The foreign exchange market (FOREX) offers many advantages to investors. But you need to know where to begin. This short guide will give you the FOREX basics, so you can quickly start participating in this fast growing market.

In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980’s the rules were changed to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why FOREX trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.

A Learning Curve

FOREX is not simple, though, so you’ll need some knowledge to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the FOREX, there are risks involved. Your first move as a beginner should be to find out as much as possible about the forex market before risking a dime.

Find A Forex Broker

FOREX traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Open an Account with a forex borker

Opening a FOREX account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary identification. The form includes a margin agreement which states that the broker may interfere with any trade deemed to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker, since most trades are done using the broker’s money.

Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.

Many brokers offer a variety of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in FOREX trading for as little as $250. Standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500, depending on the broker. The amount of leverage (how much borrowed money you can use) varies with account type. High leverage accounts give you more money to trade for a given investment.

Trades are commission-free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the ’spread’: the difference between bid and ask prices.

Paper Trading Forex Market

Beginning traders are strongly advised get accustomed to FOREX by doing "paper trades" for a period of time. Paper trades are practice transactions that don’t involve real capital. They allow you to see how the system works while learning how to use the various software tools provided by most FOREX brokers.

Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new FOREX investor should use these demo accounts at least until they are consistently showing profits.

FOREX Software

Each forex broker has its own set of software tools for making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all FOREX brokers. Real-time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit-and-loss analyses are some of the features you can expect to see on most online brokers’ web sites.

Almost every broker operates on the Internet. To access a broker’s online services you’ll need a reasonably modern computer, a fast Internet connection, and an up-to-date operating system. Once your account is set up, you can access it from any computer just by entering your account name and password. If for some reason you are unable get to a computer, most brokers will allow you to make trades over the phone.

There are lots of ways to make money. FOREX trading is just one more potential stream of income — if you are prepared to learn and practice.

Yoy Gonna Love This..Foreign exchange markets and prices are mainly influenced by international trade flows and investment flows. The FX markets are also influenced, but to a lesser extent, by the same factors that influence the equity and bond markets: economic and political conditions especially interest rates, inflation, and political instability. Those factors usually have only a short-term impact, which makes Forex attractive as it offers some of the diversification necessary to protect against adverse movements in the equity and bond markets.Foreign Exchange prices, or quotes, include a "Bid" and "Ask" similar to other financial products:
Bid: Price at which Dealer is willing to Buy and Traders can Sell CurrencyAsk: Price at which Dealer will Sell and Traders can Buy CurrencyThe difference between the Bid and Ask is called the "Spread", which is the Trader's cost of the transaction. For more information on the Spreads offered by Forex N Trading.
Currencies are usually quoted to four decimal places, such as the Euro/US Dollar trading at 1.2400/1.2403, with the last decimal place referred to as a point or "pip". A pip for most currencies is 0.0001 of an exchange rate; the one exception is the USD/JPY quote in which each pip is equal to 0.01

In order to become an adequate participant on FOREX market – professional trader, it is necessary to cover inevitable stages and get skills and knowledge, which are essential for working on FOREX, in process.

To be a novice trader – does not mean to incur losses. Owing to the fact that the accounts of InstaForex do not have limits to the volume of minimal lot, you can start working with any sum, having the opportunity to reduce risks. With increase of your confidence you enlarge the volume of trading operations, increasing risks and the opportunity to get higher profit.

3Steps of Forex Market

1 Step. Training on DEMO-account.

Every person can open DEMO-account and learn how to operate the trading terminal and trading strategies for unlimited period of time and absolutely free. Even without having any idea about FOREX market you can try yourself as a trader, opening a DEMO-account. In spite of the fact that all deals on DEMO-accounts are virtual and are not put on FOREX, you have the full copy of all terms and conditions as the are on the live accounts. On the DEMO-account you can complete deals as well as you would do on the real account.Doesn’t matter how many questions you have – you can try to answer them using the DEMO-account, without any risks and having the opportunity to open unlimited quantity of such accounts totally free. Moreover, 24/5 support department is available by ICQ, chat, telephone or e-mail.

2 Step. Trading on the live account.

Having got the hand in working with terminal and learning the main trading strategies, you can try yourself on the real account, limiting your risks. Owing to the absence of limits on minimal deal’s volume you can trade according to the principle “risk=profit”, when you define the volume of your investments.The work on the live account lets you to understand and learn more in comparison with DEMO-account, doesn’t matter how serious you take the virtual trading. Working with real, even minimal funds, you start to feel the connection between your profit and currency movements. This experience is very important for raising to the next level of trader’s development.


3 Step. Professional work.

After having got all necessary knowledge, trader is able to work independently on the currency market, using his own or borrowed trading strategies for getting profit on currency movements. Professional trader indicates the style of his trading and chooses trading tools which are more suitable for his strategy.Not all the new coming traders are able to reach this level, but InstaForex company guaranties that our team bends every effort in order to help every client to go forward and get the full support when any problems exist.

There are several external factors that affect Forex currency trading. These factors include trade reports, GDP, unemployment, international trade, manufacturing etc. The growth or decline in these factors affects a country’s currency value.Foreign exchange is a continuous global market, providing a 24-hour market access to its players. Since it is open only 5 days a week, so weekend is the closing period. Although foreign exchange is the most liquid of all markets, the fact that it is an international market and trading 24-hours a day, the time of day can have a direct impact on the liquidity available for trading a particular currency.The major centers and time zones are that of Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York. Therefore, forex alerts must consider which players are in the market, since in the modern interconnected financial world, events that occur at any hour, in any part of the globe, can affect some or all parts of the investment community.In forex trading, you are not ignorant like one remains in stock for a considerable period of time about the news affecting the liquidity of a stock. In stock market, you come to know about inside trading, revision in earnings only after the market has reacted upon it.But in forex currency trading, this is not the case. Here you get various forex signals. Significant information affecting a particular currency becomes known to everyone in the trade instantaneously. There isn’t anything as insider trading in a forex market.There are many online forex trading startegy sites. They all maintain a global economic calendar. This calendar indicates the major forthcoming economic, financial and business related events all over the world and which can have important bearing on foreign exchange market. What you have to do is to keep a track of all important events and news.Certainly, it will not be an easy task to watch constantly all the factors affecting foreign exchange trading market. They change in importance over time and condition. But the information is available to anyone and for use to one’s benefit. A currency trader has got a chance to react immediately to any new information.Unlike stock market, another important advantage forex trading offers is that you can do foreign currency trading almost from anywhere from the world. There are so many online forex trading signal platforms available to get instant information and to act within time.Most important GDP figures that affect forex trading are of USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and Britain. China is also expected to be a major force in online paper trading in near future.Central banks play a significant role in the forex market because they have the responsibility of changing the country’s “base” interest rate. A central bank has to maintain growth in the economy in accordance with inflation, so it creates a good balance in interest rates. The bank’s decisions on whether to raise, cut, or hold the interest rate fuels speculation in the forex market, where the value of a currency, or group of currencies, changes in real time. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and militarily actions in a sensitive region can have a significant impact on the forex market as they create a disturbance in the world.