Futures/Option/CFD traders?

[poshglasgow]

I trade the financial markets and have been a forex trader for some years. Are there any other members of the board who are trading, either as a principal occupation or part-time to augment (or, in some cases, deplete) income streams?

[Nirish guy]

Out of interest ( and without divulging too much personal info if you don’t want too) would you say you come out on top over all and the end of each month ?

On the advice of s friend here I looked at the whole Forex thing, read it, realised I hadn’t a bloody clue what was going on and promptly decided to leave well enough alone as I knew I’d be a disaster at it. My friend lamblasted me and showed me his ( smallish) profit/s during his first few days trading BUT by the end of the month he’d lost quite a bit and said “sod that” and made some excuses about the markets being too volatile just now and how it couldn’t possibly have been his fault he made losses.

So, is it the licence to print money that he claimed or more like the road to ruin if aren’t very switched on about that sort of thing in your opinion perhaps ?

[Smiles]

The Futures markets can be a mugs game, especially for newbies. You can buy and sell futures on just about anything, not just currencies. But here's the most nasty thing about futures: you can lose more than the cost of your initial investment.
Just that feature alone would signal ~ to myself at least ~ "stay away".
In the stock market ~ just as an example ~ the most you can lose is the cost of buying any particular stock. Not so in the futures market, you can lose much more.

Having said that, it's definitely a market where one can make huge profits . . . if they get the trade right. High risk, high return (and vice versa!). The OP sounds like he has done well, and good for him.
I have a friend who has been buying and selling commodity futures for years and he says he's made a lot and I believe him.
Not for me though.

[goji]

I don't trade currencies as the average speculator will lose money after trading costs. Of course, above average speculators may do OK, which I suppose is where the OP is, if he's been doing this for years.

I prefer to invest in stocks, holding for the long term. Here, even an average return has been good & above average isn't difficult to achieve with enough patience.