Time after time, they drop promising strategies because they were not easy enough or did not grow their account by 100% in the first 7 days. One loss and they jump ship, hopping onto the next. They are easily convinced by sales talk for new robots or ebook systems. The latest must be the greatest! So they never really learn to trade at all. They do not learn how to test a system or apply it profitably. If they carry on in this way they are almost sure to lose a lot of money.

On the other hand, it is possible to make plenty of money with forex trading. There are certainly many people out there who are doing it. But they are far too wise to believe that the secret to success lies in chasing after the perfect system.

In fact, any system that allows you to identify trends in price movements should be able to produce consistent profits for anyone who knows how to manage their risk and their emotions. It does not need to be complex, although you will have to master at least a couple of technical indicators. The important point is to seek out a system that involves backing a trend in the first place.

This is not about predicting the market. Predictions look at future movements and they are often not much more than guesswork backed up by what some financial journalist has said about an upcoming economic announcement.

When you follow a trend, on the other hand, you are backing a price movement that is already established. This is the value of lagging indicators. They may be criticized by some traders because they indicate past rather than future movements, but if you understand how to use them, this can be for the best.

Of course you do not want to wait so long that you miss out on the trend completely and join the party just as it is about to end. You will want to act at exactly the right moment, and use tools to identify overbought and oversold markets so that you know when a turnaround might be due.

All of this can best be done in a demo account. Yes, you will need to spend some time testing and tweaking, but this is a much better use of your time than wasting it on hopping from system to system in the hunt for the mythical perfect system. Following the trend is the best way to begin forex trading for just about any new trader, and doing it in a demo account will protect your forex funds until you are confident and skilled enough to make a profit.

Even if you have serious funds to invest, you cannot jump straight in with trading on your own account and expect to make money. People who do that are almost certain to lose in a big way. Most traders therefore start out with a demo account and use that for practice. They spend a long time testing systems and learning to deal with the stress and uncertainty that is inherent in something as risky as speculative trading. Finally they may feel ready to go live, but still only with small amounts at first. It is not possible to make a lot of money fast from a standing start in the forex market.

Forex managed accounts get around this by having someone else do the trading for you. This allows you to begin making money from the get go, provided of course that you choose your manager wisely.

There are two types of managed forex accounts and there are big differences between the two.

1. Standard Forex Managed Accounts

With a standard managed account you hold your money in a brokerage account and your manager has access to it to trade. They will work on your behalf and hopefully make a lot more money than you could if you were doing this yourself. At the same time, you retain full control and can withdraw your money any time you want.

This type of account generally needs to be funded with several thousand dollars at a minimum. The reason is that it is not worth the manager’s time to trade your funds if you only have a couple hundred dollars. They will be working for a percentage so they need a certain level of funds to make a reasonable amount for themselves.

Always check the terms carefully and in particular, look at how the managers make their money. Do they take a straight percentage from you, or are they taking part of the spread or receiving commission from a recommended broker? Some of these options may have an impact on how they trade your funds, which might lead to a conflict of interest.

2. Pooled Forex Accounts

These accounts are a little like investing in mutual funds. You hand over your money and trust the investment company to use it for the best and return something to you. You do not have any control over the money once you have paid it to them.

This type of account is obviously more risky in the sense that the funds could easily be misappropriated. If you find the company on the internet you may not know where in the world they are based and what laws they are operating under. Do not assume that your money will be protected by any regulatory body without checking that. In fact, you must check everything doubly carefully when you are investing in managed accounts.

The advantage of pooled accounts is that you do not usually need a lot of money to get started. The managers have many investors all paying into the same pool and this makes it viable for them to accept small scale clients. This means that you can get into forex managed accounts much more easily if you choose a pooled account manager.

So do not expect any top currency traders to be online revealing all the details of their systems to the world. What you can find out, however, are the pre requisites: the secrets of what you need if you hope to become a successful currency trader yourself.

In our view there are just three essentials that you must have if you want to join the millionaire ranks of the top currency traders any time soon … or just become a financially free professional trader making enough money for you and your family to live on from month to month.

1. Investment Capital

It takes money to make money, and this is just as true in the world of speculative currency trading as in any other form of investment. Sure, forex trading carries high risk that potentially brings high returns, but these will always be relative to the amount you have in your account.

Risk management is vital, and the big traders will keep their risk down to 1% per trade or even less. It is vital to protect the funds that you have. You will never get rich if you keep losing your bank.

If you think this through, you will realize that you are not going to make a million dollars from a $100 micro forex trading account – at least, not this year. If your startup funds are low, you must factor in a long period where you are simply growing your capital and not withdrawing any of it. This means it must be money that you will not need for any other purpose. It also means you will need a lot of patience.

2. A Clear Trading Strategy

There are many successful forex trading systems and the secret here is to look for one that is simple but effective. Test it thoroughly and then stick with it. The top currency traders do not hop from one system to another, so don’t you do that either. Develop a written plan that clearly sets out the signals to watch for, the stop loss, profit aim, etc, and keep that in front of you at all times while you are trading.

All systems will go through bad patches but if your strategy has a sound basis, it should pick up again. If you have tested your system well, you should have the confidence to know that even if it goes a whole month without making you any money, it will turn around and perform for you again soon.

3. A Cool Head

Forex trading is a stressful business and the people who do best are those who are able to keep their emotions out of their trading as far as possible. This doesn’t mean that you never feel stressed or anxious or elated: it means that you do not let those feelings direct your trading.

Here’s a quote from legendary trader Paul Tudor Jones: “Trading is very competitive and you have to be able to handle getting your butt kicked. No matter how you cut it, there are enormous emotional ups and downs involved.” The big secret of top currency traders is that they know this and allow for it.

1. Take breaks

You have heard this before, but do you do it? Just walking away from the screen for 5 minutes every hour can improve your clarity of thought and therefore your trading. It is also good for your circulation and may help prevent thrombosis, a potential killer. Use a kitchen timer or popup on screen reminder software.

If you day trade forex and do not want to leave the screen with an open trade, be sure to take a break after every trade that you close, whether or not it was successful. This will help you come fresh to the next trade.

2. Join a forum

Forex trading can be a lonely business. Family and friends are usually not interested and cannot appreciate the highs and lows of your day. Becoming a regular user of an online forex forum or bulletin board makes you part of a community that can feel a lot like having work colleagues.

You will make useful contacts, have somewhere to boast of your triumphs and probably, from time to time, appreciate the support of other members when things are not going so well. You can also pick up a lot of trading tips and keep up to date on developments in the world of currency trading through membership of a forum. Be careful not to waste too much time there, but check in briefly most days to flick through the latest discussion threads.

3. Check the forex news calendar

At the start of your day, be sure to check a forex calendar or news service for any announcements or reports that are expected during the day. Do not rely on your forum membership for market news. When you know what the day is likely to bring from the moment you sit down, you can plan your trading hours. You will feel more in control of your day and your trades.

4. Get exercise

Exercising the body keeps the mind as well as the body ready for action. Starting your day with a workout or run can give you a great energy boost. Exercise also releases endorphins, making you feel more positive. While you could take exercise later in the day, early or mid morning is the best time if you want your trading as well as your muscles to reap the benefit.

5. Get a life

Do not fall into the trap of letting your computer become your world. If forex trading takes over every aspect of your life, burnout is almost inevitable. Schedule time with your family and friends, vacations and time for sports or hobbies. Take time to eat healthily too. All of these things will make the time that you do spend in front of your screen more productive, so that you can day trade forex with less stress and more profit.

Scalpers usually enter and leave the market very quickly, sometimes within seconds. They dart in and out to cream off just a few pips profit, over and over. Where other forex traders may open a trade and wait several days, weeks or possibly even months to gain the maximum profit, scalpers are in and out so fast that they can open and close many trades within a single day.

Many people find the stress of scalping forex too much. However, others love the rush that it gives them. It also has other advantages over longer term trading for some people. For example, if you cannot get online often, you can be sure with scalping that you will be able to close out all of your trades within the time that you have.

Be aware that some forex brokers will not allow clients to use scalping strategies. This is because their own business model puts them at risk of either not being able to match a trade, or not covering their spread. Ask around on forums to find a scalper-friendly broker who operates in a way that is not threatened by forex scalping strategies.

If you want to use a forex scalping strategy and become a forex scalper, you will need to be decisive and cool headed. You will also need a clear written system in front of you at all times while you are trading, so that you are following a plan. The human brain seems to be designed to hope for the best, which can stop us from closing a losing trade as early as we should, if the rules are not clearly set out for us to follow.

When scalping the forex it is vital that you are completely comfortable with the technical tools and trading platform that you are using. Familiarize yourself with these and practice using them in real time in a demo account until you never need to search or think twice in order to use your forex scalping system.

Scalpers also need to be completely concentrated and free of distractions while they are trading. It is not realistic to do this at your day job hoping that the boss will not appear. Go somewhere that you can be alone, close the door, switch off your cellphone and close your email program.

Forex scalping suits some people more than others. It is not the only way to trade and for most people, it is not the best way to begin. Small and fast may sound less risky than other trading methods but it is not. Most beginners are likely to hesitate or panic under pressure, which can be fatal to profits. However, you could try forex scalping strategies in a demo account to see how you get along.

Can You Trust Them?

Let’s take the small print first because when you are considering
signing up with a broker, your first task must be to check how long
they have been established and whether they hold membership of any
regulatory bodies. Most of our information comes from the company’s
website but we have checked up on some information independently.
However, changes may occur without notice and you should always do
your due diligence before investing with any financial service.

Easy Forex is an international broker with separate websites for
traders in USA, UK, Australia and rest of the world. The company
operates as a foreign exchange market maker offering trading
services to residents over 150 countries. They have been in
business since 2003 and have offices in 9 countries including the
USA, UK and Australia.

The company’s registered address is in Cyprus, which is a member of
the EU, but as forex brokers they are regulated in several
different countries. They are registered with the CCFC and NFA in
the USA, the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission to cover the
EU, and they hold an Australian Financial Services Licence with the
Australian Securities & Investments Commission. So this is a well
established international broker.

Because of the high level of regulation in countries like the US
and EU with strict financial services legislation, they do require
proof of identity before you can withdraw. To avoid delays when you
want your money, get the paperwork sorted out as soon as you sign
up.

Tools And Services

All major currency pairs are offered. In addition Easy-Forex allows
trading on a small number of commodities such as oil and gold.
Currency pairs and commodities can vary depending on your region,
so check out the website for what is provided in your area.

Tools include the usual range of charts, a financial calendar
showing upcoming economic indicators, Reuters news feed, interest
rates and currency rates, plus SMS alerts for certain events. As
well as viewing your own account, you can also broadly see what
other traders are doing on the platform: which are the popular
pairs, whether most traders are taking long or short positions, etc.

In addition they offer training in technical analysis via webinars,
videos and live one-on-one training.

There is also a demo trading system, called the Trade Simulator, so
that you can familiarize yourself with the platform and test
systems. The platform may take some getting used to if you are
switching from another broker who uses MT4. This is very different.
Be sure to spend some time in the Trade Simulator before going live.

Minimum Account Balance

Easy-Forex offers four types of account:

• Mini: $200 initial deposit, $5,000 minimum position size
• Gold: $500 initial deposit, $50,000 minimum position size
• Platinum: $5,000 initial deposit, $250,000 minimum position size
• VIP: $10,000 initial deposit, $500,000 minimum position size

These figures may vary depending on your location.

This is a reasonable minimum account size, catering for beginners
who intend to take their trading seriously. Some brokers will let
you start with even less but be wary because sometimes a bad broker
will try to hook in clients by offering small starting balances. It
is better to trade in demo with a good broker until you are ready
to open an account of a reasonable size.

Costs

Easy-Forex make their money through the spread, with no maintenance
fees and no fees on deposits or withdrawals. Current spreads are
displayed on the website. Spreads are fairly high but this
indicates that the spread may genuinely be their source of income
so they have no need to trade against you as some market makers do.

Rather than charging interest, they charge a fee on day trading
deals that are held over to the next day. Avoid this by not opening
trades right before midnight in their time zone (GMT +2).

User Feedback

We have checked user feedback across the Internet and it is very
positive for a broker with a high number of beginners among the
customer base. Easy-Forex are praised especially for their helpful
and friendly customer service, which sets them above many
comparable brokers.

One or two users have been unpleasantly surprised to receive margin
calls on their credit cards. Margin calls are less common in forex
than in stock trading but they can happen and beginners are often
not prepared for this. You can prevent unexpected charges if you
deposit your funds by bank wire transfer. This takes longer of
course, three to four days is the norm, but you will always be in a
position of approving any future payments. Of course you may still
have liability for a margin call and you should be using stop
losses anyway to ensure that a losing trade will not even come
close to threatening your whole balance, but we can all make
mistakes and sometimes with small accounts this is difficult. Using
wire transfer will avoid surprises.

Summary

This is a well established and regulated forex market maker with a
wide range of services and good feedback from current users. A good

choice for day traders, especially for beginners or those looking
to move from another mini forex account broker. On the basis of
this Easy-Forex Review we can highly recommend Easy-Forex.

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Perhaps the most important piece of currency trading knowledge that you should have is how to put a fx trading plan together.Without one you will struggle big time, I know I have. Without your forex route map you will get completely lost and having one will mean the difference between success and failure.

Remember that the majority of traders beginning out in forex trading lose money, so it is crucial to carry out everything you can to make certain that you are one of the profitable ones. Having a trading plan in place will give you a head start over many forex traders who will simply start trading with no clue of where they are going.

Having a potentially profitable plan is important and you can acquire many of them out there. Most traders think that the trading system is the one thing that matters and use up all of their time searching for the flawless system that is guaranteed to make money for anyone. But no such trading system exists. Although there are a bunch of fine systems, no system will be successful without a trading plan that is tailored to the specific trader.

This means that you will need to work out your trade plan for yourself. Do not be alarmed however for the reason that it is quite straightforward. Your plan just needs to include three things:

1. Lot size

This can be measured in the number of positions that you will take on every single trade. It may vary according to the strength of your signals or it can be the same for each trade, but it ought to be clearly set out. Do not vary your lot size according to intuition, and do not vary it according to whether your earlier trade was winning or not.

When deciding on the size of your position, you should always consider your leverage and what portion of your trading bank you are willing to commit. This is part of your risk management plan and it is critical currency trading knowledge that you ought to always have by your fingertips.

2. Stop losses

Your strategy ought to include a stop loss, measured in terms of pips. Again you should consider the risks that are being taken as a proportionate amount of your trading funds. In most cases you should target for a risk of around 2% for each trade. However, with selected systems or if you have a very low initial pot, you might want to go higher than that to prevent your stop loss being triggered too often. Just be wary that if you do that, you have a greater danger of going bust.

3. Level of Profit

You ought to also settle on the exit position for a winning trade, i.e. how many pips you are aiming to take. If you do not close on this then you will almost certainly be tempted to hang on for s long as possible willing with all your heart that the trend will continue in your direction. Quite often you will be ambushed by an unwelcome reversal in direction and a winning trade can turn into a loser. So it is very key to decide ahead of time how much profit you will take.

Once you have your strategy, it is crucial to keep to it consistently. Resist the temptation to start a trade when the signs are not correct, or to follow your gut instinct at all, that’s at least until you have got the experience of many years trading behind you. Also, reduce interruptions whilst you are trading. This will help you to get out of making foolish mistakes and keep you concentrated so that you can make the best of all of the forex trading information that you have acquired.

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Remember that the majority of traders beginning out in forex trading lose money, so it is crucial to carry out everything you can to make certain that you are one of the profitable ones. Having a strategy will provide you a good start over most traders who simply start trading with no aim of where they are heading.

Having a profitable method is important of course but there are many of those out there. Most traders think that the trading system is the one thing that matters and use up all of their time searching for the flawless system that is guaranteed to make money for anyone. But no such trading system exists. Although there are a bunch of fine systems, no system will be successful without a trading plan that is tailored to the specific trader.

This means that you need to figure out your trading plan for yourself. Do not be alarmed however for the reason that it is quite straightforward. Your plan just needs to include three things:

1. Lot size

This can be measured in the number of positions that you will take on every single trade. It may vary according to the strength of your signals or it can be the same for each trade, but it ought to be clearly set out. Do not vary your lot size according to intuition, and do not vary it according to whether your earlier trade was winning or not.

When you are deciding on your lot size, you must also consider your gearing and what proportion of your total funds will be committed to a trade. This is part of your risk management plan and it is critical currency trading knowledge that you ought to always have by your fingertips.

2. Stop losses

Your strategy ought to include a stop loss, measured in terms of pips. Again you ought to consider the risk that you are taking as a proportion of your overall funds. In most cases you should target for a risk of around 2% for each trade. However, with selected systems or if you have a very low initial pot, you might want to go higher than that to prevent your stop loss being triggered too often. Just be wary that if you do that, you have a greater danger of going bust.

3. Level of Profit

You ought to also settle on the exit position for a winning trade, i.e. how many pips you are aiming to take. If you do not settle on this you will often be tempted to hold out as long as possible, praying that the trend will keep going your way. Often times you will be caught out by a unexpected reversal and a profitable trade can be turned into a loss. So it is very key to decide ahead of time how much profit you will take.

Once you have your strategy, it is crucial to keep to it consistently. Avoid the temptation to trade when the signals are not quite right, or to pursue your gut feelings in anything, at least until you have many years’ experience of the market. Also, reduce interruptions whilst you are trading. This will help you to get out of making foolish mistakes and keep you concentrated so that you can make the best of all of the forex trading information that you have acquired.

Before starting with a forex training course, it is wise to ask yourself why you even want to get involved with forex trading. It’s true that it can be very profitable but it can also be very risky. There are other ways of making money. There are also other markets for speculative trading, such as the stock market.

So what makes the forex market special, and why might you want to become a currency trader rather than any other kind of financial trader? Here are just a few of the reasons.

High Liquidity

One definition of the liquidity of a commodity is that it is a measure of how easily it can be converted to cash without affecting the value. Currencies are already cash so currency is more liquid than any other commodity.

Besides that, when talking about liquidity, traders are often referring to the value being traded in the market. A market with a high turnover is considered more liquid. The average daily turnover in foreign exchange is almost $4 trillion (survey by Bank For International Settlements, December 2007). This is more money than most people can even imagine, and it is considerably more than is traded on all of the stock markets of the world combined.

All of these factors make it very easy to trade currency and get the price that you see or want. They also mean that it is very difficult for anybody to rig the markets or manipulate prices through insider trading.

Huge Leverage

Leverage is the ability to control a large amount of something with a much smaller amount. In trading, this refers to trading on margin, where you invest a small amount of money in your broker account and use it to control much larger sums. In effect, your broker loans you the larger amount, although they may or may not actually put the money into the market depending on their business model.

In forex trading you can commonly command 100 times leverage and sometimes 200 times your investment. This is much more than you would be offered with stock trading and reflects the liquidity of the market and the brokers’ ability to apply stops. This is what gives forex trading its unmatched ability to make big profits from small investment funds.

Prices Are Relative

When the value of one currency falls, others will rise because they have no absolute value. They are all relative to each other. You can trade a currency pair in both directions: going long if you think its value will rise, and going short if you think it will fall.

This is very different from the stock market where a major crash can mean that almost all stocks drop in value at the same time. All you can do in a stock market crash is get out. But in the forex markets, it is not possible for all currencies to fall simultaneously, so you can simply trade in the other direction.

24 Hour Trading

One of the first things you will learn in any forex training course is that this is a 24 hour market on business days. You are not limited to the business hours of any one country. Currencies can be traded in any time zone. So you can trade any time of day to suit yourself. You only have to stop at the weekend.

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When you are involved in Global Forex Trading or any kind of currency trading, you need to know a little about what makes prices change. If you understand this then you can protect yourself against many common causes of loss and perhaps also take advantage of these factors to open a profitable trade.

So what are the most important fundamental factors in global forex trading? Which reports and announcements have the power to shake the forex market?

1. Interest Rates

Probably the most important fundamental indicator for a nation’s currency prices is the interest rate. High interest rates are generally associated with strong currencies. Of course they can also have a relationship with inflation rates.

Announcements of interest rate cuts or increases in any of the major currencies can have a massive and sudden effect on the forex market. In the short term, a cut in the interest rate will lead to investors selling that currency and so the price drops. At the same time of course they will buy another currency whose price will rise. You can often predict which other currency will benefit from this and get involved for a profitable trade.

Often, the effect can be longer term too. An interest rate change announced by the central bank is often an indicator of a steady fall or rise in the economy. This can lead to a trend that traders can profit from.

2. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

GDP is the primary indicator of the economic strength of a nation. You could consider it as being like a profit or loss figure for a country. A higher GDP tends to be associated with a strong currency. Confidence will rise in times of high GDP.

Most countries report their GDP figures quarterly. There are usually predictions of the expected figures and the short term effect on currency prices at the time of the announcement may be more to do with whether the predictions were met than with the results themselves. For example if the prediction is for good results, and the results announced are good but not as good as expected, the currency price might actually fall. However, longer term the currency will usually show a fairly strong correlation to GDP.

3. Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Again a high CPI is an indicator of a strong economy. Currency prices in the global forex trading market will often respond accordingly.

4. Producer’s Price Index (PPI)

Less well known but equally important for the economy, the PPI is an earlier indicator of inflation because changes in prices for producers will affect the consumer price index a little further down the line.

5. Retail Sales

The retail sales figure is a measure of the receipts of retail stores and therefore also of consumer spending. Rising sales usually indicate a strong economy and rising currency prices.

6. Employment figures

Employment is another indicator of the health of an economy. Large job losses indicate a weak economy and are likely to lead to lower retail sales as people have less money to spend. More jobs being created shows an active economy and is likely to result in consumer confidence, higher retail sales and a higher GDP.

7. Durable Goods Orders

This figure measures orders placed with manufacturers in a country. Again a rise is associated with a strong economy. This is an important indicator for the manufacturing sector and also for export figures and the GDP. Correlation with global forex trading prices is not as strong as for some of the other factors but it can have an effect.