Alright Johnny, I am going to be honest with you from my perspective. I am sure you got the message that most people here that responded to your thread is still at the beginning stages of trading currency....ie. loosing money consistantly and blaming everyone but themselves. The broker taking opposite positions to take your money, yadda yadda yadda. Here is the deal, the books are great for getting the basics of currency trading. Don't get caught up in thier philosophy on you must do this you must do that bull. You have to know what type of person you are, and if you don't know, trust me currency trading will figure that out for you. Truly knowing yourself will help you determine what type of trader you will be. If your're an impatient type can't sit still to long look into scalping. If you're an analytical type with a daily eye on the other markets as well, then day trade. If youre a play it safe investor type that believes fundamentals are the be all to end all then long term swing trade or carry trade. Here are some long term successful currency trading must knows.
1. Yourself
2. self discipline
3. money management
4. support/resistance (Major/Minor)
5. Trend identification (Long, intermediate, short term)
6. Your Broker (execution, customer service, widening spreads..etc.
7. Your tradestation
8. Your charting package.
9. Basic economics
10. The people around you (they will encourage, discourage or be brutally honest) pick them wisely
You live with your parents now so take advantage and immerse yourself and be ready for a lot of sleepless nights. Currency trading is a learn by doing skill!!! So demo trade NOW to start the process of...feeling the euphoria of winning trades the devastation of loosing trades and blowing up accounts, getting whipsawed in economic news releases, being part of trending markets, range markets and consoladating markets, understanding currency pairs and what moves them. But most of all, understand yourself on how you responded to those things. Please please please, keep a journal, a daily journal because that will help you understand the what why where you successeded or failed when you go back and read past journal entries and accelerate your learning curve. Don't get discouraged because getting hammered by the market is just part of the process. It's like the nerd that gets beat up by the bully daily, the nerd hits the weight room take some self defense classes, gets some inner confidence and kicks the bully ASSSS repeatedly. Which one are you? Good luck!!!