Do full-time forex traders exist or is it just make believe?

full time? I thought the point of trading was to make money with the least amount of effort and the least amount of time so one can enjoy all life has to offer. I suppose if you had 10 mil of aum you would have to spend a lot of time figuring out what to do with it.
 
Quote from zbojnik:

Are you a full-time forex trader or do you know of someone who is?
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Some do exist, but there are indeed fewer 'success' stories in forex than commodities or equities. Take ET for example. There are several traders who have made it in equities for years (lescor for example) but none in forex/Sp500.

I believe that the elephant in the trading rooms (forums) is that most are not profitable in fx but nobody dare say it. You can almost feel it, when you read the posts, etc.

The reasons could be the following:

1) Forex offers 1:50 leverage, so even traders with technical ability who are undisciplined, wash out early. In equities, leverage is built into the issue, so you get volatility without owing anything to your broker.

2) Forex has no direction or bias, so determining price direction is hard.
In equities, it's hard to be wrong going long during a bull run. Of course, whether a trader survives the next business cycle is questionable, but at least he/her weaknesses aren't revealed for many years making it seem like they have a lasting edge.

3) More retraces in forex than equities. Price can take off in equities and never come back

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Look at the Barclay Hedge Fund indices: http://www.barclayhedge.com/research/indices/cta/sub/curr.html

Currency funds return an average of 7%. That should tell you something.

Here is an fx fund with 100 AUM that is doing well with a max DD of 4%: http://www.managedfutures.com/program_performance.aspx?fundtype=&productId=80188

Will they continue to do well in a low volatility environment? Who knows.
 
Quote from riskaddict:

full time? I thought the point of trading was to make money with the least amount of effort and the least amount of time so one can enjoy all life has to offer. I suppose if you had 10 mil of aum you would have to spend a lot of time figuring out what to do with it.
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Full-time = doesn't have a "regular" job
 
Quote from zbojnik:

Are you a full-time forex trader or do you know of someone who is?
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You mean full time retail, at home, profitable forex traders right? I don't think any full time, at home retail profitable FX traders exist. Its just make believe by dealers who want your money.
 
Quote from marketsurfer:

You mean full time retail, at home, profitable forex traders right? I don't think any full time, at home retail profitable FX traders exist.
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You really are something.
 
Lots of full-time at-home traders exist-- but how many of them are making consistent money year after year? How long do they stay a full-time trader before being forced to go back to working a job?

I would guess the few who do manage consistency are well capitalized and turning out modest % gains each year.

There is another site I visit that is geared toward careers, entepreneurship, online biz ideas, etc. Some good stuff and advice in there. I saw no talk of trading so did a search for it and found a handful of older threads. I was a little surprised (or maybe I shouldnt be) that online trading had absolutely zero credibility on this site. Even playing online poker was viewed as a better option, seriously!

Guys in the financial industry told everyone to stay the hell away from trading. The advice on markets was to build a career or a business and then put some of the money you make from that into longer term position trades in solid dividend payers, or buy index funds in bear markets. and stay away from leverage and margin. Said the only people they heard of making a living off investments and trades were people who were already rich.
 
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