My name is Peter U. from Leipzig and I would like to tell you about my experiences as a daytrader. In the past years I have gained a lot of positive but above all negative experiences with daytrading – or forex trading in general. After more than 5 years of trading there were some highs and lows as well as some phases in which I really gambled.

I have always been a risk taker and I have always loved and hated the thrill and excitement of trading. My first experiences were – like probably every other trader – at market makers like Plus500. This and also other providers of this caliber are simply brokers, who only show the price development as realistic as possible, but by no means the actual one. After initial demo accounts and later, first Trades with genuine money – so within the range 500 euro capital employment – I wanted to turn fast to a more respectable and above all also genuine broker. My choice fell thereby on IG Markets, since I had heard in the Internet already much positive over the broker. So I signed up with the provider I mentioned. The registration process went quite quickly, I quickly had the activation mail in my inbox and could already make my first deposit. IG Markets offers traders a wide range of stocks, indices, forex, commodities, warrants and CFD’s to trade with. But my main enthusiasm was trading currencies – forex. Here the trader has numerous currency pairs at his disposal, with which he can trade.

My trading strategies developed over time – I was able to acquire a lot of expertise by subscribing to Traders magazine, for example. My first trades were with currency pairs that I knew very well and whose prices I was able to estimate on the basis of current news. And so I limited myself to USD-Dollar/Euro as well as GB-Pound/Euro for the time being – here I could scalp some small profits in the beginning, as the trader says, so I could carry out many small trades within a short time. With the experience I also had a tendency to take risks – some trades I put in the sand – especially on the day of the US Non Farm Payrolls – the US unemployment figures – I had been playing too high. The expected profit failed to materialize, the dollar plummeted against the euro, which caused my first big loss of about 1,200 euros. Any security systems such as a stop-loss could not slow down the loss because it happened abruptly – 35 pips within a few seconds were out of my range.

Let go now even with Plus500! >>(Risk warning: 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money.)

With time the advice came – by adjusting my strategy and by a more suitable money management I could at least trade at par in the medium term. My bets, depending on the trade, were usually between 0.5 and 1 lot – which means between 50,000 and 100,000 euros. Of course, I didn’t have to cover the amount with my own capital, rather you trade with the leverage effect. By taking out a – quasi – short-term loan for the purchase of foreign currencies, the cost of which the trader bears with the so-called margin, one can make huge profits in forex trading. However, one should be careful. If you gamble with the borrowed money and soon go bankrupt, the trader even has to make additional payments. In the worst case, trading does not only mean the loss of one’s own capital, but also additional payment obligations can arise. I therefore kept my stakes moderate.

It was easy to trade from your PC at home. It was the time after my studies, in which I used the free time at home for trading, which soon became my bread and butter. With the Traden as main occupation activity the mountain and valley travels came in things emotions. I moved with my daily profits, and/or losses so around the 300 to 500 euro in the plus or also times in the minus. The right winnings, which in the end secure my survival, I made and still make with a few, but still really good running trades. So profits between 5.000 and 15.000 Euro per month are a rarity, but they occur and are necessary to catch potential bad luck – sometimes several days in a row.

I have always used bank transfer as a deposit and withdrawal method for trading. In my opinion it can hardly be handled otherwise, since brokers who allow Paypal as a deposit or payout method, for example, are not real brokers in my opinion, but merely market makers – the gaming exchange platforms of the network. Because, of course, profits must also be taxed and are subject – as are profits in the form of interest income – to the final withholding tax and the solidarity contribution. From a ertradeten euro land thus under the line approx. 66 cent in the purse of the Traders. Daily trading profits of 300 euros are advisable in this context – this way a cushion for possible dry spells remains in the long term and the running costs can be settled well. Meanwhile, I no longer trade primarily Forex, but mainly CFD’s or Futures. This is of course only something for experienced traders, because especially with futures relatively high amounts have to be set.

Last but not least I would like to give some tips to all beginners among the traders. Trading with Forex is first and foremost psychology and self-control. If you don’t have a grip on yourself – or if you don’t pursue a reasonable money management – you go swimming sooner or later. If you set yourself small goals at the beginning and achieve them step by step, you are already on the right path to becoming a good forex trader. I know many people from my circle of acquaintances who have gambled away tens of thousands of Euros while trading – high stakes, greed and a lack of self-control are, in my opinion, to blame for this. It is also important that you choose a reputable broker with decent conditions. The brokers themselves differ in their offer above all regarding their transaction costs, spreads, margins as well as regarding the actual trading software. The currently best software is still the Meta4 trading software (Metatrader 4), also with regard to the authenticity of the displayed prices. In addition, you should be satisfied with small profits at the beginning and consider trading as a hobby rather than the acquisition of money. The trader gains experience by trading himself and this is often a process that can take several years.

Helpful tips and tricks can also be learned in the various seminars that almost every professional trader offers. I also took this opportunity in the beginning. I was able to overcome the times of heavy loss and life at the subsistence minimum well, thank God, and now I lead a sustainable trader life and can divide my day as I consider it right, although this usually means working days of 12 hours or more for me.

 
Experience report written by Peter U., 27 years old, from Leipzig