How much can we reasonably expect to make by trading on Forex?

[earnold75]

Hi everyone. I know that's a very general question to ask but I'm new to this. I want to know how viable trading on Forex is likely to be, assuming I'm reasonably good at it. Thanks!...E

 

[shadowninja]

> 1c

Actually, that is a lie. If you trade smaller than micro lots on Oanda, you might never break 1c and still be ultra profitable.

In context, you've just asked, "How much can I expect to earn if I get a job and I'm reasonably good at it?" or even, "How much can I expect to earn if I get a job as a basketball player and I'm reasonably good at it?".

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Or in short,

How long is a peice of string.


Once you've done your own research and backtesting you'll know this rough figure for yourself.

Enjoy it, its not about the money mate.

 

[gamma]

Or in short,

How long is a peice of string.


Once you've done your own research and backtesting you'll know this rough figure for yourself.

Enjoy it, its not about the money mate.

Not sure if I entirely agree with you on that lee,

Althought its impossible to quantify the above question,
The only mearsuement of sucess in this game is the reward of money
in the same node the loss of money is a measure of your lack of success.

 

[Magos]

Hi everyone. I know that's a very general question to ask but I'm new to this. I want to know how viable trading on Forex is likely to be, assuming I'm reasonably good at it. Thanks!...E

Funny calculations

Assumption 1: we make no losing trades
Assumption 2: we don’t get liquidated
Assumption 3: we have
Assumption 4: open an account with $1000 dollars
Assumption 5: Margin 1:100
Assumption 5: $10 (adj) per tick
Assumption 6: Hold no overnight positions

If you trade 1 lots i.e AUDUSD, USDCHF, etc. Until you get the account running for getting more margin to trade EURUSD, GBPUSD, etc.

If you want to make 1 million in 365 days => 365 -52(Saturdays). You will have 313 days to so.


Therefore you need to make 1,000,000/313 = 3194.8 a day, let’s say 3200 (no overnight positions)

Since your account is in dollars we need to be making a tick in a lot i.e AUDUSD will be 10 dollars.

3200/10=320 ticks a day


320 ticks a day

Solution

320 / 5 currency pairs = 64 ticks each (1 lot)
You start with mini lots (0.2) since 5*0.2= 1 lot
Make the first 64 ticks in total, increase your size to go up to 1lot (i.e. 0.2 ->1)


p.s you might need to adjust if you select currency pairs that require higher margin



All the above in an ideal world

 

[trader_dante]

If you are new to trading the best question to ask is:

"Assuming I am reasonably good at it, how much can I expect to lose in my first year?"

If you are trading as low as £1 per tick, you should perhaps be able to get a good grounding in the basics for a loss of around £1,000 - £2,000.

You would need to be pretty good to do this though.

If you are trading in full lots then you need to multiply that loss by a factor of at least 6. (£6,000 - £12,000)

Bear in mind that people have different learning curves and different advantages / disadvantages in the way they are taught (if you learn at a prop firm you will most likely pick things up quicker and learn a different style / technique than if you teach yourself. Same with having an experienced trader teach you etc)

But I'm not trying to be difficult in my post above. This is my honest opinion.

 

[rags2riches]

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/trading-faq/30632-how-much-money-can-i-realistically-expect-make.html

 

[wasp]

...

 

[rnicoll]

If you are new to trading the best question to ask is:

"Assuming I am reasonably good at it, how much can I expect to lose in my first year?

You know, that's the most reassuring thing I've heard in a while. Right now, I'm patching a £1k hole in my account (because really, nothing's worse than running out of money available to trade), and it's nice to know it's not a sign I'm actually catastrophically bad at this

Edit: I'm also having a lot of fun, which is probably more important than success in the short term at least.

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Not sure if I entirely agree with you on that lee,

Althought its impossible to quantify the above question,
The only mearsuement of sucess in this game is the reward of money
in the same node the loss of money is a measure of your lack of success.

Your own right to disagree of course.

The only thing is:

There are equally better paid jobs with guaranteed income. If it is about the money then try another job.

Also,

What happens when you strike it big and have loads of dosh, you are at risk of taking your eye off the ball.

Money or no money, I thoroughly enjoy my job and would still do it whether I was stinking rich or was down to my last fiver.

Just to let you know, I am one of those sad b*stards on the beach on hoiday with PDA in hand and back and fourth on the phone.
I do this for the love (I think or maybe habit), certainly not the money although I respect thats where it comes from.

The great thing with trading is that if you do it for the cash before the love, those weeks when you lose or the constant days on end of constant losses could tip you over the edge. When you've been trading full time for several years the edge seems a million miles away.

 

[earnold75]

Thanks for all your replies everyone (even the ones which may have been somewhat facetious ). I've never done this before so the more I can learn the better. Feel free to keep 'em coming. Thanks!...E

 

[fifty2aces]

The reason you won't get the kind of response you're looknig for is that this question is practically impossible to answer. Essentially, you can expect results ranging between losing your entire investment (most likely), and becoming a billionaire (least likely).

Asking what someone with no experience is likely to earn from trading is a bit like someone who's never played football asking for an estimation of what they can expect to earn from a professional football career. Success is rewarded handsomely, but achieved by so few that it would be misleading to make any sort of prediction.

 

[minarque]

SIMPLY TRADING FOREX (.. a magic wining crap?)

Hi all,
Does anybody know anything about yet another "magic wining course" which includes 2 booklets and a one-day seminar called 'SIMPLY TRADING FOREX' ?
And if so, what do you reckon?
Its address: simplytradingforex.com

 

[shadowninja]

Thanks for all your replies everyone (even the ones which may have been somewhat facetious ). I've never done this before so the more I can learn the better. Feel free to keep 'em coming. Thanks!...E

You can probably guess that this very question alongside "Show me a decent trading system." and "Is it really possible to make money trading Forex." is asked on this forum every other day...

 

[KillPhil08]

You can probably guess that this very question alongside "Show me a decent trading system." and "Is it really possible to make money trading Forex." is asked on this forum every other day...

Yeah, I was going to say. Perhaps another sticky is needed for:

1. Vince skanky or whatever his name is, T.U.
2. Forex Autopilot etc etc
3. How much money could be earnt (lost)
4. A big arrow for STA & TCA

There are so many more, but the search box isn't used enough. Also the search doesn't work for short phrases and it just spits out the latest topics or unread ones with the keywords. I usually have to go onto the 2nd page to get the decent old ones (i usually rate them after reading too).

 

[Elvis T]

If you trade 1 lots i.e AUDUSD, USDCHF, etc. Until you get the account running for getting more margin to trade EURUSD, GBPUSD, etc.

If you want to make 1 million in 365 days => 365 -52(Saturdays). You will have 313 days to so.


Therefore you need to make 1,000,000/313 = 3194.8 a day, let’s say 3200 (no overnight positions)

Since your account is in dollars we need to be making a tick in a lot i.e AUDUSD will be 10 dollars.

3200/10=320 ticks a day


320 ticks a day

Solution

320 / 5 currency pairs = 64 ticks each (1 lot)
You start with mini lots (0.2) since 5*0.2= 1 lot
Make the first 64 ticks in total, increase your size to go up to 1lot (i.e. 0.2 ->1)


p.s you might need to adjust if you select currency pairs that require higher margin



All the above in an ideal world

While this is a somewhat viable option to make the profit, it doesn't compensate for exponential growth.

If you start with a $1,000 account, trade mini-lots, trade 20%, and average 50 pips a day the growth is a lot better. Afterall, if you have 100,000 in to trade, why only trade 1k or 2k when you can easily trade 15k?

Here is a simple formula I came up with to do the math. I'm sure I'm not the first, but I didn't find it anywhere on the internet when I tried a few google searches.

$1,000 X 1.1^X

This is assuming that you make trade 20 percent a day and make 50 pips on each day. After 60 days of trading you will have $304,481.64 and after 75 days you will have $1,271,895.37.

This is just how it could work. We all know how certain trading is though.

 

[spearchew]

Let me amend the OP's question if I might:
How much have YOU all made/lost (in !total!), in what time frame, and starting with what capital?

 

[Lee Shepherd]

Let me amend the OP's question if I might:
How much have YOU all made/lost (in !total!), in what time frame, and starting with what capital?

What current job do you have and what did you make last year and the year before that. I want to know how much your income before tax was and your take home pay also. Maybe you could provide some statements of your P60's for me too. Please also detail your working hours and how much travel you do as well as how many days off you've had.

Many thanks.


Now you see, people just dont ask these questions and thats the reason why, they are personal to each and every one of us and will differ greatly from one to the next.

If you want to hear of people earning millions every year consistantly, then look around you, they are there, you just have to open your eyes and you will see. If you want to hear of failures and people blowing accounts, again, do the same and you will see it every where.

What do you want to look at today??

 

[FXSCALPER2]

The question is: 'can you finish the day/week/moth up ticks?' If you can, then how much you make is a quetion of size. In theory, that is your answer.

In practice, all sorts of things come into play when you increase size. I am prepared to bet most people can manage to finish up ticks but not money. Funny that, eh?

 

[new_trader]

Your own right to disagree of course.

The only thing is:

There are equally better paid jobs with guaranteed income. If it is about the money then try another job.

Also,

What happens when you strike it big and have loads of dosh, you are at risk of taking your eye off the ball.

Money or no money, I thoroughly enjoy my job and would still do it whether I was stinking rich or was down to my last fiver.

Just to let you know, I am one of those sad b*stards on the beach on hoiday with PDA in hand and back and fourth on the phone.
I do this for the love (I think or maybe habit), certainly not the money although I respect thats where it comes from.

The great thing with trading is that if you do it for the cash before the love, those weeks when you lose or the constant days on end of constant losses could tip you over the edge. When you've been trading full time for several years the edge seems a million miles away.

Very good post Lee. I think those that a purely motivated by the money are doomed to fail or never succeed. I would hate to be operated on by a surgeon who was only in the profession for the money...:-0