10 Forex Tips Every Brand new Trader should know

The very most important thing I can tell you is to take a slow roll because this is going to be a marathon not a sprint. Here is what I believe is the first 10 things you should do as a new trader:

1. Open a demo account with your broker of choice. Make sure it is a good broker too!

2. Invest in your education by joining a community like ForexFactory.com and learning from others. Or invest in someone to teach and if you do decide to be taught, in my opinion your training should include: Live Daily Coaching, Rules Based Strategies, Software & Tools, and most importantly, Personal Coaching & a Business Plan. Education is key and finding great teachers in the world of trading is not an easy task. Use your educational funds wisely!

2.5 Do not try to tackle trading on your own, I personally think we all have tried doing so at one point thinking we are too smart, only to be corrected...while some really have, most of us do not have that type of awesome gift.

3. Learn basic forex trading language. First terms should include support, resistance, trend, range bound, pip, short position, long position, a lot of one particular currency pair, and the six major currency pairs (IMPORTANT) , price action.

4. Learn to set up your plat form, enter a trade, and exit a trade. Get Familiar with it and by then you should have already decided what time you are going to trade and what type of trader you are going to be.

5. Learn to be patient, do nothing much of the time and watch price action on a chart. ( by now you should already be testing a strategy and following your RULES )

6. Keep a trading journal from day 1 and write everything you think is important. What do you see on the charts? What are your questions? And how do you feel when you took the trade... How big was your position size ...etc.

7. Lets be logical guys....Dont trade with money you cant afford to lose. ( DUH ) If you do go live, PLEASE start with small trading positions, a lot of people over leverage their account and can't take the heat... start off small with MINI LOTS and slowly move your way up!!

8. Dont think in dollars think in pips. Simple.

9. Dont try to pay bills with your trading. I am sure it all sounds good to know people really are trading full time, but if you only have a small dollar account and think you are going to be rich over night, you are out of your mind. Be as realistic as possible.

10. Keep your job to ensure steady cash flow while you learn. ( IMPORTANT ALSO ) haha so don't fire your boss yet! The time will come, you just need to prepare!!!


FINAL Thoughts
I think many people come to trading with the wrong perception as to what it is going to take to become a consistently profitable trader.
There are no true get rich quick strategies out there; its all hard work , experience and screen time.
Be the tortoise not the hare! And remember the only way you can truly fail is to give up.
Profitable trading to all!

P.S. If I missed anything please feel free to share, thanks.

Very nice thought out list! I can't believe you actually managed to include literally all of the critical aspects that go into perusing your journey in trading in 10 simple points.

I want to emphasize on the point of keeping a journal (tip #6), as it is important to be able to see yourself be accountable for your actions. It will allow you to see the mistakes that you wouldn't have noticed otherwise due to emotions or psychological factors.

The thing is I wish I had this list when I first started trading, so I just think it's really nice that you compiled it for everyone to see. I like how you stress the point of not falling prey to the greed of trading, in terms of not trading with cash that you cannot afford to lose and keeping your day job - very important as it has to do with people coming into Fx with the wrong perception.

Yes I agree, keeping a journal is also important.

Thanks for the feedback.

Very good points and tips.

I fully agree with Mr Determined, i would add though do not trade demo for longer than a month, coz with demo you can drift away from the original plan because its

not real money that you are trading with, the first time i traded real account i entered according to trade plan but when i saw the loss was becoming too great i got a

knot in my stomach and closed the trade, only to see it go to my 50pip TP eventually, the second trade too, trade went south first about 15pips, got this knot in my stomach wanted to close position again but thought nah ima ride this rollercoaster, went up 40pips moved my stop up to BE plus 15pips, so taking profit for sure this

time, price came back down and hit my stop, and i said it it comes back to 25pips positive ima close out but figured i want those 50pips, greed got the best of me and only got out with 15pips, at 1 lot so i profited 150USD whereas i could have closed out for 250USD, so there is nothing that can simulate a real account, just my 2cents

with me my fear of losing money is greater than my ambition of getting that money

Bugatti-Dont let fear and greed control you. Let the trade "work". Eventually you learn when to close out a decent winner before it retraces back to a loser, and when to "hold" a small drawdown that eventually becomes a winner that you would have otherwise closed out for a loss. This is a numbers game, percentages, ratios, win/loss. You have to learn to increase your equity while limiting your losses. You have to limit/cut your losses and grind out the winners.

Some tips:

1) Use a small position size and let the market hit your stop loss or take profit. Let your trades "work". What you will find is that some of the trades that look like early stop outs/losers will reach your profit target and give you some confidence in your abilities. By using a small position size your fear is reduced and you shouldn't constantly react to price action. A small position allows you to use a reasonable stop loss, which is particularly important in these volatile up and down stop run markets. Don't stare at your screen all day. Let the market stop you out or give you profit. Your fear of the market will eventually subside. When that happens you make better trading decisions. You stop cutting your winners short and letting your losers run.

2) Stop focusing on "dollars/money". Focus on harvesting pips from the market and being on the right side of the order flow. No, its not easy, but very possible.

3) When you have a losing trade don't beat yourself up. No one knows where price action is going next with 100% certainty. You do not need to know where the market is going next. You need to be on the right side of the order flow more often than not.

Thanks for the tips Giganntor

No problem. Keep at it.

I would like to add of what ive noticed here for newbies seeking the holy grail on FF,it does not exist you need to get a strategy to suit your personality, im not a patient person and feel like i constantly need to be in a trade

i have tried about 3 different methods on here and ive finally settled on a renko strategy, this forces me to be patient, coz renkos move per pip not per time,

THERE IS NO HOLY GRAIL ON FF or anywhere for that matter just look at the main page on FF there where it says POSITIONS/LIVE ACCOUNTS, 52% of people are LONG and 48% of people are SHORT, and the amazing thing that i realised is that the people on either side believe that they are right

if there were a holy grail on here those ratios would be very different and actually shut the whole forex industry down, emotions run this industry because if all of us on this whole site decided to all follow one system we would essentially be able to move the market as retail traders, because essentially we all believe the same thing, that wont ever happen though, long live forex

Once traders understand the way financial markets "work" they begin to see things clearly. Forex is an auction with buyers and sellers. People watching the exact same screen come to different conclusions. Some go short some go long. Depending upon their stop loss level, profit target and where they are positioned in the order flow determines what happens to their account. It is that simple. You need to be on the right side of the order flow. Doing that continually is challenging-there is no doubt about that but you can do it consistently.

The big boys are pushing large sums of money into the market at levels that are profitable for them. They need liquidity. They need to buy and sell over time at various levels. I believe that learning what the big boys are doing is essential.

Most traders look at the "visual" aspects of the chart and indicators and decide what to do based upon "what it looks like is going to happen next". Forex is not a visual game. The game is in your mind not on your chart.

I like Tip number 10. Haha, I've been thinking about quitting my job but I'll just stick to it for cash flow then while I learn how to trade.

If you can becomes as one with the data flow, you will have crossed over.

That's a very strong and wise post. It seems that we all should know all these points without reminding, whereas we actually do not always take them to consideration when start trading. Thanks a lot!

Thanks mrdetermined for your great advice. It helps to have a starting point.

Keep your emotions out of it!

Thanks for these tips!
Im a new forex trader and this helps!

a lot of practice in a demo account is a very good tips for beginners, to be able to train with a good trading psychology. Demo accounts will help us to understand forex trading. and start trading using small capital

Tip 1: Preset your goals and then choose a style of trading which you feel comfortable with and make sure that it suits your personality.
Tip 2: Choose a methodology and be consistent in its appliance.
Tip 3: Choose a wide frame for trend and direction analysis and short frame to entry or exit points.
Tip 4: Carefully pick your account type and leverage ratio accordance with your needs
Tip 5: Perform a weekend analysis.
Tip 6: Focus on your trades and learn to ignore or embrace minor losses.
Tip 7: Automate your trading as much as you can.
Tip 8: Study the fundamentals and technical factors leading to price action
Tip 9: Manage your money efficiently.
Tip 10: Most importantly, don't give up!

Learn to trade on a clear head, don't let your emotions cloud your judgement, or you will lose money and you'll probably become even more emotional.