Can forex trading make you rich? Although our instinctive reaction to that question would be an unequivocal "No,” we should qualify that response. Forex trading may make you rich if you are a hedge fund with deep pockets or an unusually skilled currency trader. But for the average retail trader, rather than being an easy road to riches, forex trading can be a rocky highway to enormous losses and potential penury.
But first, the stats. A Bloomberg article in Nov. 2014 noted that based on reports to their clients by two of the biggest forex companies at the time—Gain Capital Holdings Inc. (GCAP) and FXCM Inc.—68% of investors had net losses from trading currencies in the prior year. While this could be interpreted to mean that about one in three traders does not lose money trading currencies, that's not the same as getting rich trading forex.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Many retail traders turn to the forex market in search of fast profits.
Statistics show that most aspiring forex traders fail, and some even lose large amounts of money.
Leverage is a double-edged sword, as it can lead to outsized profits but also substantial losses.
Counterparty risks, platform malfunctions, and sudden bursts of volatility also pose challenges to would-be forex traders.
Unlike stocks and futures that trade on exchanges, forex pairs trade in the over-the-counter market with no central clearing firm.
Note that the Bloomberg numbers were cited just two months before an unexpected seismic shock in the currency markets highlighted the risks of forex trading. On Jan. 15, 2015, the Swiss National Bank abandoned the Swiss franc's cap of 1.20 against the euro that it had in place for three years. As a result, the Swiss franc soared as much as 41% against the euro and 38% versus the U.S. dollar on that day.
The surprise move from Switzerland's central bank inflicted losses running into the hundreds of millions of dollars on innumerable participants in forex trading, from small retail investors to large banks. Losses in retail trading accounts wiped out the capital of at least three brokerages, rendering them insolvent, and took FXCM, then the largest retail forex brokerage in the United States, to the verge of bankruptcy.
Unexpected one time events are not the only risk facing forex traders. Here are seven other reasons why the odds are stacked against the retail trader who wants to get rich trading the forex market.
Excessive Leverage
Although currencies can be volatile, violent gyrations like that of the aforementioned Swiss franc are not that common. For example, a substantial move that takes the euro from 1.20 to 1.10 versus the U.S. dollar over a week is still a change of less than 10%. Stocks, on the other hand, can easily trade up or down 20% or more in a single day. But the allure of forex trading lies in the huge leverage provided by forex brokerages, which can magnify gains (and losses).
A trader who shorts $5,000 worth of euros against the U.S. dollar at 1.20 and then covers the short position at 1.10 would make a tidy profit of $500 or 8.33%. If the trader used the maximum leverage of 50:1 permitted in the U.S. (ignoring trading costs and commissions) the profit is $25,000, or 416.67%.
Of course, had the trader been long euro at 1.20, used 50:1 leverage, and exited the trade at 1.10, the potential loss would have been $25,000. In some overseas jurisdictions, leverage can be as much as 200:1 or even higher. Because excessive leverage is the single biggest risk factor in retail forex trading, regulators in a number of nations are clamping down on it.
Asymmetric Risk to Reward
Seasoned forex traders keep their losses small and offset these with sizable gains when their currency call proves to be correct. Most retail traders, however, do it the other way around, making small profits on a number of positions but then holding on to a losing trade for too long and incurring a substantial loss. This can also result in losing more than your initial investment.
Platform or System Malfunction
Imagine your plight if you have a large position and are unable to close a trade because of a platform malfunction or system failure, which could be anything from a power outage to an Internet overload or computer crash. This category would also include exceptionally volatile times when orders such as stop-losses do not work. For instance, many traders had tight stop-losses in place on their short Swiss franc positions before the currency surged on Jan. 15, 2015. However, these proved ineffective because liquidity dried up even as everyone stampeded to close their short franc positions.