Now the most important part of the trading action is to make a plan

Money. This is the first article of a series whose purpose is both educational and practical. And above all they aim to be interactive meaning that any comments suggestions or ideas are more than welcome. Lets start from the basics. The first thing someone needs is very good education. And this requires a lot of thorough research as there are many sources but not all are worth the money for their services. So in this sense an online forex course could be a good idea along with some books. But here comes the first major problem. Which course and which books, which aspects to cover? The technical analysis issue? The maxim goes with the trend? The candlesticks analysis? And which system to use and follow? There are thousands of them! So before we even begin a trader is confused. And confusion is a very bad enemy but it can be arranged. How it can be arranged? With some simple steps. Such as simplicity. The more you know the better chances you have to succeed trading forex and it all comes down to probabilities.

Education is a must to all trading aspects from stocks to futures to forex. But forex has two unique features. High liquidity and extremely high leverage. And although the liquidity is a very good feature high leverage is not. At least not until you know what you are doing. Here we focus again on education. Besides a participation in a forex course either online or not, an amount that will be put away as an investment for education is the first thing a trader must do. Some ideas are to focus on analyzing the current conditions of the market and to have a bias for a specific currency pair. A system such as following the trend could be the core of a trading strategy. And a demo account with many virtual trades as many as possible for a long period of time is the next step.

Now the most important part of the trading action is to make a plan, stick to it and apply very strict money management rules because if the capital is finished and it very easy this to happen then our trading career will finish within a few days, months or even hours. Lets face the truth that trading is not easy. It is unfortunately far easier for someone to lose all his account rather than make wild profits beyond each expectation. That is because emotions and psychology are very crucial for success. Some of the most important emotions are fear, uncertainty, euphoria and revenge. Revenge comes into play very often as when someone loses an amount wants desperately to get it back and often the outcome is that more loses come simply because the trader is on the wrong side of the trend!

Discipline and patience are virtues that distinguish a good trader from a mediocre trader. Without specific goals and a written procedure a trader is like a cargo ship that has sailed without any destination. Someday the fuel will be exhausted and many dangers from the weather to the potential physical damages may happen. Risks exist all the time. The point is how to deal with them.

One of the most useful phrases is taken from the movie Forrest Gump. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you going to get! It is true. Be as prepared as possible. Do not let the brokers excite you promising very high returns and extremely high leverage? Do some very thorough research before opening an account funded with real money. Compare the bid-ask spreads and technical support to name only a few aspects.

Be very skeptical to previous results as offered from many signal services. The major aim should be to learn to trade and make your own decisions and not blindly follow some others decisions and opinions. Confidence and experience come with the passage of time. So we mentioned simplicity before. Being realistic and having a controlled life balance is very important.