Mark Twain once said: “There are lies, damn lies and statistics”. People lie, numbers usually don’t, unless manipulated by liars. If you ask somebody trying to sell you a course or some other products related to the market, they’ll promise you 3x of your money in a week and convince you can start in couple days. Sounds too good to be true? Because it is.
One way to return to reality in the industry where everybody is showing off their gains and concealing loses is to look at other financial aspects of life (not in a self-diminishing way, but rather self-awaking). Average General Doctors make 41.000/year in UK. What makes you think you can make that much in a month with even a 100.000$ account? Banks deposit interests are currently at low of 0.1-0.25%/year. This is self-explanatory as banks are perceived as one of the most conservative ways of keeping your money. S&P500 averages around 9.4%/year. 47% of Americans have invested one way or another (pension funds and 401k’s) into S&P500 as a good balance between security and profitability. What do you think is the risk should be to make 25x of that in a year? Answer: 3.5-5% per trade. Most of the market participants don't risk more than 1%/trade. Why wouldn’t they risk 5% per trade for more gains? Answer: you’ll get wiped out in couple trades :/ Becoming a lawyer takes 7 years on average. Why would somebody think that watching 2 videos on YouTube or reading 7 articles is enough to place a trade? Answer: Here, unfortunately, some brokers and traders try to convince newbies, in order to take advantage of them quickly. However, trust us, trading is no different than other full-time skills you have to acquire over long periods of time. Leading investment funds experience ROI drops every 3.4 months. Would you still think profitability 12/12 months a year is realistic? Answer: It is not.
Bottom Line: Trading Forex is an interesting and rewarding way of making money, but the truth is even the best traders don’t usually make more than 5-15% a month on average. On the other hand, %s don’t matter. What matters is your personal demands! If you need to make 1000$ as a side income to add more comfortability to your life a 10.000-20.000$ account with a proper trading plan should do the job. If you’re trying to become financially independent do the math accordingly 😊
Oh and also, if somebody tries to tell you something marked red in the Myths section, respectfully, stay away from them! (RUN!)
The major thing for retail investors is wanting to see huge gains within short periods of time. Certainly, this is doable but its unrealistic to think that, following on from your $50 course and numerous YT videos you've watch, that you will make any profit, let alone 100's of % in profit. I was certainly blinded by seeing all these crazy ROI's people were posting when I first got into trading, giving me a complete wrong and unrealistic view of the trading world. Finally I have been able to bring my feet back to ground and realise that Rome wasn't built in a day. Any profit is profit, never to be too greedy and to learn when to step back and stop overtrading from happening. Learn from your mistakes and not let them happen again.