What do you need to start trading forex ?

A Personal Computer (and PDA, optional and preferable)

Stable and high speed internet connection

Limited equity (for example $1000)

Reliable, reputable and trusted online forex broker



You dont need an office, otherwise you can start your business from home or anywhere else. Even when you are travelling, you still can make money. As simple as that !

What is Forex Trading ?
The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions.

The average daily trade in the global forex markets currently exceeds US$ 2 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks

What is traded in Forex Trading ?
The answer is Currency. Currencies are always traded in pairs, such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, etc. Why ? Because when you trade forex, you are exchanging 1 currency to another currency simultaneously (buying 1 currency and selling the other at the same instance). You will gain from differences of traded currency price rates.

When is the time to trade forex ?
Forex can be traded 24 hours a day and 5 days a week. The main trading centers are in London, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore, but banks throughout the world participate. The biggest foreign exchange trading centre is London, followed by New York and Tokyo. Currency trading happens continuously throughout the day; as the Asian trading session ends, the European session begins, followed by the US session and then back to the Asian session, excluding weekends

The following approximate market schedule is based on New York local time: japan forex markets open at 19:00 followed by singapore and hong kong that open at 21:00. European markets open in frankfurt at 2:00, while london opens at 3:00. New york forex markets open at 8:00. European markets close at 12:00 and australian markets start again at 18:00.



What are commonly traded currency pairs (Majors) in forex trading ?
Majors are the most liquid and widely traded currency pairs in the world. Trades involving majors make up about 90% of total Forex trading. The Majors are: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, AUD/USD and USD/CAD.

Symbol	Country	Currency
USD	United States	Dollar
EUR	Euro members	Euro
GBP	Great Britain	Pound
JPY	Japan	Yen
CHF	Switzerland	Franc
CAD	Canada	Dollar
AUD	Australia	Dollar

GBP/USD is the only currency pair with its own name. It is known as "Cable" but there are also lots of abbreviations for other currency pairs such as

Symbol	Known As
EUR/USD	Euro
GBP/USD	Cable
GBP/JPY	Geppy
AUD/USD	Aussie
NZD/USD	Kiwi
USD/CAD	Loonie
USD/CHF	Swissy
USD/JPY	Gopher

What are the benefits of forex trading

Two way opportunities, that means you can earn profit from upward or downward price movement. For example if you buy (go long) and the price moving upward, you will be in profit. and the otherway, if you if you sell (go short) and the price moving downward, you will be in profit

Extreme liquidity of the market. Forex is the most liquid market in the world, and that means you can buy or sell anytime you want

Long trading hours, Forex allows you to trade 24 hours a day and 5 days a week (except on weekends).

Leverage to amplify your profit, you can use a relative small quantity to trade bigger amount (usually from 1:50 up to 1:500) for example you have $100, without leverage your profit is only $0.01 but with 1:100 leverage your profit will be $1. (leverage makes your profit 100 times bigger, this also applies to loss).

Free of comission, Relative Low Spread Cost, usually online forex brokers offer you comission free trading, no brokerage fee, no exchange fee, and smaller trading transaction cost.

Flexible Trading Lots, you can trade rather standard lot (100K), mini lot (10K), or even micro lot (1K)

Automated / Robot Trading, some trading platform such as Metatrader enables automated trading

Factors affecting forex trading
Although exchange rates are affected by many factors, in the end, currency prices are a result of supply and demand forces. Supply and demand factors are constantly shifting, and the price of one currency in relation to another shifts accordingly. No other market encompasses (and distills) as much of what is going on in the world at any given time as foreign exchange.

Supply and demand for any given currency, and thus its value, are not influenced by any single element, but rather by several . These elements generally fall into three categories:

Economic factors.
These include economic policy, disseminated by government agencies and central banks, economic conditions, generally revealed through economic reports, and other economic indicators.
Economic policy comprises government fiscal policy (budget/spending practices) and monetary policy (the means by which a government's central bank influences the supply and "cost" of money, which is reflected by the level of interest rates).

Political conditions
Internal, regional, and international political conditions and events can have a profound effect on currency markets.
For instance, political upheaval and instability can have a negative impact on a nation's economy. The rise of a political faction that is perceived to be fiscally responsible can have the opposite effect. Also, events in one country in a region may spur positive or negative interest in a neighboring country and, in the process, affect its currency.

Market psychology
Market psychology and trader perceptions influence the foreign exchange market in a variety of ways:

1. Flights to quality: Unsettling international events can lead to a "flight to quality" with investors seeking a "safe haven". There will be a greater demand, thus a higher price, for currencies perceived as stronger over their relatively weaker counterparts.
2. Long-term trends: Currency markets often move in visible long-term trends. Although currencies do not have an annual growing season like physical commodities, business cycles do make themselves felt. Cycle analysis looks at longer-term price trends that may rise from economic or political trends.
3. "Buy the rumor, sell the fact": This market truism can apply to many currency situations. It is the tendency for the price of a currency to reflect the impact of a particular action before it occurs and, when the anticipated event comes to pass, react in exactly the opposite direction. This may also be referred to as a market being "oversold" or "overbought". To buy the rumor or sell the fact can also be an example of the cognitive bias known as anchoring, when investors focus too much on the relevance of outside events to currency prices.
4. Economic numbers: While economic numbers can certainly reflect economic policy, some reports and numbers take on a talisman-like effect - the number itself becomes important to market psychology and may have an immediate impact on short-term market moves. "What to watch" can change over time. In recent years, for example, money supply, employment, trade balance figures and inflation numbers have all taken turns in the spotlight.
5. Technical trading considerations: As in other markets, the accumulated price movements in a currency pair such as EUR/USD can form patterns that may be recognized and utilized by traders for the purpose of entering and exiting the market, leading to short-term fluctuations in price. Many traders study price charts in order to identify such patterns