Which route to start?

Hi All,

I have recently passed the FSA regs and SFD certifications and I am now looking to learn how to successfully trade the Foreign Exchange market.

As a raw novice with no previous trading experience and having not come from a financial background I would like some advice on the best way to move forward. i think I am in a fortunate position in that due to my inexperience I currently have no pre conceptions or bad habits. Moving forward would I be best to educate myself and set up a demo account learning from my own experience and mistakes or would I be better off trying to enter a graduate programme/trading arcade to be taught the basic fundamentals and various trading strategies from day one?

I will be learning how to trade Forex imminently however, any advice on how best to start would be much appreciated

Cheers

You'd do well to learn as much general stuff as you can yourself on the cheap - web, books, etc. - and then use that to narrow things down in terms of how you would like to approach the markets.

its trial and error, you continously searching for technique that works or didnt. if you lose, must find out wheres your mistake. then try to avoid similar losses..

This is some advice that I could come up with:

1) First, learn the basics at the babypips school of pipsology. It's free. You must do this, because the profitable traders who have an established track record will use a lot of jargon and conceptual trader talk when explaining trades. You won't understand what they are saying unless you've first covered the basics.

2) Don’t ever pay money for an indicator based trading system. There are plenty of free ones available on the market. My personal advice is to avoid indicator based systems altogether. However, despite this warning you will probably still go through your “indicator phase.” We all do.

3) Do pay for someone to teach you to trade price action and price patterns using multiple technical analysis tools as verification (such as Support/Resistance, Divergence, Fibonacci, higher timeframes, cross market analysis, etc).

4) Do demo trade for a few months before using real money. This will also help to prepare you psychologically.

Unfortunately, good people teaching good analysis tend to come and go as quick as the scam artists. This is not because they are failed traders, but because being a teacher/mentor in this market can be very stressful. The guy who taught me was an awesome trader. He eventually vanished from the scene, because a few risky traders turned cynics kept unjustly bashing him. Hopefully someone can point you the direction of a good mentor.

Yes, having a good mentor is extremely helpful when learning anything, not just forex trading.

Know what you are doing before you start risking too much of your own money. A demo account is good for learning the ropes and getting rid of silly mistakes, but don't demo trade too long as your mind won't be prepared for actually risking your own money, which is a completely different emotional experience really.

Don't give up. You will make it eventually.

DannyN said:

Hi All,

I have recently passed the FSA regs and SFD certifications and I am now looking to learn how to successfully trade the Foreign Exchange market.

As a raw novice with no previous trading experience and having not come from a financial background I would like some advice on the best way to move forward. i think I am in a fortunate position in that due to my inexperience I currently have no pre conceptions or bad habits. Moving forward would I be best to educate myself and set up a demo account learning from my own experience and mistakes or would I be better off trying to enter a graduate programme/trading arcade to be taught the basic fundamentals and various trading strategies from day one?

I will be learning how to trade Forex imminently however, any advice on how best to start would be much appreciated

Cheers

Click to expand...

Starting with a demo account would be a good start. You can have better assessment of your trading skills if you will practice first. Do a lot of research, read books, subscribe to news letters, and look for professional mentors to help you get started.

Hi danny.. seeing as you have gone through the effort to pass the FSA regs and SFD certifications you should try and apply for trading arcade jobs.. the only one i know is Schneider Trading but I am sure you can find a few more.. the FSA reg exam wont have taught you anything about how to make money in the markets but should get you a position somewhere where you can start to learn (and get paid a little too)... if it turns out you are not cut out to be a trader you can get into broking as you are qualified.

DannyN said:

Hi All,

I have recently passed the FSA regs and SFD certifications and I am now looking to learn how to successfully trade the Foreign Exchange market.

As a raw novice with no previous trading experience and having not come from a financial background I would like some advice on the best way to move forward. i think I am in a fortunate position in that due to my inexperience I currently have no pre conceptions or bad habits. Moving forward would I be best to educate myself and set up a demo account learning from my own experience and mistakes or would I be better off trying to enter a graduate programme/trading arcade to be taught the basic fundamentals and various trading strategies from day one?

I will be learning how to trade Forex imminently however, any advice on how best to start would be much appreciated

Cheers

Click to expand...

I have a financial background and have had for a while now. Can even remember my first econ class when I was like 15. I first heard about the forex market probably a couple years after that, and have studied that beast ever since. I think I'm slowly getting there now, after countless readings from the Bretton Woods system to exchange rate determination scholarly papers, and hours after hours of screen time.

If I decided to become a surgeon tomorrow, I know what I would need to do: read a ****load of medical books, and practice endlessly on corpses. Of course, I would have to do that in the context of a medical degree, whereas virtually anyone can open a FX spreadbetting account at ay time. But an alleged 5% success rate among FX traders is nothing to be ashamed of compared to success rates among med students.

So I do believe that if people who have not been involved in the markets approached it more like they deserve to be, it would save them a lot of money in the end. That is, read a lot, and practice on demo a lot, like you would do if you started learning anything else. Of course some people get it quicker than others but they are the exception rather than the rule.

Again, this is just my opinion.