How you define success in Forex

[Micardo]

I have seen numerous threads both here and in other forums about how much money you can make in Forex and what is possible with regards to growing your account. While theoretically anything is possible I wanted to bring attention to what the real people do day in day out and what they target and achieve on an annual basis.

The key word here is Annual because to me and I stand to be corrected... Measuring ones success over a month is simply too short a time frame as it doesn't allow a trader to experience all market conditions and seasonal changes.

A prime example is my own... back in 2006 I was trading a small account, using a breakout strategy that really kicked ass for near 4-5 months... I am talking a nice 50-100 pips per day. But Christmas rolled on and in the new year the markets changed... gone were the days of the 150 pip moves on cable and we welcomed a new more choppy trading environment. This is when I had to change my style... but this is for another thread :-)

What I trying to say is in order to know whether you can trade profitably on a long term basis you should really look for a year - 2 years of trading live and even after then you will still learn things.

But the debate I am starting in this thread is what does it really take to allow one to give up full time work and start trading full time.

Lets not talk about this in pip terms as a pip has a different value to every different trading style... 200 pips to me would be a 2% gain on my account, but to others who excercise a somewhat more agressive approach this could mean 20%... do you see what I mean.

So the question's are:

1: What % on an annual basis do you deem to be a good return on your money?

2: What % on an annual basis do you deem to be possible to return on your money?

3: For those out there who are successful what % have you been able to consistently make on an annual basis?

These questions should really help anyone new to the industry to gage what is really possible and save them from the so called gurus who promise to make un realistic amounts in return for their hard earned money.


Since I started this I will answer first :-)

1: Anything above 50% is a good return in my eyes and would make this stuff worth doing...

2: I personally know of someone who returned 171% last year trading conservatively, but I think a realistic target would be 100%

3: This year end I should finish up at about 50%