Has anyone traded ForEx? How did you do? What is a realistic rate of return assuming you know what your doing? -

I ve done stocks and options and stuff like that. I was curious if it is worth my time to learn it. Realistically, about 80%-90% of all traders blow out. This is not quot;investingquot; or quot;Buy and Hold.quot; This is trading, and it takes skill, knowledge, and balls of steel. It is probably the most difficult thing you will ever encounter. You can buy $100,000 worth of currency with $1,000 margin in a standard account. This would be the purchase of one standard lot, at 100:1 leverage. Or you can get 200:1 leverage in a mini account. Wo, how much trouble can we get into now? Just because you quot;canquot; doesn t mean you quot;shouldquot; trade with this kind of leverage. Trading stocks with 2:1 leverage is considered risky. What most people don t seem to realize, is that you don t have to trade with leverage at all. Just put $100,00 in your account, buy one lot, and you have zero leverage. Or put $10,000 into a mini account and buy one mini-lot, or $1000 and buy one micro-lot. You can see that by controlling leverage, trading the Forex doesn t have to be any more risky than trading stocks or any other investment. The same holds true with all or any futures contract. You decide how much leverage to use, and how much risk to accept. You can accept the maximum leverage like most people looking to quot;get rich quick,quot; and blow out like 80%-90% of all traders, or you can play it smart and ease into it slowly, starting with a simulator while you re learning, probably for at least six months. I ve traded stock index futures and options about fifteen years, but have only traded currencies a few months. A lot of the same principles apply, especially the quot;tradingquot; techniques. Last month my account was up 42%, and the month before it was up 40%. This month, it is down sixteen percent. FOREX uses extreme margin, like 50-200 to one, when your currency drops only 0.5 to 2.0%, depending on the margin, you lose it all, even if the currency goes back up. Very dangerous, this is a trap to get you to lose money. Do not even consider using margin if you use FOREX. Loss can be catastrophic. Gain can be in the millions. DO NOT put any actual money in till you have been successful as a paper trader for at least a year. This is a good way to lose your shirt. If you can t do it with a regular winning track record for at least a year, don t try it with your real dollars.