by Frank Sherosky

Created on: January 08, 2009

Until the internet, few people ever heard of Forex let alone trade it. Now just about anyone can get involved in Foreign Exchange by trading online. It is very important, though, to learn the process and have a system, as ignorance can be a costly affair.

Advertisements on the web make Forex trading look easy and compelling. They say you can trade with leverage and make lots of money from home. For example, you certainly don't need a fortune as many Forex brokers will now allow you to open an online mini-account with as little as $250. Most offer 200 to 1 leverage (200:1), which means a $50 dollar margin deposit would allow a trader to buy or sell $10,000 worth of currencies. That's in addition to the fact it is a 24-hour, trading arena from Sunday evening to late Friday afternoon. That's nearly 120 hours of straight trading availability from your home computer.

Training

Most trading mentors, on the other hand, are not so quick to have you jump right in. They teach that success with Forex requires you to seriously learn and practice by paper trading online first, in some cases for at least 6 months. The reason is: Forex trading reads well as a technical market, and it takes time to come to grips with the basic principles underlying its nuances.

Fact is you are not actually trading a single currency, but a spread between two currencies. That's different than buying GM or Google stock. You are buying the USD and selling the Euro simultaneously, for example. The very nature of spread trading requires you, therefore, to learn the necessary skills in form of the 'tools of the trade' that include technical and fundamental analysis.

One great way that you can learn Forex currency trading is to take advantage of the many courses, articles and demo accounts that are available on the web. This is facilitated by the online brokerages, as they want to increase the overall knowledge of the investor.

There are many websites that provide online Forex trading courses and demo accounts. One of them is FXCM. Another resource is Forex Club, which allows you to take daily training via trading with a free demo account that make it possible for beginners to place their orders, enter stops and limits, and test some of the strategies without any risk of losing real money. In this hands-on manner, you better experience how to protect yourself from major financial disaster.

Another great way to learn Forex currency trading online is to join related forums on the web and start talking to

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>