Can I ask how many of you actually make a living trading?

Hi yes i do mean as a retail trader. I wonder as a professional employed by a firm how do you guys view the retail trader?

GammaJammer said:
Well I do ok, but I suspect you meant as a retail trader right? Rather than working for a firm...
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Thanks, I appreciate your response

special4x said:
JA54 said:
Hi all

being new to full time trading i was wondering how many of you make a living trading. I am taking advantage of redundancy to attempt to be a real trader and make this my occupation. I'd just like to hear from you how you fair[/QUOTE/

Here are a couple of questions I would ask myself to start with.
1) How much money do I need to make in a year to give my family a good standard of living?
2) How much money can I afford to lose; and can I cope with the inevitable losses?
When we start browsing T2W, FF & the WWW, the volume of trading information is overwhelming. We're inundated with the prognostications of the well-meaning (me) lol. and the cynical.
This is all I will say at the moment, because when I start - the words - they just keep a-comin'.
To answer your question. It's all relative. Yes, I make a good living trading Forex; that's to say, a good living for me. I retired early so that I could trade at my leisure, (see my profile for more) I have a pension, and I'm guessing that my financial commitments are much less than yours. And, luckily for me, I don't have to trade with 'scared money'.
However, we are fortunate in the UK inasmuch as we have access to fixed-odds betting and spread-betting, which allows us to trade small, make money, and no tax to pay!
Aren't we lucky?
So go for it! Start the learning-curve. You'll find that most traders will be happy to help you on your trading journey.
If you want any further ramblings from an ever-so-slightly-off-the-wall, trader. Just ask.
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I really want to thank everyone for your responses, all of your comments have been valuable. I asked the question to satisfy myself that there are those with experience who take this seriously, and if I am prepared to follow through on this there will be a reward at the end, maybe not my first million but at the very least being able to review my trading diary in a year and say yep I called more correctly than wrong.

Thanks again everyone
 
I will advice you study the markets, get materials and read, develop a trading system for yourself and don't get greedy. If you do these, you will surely make a living from betonmarkets
 
I will advice you study the markets, get materials and read, develop a trading system for yourself and don't get greedy. If you do these, you will surely make a living from betonmarkets
 
jacknard2 said:
I will advice you study the markets, get materials and read, develop a trading system for yourself and don't get greedy. If you do these, you will surely make a living from betonmarkets
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Is this a plug for betonmarkets.....?
 
I don't think many people started trading to just make a living, most would probably do better in a job. I know I didn't . Most enter trading because They want to have more than just a living. This is not so much about greed or having money stashed in the bank. It is more to do with freedom .

I remember along the way, that everytime i had a breakthrough, i would say to myself that i never have to work for anyone else again. Although i beleived it at the time, it never quite materialised that way.

I guess my point is that to reach very basic level in trading success can take a long time, then to make a living can take longer and to have total freedom and success much longer. This field is unlike any other profession.

Just be careful what you study, trading is a lot simpler than you will actually make it. though you will not know this in the beginning.

Have your own performance expectations but none of the market.
Know what is meant by the psychological factor of the market and how that relates to you on a personal level.

Follow your discipline.

To follow your discipline, you first must define what your discipline is.

This is the difficult part and the one which can lead you to start looking for a holy grail. Know before you begin what that should be for you. Because it is within you and not in a PDF you will find on the net.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
i think you should learn about lots of thing on trade,such as the markets.prepare well before you do.
 
Not true. I know a few people making a decent living from trading the markets.

But you need a system and stick to it. The system depends on your timeframe.

If you work fulltime, you can do swing trading and adopt a bias according to how the markets are moving

If you want this fulltime, you could try joining a trading firm.
 
I guess you should learn to walk before trying to run.
When you know how to trade, to make a living its just a matter of decision. By the other hand, it does not matter if you want to, if you dont know how to trade you can not consider to make a living yet.
First things first, learn.
 
fayalac said:
I guess you should learn to walk before trying to run.
When you know how to trade, to make a living its just a matter of decision. By the other hand, it does not matter if you want to, if you dont know how to trade you can not consider to make a living yet.
First things first, learn.
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You have to be making a living from trading before you give up your job. In other words, one foot, not both feet.

That is why we get so many posts asking if is possible to make money from trading, instead of working it out for themselves. That question does not need third party opinions, but it makes a thread.
 
Apparently you can ask the question "how many of you actually make a living trading?" but it appears that you will not get the answer you are looking for. It seems that the vast majority of people on this form (myself included) would all ultimately like to make a living trading, but very few of us have been able to achieve this goal. Or at least that is the impression im getting from all the people who are quick to offer some profound advice, but don't actually state that they do in fact make a living by trading.
 
jowsom said:
Apparently you can ask the question "how many of you actually make a living trading?" but it appears that you will not get the answer you are looking for. It seems that the vast majority of people on this form (myself included) would all ultimately like to make a living trading, but very few of us have been able to achieve this goal. Or at least that is the impression im getting from all the people who are quick to offer some profound advice, but don't actually state that they do in fact make a living by trading.
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I disagree. I think there are more than a few on here that make a living trading on here, you only have to take a look around the forums to realise that. Its just they dont feel the need to crow about it.
 
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