Newbie question: how to start trading FOREX?

M

mizhael

Hi all,

I have traded stocks and options and now wanted to explore into FOREX.

Anybody give me some starting pointers such as good articles and books to read?

Is it that I just bet USD will go stronger and long it and wait a few months for it to go up? That sounds like too slow to me. But for day-trading, how do I form my view. I have no idea about how the USD will move in a few days...

Any thoughts? Please shed some lights on me. Thank you!
 
I'm on forexfactory.com and have found a lot of people on there working on systems together and work as a team. It's working with me. I'm simpleguy over there also, look me up if you try it
 
I’m not a person who usually takes risks, and my job doesn’t permit me to make bad decisions. Do you know some place where I could access to some good information? I mean, some forex basics? Thank you for your time.
 
Ditto on babypips...Also get over to FXCM and start a practice account as soon as you can. It's free, there's no time limit and you can download the platform. If you go bust, start another one.
 
Yes, Babypips is a good place to start.
Assuming the OP is sincere and wants to know about starting the process of Learning....
I can offer a few timely thoughts.
My best basic advise for Newbies who are just starting to discover forex.

1) Forget Any kind of commercial ,well advertised gimick system ,such as 4 ex made easy, with the red arrows down and green arrows up telling you to trade.....

The Only way to be successful trading is by Learning it All, on your own, thru hard work, and Thousands of hours of screen time.

2) .....by thousands of hours of study time...I mean many thousands of hours....several hours a day, every day, for at least a year . ........paying central attention to learning to recognize Price Action,learning to 'see' support/resistance points,learning to draw trendlines.....and watch price action on many time frames, simultaneously.

3) and all of this study time and practice should be on a Demo trading account ONLY. ......no real money yet.

....for at least 1 whole year. maybe even 2 years.

before you even Think of trading with real money.

this advise will save you 1000 dollars at least.

thats how much I lost in 4 months, when I thought I was ready to trade real money.

One of the peculiar things about this Forex puzzle game..... is that it looks like an easy thing to win at. you see the candlesticks going up and down, and you think all you have to do is jump onboard and scalp for 5 or 10 minutes and make a hundred bucks a pop.

Believe me, dont be sucked in by the way it appears.
Its very tricky, and it will take your money. you will watch yourself lose 100 dollars in 2 minutes. sometimes,10 seconds.

There is a tremendous amount of knowledge and trading skills that you have to develop.
Learning how to execute trades....what leverage to use, when to enter, when to exit, watching the s/r points, fib levels,pivot points,trendlines, channels, time on the clock, fundamental news releases,candlestick analysis,and on and on..... its an extremely complex puzzle game....and takes at least a year of intensive study and practice to even begin to make a little money at.

so it bears repeating(as many experts have voiced here)
Do NOT open a real money trading account
until youve been practicing Demo for at least a year.
 
Any particular reason you want to get into forex over equities or even the e-minis?

IMO there is just too much going on to cover all that can happen but I haven't really explored forex....
 
The good news is that you can practice in a Demo account and its a great way to learn. I would suggest Oanda...because when you finally become ready to open a small account with real money, Oanda is a likely choice that will allow you to have a micro account.


Other bits of advise....stick to studying one currency pair and learn to understand it well.... the eur/usd is the most active.

Spend most of your study time just watching price movement,the candlesticks, just watch it move..... see how it moves from one S/R point to the next.
set up the computer screen platform, so that you have several small charts side by side...on different time frames....something like 1 minute,5 minute,15 minute, and 1 hour..... and watch price action on all these time frames simultaneously. learn how to see the candles moving on all the charts at the same time.

train your vision to be able to 'see ' this.

Dont worry about finding an indicator to add to your platform.
just watch price action.

Practice making trades,but dont make alot of trades....practice with purpose....One thing you will discover is that there are 'good trading moments' and 'bad trading moments'..... and its important to enter trades when the 'time is right'.

This is a skill that takes many months to develop.
Many times, in the course of an 8 hour trading session.... there might only be half a dozen good moments to enter a trade.
a good risk trading moment....you might wait a whole hour or two for the right time to enter.

It takes expert Vision to 'see' the right moment. a skill that takes many months to develop.

So when you practice on the demo ,trading, you may feel the desire to play alot of trades.... its better to not do that....better to spend more time just watching and learning to 'see' what price is doing...and learn to Identify when is a 'good trading moment' and when the time is not right.

It's a very tricky puzzle to play.
and lastly, remember that the learning process, is like learning a foreign language...takes a long time to become expert, and you Must become expert in order to make money.

How good you think you are after 4 months of studying...is Nothing like how good you will be a year later. you will look back on when you first started learning, and be amazed at how little you really knew, but you thought you were skilled....and the difference now, a year later, how much more you really know....will be like light years. and you will chastize yourself for thinking that you were ready to trade real money in the first 3 months....when you come to realize how little you really knew.
You Must be patient and take at least a year to learn. and by a year, I mean studying 8 hours a day for a year. so if you only have a few hours a day to sit at the computer.... you may need 3 years to learn.

good luck, and be patient.
 
great feedback which ill use myself... im a noob also...

just one question on support and resistance though - im using metatrader, does that plot it for you or do i have to manually put it in myself?
 
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