Author Topic: Forex - Anyone here trade? (Read 34314 times)

RJ DRIVER · « **on:** June 19, 2009, 06:25:44 PM »

Anyone here trade Forex. I've been interested in getting started in the market for a while and I'm looking for suggestions. Any reliabel brokers with easy to use patforms. All hints tips and suggestions are appreciated.

sync pulse · « **Reply #1 on:** June 20, 2009, 05:37:36 PM »

Forex seems too good to be true...While there certainly are speculators who make money, most don't.

Straw Man · « **Reply #2 on:** June 28, 2009, 10:27:17 AM »

Quote from: sync pulse on June 20, 2009, 05:37:36 PM

Forex seems too good to be true...While there certainly are speculators who make money, most don't.

I thought the same thing but I swear this is a true story. A very good friend of mine (with no trading experience) took a 50k acct and ran it up to over 2 million in ~ 5 months. The story is even more incredible than that. First he took 25k and lost it all. Then he took his last 50k out of a retirement acct and ran it up to almost 3 million in a few months, then back down to just over a million and then back up to a bit over 2 million. I'd call bullshit too but I know this for a fact.

I've traded Tbond/TNote futures, options and stocks and I know how hard it is to be successful. I've been dabbling (key word) with a simulated trading acct with Forex.com and I've read a few books on the topic, with this one being the best by far (so far):
http://www.amazon.com/Beat-Forex-Dealer-insiders-exchange/dp/0470722088

The simulated platforms are a huge advantage over when I first started trading in the early 90's. Take your time and practice as much as possible and if you go live consider starting with a mini acct and try to limit yourself to a 10 to 1 margin (even though the forex dealers will give your 100 to 1 or more).

RJ DRIVER · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2009, 01:30:05 PM »

Thanks for the help guys. I'm gonna give that book a try it seems like a good read. I've been dabbling on a demo account with moderate success. I was thinking about a $500-1000 nut. Is that too low or is this a good starting point?

Straw Man · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2009, 01:33:20 PM »

Quote from: RJ DRIVER on June 28, 2009, 01:30:05 PM

Thanks for the help guys. I'm gonna give that book a try it seems like a good read. I've been dabbling on a demo account with moderate success. I was thinking about a $500-1000 nut. Is that too low or is this a good starting point?

way too low to trade even one regular lot

start with a mini acct

The ChemistV2 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 28, 2009, 01:36:03 PM »

I've been trading about 2 1/2 years...with mixed results, until recently. About 6 months ago, I started on an automated trading program. After testing lots of chart pattern strategies, I came up with some that work quite well. They trade while I sleep...so I don't watch them and freak out. It eliminates the emotions that screw up your trading.I have one that has a target that's twice as much as my stoploss..so even if it goes down to a 40% win rate( and it usually averages 70%) I still make money. I trade 10 standard lots and in a good month, can make over 30K. But you're right, most people will fail at Forex.

Straw Man · « **Reply #6 on:** June 28, 2009, 02:27:02 PM »

Quote from: The ChemistV2 on June 28, 2009, 01:36:03 PM

I've been trading about 2 1/2 years...with mixed results, until recently. About 6 months ago, I started on an automated trading program. After testing lots of chart pattern strategies, I came up with some that work quite well. They trade while I sleep...so I don't watch them and freak out. It eliminates the emotions that screw up your trading.I have one that has a target that's twice as much as my stoploss..so even if it goes down to a 40% win rate( and it usually averages 70%) I still make money. I trade 10 standard lots and in a good month, can make over 30K. But you're right, most people will fail at Forex.

are you doing a purely mechanical system? (i.e. zero discretion on your part)

do you trade 10 lots in and out at one time or do you scale in/out

what is your personal limit on leverage and loss on any given trade relative to the size of your acct?

The ChemistV2 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2009, 03:25:28 PM »

Quote from: Straw Man on June 28, 2009, 02:27:02 PM

are you doing a purely mechanical system? (i.e. zero discretion on your part)

do you trade 10 lots in and out at one time or do you scale in/out

what is your personal limit on leverage and loss on any given trade relative to the size of your acct?

I have a system that is based on certain chart patterns..not to go into too much detail...but it involves a 360 minute, 240, 180, 60, 15, minute timeframes..works well on pound/yen, pound/us. euro/yen..I program it not to trade or look for a trade untill a certain time of the evening. It gets 90 pip target, 50 pip stop. So, for example if I had 10 standards on pound/yen, it would win about $9000.00 or lose $5,000.00. I have 100 to 1 leverage through my broker..don't scale out..either win or lose. If it goes 50% win rate, it makes 300K plus a year. Like to have about 70 to 80 k in my account to tade at that level in the event I were to have 5 or 6 losing trades, wouldn't be excessive drawdown. The key is in the exits. If you do the math, I can still lose 6 trades out of 10 and make money..

Straw Man · « **Reply #8 on:** June 28, 2009, 03:32:21 PM »

Quote from: The ChemistV2 on June 28, 2009, 03:25:28 PM

I have a system that is based on certain chart patterns..not to go into too much detail...but it involves a 360 minute, 240, 180, 60, 15, minute timeframes..works well on pound/yen, pound/us. euro/yen..I program it not to trade or look for a trade untill a certain time of the evening. It gets 90 pip target, 50 pip stop. So, for example if I had 10 standards on pound/yen, it would win about $9000.00 or lose $5,000.00. I have 100 to 1 leverage through my broker..don't scale out..either win or lose. If it goes 50% win rate, it makes 300K plus a year. Like to have about 70 to 80 k in my account to tade at that level in the event I were to have 5 or 6 losing trades, wouldn't be excessive drawdown. The key is in the exits. If you do the math, I can still lose 6 trades out of 10 and make money..

thanks - I know if you can toggle the win/loss ratio and make your gains 2x your losses/stay emotionally detached etc....you can make money

I've never been totally comfortable with mechanical systems but I also know people who make money with them

I'm much more discretionary but have a decent level of detachment regarding $$$

The ChemistV2 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2009, 03:44:27 PM »

Quote from: Straw Man on June 28, 2009, 03:32:21 PM

thanks - I know if you can toggle the win/loss ratio and make your gains 2x your losses/stay emotionally detached etc....you can make money

I've never been totally comfortable with mechanical systems but I also know people who make money with them

I'm much more discretionary but have a decent level of detachment regarding $$$

The markets has been incredibly choppy lately, so longer term swing strategies aren't working well. So the nice part of this is when i wake up, the trade is over. Part of the software shows you what the trade did, minute by minute during the night..and when I see it, there's no way I could watch the trade for all those hours without intervening out of anxiety or something. The fluctuations are ridiculous. This suits my temperament better. I set it at night, and that's it. I experimented with 100's of chart strategies untill I created this one. I have a few others that work well, but not nearly as consistent. I have found out, no matter what charts look like etc..a lot of price movement seems random. Even a monkey can win 40% of the time..it's just much better when your wins outweigh your losses by nearly double. But the pound/yen is one of the few currencies, and only at a certain time of the night (after approx 3 am eastern standard time in the US.. which corresponds with openings of certain european markets)that lends itself to this strategy.

Straw Man · « **Reply #10 on:** June 28, 2009, 04:32:14 PM »

Quote from: The ChemistV2 on June 28, 2009, 03:44:27 PM

The markets has been incredibly choppy lately, so longer term swing strategies aren't working well. So the nice part of this is when i wake up, the trade is over. Part of the software shows you what the trade did, minute by minute during the night..and when I see it, there's no way I could watch the trade for all those hours without intervening out of anxiety or something. The fluctuations are ridiculous. This suits my temperament better. I set it at night, and that's it. I experimented with 100's of chart strategies untill I created this one. I have a few others that work well, but not nearly as consistent. I have found out, no matter what charts look like etc..a lot of price movement seems random. Even a monkey can win 40% of the time..it's just much better when your wins outweigh your losses by nearly double. But the pound/yen is one of the few currencies, and only at a certain time of the night (after approx 3 am eastern standard time in the US.. which corresponds with openings of certain european markets)that lends itself to this strategy.

thanks - great insight

Straw Man · « **Reply #11 on:** June 29, 2009, 01:14:40 PM »

Quote from: The ChemistV2 on June 28, 2009, 01:36:03 PM

I've been trading about 2 1/2 years...with mixed results, until recently. About 6 months ago, I started on an automated trading program. After testing lots of chart pattern strategies, I came up with some that work quite well. They trade while I sleep...so I don't watch them and freak out. It eliminates the emotions that screw up your trading.I have one that has a target that's twice as much as my stoploss..so even if it goes down to a 40% win rate( and it usually averages 70%) I still make money. I trade 10 standard lots and in a good month, can make over 30K. But you're right, most people will fail at Forex.

Can I ask what program you're using for these trades. Are you writing the program yourself? Which broker are you using?

Thanks

The ChemistV2 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 29, 2009, 02:50:12 PM »

It's called CommandTrade FX,,,only drawback to it is the price, which runs about 5k. I use MB trading for the broker.

RJ DRIVER · « **Reply #13 on:** September 10, 2009, 06:55:38 PM »

So I've been trading with a live money account for about a month now with moderate success. I've been using Alpari us as a broker and its ok but the levarage taps out at 100:1. Do you guys know anything about FXOPEN. I know its an egyptian dealer so they are not bound by US law but they offer 500:1 leverage and since my nut is pretty small I find that leverage pretty attractive.

240 is Back · « **Reply #14 on:** September 10, 2009, 08:50:19 PM »

great stuff!!

alejandro_torres · « **Reply #15 on:** September 16, 2009, 04:18:50 PM »

MY lil bro does it a lot, he just works as a trader, makes big bucks each day

He started with 15k, made 5 k in 3 hours and lost it all in the next few days, that was due to over leveraging and working on fridays...

then my dad loaned him 100k after a few months and he made quite a lot of money, he duplicates his account every so and so weeks, which is pretty damm good... he is 19 fucking years old and can retire with the money he made in forex... I know its true and would like to encourage anyone willing to learn, I myself help my bro with trading at nights, and am willing to help any getbigger that wants to go into the forex market!

what i would suggest is use the meta trader

dont trade on fridays

DONT OVER LEVERAGE

USE A GOOD BROKER( fxcm, forex.com, ducascopy are good ones)

If anyone needs help, just feel free to pm me about anything related to the forex market!

alejandro_torres · « **Reply #16 on:** September 16, 2009, 04:23:29 PM »

and yes, you can make a lot of money doing forex you can also LOOSE A LOT OF MONEY DOING FOREX

what I would recomend is get educated, download e books, babypips.com is a good web page to lear some shit, go to the forums, just like bb, there are so many forums about making money its not funny!

brooklynbruiser · « **Reply #17 on:** September 16, 2009, 11:32:23 PM »

Great info about something I've always had a wary interest in!

Why doesn't your bro get out while he's on top, Alejandro? I've always wondered that about the stock market.

alejandro_torres · « **Reply #18 on:** September 17, 2009, 01:31:31 AM »

Quote from: brooklynbruiser on September 16, 2009, 11:32:23 PM

Great info about something I've always had a wary interest in!

Why doesn't your bro get out while he's on top, Alejandro? I've always wondered that about the stock market.

Well, I know that he is investing half of what he makes each week buying houses and putting some money at fixed interest rates and saveing some here and there, the family has business here in paraguay, so we are well of, what my bro wants to do is keep on doing this for the next 5 to 10 years, then retire, but he has made a lot, and taken out from his account a lot of money. He does it cause its not hard work, its just plain boring at some times, you can see a movie while you trade, its a nice job. The only thing is that you need to maximise your profit, cause out of 10 trade, maybe 3 o 4 you are going to loos money in. And when you have a BIG account, you can just wait on the market and hold losses for a period of time till they turn aroud. Its a pretty good biz to have it, but you need to know a lot about it and be willing to loose money at first.

And he is 19 years old... hahaha

brooklynbruiser · « **Reply #19 on:** September 17, 2009, 06:47:51 AM »

Most excellent! Thanks for responding so quickly! I'm going to check out babypips!

Quote from: alejandro_torres on September 17, 2009, 01:31:31 AM

Well, I know that he is investing half of what he makes each week buying houses and putting some money at fixed interest rates and saveing some here and there, the family has business here in paraguay, so we are well of, what my bro wants to do is keep on doing this for the next 5 to 10 years, then retire, but he has made a lot, and taken out from his account a lot of money. He does it cause its not hard work, its just plain boring at some times, you can see a movie while you trade, its a nice job. The only thing is that you need to maximise your profit, cause out of 10 trade, maybe 3 o 4 you are going to loos money in. And when you have a BIG account, you can just wait on the market and hold losses for a period of time till they turn aroud. Its a pretty good biz to have it, but you need to know a lot about it and be willing to loose money at first.

And he is 19 years old... hahaha

alejandro_torres · « **Reply #20 on:** September 17, 2009, 08:52:59 PM »

Quote from: brooklynbruiser on September 17, 2009, 06:47:51 AM

Most excellent! Thanks for responding so quickly! I'm going to check out babypips!

you can check babypips.com also for news go to the fxcm site they got good news and pop auto as soon as they are happening, for daily reviews, subscribe to the ducascopy daily review. the bloomberg site on the net is good too, to se how the market is doing!

there is a system of trading forex signals that I use too, its called FOREXOMA, they give you the best signals ever for buying and selling, it costs 100 dollars per month but on average you can make from 500 to 800 pips with them a month, so its worth every penny of it!

brooklynbruiser · « **Reply #21 on:** September 17, 2009, 09:31:53 PM »

Reading babypips now, actually! Thanks for all the good info!

alejandro_torres · « **Reply #22 on:** September 18, 2009, 10:52:28 PM »

no problem bro, just ask anything you want!

Eyeball Chambers · « **Reply #23 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:24:10 PM »

I just purchased 50k of NZD/USD on a simulator. I made a lot of money quickly, but how exactly? I used my US Dollars to purchase Newzealand Dollars and they (the NZD) gained value?

RJ DRIVER · « **Reply #24 on:** September 25, 2009, 05:51:59 AM »

Quote from: RPF on September 24, 2009, 08:24:10 PM

I just purchased 50k of NZD/USD on a simulator. I made a lot of money quickly, but how exactly? I used my US Dollars to purchase Newzealand Dollars and they (the NZD) gained value?

Its a speculative market. Go to the link that AT posted, Babypips.com, its chalked full of info.