How Long Does It Take to Make $5000/Mo Consistent Profit?

[cowcool 10]

Hi Guys:),

 

I am a newbiew in Forex but am very comitted to master trading, I don't mind spend 70 hours/week or more to master Forex trading. In fact I don't see learning Forex as working ,it is fun for me and enjoyable.

 

A little about me :

 

I am a small business owner. I lost a lot of money and a house in mutual fund and stock trading in 2008. I was totally devastated because of this. This occurence has caused me to be a very risk averse person.

 

Lost a lot of money because :

 

- Over confidence

- I used money that I can't afford to lose

- Emotional factors

- Money management

- Noob skill in trading.

- Other classic noob mistakes

 

Lessons learned , it's a lesson that I will never forget for life because the experience was so painful, The desire to be a full time, profitable trader never completely ceased though.

 

I now want to go back into trading after 5 years.

 

What I am going to do :

 

- I will focus on psychology, RR and money management. I will try everything to enforce discipline.

 

- I will pick a simple, yet proven trading system at Forex Factory. http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=291622'>http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=291622

 

and will stick to this system only until I master it, won't waste my time playing/experimenting with other systems.

 

- I will quit my small business and get into forex full time. The business has not been profitable for the last 3 years anyway and I don't enjoy it but with trading it feels different, it doesn't feel like work at all.It feels fun.

 

What I have :

 

- I have $ 125.000 saving. $ 80.000 will be enough to cover my expenseses for 2 years. After 2 years of learning Forex , I will be left with $ 45.000.

 

Questions :

 

- Is it possible for me to make consistent $ 5000/Mo through Forex after 2 years or hopefully 1 year using seed money of $ 45.000?

 

I will only learn and apply 1 proven trading system , http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=291622

I will focus on psychology, RR and money management. I will try everything to enforce discipline.

 

 

Thanks

[tradingwizzard 10]

hi there......you are talking about a 10% on a monthly basis and the problem is not the return but what you should do for that return........firstly, to reach that on a constant basis is a problem trading all financial products because let's say in one month you are having only 7% and still 5 trading days in the week.......what do you do to get the other 3 %? most likely overleverage, and this is the recipe for failure.......second, while trading can be tought, human nature plays tricks with us all the time and you are most likely to have the most difficulties with this part, like any other trader........last but not least, try to base your trading on your own system......in this way you will have more trust in it.......good luck anyways

[MightyMouse 12]

Hi Guys:),

 

I am a newbiew in Forex but am very comitted to master trading, I don't mind spend 70 hours/week or more to master Forex trading. In fact I don't see learning Forex as working ,it is fun for me and enjoyable.

 

A little about me :

 

I am a small business owner. I lost a lot of money and a house in mutual fund and stock trading in 2008. I was totally devastated because of this. This occurence has caused me to be a very risk averse person.

 

Lost a lot of money because :

 

- Over confidence

- I used money that I can't afford to lose

- Emotional factors

- Money management

- Noob skill in trading.

- Other classic noob mistakes

 

Lessons learned , it's a lesson that I will never forget for life because the experience was so painful, The desire to be a full time, profitable trader never completely ceased though.

 

I now want to go back into trading after 5 years.

 

What I am going to do :

 

- I will focus on psychology, RR and money management. I will try everything to enforce discipline.

 

- I will pick a simple, yet proven trading system at Forex Factory. Trading Made Simple @ Forex Factory

 

and will stick to this system only until I master it, won't waste my time playing/experimenting with other systems.

 

- I will quit my small business and get into forex full time. The business has not been profitable for the last 3 years anyway and I don't enjoy it but with trading it feels different, it doesn't feel like work at all.It feels fun.

 

What I have :

 

- I have $ 125.000 saving. $ 80.000 will be enough to cover my expenseses for 2 years. After 2 years of learning Forex , I will be left with $ 45.000.

 

Questions :

 

- Is it possible for me to make consistent $ 5000/Mo through Forex after 2 years or hopefully 1 year using seed money of $ 45.000?

 

I will only learn and apply 1 proven trading system , Trading Made Simple @ Forex Factory

I will focus on psychology, RR and money management. I will try everything to enforce discipline.

 

 

Thanks

 

You lost a house to mutual funds?

 

I am going to predict that in 2 years your 45,000 will either be gone or your account will grow to 500,000 and then be gone if you keep trading.

 

You are a cowboy.

 

Good luck

[BlueHorseshoe 10]

 

- Is it possible for me to make consistent $ 5000/Mo through Forex after 2 years or hopefully 1 year using seed money of $ 45.000?

 

I will only learn and apply 1 proven trading system

 

Hi,

 

Try not to get bogged down in all this nonsense about "becoming a professional trader". If you want to be a "professional" then concentrate on getting yourself interviews at investment banks etc . . . If your main aim is to grow your principal then growing your principal should be your absolute and sole concern, and all you need do is look objectively for the best way to do this.

 

Pissing your money away trying to daytrade some claptrap system from a forum is really not the way forward . . . Look at investing the bulk of your capital in something low risk that will give you a reasonable rate of return, and then get a job to replace the income from your failed business so that you can compound your returns rather than drawing them off to cover your day-to-day expenses. This is life. This is reality. 100% yearly returns unfortunately are not.

 

Best wishes,

 

BlueHorseshoe

[zupcon 10]

Traders don't make consistent profits,

 

You might think they do, and the vendors at trading forums will tell you they do, but take a long hard look at anyone with a public track record, and you'll see the reality.

 

As a general rule, traders don't consistently achieve returns in excess of 100% per annum, but you expect to achieve this in only 2 years. In order to get anywhere near those numbers you'll need to be trading with leverage, maybe not insane leverage, but probably a lot more leverage than a risk adverse person would be comfortable with.

 

What happens if you need 3 years to become profitable ? Or 4 years ? 125 grands a nice chunk of capital, but personally id say that you are grossly under capitalized to even begin considering trading full time. You might make it in 2 years, but very few do. Personally I'd scale back a bit, try working on some longer term methods and hold off taking the leap until I'd hit break even, then start scaling up.

 

 

The biggest obstacle in your way are your expectations. You think consistent profitability is achievable, even though all documentary evidence shows it isn't possible. You think 10 to 15% a month is achievable at low risk, its not, make no mistake, leverage is dangerous.

 

by asking these kinds of questions on trading forums you pretty much know someones going to tell you its achievable, although to be fair, most of the responses here have been brutally honest, I suspect if you asked the same question at babypips or the zoo, you'd be swamped with vendors telling you how easy it is.

 

No doubt someone will use the argument that just because I can't consistently make 15% a month that doesn't mean no one else can, but the fact remains, there's amost no one out there with publically audited track records who can either. That doesn't mean you can't be profitable, or make a lot of money, or have great years from time to time, but consistency is very difficult to achieve,

[steve46 12]

Many factors affect the progress of a student toward profitability....including background education, previous experience, motivation, basic aptitude, ability to regulate emotional response to stress....etc.

 

What I have found is that you have to be able to size up a person and provide what they need in a way that allows them to take the material in (to internalize the data), to ask the questions they need to ask, and to become comfortable with your system...(to see if the shoe fits)....

 

That seems to take from a week to a month....

 

Then there is the question of efficacy....the system must produce positive results right away...there are many reasons for this....the most obvious is that the vendor/mentor is selling both education and a systematic approach....if either of them are not "right" the whole thing is (in my opinion) worthless....what I notice is vendors with problematic systems or who are unable to connect with students tend to blame it on the student....and students who don't have the proper re-requisites or motivation, do the same in reverse...

 

Assuming one has all the ducks in a row....my students generally take about 2 months to learn enough to participate and make money....how much is relative to their account size, and how consistently relates to each person's self-discipline and ability to regulate emotional response.

 

If I see a person is making headway and is showing talent I use money to motivate them as follows.....I charge them $200/mo to begin....they take the basic course....if they pass the course, they are asked to leave and to prove to themselves that they can do this....

 

If they ask to come back (for any reason) we start again at $200/mo and they have to make that back each month to stay.....if they can demonstrate that they can do this, the fee goes to $200/week, and again they have to show me that they can more than make that amount in a week.....if they cannot we go back to the original basis and work out the problems, if they CAN (demonstrate that skill level) then I ask them to leave again....and the goal at that point is to make at least $200/wk for at least 2 months....if they can, they don't need me anymore and I wish them well....its called "behavioral modification" and it works very well....

 

 

 

Hope this helps someone out there...

 

Steve

[SIUYA 11]

Friday ramblings....

aiming for consistency is what will probably kill you......you might get 8 mths of profits and then blow it all.

 

why not take half the money and go for a big kill early on.....try and make the 100% in a few months. Then stop.

Odds are this is a better bet than aiming for consistency - as others has mentioned this game is generally not about consistency. Its about waiting for opportunities.

just a thought......

[steve46 12]

consistency is affected by skill level and by the nature of the systematic approach...as one example

 

I started a new class a few days ago....to date no losses.....the approach I use gets me in safely and very accurately....once in the market I take initial profit very quickly (1-2 points).

 

At that point I simply manage the position looking for price to resume the primary trend (no counter trend entries for students during my classes)....

 

The result is that I can provide significant psychological comfort upfront, knowing that if I take a loss it is going to be insignificant as compared with the potential winners. It took quite a long time to get to this point, but once there, it means that students quickly see light at the end of the tunnel...and that motivates them to stay with it and make the necessary changes (like learning to regulate emotions during the session.)

 

Generally speaking people here have had negative (or no) experience with skilled mentors, so this tend to arouse skeptics....personally don't care...and my current students (one night and one day session) are TL members so if they want to....they can comment on their own...

[bobcollett 10]

Hi,

 

Try not to get bogged down in all this nonsense about "becoming a professional trader". If you want to be a "professional" then concentrate on getting yourself interviews at investment banks etc . . . If your main aim is to grow your principal then growing your principal should be your absolute and sole concern, and all you need do is look objectively for the best way to do this.

 

Pissing your money away trying to daytrade some claptrap system from a forum is really not the way forward . . . Look at investing the bulk of your capital in something low risk that will give you a reasonable rate of return, and then get a job to replace the income from your failed business so that you can compound your returns rather than drawing them off to cover your day-to-day expenses. This is life. This is reality. 100% yearly returns unfortunately are not.

 

Best wishes,

 

BlueHorseshoe

 

Hi cowcool

Read the above 20 times.

And then sleep on it.

And go and get that job.

It takes years and years and...........

kind regards

bobc

PS Its like life, I was born handsome , you were born rich , and some of us can trade.... LUCK

[steve46 12]

I think one of the problems I have with forums is that the people who post say things that ARE partially true....and unfortunately the rest of the comment is so far from the truth that taken as a whole there is very little value for the person who may have asked the original question...

 

Trading is one thing.....and there ARE professionals, and amateurs who trade, some better than others, possessed of more or less talent, discipline focus motivation.....to intraday trade the S&P futures is very difficult....however it can be done....and it can be taught...yes it is difficult to find the right combination of teacher and system....but there are some out there...

 

I assume an adult knows that they should learn financial management skills.....learning how to invest in different time frames and different asset classes is called "diversification"....if a person isn't financially literate, they should address that deficit and learn to manage money...

 

If we are talking about trading (that's what this thread is about) THAT is a different subject altogether...and I tend to focus on the job at hand....

 

I had a similar conversation with person wanting to get into the class today....they wanted to know whether I was oriented to the intraday or longer time frame trade....I told them that success in this business is about recognizing opportunity on several time frames and learning to adopt the correct approach for each (opportunity)....what matters is learning to "recognize" opportunity....that comes first....then learning how to capitalize on it...is logically the second step....

[Mysticforex 13]

Friday ramblings....

aiming for consistency is what will probably kill you......you might get 8 mths of profits and then blow it all.

 

why not take half the money and go for a big kill early on.....try and make the 100% in a few months. Then stop.

Odds are this is a better bet than aiming for consistency - as others has mentioned this game is generally not about consistency. Its about waiting for opportunities.

just a thought......

 

Siuya has a good point. After all, the less time spent in actual trades, the less time spent exposed to risk.

 

Bluehorseshoe is right. If you want to be a "Professional Trader", apply for a job at a bank.

Most of us ( I think) are what is known as "Retail Traders".

 

In any event, Good Luck !

[tradingwizzard 10]

I think one of the problems I have with forums is that the people who post say things that ARE partially true....and unfortunately the rest of the comment is so far from the truth that taken as a whole there is very little value for the person who may have asked the original question...

 

Trading is one thing.....and there ARE professionals, and amateurs who trade, some better than others, possessed of more or less talent, discipline focus motivation.....to intraday trade the S&P futures is very difficult....however it can be done....and it can be taught...yes it is difficult to find the right combination of teacher and system....but there are some out there...

 

I assume an adult knows that they should learn financial management skills.....learning how to invest in different time frames and different asset classes is called "diversification"....if a person isn't financially literate, they should address that deficit and learn to manage money...

 

If we are talking about trading (that's what this thread is about) THAT is a different subject altogether...and I tend to focus on the job at hand....

 

I had a similar conversation with person wanting to get into the class today....they wanted to know whether I was oriented to the intraday or longer time frame trade....I told them that success in this business is about recognizing opportunity on several time frames and learning to adopt the correct approach for each (opportunity)....what matters is learning to "recognize" opportunity....that comes first....then learning how to capitalize on it...is logically the second step....

 

agree........and this second step is the tricky one

[BlueHorseshoe 10]

I think one of the problems I have with forums is that the people who post say things that ARE partially true....

 

I think one of the good things about forums is that lots of people people post things that are partially true, and each offer different perspectives - the intelligent reader can pick through these and take from them what he/she finds of value . . .

 

Much better than relying soley on the utterances of a revered "mentor" in my opinion

 

BlueHorseshoe

[timratliff1 10]

It is certainly doable to make a consistent income day trading but most can't do it because they don't trade a proven methodology, have the wrong expectations, and don't have the proper trading psychology. The pro day traders that I know set achievable daily goals, hit those goals, and then stop trading. A big part of being consistently profitable is stopping when you're ahead. Most retail traders won't do that and end up giving it all back and then some. To see how a pro day trader actually trades, check out the head trader at eminmoney.

[realforexer 10]

with the trading plan you mentioned, and you experience a capital of $45,000, it is possible for you to make $5,000 monthly after trading for 2 years. Just know that it may not be constituently $5,000. There are months when you will make more than that amount, and there are other times you will make less than that it will all depend of factors that affect the market for that trading month.

[prax 10]

2 years, if you done everything right, 5-10% are reachable. the psychology is the key and tricky part of any manual trading. often most expert said need 80% of psychology trade, and 20% of analysis. dont buy it, i do mean it. fact is no one would ever achieve a constant mental state while trading, and required to have such mental state for each trade, each day, every month! unless you're buddha dont ever think a bout it.

what we can do is, develop a trading strategy, a system would good enough to replace 80% psychological needs, trading plan consist 80% pure analysis, and let 20% on psychological so we can trade always at ease.

[ScottColeFTA 10]

Never, ever quit your day job to start trading for a living.