In such uncertain economic times, many people are concerned about their retirement and the future of their sons and daughters. For several decades, investing in real estate and the stock market were considered stable vehicles to keep ahead of inflation and build a nest egg. No matter how volatile the markets got, the better educated investor had their eye on the long haul and more or less felt in control of their portfolio's.
Mutual funds seemed a good way of diversifying and it's been common practice for employees to allocated part of their paychecks to 401K's at their job. Unfortunately, a large number of funds have gone through major losses recently. Although, all longer term investments have their peaks and valleys, many are opting to take their losses and accept the early withdrawal penalty, adding insult to injury.
This is one reason why forex currency trading has remained a viable investment alternative for many. Forex provides you with the opportunity to receive a far higher rate of return on your money, and best of all, you are ultimately in control of the result.
Nearly $4 trillion is traded in the Forex markets on average volume per day. This amount far eclipses the New York, Tokyo and London based stock exchanges combined. The foreign currency market is said to follow the sun, because you have the ability to trade your account, via proprietary broker trading platforms 24 hours, 5 days per week and you could make money regardless of if the stock market goes up or down.
The origin of the foreign exchange market, (Forex, FX, or currency market) can be traced back centuries. The existence of different paper currency notes for the major economies of the world and the need to broadly exchange them has brought about the foreign exchange markets. These markets determine the relative price of the major currencies of the world paired against one another at any given time.
Originally, currency was only traded by large financial institutions with tremendous capital reserves via restricted lines of communication. Today, the currency exchange market is a global, decentralized financial market for trading currencies that also assists in international trade and investment. With the advent of the internet and the ability to trade using a higher amount of leverage, it became possible for virtually anyone with a PC or laptop and a small investment, to get in the game from the privacy of their own home.
You're essentially speculating whether one currency will rise in value in relation to the other for a particular currency pairing. Should you speculate correctly you make money, if not you loose money. Which is the simplicity of it! This is what is meant by, "Zero sum game". You will find only winners and losers with no trophies for second place. It's pure capitalism!
Anyone considering trading currencies would do well to take into consideration some basic laws of investing and pursue a common sense approach. You had better be fully aware of the waters you're swimming and do your homework well. Do enough due diligence to obtain a basic knowledge of the subject.
The main reason most traders loose money is uncertainty about what they're doing. The tools of the trade are not yet known and second nature to them. You need to be better prepared and organized than the other guy. Make sure that you do plenty of demo trading before you trade with real money, because you are up against professionals and there are definitely sharks in these waters!
It is vitally important that you consistently use prudent money management and please be aware that it gets exponentially more difficult to recuperate your account as losses mount and raising your leverage when you're negative is the fast track to major losses that could become unrecoverable.
So if you decide to invest your time and money trading currency, be sure to approach it as a business, not a hobby.
In future articles I will delve deeper into the importance of proper risk management and ways to recognize flawed trading systems.
Good Trading!
