Forex Day Trading

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Anyone here invest much in the Forex market?

I have a few friends who do. So I decided to watch a bunch of videos, read as much as I can, and talk to as many people as I can.

This past week, I opened up a "Demo" account with a broker. I've been playing making trades based on what I've learned so far. I started the "Demo" account with $2000, and with a 200:1 leverage. This week I've made about $1000 in make-believe money.

I'm a trying to learn technical trading. Most of my positions that I take in the market are held from 10 seconds to maybe an hour.

Anyone here dabble in Forex?
 
you need to compare your alpha though. If you just dumped that same position into sp500 or total stock market for the week you probably also would've been way up too with less work.
 
Invest for the long term in index funds.

You buy on leverage a ton of shares to make a nickel a share and then get out. Could easily go the other way.

If the highly paid fund managers with lots of staff cannot always pick good stocks to buy, what makes you think you can??
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
Anyone here invest much in the Forex market?

I have a few friends who do. So I decided to watch a bunch of videos, read as much as I can, and talk to as many people as I can.

This past week, I opened up a "Demo" account with a broker. I've been playing making trades based on what I've learned so far. I started the "Demo" account with $2000, and with a 200:1 leverage. This week I've made about $1000 in make-believe money.

I'm a trying to learn technical trading. Most of my positions that I take in the market are held from 10 seconds to maybe an hour.

Anyone here dabble in Forex?
Tried this about 6 years ago...when you invest in the say dollar/yen for example, be sure you put in upstop or down stops so if you start to lose money, your stops will close you out and you will not lose so much...never invest more then 2 to 8 percent of your money, you will last longer and not go broke...I made some money, but finally after a year lost it all,,about 1500 dollars, to many variables around the world can shake you down,,there are 1000 of variables, ,read all you can, and there are webinars you can get into..its a big boys game,,,stocks are better if you have the money..good luck ...just be careful with your budget,,,
 
I was interested in forex trading several years ago but a knowledgeable friend said that anyone seriously attempting this should take at least two years to learn ( in a virtual context ) and educate yourself before putting yourself in a position where one bad trade can potentially wipe out most of what you have. I don't think trading currency movement is for me.
 
Did this about 8 years ago.
Had about $1,000 split into 2 500.
This was learning money for wifey. (had a friend with lots of time who did well)

A new baby and a crazy market does not make for good research time tough.

Both money evaporated when the market went down, and even with the stop orders, somehow it/software got stuck and we saw the money evaporating...

Did I tell you my first paycheck was $100? {insert sad face}
 
I tried it but it wasn't for me. I had more fun with DWTI and WTI.
 
It is more trading than "investing". I use options in conjunction with the futures to limit downside risk. Delta neutral trading...don't have to guess which direction. Can be safe just make sure you use options to set the parameters of the profit / loss profile. Can wipe your funds out quick if not careful.
 
This is basically buying different monies and then reselling those monies when the exchange rate nets a profit right?

I know there is a high speed version of this that is done with algorithms, but can this be done slowly by an individual and still net a profit?
 
Yes, I don't compete on the day trading level. I am looking for trades 1-3 Months out. That is were I am able to make some money. Been doing this since 16 years old. I use spread sheets to calculate Thetas, Deltas, etc. Secret is to understand your risk each and every trade. Need enough volatility either direction to be successful at Delta Neutral Trading.
 
Good read to learn technicals. John J. Murphy's "Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets". First book I ever read on investing. I rely on technicals for everything personally and professionally.
 
Originally Posted By: pandus13
Did this about 8 years ago.
Had about $1,000 split into 2 500.
This was learning money for wifey. (had a friend with lots of time who did well)

A new baby and a crazy market does not make for good research time tough.

Both money evaporated when the market went down, and even with the stop orders, somehow it/software got stuck and we saw the money evaporating...

Did I tell you my first paycheck was $100? {insert sad face}



I understand that,,,it ,ur money can go fast..was a learning experience..
 
Practice accounts are BULL &^%@! because they do not count for slippage and the real order flow process in markets, along with how, if, at what price, and when you get filled, and more importantly, commissions and data costs.

Try it with real money and see what happens! I tried my hand at day trading several different markets with my hard earned real money, and I can tell you it is emotionally and psychologically exhausting, at least it was for me. I did SP500 e-mini futures (the BIG contract, the one everyone and their mother trades), I did 30 year t bond futures, and dollar yen. All in total I barely broke even. That's when I backed the chart out to daily, weekly, and monthly and said screw trying to pull money out of the tiny little random market gyrations based on "technical indicators".

Keep trying it with fake money, then, if you have some play money, try it for real. It's quite different, and if you don't pay for level II data, you can get burned real fast. In the microcosm of short timeframe trading, there are what are called BSD traders (look it up) and large institutions that know little guys are sitting in their basements looking at moving averages and MACD and trying to decipher the trend of the market, and when trend turns from one direction to the other and the sheep jump aboard, the algo BSDs will jump in and rip it a few ticks the other way and knock out short term stops, and take your money. They do this back and forth, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
 
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Yes, I am a Certified Financial Planner. That is why I don't day trade Drew...too many big institutions trading those strategies. 1-3 Months works well for me. Highly recommend using options in trading futures, commodities, forex, etc. Keep you from catastrophic losses.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Practice accounts are BULL &^%@! because they do not count for slippage and the real order flow process in markets, along with how, if, at what price, and when you get filled, and more importantly, commissions and data costs.

Try it with real money and see what happens! I tried my hand at day trading several different markets with my hard earned real money, and I can tell you it is emotionally and psychologically exhausting, at least it was for me. I did SP500 e-mini futures (the BIG contract, the one everyone and their mother trades), I did 30 year t bond futures, and dollar yen. All in total I barely broke even. That's when I backed the chart out to daily, weekly, and monthly and said screw trying to pull money out of the tiny little random market gyrations based on "technical indicators".

Keep trying it with fake money, then, if you have some play money, try it for real. It's quite different, and if you don't pay for level II data, you can get burned real fast. In the microcosm of short timeframe trading, there are what are called BSD traders (look it up) and large institutions that know little guys are sitting in their basements looking at moving averages and MACD and trying to decipher the trend of the market, and when trend turns from one direction to the other and the sheep jump aboard, the algo BSDs will jump in and rip it a few ticks the other way and knock out short term stops, and take your money. They do this back and forth, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.


I'm going to "practice" this week as well, and probably go "live" next week. We'll see how it goes.

I'm not trying to get rich or get out of control. But anything can happen once you peek inside that box. I've had this notion in my mind since I've considered this venture.

I'm going to fund an account with $2k. I think with careful analysis, and not "over trading", profiting $200/week should be pretty easy. I know that sounds naive, but so far, that's what I'm experiencing. I guess we'll see what happens when I start trading real money.
 
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