what is the best way to learn forex trading

Hi, i am very interested in trading forex but i don't know how to go about learning it. Please i need advice on the best way to learn forex trading, is it through seminars or books or what? please help!

Hi ladex and welcome to the forum.

Try the stickies in this beginner forum.

Here's a thread that may directly answer your question:
http://www.forexfactory.com/forexfor...ead.php?t=3696

Happy learning.
East

One day at a time, one trade at a time. Expect it to take 2 to 5 years.

Start by reading every post in all of the sticky threads in the Beginner's Forum.

Read every post you can find by Diallist, James16, Eastmaels, SMJones, Muddbuddha and Merlin. Then read everyone else that appeals to you. Take everything you read with a grain of salt. There are a lot of different viewpoints here. This is partly because there are many different ways to trade and each way has it's own group of followers.

Don't get bogged down trying to find the perfect indicator. It doesn't exist. Since all indicators are derived from price, the best thing you can do for yourself is to go directly to the source and learn about Price Action Analysis. You will find this in the James16 Chart Thread located here.

http://www.forexfactory.com/forexfor...ead.php?t=2331

It is the largest and most widely viewed thread here, and with good reason. The stuff Jim teaches WORKS!

You'll need to learn Money Management. This is an absolutely essential skill that you cannot do without. Read Diallist's section on Money Management in the Beginner's Forum.

Forget about seminars! They charge you thousands and give little to nothing of actual value in return. If you want the best bang for your buck, then I suggest two things. Search for the list of books that Diallist recommends for beginners, and second, consider joining the James16 Group that is hosted here at the Factory. It is $129 per month and you will get thousands of dollars worth of great information for cheap! Far more than you will get at any stupid seminar.

Info on the James16 Group can be found at www.james16group.com

Ask forty-leven gazillion questions! This forum has built a reputation of having the most postive people in one place who are really great people who like to help others.

cici

Well, cici's post is much more informative than mine.. (Thanks cici. ).
Kind of want to delete my post already.. hehe...

But anyway, take notice of this statement by cici ladex:
So I guess what I want to add here is :
What may work for you may not work for some.

So in my opinion, to answer your question "What is the best way to learn forex?"

Through books and experience I guess.

We really can't tell because it also depends on your situation right now.
But if I would point you somewhere, I'd go with my first post and cici's.

Happy learning.
East

thanks guys, i will surely do as you've advised

Ditto what East and CiCi said!!!

James16 Group ROCKS!!! Of course, I might be just a teensie bit biased because what I learned from them has made me money.

And I especially agree with CiCi about those rip off seminars. 99.9% of them are junk. Also 99.9% of the $97 trading systems are junk too. The best trading systems are available right here at forex factory for FREE! My personal favorite is the Vegas 4 hour Tunnel method. The document that describes how this system works is in the beginners forum, but it is a little hard to read. Diallist has a cool tutorial that walks you through step by friggin' step. (useful for dumb bunnies like me) inside the James16 group. But you can learn a lot about this system in the "Lost in the Tunnel" thread. Diallist and HeavyJ have made some killer posts in that thread!
Michele UU

Hi ladex,

Just wanted to welcome you to the Factory. You have indeed found the best source of forex information anywhere. A wonderful guy named Merlin is the chief cook and bottle washer of this place (he's the owner/admin), and he has pulled off a miracle with what he's made the factory to be!

Hmm, I see you've already met East and Michele UU (ask her what the UU is, I dare you :-), our resident nutcases. But we love them and let them stay because both of them have hearts of pure gold.

If you have any questions that I can help you with, please don't hesitate to post or to send me a PM (Private Message).

Again Welcome, and enjoy your time here!

Dial

Oh no! Not our secret identities!

I thought we had signed a pact inside the Secret Society of Nutcases?
Hmmmm... Maybe I was just imagining that one? LOL..

Love ya too dude!

East

You just reduced the learning curve 10-fold by finding this incredible forum which is filled with incredible people. You've come to the right place!

Jim

I'm just a step or two ahead of you when it comes to learning forex. I've mostly been reading books. So here's my two cents...

1. Start trading on a demo account as soon as you can. I'm still working up to this -- honestly I look at the screen and go into brain freeze. But it's getting better.

2. Read the best quality stuff (start with diallist's list). I've got a handful of books (NOT ebooks), that I'm studying. I read them over and over and I've just started highlighting and taking notes. I've found that where I used to glaze over with incomprehension, now I'm able to actually study passages and understand something of what they are talking about. This corresponds with slowly getting meaning out of looking at my demo account screen.

3. I just joined the james16 PF and it really does look to have an impressive amount of material there. More studying, more trial runs through the demo account.

4. Be stingy with what you sign up for. Don't fall for expensive services or anything that tells you that it can make forex easy or guaranteed. Spend your money wisely and frugally (and save it for your starter account).
Put your money into books right now (not ebooks unless they are really spectacular)

P.S., here's MY reading list to date:


Awesome books:

--Trading in the Zone. by Mark Douglas (there's a lot of helpful stuff in here on psychology. I've read this a few times already.)

--Mastering the Trade. by John Carter (I LOVE this book. If you can only buy one book, buy this book for now. Reading this book was when the lightbulb started to go on. I've read it a few times, yet have only begun to learn from it.)

--Day Trading the Currency Market. by Kathy Lien. (A good book, I've only read it once and need to give it another study.)

--Technical Analysis for the Currency Markets. by Boris Schlossberg. (a great book, but dense. My second favorite after Mastering the Trade)


Somewhat useful to me:
--Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards (interesting bios of various traders and very useful for getting to understand what trading is, but less so for acquiring skills

--Forex Trading for Maximum Profit (it's ok but there's something I don't care for about it)

--The Disciplined Trader (interesting at points, but lots of heavy stuff. Best read in chunks over time.)


Not useful to me:

--Getting Started in Currency Trading (bored me)

--Come into My Trading Room (lots of people love this book. Every time I look at it I get depressed and certain I'll never be a success from this. So I don't look at it any more.)

--Warrior Trading (maybe I'd already read too much Mark Douglas when I read this, maybe someday I'll appreciate it more. It wasn't that enlightening.)

Well let me tell you from a newb that should have stuck to his own system and maybe he wouldnt have had to rebuild his account back to where it was.
1.Really just find a book that tells you the basics ie. definations key terms etc im sure pretty much any will do.
2.Definately start trading with a demo asap. i dosent matter if your winning or loosing you just need to learn everything about your broker and how everything works. Trade during news to see how your stops and orders will work with all the traffic etc. KNOW EVERYTHING.
3.Really all this information is good on here and i honestly enjoy reading it however most of the HOW TO TRADE!! information it is really BULLSHIT!!!!. Im not taking anything away from these peoples expierence or how they trade but dont do something or just follow a thread just because these people sound like experts!!!! Because honestly in this market there is no expert!! IF you look at it there is a 50/50 shot at getting the market right you can either buy or sell. ITS THAT EASY.
4 But definately MONEY MANAGEMENT is the key, and if you look at the guys making all the posts they will tell you first and foremost this is the most important thing to success. There are some great threads about this and these guys have put some time and really helpfull information into it.

This is just a thought on what i have expierenced the past 6 months, and i have finally realized that you just have to do your own thing, be a leader not a follower. And if you want to be good at something remember it takes time and effort. And i love the Quote "Either you're slingin' crack-rock, or you've got a wicked jump-shot. I forget who has it in there discreption but this is true in every sense of the word!!

thanks guys for the help....please i've got another question, how much do you guys make per year on what amount of investment. Please i need an answer, if u could give me a range that would be great also.
Also, is it true that forex trading is better than all other trades and why ?

Its a grueling process if your starting out with a small roll of change like 5K-10K, In order to be comfortable you need atleast 50-100K in account to trade, basically its not worth the time and effort, unless you can pull in 5K-10K per 24 hr period. Lets say you average 5K per 24 hr period. Thats 60K every two weeks, or 120K per month. Or 1.4 mil per year. Lets say you are really conservative, and you make half that, 700K per year. Half will get taken away by taxes.

That leaves 350K, for cost of living and expenses and capital to remain to escalate leverage and size. Lets say your frugal and don't go to your nearest Ferrari dealer and blow 300K. It will take 5 years to have your account hit 1 mil, when leaving 200K in your acct. When you hit 1 mil, at most you should control 10 mil, risking 20% on trade. Actually I leave 20% for drawdowns or enough so I don't get stopped out.

If your successful for 5 years, have your record audited by a reputable wall street accounting firm. Then start a offshore hedge fund, money will flow into your fund even if you garner 15% year over year. Your fund would hit 1 billion in under 5 years. Take a 1% management fee and 20% cut of the profits. 1% of 1 billion, 10 million, 15% of 1 billion, 150 million, 20% of that 30 million, so every year you should take home around 40 mil, if you honed your skills to that level. Now to make 15% per year in forex, is extremely easy. On a good day I can make 100%, but to have everything sync and go well and the market move just the way you want it to, only surfaces about 1 or twice per month. So if your sitting pretty managing a billion dollars you really don't need to take that kind of risk it took to get there.

If your good in forex in 10 years you should be managing a billion dollars.

Thanks everybody for your help and advice, i appreciate it

Spectre, on a related note (i.e. related to trading larger amounts of money), what happens with bigger orders when placed at :

1) a broker when the trade exceeds the autoexecute limit

2) a bank when you place an order that exceeds their autoexecute limit

do the spreads widen, if so by how much?

mainly I'm interested to know about EURUSD or other majors.

of course I'm nowhere close to being able to do this, but I am just curious how these orders are handled. any insight appreciated.

Well, some of us don't have the luxury of starting with more than $5K. It would take me years to accumulate 50K in starting capital, and by then I'd be ready for a nursing home.

So I'm not going to worry about managing hedge funds just yet. I'm just going to focus on how to keep from losing too much of my first 5K.

I can't even think of starting with that kind of money. I would like to, but just don't have it. I am brand new to this, I mean brand new. If you don't believe me check out my first post

http://www.forexfactory.com/forexfor...ead.php?t=7084

Yep that's me. Luckily I have a seasoned veteran that is taking me under his wing as well as having this great website to offer help. My good friend who is helping me out put it to me like this. You can make good money with 1k, 10k or 100k it is all how you look at money. If I start with 2k and I make 2k in a month I just made 100% on my money. That is good money I don't care what any one thinks. Turning something over 100% in a month is great no matter the amount. Sure I want to hit the big dollars and I will do the work to get there, but I will start with what I have and with the help of these forums and my good friend I will get there.

This is a great post and I can't wait to start reading some of the others.