I have just been wondering…can I ever become consistently profitable without blowing an account??
Yes you can do it.
You would need a proven and consistently profitable strategy, the discipline to follow it and obey its inherent risk management rules, It would need to be simple in principle and require only objective TA, with a strong set-up so as to minimise decision-making, errors and stress.
It’s certainly possible. Unfortunately, it’s a natural (not essential) part of the process.
Your ego gets the best of you over and over.
Eventually the losses force you to be honest and realistic about yourself.
How you trade introduces you to your true self.
It doesn’t mean you have to suffer such losses. It just means that if you do, it’s not the end—you can turn it into a new beginning.
Thanks for the responses…I guess I should continue demo trading until I have a sustainable capital that can take losses in row then.
Losses happen. But you should keep track, IMO.
Do you keep a journal?
Take a screen shot before and after your trade.
Afterwards, analyze the picture and see what went wrong.
After one month, you may notice a pattern in your mistakes.
It also depends a lot on your capital. A small account, say up to $150. is not likely to have sufficient flexibility to give trades enough “wiggle room” and will always drive the trader to day trading which is probably the most unlikely to succeed.
Even $500 is going to be a struggle. The vast majority of retail traders do lose their money from a whole range of reasons, not just under-capitalisation.
But with sufficient capital, care, patience and sensible risk exposure analysis it is possible.
@s1o2l3a4r5 Learn to code as increases your research speed. The more you learn and research (and faster), the fewer mistakes you will make.
Now talking about the capital…if I stick to 0.01 lot size…is there a possibility of having a breathing room with 200 dollars account size??
I dont think it
s possible.
It is entirely possible. I have done it. However it requires discipline and the use of some level of common sense.
The first question any trader should ask before entering a trade is; “Can I afford to take this trade?” If the answer is NO then don’t take the trade. To elaborate, you should only risk 2% of your account on any one trade. If your stop loss risk is more than 2% of your account then you cannot afford to take that trade. That’s discipline.
Cheers
Blackduck
Waoh…so the minimum amount I can use to open a forex account is 1000 dollars…no matter how small my positions will be.
Thanks man.
Absolutely. Maybe stay away from GBP/USD. Look for trades that fit your budget.
Yes of course it is “possible”. But is it likely? I doubt it.
Capital is not the only factor here. As has been shown on the many threads here concerning why traders fail, there are many, many different reasons.
This is not a question of being negative about it, rather it is about being realistic. As @Blackduck says, discipline is going to be all-important. But just as important is going to be the patience waiting for a good trade set-up.
Here is a typical scenario of a small account newcomer:
You are going to be trading for a few dollars/cents profit per trade and after a few wins you are going to get into the impatient mode and start overtrading.
Your limited stoploss availability (due to sensible risk management) is going to force you into the realms of short-term trading on, say 15m or 5m timeframes, where causal logic has little place and the movements are simply the sum result of the random current supply/demand. The directions have no meaning but, being human, you will look for reason where there is none, and you will become frustrated with the unexplainable stop-outs and that frustration will turn into revenge trading with oversized positions that will also end up losing and drain your account to a size that is no longer practical.
And then you will be angry about it and look for a scapegoat and blame your broker. Your broker is, however, innocent because he had no need to try and kill your account and keep your money because he already knew this would happen anyway.
This is just a scenario, of course, and you can obviously learn the risks, both from price movement and your own psychology, but can you trade with that knowledge. Forewarned is forearmed, and is rarely as relevant as it is in forex trading.
If you are aware of the common problems and manage to stick to your strategy with patience and discipline then you may come out the other side with a decent account and a consistent earnings potential.
But first thoroughly learn your strategy and the typical mistakes and your personal approach on demo before going live. You do not have room to pay for your education hands-on with your own trading capital
Good luck!
I agree. It is possible, but your account could get blown faster due to lack of discipline. You can’t trade more than 50-60% of your account. Probably best to stop at 50%.
Once 50% of your account is active, time to stop and let the trades run their course.
Just a suggestion. You may only have a few trades open, and that’s it. IF you can stick to that. It’s very possible.
If you lose money, assess your losses. It doesn’t mean you should quit.
If you are new, it is not possible. Just continue learning with a demo account. At least if you succeed there, the chances of blowing a live account would be reduced.
Seriously…you guys have played a big part in my trading journey because this days have been getting a lot of pressure from peer group and ofcourse families that knows about trading that I should just go live…“start earning”…“you cant get anywhere with demo trading”…“learn to see what it looks like to loose real money” and the likes…and it has started getting into me that maybe am playing it too safe…maybe am scared of taking risk and the so on. But now am encouraged to just just follow the process till I feel my plans are simple enough for me to trade with less emotional descisions. Thanks guys.
This is really awful to read! And thankfully, you are a sensible person and have realised that these people are incorrect in what they are urging you to do. They clearly don’t have a clue about starting trading!
The core truth about forex trading is that it is a high-risk business. It was not just for fun that the main regulators forcibly made brokers under their jurisdiction set a maximum leverage for retail traders at 30% and even lower for some instruments.
It is also not just for fun that these same brokers are obliged to post on their websites the percentage of retail traders that lose money with them. It doesn’t take an Einstein to realise that these brokers would not willingly boast of their level of failed traders as these three representatives demonstrate:
Risk Warning: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider . You should consider whether you understand how CFDs or our other products work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76.31% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
These are three major international broking companies and not any backstreet set-ups!
So you may conclude that, yes, you can become one of the remaining 25% but it will require a lot of effort. It really irritates me when people hint that anyone can just walk up to the plate and start earning a living from day one. Trading is a profession, and the successful participants, who remain consistent over time, are skilled in that profession just like any other. Every profession requires study and experience before one is proficient.
Even airline pilots learn and practice on a simulator, even when they are proficient, so why would you not need the benefits of a demo account!!
Ignore that unqualified advice, learn your profession, protect your assets, look to the future. Take pride in what you are doing and don’t just follow the crowd and their “advice” - the above statistics shows what that advice is really worth!
Start with demo. If you think you can make money right away, then prove it to yourself in demo. After 3 months, if you’ve doubled your demo account…you’re a miracle worker and you should go live.