Big Profits are Made Trend Following the Currencies

How To Get Your Share!

If you are a Forex Trader than you need to liquidate losing trades quickly and run profitable trades to pile up big long term profits. Many traders don’t know how to do this and this section will give you some basics to follow and advantages and disadvantages of various methods.

Forex trend following can be done in various different ways and here we will examine the merits of each and how they can bring you currency trading success.

Day Trading

More novice traders try to catch trends in daily time frames than any other method however, this method of trend following is doomed to failure.

Fact: The data within a day is totally unreliable and support and resistance levels are meaningless. Volatility can and does, take prices anywhere and all daily movements are random.

You can’t get the odds in your favour and you can’t win – PERIOD

There are countless millions of traders, trading trillions of dollars daily and it’s laughable to think that you can trade in such a short term time frame and win.

So why do so many traders try it?

Well, it’s a good story and many vendors appeal to the greed and naivety of investors and try and sell them forex trading systems or courses, but they don’t trade them! They make money from selling their product - they win by selling their product and the trader loses in the market.

Don’t fall for the myth of Forex day trading!

Advantages: None!

Keep in mind: You are guaranteed to lose, as you can never get the odds in your favour.

Swing Trading

Swing trading is perhaps the easiest way for novice forex traders to learn a Forex trading system. The aim is to catch reactions in major trends which normally last a few days to a week.

Swing trading has the advantage of there are plenty of trades to go for and you know if you are right or wrong quickly. Forex swing trading is easy psychologically, as you have obvious stop levels, small loses and profits are generally banked quickly.

The key to successful swing trading is to spot valid areas of support and resistance and then use momentum indicators, to execute trading signals in line with shifts in price momentum. For example, traders would wait for a test of support and for price momentum to turn up away from support and then trade to the long side.

The key with swing trading is always to CONFIRM With momentum indicators - before executing a trading signal.

EVER simply hope a level will hold or try and predict as you will lose.

Advantages: Easy to learn, its fun, there are lots of trades, it can be very profitable and it’s easy psychologically.

Keep In Mind: Make sure you don’t just guess or hope with swing trading and you use momentum indicators to confirm your trading signals.

Long Term Trend Following

The most lucrative form of trading and also the toughest way to trade.

If you look at Forex trends you will very often see trends that last for months or even years yet, very few traders have the mental discipline to hold these trends and milk them for all they’re worth.

Forex trend following requires patience, to wait for and enter these trends when the risk/ reward is at its best and then have the mental discipline to follow them.

Why is it so hard to do?

Because most traders are not mentally prepared to accept big gains.

The above may sound odd - as surely all forex want big gains?

The answer is yes they do, but accepting them is another matter.

The problem is - if money is important to you (as it is to most traders) then counter trend moves, which eat into your open equity, can tempt you to bank a profit early.

Most traders get excited when they get a profit and the bigger it gets the more tempted they are to take it, before it gets away. As volatility eats into open equity the temptation becomes too great for most traders and they bank early.

They end up taking an average profit or mediocre one, when they could have had a huge one.

If you are long term trend following you need the courage of your conviction and tremendous mental discipline to ignore counter trend swings and keep your eyes on the bigger prize.

Forex trend following is tough mentally but the rewards are immense, if it is done correctly and you have the right mindset.

Advantages: You can make huge profits!

Keep in mind: You need to be patient when timing entry levels and you also need to be able to psychologically handle short term severe dips in open equity. You need to keep your eyes focused on the end prize - not the short term swings against you. It’s not easy to do but very lucrative.

New Trends & Turning Points

It is the dream of most traders to be able to catch important market tops and bottoms.

Catching these turning points offers low risk and high rewards, as you are in at the stat of a new trend and these turning points normally see profits piled up quickly.

Catching turning points is satisfying, very profitable and its not has hard to do as many traders think.

If you use sentiment tools such as % bullish and Net Traders Positions, you will with a little practice, be able to spot these turning points forming. Then you can time entry with on your forex charts.

The key is to WAIT for clear confirmation of a trend change - before getting on board.

These moves don’t come around very often but if you look out for them, they will give you some great profits coupled with low risk.

Advantages: Great risk to reward, it’s a lot easier to do than many traders think and it gets you in at the start of big trends which, normally see big profits emerge quickly.

Keep in mind: You need to be careful in timing your entry and enter at the right time furthermore; these trades only come around a few times a year, so you have to be patient and wait for the right opportunities

Final words

You can make money with all the above methods of trend following (except day trading) and the method of Forex trend following you choose is down to personal preference.

You can focus on one of the above - or combine all of them together in your forex trading strategy and seek big profits in the worlds most lucrative and exciting investment market – Good luck!

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Achieving Success

If you have read the other information we have provided on this site you will understand that - Forex trading is simple to learn, and anyone can acquire the skills to trade successfully.

So, the obvious question you may ask is why do 95% of traders lose money?

Many traders lose because they have poor methods, however many have good methods but still lose. The reason for this is - they lack the correct mindset to succeed.

If you want to win at Forex trading you need the right knowledge but you also need to have the right mindset, if you don’t you will lose.

Here we will take a look at how to adopt the correct mindset the millionaire traders have and you need too. If you can acquire them, you are on the way to achieving currency trading success.

1. Desire and Passion

If you want success in anything in life - including forex trading, then you must desire success. If you have desire, then you’ll do what’s required to succeed. If you look at any of the legendary traders, they all had desire - and they loved what they did with a passion.

Currency trading success requires effort, as the rewards are immense - if you have the desire to succeed, you will acknowledge this and put in the required effort to succeed and make no mistake – the rewards for your effort can be life changing.

So if you have the desire and passion to succeed then chances are you will. Now lets look at how to channel this desire and passion, to become a successful Forex Trader.

2. Work Smart Not Hard

If you have read the Forex Education section – you will have read about “the turtles” - a group of people who had never traded before but learnt to do so in 14 days and went on to make millions.

They did this by working smart, NOT hard - and there is a big difference.

In many jobs you get paid for the effort you put in. When you trade FOREX you earn your reward simply for being right.

When you learn currency trading focus on working smart and acquiring the right knowledge and ignore all the Forex Myths which cause the bulk of traders to lose.

If you work smart, you can learn to trade in just a few weeks and in under an hour a day, you could soon be piling up big consistent profits.

The key to trading success is to have confidence in what you are doing - this leads to discipline and ultimate trading success. Let’s look at this in more detail, as most traders never acquire these traits and lose.

3. Confidence

You hear traders talk a lot about discipline being a key to success in currency trading - but you don’t hear them talk so much about confidence. However, confidence is a vital ingredient when implementing any successful forex trading strategy.

We are involved in Forex Education - we can give you the tools you need to be successful – BUT you need to learn them and have confidence in them YOURSELF.

To have confidence, you need to understand exactly how and why a forex trading strategy works and will continue to work.

This is essential when you hit a losing streak (all traders have them even the world’s best traders, so you need to be prepared for them) you need to have the confidence to stick with your forex trading system and trade it with discipline through losing periods, to ultimate long term trading success.

If you have confidence, you can acquire the key trait all traders need:

4. Discipline

Discipline is the key to forex trading success.

If you don’t trade your method with discipline – you don’t have a method at all!

It’s not as easy to trade in a disciplined fashion as many people believe, but if you take the time and trouble to learn a method and have confidence in it, then you will be able to trade in a disciplined fashion.

If you trade with discipline, you will be doing what 90% of traders don’t do and you will have a trading edge.

Discipline comes from all the points we have discussed earlier:

Desire, knowledge and confidence which give you the inner belief to follow your trading method and execute it in the correct manner for long term trading success.

Success From Within

People like ourselves can help you achieve currency trading success, by giving you the tools however, the ultimate person who will determine how much money you will make is you!

Fact: Anyone can learn forex trading and anyone can become a successful trader.

Forex trading is a challenge, its exciting, it’s fun and can offer you an income that other people only dream about so, Are you ready for a challenge and do you have the desire to succeed?

If so, welcome to the world’s most exciting business opportunity!

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Increasing Profitability

Making Money Fast In Forex Trading

If you are trading Forex and making mediocre or average gains and want to improve your overall profitability, then this section is for you.

The ways to improve profitability enclosed in this section are simple and they have worked for us and will work for you. These are simple yet powerful tips any Forex trader should consider.

A good place to start is with a timeless classic investment book - the Zurich Axioms by Max Gunther it’s a book any trader should read.

The wisdom is simple, timeless, unconventional, funny, exciting, and is one of the most inspiring investment books ever written.

The 12 major and 16 minor Zurich Axioms in the book are a set of principles, providing a philosophy, to incorporate in your Forex trading strategy to help you manage risk and increase profitability.

Several of the Axioms fly right in the face of accepted investment wisdom - however the Swiss investors who wrote them became very rich, while most investors who follow conventional wisdom do not and keep in mind 90% of speculators lose so being in the minority is not such a bad thing!

“Resist the allure of diversification”

Diversify your investments is accepted as a way to make money longer term and reduce risk - but all it does is dilute your potential profit and in many instances increase your chances of losing.

You will read a lot about risking 2% per trade and spreading your trades - but if you are like most Forex traders and trading a small account of under $10,000 you won’t make much risking $200.00!

The Zurich Axioms encourage you NOT to diversify for small gains, but to look for the big potential winners and risk more. This does not mean you are being rash – far from it, you are simply risking more on the high odds trades and ignoring the ones that don’t have good profit potential.

Many traders simply trade to much but in Forex trading you don’t get paid for how much effort you put in – you get your reward for being RIGHT with your trading signals – PERIOD.

So cut down the amount of trading signals you execute and only focus on the really good trades that have the best profit potential.

The Pareto 80 / 20 Rule

The above philosophy is related to famous the 80 / 20 rule or Pareto principle.

The rule states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities - and this is true in many areas of life in sales, business and trading Forex.

The rule postulates that by concentrating on the best investments, and ignoring the others, you can improve your profitability dramatically – by simply searching and acting on the 20% of “good trades” that yield the really big profits.

By only focusing on this 20%, you will see bigger gains. This is really a common sense rule, yet very few Forex traders know it or use it.

Most Forex traders are obsessed with trading to often, they think if their not in the market they will miss a move. Other traders try trading in ways that simply offer them no chance of success like Forex day trading.

I know traders that make triple digit annual gains and only trade once a month and I know other traders who trade all the time and lose.

Keep in mind - the aim of Forex trading is to make money nothing else matters, so don’t trade often and when you trade the best opportunities and risk more.

Accept and Enjoy Risk!

The major reason traders don’t win is they are so frightened of risk; they actually create it and lose. Does this mean you should take unnecessary risks, or act in a rash and cavalier manner?

No it doesn’t - but to make big gains you have to take calculated risks when the time is right and a good trade presents itself.

The Zurich Axioms show you how to confront risk in a positive way, manage it, and enjoy the challenge – the speculators who wrote the book enjoyed risk and the challenge of making money – If you don’t enjoy the challenge of risk, then you will lose.

Lets look at two of the Axiom’s on risk which compliment the one above on diversification – which tells us why most traders lose.

1. “Worry is not a sickness but a sign of health...If you are not worried, you are not risking enough”.

How often are you told only to risk what you can afford to lose in investing - when you know you should risk more?

You then see the gains you could have made - but you didn’t have the conviction to go for the trade and then you were left wondering about what might have been?

2. “Always play for meaningful stakes..if an amount is so small that its loss won't make any significant difference, then it isn't likely to bring any significant gains either”.

If you don’t risk much, you won’t gain much as we have already stated. If however you load up the high odds trades then you will increase your profitability.

If you have a sound Forex Trading strategy you have confidence in then the above tips are common sense and will increase your FX profits.

Risk Reward & You

The major mistake most Forex Traders make is they think that they can restrict the risk of Forex trading to minimal levels and still win – this is simply not true.

If you try and restrict risk to much by placing stops to close you will simply guarantee you will be stopped out by normal market volatility. It may look like it’s less risky but its guaranteeing you will lose so it’s actually very risky!

Volatility and leverage creates both risk and opportunity in online currency trading, you need accept this risk and then spot the trades that offer the best odds of success and go for them.

If you do, you will actually decrease your risk and increase your profits dramatically.

If of course you don’t like taking risks then you shouldn’t trade currencies as you will lose.

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Learn Forex Trading - Why it is Impossible to Predict Forex Prices! by Monica Hendrix

One of the most important points in your forex education should be that if you try and predict forex prices you are 100% guaranteed to lose. The reason is obvious yet more novice traders make this mistake than any other - yet you don't have to predict to win let me explain why ...

Predicting is simply another word for hoping or guessing and that will not make you money in any venture in life and certainly not currency trading.

Let's first dispel the myth of prediction and then explain what you really have to do to win.

Why Predicting Forex is as Accurate as Your Horoscope

There is a huge industry in guru's who tell you they can predict market tops and bottoms and that markets move to a scientific repetitive pattern and pedal ridiculous theories based upon Gann, Elliot wave or Fibonacci numbers.

They all lose and its again common sense why markets don't move to a scientific law.

Why Dont they?

Because if they did, we would all know the price in advance and there would be no market - a market by its very nature moves on uncertainty.

Also if their was a scientific theory that applied to forex trading whoever had it, would not need to sell it to you, as they would be making to much money!

How to Win

The way to enjoy currency trading success is not to attempt to predict - but to act on the reality of the price change.

Let me give you an example that will make this clearer.

Let's say you see a currency coming into test major support and you think it's going to hold.

You do not simply execute a trading signal into the level of support - you wait.

You wait for support to hold and prices to turn away from the level - supported by price momentum.

Using Momentum

If you don't know anything about momentum indicators, then make them an essential part of your forex education.

These momentum oscillators will help you confirm changes in price momentum and allow you to see visually when price is strengthening away from support. You may say I will miss the turn and sure you will - but you don't know its going to turn in advance!

There is an old saying:

"A bottom picker becomes a cotton picker"

And its right, try and predict market lows or highs and you will end up losing your trading account equity.

Great momentum indicators to use are:

The Stochastic, RSI, ADX etc - we don't have time to cover them here, just look them up in our other articles.

They are excellent indicators and will get the odds in your favour.

This is what forex trading is a game of odds - not certainties.

Don't let that worry you though if you can trade the odds you can make a lot of money.

If You Want To Win

Trading is not about trying to be clever and catching the exact turn, know one can do that - so don't try.

Trading has one aim making money and don't worry if you could catch just 60% of all the major trends you would be very rich.

If you learn forex trading the right way and get the right forex education you will now know you need to to act on the reality of price change, use momentum indicators to get the odds in your favour and if you do, your currency trading profits will soar.

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Forex Education - 5 Tips on Learning Forex Trading To Win by Monica Hendrix

1. Forex Trading is NOT Easy

You wouldn't expect it to be either with the rewards on offer - which can be life changing. On the other hand it's not hard either, you simply have to learn the right knowledge and get a forex trading strategy to win.

Today, traders try and take the easy route in all aspects of life and they think they can buy success. All for $100 they can get a trading system which will make them $10,000 a month - The advice to these people is get in the real world.

The good news is:

If you accept that forex trading is not easy but can be hugely rewarding for the effort you put in then you will make the required effort to succeed.

2. Don't Work Hard Work Smart

Many people think the more knowledge they acquire the better when learning currency exchange - but the fact is:

You don't get paid for effort; you get paid for being right with your market timing and trading signal and that it.

It doesn't matter if you spend 20 minutes on it or 20 hours, it's the outcome of the execution of your trade that determines how much money you make.

You need to work smart and learn the right knowledge and this should only take you a few weeks or less (see our other articles for full breakdown) you're then ready to trade forex and win.

After your initial forex training it should take you 20 minutes or less per day to trade and that's it.

3. Keep It Simple

Many people that not only is it good to put in a lot of effort, it's a great idea to be clever and build complicated forex trading systems, as they are likely to have more chance of success - Wrong!

Just like in the application of time to currency trading, you need to learn not to over complicate it - keep it simple.

It's a fact that simple trading systems work best, as they are more robust in the brutal world of real trading and have fewer elements to break, than complicated ones.

4. Find Your Own Road

No one else is going to make you rich - its all on your shoulders, your alone and that's the best place to be, remember the 95% of losing traders cant accept responsibility for their actions trust a mentor, guru or broker and lose so being away from the losing herd and trade in isolation. You will even if you take advice know exactly how your forex trading strategy is going to work.

The above is essential because from understanding comes from confidence and from this combination comes discipline. Discipline is vital to your forex trading success because if you can't apply a forex trading method with discipline - you don't have one!

5. Your Trading Edge

This is what will separate you from the losing majority of forex traders and allow you to enter the elite 5% of winners that make the big profits.

The edge can be anything you like but it must give the confidence to beat the majority and win. If you don't know what it is - then continue your forex education until you do.

Learning currency exchange is easy but learning the discipline to apply your method is hard and will only come from understanding exactly what you are doing and trading on your own.

If you understand all the above about getting the right forex education then congratulations you have taken your first step on the road to currency trading success.

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Learn Forex Trading Online

Where do you start if you want to learn Forex trading online?

Well a good starting point is to look at just what Forex trading is and who the players in this market are. We should also think about just why you should be learning Forex trading and thinking about starting you own online Forex trading business.

The Forex market (which is sometimes referred to as the FX market and for which the full title is The Foreign Exchange Market) was established as we know it today in 1971 following the demise of fixed currency exchanges. Forex currency trading is conducted around the clock, 5 days a week, and daily currency trades are worth in the region of $1.9 trillion US dollars. This means that the Forex the largest market in the world and puts the major stock markets very firmly into second place.

A world-wide market established to facilitate the buying and selling of currency, the Forex market involves large organizations, such as central governments, commercial companies and international commercial banks as well as smaller players such as brokerage houses and individual brokers.

There is no set location for the market (although there are major trading centers around the world in a number of cities such as London, Frankfurt, New York and Tokyo) but it is essentially an 'over-the-counter' market with the vast majority of trading being conducted by telephone and on the internet.

The exchange of currencies is a central element in supporting global trade and, as the major currencies move against each other and the foreign currency exchange rate for any given pair of currencies changes, there is the opportunity to make money from currency exchanges.

The major players in the market take advantage of this by buying and selling in deals which often run into many millions of dollars, but the smaller players are also extremely active and often trade in deals of as low as one hundred thousand dollars. And, by trading on the back on the smaller players, individuals can get into the market with a lot less than that!

The fact that even small players can join this market means that, as long as you are prepared to take the time to understand the currency markets and to learn the skills of Forex trading, then, with a little bit of capital to invest, it is possible to enjoy an excellent income from online currency trading.

Despite the fact that you cannot trade on your own and will have to use the services of a Forex broker, you certainly don't need a fortune and many Forex brokers will now allow you to open an online Forex mini account with as little as $250.

The Forex market is a technical market and it does takes a while to come to grips with the basic principles underlying the currency markets, to develop the necessary skills in the use of some of the 'tools of the trade' (like technical and fundamental analysis tools) and to learn Forex currency trading online.

Despite this, you do not have to be an expert in the currency markets to profit from them. As long as you take the time to learn foreign exchange currency trading and put in a bit of effort it is quite easy to gain enough of an understanding to begin making money through Foreign trading online.

Foreign currency trading provides an excellent opportunity for the small investor to make money but learning to trade Forex is essential before heading out into the market.

Through a large and growing collection of articles covering everything from the history of foreign currency trading to fundamental and technical analysis, psychology and strategies, tools and software we aim to help you learn to day trade Forex quickly and easily.

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The First Step To Forex Success

by Hugh Gordon

As the online Forex trading market becomes increasingly saturated and the choice of
brokers becomes wider, the decision of which broker to run with becomes increasingly important for the trader. Although the majority of brokers provide the same basic trading platform, there can be a vast difference in what they offer their clients, both in terms of trading conditions as well as customer support. By simply visiting a company's homepage it may be hard to separate the second-rate firms from the professionals, therefore this article will examine the main parameters that should be taken into consideration before creating an account and depositing.

Account type
The decision of which type of account to open will most likely depend on the amount of capital you have to invest. Most brokerages offer two main account types: a "Mini" ($100-$200 minimum deposit) and a "standard" account ($1,000-$2,000 minimum deposit). Mini accounts are best suited to new or amateur traders looking to gain market experience and confidence with a smaller investment, and offer higher leverage, which you’ll need in order to make money with such a small amount of initial capital. "Standard" account holders can expect to enjoy a wider variety of leverage options, but will have to invest a greater sum of money for the privilege. Although not as commonly advertised, many brokers provide a premium service for large investors (perhaps $100,000 - $250,000+), including additional VIP services, such as a dedicated fund manager and tailor made conditions.

Common to nearly all online brokers is the offer of a demo account, which allows users to get a feel for the software and gain trading experience without the risk of market exposure. Such simulations are undoubtedly beneficial to potential clients wishing to test the waters, but caveat emptor: they are not always representative of real-market, real-platform conditions, despite claims of full functionality. Do not be afraid to question a brokerage on this matter - an honest, reliable broker will admit the downfalls of a demo account.

Software Considerations
The foreign currency market can move at a fast pace and will often require you to make quick decisions and executions, regardless of where you happen to be. Depending on your level and frequency of trading as well as travel habits, it may be wise to choose a brokerage that offers a web-based Java trading platform, which requires no download and enables you to trade from any location worldwide.

Payment Options
Look for brokers that allow you to pay with credit card, as this is the easiest option by far and does not involve the necessity of transferring funds from online e-account. Other payment options typically offered include wire transfer, which is equally as secure as credit card, but expect to wait a number of days for it to clear and to have access to your funds.

Support
Perhaps one of the most crucial considerations and one that may potentially have a significant effect on your trading success is the issue of customer support. Whether you are a first time forex amateur or a FX vet, having the support and advice of a reliable, dedicated customer service team is undoubtedly invaluable, so it would prudent to do your homework on this one. The only way to gauge the quality of a support team is to contact them and see how they deal with your inquiries: are they fast, do they give reliable technical and market advice; do you get the sense that they know the industry well enough to advise others, or are they simply good sales people? This might not be so easy to find out, but as the only point of contact between yourself and the brokerage, it is important to do so. As with any business, pre-sale service might be more satisfactory than post-sale, so again, try to judge whether or not you are being helped or simply pitched.

Platform, Tools & Analysis
In the present online market place it is rare to find a company which does not offer real-time tools such as charting and price updates, but predictably the quality and availability of such applications will vary from broker to broker. Ideally you should have access to a wide range of tools, enabling you to assess the market 24 hours a day, making your trading decisions accordingly, and in addition your broker should also provide you with daily market reports, prepared in-house by professional analysts. These reports should cover the basics: economic news relevant to the major currencies, technical movements and general commentary. The better known, more reputable analysts have their reports published on a number of the larger online forex portals and forums, which is an indication that their data is considered accurate and reliable, which in turn tells you a little more about the reliability of the brokerage itself.

As previously mentioned, many trading platforms offer the same basic functions, but not all brokers cover all areas of the forex market, so before committing make sure your chosen platform will let you trade the currency pairs you require.

Spreads
Spreads are an important factor to consider before investment and will certainly require some shopping around in order to find the best offer to suit your trading habits. The spread is the difference between the price at which currency can be bought and the price at which it can be sold at any given point in time. FX brokers don't charge "commissions", so this difference is how they make their money; therefore, the lower the spread, the lower the commission, and unlike stocks, currencies are not traded through a central exchange, so the spread may differ from broker to broker. Spreads differ according to account type, with mini accounts offering spreads between 1.5-2 times higher than those offered for Standard accounts, which in turn are higher than those offered to large volume traders with VIP status.

"Fixed" spreads remain the same day or night, and despite market conditions, and although they are usually somewhat wider than the narrowest of variable spreads, they can be safer over the long term by providing a slightly higher level of predictability and a slightly lower level of risk. "Variable" spreads change according to market conditions (which may initially be attractive during a calm period, but once the market becomes busy, they are likely to widen considerably, meaning that the market will then have to move significantly in your favor before a profit is turned).

Leverage
Unless you intend to invest a six-figure sum of capital, the use of leverage will be essential in order to make decent profits in forex. Generally speaking, the sum of money made during a successful trade amounts to just fractions of a single cent per unit, so if you are buying lots worth just a few thousand dollars or less, your profits will be minimal. This is where leverage comes into play: in effect by "borrowing" your broker's funds temporarily you will be able to make larger trades, which, if all goes according to plan, will lead to larger profits. Obviously, this practice involves an inherent risk: if the market takes a turn for the worse you risk losing a substantial sum of money, depending on the amount of leverage taken. For this reason it is advisable to do some further reading on leverage and margins prior to using leverage, so that you are fully informed before exposing yourself to the open market. Under normal market conditions, some common currency pairs are generally less volatile, and may warrant a higher level of risk taking, while more exotic currencies may not be predictable enough and traders would be advised to use less leverage when getting involved with such pairs. Mini accounts provide the highest levels of leverage, with some brokers offering up to x 400.

Education
While practicing on a demo account may help you improve somewhat and trading with real money might teach you some hard-learned lessons, the best way to improve your trading ability and provide yourself with a solid knowledge base is to educate yourself. To this effect, more and more online brokers are offering trading courses or tutorials, ranging from free five minute "introductions to forex" to curricula covering the smallest of details and costing thousands of dollars. Well established educational centers, such as the Online Trading Academy (OTA), with years of technical training experience are your best bet, providing solid instruction that will not only teach you the basics of the market, but also the technical side of the business (advanced technical analysis, charting, chart reading, Fibonacci calculations etc.). Some brokerages produce their own courses in conjunction with such trading centers, such as the course offered by Forexyard.com. Without educating oneself, the vast majority of built in market tools offered by trading platforms will be wasted on the amateur forex trader.

In summary, there are numerous factors to consider before choosing the right online forex broker, all of which should be researched to ensure that your trading account and broker will allow you to get the most from your investment. You must be aware that some brokers do not have your best interests at heart, but do not despair, as there are many reputable and reliable companies eager and capable of providing a professional service. As part of your research, be sure to visit the many online trader forums, where you can discuss any of the issues raised in this article with other traders, many of whom will already have been through the process of choosing a broker and will be able to advise you from their own experiences.

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