4 min read · Jul 6, 2023
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Forex trading involves buying and selling currencies relative to other currencies. For example, if you purchase euros using US dollars, and the euro increases in value relative to the US dollar, you make money.
Forex trading is a good side hustle if you can develop a strategy to make consistent money over time. As with any business, your profits can be used to increase your personal income.
The problem is that most people give up too early in the learning process. After all, there is some training involved. The good news is that anyone can do it, including you!
The online world is filled with free forex tips and advice (you landed here, right?), and you can get all sorts of information at no cost. But at some point, if you want to make money trading forex, you must filter the good from the bad.
This is what I’m doing here on Medium. I want to filter out all the noise and go straight to what works. No fluff, filters, or special offers on expensive courses — just actionable information you can use right now to quickly make money trading forex.
However, I have to let you in on a little secret. You must learn to:
That’s right. You have to get good at losing money to make money in forex.
Sounds weird? I understand. But consider this:
- Every restaurant has to pay upfront for their food before they can sell their gourmet creations to customers.
- Every car maker must invest in parts and materials before putting cars on the lot.
- Uber drivers have to put gas in their vehicles before taking passengers.
- Forex traders have to lose some trades before realizing long-term profits.
Losing is part of winning in forex. Here is an example:
Suppose you have $1,000 in your Forex account (relax if you don’t — you can trade with even smaller budgets).
Can you make money on that $1,000 by winning only 40 percent of the time? Well, sure you can! Take a look:
Let’s make 10 trades on that $1,000 account using a risk of $10 each. That means if you lose money, it’s $10, not the entire $1,000.
Let’s set our profit target to $20 (twice the risk). So, if you profit from a trade, it will be double the amount of the risk.
If you use a proven trading strategy, you’ll only need to hit a profit target of 40 percent to make money. Here’s an example of ten trades:
#1 Win $20
#2 Lose $10
#3 Lose $10
#4 Win $20
#5 Lose $10
#6 Lose $10
#7 Win $20
#8 Lose $10
#9 Lose $10
#10 Win $20
Now, let’s do the math:
You won four trades for a total of $80 ($20 X 4)
But you lost six out of the ten trades. Yikes! Let’s see what that works out to:
6 X $10 per loss = $60.
Your win total is $80, and your loss total is $60, giving you a net total of $20.
Congratulations! You made $20 trading the forex market!
I realize you had to put in a lot of effort to earn that $20. It’s even worse than working for an online delivery company — I get it. But hold on just a second.
What if that $1,000 account magically turned into a $100,000 account? Let’s see:
It’s a 100 times increase in the account size, so the profit would now be $2,000. Now that’s more like it! But where are you going to get $100,000?
That would be insane, right? Borrowing $100,000 from someone else to make a living trading forex would be a dream! You can work for trading firms that will let you trade with their money.
But here’s the catch:
Yep, there’s always a catch. You must become a profitable trader, which requires training and personal development. But stay with me, and I’ll teach you how to do it without spending a ton of money on worthless information like what I had to do early in my career.
I’ll also provide some guidance on what to look for in a prop firm, but let’s get you profitable for now. Take some time to look through my posts to see what you can glean from my experience. I’ll be adding info every few days, so I’ll continually have updated content.
Happy trading!
