This is more of a rhetorical question and the point of it is just to give newbies some perspective on how they should set their expectations when getting into trading.
I think we all come into forex with some sort of unrealistic expectation such as dreaming of travelling the world on our 100ft yacht while placing a few trades or even something as “simple” as replacing our salary and being able to live life on our own terms. While I’m sure that is achievable, there’s certainly nothing easy about actually achieving that goal.
With these unrealistic expectations we inevitably look for the most successful trading system that can give us the biggest returns. I’m sure we have all googled “forex system that generates 10% per week” or something along those lines. We’re all so fixated on trying to make as many pips as possible we forget that there’s another side to that coin…
The reason most of us want to get a system that returns 10% per week or month or whatever it is, is because we most likely don’t have that much money to begin with and so to make big money, we need big returns.
So the other side of the coin… if you have a big balance then you don’t need to be hitting 120% returns each year. As the title suggests, 10% of 100k is twice as much as 50% of10k. 10% per year sounds a lot more realistic than 50% doesn’t it? certainly more realistic and 120% a year.
Of course, i know most of you don’t have 100k to trade with. I certainly don’t! Far from it. However keep in mind that any interest you make, however small, will compound in interest as your account grows. Albert Einstein apparently once said that compound interest is mankind’s greatest invention. This should tell you something.
If you’re committed to forex and in this for the long run, your dreams of quitting your job and making this a full-time lifestyle are very possible. If you’re not patient enough to let your interest compound over the next 10 years or more then there are prop firms where you can trade with their capital. Some require you to pay a monthly fee and some require you to pass a test and they will give you their trading capital to trade with (for a one time fee).
I’m not here to promote any prop firms and i don’t suggest you go and sign up here straight away. What I am suggesting is that you focus on small consistent profits and if you can achieve that, then the sky is the limit. Good luck all!