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Is it just a guessing game or does it pay to do the homeworks?

It looks tempting to play with currencies but then you read horror stories about traders loosing even more than the amount they put in...
  • Profile picture of the author DiF0r
    Yeah it looks easier that it actually is. I've traded for some time, manual and with help of robots (EA's, I'm still running a few on live accounts).. There are really a lot of EA's out there and some can even make some nice profits but it's really hard to find a good one.

    If you've never traded before, you can register to a broker that gives you a welcome bonus. Let's say $10 or more just for registering and verifying your account... It's not a lot but at least you can try out the trading platform and the rush
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  • Get a demo account, and play with that until you have a very solid grasp of what you are doing. Get familiar with stochastics.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by pickthat apple View Post

    Is it just a guessing game
    No; it isn't.

    That's why a very small minority of independent forex traders make very consistent profits (some of them for decades), and are effectively subsidized by the masses of others who depend on inaccurate information mostly gleaned from people with direct or indirect incentives to promote things that don't really work.

    Here's some food/resources for thought ...

    Recommended website:
    Joe Ross's site. There's a forum there, too (or there used to be, anyway).

    Books:
    (i) "Trading For A Living" by Alexander Elder (good writer - has some very weird views about indicators for a man of his intelligence, but parts of the book are very good)

    (ii) "Beyond Technical Analysis" by Tushar Chande (completely reliable)

    (iii) "Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom" by Van Tharp (completely reliable)

    (iv, and best of the lot) Any books by Joe Ross (expensive) - don't be put off by the fact that all Ross's material/teaching/books isn't specific to forex - it's all about charts, and forex charts are just like any other charts, except safer to trade because their markets are far less subject to manipulation.

    All of the above are incomparably better than any information you'll readily find online.

    Two key concepts:
    (i) Don't listen to anyone who tells you that "technical analysis" is based exclusively on "indicators".

    It's what almost all people going into forex trading believe, and it's what the entire forex marketing industry has an incentive to get everyone to swallow, and it's nonsense.

    It's forex's equivalent of article marketing's "duplicate content penalty", and you have to see through it, to get anywhere at all!

    In fact, if anyone tries to tell you that, you'd probably be well advised, on general principles, to ignore any other "information" also offered by the same source.

    The worst form of attempted automated indicator trading are things called "Expert Advisors", a form of "trading alerts" made for a platform called "MetaTrader" which is what some home-based traders try to use. (These are the people effectively subsidizing the tiny minority of professionals who are actually making a living!).

    (ii) Try to get your advice and education, whenever possible, from people who are not selling/promoting anything. Can't stress this enough ... otherwise you end up believing all sorts of "plausible nonsense" with no underlying reality at all. That's just as silly as taking SEO advice from people selling "SEO services" and it will have exactly the same results, too! :p

    It's just like affiliate marketing, in one way: if you look in forums, you'll naturally find far more people who are making a living from "selling information to beginners" than there are people making a living from actually doing it themselves. Be aware that there's probably 50 times more "misinformation" than "information" out there, about forex trading. Some of it broadcast by people selling things, and some of it just believed by gullible/hopeful market participants who lack experience, know no better, and simply repeat what they've heard. (Just like internet marketing, really.)
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  • Profile picture of the author fxstay
    you must well educated and experience person in forex market to gain profit from your forex trading , its not like a game
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  • Profile picture of the author jakobia
    think that etoro is pretty "childsafe", pretty fun
    Signature

    “I'm just happy being dumpy. Dumpy, fat and middle-aged.” - Moz

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  • Profile picture of the author theoptionsprofessor
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
      Originally Posted by theoptionsprofessor View Post

      People gamble. Those forex traders showing you 20%+ monthly gains..are train wrecks waiting to happen. Better off going to Vegas you will have more fun.

      I stopped "gambling" and instead of being the "punter" I am the house instead. Slow and steady beats up and down.

      Ask your-self this (and this where many go wrong) "Do I want to be a slave to the daily quote machine all day long" Is that the life you want? It is a "job." No passive income here and no flexibility. Alot of people think it';s a great way to make money until they do it for a few months and then want out.
      Anywhere you invest money for potential ROI (or otherwise) is a gamble.

      A low-risk, low-return, savings account is a gamble, as are pensions - remember pensions? , buying a house etc. Gambling is just a crude (or alternative) term for investing.
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      • Profile picture of the author The 13th Warrior
        Just like corporations, I used to look up to these markets.

        True, there are some people that can make money, the question is, "can" you be one of them?

        This question has to be answered with the most brutal of realities.

        There are too many ways for legal manipulation and insider trading to happen as it has happened, and as it WILL continue to happen, no matter who is in the White House...., so why invest in a bonafide rigged game?

        With markets under these circumstances, you have to KNOW something, and most don't know anything, it is subjective, theoretical methodologies, mostly "after the fact" hocus-pocus systems based on past , conjugated, collected news stories and stats.

        Warren Buffet makes money because he buys the companies or becomes a shareholder, essentially, he becomes some major share of "the house".

        Putting money in a slot machine is an investment....., for the house.

        Investment infers some tried and true tested game plan with some amount of proven, scientific results.

        There is no "science" in picking a slot machine and throwing coins in it, no measurable or reliable result has been or can be garnered from such action.

        Well, unless the result is the house winning and you stay broke.

        Real Estate is never as simple as the infomercials and course writers would have you believe, far from it. And a house as an investment or moneymaker was always a hyped up lie, its not a moneymaker, it is your house, where you live.

        Too many lies, not enough truth or far too little of it, not only in the markets, but most subjects we deem as "normal operation".


        The 13th Warrior
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  • Profile picture of the author theoptionsprofessor
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by theoptionsprofessor View Post

      I could easily say the same about I.M.
      Yes indeed - why not? I often do. (Some of the other similarities are striking, too).
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  • Profile picture of the author FXdarling
    Trading Forex is fun. Start from the amount that you are not afraid to lose. For some it may be $50, for others it is $1000. Trading with the amount that you don't care so much about will let you trade without a pressure. Once you obtain a trading strategy you can invest more.
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  • Profile picture of the author rising_sun
    Banned
    you can think everything about forex:a game, challenge,a fight,queston of prestige,a gambling.
    But I treat it as a game,a mind game where a real talent is fully provided.
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  • Also Look at using EA's or trading robots like the one offered by BullsFX. Doesn't trade rediculous amounts of positions during heavy sessions, instead during the asian session helping you preserve your capital and taking on safer positions
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    • Profile picture of the author hardraysnight
      Originally Posted by JohnLoonieTrader08 View Post

      Also Look at using EA's or trading robots like the one offered by BullsFX. Doesn't trade rediculous amounts of positions during heavy sessions, instead during the asian session helping you preserve your capital and taking on safer positions
      i see bulls appears more than once in your offering.

      is there a herd of them or is it just a pile?
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelcorvin
    The reality is the 90% off Forex traders lose their money. Trading FX is about probabilities. You can actually have more losses than winners and still be profitable if you are cherry-picking your trades and shooting for a minimum 2:1 reward/risk ratio.

    When you learn to understand, trends, support & resistance, how price action moves during certain times of the market, and you follow a process, you can be a successful trader. Understanding the fundamentals (economic factors that effect price, interest rate differentials, etc) is also very important.

    The problem is that the "buzz" about FX attracts a lot of "gamblers" hoping to strike it rich...and if you are gambling in Forex you are going to get killed.

    I have traders come to me all the time with screen shots of their accounts over-leveraged over-traded...they are simply gambling.

    The key is to open a demo account, learn, grow...and when you can show that you are consistent over a period of time...then...and maybe then..you trade with real funds.

    Get educated, learn the ropes, play in a demo account until you are solid. But to answer your question..yes...you can do very well in FX...if you are willing to be patient enough to learn to do it right. This takes years to get good at. Not months. It is very difficult to learn to be profitable over a period of years. Anyone can have a few lucky months. But to be able to make a living trading over years, like I have, takes a lot of patience.

    Here is some great Forex training videos: tradeadvisorpro's channel - YouTube

    Hope this helps

    Michael Corvin
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  • Profile picture of the author nelspetty924
    You don't have to worry about investing to Forex as soon as you are sure that the on the you have invested with is with Forex. You only have to be aware of scum.
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