The currency/foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world. It is where international banks post bids for foreign currencies. Unlike the stock market, the currency exchange is open 24 hours a day. Currency trading was once the domain of large, international banks, but thanks to advancements in technology and the advent of the Internet, individual day traders now have access to the foreign exchange market.
Instructions
1. Open a Forex mini account (an account for traders new to the Forex market who do not have the funds to open a standard account). A Forex mini account can be opened with a relatively small fee. In a mini account, the lot sizes that are traded are 10,000 of the base currency, instead of the 100,000 traded in a standard Forex account.
2. Keep up on current affairs. Read newspapers and watch the cable news channels. Things that can influence changes in the currency market include the rise and fall of interest rates, bank activities and import/export and political/economic factors.
3. Adjust your sleep/wake patterns. Since the currency market is open 24 hours a day, you must be informed and available to trade at any time.
4. Learn the currency market lingo. Know, for example, that PIP stands for "price interest point" and signifies the smallest fluctuation in the price of a currency.
5. Consider attending a day trading seminar or training session to learn use technical analysis to determine when to buy or sell a particular currency.
6. Download free software. Good currency trading software can be downloaded for free and means that you won't have to deal with an online broker.
7. Find an online currency broker. Do some research before trusting your assets to anyone. Look for a broker who does not trade against his clients and who offers a flexible margin and 24-hour support.
