Basic Forex Education

Lesson 01 : The basics of Forex Trading

HIGH RISK WARNING:

Foreign exchange trading carries a high level of risk that may not be suitable for all investors. Leverage creates additional risk and loss exposure. Before you decide to trade foreign exchange, carefully consider your investment objectives, experience level, and risk tolerance.

You could lose some or all of your initial investment; do not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. Educate yourself on the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial or tax advisor if you have any questions.

ADVISORY WARNING:

We provide references and links to selected blogs and other sources of economic and market information as an educational service to its clients and prospects and does not endorse the opinions or recommendations of the blogs or other sources of information. Clients and prospects are advised to carefully consider the opinions and analysis offered in the blogs or other information sources in the context of the client or prospect’s individual analysis and decision making.

None of the blogs or other sources of information is to be considered as constituting a track record. Past performance is no guarantee of future results and we specifically advise clients and prospect to carefully review all claims and representations made by advisers, bloggers, money managers and system vendors before investing any funds or opening an account with any Forex dealer. Any news, opinions, research, data, or other information contained within this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment or trading advice.

We expressly disclaim any liability for any lost principal or profits without limitation which may arise directly or indirectly from the use of or reliance on such information. As with all such advisory services, past results are never a guarantee of future results.

MetaTrader Tutorial

MetaTrader 4 – Learn to Use MetaTrader Tutorial Videos

MetaTrader 4 (MT4)  is the worlds number one online Forex trading platform. It combines reliability and speed with an unmatched capability to configure the software to your unique trading needs. In these Metatrader tutorial vidoes you will learn how to set up and use the MetaTrader 4 online Forex trading platform.

MetaTrader Tutorial VIDEO 1: How to install MetaTrader 4

MetaTrader 4 is easy to download and quick to set up.

In this video you will learn step by step instructions on how to:

• Download the MT4 trading platform
• Install the MT4 trading platform
• Log in to MT4 trading platform
• Create a MT4 practice account.

Forex trading platform with free charts

What tools and resources do you need for Forex trading?

The temptation for new traders is to spend a lot of time researching which trading platform to use, or looking for the latest technology edge. But the reality is the new trader does not really know what they are going to need until they uncover their trading style. This means the new trader is much better to simply begin with the basics and focus on learning enough to get started with a minimum of risk.

This means that to begin all you need is:

Some basic Forex education
A on-line Forex trading platform with free charts
How to use your platform tutorials; and
A practice account that lets you place your first trades with “monopoly money”.

Who should trade Forex?

Perhaps you are a first timer to the markets, or a seasoned stock or futures trader looking for something different, either way the Forex markets are likely to suit you. In fact the Forex markets are particularly popular for any of the following:

• New Traders getting started in the markets
• Day Traders placing several trades a day
• Swing Traders holding trades for a few days
• Carry Traders holding positions for weeks or months
• Full time employees trading in the evening
• Part-time workers looking for ways to supplement their income
• Traders who wish to trade from their mobile devices

What are the benefits of Forex trading?

Forex trading offers several benefits to the discerning market participant. Here are the top three.

Forex markets are open 24 hours. You can trade currency 24 hours a day for 5.5 days a week. This means you won’t experience overnight gaps like you would in the stock market, and can trade in the evenings if you work during the day.

Forex markets are low-cost. When you trade Forex, instead of paying a commission like you would with shares, you instead pay a very small mark-up to the price called the spread. Typically the spread is only a fraction of a cent for each dollar you trade.

Forex markets allow you to start small. When you begin Forex trading you can start at a very small size, and as your commissions are small too, unlike with stocks your profits don’t get all eaten up by commission.

What is Forex trading?

Forex trading is actually quite simple in practice.

At its most basic level, all you are doing is placing a trade on a currency hoping it is going to go up in price. For example you might think that the Euro is going to go up in value against the Australian dollar then you could place a trade to buy the EUR/AUD currency pair. If the Euro subsequently rises you would make a profit, if it drops you would have a loss. If you think that the Euro is going to go down you could place a trade that would benefit from that move too. This can all be done very easily in an on-line trading platform.

Forex traders study country fundamentals and market news along with price charts to help determine the direction that the currency might go. While this may seem complicated at first, the more experienced traders tend to focus on simplicity, as they realize that their success is more about their trading psychology rather than a fancy entry.