Someone famous made a similar point.
If you want to get into probability, you should read Fooled By Randomness - a very good read if you’re into maths and philosophy.
Still, you’d think Alan Greenspan regulary tossed a decision making coin for all the trouble he’s put us in since then 
Of course, if I could toss a coin and win twice as much on the winners than lose on the losers then that’s be a good option. It’s more complex than this though as there are players in the market who lose on purpose through hedges for their commercial aspect, etc. etc.
I don’t doubt the 90:10 statistic or close to it but there is a lot of short term variance in this game too.
Its a great book, and highly reccommended when the time comes to stop searching for the grail
Hey im back
Havent checked my posting in some time and am shocked (and if its not a misguided way to feel)quite proud of how much discussion has been prompted. Probably has very little to do with helping a newby out at this stage and the thread has taken on a life of its own but regardless of all that thanks for replying.
My attempts in the forex market rather predictably failed in whirl of red candles and cursing.
The reason that I was checking back in was that Im doing a masters in psychology and Im thinking about doing it on gambling. Specifically how gambling institutions practice control of consumers(gamblers). I want to say at this point that Im not saying any of you guys are gamblers, I know alot of effort and empirical thought go into this and I dont want to piss anyone off but I think its interesting how some patterns from that world show up in this world.
Ive only had a quick glance through all the replies because my time is limited but I saw a few examples of techniques that can be used to subconsciously keep someone hooked on something like this. The main ones being an illusary idea of underlying patterns in randomness and the illusary idea of the successful few. I also think theres a distinct possibility that some of the replies in this thread were plants from forex brokers.
Again I really wish to appear humble here because I have literally only began the preliminary reading on this and I know very little but there has always been a nagging suspicion for me that this may be a con. It seems to me that any worry that you or I may have about the market can be answered by a mix of jargen and percentages that has no basis on solid fact.
I have to throt out the same old sorry question. Do you know anyone who is actually making a living from this? and if you are planted here by the retail forex industy please kindly reveal yourself.
Thanks for the help guys.
One point: you start out your study focusing on the gambling industry controlling people. I would say they don’t have to do anything. You should look into personal psychology and why people hook themselves onto things as well…
The thing about gambling is that is is based entirely on human nature. People will just turn up and donate money to the house even though everyone knows the house has the edge on winning the money. The markets are a different matter to gambling as the decisions are not finite. For example, you can put a trade on and if you just leave it, the market might take all your money. Without a roulette wheel, you might put the same bet amount on, but you only lose that bet. The whole form of risk management is very different.
I heard that this book is pretty good. I started reading it a few weeks back but haven’t gotten back to it. I’ll start reading again right now. haha
Yes- I know somebody who worked in several UK companies, the most recent was SWIP. He left just over 7 years ago and has been a retail trader ever since and that is how he supports his family. As far as people on this forum trading for a living, yes this is my sole ‘job’ but it is far too early to say how successful I will be. Therefore I wouldn’t say I trade for my living but that’s where I hope/expect to get to.
I haven’t read the whole thread but to the person who said something about proving profitability. I would imagine no really successful trader would bother doing that on a forum. The only purpose of doing that would be to satisfy ego and I think you will find, from the minority that do make good money trading, they have no need to satisfy their own ego.
ego + trading = broke
So true it hurts. Put yourself in the shoes of a trader taking consistent gains out of the market. You’re achieving your personal goals and you are happy enough to be making a living doing what you enjoy (i hope!).
Now, do you really care if some joker on a forum doesn’t believe it’s possible to make money trading? I mean you’re sitting there knowing that he’s wrong, and the more he defends his position, the stupider he looks in your mind. The sad part is that you’re willing to give him quality advice but he is too busy self-sabotaging his own career to learn a thing or two.
Most successful people(including doctors,lawyers and traders) live in eternal fear of tax,lawsuits,divorces etc. why would they advertise their success on forums…and anyway most accountants would advise you to reveal as less about your finances as possible…
By the way you might want to check out dukascopy’s trader of the month contests they are rather inspiring…and you might even find a trading system you like
Quite right. This thread made me think two things: Firstly, this is a public forum, the vast majority of what any poster says must simply be taken at face value. There is no proof that can be posted on here that will satisfy everyone 100%. Even posted financial records etc. would be open to accusations of forgery. Secondly, as others have said, it is one thing to ask whether other forum subscribers make a living at this, but quite another to then expect them to evidence this income, particularly under so little incentive as an ‘okay, I believe you now’. I am quite happy to assure you that I make a living at Forex, a good living, but I have no interest in posting any supporting documentation as, frankly, whether the original poster believes me or not is entirelty irrelevant to me!
If an off the cuff straw poll of members of a public internet discussion group has any value to the proposed study, then this thread was a worthwhile exercise. If, however, only referenced, evidenced and authenticated financial records are acceptable as an answer, then this thread is not going to achieve the desired result. I say that with no malice, I just find the original premise wildly unrealistic.
Here’s some more rambling on this rarely searched for subject…
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/18400-anyone-making-living.html
…oh yeah and this
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/27481-possible-make-living.html
(yawn)… oh yeah … and…this…zzzzzzzzzzz…
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/4555-making-living-forex-only.html
Yea I see that… but do people make I living trading FX? 
Sorry… couldn’t resist! :D:D:D
what I want to know is… is forex gambling ?
Nah… it’s a sure thing Mike. 
Robert, No price bars or price line at all? how can you see what you’re doing? you keep changing things! The basic principle never changes though.
Right, all the usual suspects Mike… priceline or bar makes no difference. Blue horizontal line is price. Blue h/l usual setting, red h/l is PA (‘but not as we know it Jim’). Could throw in a h/l regression I suppose to mimick actual price but would only serve to distract. Toggle between 4h, day and weekly TF to follow the big boys and throw in the occasional Fib pivot (not Fib retracement) and ‘bobs your yoda!’
I see ‘M’ has emailed the ‘silly buggers’ wrong way break of new daily across the horizontal.
Yes, you can make a living off this.
The most important part after you have identified, designed and utilized an optimal strategy is to ensure that your broker’s excellent service does not end when you want to do withdrawals.
It is important after success in demo-trading that you move into live-trading. I suggest when you are able to double your account in a set-time frame and can consistently produce these results when repeated, you have a winner. You do NOT have to wait months or years until you are ready for live-trading. You are ready when you got a strategy that doubles your account consistently, frequently and AUTOMATICALLY.
This enables you to experience the business-money-flow process if you intend to make this a “perpetual” income-generator. Remember, time between business processes (cash flow movement) will be very important if you (and family) want to sustain a life on it. All the pieces of the puzzle must fit seamlessly, winning trades isn’t the only important thing if your money is habitually locked in your brokers system with strange withdrawal/deposit policies. You know your broker is a scam or does not have your best interests when they make withdrawals difficult for you particularly if it is after profit. Good brokers offer you exclusive deals when you do well in order to retain your business when they genuinely depend on your success and spread.
For the psychological aspects, I hope by the time you enter live-trading you have programmed YOURSELF an auto-trader that will implement your strategy emotionlessly, or you have hired or got somebody to do it for you - that you trust. This is the only way to be sure emotion-based mistakes are removed from your end.
A good point of studying forex is to study how to code an autotrader. It significantly enables you to backtest ideas and opens doors for immense creativity and functionality that you can’t do with the buttons of your platform.
It can be done…
However, it isn’t as easy as you might think…
Psychology plays a big part, once your house/car payments, and dr bills and groceries, and gas, and, and, and… start relying on it…
Stubbornness also plays into it… you need to be stubborn enough to “stick with it”… but also realize you’re being stubborn when things need changing… a delicate balance for sure…
I’m sure living from Forex can be done. But only if you put enough sources into it.
Like in education process. First you get your profession in university, then you go to work and live from it.
The same here. Cannot be so, that from one day to another you start to earn money in the niche you dont know or know somehow…
First you learn (and mostlikely not 1 or 2 years, if you are serious and expect serious outcome), then you do.
My mean, living from anything, also from Forex Trading can work out only like this.