I just started to learn about forex and I’m fascinated by it. I’m really enjoying my time learning about the market. I personally believe I can make money on this. However, I am shocked that when I tell my friends what I am doing, all I get is negativity. They seem to think it’s a scam and they recommend putting money into a mutual fund or bonds or they think I’m never going to make money off this because I’m not a Wall Street trader. I’ve decided I’m just going to keep this excitement to myself because I don’t want their negativity to affect me and make me lose my confidence. Maybe this is why most people don’t do this? I’m just curious to hear opinions and thoughts on this. Am I being naive by being so excited? I know there obviously are risks, but I believe that if I study and am careful with my money when I’m ready to do it live, I won’t lose too much and can make money.
I do, yes, because people tend to ask (and all my friends, colleagues and family already know that it’s how my father’s been making his living since before I was born, so in that sense I’m in a different situation).
Well, don’t be too shocked: these are pretty widespread perceptions, and they’ve [U][I]become[/I][/U] such widespread perceptions partly because of the [I]extremely[/I] low proportion of would-be traders who become successful enough at it to make their full-time livings that way.
It’s a little bit like “network marketing” (“multi-level marketing”) in that way, isn’t it? Countless people know others who were bursting with enthusiasm for it, “tried it out”, sometimes for many years and in many different ways, and so on? But very, very few people (outside the trade) know anyone who’s succeeded in doing it for a living? There are [I]some[/I] well-established, highly ethical, non-scammy, highly successful MLM companies which have been trading for many decades, and there are [I]some[/I] people around who have made a good and consistent living as “distributors” (“traders”) for decades, too … but one sees very few of them, compared with the number of people who struggled for years and eventually gave up. So you can’t altogether blame people for having such perceptions? They are, after all, based on some experiential reality, in trading as well as in network marketing?
That’s fair enough. We all deal with situations like this in different ways that suit our own personalities, but I don’t think anyone should criticise you for wanting to avoid negativity, if that’s what you’re finding.
Those people will change their tune when you become very successful anyway, won’t they? Good luck! 
As Lexys said, people will get used to your trading once they had time to adjust and to see that it has not brought about your financial ruin
Not everyone is in Lexy’s position, and, as you can read on my thread,it can be painful when the lack of support comes from people who are close to you.
As an update to that thread, I can tell you that my partner has, in time, accepted what I do (my trading forex) and although I do not sit there trading when she is around, she no longer worries, and is happier with the idea. So, like everything, reassurance and trust need time when you introduce a change in your life that people around need to adjust to…
Good luck…
Yep, I’ve gotten mixed reactions myself but I try not to dwell too much on the negativity. That usually comes from people who’ve tried their hand in forex and failed or those who don’t really know that much about the market. Just focus on learning and practicing your skills so that you can be part of the successful elite. Good luck!
Well the main thing is that it is not at all easy for us to make profits in this business. And this is also a reason why many of the traders are now thinking twice before joining the business
The other thing is that when you start a ‘business’ you would usually do market research, draw a plan, etc. before going to the bank (usually) to ask for a loan… I feel, from my own journey but also from many posts on BabyPips, that Forex newbies often start trading currencies with an approach that is very far from what I have described, and therefore has nothing to do with business… How many newbies do we know who spend months planning their trading ‘business’ before putting their first trade on? Because of leverage, many of us started this journey with the false belief that we could do ‘trading business’ with very little cash…The reality is that you could never, ever start a business without sufficient capital: if you would find it unthinkable to go to a bank, say, and explain that to start up your business (say, a shop), you needed …A HUNDRED DOLLARS(!!), and that you could not expect a barrel of laughs in return, then how come that so many of us, when starting out our Forex ‘business’ (cough), think it serious to invest so little capital and yet dream of untold riches?
If we spent more time saving up capital and getting a proper ‘business’ plan together before getting sucked into trading, then it may be more likely that our friends and family would treat our plans with less worry and almost ridicule, and maybe believe in our ‘business’ a little more…
Food for thought…
I don’t understand your excitement when you’ve not started making money. You should keep your mouth shut until you have proof of how successful you are. Forex is risky and everybody knows that. People like have decided to take such risk because you are bold and brave. Now show them what you have and they will join you.
He does make a fair point though, I no longer have the support of my family (well, most) but if you keep your head down and just do the work you are all but guaranteed to have some level of success. This is what I believe and will continue to believe until I say otherwise, they think you don’t know what you’re doing until you’ve done it. That’s my mindset and I hope you make a lot of money in the future.
In my opinion don’t bring up this topic by yourself. THe majority of the people are not in the headspace to be able to comprehend when you are thriving in your life, while the others just coping and reacting to it. This doesn’t mean that they are stupid, or losers or anything, just that their mindset and their reality is different. Most of the people can’t even keep themselves to a healthy diet. Thus you just can’t go and passionately tell them about your plans for success and expect that they will just support you. As I said, they are in the mindset of obstacles not in the mindset of possibilities. This is a complicated psychological thing. I’m really into self-development, I see this in every field.
When my genuine friends ask what is happening to me, I vaguely tell them that I trade on the market and it is going well, but not going go into details. Same thing with my parents. When new people ask what I do for a living, I just tell them, that I’m a broker (which is not totally true, but there is no word for trader in my language and I don’t want to always explain the whole thing, but broker has the same meaning as in English, so they can put the picture together). If they keep asking, I just tell I trade currencies like EUR, USD, JPY, etc., buying low selling high, or selling high and buying back low.
Don’t go into details, also never expect full support from anybody. When somebody is helping or supporting you, that is a cool bonus, but if you plan to thrive in your life, you have to completely rely on yourself and on your beliefs. In every field, not just trading. This is the same for us too.
Depends who it is really. Some I do some no way, I dont want to be hit up for a loan. lol
To keep it simple:
Forex is not a scam. It is an asset class and the part of the portfolio of many best traders in the world.
Some brokers will definitely try to scam you so trade only with reputable broker.
The game of Markets is a difficult one, no questions here! Many tried and failed miserably. That is why you may experience many scary stories and negativity related with trading in general.
By the end of the day it is the challenge and you simply(statistically) need to outsmart 95 opponents out of 100 to become the forex Trader. Walk in the park!
Do not get discourage by negativity, do not discouraged by whatever. Learn, practice and eventually you will get there!
Share with people only your failures and mistakes! Make a laughing stock of yourself! It will help you correcting them and avoiding them in future.
#TradeSafely