Retail FX Trader survey results

Hi all - you may remember a few months ago a request went out for input from FX traders as part of some University research. The survey is now closed, many thanks to all that took part. The full results of the survey can be found via the link below and I have included the abstarct in this post;

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2795927

Abstract:

Between the 29th November 2015 and 25th April 2016, 133 Retail FX traders responded to a request to take part in an anonymous online survey, which asked 14 questions about the way they trade. The purpose of the survey was to inform research looking at effective ways to help improve the profitability and reduce the risk of the Retail FX trader.

Over fifty percent of the respondents stated they had been trading for more than four years. The survey found that more than half of the traders had experienced account-closing losses with nearly 40% have experienced this at least twice. The most common cause of these losses were the use of trades sizes that were too large, with nearly half of all traders stating this was the cause of their worst trade. Additional ‘worst trade’ factors were identified as allowing losing trades to run for too long and the lack of automated stop loss levels. Less than a quarter of traders identified their ‘system’ as being the cause of either their best or worst trades, with ‘best’ trades being attributed to significant market moves over 40% of the time closely followed by allowing winning trades to run for a long time. Only a third of traders said they regularly checked the bid-ask spread before placing a trade with only a quarter ever checking the interest swap charges, despite nearly half of all traders saying they kept trades open overnight. When asked what single area a trader would like to improve, most traders focused on physiological issues rather than system ones.

Following on from this we are looking for input as to the most effective way to attempt to reduce some of these risks and two possible routes have been identified, either using a 'serious game' which simulates trading decsion making in a non-trading enviroment, or via a trading platform plug-in, which can help monitor trades and suggest actions and help quantify risks. A very short (three question) survey has been created to ask for your feedback;

https://goo.gl/leRq8c

You input would be very helpful once again.

Thanks

Chris

Interestingly, this survey is very accurate..

Thank you very much for sharing this survey here! Actually, no doubt a number of new traders are losing money because they have no preparation enough for live trading! knowledgeable traders always make money (in average).

Excellent and interesting information, it is necessary to have this knowledge when investing, thanks and regards!