Trading for beginners is always a difficult task, and there are no short cuts that will lead to a high level of skill and professionalism.
The beginners experience this situation in Forex trading due to the high level of competition and the opportunity to earn big fortunes. If you are a new entrant in the currency exchange, then you most likely need to learn a lot and hone the skills of a large number of trading techniques. For example, you must know when to enter the Forex market and how to exit trading on the currency pair exchange.
However, there are right and wrong approaches to the study of market fundamentals. Choosing the right way will only speed up the process of creating a mechanism for stable earnings in the Forex market.
Forex for beginners seems to be incredible and difficult. The charts, a lot of tools to help, – it makes you dizzy, and traders do not know where to start learning right away. Beginners, preferably, need a leader who could direct action in the right way. But what do beginners do? They immediately grab for everything: study literature, cling to other people’s strategies, think that professionals have already worked everything out and everything is there, swing indicators and advisors, hoping that they will trade better than them. So what is the result? Using everything at once, without examining, the result is a loss of money and frustration.
What is the Forex market? It is the interbank market where foreign exchange transactions take place. You were a member of the foreign exchange market when you exchanged currency at least once. Remember? So know that every time you change money, you already become a person who, even if indirectly, affects the value of the currency. Imagine how many people change currency each day? Yes, a million times so sure! And this is tens of millions of dollars, just one hour! Impressive?
It is because of the funds’ flow that the courses change. The course rises and falls. It depends on which of the currencies they buy more and more. So the answer to the question “How do they earn money on this?” is coming. The answer is simple: to buy a particular currency is cheaper, and selling it is more expensive is the whole essence of the Forex market.
Unlike ordinary people who are in the queues of exchange offices, traders have a lot of additional tools. They help make the right choice. Among these tools are:
• Analysis: technical and fundamental
• Capital Management
• Psychology of trade
• Plans and statistics
To do without even one of them is difficult. You need to understand the processes of trading deeply, control your emotions, and, of course, follow your trading plan. This is the path of a successful trader.
Market participants are various institutions (central banks of different countries, large commercial banks, hedge and investment funds), and private individuals (traders) themselves, who aim at making money on speculations, that is, changes in the exchange rate. As a rule, the volume of trade operations of the latter group is very small compared with the turnover of some large bank or fund. The players with large capital have a real impact on the value of the currency. For example, when buying a dollar by the US Central Bank in large volumes, its value will increase.
Important economic indicators (indices), which directly or indirectly reflect the current economic situation in a country or region, have a significant impact on the value of currencies. At the time of the release of important news, the market is very volatile; that is, the currency pair exchange rate can change dramatically, the amplitude (range) of its fluctuations increases significantly. Trading in the market with high volatility is quite difficult, so we do not recommend working at this time. Forex trading for beginners in such a market is complicated not only by the frequent inability to enter at the requested price (because the price constantly jumps), but also by exiting the position – again, the price can move faster than you set the exit level from the transaction, and not in that direction. Forex professionals either avoid overly volatile markets or trade them with pending orders.
Due to significant trading volumes, as well as fluctuations in the value of currencies, experienced traders can make significant profits in the Forex market, unlike inexperienced traders. To predict the direction of price movement, fundamental and technical analysis is actively used, as well as an understanding of the psychology of other players.
After the trader examines two types of analysis, starts using them in his trade and making a profit, you should pay attention to how you manage your capital properly. After all, it is important for each trader to determine the amount of risk for each transaction. As for experienced traders, they are the real masters of risk. With experience, the feeling or inner state of the soul came to them that tells you when you can take risks, and when you shouldn’t be better.
The foreign exchange market is a real challenge. All those who came to this market, even if they had already earned millions, always faced problems in terms of emotional state. No, we do not write to you that they were not normal or mentally ill, but everyone was experiencing emotional stress. The psychology of trading is an important section for keeping yourself in good shape, especially in the Forex market for beginners. Agree that it is difficult to keep yourself in balance and to be calm when you hold, for example, an open trade for a long time. But some are scared just to open a deal, even after a thorough analysis. What is the way out? Yes, there is no definite answer. Someone is meditating, someone has learned too much to keep their emotions under control, and someone prefers alcohol. However, we do not see a real problem from this, and absolutely any problem can be solved. The best way to get rid of emotional stress is to trade.
Let’s now discuss the trading plan and transaction statistics. It is the trading plan and statistics that are the tools without which the trader cannot improve his trade. We want to advise you, specify all your emotions in a particular transaction, describe what you feel, what sensations. This also should bring the entire analysis of why the transaction was made.
You are lucky if there are practicing traders among your friends. They could tell you where to start, what and how to do in a given situation. However, most of the traders are loners, they do not have the place where they could share the experience or give the right advice …
For this reason, beginning traders have a long way to go: the path from mistakes to success.
We want to share some important tips. They will be useful for you and will help you to avoid several mistakes at the initial stage.
Tip 1. Do not be a fan of the market and try to study it day and night. This will not lead to anything good and, all the more, will not accelerate the understanding of the trading process. To start, give the market 1 -2 hours per day.
Tip 2. It is too banal, but the most faithful. Be really strong! Before you tempt the whole fruit of success, you have to fall more than once. Get up! Correct the error and go on, do not cry on the failure. Step over it! The financial market will teach you to be diligent, attentive, and the abstract thinking that you acquire here will teach you to make a variety of important decisions in your life, not only related to the Forex market.
Tip 3. Choose a broker. To get started on Forex, you must select a broker who will open access to the market. Brokerage companies provide technical means of trading, that is, programs with which you will enter into transactions, as well as offering the necessary information support and training services in Forex trading for both beginners and experienced traders. Brokers are constantly being developed, and new releases are released every year. How to navigate in all this diversity and find exactly what will help you make profitable deals? Dowmarkets is one of the most popular choices of the modern trader and novice online trader.
The advantages of Dowmarkets become apparent already at the stage of exploring the platform. Platform reviews of other brokers will not give us anything new: after all, as a rule, on most resources, the working window looks the same, patterned. Dowmarkets broker developers have chosen a different path. Their main goal was versatility: the platform should be comfortable for both the sophisticated trader, intuitively versed in programs, and for the beginner, who is just starting to master the tool.
Like almost any long journey, investments require initial capital. So there are several important points. First, you should invest only a very small part of your available cash (for example, 20% of your savings) in the stock market. Secondly, you shouldn’t even think about “borrowing from friends, taking a bank loan, quickly earning 50% per annum on the market, and be happy.”
You cannot trade on borrowed money! The risks are present in any case, and if you are dominated by the need to return the initial capital to creditors – this will lead to psychological discomfort and a number of mistakes. You should use only a small part of your savings.
First, read any book on stock trading.
As part of the first steps in the market, we recommend not to neglect demo trading. Even if the funds allow you to spend a significant amount to gain experience and test different strategies, there are a number of nuances that do not require material costs. Many brokers offer different types of accounts, so you can choose the best option for you.
At any time when you realize that you are ready for the real market, just open a trading account with your chosen broker, make money, and start making transactions. If you want to understand and overcome all the psychological barriers, it is very reasonable to invest real money at the initial stage, but in very small amounts. Even small losses will give you an idea of what the psychology of trading is. Doing so, you will receive valuable lessons with virtually no threat to your trading accounts:
At the initial stage, you have to decide whether you will be an investor or a speculator, which shares will be included in your investment portfolio, as well as which trading strategies you will adhere to. The fact is that a stable profit from trading in the financial markets demands strict adhering to certain rules that the investor determines for himself empirically. A set of such rules that determine the moment of entry and exit from the market, the volume of investments, and the choice of financial instrument are called a trading system.
To earn on Forex market, you must learn 3 bases of Forex trading:
1) Trading method (trading strategy) giving you an advantage
2) Capital management (risk management)
3) Psychology (psychological stability of the trader)
These are the three pillars of success in Forex. If at least 1 component is missing – the trader will be in great danger.
Let’s take a brief look at each foundation, each component of success.
The trading method (trading strategy or trading system) is a set of rules for opening and closing trades. Let’s consider the main trading methods:
a) Trend system (trend-tracking systems)
b) Breakdown systems (systems based on the momentum of the “price impulse”)
c) Trend systems – rollback entry (including Fibo levels entry)
d) Flat (channel) systems
e) False break
f) Patterns
g) Correctional systems
h) Systems based on Elliott wave theory
i) Counter-trend systems
This classification is not comprehensive. If you have a desire, you can add (or combine) some trading methods. However, the overall picture will not change.
This is the second most important basis of Forex. The risks are directly related to the capital. Money management implies answers to the following questions:
a) What part of the deposit should be risked in the first transaction?
b) What should you do in case of a loss-making transaction? (increase risk, reduce risk or leave risk unchanged)
c) What should you do in case of a series of losing trades? (increase risk, reduce it, leave unchanged or stop trading completely)
g) How to prevent the simultaneous open trades? (what kind of aggregate risk can be assumed on open transactions ?)
e) Should you reinvest the profit or withdraw it regularly?
The third basis of Forex trading for beginners is psychology (psychological stability of the trader)
If the first 2 pillars of success are somehow amenable to systematization, they can be tested, clearly planned, then the psychology is much more difficult. At some point, the trader may doubt own trading methods; this is usually due to a long period of losing trades. In such a situation, the trader begins to change his style right “on the go,” which leads to fatal consequences. That would not happen if you learn Forex trading!
To work successfully, it is necessary to know the basic terms used on the Forex exchange when planning trading strategies. There are many such concepts, we consider only some of them.
Each trader is faced with such terms as: “bid,” “ask,” and “spread,” “currency pairs.” All of these concepts allow traders making a deal to understand the essence of work on the exchange.
Bid is a maximum price by the value of which a market participant can sell its asset during this period.
Ask – and this is the minimum price, at this price at this moment, you can buy a certain asset.
The difference between the bid and the ask is called the spread, which is the dealer’s income. That is, the purchase of a currency is made according to ask, and the sale is made by the bid.
In the case of opening a new position, it is recommended to wait a certain period until the price change in this direction becomes larger than the size of the spread. Once this is achieved, the position will become profitable.
The spread may vary depending on the following factors: liquidity, the volume of operation, status of the trader in the market, and type of trading accounts, as well as the market condition. Any fluctuations in these positions affect the value of the spread.
The unit of measure for a spread is points (pips). For clarity, if the quotation of Euro to Dollar is 1.2568 / 1.2571, then the spread will be – 0.0003 USD or 3 points. Such a unit of measure allows you to make spreads for different values more comparable.
This expression is the unit of one foreign currency in units of another. All quotes in the Forex market are calculated against the dollar. In turn, they are divided into three types:
Direct quotes show for how many units of one currency you can buy one dollar. For example: 1 USD = 120,227 JPY
Simply put, the dollar in this equation is the unit of the currency, and the Japanese yen is the currency for which this currency is bought.
Reverse quotation is most common and applied to the following currencies: Euro (EUR), British Pound (GBP), Australian Dollar (AUD), New Zealand Dollar (NZD), and Japanese Yen (JPY). They show for how many dollars you can buy a unit of one of the above currencies.
Cross rates or Crosses are quotes that consist of two currency pairs, reverse and direct quotes. For example: GBP / JPY = GBP / USD * USD / JPY
These are the same financial instruments which traders use to make a profit in the Forex market. The major currency pairs on which the largest number of trading applications is concentrated are: GBP \ USD, EUR \ USD, USD \ CHF and USD \ JPY
When starting to work on the stock exchange, every trader should be aware of these features, and it is also desirable to know the basic terms used on the Forex exchange to ensure high and stable earnings in the future.
Forex trading for beginners is an interesting process, work on which should bring you not only a positive experience but also your first profit, which will help you build your stable capital. And if you develop your career based on the above factors, then you will have a good chance of success.
Forex is an over-the-counter market that does not have a specific trading place. All trading processes go through the Internet. All quotes are the same for different brokers (perhaps a deviation of several points, more rarely). The currency market is open from Monday to Friday around the clock. There are various Forex trading sessions – knowing the time of each session, you can improve your trading by working with a certain currency pair, which will be sufficient, but not excessively, volatile in a given period of time.
And finally, we will give a short answer to the question “How can Forex be useful for beginners?” There are enough advantages: the ability to work from home or office, virtually unlimited earnings, constant growth and self-improvement, communication with other interest traders. We do not mention the pleasure of trading, because the first failures will be, but over time, practicing and improving your skills, you will be able to build profitable trading strategies. Thanks to stable profits, you will receive not only pleasure but also a good source of income.