home traders: how much can you make?

[flyingeagle]

I generally make 1.5% + per day on my account.
sometimes i make a loss.
sometimes i make more.
Often i will switch off after 1.5%

happy trading

 

[cshieldsx]

ok, let me adapt the question then....is it actually possible to make a decent living trading ? starting off with relatively little capital eg. £10k , and working your way up slowly, re-investing your profits.

Eg. if you can regularly make 40points a week, one could just increase their bets from £2/ point to £3, then to £5 , then to £10 etc etc. (from a spread betting p.o.v)


In a decent graduate career in another industry (eg. engineering) you can expect to be on £60k after 10 years at a firm. Compare spread betting, starting with £10k capital to that.


Is it possible ? or isit just a matter of luck ?

The jist I get so far is that you need alot of experience trading before it's worth while commiting your life to it. Do it in your free time when your not at work, get good at it, then leave your job, commit yourself and front up large amounts of capital. Correct ?

 

[shadowninja]

Slow but sure is certainly the sensible option. You're going to make mistakes as you are learning. Better to make mistakes with small sums.

 

[JTrader]

Home Traders: How much can you make?

Maybe up to $160k per week?

i.e. 80 lots of GBPUSD per trade ($800 per pip), and 200 pips profit per week?

It might take a long while for most to compound profits to that level though .

 

[mp6140]

Mp -- Stupid Question ? There Are None !

One can imagine the life of a school instructor --- the same dumb questions year after year, and yet they maintain their sanity, and if all of YOU who so strongly criticise a newbie had not asked the same dumb question that your instructor had heard, year after year after year after year after year, you would not be here criticizing someone to whom this is an important question, and who knows, 20 years down the road might possibly be employing YOU !

Ive been teaching newbs for 7 years, and i do get tired of the same old same old, but i will never lose sight of the fact that we more expereienced owe it to the newbs to give them some direction before they lose everything because THEY DONT KNOW !

perhaps a bit more of the old "grin and bear it !" would be more appropriate than carrying on like a pack of wolves.

NOW, to address the question ----- IT IS RATHER SIMPLE TO MAKE 200K pounds a year, as long as one gets the proper education and experience, increases their equity to a point where drawdowns are not to be feared greatly and UNDERSTANDS how what appears to be horribly random movements are in actuallity a very well orchestrated set of trend movements for the various currencies.

The absolute simplest and most valuable tools are two chart overlays that will allow you to trade the longer timeframes without even needing any indicators (although i strongly suggest you learn them also). The overlays I speak of are "SHI_Channel_true" and "Support and Resistance" ----- use the EXACT spelling and words when you search !

With some time spent looking at theese and watching how currencies react, you will be very well prepared to handle the longer timeframes successfully !

ONLY comment about longer timeframes ---- use GOOD money management because the longer timeframes WILL give you larger drawdowns, but if you dont overtrade, let your trade run its course while you sit and watch the ups and downs of the cycle, you should end up with the shiny new office, the maserati, the trophy wife and the 5 houses, forcing you to make a decision every weekend as to where you shall spend that time !

Can you make 200K pounds a year ? --- not a problem in the world as long as you just keep one foot moving in front of the other and continuously learn until that "ahaa" moment strikes you over the head with a 2 X 4 (sorry folks, Im a Yank and still stuck with that old fashioned measuring method)

TIME is what you have on your side, and time will multiply your gains through compounding and profits, and while a lot of what i say has been a bit tongue in cheek, the rewards are only limited by when you decide "enough is enough" (although that becomes ANOTHER problem, later on down the road !)

gl, may your simple and so often asked question be well answered down the road !

enjoy and trade well

mp

 

[DC STOXX]

That distribution looks accurate nearly, because most traders loose money and a few manage to break even.
But those who know how to make money simply increase their trading size doing the same thing day in day out and can clear £200k in a good trade/day/week/month

Moral is, learn small then win big

 

[shadowninja]

That's my plan. A lot of people (you know who you are) take the peepee because I am trading microlots, but I am focusing on consistency. And when my equity curve proves I'm ready (ie it has a general "uptrend"), I will start scaling up.

If a business is looking to develop a new product, they don't invest their entire fund into producing the first design that they come up with. They allocate a small budget to do research to see if there is a customer requirement for the product, then they create a demo or concept and carry out product tests to see if the customers like the idea. And then they may roll out a small run of the product and sell it to a geographical location. If there are a lot of orders and much interest is shown, then they will use that as a signal to invest heavily in major development/production. If there is little interest, they find out why and either redesign the concept or bin the entire product design, with minimal monetary loss. Contrast this with a fresh-faced trader who has a £10k account. They will put £5k in the market and hope it moves in their direction. No testing, no research, no investigation.

I'm not just a pretty face... with bucked teeth, baby.

 

[new_trader]

That's my plan. A lot of people (you know who you are) take the peepee because I am trading microlots, but I am focusing on consistency. And when my equity curve proves I'm ready (ie it has a general "uptrend"), I will start scaling up.

If a business is looking to develop a new product, they don't invest their entire fund into producing the first design that they come up with. They allocate a small budget to do research to see if there is a customer requirement for the product, then they create a demo or concept and carry out product tests to see if the customers like the idea. And then they may roll out a small run of the product and sell it to a geographical location. If there are a lot of orders and much interest is shown, then they will use that as a signal to invest heavily in major development/production. If there is little interest, they find out why and either redesign the concept or bin the entire product design, with minimal monetary loss. Contrast this with a fresh-faced trader who has a £10k account. They will put £5k in the market and hope it moves in their direction. No testing, no research, no investigation.

I'm not just a pretty face... with bucked teeth, baby.

Good post shadowninja

This is why I think in terms of points (ES) rather than $. I aim to be consistently profitable as far as points/trade and total monthly points. There is no reference to money anywhere in my personal record keeping other than my brokers statements.

 

[timsk]

Good post shadowninja

Agreed.

This is why I think in terms of points (ES) rather than $. I aim to be consistently profitable as far as points/trade and total monthly points. There is no reference to money anywhere in my personal record keeping other than my brokers statements.

Hi N_T,
In principle, I agree with you. However, in practice, the approach you outline doesn't take account of commissions which means your results are misleading. A profitable day isn't as profitable as you think it is and the losses on an unprofitable day are compounded when commissions are taken into account. I'd prefer to think as you do but, for the reasons I've given, I do keep an eye on the bottom line.
Tim.

 

[new_trader]

Agreed.

Hi N_T,
In principle, I agree with you. However, in practice, the approach you outline doesn't take account of commissions which means your results are misleading. A profitable day isn't as profitable as you think it is and the losses on an unprofitable day are compounded when commissions are taken into account. I'd prefer to think as you do but, for the reasons I've given, I do keep an eye on the bottom line.
Tim.

Yes, you are right. I'm sure we could start an entire thread on this topic. I am of the opinion that one should focus on improving their average point/trade. The rest takes care of itself.

 

[charliechan]

how much can you make?

well theres more money available trading than you can imagine! the problem is knowing how to get it!

 

[maxima]

I think it is the same as to ask - how high can I jump.


Hint - Open you own SB company, create a product "Jump 350" and quote your jump height every second. Sell it to others, make money.

 

[mp6140]

I think it is the same as to ask - how high can I jump.


Hint - Open you own SB company, create a product "Jump 350" and quote your jump height every second. Sell it to others, make money.

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in the states, our IRS has set up a chart in association with the SEC and the international money exchanges

if you are a DBA sole proprietorship, you are allowed to make $500K USD
if you are an LLC, corporate partnership, individual partners can each make $1.45 M USD
if you are a regular corporation, producing dividends that IRS can receive extra taxation on, you are allowed to make no more than 4 times the GNP of the US !

obviously any SINGLE trader should immediately incorporate, dabble heavily in diamonds, gold, platinum, gasoline and oil, throw in a few "hedge" currrencies and hire an extremely capable CFO !

and no where in the world does the expression "the rich get richer . . . . . . " apply more than in the individual marketplaces --- the more you start with, the more you get so it behooves ANY aspiring trader to MARRY AS RICHLY AS YOU CAN, become intensly good friends with your rich father in law, and go like hell from there !

enjoy

mp

 

[maxima]

obviously any SINGLE trader should immediately incorporate, dabble heavily in diamonds, gold, platinum, gasoline and oil, throw in a few "hedge" currrencies and hire an extremely capable CFO !

and no where in the world does the expression "the rich get richer . . . . . . " apply more than in the individual marketplaces --- the more you start with, the more you get so it behooves ANY aspiring trader to MARRY AS RICHLY AS YOU CAN, become intensly good friends with your rich father in law, and go like hell from there !

enjoy

mp

these all are very different in the UK. Rich people widely painted as evil. It is immoral to have more than average Joe in this country. Newspapers have cliche 'filthy rich' (often being used in conjunction with pulications about city boys).

I drive E class merc and after I left it in public parking places a few times - I twice found fat spit full of mucus on my door and once it was thoroughly scratced with a coin.

This is my very incencitive to move to day trading. I really dream about moving as far from London as it will be technically possible (ping time to my broker).

 

[mp6140]

these all are very different in the UK. Rich people widely painted as evil. It is immoral to have more than average Joe in this country. Newspapers have cliche 'filthy rich' (often being used in conjunction with pulications about city boys).

I drive E class merc and after I left it in public parking places a few times - I twice found fat spit full of mucus on my door and once it was thoroughly scratced with a coin.

This is my very incencitive to move to day trading. I really dream about moving as far from London as it will be technically possible (ping time to my broker).

=============================================

maxima --- to ask me, who responds to most things with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, to be serious for a moment is difficult, but given how "people" from EVERYWHERE tend to be jealous and/or envious of those with MORE than they have, what you say is of no surprise --- purchase an older austin 7 that is rusting and allows you to appear to be as poor as a churchmouse and leave the merc at home, as this may solve ONE problem at the least, and for the other, make as much as you wish, move to your own estate outside of london, and thumb your nose at those who do not wish to "extend" themselves and better their circumstances.

while we certainly have much the same in the US, its "possibly" a bit less (except in the very heart of urban areas, like NYC itself (which i guess is pretty much the same as London)) if only because were a bit less of a "class" society than you Brits (or at least thats a bit more of your history)

I grew up many years ago in one of the richest towns in one of the richest counties in the US --- these were people who had money essentially "forever", lived in the "family estate" and clipped coupons for expenses. They drove OLD fords and chevys, dressed "down" to the point you might actually think the "lord of the manor" was actually the janitor or groundsman and had NO "airs !"

they were NOT hated then and I wouldnt know if they would be hated now, but if one is near the poverty of the inner cities, the jealousy and envy creates many a scratch on a mercedes, and just imagine what an aston martin would engender !

GO -- get rich --- live nicely and forget about the refuse of life !

mp

 

[maxima]

GO -- get rich --- live nicely and forget about the refuse of life !

I am trying to yes. But I am not entirely sure when that moment of freedom will happen - before or after my death

 

[mp6140]

I am trying to yes. But I am not entirely sure when that moment of freedom will happen - before or after my death

==================================================

YOU HAVENT READ MY BOOK, HOW TO MAKE A MILLION BEFORE YOU DIE ??

mp

 

[maxima]

sorry I cant read.

 

[StratOpt]

It is easy to end up with a million from trading. Start with 5 million ....

 

[mp6140]

It is easy to end up with a million from trading. Start with 5 million ....

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LOL

mp