Is forex itself just a scam?

[DirtTee]

You all took your eye off the main question. Is forex a scam.

And that really depends on if you win or lose.


But lets look at the definition of gambling:

1 : to play a game for money or property b : to bet on an uncertain outcome
2 : to stake something on a contingency : take a chance

Forex considering the definition is gambling

[KingCole]

Forex is no bigger scam than stock trading, or derivatives trading, or whatever type of trading someone with no background in trading can refer to it as.

I think you came to the wrong place to ask this, like.... you don't go to a US Marine Corps forum and ask "is the war on terror a scam" ... no matter what a Marine's personal feelings are on the war, they will never admit in public that what he and his friends are/have died for is a sham/scam.

Just my humble opinion.

But you can't say Vegas has better odds than Forex trading, that's VERY misinformed or at the very least sounds like someone bitter about losing in Forex trading for whatever reason

Good Day

[how2win]

"95% of ALL newbie's will lose most or all of their money"..to me, thats a scam..to newbie's, if they don't think thats a scam they're not using simple logic, and ANYONE that says that the forex market isn't gambling is lying and is doing a disservice to all newbie traders..and I'm not sure why seasoned (not necessarily winning) traders would try to deceive the mass of new traders that find their way here..they just want an honest answer..why would all of you try and deceive these new traders by not telling them the truth..why not come right out and say.."any method that will take most or all of the money of ALL new traders is a scam? I don't get it..why do you people try and defend such a scam?..are you trying to make this form of gambling respectable?...In a scam 100% of the people lose all of their money..in forex its the same thing..if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck..then it must be a duck..pretty simple eh?

Btw - To a card counter, Vegas is considered investing...the few make a few bucks while the masses lose their ***..same in forex...the game is RIGGED against the masses...if you want to white wash forex you have an agenda against all newbies..you should be ashamed.

[Mike]

This conversation keeps shifting back and forth from is Forex a scam, to Is Forex Gambling, and is Gambling a scam. We need to sit down and realize that INVESTING IN CURRENCIES is its own unique way of investing that by definition is a gamble, and if saying otherwise is a disservice in your opinion then you are entitled to it.


Honestly if 95% of all newbies lose money in an industry where others prosper, it says nothing about the industry except how hard it is to prosper without proper training. The 5-10% of people who do well, does that mean they are finding a way to buck the trend and scam the scammers trying to steal their money? Absolutely not. I don't know why any of the previous analogies don't hold water in this regard, but it seems you are set on tearing down Forex as a whole when there are quite a few of us that attack this market and view it as a constant battle, putting every possible tool in our favor to try and succeed.

Name a school or training academy where Forex is the main curriculum, none exist.

Please don't single out our Forum to be doing a disservice to "newbies" when I know myself have been on a daily basis sharing what works and does not work for me, hoping that others out there learn by example and not go down my road of personal failure (years ago when I first began). I even bought this Forum after trading for a few short years so that newbies like me can have a place to come and share their experiences, both good and bad, so that we all could learn something and save our capital. To suggest that this website is in existence for any other reason is highly misinformed, if we had a conversation I'm sure I could change your mind about what it is in my heart/mind driving this site forward.


You literally answered your own gripe about Forex and our Forum in saying that treating investing as a gamble does a disservice when in reality I myself treated Forex as a gamble before learning one thing about how it worked; I just got into trades because I thought it looked like the EURUSD was going up, hanging on to losing trades because I thought "hey, its gotta go back my way eventually" A COMPLETELY "NEWBIE" way of looking at investing without a sound strategy in place. I lost over $5000 starting out, but I never thought of this as a scam, I literally was cognizant of the fact that I had NO money management skills, no idea of support/resistance, no idea of high probability trades and in each case of a loss I was able to point out where/why that loss occurred, was able to learn from those mistakes and rarely repeated them. I don't see how any "newbie" can't learn from their mistakes in this industry without throwing their hands up in the air and calling the whole process a scam.

I'd love to be able to show you the 1000's of screenshots of successful trades I've entered on my own after learning the in's and out's of how to trade more successfully. And even then, do I acknowledge there will be losses? Of course. I am a 60-70% winning trader, but my winning trades FAR outweigh the size of my losing trades which is another key to trading successfully.

Saying that being able to go into a casino and walk out with 95% of what you had is accepting that you lost 5% of what you began with. You suggest that entering a few losing trades in Forex is the same as losing 100% of your account, under the most ill informed and uneducated of approaches this is absolutely true, risking 100% of your account on any given trade has been suggested no where on this website by me or anyone that I can recall, and this is the crux of your argument. That does not make ANY casino table game or slot machine a better allocation of your funds, in fact it is more foolish. I sit there watching people throw dollar after dollar into machines losing and losing in the hope that the next will win; no strategy, no guarantee of a win eventually, just a hope.

When I enter a trade in Forex, I do not "HOPE" it wins, I am taking a trade because I understand at this moment in time I have a higher probability of a winning outcome than other times where a loss is most likely.

In Forex, this year alone I am up many hundred percent from what I started through pure strategy and consistent execution of that strategy. Very few, very few people at a casino can say the same. Luck is the underlying force for anyone who wins at a casino, whatever edge they think they might enjoy only lasts as long as they are not found out by the house.

Right now I entered a EURUSD short at 1.4160 and the price is now 1.4128, I am up over 30 pips based on a my strategy. This is not rocket scientry, and I dare anyone to call me a scammer for following my tried and true method of finding this trade for my own benefit.


I literally know that price takes that Yellow Balance Point line and treats it like a magnet, in a down trend, it will bounce back down from it searching for the next area of support. And sure enough, I enter short at the YBPL and set a stop near 1.4130. And I am 30 pips richer.

Very few people can come here and say they have a strategy for a slot machine that can return 300% of their capital this year, if that were true, it would be a profession that even I would want to try.

No Limit Texas Hold 'Em is a game I am extremely good at, especially on these new computerized tables take away a lot of the human aspects (one on one), and this is literally one of the only casino games that luck does not play a major factor; so if you want to compare Forex to Texas Hold 'em then lets debate that.

I am not here to argue about what is more profitable, going to a casino or investing in Forex, but I respectfully ask that you not call this website a scammer website when from its inception we have been delving to the heart of what strategies can make Forex traders of all levels help preserve their capital before losing it on bad decisions that I myself have been guilty of making before learning to respect this market.

[Matt]

In Vegas you have a chance of walking out with 95% of your money if you play certain games..and thats called gambling ...in forex you WILL lose all of your money guaranteed..and thats called investing lol..too frikkin funny..trust me, its way beyond a scam..you will be attacked from all side for your money..including the stop hunters going after your stops..and I don't mean brokers, they have their own way of taking your money lol..all you newbie's have a lot to learn and its going to cost you all the extra money you should be spending on your wife and kids..not to mention the 1000's of hours you will waste watching "price action" lol..take that precious time and spend it on your family..there's no free lunch..this game is way beyond gambling.you have no shot, and anyone that tells you you do has a hidden agenda..they all need suckers like you to perpetuate their game..otherwise they'd have to get a real job...I tell you the truth..everything else is a lie.

I haven't heard such dumb logic explaining why 10% of people are good at something and 90% at something suck. Drawing a conclusion that going to Vegas has better odds throwing your money at luck games giving you a better chance of winning money than taking a level headed approach to investing in my entire life.

You obviously have never traded a single day in your life and have sit on the sidelines, the one day you did trade you ****ed yourself up and risked your entire account on one trade and lost it all.

Tell me that's the approach you didn't take and still thought trading was a scam?

Because you sound like a moron of gigantic proportions for thinking you have better odds playing Craps than you do at recognizing price is at a support level, buying, and making pips when price goes up, repeating it, and being a good trader day in day out.

Wow, this is some Sarah Palin idiocracy right here right here...

hahahahahhaha

[bear]

In Vegas you have a chance of walking out with 95% of your money if you play certain games..and thats called gambling ...in forex you WILL lose all of your money guaranteed..and thats called investing lol..too frikkin funny..trust me, its way beyond a scam..you will be attacked from all side for your money..including the stop hunters going after your stops..and I don't mean brokers, they have their own way of taking your money lol..all you newbie's have a lot to learn and its going to cost you all the extra money you should be spending on your wife and kids..not to mention the 1000's of hours you will waste watching "price action" lol..take that precious time and spend it on your family..there's no free lunch..this game is way beyond gambling.you have no shot, and anyone that tells you you do has a hidden agenda..they all need suckers like you to perpetuate their game..otherwise they'd have to get a real job...I tell you the truth..everything else is a lie.

wow... you think just because someone can quit while they're BEHIND in Vegas means Vegas isn't a scam?

Let me ask if this isn't too personal a question, how far you got in high school before dropping out?

[sniper012]

It's very easy to say something is a scam when you lose at it. I will go as far as to say that forex is a business of probabilities in which we can put the odds in our favor. Outside of counting cards, you cannot put the odds in your favor at a casino. If you wait around and trade based on economic news releases, then you are indeed gambling because you have no idea how price is going to react to that news. Traders like us cannot effectively trade the news so get that out of your head. I was reading an article about George Soros the other day. He basically liquidated his positions on 6 various stocks. One of the stocks was trading between $70-$75 before he cashed out and after he cashed out, the stock tumbled to around $50 bucks per share. This is not a gamble. This is being smart and riding the wave created by the second most well known trader in the world behind Warren Buffett. If you find out he's adding a stock, you would also want to add that stock or option to your portfolio. Now, you might say "well those are equities, not currency." and you would be right. But all is not lost. There is a report that comes out every week that tells us who had added and dropped certail currency in the currency world. It's known as the COT report and it is something that I incorporate with my trading on a regular basis. If you think this is just easy money and that you can just take a guess and trade in a particular direction, then you will lose. Once you dedicate yourself to putting in the work and being disciplined, you will see the difference. I have a ton of charts I can post but there's a saying that goes "you can't say the right thing to the wrong person and you can't say the wrong thing to the right person." If you have a negative attitude towards this business, you will never do well at it.

[sniper012]

The reason you argument doesn't hold water is that #1, I haven't lost all of my money and I have been trading for a decade. I'm a tad over 80% accurate. I don't know how you're trading but you obviously have learned some awful trading habits. #2, If you know what a stop loss is, you are in control of how much you stand to lose on a particular trade. Let me ask you: do you trade on at least a 1hr chart? I would suggest at least a 4hr chart to trade on but 1hr is the absolute minimum. When you lose a trade, do you immediately double your position and trade in the opposite direction? That is also a no no...big time. When you do that, you are trading off of emotion and that is a surefire way to lose it all. Some people will never get it, perhaps you are one of those people. I would never show anyone my account statements but if forex is a scam...I'LL TAKE IT!! Maybe the powers that be have saw fit to rig the scam in my direction. Funny that I have taught others my strategy and they have similar results.

"95% of ALL newbie's will lose most or all of their money"..to me, thats a scam..to newbie's, if they don't think thats a scam they're not using simple logic, and ANYONE that says that the forex market isn't gambling is lying and is doing a disservice to all newbie traders..and I'm not sure why seasoned (not necessarily winning) traders would try to deceive the mass of new traders that find their way here..they just want an honest answer..why would all of you try and deceive these new traders by not telling them the truth..why not come right out and say.."any method that will take most or all of the money of ALL new traders is a scam? I don't get it..why do you people try and defend such a scam?..are you trying to make this form of gambling respectable?...In a scam 100% of the people lose all of their money..in forex its the same thing..if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck..then it must be a duck..pretty simple eh?

Btw - To a card counter, Vegas is considered investing...the few make a few bucks while the masses lose their ***..same in forex...the game is RIGGED against the masses...if you want to white wash forex you have an agenda against all newbies..you should be ashamed.

[FxFreedom]

I made $1400 in vegas once...

I stress... ONCE.

[Mike]

Name a blog/forum owner in this field that espouses honesty in that regard as much as we try to? Of course I'd like to protect my privacy but I have nothing to hide, I even admit that I lost my hat when trying out Forex for the first time.

No one asks out of the 90% of people that lose in Forex, how long did they practice at it before depositing money and losing it all?

All the analogies apply.

You don't send a soldier off to war with a gun and field kit without going to basic training.
You don't send a airline pilot into a commercial jet plane without years of training and safety procedures.
You don't let a dentist start drilling holes in peoples' teeth with out years and years of practice in medical school.
You don't let a brain surgeon pop open someone's skull and poke around without 6+ years of specialized medical training.

Do the 90% of those who lose money in Forex think this industry is any different?

And that's the sub-question that whoever took that poll YEARS ago didn't ask the 90%, "HOW MUCH TRAINING DID YOU RECEIVE BEFORE YOU DID LOSE YOUR $15,000 average deposit?"

Again, HOW MUCH TRAINING DID YOU RECEIVE BEFORE LOSING IN FOREX AND BEGAN TO CALL IT A SCAM?

If I invest in Apple Stock today and it goes down $20, and I lose $1000's, is the Stock Market a scam?

Whereas people who go to a casino and put $1000 on black, they don't need training or seek it out, they get lucky or lose it all. That's the only way you can compare Forex and Gambling, the only way. If you loosely want to refer to investing as a gamble then so be it, but enough of the Casino/Trading comparisons, because that's the absolute wrong way to look at this CAREER.

In a real way you can blame those who equate Forex to Gambling for setting up the mindset into new traders that you can sit down at your computer much like you sit down at a Slot Machine, press a button, if you win you win, if you lose, try again. This is a dangerous way of introducing someone to the Forex Industry considering Slot Machine play does not require strong understanding of money management, support/resistance, leverage, and the endless list of things that make a currency pair behave and how you are FORCED to adhere to to be successful. Forex is not luck but success hinges upon you being able to develop an edge (whatever that is is up to you) with a proper strategy in place which would never make a reputable broker go out of business. Casino games are pure luck with the edge against you or else the casino would go out of business.

Enough is enough.

[Mike]

Just because you don't know of someone else's method doesn't mean it's a sham, a scam, or a losing effort.

I've been trading this same exact way for years now, only improving on my ability to get into winning trades and stay out of losing trades.

This morning for instance, take a look at this chart.



A range was forming all morning around the 60 Minute moving average, I simply drew a trend line underneath, waited for volume to pick up, when the line was broken it was off to the races. On top of that, if that wasn't the simplest aspect of the trade, a certain indicator I use statistically plots how far this particular pair has gone over the last few weeks letting me know that around 108.00 is where this down move will lose steam, and sure enough, price hits that mark, and reverses. But let's say I didn't even have that indicator, price resumes the down trend and goes another 50 pips.

I can understand that our friend here says the foundations that which many new traders build a strategy upon is shakey at best, but who on this forum (at least the owners/moderators) ever misled anyone in that regard? 99% of my posts that discuss charts are much the same, explaining why I got into trades or not, what makes me enter, what makes me exit. When did we fool anyone into getting into this profession when their personal circumstances (lack of disposable funds) would not allow? And most importantly we have never taken money from anyone in exchange for sharing our strategies which all differ, not to name names but we our strategies are as varying, and I can't speak for others, but my differing strategy works for me. If that is a disservice to certain people then that is your OPINION it does not make it an overpowering truth that turns everyone else here into liars and scammers.

Please keep this in mind when asking yourself if this FORUM is a scam, when Forex scams exist in abundance in the world, we are against them, we do not fuel them, and we actually stand up and try to fight scams in this industry.

Good day to you, I wish we could be friends, truly, I sent you a request that was denied for some reason. My Motto: I am friends with everyone until I am not

[4xteam]

Hey, the Lottery Retirement Pan is no joke... 98% of Americans are relying on it for their futures... not a funny thing at all...

Sadly a lot of people I know are addicted to scratch offs. It's really strange to see people knowing they're about to lose $2 in hopes to make $500 or more. And they never do.

[Harrison]

Btw - To a card counter, Vegas is considered investing...the few make a few bucks while the masses lose their ***..same in forex...the game is RIGGED against the masses...if you want to white wash forex you have an agenda against all newbies..you should be ashamed.

Card counting?

I will go out on a limb and say there are millions of successful forex traders as opposed to a few dozen prosperous card counters in the entire world. And when the card counter gets found out...

[tomT]

.In a scam 100% of the people lose all of their money..in forex its the same thing..if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck..then it must be a duck..pretty simple eh?

If someone sounds bitter, if someone acts bitter, if someone blames everything for their failure except themselves, then they are forex losers.

[calvin]

"95% of ALL newbie's will lose most or all of their money"..to me, thats a scam..to newbie's, if they don't think thats a scam they're not using simple logic, and ANYONE that says that the forex market isn't gambling is lying and is doing a disservice to all newbie traders..and I'm not sure why seasoned (not necessarily winning) traders would try to deceive the mass of new traders that find their way here..they just want an honest answer..why would all of you try and deceive these new traders by not telling them the truth..why not come right out and say.."any method that will take most or all of the money of ALL new traders is a scam? I don't get it..why do you people try and defend such a scam?..are you trying to make this form of gambling respectable?...In a scam 100% of the people lose all of their money..in forex its the same thing..if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck..then it must be a duck..pretty simple eh?

Btw - To a card counter, Vegas is considered investing...the few make a few bucks while the masses lose their ***..same in forex...the game is RIGGED against the masses...if you want to white wash forex you have an agenda against all newbies..you should be ashamed.

Oh man, you are so misguided. And if you would just sit back and read what you wrote you could see how wrong you are.

I said it in another post, and its quite simple.


If something is gambling it's all in how you approach it.

If you approach Forex like its some wild market, you take stabs at buying and selling, then yea its a gamble.

If you clear your head, have a sound strategy to follow and know what you're doing, then its investing smartly.


You said the same thing. Blackjack is not gambling to card counters because they approach it with a clear strategy and can turn it into a job. Forex is the same way, the 90% losers clearly don't follow a sound strategy and stick to their own rules, turning it into a gamble.

I still think you can make a better argument at any Casino table game being a scam more easily than investing in the forex market. But you seem to have a different opinion because of some emotional response that you had from the market.

[huey93]

Card counting?

I will go out on a limb and say there are millions of successful forex traders as opposed to a few dozen prosperous card counters in the entire world. And when the card counter gets found out...

Yea, id rather lose money at trying to be a good forex trader, than trying to be a good blackjack card counter for this very reason.

[BroPips]

In Vegas you have a chance of walking out with 95% of your money if you play certain games..and thats called gambling ...in forex you WILL lose all of your money guaranteed..

ARE YOU HIGH?

What Casino gives you the chance to lose 5% of your money and keep 95%??? And by reasoning we still win nothing?

[henryduncan12]

I really mean it, I am at the point where I have not seen a single company try to do some dirty maneuvers against me or someone I know, and I am at the point where I think forex is a scam itself, please prove me wrong, someone, anyone.

Forex is not a scam because it is one of the biggest financial market of the world. There are many international banks are involved in forex market. So, according to me, it is not a scam.

[d9kkk]

I really mean it, I am at the point where I have not seen a single company try to do some dirty maneuvers against me or someone I know, and I am at the point where I think forex is a scam itself, please prove me wrong, someone, anyone.

The government of India seems to think so.

[DickP]

The government of India seems to think so.

Oh forget that crap. There's alot more to banning Forex in India than their citizens being "scammed" occasionally.

"95% of ALL newbie's will lose most or all of their money"..to me, thats a scam..to newbie's, if they don't think thats a scam they're not using simple logic, and ANYONE that says that the forex market isn't gambling is lying and is doing a disservice to all newbie traders..and I'm not sure why seasoned (not necessarily winning) traders would try to deceive the mass of new traders that find their way here..they just want an honest answer..why would all of you try and deceive these new traders by not telling them the truth..why not come right out and say.."any method that will take most or all of the money of ALL new traders is a scam? I don't get it..why do you people try and defend such a scam?..are you trying to make this form of gambling respectable?...In a scam 100% of the people lose all of their money..in forex its the same thing..if it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck..then it must be a duck..pretty simple eh?

Btw - To a card counter, Vegas is considered investing...the few make a few bucks while the masses lose their ***..same in forex...the game is RIGGED against the masses...if you want to white wash forex you have an agenda against all newbies..you should be ashamed.

How are we supposed to be ashamed when you're advising people to go play blackjack instead of learn how to trade well?

I have a chart for you...



There's nothing in Vegas or any casino that has the type of odds trading Forex does. Without proper money management over any given period of time yes, the odds are you'll lose your entire account when trading... key point, without proper money management. At blackjack alone, sitting down at a table you just signed yourself up to a 48% chance of losing the money you just risked... 9% chance that you will save your money, and 43% chance you will double it. Meaning, you will lose all your money much faster if you don't walk away after just a few wins.

Now look at the chart Mike made about just one strategy, the break out method!

Only 14% of the time you lose your money, 60% your "bet" will win you money and 26% chance its a wash and you neither win or lose.

What's more sensible, calling the whole of Forex with thousands of different strategies you can employ a scam and touting blackjack with a handful of strategies that require you to be a mathematical genius to use? Or realizing the strategies you used to trade forex sucked *** and lost you your shirt?