Quote from oldtime:
hey, cross me off of that list pal, I haven't seen the shiny side of a nickel for two weeks. Trading for me is very lonely and I have no friends anymore who do it, so I just like to bullshit on the internet.
The only conversation I get is from the lady that sells me my cigarettes, and all she says is, "Thank you, have a nice day." (and that is if you are just lucky and get her on her regular day. The other guy just takes the money and hands them to you and figures his job is done.)
I don't know why people think it is so hard. People have been doing it for years. The only thing is, you don't have that added edge of adding value. Like the guy at your local hardware store that charges you more than Walmart, but you like buying there first because he is knowledgable, and gives you excellent service.
If you don't believe me, open a paper account with twice as much as you intend to trade, and try losing enough to get it down to what your real account will be. It's just as hard to intentionally lose money as it is to intentionally make it. You would think you would get some help from the spread and commissions, but that is not always the case. Sometimes, good luck will arrive and mess up your strategy to lose.
the point is, if you do it right, you are probably not going to make or lose that much money. The only ones you hear about are the ones that did it wrong. In my case, I was suicidal and put on a Kamikaze ES trade, and to be honest with you, I would have been just as happy to lose as to win, because all I wanted to do was get the memories of that woman out of my head.
It just so happened that I won, and then I started acting like a sensible trader, who wisely invested his trading profits.
but getting back to the point, you can trade very agressively and not lose much or make much more than a similar business owner with a similar initial investment will make.
People lose it (or make it) when they go on tilt
Is it possible to make a living trading forex in your pajamas from a laptop computer with a small account at ib?
Yes, if you have a lot of money in stocks and bonds, and are not worried about what will happen if you guess wrong. And you have been through the deal many times, and don't panic when it goes wrong and don't get too excited when it goes right.
It helps if you have some kind of plan. In my case, I just sweep 50% of the account over and above what I am comfortable trading each month, and that pays the small monthly bills, and leaves a little leftover for cigarettes.
Due to some unforseen circumstances I ended up with some cash, and had to decide if I wanted to increase my forex exposure which has been most profitable, or just invest it conservatively like most people do.
You never know about that forex, it can turn on a dime (usually my dime), so I just decided to keep my little account small, and enjoy paying my $500/mo rent (plus cigarettes for the time being, until they raise the taxes) from the profits.
