A minor spoiler: aggressive traders usually take many risks and often lose large sums in a short period, so from my experience, I can say that it is better to choose a stable 5%-10% income per month than 100% today and the loss of your deposit tomorrow. But let's take a closer look at the situation.
If you wish you can earn as much as you want on Forex. It all depends on the approach. However, large profits are not always a good thing. As a rule, a huge income means the same level of losses. So how much should a trader earn to be able to affirm he is successful?
We’ll consider a few hypothetical situations to answer this question. We’ll also once and for all decide what is best in Forex - stability or profitability. And as a bonus, I will tell you how to increase your profit with a low percentage of profitability.
How to Measure Profit
As a rule, the profit on Forex is measured in three ways:
- In dollars
- In pips
- In percents
Due to the relativity of some of the points, only one of them is accurate - percent. Why?
Have you ever come across the promise of easy earnings at $100 a day? For Forex, this is quite real. However, such advertisements don’t specify how much you have to invest. With a deposit of $1,000, getting $100 a day it’s possible. But what if you can deposit only $50 or less? In this case, to receive $100 you’ll need to act on the tactics of "all or nothing," and it is likely that you will lose your initial deposit. Thus, measuring profit in a currency is an extremely relative thing.
What about pips? It’s ambiguous as well. The value of each pip depends on the size of your position. Therefore, in monetary terms, 10 points at a position of 0.1 lot and 1 point at a position of 1 lot are equal. Because of this, it is difficult to evaluate real profit, since 100 pips from one trader are not the same 100 pips from another.
So what’s left? Percent.
The Minimum Percentage of Profit for a Successful Trader
Ignorant people will for sure declare that real income is +100% every month. But is it real? Have you ever thought that with a profit of 100% and a deposit of only $1,000 you will earn more than a billion already on the 21st month of trading? Still sounds real?
Let's evaluate your real chances. If we talk about the minimum percentage then the real numbers are 5-10%. However, we are talking about stable income. That is, a month from a month you will receive 5-10% or more.
Some professional traders receive 10-20% profit every month but this indicator is not common.
How to Increase Your Profit?
Nobody forbids you to strive for a profit of 100%. Some successful traders get a higher percentage in certain months. However, this is high risk trading. You can use it only if you don’t care if you lose your deposit.
However, a 5% return doesn’t sound very attractive. Even with a deposit of $1,000, it is only $50. Not the income you are striving for. But there is an easy way to multiply these numbers:
- Learn to trade Forex and achieve a stable profit of 10% every month (at least for 12 months).
- Become a money manager or signal provider.
- Continue to make a profit of 10% while receiving additional profit from investments of other traders or from your trading signals.
Which Is Better: Stability or Profitability?
There are two types of traders among money managers:
- Aggressive - they can make 100%, 200%, 300% of profit. However, due to the high level of risk of their trading strategies, their profits are never stable and can go negative in some months. That is, the trader loses both his and other people's investments.
- Conservative - these traders show a stable 5-20% profit during the year. In a successful year, their total profit can even go up to 50%.
Which of the managers do investors choose? If you have $100 in your pocket, then you will want to quickly increase your capital. Therefore, small investors give preference to aggressive managers while always rushing to him with claims in case of loss of their deposit. Do you really want it?
Large investors don’t want to risk their money, therefore they prefer conservative managers. You might think that you still won’t make good income with a low percentage. Let's count:
- You have $1,000 in your account. You consistently show 30% profit per year.
- Large investors turn to you and give $1,000,000, which is quite realistic with such indicators.
- Profit for the year is $300,000.
- If you put a 25% commission on profit then your income will be $75,000 when risking only $1,000 of your own funds.
To Summarize
I think it makes no sense to argue that a stable income will give you more chances to earn real money on Forex. You should use all the opportunities that the modern foreign exchange market offers you. This applies to the career of a money manager. As soon as you begin to receive a stable profit, this will be the next logical step up the career ladder of a successful trader.