Things to consider before you start trading

**Scott Masters** · 05-28-2012, 13:34

There are three things that would help you better understand the fundamentals of the industry, the practice, and therefor the potential pitfalls, risk and potential gains.

First - get reading. There are numerous free forums, articles and blogs out there with active traders posting daily as well as educational threads. One that I found particularly useful is the school of pipsology at babypips (google this). Lots of great posts with visuals explaining the trades and the graphs. Once you have an understanding of how trading works, the why and the when you will have a better self educated feel for the potential and the risk,

Second - Demo and practice. Try out some platforms risk free using demo accounts. There are some great ones out there provided by a large variety of brokers. The most common platform is MT4 which is provided through a variety of guises with a selection of various tools. FXCM is another popular one. My personal favourite at the moment (on which I am only demo-ing at the mo) is at mahifx, just a personal choice, but I find the speed, tightness of the spreads and one click trading suits my style of trading. By experiencing trading without the risk of losing money, you will learn how to follow charts/trends and to generate strategy and systems. What you won't learn however, are the psychological effects of trading when it is real hard earned money with real risk. That leads us onto the next stage

Third - Trade live but very small at first - Set up a live account but with a very small amount of capital. Something you would not suffer for losing, (as that is ultimately the most likely outcome at first) but enough that you care about it. There are a large amount of brokers that do not require a minimum deposit. I would chose one of those for practice live trading. By trading live you will learn what you can not through demo accounts. The psychology and mental effects that you will experience through trading real money. Everyone deals with this in a different way, and you will most likely learn alot about yoruself through this. Learn to control your emotions, not to chase a big win as a result of a series of losses.

In forex you are constantly learning, constantly testing and it is a very long journey. It is certainly not easy money and it is a very risky business.

**reynuevo** · 05-28-2012, 22:40

"In forex you are constantly learning, constantly testing and it is a very long journey. It is certainly not easy money and it is a very risky business."

Yes i agree to you!! forex is not an easy field..

**whyme** · 05-29-2012, 00:42

Avoid bucketshops #1 priority.

**Scott Masters** · 06-06-2012, 16:14

Originally Posted by reynuevo

"In forex you are constantly learning, constantly testing and it is a very long journey. It is certainly not easy money and it is a very risky business."

Yes i agree to you!! forex is not an easy field..

Thank you for your feedback. I hope the information helps some people thinking of starting out.

**Scott Masters** · 06-06-2012, 16:16

Originally Posted by whyme

Avoid bucketshops #1 priority.

Agreed. What would you suggest is the best way to do this?

**IIO** · 06-12-2012, 17:30

Originally Posted by Scott Masters

Agreed. What would you suggest is the best way to do this?

Fixed spreads = bucket shop.

**taohai** · 06-13-2012, 14:24

it's difficult to be the tops ones in every industry. in forex trading only top ones can earn some big money.
don't expect too high as many newbies do.

**AstraG** · 06-18-2012, 11:00

Its a market you should not enter lightly or in persuit of a quick easy buck ...thats for sure. The only way to sustainable profit is substantial time and effort.

**henryduncan12** · 06-21-2012, 07:19

Thanks Scott to share these important points with us that are more important for new traders. A trader should enter in forex trading with proper planning and your points will help them for it.