Forex Guide - An Introduction to Forex Trading
Firstly, I'd like to say welcome to this site! This site was designed to provide information for traders and investors who want to learn about the forex market and what it can offer.
Getting Started: Self-Traders
Your first step should be to educate yourself about the market and trading in general. Read books, take courses, learn strategies, and practice, practice, practice! Most brokers offer demo accounts which will allow you to practice trading without risking real cash. You can speed up this process by using specialised forex simulation software.
For some background information on the foreign exchange market, visit the Forex Market Snapshot to learn about the size of the market, the most widely traded currency pairs and where most of the trading takes place. For more detailed information about the terminology used in the forex markets as well as some general and specific forex trading terms visit Forex Basics.
Trading Tips
Rule #1. Learn or develop a profitable trading strategy. Visit the ebooks, courses, books and manual forex systems pages for some ideas.
Rule #2. Don't over-leverage your account! This may be one of the most common reasons besides not having a profitable trading strategy that many new retail traders blow out their accounts. A good rule of thumb is to not leverage your account more than ten times its value. What that means is that you don't open positions worth more than ten times the value of your account. For example, you wouldn't open trades worth more than $10,000 if you only had $1,000 in your account. For a more detailed explanation on leverage, click here. Lastly, don't invest or risk money that you can't afford to lose.
Choosing a Broker
Surprisingly, this may be one of the most important decisions you make outside of developing or learning a profitable strategy and not over-leveraging your account. You need to find an ethical broker who will not play tricks with you with their pricing and stop you out of trades in order to fatten their wallet! This is typical behaviour of market makers who have an economic incentive for you to lose when they are on the opposite side of your trade. Not all market makers act in this way, so it is a good idea to do your research on all brokers and market makers before placing your money with them. The Forex Broker Ratings section of this site endeavours to help you make the right decision when it comes to choosing a broker.
Managed & Semi-Managed Investments
Some market participants may prefer not to take the self-trading route but instead opt for a managed account, automated trading system or auto-trading provider. Again, don't over-leverage your account when using an automated system or autotrading provider. Ask your managed account provider how much leverage they use when they place their trades so that when a drawdown occurs it will be limited to a reasonable level. It is also a great idea to diversify your investments amongst several providers, systems and/or trading styles. When one is up, the other may be down and vice versa. And, though it has been said many times before, don't invest or risk money that you can't afford to lose!
With those ideas in mind, this site has been arranged in a way to take you through many aspects of the retail spot forex market so you can learn at your own pace and visit the sections that interest you most.
