Anyone here trade the financial markets ?

[Bucky Ball]

What platforms do you use ? 
What do you trade ?
What timeframes do you trade ? 
Any favorite indicators ? 
What percent of your trades are profitable ?
Do you make your living trading ? 
Do you use a US broker or a foreign broker ? 
If you use a foreign broker do you have security arrangements in place that guarantee your funds ? 
What leverage do you use ?

[Fireball]

I have a broker. I'm not qualified to move my tinsel; my training is in another direction. My retirement IRA has grown about 65% in 8 years. I don't pay attention to the profit/loss aspect of it, that's what I'm paying my broker for. Obviously, it's a net upward trend.

[Bucky Ball]

I trade the 20 second / 5 second charts.
Only with certain volumes in Level-2 numbers.
It's very profitable, but ... you have to pay close attention, and spend the time to watch.
Doh.



Another question for the OP.
Do you use EA's (automated trading), and / or have you developed your own EA's ?

[Astreja]

I've been trading in a self-administered online account for about seven years, mostly ETFs and bonds. I cashed out all my profitable holdings a few months ago and moved them into GICs at my credit union (kind of hard to resist a guaranteed 5% return, and I prefer the credit union to the bank where I have the online account).

All I have left is a handful of bonds that are currently "underwater" but bringing in dividends. I take a peek at them every week or so, and if they go to the "profit" side of the ledger they'll be cashed out. Currently debating whether to leave them where they are, or move them to a different online brokerage.

[Aegon]

I had a little fun with crypto a couple years back but otherwise I contribute to my 401k and try not to think about it. Overall returns on day trading is actually lower than throwing X% of your income into an index fund and forgetting about it for 30 years. Regarding brokers, my understanding is that, for most, a broker is a waste of money who is stealing a greater percentage of your funds than they're worth. But idk YMMV.

I'm also 27 and I don't think retirement is a sincere possibility for my generation so that affects my perspective lol

[Bucky Ball]

I think crypto brokers are a huge rip-off, so I won't touch them.
My broker charges me 0.01 - 0.02 points spread on the currency pair I trade.
When my volumes are high enough they will set it at even less.

[MarcusA]

I'll trade you a hamburger today for a hamburger tomorrow.

[The Grand Nudger]

US, ag commodities, hobby/benefit. I make more money guessing about grain than growing tomatos and chickens, and I do the second thing for a living. My best year, I had the equivalent of 16k acres of corn. They sold every bushel for top dollar....and I'm still poor. OTOH, I get to brag about good bets.

[Bucky Ball]

US, ag commodities, hobby/benefit.  I make more money guessing about grain than growing tomatos and chickens, and I do the second thing for a living.  My best year, I had the equivalent of 16k acres of corn.  They sold every bushel for top dollar....and I'm still poor.  OTOH, I get to brag about good bets.

Ag commodities are next on my list. With so many being totally weather dependent and with annual cycles, it will be a good "other thing" from the 
totally dollar dependent manic moves of currencies. It's nice to trade six to eight times in a morning and be done when the European session closes, totally closed out. 
I'm starting to watch the Loonie (Canadian dollar) as so much of it's value is oil, (vs the US dollar), and the brokerage spreads are not too bad. It's kind of boring, but has very predictable stable intraday trends, as oil moves but not all that fast.

[The Grand Nudger]

I tell people all the time, ag com is a series of short term high risk low intro investments. If you're okay with losing 50 bucks...then you're okay with losing three acres of mainline production. Last year, the ag com average was $14/acre. L....O....L.

Its a total mystery why our economy is wonky...I mean....who will ever figure it out..... End of the day, I'm a fundamentally risk averse investor. I like to put a dollar in a safe place. You never lose money on US coms, but you don't make much money either. It's all in the margins. If the margins are better than a CD then buy. If they aren't. Fuck-em. Wealth by the numbers...slowly.

-for reference - The Wife and I have made about 70k investing 30k over the last 20 years. It's nowhere near the best returns, but it works for us, we're satisfied. We've ended up with more than we started with, and at the bottom end of investing you really do pay alot in fees and taxes. I'm guessing other people made more aggressive moves. The rest of our income is pass-through.