5 Harsh Realities of Making Money in Forex

Are you sick and tired of self-proclaimed trading experts (internet marketers) telling you how easy it is to make money from Forex?

You know that Forex is not easy.

The problem is that most sites wont tell you how hard Forex can be. In fact most sites say Forex is easy. Most Forex websites do not tell you the truth about Forex.

So……. I will tell you.

Harsh Reality 1: Forex is Never Quick and Easy

Most new traders think Forex will be easy.

They see advertisements promising quick and automated riches with a Forex robot or something equally irresistible. They dive right in blind to the dangers and they get hurt.

Big Surprise….. FOREX IS NOT EASY!

In fact anybody who tells you Forex is easy is lying. Check out this ad below:

Would you buy this product?

Why not?

You could be a lawyer in 30 days, you could work for a prestigious law firm earning a six figure income.

You would not buy the product because you know its a lie. Getting a law degree requires half a decade of study. There is no way you can become a master lawyer in under a month.

Forex might not be as hard as law but the same concept holds true. No product is going to make you a master trader in a few weeks. No EA (Forex robot) is going to make you consistent profits while you sleep. Forex just isn’t that easy!

If you are here for easy riches, got to a casino, you will have better chances there!

Harsh Reality 2: Most Systems are Useless

Most traders waste time searching for the perfect trading system.

When looking for a system the first stop is usually popular Forex forums. If you see a system with great feedback and many users it must work right?

Wrong!

Most trading systems on popular Forex forums are created by inexperienced traders. The systems may work well for a few weeks, or even for a few months, but they fail in the long run.

This is especially true of indicator based systems. Indicators are sensitive to changes in market conditions. Some indicator based systems give amazing signals in trending markets but fail in ranging markets. The problem is that most indicator based systems are not adaptable to changing market conditions. So a system that works this week might not work next week. If a trading system has not been forward tested for over a year you cannot trust its effectiveness.

If you go down the path of hunting for Forex systems you have already failed. You will embark on a long, fruitless search and find nothing.

My advice is to start with the basics, learn how to read price action and how to place Support and Resistance areas. Once you learn those two things you will not need to find a trading system.

Harsh Reality 3: Demo Trading Won’t Prepare You For Live Trading

Imagine a mean looking, tattooed biker approaches you. He pulls out a shotgun, points it at your chest and demands your wallet. What would you do? Chances are you would probably hand over your wallet pretty quickly.

Now imagine an scrawny little eight year old kid approaches you. He pulls out a water pistol, points it at you and asks for your wallet. What would you do? You would probably laugh.

This may sound absurd but there is a correlation. When you trade a demo account you are not using real money. So the fear and apprehension of risking real money does not impact your performance.

A demo account is like the little kid above, it is play money, you can laugh it off and move on.

A real account is like the biker above, the fear and the intimidation of trading real money impacts your actions.

Psychological factors may seem insignificant but they are very significant. Most new traders perform extremely well on demo accounts but fail abysmally on live accounts. Psychology matters and demo accounts do not prepare you for real trading.

Demo accounts do have their use. They are great for familiarizing yourself with a trading platform and learning basic trading concepts. They are also good for basic testing of a trading system.

Harsh Reality 4: You Need Time

So many websites tell you that you can trade Forex successfully with less than one hour of work per week.

The reality is that you need to invest a lot of time into becoming a profitable trader. If you can only find a few hours each week to dedicate to Forex you should probably give up.

Learning to become a consistently profitable trader takes a lot of time. You need to be prepared to set aside several hours a week to study Forex. According to scientists it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master something. I doubt you need 10,000 hours to become a profitable trader. However, you will need more than two hours per week.

The good news is that once you are profitable it is possible to cut your trading time down to a few hours per week. Currently I trade around two hours per day four days a week.

Harsh Reality 5: Adapt or Die

The Forex market is constantly changing. You need to be able to adapt or you will never make it.

With a constantly changing market a trader need to be able to make changes on the fly and adapt to current situations. So, a good trade knows how to adapt quickly to a changing market.

When the market throws something unexpected at you, you need to be able to analyse the best course of action and make a decision quickly.

My trading method is based on price action. Right now I concentrate almost exclusively on reversal trading. This is because since 2010 the average daily range of Forex pairs has dropped. GBP/JPY used to range 280 pips per day and know it ranges 120 pips.

When markets are not ranging breakout trading becomes hard. My trading method was adapted from trading breakouts to trading reversals in 2010. When pairs start to range again I will probably adapt to market conditions and begin to trade breakouts.

A good trader needs to be ready to adapt quickly to changing markets.

So, Should You Bother Trading Forex?

Well, that is up to you. We all know that the vast majority of new traders fail. They fail because they expect no stress, fast and easy riches.

You cannot change the harsh realities above. However, you can accept them and get on with it anyway.

Trading is tough but you need to be tougher. You need to work hard and you need to persevere.

Will it be hard? yes.

Can you make it a little easier? yes…….

The Next Step

The reason I first started bullrushacademy.com was to help new traders become professional traders. That is why this site is packed with stuff to help you along the road from beginner to pro. So if you want to get on the right path take a look around the site.

If you are completely new to Forex you should start with or basic Forex education section.

If you know the basics you should check out our free Forex course. In the video course I show you many important things you wont learn anywhere else. I show you how to put together a highly effective trading plan, money management plan and trading diary. I even explain how to put together a trading strategy.

For free analysis and trade ideas check in to this blog regularly.

Finally if you want a proven trading strategy along with a private members forum where we discuss trades check out the advanced Forex Price Action course. It is closed to new members right now but if you throw your email in I will contact you in the next few weeks about getting access.