Best Forex brokers with IRA accounts Updated List 100FXB

Does anyone trade Forex in an IRA account? How?

I have five accounts I trade in. My regular account, my IRA, my Wife's IRA, my Forex IRA, my wife's Forex IRA.
I usually make similar trades in each account, but it's a hassle to keep track of each trade in these accounts. How can I pool all the money under the same account? I was thinking starting a Mutual Fund where each account will get a share of the mutual fund and the money will be invested through a single account. Has anybody done this before?

1. Is it allowed?
2. What are the tax implications?
3. Can Mutual Funds invest in Forex?

Thanks for any information.

I'm 19 and just started earning a income. I have no debt or expenses and still live with my parents.
I'm about to get my first salary payment and want to invest most of it somewhere like in a mutual or index fund. But honestly I don't know what I'm doing and am overwhelmed by the options.
Right now I want to do short term to mid term investments (6-12 months.) I'm a US citizen but live overseas with my family.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thank you.

(not sure if this is the appropriate subreddit to post this)
I [29M] recently finished graduate school and have since been working and saving consistently, and paying off my student loans accordingly...until the COVID19 pandemic hit and I was laid off from work in March. During my time off, I stayed home and spent time with family and explored several hobbies. I was also able to collect unemployment, but the amount was severely reduced by the end of July. Luckily, my old job rehired me but at severely reduced hours (though they're gradually increasing every week).
I count my blessings because the facts that I was relatively financially responsible, lived at home, and had some family support, and got my old job back, the pandemic did not hit me as hard as compared to millions of other people and I'm in a position to pay off my student loans relatively soon. However, my position could have been a lot better. Instead of going through the motions, wondering what to do, and exploring my hobbies during my time off, I should have been more proactive with financial education. Based on general research and my peers, I only have a general idea of various terms such as stocks, index funds, forex, futures, options, mutual funds, 401k, IRA, Roth IRA, FBA (fulfillment by Amazon), drop shipping, IUL (index universal life insurance), etc. However, whenever I have down time, I'm not as inclined to actively seek more detailed information about these things myself. I revert to household chores, my hobbies, or just lounging. I know that just because all of those things are more comfortable and just because I'm no longer in a disciplined school environment, it's not an excuse to not be proactive. I do want to break the cycle, but I'm not sure how.
My questions are: How do I develop the motivation to develop a consistent routine to learn about the financial education aspects listed above and more? Where can I find the most trusted, coherent, reliable financial advice? I know there are many books and Youtube channels out there, but I don't want to chase down the wrong rabbit hole and get frustrated with information that's too technical or get my hopes up or bamboozled by information that's misleading. I want information that's practical and applicable to my daily life. I do want to reach the next milestones in my life (get married, buy a house, etc.) and perhaps financial education would accelerate me towards those goals. The last thing I need is a get rich quick scheme, but I do want to build wealth consistently for a stable financial future.

I'm young and new to investing, hoping for some clarity because the more I learn, the more I get paralyzed, thus wasting time. I apologize if something similar has been asked before, but I can't seem answers to my questions.
​
Months ago, I decided I wanted to open a Roth IRA. I chose to use TDA as my brokerage because of the

• people I knew who said great things about the platform (educational content, ease of using the mobile app)
• connection to Think or Swim (ToS). [Note: I am not sure if I even want to deal with options, forex, or other derivatives. I felt like having it available in the future might be a good option in case I make that decision].

I've maxed out my Roth IRA last year and this year, I've been trying to set up a 3-fund portfolio (Total Market, Total International, REIT). [Note: I decided on REIT rather than U.S. Bonds because I am young and feel like I can be aggressive right now and opt for something that pays dividends].
Anyway, I really liked FZROX and FZILX given the zero expense ratios and zero fees. I found out from TDA, however, that these are proprietary funds that can only be bought through Fidelity as a brokerage. I had already purchased FSNRX (a REIT).
My primary goal is to have a diverse portfolio that I can afford. After looking at analyses that people on the web have performed, I see that ER, fees, and other costs outside of purchasing index funds can take a toll in the long term. I hate to see large amounts of money going to fees if there is a cheaper option.
I know FZROX and FZILX don't technically track the indices, but their performance thus far seems comparable to Vanguard's VTSAX and VTIAXI realize that I'd have to open an account with Fidelity, pay a transfer fee with TDA, and wait before I could even use the funds to purchase any index funds through Fidelity.
Before I make any further fund purchases, I want to make sure I am informed.
​
My questions are as follows:

• Have any of you done this?
• Is it worth the effort?
• Are there other factors I am not considering?
• Will I achieve the diversity I hope for by switching to Fidelity rather than purchasing low fee index funds?
• If I stay with TDA, would it be crazy to invest in SWTSX and VTIAX? Even though Schwab's fees are lower, I have heard that VTIAX is much more diverse than SWISX as it includes companies from developing countries as well.

Hi,
I'm planning to graduate from paper trading soon. I will probably begin with $1,000 and size up to $10,000-15,000 once I feel comfortable. Either way I will be under the 25k requirement to remove the cap on equity trades.
The method I'm having the most success with right now is scalping so three trades every five days is clearly not going to work. So my plan for the time being is to scalp forex/options instead. I'm wondering if this is as good of an idea as it seems in my head, or if there's some catch I'm not aware of? Why do people relegate themselves to cash accounts to trade equities when they can just do forex/options?

I'm having a hard time getting started. I've been reading a lot, but so widely, it is hard to scope down and see what is applicable for my situation. Most of the basics seem to be "Get a 401k! Get a Roth IRA!", but I've spoken to an investor and that is illegal for me, since I don't live in the US. Most places say it is illegal for them to even talk/give advice to me. Some people just say do it anyway on a parent's address, but then how would I even transfer the money in from my Dutch bank account all the time? Would that even work?
I am 27, have no debt, and have a good emergency fund of just over 20k, so investing is the next step. But I need a pointer to what I can do as a US citizen. My Dutch bank (ING) doesn't want to work with American investors, but I'm lost on what I should look into. Schwab, Vanguard, Degiro, I don't know which is best for me, or if I am even allowed to use any of them.
I'd like to set something up that I can drop a couple hundred of Euros in a month and come back in 30 or 40 years to.
Are there any other US citizens living in the Netherlands in the same situation?

12 years of disciplined boring investing almost all in SPY and later VOO and I am a millionaire in my late thirties.
900k from index funds and 200k from real estate.
Started with zero. No inheritance. Separate money from my wife (not counting her assets or contributions). Made mid five to low six figures income the whole time. One kid... now two.
edit 1
I actually did not thing anyone would respond to this but a lot of people did. Some asked for proof. Here it is. Omitting real estate holdings. https://imgur.com/a/zI9UWJa
Also including credit report - no debt outside a used car loan because I will not pay cash when I get money at 3.49%.
Edit 2
People asked for more details.
At a high level I have been investing / studying markets since I was very young. I tried everything (internet stocks, FOREX, Options, Futures, small caps etc) coupled with fundamental and technical analysis. Did OK, even won second place in a trading contest but never got what I wanted.
Like many people I made bad decisions and had divorce, job loss, etc. Even had to close out an IRA in my twenties.
Ended up turning to a disciplined index fund strategy about 12 years ago.
Strategy was to max out 401k and live below my means (old car, no cable tv, make my own food, etc). At the end of each month swept all my pennies into an after tax fund since my 401k was maxed. That is it. Make your own coffee and buy VOO or SPY ideally in a tax advantaged account.
I road this through the 2008/2009 crash - kept my investments and bought more.
I also have small (like 5% of my money) in Bitcoin, Tesla and Pot stocks. This is purely for fun.
A couple people mentioned this was just luck. I think it is important to understand the market will move up, retrace, consolidate and then move higher. The timing of this is somewhat luck. The strategy part is live below your means, buy and accumulate positions for years so when a bull market hits you are in. I guess you can call each runup "luck" except people keep living in debt no matter what their income. I would much prefer people take away an investment strategy that does work if you are a disciplined from someone not born rich and who tried a lot of different strategies.
The takeaway really is with education and discipline you can reach a level of financial independence even after many screwups. I can publish this simple system and honestly few will follow it... There are no ads, systems to buy or affiliate links. I make zero dollars sharing this. I make my own coffee and watch netflix. I invest the rest in index funds. Take a trip or buy something if it really is important to me. That is it.
Edit 3
People asked what is next. Teach my six year old and newborn savings and investing. Opening a ROTH* for the 6 year old and custodial brokerage account for the new addition. They will have millions as a safety net at retirement. They will now know about this money and will need to find their own path in life.
Staying in the market, if it crashes I will buy more.
Stating in until I reach 5-10 million. Don't need the money for a long time...

• A ROTH requires earned income, they need to be hired in a family business, mow the lawn, model, deliver papers, etc. Google and your accountant has more legal ways to do this and interesting discussion. You can google "roth ira for newborn". I did not point this out early on. Sorry.

Learning stocks and practicing has been an on and off thing for me ever since I've turned 18.
During this journey, I've learned about: Risk management, MACD, RSI, trends, ema/sma, volume, patterns, etc
I managed to dabble on forex, day trading, swing trading, and options trading.
The most success I have found was through options trading. Though it was was very risky I managed to make a large amount of profit.
The big question is: Where are the best resources to learn and improve? For the past 2 years it felt as if I was only receiving surface level knowledge and practicing felt like false hope even if its based on probability trades.
How do you learn how to read earnings reports? How to feel like you're doing something right? I would love to get into bonds, ira investments, real estate, and so many more areas, but it feels like there's a huge base of people trying to scam or advertise their "trading group" when I've heard and seen that they were no good.
Finally, are there any subreddits that are professional traders that just interact with each other? As in they don't want advice. They want to share their knowledge and they reflect on how they approached the trade.

I recently turned 18 which means I can invest my money now. I did some surface level research about investing but I just want to make sure my information is correct.
Since I'm starting out, I'm planning on opening a ROTH IRA at either TD Ameritrade or fidelity. (Can you open more than 1 Roth IRA at different places; can I have a Roth IRA with both td and fidelity?)
How does money grow in a Roth IRA?
What are options, ETFs, index funds, mutual funds, and forex. (I only know about stocks)
Anything else that can help a newbie trader would help as well

Hi guys!
So I’m starting a new job soon but also moving out finally but finally have some stability and a job I like.
I am almost 27, was living at home since college but unfortunately still was unable to save too much. My jobs since college paid me like shit (started at 37K and now at 52K but my new job I will start will be 72k). That plus student loans, a car, a DUI (PS please do not drink and drive and try never get one they are expensive af and not to mention I still feel guilt everyday), and overally poor spending habits
Here is what I have to my name so far: 23K in a 401K (my current job is a contract job so zero employer contribution) - I want to take a better approach to this
About 6K in a rainy day savings account that was originally 1.99% Apr but has since dropped to 1.25 because recession (yeah this is low because as I mentioned the reasons above lol). Basically, it’s just sitting there doing nothing.
A car loan that has about 19K left in it.
No significant credit card debt (zeroing it out next week) of personal loans or anything
Student loans my parents said they would take care of once I moved out but I don’t have much left on them anyway so those are a non-factor at the moment.
My credit score is actually fuckin good (>800 humble brag) but I have no assets to show for it and I wanna change that
So here is where my real questions begin
At my next role, I am trying to allocate about 1K a month to savings (take home pay, not 401k). I want to actually do something with it like invest but I have zero idea where to start. Like legit zero - I’ve heard people talk about options, and Forex and other crap but all this is a foreign language to me. Any ideas where I can learn as a complete beginner? App, link, book, anything lol
I did a calculation and 1K/month is the max I can save for now but hopefully I can adjust after I get my raise.
As for my 401K - I will be starting off at 6% contributions as that is unfortunately all I can afford at the moment (also putting in a few bucks for HSA every month). Thing is, I have not touched the 401k AT ALL in terms of the investment strategy. Can someone link me a link/book for this as well. Also looking into a Roth IRA as I heard those are good but also have zero fuckin idea how those work or where to start.
I know I can google or youtube but I trust reddit to come thru because tbh, it has come thru a lot the last 2 years of my life more than those other sources lol. Also yeah I know I suck with my money but I’m trying to reverse my habits and go down a better path now instead of later.
Thanks everyone!

So I have my my emergency fund with 3 months expenses saved and I'm still putting a little in each paycheck. I'm saving for a down payment on a house. I'm investing in my job's 401k enough to to get the full match and anything after I invest in my Roth IRA. So where do I go from here? Crypto? Precious metals? Forex?

Recently asked the sub the best way to invest as a young adult, I got some great advice here and it opened my eyes to the real risk of individually betting on stocks. After I mentioned forex, I was quickly eaten alive by you guys but after thinking about it, it does seem redundant to invest in anything other than the s&p for my situation. I want to build a solid foundation first before being so risky.
So anyways, I’m planning on opening an account with Fidelity. I know money contributed to the traditional IRA is tax deductible. I do understand the difference between a Roth and Traditional and decided traditional was best for me because I plan to use it to buy my first house (hopefully) in the next five years.
Considering my contributions are tax deductible, and I would be frequently investing a percentage of my paychecks into the IRA, Is it better that I file independently so that I can reap these tax benefits? Or is it better to stay dependent as long as i can? What are the benefits of filing independently for people my age?
Thanks

Hello, I am located in the US and have opened a demo account on both Oanda and TD for the past 2 years. I have found both platforms suitable to my needs (fxTrade and ToS), but am confused by all the fine print and am looking for pros and cons of each brokerage?
I use TD for my IRA and at one point another investment account, I like the fact they have physical locations in my area, customer service reps, established company, etc. On the other hand I know Forex trading is just one service they offer (not a primary focus I am sure) and dislike the $2,000 minimum requirement.
I understand Oanda to be a reputable broker with great service, but my primary concern is getting my money out, associated fees, finance charges, etc. I would ideally like to keep withdraw money as I make it (i.e. I make $100, I would like to be able to easily transfer that $100 to my bank account with NO FEEs at anytime).
My plan is to fund an account with $2,000, but I do not want to re-buy in if I lose it all, and in the case with TD if I lose $500, I can no longer trade on margin (I believe). I also do not want to be on the hook for additional money if I lose it all as well. I plan to scalp/swing/day trade (in my demo accounts I think the longest I have held an open position is like 3 hours), and when I trade I do not plan on leaving my computer screen and monitoring my trade in addition to setting limits, so I will hopefully catch myself before I fall too far.
I guess I am looking for anyone's experience (located in the USA), positive and negative, with either or both brokerages.
Thank you.

I've lived mainly overseas since my 30s (40s now) and my income is largely foreign only and most of it is excluded from US taxes - I pay only in the country I live in. I do intend to move back/buy a house/retire in the US at some point.
I hold mutual funds with Vanguard but don't have a 401k or other tax-advantaged accounts like an IRA. This is what I'm most concerned about - but my income is already mostly not taxed by the US. It's only about 10-15% in the country I live
I'm not paying into social security. From my last statement, it seems to say if I don't pay any more into it (last time was in my 20s) my monthly benefits will be like $600 US a year at retirement. This seems like it will be an issue
My credit rating in the US is good (750+) based off one credit card I keep there and pay off monthly.
When sending money back to the US to invest, I have had to be mindful of Forex issues buying USD.
What else do I need to look out for when I do come back? Am I missing out on other benefits by not being in the US/paying taxes there now?

Hi all,
Today, a Forex scammer attempted to target me via Instagram, which led me down a rabbit hole to here. I think I'm a good representation of an "average" US American - I work for myself (due to no connections, just my degrees, determination, and coldcalls), had almost the exact average of student debt until a fortunate and modest inheritance, and make a lower than average amount of money considering my degrees. My only unique quality would be my curiosity and my thirst for learning. In spite of having undergraduate and graduate degrees I've never taken even an Economics 101 course. After extensive research a few years ago I have an extremely modest Roth IRA with Fidelity composed of mixed mutual funds and a minuscule amount of money in Robinhood from when I was young.
So, to my theory - After falling into this rabbit hole of Forex scammers, I have decided these are the 3 types of humans who make money in investing:
​

1. The extremely wealthy, who can pay others to invest and manage their money for them
2. Scammers
3. Those who are have above average financial literacy in economics, specifically investing

​
To that end - What are some legitimate resources I can consult to learn more about first, the economy, and second, investing? I'm not interested in getting rich quick, or frankly, at all. Most of my life values don't lie in wealth accumulation and I currently make enough money to support myself. However, I am embarrassed about my lack of economic and investing knowledge as a soon to be 30 year old adult. Suggestions?
​
Thanks in advance.
P.D. (from mobile, sorry if the formatting is off) - Please no PMs about “just invest $x in y.” I’m really looking to understand basic economics, the market forces, and eventually how this is or isn’t just a game for the mega wealthy and wannabes. Right now any disposable income I have is going to my small amount of remaining student loans so not investing anywhere at this time.

It's my money. I'll do what I want with it. But how to do this without making Uncle Sam mad and not taking a penalty for early withdraw? Found this avenue on accident when looking for a Forex broker.
Found a local trust company, explained to them I wanted to trade Forex (and possibly invest in more rental properties when that market takes a crap) and wanted to know how I could use my old 401k (403b) to accomplish this.
Here are the steps in crude form:

• Trust opens a Traditional IRA for you and help you initialize 401k rollover
• Setup a Manager-Manged LLC (Not Member-Managed) with appropriate Operating Agreement stating you as the Manager and your Trust as the only Member
• Register with the state to get a State business ID, register the LLC with the IRS to get an EIN
• Setup a business bank account and have funds transferred to the business bank account and then maintain records off everything

You CANNOT distribute any of this money to yourself (legally). Any brokerage accounts or real estate would have to be purchased under the LLC. Waiting on the distribution from the Trust to the LLC bank account as I type this.
You can also keep contributing to that IRA and passing it through to the LLC and claim tax deductions if you're eligible.
For now I plan on doing standard long term stock investing, possibly throw some at BTC, and invest in another rental property.

Hello fellow autists. It has now been around two weeks where I've moved on from Robinhood and am now using a proper broker (TD Ameritrade, using their "Think or Swim" mobile app / desktop app). I had been using Robinhood for about 1.5 years, but didn't realize the vast amounts of benefits you get at a proper broker (described below). I wish someone had told me about all this when I first started trading, so now I'm passing on this knowledge to youuuuuu. Perhaps other brokers have most if not all of these benefits, but I don't got experience with them.

• Pretty cheap trades - While the main benefit of Robinhood is that its free - you can actually get pretty cheap trades with TDA. What you have to do is open a support request with them, and ask them to price match "Tastyworks" (https://tastyworks.com/pricing.html). You TELL them that you want them to price match their fees, or you'll leave etc... Can even ask for cheaper fees if you want. You can also get 300 free trades when you first sign up , and even free money (up to $600) if you deposit a LOT.
  
• Practically unlimited day trades (for stocks and options) - this one was a big one for me, as I’m poor and have less than $25,000 in my trading account. You can ask for a “tier 2 cash account”, and you can do as MANY day trades as you want … but only if the money is “cleared”. Every time you make a trade, the money will clear the next day. What this means is that you can place a trade with 50% of your money in the morning, and then later in the day make another trade with the other 50%, then you can sell out of both positions. The next day the money will be cleared and you can continue trading. I went from doing that dumb 3 day trades every 5 days… to about 5-20 day trades every single day.
  
• Charts have superb indicators in them - Here’s what my “charts” setup looks like - https://i.imgur.com/EiiWEHe.png - You can see I can monitor multiple charts at once (HUGELY beneficial), and I can see the 200d ma, VWAP, EMA clouds, and low and high of day. Hundreds of others to add if you want, and they all work on mobile too.
  

Combine having “unlimited” day trades with seeing proper indicators on a chart . . . and you can do my new day trading strategy of buying a few options when you see a setup occur (such as a stock going below the low of the day, or buying after it breaks the 200d ma). Then when the price hits a resistance point (such as the pre market highs), you can sell 50-75% of the contracts and lock in profits. Then you can add to your positions on pullbacks or just let the rest ride.

• Good referral system - Refer someone and you can get either $50 or 10 free trades (with Robinhood I only ever for like $5 - $10 stocks)
  
• Paper trading - Think or swim has paper trading, so you can practice losing money before you actually lose your real money
  
• Stop loss on options - In a position but have to step out to a meeting? You can have little fear of the market going against you as you can put in stop losses for your options. As you set the stop loss for the price of the contract, it will even tell you what approximate price the stock will be
  
• Market buy in and out of options - With Robinhood, if I wanted to get out of an option I’d put in a sell and it would put the price in between the bid and ask. Half the time it wouldn’t sell right away, so I’d have to cancel it then put in another (all the while the price keeps tanking). Now I can easily market sell something and boom it’s sold. You usually only want to do this if the option has high open interest / volume / tight bid & ask, which you can easily see. Also there’s no “this option can only be bought in 5 cent increment” bullshits
  
• Buy today’s SPY option - lose your money even faster by getting same day expiry for SPY etc…
  
• Easily see the prices for multiple options - Here’s what I see to buy into options (https://i.imgur.com/Ug8pskt.png). I can easily browse multiple strikes for today, and click into other dates to see those. No more clicking into an option… then clicking into it again to see the open volume etc… You can also see the IV on the very right of the tab name (with the date on it)
  
• Excellent customer support, can live chat - Compared to RH where its practically 0 support and GG if you run into an issue
  
• Transfer your IRA and day trade or do options on it - Lose your retirement funds too if you want. If it's a Roth IRA, gains are tax free (but losses aren’t a tax right off)
  

You can also link all of your accounts... And then trade with them all at once. So in a few clicks I can take a single trade that gets executed on my day trading account, my Roth IRA, and my traditional IRA

• Excellent mobile app and desktop app that syncs - Tons of other features I’m leaving out too
  
• Forex and futures - If you want, you can do forex and futures
  

Just download “Think or swim” and try out the “paper trading” at least, it's all free. You can also open a regular account and just do all of your chart viewing and option browsing, then go into RH if you want to buy in there. PM me if you have any questions :D

Hello
I've saved up a small chunk of change and I should have ~£2500 after working throughout summer. I'll have maintenance loans and a bursary to cover my costs of living next year so all of my savings can be invested. I'll also soon begin to receive ~£250 a month due to an inherited house being put up for rent.
I'm not interested in crazy high-risk investments - not because I'm necessarily against it, but rather I don't have a good knowledge of the stock market/commodities/FOREX-related stuff and don't have the time to learn about it due to my studies.
I've read about the Americans and their 401k roth IRAs but I have no idea what the equivalent is for the UK. Is there anything I can do to passively invest what I have? I'd like to get into the habit of investing so that by the time I leave university and start making proper money, this whole thing won't be new to me. I feel like the earlier I can figure this sort of stuff out the better.
​
Thanks!

If your question is "I have $10,000, what do I do?" or anything similar. There is no single answer to this question, but we will also need A LOT MORE information if we are to give some sort of answer

• How old are you?
• Are you employed/making income? How much?
• What are your objectives with this money? (buy a house? Retirement savings?)
• What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?)
• What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors?)
• Any other assets? House paid off? Cars? Expensive girlfriend? (not really an asset)
• What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs?
• Any big debts?
• Any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer.

Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered financial rep before making any financial decisions!

Hey, so I’m a 19 year old, and a little bit about me this past year I’ve been working, and I originally thought I wasn’t going to go back to school but now I’m indecisive but my plan now is to keep on working and save enough money to start investing in real estate, forex, or stocks/bonds/dividends, etc. And since I started working as a junior in high school I’ve managed to save about $30,000 and I am about to transfer a little bit of money into at ROTH IRA, but what should my steps be, or any advice is welcome, thank you.

Hi all, I wanted to post some ruminations on trading that hit me this year. Most of this is common sense, but sometimes it helps to put it to words or to see others who are going through it.
TIMES OF STRESS
So, this is not a pity party for Huachi, instead it is a hard but good lesson learned that I need to pass on;. I like this sub, I'm an experienced trader (FX and stock) with a decent background in options and Futures, and was trying to be actively involved in TheWallStreet as well as growing my trading capital and my retirement accounts. Back in September, I had a family emergency that was medical in nature. This required my total attention, with emergency time off from work, where I had to care for that family member medically (I'm in the medical field, I do this for a living, and it still was a massive undertaking), as well as dealing with the fallout of that person's life choices. This is soft language for I love this person but their life can be a trainwreck that I had clean up. This meant 100% mental energy 100% of the time for 2 months solid, burning FMLA the whole time. I was not in the mind to do anything else, but unfortunately right after hitting the ground, I took an open position that turned out to be a bad idea - I was short /LE and /ZS in the form of long puts, and took that position just prior to a hurricane scare (which spiked Soybeans) as well as a bull market (no pun... well maybe not) for cattle. I held till death, no stop loss, no reflection, no GTFO we are in trouble. This cost me a good 8K in trading capital that I sorely needed and still need today.
When you are massively stressed, your worst trading habits, whatever they are, will come out in spades. Gambler? You are going to be hitting the craps table with your account. Revenge trader? You'll hold till you die on something that you would have bailed on during normal times. Poor sizer? Risking 100% with no stop loss is the par.... you get the drift. Your worst habits will come out in droves. I'm a seasoned trader and investor, but I have horrible impulse control that I have had to overcome with years of work to be successful in doing this. Self analyze, and realize that the same battle you fight everyday doing this wonderful trading business is going to be amplified exponentially in a stressor.
My advice to most of you (not all, because some would be able to focus, but most won't) is to exit all positions when a true, bad ass emergency happens. I don't care how confident you are in them, if you cannot treat this trading as a second career and keep those positions under your hawk's eye, and start to back burner it, it is going to burn you. Exit all positions immediately, even at a loss, come back with a clear head when the situation has resolved. Family emergency, girl/boy emergency, your children emergency, work emergency, whatever, being open during this can kill you. I wish I had that 8K back, but I don't. Between that loss and then the output of almost 20K of my own cash money just to pay bills, I have a tiny trading account now!!
EDIT: This wasn't rent money.
CAREER
Which brings me to this. I don't see it as much here as I do on other subs (especially Forex and WSB), but there are enough new traders that I see trying to trade gamble their way out of a dead end job or unhappy career. Many of the traders here, especially the ones wielding big gains, already have established, well paying careers in professional fields. I am one of them. Your earnings flow from your sweat equity. I spent years in a dead end, high hours, low pay and low reward job trying to wagegamble/trade my way out of a life that was unhappy. Now, that gave me a solid experience base, but trying to flip $300 in Forex money into spendable cash was just not going to happen, at least for me.... and this is true for most traders. You want a career that is intellectually and fiscally rewarding and that leaves you with some free time. I recognize that this is Dad advice, but your trading will prosper once you have a good career that produces healthy revenue that you can trade. As well, when faced with the aforementioned emergency, you can re-capitalize in a relatively short time and get back to work. I estimate I should be OK by March/April for funds... but I don't want to tempt the Gods.
ROTH IRA
Total right turn here, but do you have a Roth IRA? I am a believer in this vehicle. The benefit of a Roth is that whatever gains you make you keep. You pay no taxes as what goes into the Roth is after tax money. This means you can amplify your earnings. Your Roth maximum contribution is capped at $5500 per year for 2018, but as you grow that, you owe no taxes. Roth is a retirement account accessible at 59 1/2 years, and also can serve as an emergency fund because it has some accessibility as one. In short, get a Roth! You aren't being eaten by quarterly taxes, and you can grow yours wonderfully.
Good luck everybody. Ruminations, advice, comments, and snide remarks are welcome below.