Hi, I have been trading for about a year. And was wondering if anyone could comment on how many pips one would expect to make with an average swing system. Now I realise that a lot of.variables exist in this and nothing can be definitive
I guess I want to know as I’m wondering what I can make… I do have a goal and know how many pips I need to achieve it. (About 2500 per year) I guess I really want to know if that’s achievable or if anyone can fell me if there is a minimum that they would expect out of any system. ie an amount they would say … I’m not going to bother with that amount.
thanks
If you swing trade off the 30 or 60 minute chart, say, then you might be backing a smaller move than if you are trading off the Daily chart, when you might be looking to hold the position for a few days. So this really depends on what style of swing trading you use and how much money you attach to the pips.
For example, in the latter part of February I took a trade on EUR/GBP that played out within a day for 36 pips’ profit, which netted me 1%. I also placed a trade on CAD/CHF that gave me a 434 pip profit but which was open for a week, which equated to a net 5% return. You can see from those numbers that my pip value was very different between the two trades. I just look at the percentage account return.
Not sure if this helps, but thought I would put it out there in case it did!
The pip count will varies for different time frames. On the daily I shoot for multi-hundreds while on the 1H its normally less.
In the end its not the pips that counts but be the percentage gain on account.
I can´t agree with this more. It all depends on the timeframe and your method. How often do you get a signal and how you will manage your trade. Whats your average win % and how you have to adjust your load based on market conditions. It takes a lot of practice.
Yep, thanks for the input, i definitely realize that it all depends on a lot of things, i guess what im also asking is would you say that in a year i should be able to get about 2500 pips profit from a reasonable system?
Ive seen people who sprout about making like 100pips per week or day, but i wonder what i should be able to go for.
If it helps i do trade the hr charts at the moment and work on generally about 60 pips SL. so my est Risk/Reward is about 40R factor over the course of the year.
So do you think that 2500 (or 200 on ave per month) is reasonable?
From my limited experience it is reasonable. Getting like 200 per month is doable.
If your system can do that? I don´t know. You have to explain more about it than S/L and your assumed RR factor.
I would have said that once you are experienced if you discover that you have a knack for this then you will comfortably pass 200 pips a month, potentially by a long way.
It also depends on the market, if you go back to Autumn 2008 you could easily make a 1000++ pips a month just trading the Euro, easy trading shorting off retracements (if only I knew then what I know now).
Yes, 2500 pips a year swing trading is very possible. But how long and how hard are you willing to work to get there? What if it takes 2 years? Three, or four? That’s also possible.
Thanks guys, its good to hear that what i think is a reasonable goal is agreed on by others, sometimes i just think im deluding myself that i can make the sort of figures i wish to.
I think a lot of traders go through that at some point. When I started out, I even wondered whether Forex even worked, or whether the whole thing was just too good to be true. Then I got to the point where I realized that you could do it consistently and come out ahead, but still I questioned whether I could ever make a life-changing amount of money. Now I know you can. Like any steep learning curve, whether it is learning to drive, a new career, or just a tough level on a computer game, there is often feeling at each stage that okay, I have mastered that, but the next step looks impossible right now. Then there comes a point in the future where you realize that the hard work was worth it, and that those are natural reactions. Take it steady and put the work in and 200 pips is comfortably achievable, however it looks right now.