Make a living trading FOREX?

I have been trading differnt thing for years now, started in equities for a few years, then futures, now for the past 1.5 years forex. I am a trader so I believe you can adapt and trade anything, no matter what it is. I do love FX, just for the hours alone, I love trading so there fore it gives me more oppurtunities to trade. I just became self sufficent in forex, in terms of making a living. After a year and a half, now I dont have another job and made sure to put enough a way so I can focus, but I went thru everything and tried lots of different ways to trade forex. I am a scalper by nature with an impaitent personality, but I had heard 30 60 and 240 min charts were the way to go. I dont mind the bigger stops, but couldnt let the profits run that long becuase of my nature. I tried to fight it but you cannot fight it. I did come to a happy median in FX that allowed me to become profitable and make a living at it. I now trade 10 min charts, naked , only 1 indicator -stochastics. It is lagging but I use it to gauge my trades not for entry. I basically trade pure price action, looking for a run and either making higher highs or higher lows or vice versa, then I jump in along for the ride becuase I am riding pure PA. I came to the ephiphany, that the most simple way to trade actually works. If you stare at it long enough you will see it. I kicked myself afterwards for wasting time. I have seen Cabletrader make his trades and what he talks about, he is pretty right on. People just need to trade what they see, so fancy crap going on just trade the action. That will put you in a better place and put the probabilities on your side. I used to be in the camp that was like if rsi hit 80, macd crossed the zero line, it was on top of bb band . and a million other triggers, I would take the trade, its all crap. Trade what you see , use prudent MM. All will be ok. Whether its forex or futures or equities , trading is trading. Sure you want a good broker, but if your scalping for 1 pip at a time, it will be tougher. But if your looking for 10-15 pips a trade the broker is not going to make or break it for you. If you are having trouble and think you are getting stopped out by a broker, then your stops are to close for the trade you are taking. And for the record, I use GFT, not the best spreads in the business but decent, also very stable system never had errant spikes, and good customer service. I have used Gain thru Tradestation as well. The only bad thing about GFT is their charting abilities if thats what you are looking for. I use Tradestation fro charting.
 
Quote from shiko2000:

mjl, my only advise is to ignore those who tell you it cannot be done. Those who say this are loser traders.
I started demo trading Forex in May 21, 2008. Live money since September 2008.
And I already trade OPM. because I listen to no one but only myself and positive people. which create right environment to succeed.
Just learn from your mistakes, think and practice. Trade with low leverage and good risk control.
Aim to trade OPM if you have no own capital.

Good luck to everyone!
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If you don't mind me asking, how do you trade OPM? Do you need to register as a CTA and set up your trading account differently? Thanks.
 
Hey David, yeah still trucking along, I didnt give up along the way :) Just tried to focus and stay away from the negativity until I got my trading down pat, where atleast now I follow my rules, win or lose :) How are things with you, going well?
 
Quote from rsikit:

Hey David, yeah still trucking along, I didnt give up along the way :) Just tried to focus and stay away from the negativity until I got my trading down pat, where atleast now I follow my rules, win or lose :) How are things with you, going well?
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Good. Still just a hobby for me. Real money, just small size. But, positive account growth, I'll add size as warranted.
 
Quote from rsikit:

\ I now trade 10 min charts, naked , only 1 indicator -stochastics.
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Now that I dont have any roommates I often find myself trading with no clothes on as well. Fitting that a "swing" trader would have an exhibitionist streak.

no stochastics tho and Ive turned to just using the charts at forexhelp dot com. I pull it up around 7pm EST and if I dont see a trade entry level I like right away I turn the screen off before I start hallucinating patterns and S&R lines.

I have like two setups, and my trading is split 95/5 between the two. Ive cut out all cute position sizing games and only trade euro and dollar yen. Its getting more boring yet more consistent. Im reading about c# so maybe I can automate it, but not sure it would be optimal.
 
well i find day trading and all trading really easy......OK flame me ET'ers


Do I make massive money? No.

do i make money every day/week? No

Do I make consistent profits? Yes.

Do I trade like a maniac? No. 1 or 2 trades a day and that's it. Follow my rules. Small losses. Hopefully bigger winners. Take small risks. That's it. Dead easy. I think many make it out to be much harder than it really is.
 
Forex trading can be done anywhere in the world, as long as there is internet available.

I'm not sure if anyone ever lived solely on forex trading alone. I'm sure there are others out there who did it successfully, otherwise it wouldn't be huge as it is today.

Just a thought:D
 
Quote from 5of7:

I live and breathe autotrading forex, and have done it for a very long time. I assure you it can be done, and money can be made.

That being said, it is the number one thing I enjoy most in life. I love every part of it, think about it every waking moment, and go to sleep thinking about how to solve that evenings little problem. I just love the whole thing. Combine that with the fact that I can write code as easy I am writing this little post. It comes easy to me, and I really, really enjoy writing code too.

So the point of that whole paragraph is that for some reason I am built for it, and it works for me. When I meet people at seminars and things and they find out what I do, everyone wants to do it too and ask how to start.

The best analogy I could think of is playing the violin. If you wanted to play the violin for a living, you could take lessons, read every book, hire a mentor and the whole nine yards.

But, if you are approaching it like a job, I can tell you that the violin thing will never work out for you. It's one thing to make sound come out of a violin, and an entirely different thing to make music come out of it. But if you truly love it, and have some talent, you will get music to come out of it (not just that scratchy sound that hurts our ears).

So ask yourself how much you really enjoy forex and trading. If you do enjoy it, then hire a mentor, buy every book, it won't matter. You will enjoy the process, have fun the whole way, and eventually you will make music.

Lastly I can say that autotrading is only "a way" of trading. Paramount to all trading is money management. I see people with commercial EAs blow out their accounts because they we were underfunded, and see others doing well and surviving the ebbs and flows. I also know some who cracked things like FAP, made it their own and are doing really well. But those people use awesome money management, have multiple EA's and don't live or die by any EA or any trade.

But bottom line to it all is to do what you love.

Trader 5of7
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5of7,

Thanks for the insight on successfully autotrading. I have been @ trading for a few yrs now. In that time, I've come to the conclusion that for my personality type, automating a strategy that I've devised and refined to be completely mechanized would be in my best interest. However, I am still spotty on the money management. Would it be possible for you to expound further on the topic since it has application to ALL trading styles, but more specifically to successfully autotrading? I'm not sure if the OP will have an issue w/ this and if so, I apologize and will move it to another thread.

Best Regards,

FFL
 
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