Can YOU make money as a trader?

I was discussing the topic and wanted to post my thoughts on making money as a trader. Many people have the idea that they are almost there, just missing one piece and then they will be able to quit their job and buy a mansion and yachts and expensive cars. Well, you may be almost there. And maybe not.

Over the next few posts as time permits, I am going to tell you how I became a profitable trader. Some of it's ugly, terrible disappointments, humbling experiences, horrible crashes that many do not walk away from. You really have to have a burning desire and a try and try again attitude to bounce back after you have blown yet another trading account and have to start over, Ouch!

I am also going to go over what I think is the mindset you need as a trader, to be able to take money from the beast that wants to devour any trading capital you feed it.

Edit - Feb. 25, 2018 - I noticed many posters in here not posting or talking trading. Any posts that are meant to criticize or mock others who are doing something that they cannot do, or just general discussion of religion or political views, I will be marking with a dislike to clean this thread up. This thread is meant for trading discussion only, whether live or demo. I did this rather fast so if your post was disliked, it is not personal but to get thread back on topic which is making AND KEEPING money as a trader.

Interesting! I am really waiting for knowing your success story! Thank you.

First things first. How do you perceive the markets?

I see people write their ideas about the markets and I can tell if they are doomed. You see, I have had some of the same thoughts and of course, I was a loser until I saw the market as indifferent. If you have any of these concepts about the markets, you will not make it as a profitable trader.

. It's easy to make money trading
. It's hard to make money trading
. The market is predictable
. The market is random
. The market is like a casino and my broker is the house
. My broker is trying to run my stops

The list can go on and on and I could continue but hopefully you get my point. Any belief of what the market "is" can be fatal to your trading account.

Even if I could trade with win-ratio 2:1, I couldn't do this all and every day. I forgot about such a life-style already a long time ago...
When I started to trade, the motivation was big, and I was able to sit in front of pc half a day or whole day, with no problems,... this went for somehow a year.
But never made real much money.
Since I try to trade just a few times, sometimes scalping, sometimes 15 min chart, only when I like to and have fun, I started to make some money.
But now focusing on auomated systems / basket trading.

I am going to gladly share and I am also open to questions you may have, please post your questions or you can send PM.

Right up front I will tell you that although I do not have a "job" and I earn my living through trading, I do not sit in front of my computer all day trading. I have other interests so my responses may be a little slower than some of the other forum members.

Most important to my trading success was attitude.

When I first started trading I thought about making money. I seemed to make some at first, then give it all back in a few trades because I was pushing for the holy grail, the magic 1% per day. I did not become a profitable trader until I stopped thinking about money and instead focused on flawless execution.

When I have a high probability trade, I take it. When I have a "maybe" trade, or even better, when I see a profitable trade setting up but not there YET, I pass. In the old days I would jump the gun and watch what appeared to be setting up and take the trade before the signal. And I would wave bye-bye to my money and beat myself up for not waiting. I was guessing or anticipating, thinking I could forecast what the market was going to do

I normally never post to this forum (see my history, haha), but I like your style and the basic message you have to deliver. Consider me subscribed! I am profitable at this point, but could be better, so I am always open to learning. Especially from straight talking people that aren't arrogant.

Thanks for taking time out of your day to do this thread newbegger!

So.. The first step to trading successful trader is attitude about what the markets are. The second step is getting your thinking aligned with how the markets work or trader psychology. There are some great books and most you can find for free on the internet. I will gladly give recommendations of my favorites if you want.

One statement that stuck with me was "Be greedy when you fearful and be fearful when you greedy. An example of this I learned over New Years break in 2005. I was not a full time trader yet and had not learned this lesson. I was heavy short USD going into the New Years and at that time I was short USD more than I should have been. The markets opened but my broker was not. They were set to open at the London Open. So I watched the USD go up, up, and up and there was nothing I could do. Stops don't get triggered when your broker is closed.

So by the time London opened, I had lost 10k USD. My account went from $34,000 USD to 24,000 USD and there was no one to blame but me. How could I be so stupid???

Is this the end? NO! Now I was angry. So what did I do? Yep, Yep, You are right. <I revenge traded> I saw the markets pop on the London Open so I start to put my positions back on because I was sure I was right. I never trade the London session and as soon as I got my positions back on, whack! The trade went straight to my stops. So I tried and with same results. By this time, I had under $20,000 left and I finally came to my senses and stopped trading.

The lessons I learned that day were:
. Don't have large positions open over any holiday

I should have been fearful and protected my capital when the chance is there to lose and I have no control over the trade. Instead I was thinking greedy, let your profits run.

It was a bad day and turned into a bad month. Because I was demoralized by the markets, I kept trading instead of cooling off and regrouping, to stick to my trading methodology instead of gambling. I didn't completely blow the account because I was trading with Refco and they went bankrupt later that year and went to the Receiver. That's another story. In the end, I got a little less than $1,600 back after that horrible year. I had started the account with 10k. Over 80% loss.

Lessons learned. At least I still had a full time job to build a stake and start again.

years of trading and i read a lot but reading a lot gives you a idea only , most of the writers make money from seminars and selling thier books , or work for someone else , stay on demo until a large total consistant wins

NO... how much he wanna make is actually UP to YOU

Woops! It is always good to have a session loss limit. What do you trade?

Making money not easy at forex

Do you have a trading journal? I have a comprehensive trading journal where I record every potential trade I put on. Often I don't even catch a trade which shoots right up and I have a note in my journal about this missed opportunity.

I like to review my journal each Thursday before NFP because I do not have any trades on and I am not looking for trades until 20 minutes after NFP. I used to wait 15 minutes but I got into losers a few times so I went to 20 minutes. I think the movers read the forums looking for ways to catch us little fish. It is good idea to constantly look for what works and what does not work.

Since you are already making money in Forex, is there anything you can do to improve? Some things you cannot do anything about, like lack of capital to trade large size. You need patience to let your account grow. Other things, like lack of opportunity, you may be able to improve by trading more instruments, or going down to lower time frame.

Yes, I do keep a journal. I use the daily/weekly charts for direction and determining where buyers or sellers take control. I then usually drop down to the 1H charts for placement of trade. I usually don't trade around NFP reports. I like to wait a few days to determine what the markets think about it, or other reports for that matter, as I do not place as many trades given the higher time frames.

I make more money trading ES futures than I do FOREX, but I think smaller time frames in certain situations may give more opportunity, as you stated.

I can always improve, and I always do want to improve. In this business, no one is ever safe without taking an interest and learning.

My New Years loss was because the market was moving but my broker was closed. Your broker does not stop you out when the broker is closed. They don't always stop you out when they are open either. Look at the SNB unpegging classic. I was lucky not to have any exposure when that happened as I used to trade USDCHF. I no longer trade CHF as it is actively managed by SNB and that is a game for insiders only.

I am starting to trade the USDJPY in small size again as the BOJ is not running stops anymore like they did 15 years ago. I usually trade EURUSD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, and USDCAD. I have not been in GBPUSD since the Brexit crash. And I was lucky not to be in a swing trade that day.

I am most active in New York session so I trade USD. You should trade whatever base currency (currencies) is/are most active during your session if it's not New York. And only trade what you have tested and have proven to have an edge that is profitable.

And how is your trading going with that mindset? Is it working for you or not working?

1st 4 year going not good, losing 50% from my capital, but after that day by day scenario was totally changing & now I'm stable & if I want then what ever market condition make money really not a big issue