Hi
After about one month intensive reading books, this site, other sources…I still can’t manage to become profitable. I am curios to know how long it take you to become profitable?
Demo or live is not important, just curios to know the time span from looser to winer. I know that is individual but…
Cheers, Zoreli
Hi zoreli,
I will be able to tell you in a year if I still have more than what I started with.
From what ive read it does take awhile, how long?? i have no idea, i’m still pretty new to this also, on my live account im about at the break even point, and on a demo account i more than tripled it in a month, so there is a difference.
YEP! And there is a difference with you the trader when you are using a demo account and your own VERY REAL money.
I do find that when I am on DEMO, I trade aggressive, use wide stop loss settings and do very well. But I am taking risks that I cannot afford to take for now in real life. JUST ONE bad trade would cripple me if I failed the way I do on demo.
I have been trading live since 2/01/08 so far I’ve logged 98 trades. I started with a $400.00 mini account, right now I have $301. Of the $99.00 I lost, $61.00 of it was from two trades. My account seems to go up and down. I feel my two main problems are:
Trying to follow to many systems
For the next three month all im am going to trade is the KISS system.
Greed
I hate to admit it but it took me 3 years. All I can say is that I am glad I stuck it out.
It would take about 12 years to become a qualified medical specialist and a lifetime to continue to refine your knowledge and understanding (I speak as one who knows). Trading is no less of a challenge
Hi Tonymand, You put in very aptly. I think the right perspective is important, because when the trader has the long term in view, it sorts of takes out the urge to want to make all the profits quickly which I believe can blind the individual to common sense which in most instances lead to mistakes. Some label that greed. The medical specialist trainee does not rush to acquire his specialist knowledge overnight, like it is written, “line upon line, precept upon precept” I think with level headedness and time, an average trader can become profitable.
For me:
Fifteen months to be ‘up’ on the previous month (as opposed to being further ‘down’ every month).
Nineteen months to start showing what I consider to be consistent profits.
Nowhere NEAR to recovering my losses since starting but have budgeted that, based on my current and consistent performance, by the end of March 2009 I will have recouped all of my losses, settled every last cent of my debt, and have a good portion left over to trade with until ‘my last breath’. I will be proud ‘at the end’ to be known as ‘a trader’!!!
Do not be fooled: this is possibly one of the hardest ‘professions’ (and yes I do believe it’s akin to any other ‘profession’) to ‘qualify’ for. I know that had I put even HALF as much time and effort and ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ (LITERALLY on occasion) into ANYTHING else in my (almost) forty three years I’d already BE a ‘gazillionaire’ (and I’d probably STILL be ‘trying to trade’)!!! On the other hand: WHEN it does start to ‘work for you’ it’s probably THE MOST satisfying ‘profession’ in the universe!!!
If this is what you REALLY want to do then ‘never give up’!!!
Hi People
Thanks to all of you. Great replies so far…Can we (I guess that this post is useful for other beginners too) have more??
I’ve been trading live since November 2007, and did a little bit of demo trading before that, but that was mainly to get a feel for how this market operates. I did rush in, but I didn’t mind, since I did have some previous trading experience. So of course I lost a good chunk without good money management rules.
Starting 2008 I started making records of all trades and progress, so I can offer you these numbers for monthly gains:
Jan/08= -67.94% (includes all trading for nov/dec/jan)
Feb = +89.34%
Mar = -51.38%
Apr = +38.01%
May = +5.31%
The range from now on should be about -15% to +15% as I have strict money management rules, and also a drawdown point where I’ll cap my losses for the month and stop trading (to limit those losses like in March!!!). I’d recommend the same for you if you wanna survive.
And I’m still off my original balance so I’m not technically profitable, but I am glad to see 2 months in a row with growth. If I can get 3 in a row, I have a lot of optimism for the rest of th year!
An inspiration to us all, dpaterso
I traded equities & later options for 5 years and that’s where I learned to read charts and some of the basics. I would never go back to trading equities! Things that can fall 25% after hours because the CEO sneezed LOL 
But I love trading so I am glad I finally found Forex (I had been scared off forex for years dur to ‘horror stories’ from people who had never traded it!)
I started with demo in November 2007, went live in Feb '08. Not profitable yet, but just recently I have found my ‘groove’, a trading pattern that suits me and this month I am seeing consistent profits with limited losses.
Two mistakes so far: stay in demo until you are consistently profitable. And even if you have a bundle of money to start with, just open a $1k account and start trading micro lots. Don’t scoff at only 10 cents a pip. If you can’t double an account trading 10c a pip, it won’t happen when the pips are worth $1 or $10! Wish I had started with a micro … but I have one now and I think that is part of the reason things are getting better.
One trader told me, if you feel nervous about an open trade, you have too much money in the trade. Fear of loss will mess with your judgement. So does Greed
Now trading micros, I can open multiple lots (which IMO is a vital factor in trading success) and stay calm until my trades work out. This greatly enhances my ability to look at a trade objectively & decide if it is really valid.
Very useful thread!
:rolleyes: If you took the time to study and learn this market. I fell you could be profitable from the start. Just as Mentioned by many here it is a learned skill. That is what I see as the biggest downfall most feel they need know nothing to trade just find that perfect system. But if you con’t know anything about forex. How would you know if you had a great system.
I have been trading since Feb. 2007, I got drawn into Forex by a freind using a Hedge type program . Worked grreat till the mortgage meltdown. Lucklly I never go into anything eyes shut and had started learning about this market from the start. It took me about 6 months to really see the light and it was just that for me. One day boom I could tell why where and when… I think I was not applying myself in the beginning to take that long, or age is a factor, I used to get this type of stuff real quick…
The other that I am sure you have heard is Phscology ( can’t spell it how can I beat it LOL) That has been my worst enemy. I have managed many types of operations for others and always have done above average for them. But for some reason I can’t get my stops under control…
I will build my account up from a couple of hundred to thousands then give it all back. Knowing the whole time if I just closed it I would trade it back alot quicker. I am so frustrated with this I am trying Meditation to help.
Last month I made 83 trades 70 were profitable 13 not.
I wish you luck Ken Lee:D
Well i am still what i consider in the learning stage but i can say that i demo traded for approx 4 months and have been live trading for about 5 months, so I have 9 months in the FX world.
I can honestly say I have been profitable each and every month for the last 5months. when i first though of getting into FX trading I read every bit of information i could find about it, which is how I ended up here and at another great learning site FF. I stumbled onto a trading style that i liked (the first day), changed bits of it to suite me (through demo trading) and been doing ok so far.
I think if I had bounced around from 1 trading style to another, i probably wouldnt have the success i’m having (I’m talking 1% to 35% during the last 5 months : avg 4-5%). As 4xstar said, i am trading mini lots until i have 1 year of successful trading and then will look to move into a higher investment.
RFED, you may wanna add another main problem to your list: Money Managment. 61$ in two trades of a $400 account? come on…too much risk.
RFED, you may wanna add another main problem to your list: Money Managment. 61$ in two trades of a $400 account? come on…too much risk.
gasanvill
$47 was from on trade (I trade to put a trade in while and was working and instead of .1 lot, I traded a 1 lot) I never traded at work agian.
The other $14 dollars was a mistake in money managment. 
I never would have gotten involved in trading if I didn’t have my dad drag me to a 4x Made Easy seminar back in late 2004. It made me use my systems analyst brain to show him he didn’t need to spend over $3000 in order to trade forex! I wasn’t trying to trade for myself.
I’ve been trading live since 2005, but I’ve only been “serious” since last summer. And I’ve only been profitable since March. So I guess it’s taken me over three years to become profitable. Better late than never
Like Ken, I too had an AH HA moment as Donny Deutsch would say. Around 9 months after originally starting to learn about Forex, I conquered the beast. You need, out of the box thinking. Research can lead you down two different paths, one is following the herd like most internet jockies do, and fail. The other is to soak it in and decide what is wrong with everone elses ideas. This will lead you in the right direction.