Hi All
Just a simple question. Has anyone managed to go full time as an FX Trader and how long did it take you?
Also what was you journey like?
Yes i’m sure there are a couple full-timers here including myself. It took me 2 years, the journey was painful initially, had a margin call for my first account.
Hi Lorenzo. You like these strategic questions! I do think that you are right to look at the psychology of this, as well as the trading itself. I am full-time, it took me under a year to get there but I went on a course and was mentored/coached throughout which I think speeded me up. I still made mistakes, though, so it was a bit of a roller coaster. Lost money initially getting to grips with things but after the first four months or so started moving in the right direction.
The trouble with terms like ‘full time’ is that Forex trading can be one’s principal source of income without being glued to the screen all day long. Indeed, some would say that that is why they got into it in the first place!
I’m full time as well. Took me about a year and a half. I finished college and gave myself a year of going full time and so far so good. 
well, because this is “baby” pips I think we won’t find many experienced traders here…
Or perhaps I’m wrong.
Maybe there are quite a few here?
I’ve been thinking of going back, I’m sure it would be a heck of a lot of fun with plenty of funds, I could pay people to do the work, I think a drama course would go down a treat, plenty of hilariously creative people.
Don’t let the name fool you;)
Dear All sirs,
I am new here. I am scared of starting this business. Can some one tell is it easy to earn and is it worth starting this business. I mean can I employ it as my full time job and earn monthly from it.
Thank you very much All…
Like most professions, if you turn out to be good at it, it is very much worth it. Trouble is, you have to put a fair bit of time in to find out whether it suits you. It’s worth finding out, though.
I’m sorry but this talk of full time Forex trading is folly. The Forex market is one of the riskiest in the world. You cannot rely on that alone for a full time job.
Forex is an investment. A risky one and you should treat it as so. By all means work your day job, and invest spare money in your Forex account to give you some extra to buy little luxuries, holidays etc… but do not try to replace your job with Forex trading. You will end up losing more than you gain.
Hmmm… Experience?
Sounds like you may have approached it from a ‘get rich quick’ type attitude.
It’s not an overnight millionaire endeavor, but it CAN make you a millionaire, and you CAN live off the earnings…
And well;)
Emphatically, agreed!
I must be a slow learner (well I’ve always known that I guess) because I’ve been at this (MORE than full-time) for five, going on six, years now and it’s only been in the last eighteen months to two years that I can honestly say I’m seeing the CONSISTENT fruits of my blood, sweat, and (sometimes literally) tears (try closing just ONE single losing trade of $20 000, that you entered into only hours before, just because you were too ‘clever’ and believed that using stop losses and risk / money management was for fools and and ‘other people’ and you’ll know what I mean). Alright: my case is slightly different in that I was fortunate enough to have had the capital in the form of savings, credit (if that can be deemed capital), and assets, from my previous own business (of sixteen years) so I was able to trade full-time, although not profitably, from the time of my deciding that this is what I want to (need to???) do. Under normal circumstances: could one resign from their day-job at the end of the month and take their last month’s salary, put it in a trading account, and make their ‘salary’ at the end of the next month??? I think not (although I guess it would depend on just how MUCH one WAS earning and to whom they listened to). Is it POSSIBLE to reach that point (and more)??? Definitely yes. Can one achieve this trading FOREX??? Not ME but, so far as I can tell, it’s possible (don’t worry: I’m not ‘starting’ again i.e. I’ve started my own message board so I can ‘spare’ all of you from my ‘ramblings’ on FOREX vs. equity futures and commodities but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to get rid of me THAT easily)!!! LOL!!! Is it ‘easy and quick’ money. Most DEFINITELY not!!! Is it a difficult way of making money??? Yes but only because most new traders (in hindsight myself included) choose to make it so for some or the other inexplicable reason which is still not clear to me even today. I can tell you this: it’s like anything in life. The more you ‘put in’ the more you’re going to get out and it’s that simple. Trading per se is no different from any other profession (and yes it IS a profession). You get good doctors and
charlatans. You get good lawyers and daylight ‘LEGAL’ robbers. You get good vets and vets that are only in it for the money and have no feeling for animals per se. You get the picture I’m sure. That all being said: I’m from the ‘school’ that subscribes to the notion that ‘anyone can trade’. How WELL is up to the individual and in my opinion what seperates a good trader from a bad trader is more often than not ‘trading psychology’ and that, unfortunately, is not something that you’re going to learn from a book or Internet website no matter HOW much you read on the subject i.e. that has to ‘come from self’.
So to the naysayers: get a ‘real’ job and stop trying to discourage those that have the ‘goons’ and the intestinal fortitude to give this a try against all odds. While some MAY ‘come a cropper’ (and I don’t really believe there’s any reason for this other than the little matter of ‘trading psychology’) others will prosper in ways unimaginable. For what it’s worth: even if I had been making $100 000 per MONTH in any of my previous endeavours (be they fixed employment with all the ‘trappings’ of health insurance, company cars, personal assistants, and entertainment allowances, or being self-employed) I’d STILL be sitting here this morning writing this message to you in spite of my previous, rather erratic, trading results and no matter what it’s cost me to arrive at this point!!!
Regards,
Dale.
I just get annoyed when people start talking about an investment as a job replacement. This is foolish.
Hello,
No offense Jafar (it’s nice that you use your real, whole, name by the way) and not to be argumentative but there’s a subtle difference (maybe not even subtle really) between ‘investing’ and ‘trading’. As an example (which I probably don’t have to explain but will for the benefit of others that may not understand what I’m saying): somebody may buy shares in Citigroup after checking out things like P/E ratios, examining their financial statements, doing their due dilligence on the company, understanding market fundamentals, that type of thing. They’re not interested in whether Citi’s share price goes up ten points today and down thirty points next week. They believe, based on their information, that Citi’s share price will go up over a period (usually a long period) of time. A trader, on the other hand, is indeed interested in moves, usually on a daily basis, both up and down, and therein lies the difference. The closest the two ever get to each other is what I term (and I believe I ‘coined’ the term unless someone can show me otherwise) ‘tradevesting’ i.e. trading long term e.g. going long the Dow and staying long for months on end until your trading system(s) tells you to do otherwise. Couple that with some short-ER term trades (my short-term trades are calculated in hours not minutes) and you’re ‘good to go’. I got stopped out about two hours ago, for around $110 profit, on a trade that I initiated last night (about fourteen hours ago) and of late (well for a BIT longer than that) I do this ‘every other day’. If needed: I could withdraw that money and it would keep me in dog food (for my DOGS not ME by the way), cigarettes, and booze for the next few days, while my long term trade(s), when closed, are what will pay for fancy cars and holidays. So I guess one COULD say that short-term trading is what ‘pays the bills’ (a ‘job replacement’) and long-term trading is your ‘icing on the cake’ (investment). Couple that with writing books, running websites and message boards, all of which is still ‘trading’ related, and, well, life can be very good ESPECIALLY, but not limited to, your not having to answer to some maniac boss who, in most cases, knows less than you do and has less experience in whatever field it may be, or having to ‘beg for’ or ‘extort’ money, rightfully due to you, from clients, for doing work for them when they knew full well, at the time of calling you out to solve a problem, that they would not be in a position to pay you for the next sixty days (but ALWAYS seem to have money to go out to lunch, entertain people, buy new cars, that type of thing)!!! In this business: I make money today. I withdraw it. No ‘thirty day terms (or more)’ taken as ‘the norm’!!!
But I see you have only three posts (although that’s really not indicative of anything). Why not ‘give it a bash’ (unless you already have and have ‘lost your shirt’ in which case somebody has simply ‘sold you up the river’ really)??? I, and many others around here, would be only too happy to give you input and guidance.
Regards,
Dale.
Not as annoyed as I get when people say it isn’t possible…
But why should I care?
To each his own.
You go ahead and win a night out for dinner here or there, I’ll concentrate on paying of my condo in the next year…
Dear Sir,
Thank you very much. Very well explained. I am really inspired by your story. I am new to this business and I was scared to start as I heard some negatives about it. Now I have the confidence to start this business…
Thanks…
Very nice explanation. Very motivative and encouraging. +1 for you sir…
You are very welcome.
Here’s your first ‘lesson’ though: let’s do away with the ‘Sir’ thing shall we. Dale’s the name and trading’s the game (well: profession but you know what I mean)!!! LOL!!!
Welcome.
Regards,
Dale.