For the newer people out there, let me introduce myself. I am clockwork71 (Chris), a Senior Member of the James16 group. In a nutshell, it means I have joined the group, understand the material, and was given my own forum in the private area. I make videos, etc.
Think of me as middle management!
Ok, now that's out of the way....
I would highly recommend something to you newer guys/girls out there. There is a "mystique" surrounding Forex trading. Those guys that make all the money are "superhuman" or something. You get bombarded with all the hyped-up stats and "results". But to be honest, we have one friend in the end: Plain, boring, old-fashioned compound interest.
One non-trading exercise that I started to work on in the beginning of my J16 tenure was to work with spreadsheets. Fijitrader, (a mysterious guru-guy in our group who actually traded his way to living in Fiji...) has a lot of information about this very topic. As I began to "tinker" with them, a few minor things hit me.
1) Compound Interest tends to have a point that is "critical mass" - at a point, it tends to "explode". This is our dream.
2) Normal working-class idiots like myself can obtain large amounts of money from seemingly small amounts, with time, interest, and reinvestment.
What I mean by this is that if you are a normal person, and can only start with something like $2000, it's alright. But this means you might need help to get along. Perhaps you get 3 months profitable in a row. Great! You are now up $300. (an example.) Why not add another $300 to your account out of your pocket to compound your principal?
With a little creative spreadsheet working, you can see how much this little "bump" can help. The truth is it's going to be very hard to make $2000 turn into $20 Million. But if you add to the pool of money getting compounded, it becomes a little more obtainable. (20 million is a stretch, but you get my point.)
As for some of the crazy claims out there on returns.....let me put it this way:
If your managed retirement account gets 20% a year, you are very, very, happy. And those guys are professionals. Some out there have actually given me grief about "only" getting 4% a month.
A quick example.....$500 turns into $54,000 in 10 years at 4% a month. Not a bad return. Imagine what it does with a larger amount of money. Remember this the next time you are reading someone that gets "15% a week." There are plenty of those guys that post on forums. Those people are who I refer to as liquidity. Their testosterone is what will cost them money and accounts in the end. It's about keeping a calm, cool head. (This is coming from someone who actually lead the entire state in penalty minutes in Ice Hockey at the High School level. 2 years in a row.)
I know you have heard it before, but trading really isn't an exciting endeavor. It's not a contact sport. In fact, if you are trading daily or 4 hour charts, (LIKE MOST OF YOU SHOULD BE.) you should be able to put on a trade - set your stops, and leave the house.
My opinion is that you can do nothing but screw up a trade if you watch it. Trust me, Murphy's Law.
Ok, off the soapbox. Sorry gang!
Clockwork71
