This is a trick question because it depends on who you ask.
To someone who has a good strategy and risk management scheme, Forex trading is definitely worth it. They do it consistently, and in many cases, live off of it.
If you ask someone who has tried to get rich quick through Forex trading and migrated from broker to broker because each of them is playing some kind of scam, they’ll probably say it’s not worth it.
The fact of the matter is, banks, hedge funds, and even multinational corporations engage in some form of Forex trading. And they wouldn’t be doing it, if it wasn’t worth it.
What If I’m Not a Multinational Corporation?
The real question for the (potential) retail FX trader is whether Forex trading is worth it for them. And that’s a bit like asking whether being a lawyer or a plumber is worth it.
If you can learn how to do it, and it’s something you enjoy, then Forex, like any other form of making money, is definitely worth it.
You might see warnings on reputable FX broker sites that show high percentages of people losing money. That’s usually because people get into Forex trading without doing their homework, and spending enough time on a demo account to get enough experience.
The fact you are reading this shows you are doing at least some research, so you’re on the right track.
The key is to think of Forex trading as a consistent, long-term investment activity, and not as a one-off, get-rich-quick scheme. The latter is where all the people who think Forex isn’t worth it come from.
How Much Can I Make?
In order to evaluate whether something is worth the effort, you have to have a realistic grasp of what the gain is.
How much gain you get depends on several personal factors, such as the FX strategy used, the type of trading, how often you trade, what kind of trade psychology you have, your discipline and your ability to manage risk… among others.
See? Forex isn’t something you can just jump into.
That being said, it is possible to make relatively large returns on your investment (compared to, for example, a standard safe investment such as indexed mutual funds). However, the higher the return, the less likely it is that you will be able to achieve it.
What to Expect
For reference, the median return on investment (that is, half of FX traders make more than this, half make less than this) is around 10% per month.
That means that if you have $15,000 in your account, as a median successful you’d make around $1,500 per month. Of course, that’s just a rough estimate, and how much you could make depends on your decisions. And almost all of those Forex traders took at least a couple of years to get enough experience to get to that level.
Like all things, Forex requires practice to get good at it; and can be very rewarding for those who like it.
