How to Start Forex Trading - Forex Guide For Beginners

[Kenneth Glover]

The popularity of forex trading is rising with more and more people
joining the elite option of working from home. As a beginner, however,
you might find it difficult to start trading and become frustrated and
discouraged by pitfalls and hidden touches. What is the right way to
start trading and what are the steps towards becoming successful in
forex?
First of all, educate yourself. Forex trading is not easy and requires
every-day education. You have to be serious and dedicate decent amount
of time to understand the basics. I suggest reading articles, forums,
blogs, e-books, sign up for forex courses or seminars, make new online
and offline friends in trading world. You will need all the
information and encouragement to pass the probation period of a new
trader and start making a living with forex. Speaking of e-books, try
not to fall for the paid-all-over-advertised e-books. There are enough
quality free stuff.  
Once you know the "theory" it is time to practice. Free demo accounts
are offered by most of the forex brokers, so the next task is to find
the "perfect" broker. Keep in mind that there are tones of average
brokers, some are outstanding scammers and only few are reputable and
trusted. And even though you will not deposit any real money yet at
this stage it is wise to find the right broker from the
start.     In order to avoid scammers, you will have to
visit forums, read forex brokers' reviews, search for brokers' rating
and ask advice from other traders. Whenever you seek an advice via
forum make sure not to believe all the responses right away. Check out
the profile of those who answer your question, when did they join the
forum and how many posts do they actually have before answering your
question "who is the best forex broker?". Chances are that a trader
with hundreds posts is honest and the recommendation is valuable while
a user that has just recently joined and have less than 50 posts
doesn't know much, or worse, is just a representative of a scammy
broker.    Once you have chosen the broker to join, open an
account and get the trading platform. Some platforms are downloadable
while others are web-based, some are user-friendly and others are more
complicated suitable for professional traders. Before you start
practicing with demo account make sure you are well aware of all the
function and features of the trading platform. The last thing you want
is to find yourself unsure where to click in order to enter or close a
trade.    Most forex brokers offer demo account for a
limited amount of time, let's say 30 days or so. It is important to
exploit this opportunity to the fullest and polish the trading plan
and your forex strategy. Most traders I know recommend demo trading
like mad for at least two months before you move to the next step -
investing real cash.    At some point demo account will no
longer be enough and the real trader instinct will emerge. The need to
trade will bother you from the start of the forex experience, but
there comes the day when you will actually be ready to take the
plunge.    In most cases the trading platform will take you
from demo account to the real account in the matter of seconds. The
next question a trader might ask is how to make funds with the
selected forex broker. There are quite a number of options when
it comes to payment methods - credit card, wire transfer, checks and
alternative online payment methods such as PayPal, neteller,
moneybookers and similar. Every forex broker offers a certain number
of payment methods and it is up to you to find out which method is
most suitable. Please take under consideration that some brokers
charge a fee for withdrawing, for example.
Make sure that you know all the terms and conditions of the broker
before you make the deposit.    Speaking of deposits, this
is the time when bonuses come in handy. Forex brokers today compete
with each other providing different kind of bonuses, competitions,
prizes and VIP services. Most favored are welcome bonuses which come
in form of free money upon your first deposit. The amount money you
get for free is calculated by either percentage or there is a fixed
sum for a certain amount of funds deposited. For example, some brokers
give away 10% of the deposited funds, others offer $100 upon a deposit
of $300, another matches your deposit with 100% bonus.  
  When you start trading live it is wise to go slow and small.
Don't invest thousands in one go - try live forex trading with couple
of hundreds first. Make sure to trade only the amount you can afford
to lose and be ready to lose it! Mistakes are the normality in forex
trading. It should not shock you that the results you get from real
trading differ from demo account. It is all about experience and
patience.    While getting your feet wet in forex, you need
to work on the psychological issues as well. Most problematic features
most traders have are greed and fear. It is your job to figure out the
way to deal with losses, overtrading, missed traders, fear of entering
a trade, fear of sticking with it and difficulty of following your own
trading plan.    It is tough out there in forex land and
only if you take it seriously, as a business, as a real profession, as
a full-time job, you find a true trader within.

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