, I’m setting myself daily/weekly targets and when I get them I’m trying to hold onto them…
p.s. had I known about babypips at the start, I probably would’ve saved most of my cash…
If I just look at bp threads I can see now more than a dozen threads with questions like this. Almost nobody asks about the risk or drawdown. Get yourself a reality check! 100% roi every month means more than 100000% roi per year with compounding. Name any hedge fund what makes that money. Most hedge funds make 50 til 100% roi in a year with compounding.
I have backtests here out of a couple of a dozen bots. Most make loss. Some make a profit, but just in one or two years and thereafter they meet the loss bots. 1-2 out of 100 bots make a steady gain over years in the range 50 til 100% roi. With a drawdown less than 30%. I’d consider any bot with a drawdown greater than that a loser over the long haul. Because in reality you have to take twice the dd of the backtest. So, that’s 60% and that is something real. If you look how profitable hedge funds operate, they have mostly profits, but they have also a year or two of around 50% loss over the long run.
Look at your dd first and then if it shows something below 30% and your equity curve is steady and makes more than 25% per year roi that is the way to go. No matter if trading by bots or by hand. If you get more roi with the same risk then be happy, but think about as buffer for compensating losses the upcoming years …
That can be a mistake, no point having a 2% target if the market isn’t going to give you 2%, and it’s just as wrong to have a target of 10% if the market wants to give you 20%.
Do you then mean that one shouldn’t have a targeted pip gain in mind. Do you mean, it is best to use trail stops?
No, I was referring more to opportunities, a week may go by and you just don’t get a setup, then next week you get 5, maybe 4 winners - mega profit.
You can only control risk, but not profit. You can say you will risk say x% on a trade or xx% on a series of losses with drawdown and then you can just lose that and not more (if there is not a spike with no fills in between and if you stop trading that system after the max. dd is reached). That’s the only control you can have. Whoever believes he has control over profit is dreaming. Because nobody knows the future and nobody knows how the trade will develop. You may have a statistical edge of say an average of xx% roi and that is the most you can expect. But that doesn’t say when and how the single trades will develop in your expected way. To set a goal for profit is nice, but what the market is doing is a completely different case. Even that average roi is just average and related to the past and present. History shows that those hedge funds which survive are those who have not too much risk. If you have so much risk that your dd goes beyond 100% then it’s over. Default. Account blown, mission accompished, lol. 
Echelon, what is really being said is to enter a trade based on what your methodology told you. EXit when it is time and not with a pip goal in mind. Set a TP, but if you see that something happened on the way to your TP, then take out the trade.
Let me give you an example. Earlier this week I entered a short on the GBP/USD at 1.6115. My thinking in entering the trade is that we would get a correction to the UP to around 1.6025. As it turned out, I closed the trade at 1.6089.
The thing is to always trade within the parameters of your methodology. I’m used to having really good weeks. This week is not one of them. I’m barely treading water this week. But, that’s okay. The track record says this will be as bad as it gets.
Keep doing what you’re doing. Stay open. If you have to keep trading on your demo until you know Echelon is in the top echelon of all traders. The experience will breed the confidence. The confidence can always refelct back on the past experience. The pips and the percentage of gains will come. They will simply follow in the footsteps your methodology has trodden.
Why would be 3 trade per day be overtrading? I believe it is personal style. A lot of successful scalpers will place more than that on a daily basis. I got a friend in the UK who is an institutional trader. He makes 20 trades per day. OTOH, I got another friend that averages about 3 trades every 2 months, and he is also doing very well. He likes to kid me because he thinks I overtrade doing about 8 per week. Then the exception is I made 18 in one day, and they all won. I got the proof.
I think it is a matter of perspective and what style each trader has adapted or wants to adapt.