Forex Currency Day Trading for beginners.

You sell your money to the bank (or other) and it allocates some interest payments to your savings account from its profits. Have you seen a Bank's profits?

What do Banks do with your money? Well, they accumulate many small savers' money to lend to a borrower. The borrower buys his loan and repays it with added interest. The difference between interest rates is used by the institutions to pay salaries, pensions buy buildings and the usual business expenses.

THE WORLD PRESS occasionally reveals. "INSIDER DEALINGS" where an individual is accused of amassing huge profits from a fast book financial transaction that proves to be illegal.

Sandwiched between "INSIDER TRADING" and interest are a range of products on sale by banks. Mortgages, shares bonds and so on . Very rich individuals and organizations do not leave all their wealth in savings accounts. They trade in art. gold, diamonds, huge properties huge film productions, rare cars and such. Some buy and sell consumer items such as coffee, tea etc.

So can individuals with a few hundreds of their own currency hope to buy and sell something for a smiling profit? There's eBay. Antiques. Some gamble on a wide variety of events such as roulette, horse racing etc. On-line poker (5m PC users play every day)

Now revealed. There is a legal ethical place where you take profits and not interest. You buy and sell without taking delivery. It's far from the bottom layer of the sandwich, situated above shares. It's Foreign Currency.

Forex attracts about 2 trillion dollars a day in transactions. Someone may tell you that this makes dealings in shares small fry. Forex used to be the exclusive realm of the world banks, but computerization replaced old style traders. Banks fund Forex Trading rooms, worldwide.

Immediately, the reader identifies with a PC. Your machine may be capable of earning you a tiny, tiny part of the 2 trillion dollars. You may start with just a few hundred dollars of your own currency, but you essentially need some education, Powerful information to enable you to trade like a professional. You, buy and sell money?

How can there be a risk if you buy something and don't sell it, until there's a higher price? Forex systems eke out patterns of transactions, perhaps following the big loaves, expecting a crumb. Stories of $300 becoming $30,000 within a year: have you heard them? Banks make profits because they trade from especially designed rooms.

You do not need a degree in maths, experience or qualifications to make money 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Forex Day Trading is legal, ethical, exciting and profitable long term. A simple technique at the roulette wheel explains - the pattern is red, black, red, black - what would you choose next? That the pattern continues or is likely to finish? Make a decision and wait for that pattern to appear on any table's display, then act.

Whilst you may take the banks interest in one hand, the staff are elsewhere making huge profits.

A special gift - "Forex Freedom" pdf ebook at Profitable Information

Mike has been employed by financial institutions in the City with experience of mortgages, savings, insurance and reinsurance with a LLoyds of London Syndicate. He is a national IT education prize winner and is qualified with an Advanced Professional Diploma in Business Innovation. Many regard Mike as a blank-page expert. He is the first person in the UK to complete all three parts of the Edward de Bono Thinking Course with WHC College.

Forex Trading - Advantages Over Traditional Investment Methods

Most people are looking for the perfect way to invest their money. No one will argue against the fact that your money is only going to grow by any reasonable amount if you have invested in some type of market. The first piece of advice usually given is that they should take advantage of whatever is offered by their employer's 401k plan, if that is an option for them. This is good, sound and advice and should be followed if at all possible.

However, many people either don't have the option of investing in a 401k, or they have maxed out their 401k contributions and are looking for a good place to invest their additional funds for maximum growth. For obvious reasons (ie - terrible perfomance), traditional savings accounts and CDs are out of the question. These people are usually advised that investing in mutual funds is the only practical, "safe" alternative to a 401k.

Many people hold the belief that a mutual fund is the only "safe" way for an individual to invest beyond the typical savings accounts and CD's offered by their local bank. This belief is no doubt due to the success enjoyed by mutual funds throughout the 1990's, when all of the stock market benefited from the huge bull market that was driven by the tech sector. Ironically, though, just as mutual funds have soared in popularity, they have also peaked in performance, and over the last few years most have seen an astonishing lack of overall success.

So the intrepid investor goes off in search of the perfect mutual fund, only to find that there is a bewildering array of funds to choose from, and an overwhelming number of factors to consider when making that decision. Some people will forge ahead and make a decision on a mutual fund, while others will decide to go to the next level and start looking for investments that give them more control, and hopefully greater returns.

The next level for most investors is usually the stock market, where they hope to achieve phenomenal returns. But most people are not prepared for the reality of investing in stocks, which presents them with an array of choices that is several orders of magnitude greater than that offered by mutual funds. The natural question is: Which is a good stock to invest in? How do you select the one or two rising stars out of all the thousands of stocks there are to choose from?

So just like in the search for a mutual fund, the investor is stuck with the problem of how to pick which investment is the best place for his funds. At this point many people give up, which is a shame, because there are some other options available to them besides mutual funds and stocks.

The most common option considered besides stocks would be commodities. The lure of commodities is that they are able provide tremendous returns for your investment dollars due to leveraging. Leveraging simply means that for every dollar invested you are able to control more than a dollar's worth of commodity. This can lead to tremendous returns, but unfortunately commodities come with a huge downside. One of the disadvantages of commodities are broker's fees, which can be quite high per trade. Another disadvantage is market liquidity...sometimes the markets being traded don't offer enough buyers and sellers to ensure that your order can be executed in a timely manner. This can lead to unexpected losses during times of extreme market volatility.

Another disadvantage endured by commodities traders is the advantage enjoyed by the floor traders in the exchanges. These traders have a huge advantage over the retail trader because they trade with much lower commissions, and also since they have such an intimate knowledge of their market, they know what are the most likely stop and limit targets that have been set by the retail traders through their brokers. This means that they can "flush out" the retail trader by gunning for their stops and taking small incremental profits from the market. Once the small traders have been flushed out of the markets by having their stops hit, the market can continue to move in its original direction. Sadly, many of the retail traders may have been right in their opinion of the direction the market was headed, but they are now out of the market because their stops have been hit.

An alternative to consider to all of the above investment options is to trade the Forex market. The Forex market is the global, electronic, decentralized trading of the world's major currencies. In the past, only major banks government institutions were able to trade on the Forex. But recently the Forex market was opened up to retail traders who are able to trade through retail brokers.

The advantages of trading the Forex are numerous when compared to all the other investment methods. The most obvious advantage is that, unlike stocks, you don't have to search through thousands of different investment types to find a likely candidate. There are a very limited number of currencies that are traded, and most Forex traders only trade in one of the four major currencies: The British Pound, the Euro, the US Dollar, and the Japanese Yen. Each market gives enough volatility to offer plenty of trade opportunities each day. So while the stock trader is busy looking for which stock to trade, the Forex trader is already busy analyzing the market and setting up his trades.

Another advantage of the Forex is that there is no one single "common place" or exchange where the trades are made. The Forex is an electronic market that is traded globally among a network of computers, and is not centralized to any one location. This means that there are no floor traders to compete with, and no one who can "flush out" the retail trader by gunning for his stops.

Yet another advantage of the Forex market is that it is traded 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. This offers the extraordinary opportunity for traders all over the world to trade when it is convenient for them, and not be confined to trading a market that is only open during hours that would impossible or inconvenient.

One thing the Forex offers is identical to what is offered by the futures markets: leverage. Like commodities traders, the individual trading the Forex market can make fantastic returns compared to stocks, mutual funds. But unlike commodities traders the Forex market trades with much lower commissions. Instead of standard commissions, the Forex trader pays a small spread on each trade.

There are a lot of details about the Forex market, and trading the Forex market, that have been left out of this article. This is just a very quick introduction to some of the problems with traditional investing and to the advantages to be had by trading the Forex.

Be sure to check out our free ebook for more info on getting started with the Forex.

Til next time...Success to you!

-Ted

Ted is part of a group of Forex traders that makes its home at:

www.ForexProfitMentor.com

Check it out for the latest ideas on how YOU can trade the Forex for profit!

Unleash Your Future with FOREX Trading!

FOREX means the foreign currency exchange, and that today alone nearly $2 Trillion will be traded by banks, governments, corporations, trading partners and private and corporate speculators. Speculators trade to make a profit by purchasing one currency and simultaneously selling another. And people like you are making handsome profits everyday from home, after hours, trading without thinking about commissions and margin calls (dreaded word for day-traders)

So is Forex for you? Yes and let me list the benefits that are available to all - including you. As stated Forex Trading is the exchange of currencies for profit, and it offers unmatched potential for profitable trading in any market condition or stage of the business cycle. No other market can make that claim - and I haven't even begun to list the cool things yet.

Here we go: * No commissions. No clearing fees, no exchange fees, no government fees, no brokerage fees. * No middlemen. You can deal directly with the market using an online trading platform. * No fixed lot size. You can start a trading account for as little as $300, because the lot sizes are not pre-determined. * Low transaction cost. True there is no official commission, but there is a spread between the bid and ask price of a currency paid. But that spread is about 0.1% of the actual transaction - making it relatively much cheaper than other markets. * High Liquidity. A trader can enter or exit the market at will in almost any market condition. Your bottleneck is your internet connection speed! You have almost instantaneous transactions. * Low margin, high leverage. These factors increase the potential for higher profits (and losses if you gamble with your money) * 24 hour market. A trader may take advantage of all profitable market conditions at any time - there is no opening bell or 'after hours' trading - its always open! * Online access - you can do this all from home or work... even on the train or plane or coffee stop with WiFi access! * Not related to the stock market! Because you can profit no matter what the stock markets are doing to the world currencies, you don't really care whether the DOW is up or not! * Interbank Market. The backbone of the FOREX market consists of a global network of dealers. They are mainly major commercial banks that communicate and trade with one another. There are no organized exchanges to serve as a central hub, like the New York stock exchange... the FOREX market will never crash because of some major world event. Sure prices may be affected, but your trading opportunities are always present. * No one can corner the market. Due to its sheer size and number of participants, not even a central bank can control the market price for an extended period of time. * No insider trading. Again because of its size and de-centralized nature, there are no significant fraud opportunities compared to other markets.

If you are familiar with either equity (stock) or futures markets - the list above will be very impressive to you. If you are not familiar with this stuff, take my word - its good news and its way cheaper than trading stocks. The profits can be staggering and so can the losses. That's why it's critical that beginners invest in a training program that will give them an understanding and trading system that minimizes losses and emphasises educated trading.

You can turn $200 into $30,000 within 6 months! All you need is a computer with Net access and the free information you can request <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.trademoney.ca">at Trade Money<

Learn Forex Trading the Right WayLearn Forex Trading the Right Way

Just barely over one year ago I had never heard of the forex markets. Now I am spending a few hours a week and making incredible profits and loving every minute of it. I also spend time getting other people successfully started. Once I starting enjoying making profit on the forex market, the word got out, everyone I know started asking me if I would teach them about the world of forex trading. This is what I tell them: The first thing is get ready for a life-changing adventure! Once you get a taste of making money by sitting in front of your computer monitor, there is no turning back.

Then after getting them all fired up (I am one of these people who get passionate about things I believe in - can' help it), I get them into a free demo account as quickly as possible, usually within minutes. Then, I show them how to use an online trading station (free computer software that allows you to use your demo account to interact with the largest money market in the world - with over $1.5 trillion exchanging hands per day - HUGE market!). The wonderful thing about these free demo accounts is that they are exactly the same as real trading - unlike learning how to invest in the stock market, for example, where you have to pretend that someone will sell to you and that someone will buy from you - and that is not real at all! The forex market is so liquid (instant buyers and sellers) that both the demo and real accounts behave exactly the same! What a great way to learn - when you switch to a real account, you can't even tell.

Then, I get them to practice, using various proven techniques, with their demo account until they feel comfortable that they are consistently making profits. At first, like anything, you need to learn from experts. You need a mentor to teach you. You can't just do what you 'think' will work - you must learn techniques that really work. Trading is both a science and an art, so practice is very valuable before you start to trade for real. I tell them to be patient, the thrills are coming soon!

Then the day arrives, they open a real account and start trading in a mini account (designed for beginners or those who want to do smaller, yet real, trades). Once they see real money being made, they can hardly wait to trade in a regular account - but again I tell them to practice because now the trades are real. Because they did their homework and practiced proven techniques with the demo accounts, the transition to a real account is easy - the hardest part is learning not to shake in your shoes as they enter into this exciting arena along side the wealthiest people in the world. Keeping calm takes awhile and then they come to the realization that they too are on their way to making more money than they ever imagined.

What amazed me when I first looked into forex trading was the amount of available websites offering endless promises about riches to be made forex trading. Yet, at the same time, I quickly learned from real experts that most people who follow this advice lose all of their investment in the first few months! Wow! So, not wanting to make that huge mistake, I followed the advice I now give to my friends. Start with a demo, then a mini-account and finally move to a regular account all the while being mentored by someone who really knows how to make profits in the forex market. By following this advice myself, I survived the first few months and now make wonderful profits! I love it!

Doug Gray is a high school administrator and a forex trader. If you want to learn more about forex market trading, then check out this site and make sure you get the same information, from the same mentor that Doug learned from: http://www.ForexMarketMentor.com

Forex trading an overlooked but very lucrative market.

One of the most appealing ways to attain wealth is to play the stock market. With the advent of the Internet and on line brokers traders have seemingly unrestricted access to various trading products that just 10 years ago were reserved for big financial institutions. A trading product that has been overlooked by many traders is forex.

Forex is derived from the words FOReign EXchange and involves the trading of currencies. Until relatively recently trading forex has been the preserve of banks and other large financial institutions. In the last 5 years forex trading has literally exploded among ordinary traders. When the advantages of forex trading become apparent this is not surprising. The forex market is the largest financial market in the world with an estimated daily turnover of $1.5 trillion dollars. This is 30 times larger than all the US stock markets combined. Further more the forex market is open 24 hours a day 5 days a week.

The size of the forex market is one of its first benefits. The forex market is very liquid and has high volume. Liquidity is a great asset many traders look for because it means a deal can always be done. Forex is a continuous 24-hour market. This is very desirable if you wish to trade part-time as you can choose what time you trade unlike stock markets that are open only 8 hours a day. This 24-hour market almost removes the problem of gapping. Because most stock markets are only open 8 hours a day often-overnight events can cause stocks to gap up or down. Large gaps can especially cause large losses for people who trade derivative products like futures or options. In the forex market the problem of gapping is very much reduced.

Currencies are always traded in pairs. Usually currencies are traded in pairs against the US dollar. The main pairs are US dollar Vs EURO ( EUR), British Pound (GDP), Swiss Franc (CHF), Japanese yen (JPY), Australian Dollar (AUS), New Zealand Dollar (NZD) and the Canadian dollar(CAD). There are other currencies pairs but most traders prefer to trade the pairs above. These currency pairs are known as the majors. Currency traders have plenty of trading opportunities from these 7 major currency pairs. Compare this against the stock market where more than 8,000 stocks trade on the three primary US stock exchanges and currency traders can focus just on these 7 pairs and still make plenty of money.

Unlike the stock market there is never bullish or bearish market conditions. Currencies go up or down against each other according to how the world financial markets perceive the value of the currencies. You can sell a currency (go short) just as easy as you can buy a currency( go long). Currencies go up and down and you can trade either direction just as easily ensuring there is always plenty of trading opportunities.

Forex brokers don't charge commission or brokerage. This can be quite a large overhead in other financial markets. Forex brokers make their money on the difference between the bid/ask spread of a currency pair. As the forex market is very liquid the spread between the bid/ask is very small. As many stock traders know brokerage can be a significant transaction cost.

You can start trading forex for as little as $300 dollars. There are two types of accounts a mini forex account and regular forex account. Most forex brokers offer 100: 1 leverage which means a in a mini account you can control $10,000 currency position with $100. In a regular account $1000 controls a $100,000 currency position. This provides great leverage and an extremely efficient use of trading capitol.

Trading a mini account is a great way on how to learn to how to trade forex. When you paper trade you are having a comfortable armchair ride. You are trading without the emotions of putting real money on the table. When you trade a 1 mini currency lot you can set your stop loss so the most you lose is $100. This is a great way to learn how to trade effectively without risking much money. In most other trading products even when trading with the smallest trading lot possible you would have to risk much more. Forex provides trading opportunities for people without much trading capitol.

Many traders have overlooked forex trading. It has many benefits that all traders can use to their advantage. It offers the benefit of trading 24 hours a day in any country in the world. The forex market is a very lucrative market no trader can overlook it.

To get more information about the opportunities of forex trading visit

http://www.ultimateforextrading.com

Why Trade the FOREX?

My purpose for writing this article is to demonstrate to you the advantages of trading on the FOREX market. However, there is one myth that I want to dispel before I go further. The myth is that there is a difference between trading and investing. To dispel that myth I quote from Al Thomas, President of Williamsburg Investment Company, who wrote "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It". He said "Everyone who invests is a trader, only the time period is different." It is a lesson that I took seriously after taking a beating in the stock market in 2000.

So now, let's compare features of currency trading to those of stock and commodity trading.

Liquidity - The FOREX market is the most liquid financial market in the world around 1.9 trillion dollars traded everyday. The commodities market trades around 440 billion dollars a day, and the US stock market trades around 200 billion dollars a day. This ensures better trade execution and prevents market manipulation. It also ensures easily executable trading.

Trading Times - The FOREX market is open 24 hours a day (except weekends) which means that in the US it opens at 3:00 pm Sunday (EST) and closes Friday at 5:00 (EST), allowing active traders to choose the times they want to trade. Commodities trading hours are all over the board depending on which commodity you are trading. Including extended trading times US stocks can be traded from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (ET) on weekdays.

Leverage - Depending on your FOREX account size, your leverage may be 100:1, although there are FOREX brokers that offer leverage of up to 400:1 (not that I would ever recommend that kind of leverage). Leverage in the stock market can be as high as 4:1, and in the commodities market, leverage varies with the commodity traded but it can be quite high. Because the commodity markets are not as liquid as the FOREX market, its leverage is inherently riskier. Although I was never shut out of a commodity trade by the day limit, the fear was always in the back of my mind.

Trading costs - Transaction costs in the FOREX market is the difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair. There are no brokerage fees. For both the stock and the commodity markets, there are transaction costs and brokerage fees. Even when you use discount brokers, those fees add up.

Minimum investment - You can open a FOREX trading account for as little as $300.00. It took $5,000 for me to open my futures trading account.

Focus - 85% of all trading transactions are made on 7 major currencies. In the US stock market alone there are 40,000 stocks. There are just over 200 commodity markets, although quite a few are so illiquid that they are not traded except by hedgers. As you can see, the fewer number of instruments allows us to study each one more closely.

Trade execution - In the FOREX market, trade execution is almost instantaneous. In both the equity and commodity markets, you count on a broker to execute your trades and their results are sometimes inconsistent.

While all of these features make trading the FOREX market very attractive, it still requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience. All trading can be risky.

Dr. Susan Walker has been an environmental consultant for more than 20 years and have dabbled in trading in stocks and commodities for longer than she cares to remember. She is new to FOREX trading, and loves it. Please visit her at http://www.creative4xtrader.com for your free copy of "FOREX FREEDOM".

Others Vs Forex Trading

<br><p>What are the advantages of Forex over other types of investments?<p>
LOW RISK - HIGH YIELD is the first thing that comes to mind.
Forex Trading can be risky and the general rule for investing is: When the return is high the risk is high, but with correct planning and strategy combined with a certain amount of self discipline you can bring the risk factor down to a level that is quite low. It is even possible to strategically plan your market entry and exit levels and control exactly how much you profit or lose.
This can be done in a way that allows the investor to still profit even when they misjudge the market 50% of the time! Compare that to other types of investments.<p>
GEARING, is another area that stands out as a major advantage; this also substantially reduces the risk to you the investor. When you trade 1 forex "Mini lot" you will be trading a parcel of money valued at $10,000 USD
And you only need $100 USD of your own money!
If you trade a regular "Lot" you only need $1,000 USD to trade $100,000 USD.
How's that for gearing? Try and do that with other kinds of investments!<p>
LOW CAPITAL REQUIRED, many investments require a substantial amount of capital before you can take advantage of a particular investment opportunity, with Forex You only need $300 USD to "get into the market", and only need to have $100 USD in order to trade your $10,000 "Mini Lot".<p>
CONVIENIENCE, if you have a laptop and an internet connection you can make a trade in 5- 10 minutes! Depending on how long your computer takes to start up, and the speed of your connection. <p>
LIQUIDITY, many other forms of investing require tying your money up for long periods of time, and if you need to use the capital it can be difficult or impossible to access to it without taking a huge loss (Real Estate).
Not so with Forex trading. With Forex Trading you have full control of your capital.<p>
CAN PROFIT IN BULLISH OR BEARISH MARKETS,
Stock market traders need stock prices to rise in order to take a profit, Real Estate prices must go up in order to make a capital gain.
However, The Forex investor can make a profit in both situations, a rising or falling market.<p>
The Forex Market is open 24 hrs a day.<p>
Can anyone do it or do you need to be some kind of super genius?
Forex Trading isn't for the faint hearted so be warned, while you can get yourself a "Demo Account" and practice as you learn in real time in the real market.
You can't experience the emotions that come with putting your real money on the line.<p>
You can however prepare yourself well by using one of the many Forex Trading courses that are available online today.<p>
Bill Boyd is an investor and online marketer; go here to visit his site: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fx-t.com">http://www.fx-t.com</a><p>
<br><h1>About the Author</h1>
<p>Bill Boyd is an investor and online marketer; go here to visit his site: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.fx-t.com">http://www.fx-t.com</a>

Real Forex Traders Learn to Like Losses

As a trader you have to learn how to take losses. Period. Don't be a crybaby. Learn how to take losses.

Learning how to take losses is one of the most important lessons you must learn if you want to survive as a trader. Nobody is 100% right all the time. Losses are inevitable. Even Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods lose sometimes and they're considered the best in their field. There will be trading streaks where you'll have a number of successful consecutive trades, but that will eventually come to an end you will take a loss.

As that point it's very important not to lose your head, you must remain in control of yourself. Don't have a cow man.

Take a break. Calm down and relax. Take a chill pill dude.

Until you've regained a clear mind and an ability to think logically again, stay out of the market.

Don't whine about your loss and never carry a prejudice against a loss.

The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.

I repeat. The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.

Never ever think that you will never lose. That's just ludicrous. Losses are just like profits, it's all part of the trader's universe.

Losses are unavoidable. Get over the loss and move on to the next trade.

Forex Gump is a senior professor at BabyPips.com's School of Pipsology. BabyPips.com is a funny and easy-to-understand online guide on how to teach beginners how to make money trading forex.

Trading Currency Through Online Forex Brokers

Access to foreign exchange (forex), the most extensive market on the planet, is generally through an intermediary known as a forex broker. Similar to a stock broker, these agents can also provide advice on forex trading strategies. This advice to clients often extends to technical analysis and research approaches designed to improve client forex trading performance.

Financial institutions are generally the most influential in the forex market through high-volume, large-value forex currency transactions. Historically, banks enjoyed monopolistic access to the forex markets, but through the Internet, any forex speculator can also enjoy 24 hour access to the market via a forex broker.

Forex traders have the aim of using the smallest amount of one currency, say the US dollar, to purchase another currency like the British Pound. If supply of the pound lessens in a busy market, it will cost more dollars to buy pounds, and the forex trader hopes to sell their pounds at a higher than their purchase price.

Secure web connections today allow many forex traders to work from home, where ready access to news and other technical advice informs decisions on what forex positions to take. Similar moves are being made by stock brokers, who are also moving out of banks and other traditional institutions.

Your needs in the market will influence your choice of forex broker. Online forex brokerage firms, known as houses, provide those new to the forex market with detailed research, advice and simulators to learn how to use their forex trading tools. The experienced online forex trader is catered to by other broking houses, with in-depth advice, but less focus on forex trading instruction based on the assumption that you are familiar with the forex market. To make an informed choice, it is advisable to trial several differing online forex broking houses and their trading tools to find the best fit for your needs.Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.forex-web.info a website specialized on Forex Broker, resources and articles. This site provides updated information on Forex Broker. For more info on Forex Broker visit: http://www.forex-web.info

Forex Brokers

 Most FOREX traders use a broker to handle their transactions. What exactly is a broker? Strictly speaking, a broker is an individual or a company that buys and sells orders according the investor's decisions. Brokers earn money by charging a commission or a fee for their services.

A FOREX broker needs to be associated with a large financial institution such as a bank in order to provide the funds necessary for margin trading. In the United States a broker should be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Before trading FOREX you need to set up an account with a FOREX broker. You may feel overwhelmed by the number of brokers who offer their services online. Deciding on a broker requires a little bit of research on your part, but the time spent will give you insight into the services that are available and fees charged by various brokers.

The best advertising is word-of-mouth advertising, and this is just as valid in FOREX trading as it is for any other type of business. Talk to friends and associates to see who they are dealing with and find if they have any complaints or difficulties in dealing with a particular broker.

You could try selecting a few online brokers and contact their Internet help desks to see how quickly they respond to enquiries and whether or not they answer questions to your satisfaction. Keep in mind, however, that pre-sales service may be better than after sales service. This can be true for any online business, not just FOREX brokers.

Customer satisfaction and safety are just part of the story. You want to find a broker who executes orders quickly and with minimum slippage. All online brokers should offer automatic execution and have clear policies regarding slippage. They should be able to tell you how much slippage can be expected in both normal and fast-moving markets.

Next you want to know the fees involved. What is the spread? Is spread fixed or variable according to the type of account? Are mini accounts subject to wider spreads? Are there any other charges? Smaller spreads mean more profit for the trader, but there may be a trade-off between spread and service. Look at the overall picture before deciding to go with a particular broker.

Margin accounts are the lifeblood of FOREX trading, so be sure you understand the broker's margin terms before setting up an account. You need to know the margin requirements and how margin is calculated. Does margin change according to the currency traded? Is it the same every day of the week? Some brokers may offer different margins for mini and standard accounts.

Trading software is very important for the online FOREX trader. Get a feel for the options that are available by trying out a demo account at a few online brokers. Above all, you are looking for reliability and the ability to perform well in fast-moving markets. The software should offer automatic trading and may have special features such as trailing stops and trading from the chart. Some features may only be available at an extra cost, so be sure you understand what your trading needs are and how much the broker charges to provide them.

Other information to find out about includes the broker's policy regarding minimum account balances, interest payments on account balances, which currencies can be traded and whether or not non-standard sized lots can be traded. You should also find out whether clients' funds are insured and the extent of that insurance.
This article provided courtesy of http://www.about-forex.net
 Simon Harris - http://www.about-forex.net