Wednesday, August 5, 2009

How to Trade Forex? It's a Snap!

By Steve Maenshel

How to trade Forex? Trading Forex is actually quite simple. Forex trading involves merely choosing a currency pair, the amount of the base currency and the buy or sell action. Next you place your order and wait for the favorable time to perform a counter transaction to derive profits. How to trade Forex and make profit? Learn to place your orders correctly by trading on a demo account for a period of time.

Demo Account Trading

Demo account trading is the safest way to learn how to trade Forex. Making mistakes is inevitable, especially in the beginning of your trading career. However, if you make mistakes, while trading on a demo account, you will not have to pay for your mistakes. Most common mistakes will be choosing the wrong time of entering and exiting the trades. Being unfamiliar with the system may also result in mistakes. That's what demo accounts are for - to teach you without incurring losses. 90% of the traders fail in the very beginning of their trading career. Demo account trading will safeguard you from becoming one of them.

Currency Pairs in Forex Trades

There are lots of different currency pairs, and you should choose the right one. It is a good idea to choose the most traded currency pair, when you are just starting to learn how to trade Forex. This currency pair is USD/EUR. No matter what currency pair you select, you should try to learn its distinctive features well, before proceeding to trading other currency pairs. This is very important because every currency pair will have its own distinctive features as well as the reasons behind the fluctuations of this currency pair, such as various fundamental factors.

Currency Quotes

Learn to understand the currency quotes, because Forex trades are done in terms of quotes. Quotes are two-sided, and involve two prices: Bid price (price at which base currency will be sold, simultaneously buying the counter currency) and Ask price (price at which base currency will be bought, simultaneously selling the counter currency). Understanding of Bid/Ask is one of the first steps in learning how to trade Forex.

First currency in the quote is the base currency, and second currency is the counter currency (also called quote currency or terms currency). In the example of the USD/EUR currency pair, USD is the base currency and EUR is the counter currency. The value of the base currency is always 1. The value of the counter currency is calculated against the base currency, i.e., 1 USD = 0.7422 EUR. Prices in the terms of quotes are expressed through pips, which are usually the 4th decimal point. Once you understand the currency pairs, you will be well on your way in the process of learning how to trade Forex.

Margin and Leverage

In order to safeguard your capital, learn how to trade Forex without taking leverage from a broker. If you can put down a small amount of your own money (called margin), the dealer will provide you with more money (called leverage). Leverage will allow you to trade with more lots. Is margin trading good or bad? Same as bank loans and mortgages, margin trading may be both good and bad. While providing you with more opportunities, it will also tremendously increase the possibility of losses.

No matter what dealers may say, they often do not care much about the outcome of your trades. Dealers are similar to banks, which are willing to provide you with a loan, and they do not care much if you will lose your property for example. You will still have to pay back the loan, as well as the interest to the bank. You should try to never trade on a margin since the outcome may be frightening. You should consider trading on a margin only after you gain sufficient knowledge of how to trade Forex.

How to trade Forex? Well, if you understand the above terms and concepts learning how to trade will be a snap. More important is: How to trade Forex successfully? Simply practice on a demo account until you start deriving profits regularly. - 23210

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