Being successful! Does that have anything to do with choosing a market to trade? I would maintain that it does. One of the ”Secrets To Success” is to choose something that fits…You. After all, if one of your goals is to achieve a certain income level or net worth figure there are a multitude of ways that someone has been successful with, but probably only a few, that might be “right” for you. This applies just as much to the financial markets as it does elsewhere.
If you’re reading this article, probably one of your endeavors is or will be some type of activity in the financial markets. Now which of the markets are “right” for you, meaning the best fit for your circumstances and your goals? Addressing this question will be far more profitable then trading the first market you happen to come into contact with.
I’ll help in this process by discussing some of the relevant features of the Forex or cash Foreign Exchange market. One of the first Forex concepts to note is that the currency you are trading is a representation of a nation’s economy. Why is this important? Because it’s notable that national economies don’t perceptibly change in a day or even a month. Contrast this with individual stocks, commodities or futures that are easily affected by daily news or even weather events.
Thus the price moves of the major currencies take place against a broader backdrop than the before mentioned markets. This is expressed in the tendency of currencies to show strongly trending behavior in contrast to staying in tight trading ranges. Many will realize that tight trading ranges are some of the most difficult trading conditions while the “trend is your friend” because it is easier to profitably trade by hitching a ride.
Trending markets also lend themselves to rules based technical trading systems.
- Do you prefer to have your trading choices laid out in advance, or do you “shoot from the hip”?
- Are you planning to trade as a business or significant avocation? Do you plan to be active on a full or part time basis?
- If part time, are you otherwise occupied during regular business or market hours?
- Did you know that Forex trades 24 hours a day, six days a week?
This makes sense if you realize that the Forex markets are serving the needs of nations and traders in every time zone. To facilitate this, most trading is done with online trading platforms that are considered to make an Over The Counter (OTC) market.
- Do your plans call for flexible or outside of regular hours scheduling?
- How much capital would you like to allocate to your chosen trading activity?
Someone whose trading is part time and viewed as a hobby may have a different amount of trading capital available than someone whose plan is to structure their trading as a business activity. Regarding capital requirements, the Forex market can accommodate almost any trading plan. This is possible because there are two trading unit sizes available.
The full size lot is 100,000 currency units and may be controlled by a 1% or 1,000 unit margin. There is also a “mini” size lot of 10,000 currency units that may be controlled by a .5% or 50 unit margin. Dollar based traders can put the dollar sign ahead of the above figures for illustration. To translate this to trading account requirements; a “mini” account can be started for as little as $300.00 US.
The above discussion of just a few facets of the Forex market is hoped to stimulate thoughtful consideration of the best trading situation for…You, and will continue as a series of articles to consider relevant features of the Forex markets.
