Is Anyone Making Money In Currency Trading?

Quote from tradersaavy:

tatertrader

That's great that you have experience.
Would you care to add a comment that may provide some helpful insight ?
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I did.

FOREX is not "one market" (in contrast to each of NQ, YM and ES) that can be characterized by such generalizations as the previous poster had suggested. And to try and draw a useful parallel between the vast spectrum of currencies, instruments and market participants that actually make up what is commonly know as "FOREX" and one or two individual futures contracts is just pointless and misleading to say the least.
 
Quote from marketsurfer:




ok, as i stated, i am very inexperienced in forex. however my 30 days have been almost one long trend.....
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But of course, it depends on your point-of-reference, right? I agree with you surf...on the dailies, it's hard to find a more trend-friendly market. But the 5 min chart is a mess...which timeframes are you looking at SethArb?

I am using monthlies, dailies, 240s and 120s, and they all seem to be great. Contrast this to what I was doing in ES, which was Dailies, 30s, 15s, and 5s.

Check out the attached chart of the EUR/USD...just a double top chart pattern and a 20 MA and there are plenty of pips to be made, imho.
 

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Quote from tatertrader:


FOREX is not "one market" (in contrast to each of NQ, YM and ES) that can be characterized by such generalizations as the previous poster had suggested. And to try and draw a useful parallel between the vast spectrum of currencies, instruments and market participants that actually make up what is commonly know as "FOREX" and one or two individual futures contracts is just pointless and misleading to say the least.
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Yes, from a fundamental perspective, it dwarfs the S&P and Nasdaq-100 in complexity and number of influential factors. And even from a technical perspective, it's really complex...you have this set of major currencies, and their relations to each other are all tradeable...tracking accumulation and distribution across the pairs and their relationships is tough. But from a technical trend-following perspective, I'm not sure it's as complex.
 
Quote from corvus:



But of course, it depends on your point-of-reference, right? I agree with you surf...on the dailies, it's hard to find a more trend-friendly market. But the 5 min chart is a mess...which timeframes are you looking at SethArb?

I am using monthlies, dailies, 240s and 120s, and they all seem to be great. Contrast this to what I was doing in ES, which was Dailies, 30s, 15s, and 5s.

Check out the attached chart of the EUR/USD...just a double top chart pattern and a 20 MA and there are plenty of pips to be made, imho.
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corvus,

that trade was ( is ) classic ! my back testing and current experience indicates wonderful trending characteristics. i don't know what market these guys are trading, but so far, forex is way way smoother acting than NQ or ES on my screens.

best,

surfer
 
Quote from tatertrader:



I did.

FOREX is not "one market" (in contrast to each of NQ, YM and ES) that can be characterized by such generalizations as the previous poster had suggested. And to try and draw a useful parallel between the vast spectrum of currencies, instruments and market participants that actually make up what is commonly know as "FOREX" and one or two individual futures contracts is just pointless and misleading to say the least.
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ahhhh--- not "one market" ?? are there different prices available for each pair ? not that i am aware of--but as i stated i am still very new. can you please explain not "one market" ? like globex and ACE not being the same--is this what you mean ?? multiple "dealers" in forex ???

thanks !

surfer
 
I need to interject here. Do not fool yourself into thinking FOREX is easy to trade. It is influenced by a lot of major players that are trading enormous sums of money. This market dwarfs NYSE, ES, YM, and all other combined on a daily basis.

Major World Banks (BOJ for instance) will dump huge numbers on the market to control the price of YEN vs the the almighty USD.

I think you can be a successful FOREX trader, But IMO it ain't for daytrading. If you've got a big stack, do your homework and can take the ups and downs, then you have a shot at making money consistently. You better understand interest rates, current accounts and think like George Soros.

This market is affected by things that are worldly. You better understand what's going on across the big pond if you want to be successful.

Every trade has a cost as has been said here. Generally, your trade has to move 5 pips in your direction, just to break even in covering the spread. Depending on the currency, every pip is about $10. Every trade cost you $50.

FOREX is new and sexy. Everyone is calling you. Free trades, trade 24 hours, the little guy can do it now, $500 margin accounts.(up to 100:1) BEWARE.

There are only two markets that move in my opinion. US and London Sessions. US is choppy. London is better, but you have to stay up all night. Not for everybody. The Asian session trades in evening hours US time, but it is not always trending. It's like trading during the lunchtime hour on the ES.

If you are just getting started, I think it is interested to learn the story of the EURO. It hasn't been around long, but there has been a lot of money lost and made on the EUR/USD pair. I post a chart with this and you can take a look.

My advice would be to trade a mini-FOREX account initially. You can trade (1) Lot and the PIP's are only $1. Do this until you get a handle on it. You can open an account for as little as $300 to try to get the hang of it. I would suggest taking a look at FXCM as your broker. Good comany and they offer unlimited demo trading.

Also, educate yourself here. Lots of information available. Go get the book, "Electronic Currency Trading for Maximum Profit" Keith Long and Kurt Walter. This is a good start.


www.fxcm.com
 
Quote from corvus:


Leverage appears better and more controllable in the interbank market, imho. A mini FX contract requires $50 to hold, and each pip is $10, an ideal size for a small, experimental trader. A full size contract requires $2000, and each pip is worth $100; powerful leverage for a trader with experience in the market. A CME Euro FX contract, approximately the same $ size as the full-size interbank contract, requires $1350 at IB and each pip is worth $12.50.
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No one caught this yet, but my math sucks. At least at the brokers I've checked out, the margin is $1/pip on the mini contracts ($10k) and $10/pip on the full-size ($100k). Don't think anyone is offering 500:1 margin... :)

So, hah, you can go ahead and redo all my math.

One futures contract requires $1350 at IB and $2000 in the interbank market through say, FXCM. One pip on the futures contract is $12.50, one pip on the full-size interbank contract is $10. The cost of entry is essentially the same ($39.90 for the futures contract, $40 for the full-size fxcm contract). So, your overhead cost is lower with the futures due to the extra leverage.

And of course, that changes my liquidity argument as well. can you drop 16 contracts in a market order without moving the CME Euro futures? I imagine so...

Doesn't change the guaranteed stops argument, however.
 
Try this for a decent "Free" Charting Program and Data Feed.

You can keep signing up for demo accounts as long as you need. Take my advice, trade from a minimum H4 chart.

The developers are from Russia, so expect a little crazy stuff every once in a while. Set it up now, you can trade on Sunday night. Might fall asleep from boredom though

www.metaquotes.net
 
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