Foreign exchange trading is the trading of currencies. Most currencies can be traded. Huge amounts of currencies are traded 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. On average $7.5 trillion is traded a day. The most traded are United States Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, Canadian Dollar, British Pound Sterling, Australian Dollar and Swiss Franc.
Many brokers will let you open an account with a starting balance of just $250. Though that may seem small, remember you will be trading on margin. Your $250 investment may let you control $25,000. As with all investments there are risks so make sure you take the time to study the markets and your exposure before making your first trades. I highly recommend that you do some paper trades first to make sure you have understood how the markets work. No risk training, just write down the trades you would have done for real and chart the prices. Buy and sell and see if you have the right strategy before making real trades.
A fast internet connection will allow you to do Forex trading online. Your broker will give you many online tools to allow you to study the markets: Real time quotes, news feeds:
Visit different broker's websites and compare the services they offer. Some brokers give you the possibility to open demo accounts. Do so, to test their software and find the one you like best.
Before you start trading make sure that you have learned the terminology: Market Order, Limit Order, Stop Order. You may find the definitions of these terms and more information at http://www.forex.value-guides.com/calc-forex.html Calculating Forex Profits And Losses.
All currencies have standard identifying code used worldwide, some examples are: EUR (European euros), GBP (United Kingdom pounds), AUD (Australian dollars). Of course you don't have to know them all but it may be good to be able to recognize all the major currencies codes so that you will be able to make quick decisions.
To make sound evaluations, you need information. Follow carefully the world's current events, economic and political news. You will be surprised to see how, what may seem to you as insignificant will cause the currencies markets to fluctuate wildly.
by David Jones
