People starting out in currency trading often do not realize how many trading opportunities forex market offers. It can seem overwhelming to think that you can trade any combination of the world’s currencies.

Theoretically at least, a trader can deal in any currency pair: that is, any two of the 150 or so currencies of the world. Almost all countries have their own currency except for the European countries who are part of the euro system and a few small nations who use the US dollar. There are other countries whose currencies are pegged to the dollar to give them some economic stability. Still, there are a lot of currencies out there, and in combination that makes a huge number of forex pairs.

In practice of course there are limits on the currency pairs that an individual trader can access. Most brokers will only let you deal with certain pairs, or if they quote prices on unusual pairs then the spread will be high so you have a higher threshold to beat before you start making money. If you want to trade in a minor currency it is often best to do so through a broker who is based in that country.

However, for most traders this is not even an issue. The average forex retail trader (that is, somebody trading on their own account, often from home) would not touch most minor currencies because they are too volatile. For anybody starting out, certainly the best option is to stick with the major currencies.

So which forex currencies would be described as major? There can be some debate about this but most sources count 7 major currencies in order of their traded volume. They are: US dollar USD, euro EUR, Japanese yen JPY, British pound GBP, Swiss franc CHF, Canadian dollar CAD and Australian dollar AUD.

Major pairs are defined as pairs of the US dollar with any other major currency. This creates 6 major pairs which are EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD and AUD/USD. Pairs of two major currencies where neither one is the US dollar are called cross pairs. This gives another 30 possible pairs. An example would be GBP/CHF.

The most heavily traded pair of forex currencies is EUR/USD. The high liquidity of EUR/USD has three main advantages. First, you will not have trouble getting matched including having stop losses matched at the planned point without a lot of slippage. Second, the spread tends to be low because competition between brokers is intense for this pair. Third, there is a ton of forex news relating to these two currencies and you are much less likely to miss some important announcement.

With all of these factors coming into play, the recommendation for beginners is to keep to one pair and make it the biggest, EUR/USD. That is if you are trading for yourself. If you are using a robot, it may be set up for other forex currencies and you should go with the recommended pairs.

There are many Forex robots on the market. The most frequently used is

Fap Turbo Robot

Everybody involved in currency trading are looking for forex trading secrets. What most people do not realize is that when you are paying top dollar for a forex trading system, it does not necessarily mean that the same thing will work for you.

On the other hand, there are some secrets of success that will work for practically everybody. These focus around mindset and good practice and they are much more important than most people realize. In fact, they are probably even more important than your system. So check out these 5 forex trading secrets to success.

1.  Set A Morning Routine

Every morning (or whenever you start trading) there will be certain things that you need to do. The first is to check the economic calendar for the next 24 hours. This is vital and you can be sure that the one day you forget will be a day that something big happens. So if necessary, set up something on your computer so that you see a reminder as soon as you log in.

Email is a distraction so give yourself set times for checking and answering email, and close your email client the rest of the time. The last thing you want is an icon flashing or bleeping about incoming mail when you are in the middle of a trade. The same is true of your phone.

2.  Move That Body

Sitting at a computer all day without breaks is one of the worst things you can do to your body. Be sure to stand up, walk around and change the focus of your eyes at least once an hour. Get a drink of water or visit the bathroom and instead of rushing straight back, spend 5 minutes pacing the room or looking out the window. This will help you to relax and avoid serious problems such as thrombosis or eye strain.

If you are working at a desk full time, either for your trading or in a day job plus your trading, plan some workout time into your day too. This could be when you first wake up or later in the day, but make it at least two hours after a meal. Choose either cardio, flexibility or strength training and aim for at least 30 minutes, 4-6 days per week.

3.  Get A Life

If you are not going to go completely crazy, you will need to have some outside interests. If you have a partner or family around you, they will probably take care of most of your spare time. If not, seek out friends or pursue a non-trading interest that brings you into contact with other people. It can be tempting to want to do nothing but trade, but you will burn out fast that way.

4.  Use The Forums

Forex forums can be great for chatting online with other traders. You can ask questions, give and receive advice, check out reviews of systems and pick up a lot of forex trading secrets and tips. It gives you somewhere to go when trading is slow. Just make sure you don’t start spending all day there … it is easy to do.

5.  Spread Your Wealth

When you are starting to make good money from your trading, it is time to diversify. Consider investing some of your funds in property, bonds or even stocks if you have the knowledge of that market.

Even if you are not yet making enough to want to divert money away from trading right now, you probably only need half or less of your funds to be in your account, so withdraw the rest and invest it safely. This means that even in the worst disaster you cannot lose everything. You will not regret doing this. Protecting your funds is one of the major forex trading secrets and golden rules.

Currency trade takes place in what is usually called the forex, FX or foreign exchange market. Unlike stock markets, the currency market is not limited to one place. Trading in all currencies goes on all over the world. For example, you do not have to be located in the USA to trade in the US dollar. You can do that anywhere.

In order to buy or sell money you have to use another kind of money, that is, a different currency. This means that all forex trading involves two currencies. One is exchanged for another, because in order to buy one, you have to sell another. So everything revolves around currency pairs. In fact, it could be said that each currency pair has its own market.

You will often hear statements on the news about the dollar rising or falling. The value of a country’s currency is closely linked to how well its economy is doing. Generally speaking, the value of the dollar will fall if the USA is going through an economic crisis, and rise during good times. However, because all forex transactions involve an exchange, the values are relative. Even if the dollar was falling against most currencies, there could be another country that was doing even worse and so the dollar could be rising against that particular currency.

The main players in the forex market are banks and other large financial powers who employ professional traders to make money in foreign exchange for them. These forex professionals could be involved in currency trade worth millions of dollars.

However, there is still room for the little guy or girl. All you need is a computer with broadband, and a small amount of capital. These days it is easy for just about anybody to get involved in the forex market, although actually making money may not prove to be quite so simple!

You cannot access the market directly yourself. Like all traders, you will use a broker. After opening an account with a forex broker you can see real time forex price quotes displayed on their site and you can buy and sell as you wish. Most brokers offer a demo account so that you can try out trading without risking any real funds. This is essential because forex trading can be very risky.

Forex trading has a huge profit potential because of the amount of leverage that you can get. Leverage is your ability to control large amounts of money in a trade, while only putting up a small amount of it yourself. Many brokers will offer 100 times leverage which means that you can control a currency trade of $1,000 with just $10.

The forex market has a huge worldwide daily turnover, with transactions valued at around $4 trillion a day. This high liquidity means that prices change fast. It is a very risky way to handle your money but it also has the potential for making big profits in a relatively short time. This is what attracts so many people into the currency trade market.

Forex Correlation Is One Of The Key to Successful Forex Trading

Anybody involved in forex trading cannot avoid dealing with currency trading brokers. As an individual trader you cannot set up your own dealing desk, so currency trading brokers are your way in to the forex market.

As trading from home becomes more and more popular with private individuals who often have relatively low startup capital, new types of brokerage firms are springing up to cater for them. Most of these companies are completely legitimate but you do need to do your due diligence before committing your funds to them. Check which country they are registered in and whether they are regulated there.

What would happen to your funds if the company went out of business? In some cases you are protected by regulatory bodies but in other cases you are not. So this is a good question to ask before you invest.

Most forex traders work with 100 or 200 times leverage. This means that to control a position size of $10,000 you would have to commit only $100 or $50 of your own money. This gives you a lot of power because you can make a lot of money in a short time when things go your way. On the other hand of course it is also possible to lose a lot, if you do not have stops in place to prevent you. For this reason, when you are beginning it could be a good idea to sign up with a broker who will automatically close out your trades when the limit of your account is reached. This protects you from margin calls which can otherwise mean that you could end up owing the broker more than you have in your account.

Currency trading brokers provide many services to their clients these days. You will probably have access to a demo account where you can test out the brokerage software that allows you to trade in the market in real time. You can also use the demo account to test your trading systems before going live with real money.

Currency trading brokers will also usually provide some kind of technical analysis in the form of charts and indicators. You can expect candlestick, bar and line charts, and indicators including the Stochastic, MACD and Bollinger bands. Try to look at the charting services provided by several different brokers through their demo accounts and consider ease of use and whether they give you the information that your trading system requires. Of course, many traders sign up with dedicated charting services once they become more successful, but when you start out, getting good technical analysis from your broker can save you that cost.

You will want assurance that the broker’s software platform is not easily cracked by hackers. Remember this is your money and you do not want anybody to be able to access your account illegally. Ask the currency trading brokers what security measures they have in place, or check on forums.

There are many Currency Trading Brokers available. The most frequently used is

Forex Yard

If you are new to forex trading it is essential to understand the currency trading pip. This is how your profit, loss and costs are measured. Your broker account may translate pips into dollars or other currencies for you, but it may not. In any case you will want to know what it means for yourself.

A pip is a percentage in point which is a transferable unit of measure, much more useful for the purpose of comparison than a dollar profit figure. It is used in price quotes and as a measure of the change in currency prices.

The pip is the smallest measure of movement in the quoted price. Prices for most currencies are quoted to four decimal places, so one pip is 0.0001 units of the quote currency. (The exception is the Japanese yen which is much less valuable and is therefore quoted to 0.01 yen.) The quote currency is the second of the two currencies in a pair. So for example in the pair EUR/USD, the quote currency is the US dollar.

Some brokers are now beginning to quote to five decimal places and there is some argument among traders as to whether a pip then becomes 0.00001, or whether this would just be confusing, since it would mean that some brokers’ pips were 10 times as big as others.

If you visit forex forums you will see traders all the time talking about their profitable trades in terms of pips. They will not tell you how many dollars they made, because that depends on their position size which another person would not necessarily replicate. Talking in terms of pips also means that they do not have to reveal the size of their account.

For example you may see a trader talking about making 200 pips profit on a trade in EUR/USD. They could be an amateur who traded a micro lot or a professional bank trader who traded tens of thousands of lots. Each would have made 200 pips, but the value of those pips would have been vastly different.

To know how much it would mean to you in terms of profit and loss, you simply multiply by 0.0001 and then by the lot size. The result will be the profit in the quote currency.

The quote currency for EUR/USD is the US dollar. So if the trader is dealing in standard lots of $100,000, one pip is 0.0001 x $100,000 i.e. $10 per lot. If he made 200 pips profit, that is $2,000 per lot. But if he uses mini lots of $10,000 it’s a profit of $200, and on a $1,000 micro lot it’s only $20 profit.

Still, if you assume 100 times leverage, he has only had to put up $10 for his $20, $100 for his $200 profit or $1,000 for his $2,000 profit. So it’s a pretty good return and no wonder he is haunting the forums to boast about this trade!

Anyway, you can see how it is an advantage to be able to talk in terms of pips.

Also, of course, the currency itself could vary. The quote currency will not always be the dollar. If that example trade was in EUR/GBP then the 200 pip profit would be 20, 200 or 2,000 British pounds. If you wanted to know what that was in US dollars you would need to add another step into the calculation, multiplying by the current exchange rate.

This may sound confusing at first but when you start trading, even in a demo account, you will soon understand what a currency trading pip means in practice.

You will need a brokerage account as soon as you start forex trading, and you may as well get with the best currency trading broker from the get go. Your broker is your means of access to the markets and is also your provider of leverage so that you can trade on margins and control position sizes large enough for it all to be worthwhile.

So how do you select the best forex broker? There is a lot to take into account. Here are the our top 10 points that you will certainly want to consider.

1. Funds Required

This is usually the first thing that traders look at when they are considering a currency trading broker so maybe you don’t need us to tell you, but there is a very wide range of minimum investment sizes among brokers. You will see the old style broker offering standard accounts for traders who have $10,000, $50,000 or more to invest, others with mini forex accounts which might typically require around $1,000 minimum, and micro accounts which can start around $100 or even as low as $25 in one or two cases.

You are usually best advised to go for a broker whose client base is mainly other traders with similar sized accounts to yours. That way there is a good chance that services and costs will be a good match for you.

2. Market Access

Do they provide 24 hour access to their trading platform? Most do, but you could be caught out if you make assumptions. How about support? Is that available 24 hours too, in case you have a technical problem?

3. Pairs

You will also need to check that the broker offers all the currency pairs that you are likely to want to trade. If you are a beginner, look for a broker that covers all the major pairs (USD paired with EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD) plus some cross pairs (combinations of the last six of those currencies).

4. Technical Services

You will want to look at the charts and indicators that are provided, and whether the broker includes forex news alerts. These services are less important for experienced and professional traders who probably have accounts with dedicated news and charting service providers, but a beginner can save money by choosing a broker who offers a lot here.

5. Software

Check out the broker’s software platform. Most firms offer a demonstration account so that you can test the system and services on the live market without risk. This also gives you a chance to test new systems. You may want to run in demo mode for several months, especially if you plan to test more than one system, so look for a currency trading broker who gives unlimited time on demo accounts.

6. Regulation

Look for a currency trading broker who is a member of at least one of the main regulatory bodies in their country. You cannot take this for granted because the forex market is generally not regulated by law. If you go with a completely unregulated broker there is probably nothing to stop them disappearing from the internet with all of your funds. Bodies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA) in the USA provide a certain amount of protection to users if the broker should suddenly fail. There are similar associations in other countries.

7. Spread

The spread is the difference between the bid and ask prices for any currency pair, and this is the broker’s edge, which is the way that most brokers make their money. The amount of the spread varies according to the broker and the currency pair, but you can expect to pay 1 to 3 pips on most of the majors. Check the spread for the main pairs that you plan to trade.

Some brokers offer a low spread but then charge fees or commission in addition. This can be advantageous for some traders, usually those who tend to make a small number of long running trades.

8. Lot Size

There are standard lot sizes which are 100,000 units of currency for a standard lot, 10,000 for a mini lot and 1,000 for a micro. However you can find variations on these from some brokers who will offer a wider choice or even fractional lots where you can make up your own lot size. Of course, you will be trading on margins so you do not need to have this amount of money in your account. See the next point.

9. Leverage

Leverage and margin requirements can be very different with different brokers. This is what gives you the power to control large sums and make (or lose) a lot of money with only a small investment. 100 times leverage is often seen as standard but 200 is possible. Some traders prefer to work with 50 times, giving lower risk.

10. Business Model

Last but not least, the broker’s business model can have a big effect on how your trades are handled. Most brokers do not have their own dealing desk but access the market through a network. You may see this referred to as an ECN or electronic communications network.

More recently, what is known as market makers have sprung up in the forex trading world. These are not brokers in the strict sense of the word. They will find a match for your trade through a network broker or sometimes they will match your trade themselves. This puts them on the other side of your trade and means that they lose if you gain … not an ideal position from your point of view, when they hold your funds. So if you go with a forex market maker be sure to check user feedback.

In fact, it is always advisable to check feedback from genuine users before signing up with a broker. Look in independent forums and try to find several points of view. Do not pay too much attention to any one individual, who may be biased in their feedback, and look for reports from users who are at the same level as you. This will help to ensure that you find the best currency trading broker for your funds.

There are many currency trading brokers on the market. The most frequently used is FXYard

Our research and surveying has confirmed that too many new and inexperienced forex traders simply do not know how to manage risk in each trade — and all too often, the result is the same: they wipe out their accounts.

Here’s what we find is happening. Forex has grown in popularity so quickly that many traders who are new to forex trading have just waded into the waters, opened an account and have begun putting on trades without any real thought or planning to how to approach trading.

It should be obvious that the problem with this thinking is little to no understanding of how to approach trading foreign currencies and the significant risks to capital that it poses. All to often, new traders try to trade first and learn second.

And the result of that learning is the loss of their account balances. Hey, let’s be honest, trading on a demo account is never the same as trading with real money. You do not apply the same emotional control, the same trading principles or rules, you’ll take greater risks with the demo account and play too safe with the live account (often to your own loss).

Reverse your thinking: learn first, trade second. In fact, across the board, the need to reverse people’s mindsets about forex is what is needed. Learn the right way to trade first, and THEN take that knowledge to the market and trade with it.

As part of that learn first scenario – the NUMBER ONE element to trading forex that new, inexperienced or unsuccessful traders should learn is how to MANAGE RISK FIRST in every single trade.

Today, one of the most well-respected Forex educators, Bill Poulos, released a video that teaches traders EXACTLY how they should be trading forex. And, how traders can put more trades in their favor by erasing risk — it’s very cool thinking and it isn’t what’s being taught by most of the so-called ‘Gurus’ out there.

Catch the video here:

http://www.yourforexangle.com/y/?i=996938&u=4&l=f3

By learning to manage risk FIRST, traders will find their trading transformed as they are able to approach forex trading with an entirely different mindset, a plan for erasing risk and a solid set of rules by which to trade.

If you want to make money with currency trading, you will know that of course you are going to need some good currency trading strategies. Foreign exchange trading is like anything else in this world. If you want to do it well, you need some training and some practice. And if you are going to get into this activity you better do it well otherwise you could lose your shirt.

Getting the practice is easy enough because most currency trading brokers will let you open a free currency trading demo account. In fact they encourage it, because they are hoping that once you are making money with your currency trading demo account you will go ahead and invest some money with them. Then they can profit from the spread or the fees that they charge on your account. Hopefully you will make enough money to pay the broker and then some, so everybody benefits.

Finding profitable currency trading strategies is a little harder. There are plenty of systems out there, but some are very complicated for the beginner. What you probably want is something very simple so that you can start trading with your demo account today. Notice that I said "with your demo account".

So let’s take a look at a simple currency trading strategy using what is called support and resistance. You can put this technique into action when you have a situation where the market is fluctuating up and down within certain boundaries. So if you look over a long period it is within an upper position and a lower position.

You can see this on the charts that you will be able to access in your demo account. Look at the candlestick chart over a large number of time periods. You can probably identify a time when the price was moving up and down between certain points.

You could draw a line along the top points. This line is called the resistance line and it will be horizontal. When the price hits this line it moves down again to keep within the boundaries. So at that point you could sell the currency pair.

Similarly if you draw a horizontal line along the bottom points this is called the support line. When the price hits this line it moves up again, so you could buy at that point.

If you try this in your demo account on live prices you will find that sometimes the price does not bounce back into the zone and on those occasions you will lose. Usually this is because a trend was beginning to form. You can use the indicators in your charting software to check when a breakout like this might be expected. From this you can develop your own system based on support and resistance on the one hand and following new trends on the other.

Be sure that your system is working profitably over a long time (several months) before you start using it to trade with real money. Currency trading is always risky but by testing your system in this way you can be more confident that you have created a profitable system from your currency trading strategies.

There are many currency trading brokers on the market. The most frequently used is Forex Yard