gemballa Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 (edited) Ive had several practice accounts for a period of time and have been doing well so Im thinking of starting trading for real with some initial risk capital of £3-5K. Any advice on which platforms are best for noobs? Cheers Edited February 17, 2015 by gemballa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbane883 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 I was an FX trader for almost 20 years and ran a currency desk for a couple of major banks. Check out Oanda and SaxoBank Both have stood behind their customers despite taking huge losses after the recent swiss franc debacle a few weeks ago. IMO, Oanda has the best UI, but Saxo has a broader breadth of products and has better news feeds. I personally use Oanda, but I have used Saxo in the past as well..... not overly active anymore.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbh Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 I've always heard the best way to make a million dollars trading Forex.................... is to start with two million. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbane883 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 I still have my account active on a spare desk in my office just to stay current: You can customize your desktop to your liking with most platforms. The one above is just major currencies, crude, gold and US treasuries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbh Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Wow! That's a serious setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbane883 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 I've always heard the best way to make a million dollars trading Forex.................... is to start with two million. Definitely some truth to that. It's all done on margin so a string of losses (and it WILL happen) can add up quick. Key is to stay disciplined with your stop-loss orders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highoeyazmuhudee Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 cool stuff indeed! was just reading a story about someone who was scamming stock trades to the tune of $50M a month. didnt sound too high tech, but he sure got greedy, cocky and then caught. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/the-law-page/us-charges-canadian-man-with-stock-price-manipulation/article22431831/ imo the whole economy of stock trading is a scam to begin with. and dont get me started on inflation and the false value of currency Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gemballa Posted February 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Thanks dbane. Nice set-up too. I still have my account active on a spare desk in my office just to stay current: You can customize your desktop to your liking with most platforms. The one above is just major currencies, crude, gold and US treasuries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbh Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 I have a very close friend who got interested in Forex trading from his brother in law when he moved out to Texas. He spend over a year doing make believe trades until he felt comfortable and knowledgeable enough to go for the real thing. He started with $3,000, which was probably his life savings at the time and lost all but a couple hundred within a month. He doesn't like to talk about that episode too much anymore. In my humble opinion, Forex and commodity trading is best left to the professionals. And day trading stocks is right up there in the same league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gemballa Posted February 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Have you tried trading yourself? I have a very close friend who got interested in Forex trading from his brother in law when he moved out to Texas. He spend over a year doing make believe trades until he felt comfortable and knowledgeable enough to go for the real thing. He started with $3,000, which was probably his life savings at the time and lost all but a couple hundred within a month. He doesn't like to talk about that episode too much anymore. In my humble opinion, Forex and commodity trading is best left to the professionals. And day trading stocks is right up there in the same league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbane883 Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 (Profitable) Trading is all about cash management. Don't risk anymore in 1 day than you are willing to lose in one day and have sufficient bankroll to make it back. Stick to a philosophy.. trend following, mean reversion, elliot-wave, turtle, macro fundamental.. whatever.. just stick to it and take emotions out of the equation and dont flip flop. Good luck 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbh Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Have you tried trading yourself? My maximum risk is in the stock market. I do use a lot of option strategies but in most cases they are selling covered calls on stocks that I own and feel that are over valued. Or, sometimes buying deep in the money calls for increasing my exposure with less investment money, Also, I like selling naked put options on a stock that I would like to own. Just a few simple strategies that are relatively safe and can add a little extra percentage to your winnings, or protect your losses. I haven't dabbled in commodities since back when the Hunt Brothers tried to take over the silver market in the 70's. My partner and I thought we were going to be rich (mostly by accident) and then we watched it all wiped out almost overnight. Learned my lesson well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gemballa Posted February 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 (Profitable) Trading is all about cash management. Don't risk anymore in 1 day than you are willing to lose in one day and have sufficient bankroll to make it back. Stick to a philosophy.. trend following, mean reversion, elliot-wave, turtle, macro fundamental.. whatever.. just stick to it and take emotions out of the equation and dont flip flop. Good luck I like to think that I'm quite disciplined, stick to a simple strategy, manage risk fairly well and I'm not greedy. I must admit that emotions may prove to be a little different when its your own money at risk but I am willing to give it a go. Thanks for the advice anyway. I may be picking your brain again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomhorn Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 When you start with real money trading (no matter what you are trading) the most difficult parts will always be money management and your bankroll. You didn't mention the "period of time" or the amount of money you had in play with your practice accounts. That is very important information. My general rule is to make sure your practice account has had enough time to show you both profits and losses. I would also suggest that your practice account trades mean nothing if you are trading significantly more/less money than you would be trading in live currency. For it to be a fair reflection of your strategies, you need to run your test over a long period of time and with the bankroll you want to actually put into play with live money. Anyone can succeed for a day or a month. Over the long term takes better models and discipline. Once you have a good enough dataset, look through your practice account trading and find the longest period of time where you lost money and what that amount looked like. Make sure you have more than that in your bankroll to get started. Discipline is all about being able to survive the swings. You have to be able to make sound decisions when you are doing well, or are getting killed. With that in mind, I would only start with a bankroll you don't care about losing. Seriously, just write it off as a loss on the first day, that way you won't be worried about it. Assuming you have some success, when you've doubled up the first time, take your initial investment back. When you've doubled up again, that is the time to start raising your incremental trades. Every time you double up, increase your incremental trades. If you slip back, lower them. And the most important rule, never be afraid to sell. This goes for both winning and losing positions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtguk Posted February 17, 2015 Report Share Posted February 17, 2015 Tried forex a while back just for fun, made some great gains to begin with but cocked up on a few trades (didn't have time to watch them) and lost loads soon after did I mention oil was one of my holdings........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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