FAQ Realistically, How much Money can I Expect to Make?

[mepbih]

Experience and learning are required but they are not so much learned as acquired. Theory alone or hunches alone will most likely cause the new trader to lose consistently and possibly fatally for your grub stake. Narrow your focus to things you know the most about. A farm boy might concentrate on food companies or farm implement manufacturers or on grain handlers for example and build carefully and make small bets only and not allow them to run too far in the red without stopping at a limit of dollars or in per cent. Old traders will still do this but their experience makes it possible for them to go with larger positions than a newbie. I have come to the point of having the guiding principle of all sales all the time. I don't deliberately buy much of anything. What I own I will sell calls against. When there is little to sell calls against then I sell naked puts well out of the money and in small amounts. When I have a good profit I might offer to buy back cheaper but often wait for an expiration as worthless or if assigned something to sell calls against. I should have gone this route when I was younger, it avoids a lot of bad buys. The real caveat here is to sell puts when the market is really bad so that in recovery you do not get assigned. When the market is high just concentrate on selling out of the money calls that will make you better off.

 

[datav]

Nope, a/c grows position size grows, greed grows and so does the losses
It can be done though turning 10k into a million, time taken would definitely be long
but it can be done, only hindrance would be ourselves.

Its all about time and timing. How much can you expect to make in X time. A month, a year?
Suppose you said that you wanted to double your account, and suppose for arguments sake you had a £10,000 account. There are 20 working days in a month (roughly), so that means you need to average £500 per day profit to double your account in 1 month. Suppose you bet £50 per point (5 contracts on the FTSE futures for example) You only need to get a move of 10 points to make your target.
This is not too hard. What IS hard is stopping and not trying for a bit more.
How many people started really well on Friday, only to end up in the red?
That's why all experienced traders know that self discipline is the key.

 

[kenu29]

Its very easy to say but so damn hard to actually not be greedy , i have learned to conquer my trading fears , by that i mean if a position goes against me i use orderflow analysis if price has gone through my mental stop i don't book it asap usually market is shaking weak traders out and in 100% of time markets do come back [provided one is trading with the underlying trend] Rest i am working on not being too greedy , yesterday in crude oil i let my 3900 gain turn into a 625 just by being greedy for few more hundreds!!

I have conquered fear , now greed left! I wish someone had a cure for this "need to want more"!

hi nikhil , Do you trade indian markets or US markets . $625 per day seems too good to believe.

 

[Nikhil Dogra]

No its not $ LOL! Its in INR , In $ terms average is close to 120 per day. In 2013 i have not had a single red day because i have diversified in my trading, i am trading 10 markets now. Index Futures/Index Options/USD/Euro/GBP/JPY/Crude Oil/Nickel & Natural Gas

 

[tar]

No its not $ LOL! Its in INR , In $ terms average is close to 120 per day.

you mean $12

 

[Nikhil Dogra]

My trading accuracy is nothing to boast its less than 50% but variability of position size usually helps. N = Normal Size , 1/2(N) = Conservative Size , 2(N) = Aggressive Size. Honestly speaking we just have to accept that we are not Einsteins and just put on trades without thinking of results. Technical Analysis can only help in terms of risk analysis for me personally. Take for example i am Bearish on Nickel , base metal, but i am trading it Long on conservative size LOL!

 

[Nikhil Dogra]

you mean $12

Yes on that particular day $12 in Crude Oil. Average is $120 though. In India people my age group (23 years) earns in a month what i earn in a day :innocent:

 

[kenu29]

No its not $ LOL! Its in INR , In $ terms average is close to 120 per day. In 2013 i have not had a single red day because i have diversified in my trading, i am trading 10 markets now. Index Futures/Index Options/USD/Euro/GBP/JPY/Crude Oil/Nickel & Natural Gas

hi nikhil,How many trades do u do everyday ?. You seem to be a scalper. I am an NRI and do trade nifty options ,Tata motors futures & Dlf . I earn on average £ 80 to £100 . Why dont you specialise one single market? I hope ,you dont get offended. cheers

 

[Sir Pond Life Dreg]

The average salary of a retail trader is conveniently swept under the rug. In Vietnam it was 19 nnnnnnn 19.

 

[Nikhil Dogra]

On an average 4 trades per market. I trade 8 markets and it depends on which market is active. I am now going live another system for Stock & FX which is long term in nature in comparison to current one. Lets see how it works out in live, Simulation Longs hit rate is 55% [1.8:1 Reward/Risk profile] & Short hit rate is 43% [3:1 Reward/Risk Profile] .
In Crude Oil/Natural Gas/Nickel i have specialized and i usually go to them when i am down in other markets. Wall St $180k sounds good but for me it stopped being about money last year. I trade 15 hours on weekdays and 4 hours on Saturday not for money. The more we think about money more it will continue to evade

I am in simulation phase for Options. Out of 10 markets i am live on 8 for Intraday

 

[TheMinuteTrader]

This is a very interesting and factual thread. I could spend a lot of time reading through.

For me, to put it simply, If you would like to know the amount of money that you expect to make, the Demo trade, demo trade, demo trade. I have read a few points that I agree with here.

You do need to have (or learn) a certain mentality

You do need to be prepared to take risks.

I follow a set of rules that myself which are always changing to benefit my trading style..

Here are some of them:

1. Always use a stop order

2. After 3 losing trades in one day, Stop Trading!

3. Once my target is hit I will stop trading for the day.

4. My risk on any one trade will not exceed 5% of my account.

5. Always ask myself if I am trading for the right reasons.

 

[reddevil]

I think realistically and generally, you should expect to lose money ... because on average traders lose money. However, this is a generalization and you might have a system that works really well. In which case, I would encourage you to back test your system and use the demo for your system for a period of time across a small number of markets, get the returns number and apply a healthy discount to it (because when you put real money down and have emotions attached to it), and that is how much you can expect to make.

 

[Cole Hann]

Enjoyed your first comments T2W bot. The short answer is you'll lose money as much as you can stomach. I don't think there is a new trader that ever had a profitable first year beyond luck. How much $ can be made..how good are you at detecting the dominant trend?

 

[Lax_Van_Dumb]

I think realistically and generally, you should expect to lose money ... because on average traders lose money. However, this is a generalization and you might have a system that works really well. In which case, I would encourage you to back test your system and use the demo for your system for a period of time across a small number of markets, get the returns number and apply a healthy discount to it (because when you put real money down and have emotions attached to it), and that is how much you can expect to make.

To add to what fred says try not to think about how much you are going to make, try to think about protecting your capital. Every year I see people getting really down because their stops get hit then see them elated because they are up £100 in a day. Its not your lover, its just a piece of money.
If you are trading a leveraged product then risk no more than 1-2% of your capital. That way you'll sleep ok . Its not easy but write down a plan every day, if you feel emotional or attached to the market then just remember that is the quickest way to blow up your account.

 

[samirs]

you are not likely to get answer to these questions on a message board
a) no one is really open to the world on their finances
b) even if someone comes along he will be decimated in micro seconds - usually rightly so for the claims they may make

Also what others make or think they or others can make has no bearing whatsoever on how much you would actually make or lose. It is better to quit before it is too late and even better never to start. This is one addiction worse than all others put together - more for your near and dear ones than yourself.

 

[neil]

People are not going to tell you how much they earn via trading !!
But you will get a lot of Vendors popping up to offer you the holy grail (for a fee).

About time the Mods. pulled the plug on these pointless, vacous posts and promoted more posts designed to improve traders to the point where they might (well 5% anyway) actually earn money trading after a long period of struggle and experiment. Hang on in there Lord Flasheart - a thread showing people making live trades, warts and all.

 

[tony1979]

The reality is this; there might be 0.5% at most here who have gained, from april '12-april '13, profits greater than £8,105, which is where tax kicks in if you're a self-employed trader. Those in this select group have paid their dues in a number of different ways, and sacrificed just about everything else in order to reach a level where one grumbles about having to pay the taxman; it's a nice problem to have! So, one has to forget about the money to start with, as it'll only get in the way of doing the right things trading-wise. Keep the risk small and learn as much as possible off tiny accounts, which will inevitably be blown up numerous times, and then maybe after 3/4 (probably 5+ though) years of toil, you might be in a position to start considering income, tax and the "problems" of running a successful business.

 

[Brazza]

The reality is this; there might be 0.5% at most here who have gained, from april '12-april '13, profits greater than £8,105, which is where tax kicks in if you're a self-employed trader. Those in this select group have paid their dues in a number of different ways, and sacrificed just about everything else in order to reach a level where one grumbles about having to pay the taxman; it's a nice problem to have! So, one has to forget about the money to start with, as it'll only get in the way of doing the right things trading-wise. Keep the risk small and learn as much as possible off tiny accounts, which will inevitably be blown up numerous times, and then maybe after 3/4 (probably 5+ though) years of toil, you might be in a position to start considering income, tax and the "problems" of running a successful business.

Right on Tony1979! And that's just the beginning of a totally new set of challenges. Challenges you never thought will have now that the money is coming in.....but, it's fun once you overcome them and you are ready for the next new and bigger set...and on and on

 

[Hoggums]

For those of you new and want to realisitcally know what your chances are watch the video on the link below. Steve Sedgewick questions the CEO of IG Markets and pushes for a answer to the question "How many of your clients are making money?" - finally the CEO gives an honest answer after several attempts to avoid the question...

Falling revenue no long-term trend: IG Group CEO - CNBC

 

[Babyblush]

For those of you new and want to realisitcally know what your chances are watch the video on the link below. Steve Sedgewick questions the CEO of IG Markets and pushes for a answer to the question "How many of your clients are making money?" - finally the CEO gives an honest answer after several attempts to avoid the question...

Falling revenue no long-term trend: IG Group CEO - CNBC

It would have been nice of you if you could state the answer for us here, anyways now that the link has been given will look into it to find out the answer.