Is Forex reliable?

Yes mate! Maybe, they have! But, it’s not easy to find them since, scammers are available here and there! In addition, they are very good on marketing.

Maybe, but as you said! It’s too difficult to manage! On the other hand, learning manually it’s not a bad option.

It's what most traders out there do. Either because they have few other choices or because they prefer it or both.

Yes, but I see; a number of new traders are interested to get professional mentor; but they are straggling to manage.

I have noticed. I really hope they find mentors they can trust and who aren't just after a paycheck.

Hope so mate! In addition you may see, till now it takes such a long time to learn Forex because of crisis of good mentor.

Reliable means is a part of consistency , anyone can earn profit from trading sometimes but it’s not a big deal , the main issue is keeping survive in spite of having losses .

Trading on Forex is quite difficult compared to stock trading. What do you think is Forex trading advantage over stock trading?

Its simpler. You don't have to navigate hundreds of stocks which is immensely beneficial because you can focus on what matters without having to hunt over a wide surface area. You have a market open 24 hours a day 5.5 days a week. Finally you have a very liquid market.

Hello, I am a total noob. I actually wanted this to be its own thread, but as a new member I can't make threads yet.

I have taken an interest in the Forex market for only a week or so, so everything still seems quite confusing and I probably have misunderstood a few foundational things

From what I understand, the Forex market is the largest market in the world. But when people trade through Forex brokers, they don't really buy currency or even participate in the actual Forex market, but rather place a bet that the price in a currency pair is going up or down. The bet could be leveraged many times the sum of the initial bet. E.g; I bet $ 100 that the EUR/USD will move up, with a leverage of 100, then when I close the bet, I get the equivalent of the result from a $ 10 000 currency exchange in that market for the time I hold the position (minus the broker commission). But my bet, however large, does not actually influence the price of the currency.

Even if I trade a highly exotic pair that has almost no volume, and I buy a billion dollar position, this would not influence the market in any way because I never bought any currency, but merely placed a bet that the price will move. Do I have this right?

If this is true, then the transactions going back and forth through a Forex broker is actually it's own separate market, and not part of the actual Forex market. It is simply a bet, and the only way you win anything is if the broker has cashed in enough commission and losses through other people's bets so that they can pay you your win. If so, then the Forex market, for all intents and purposes, is not at all the largest market in the world. It is only as large as the broker has liquidity to pay your win. Is this true?

Also, it means that the broker win when you lose. You bet against the broker. Not the market.

I might be way off already. But hang on...

If it is true that any bet placed through the Forex broker is not influencing a currency pair in any way, how does this affect the way one can understand the technical analysis of the market? Are the real Forex "traders / speculators" mostly banks submitting the money transfers of any person or business? Is the Forex market merely a representation of all business being exchanged through a currency pair? If so, then minor changes in the price over a short period of time doesn't really affect the market's behaviour, as most business actors won't have time to consider minor changes in the price when doing their business.
If so, then short term Forex trading (betting) is actually more or less 50/50 no matter what kind of analysis you do.

So then, what is the point of analysis of short term trends if the only people who care about the trend is the people placing the bets? The trend could reverse itself at any time no matter how the speculator rationalizes their bet.

I must have misunderstood something here, because it all seems to be a game of chance. And the techical analysis, especially for short term trading, seems to be mostly playing on the speculator confirmation bias. The speculator sees any pattern they think is profitable, and the market will do whatever it does regardless of that.

It seems to me that the best short term strategy is to be consistant with your stoploss, and try to lose less than you win even if you lose and win every other trade. No further analysis needed. And if so, then any stupid script could do that job, and constistantly win for example 2/3 of every trade. Unless the broker put a stop to it.

Am I way off?

Forex trading can bring profits fairly reliably, if you learn what you’re doing.

besides learning it is more appropriate to ensure regular practice , otherwise learning can be valueless.

the answers and comments are facinating, just like the question its just too hard to answer since it really does have so many conditions that needs to be met before gaining sucess, in the end its really up to the users and how much time and effort they really have to spare. in my case i say its worth it.

learning is the foremost way to keep survive in here in a proper way in here , but nowadays lots of sources about learning , for that reason it makes us confused.

there are some specific sources of learning in online those are actually rated by the learners ,
pips school is one of the best from all for the traders who are completely in trading.

i have been trading for a long time but still confusion Forex is reliable or not ?

it depends on your trading ability ,
if you can manage your trade successfully ,
there is a chance to ensure better something from here.

It’s reliable in that the market will always be there.
(unless we get a single world currency).

it's the wrong question.

if ask like that you can ask also "is your Job Reliable"
well, the answer is simple: NO!

you lose 1 trade, that's not gonna kill you
you lose 1 job, you'll be broke shortly after (if living check to check)

Trading is a business and just like every other business, there will be clients that don't pay up (equals a losing trade)
or not everything you bought can be sold or goes bad before you can sell it (the very definition of a losing trade)
you have to cut your losses by not giving all your clients credit (equals to cut losers short)

you gonna have expenses taxes to pay, payroll to make (equals to Commissions, transfer fees, currency conversions, capital gain tax)

there is very little difference.
the only one I see is that you can pick your customers (eg. the trades you take on)

Very smart judgment! I agree with you; basically good skilled traders have consistent trading record; when low skill traders struggling; that’s the reality.