Learning to trade Forex is one of the most exciting things you can do. Once you get the hang of all the tips, techniques, and lingo in the Forex market – placing your own trades and even profiting from trades is an exhilarating part of trading which keep traders coming back for more and more.
However, everyone has to start somewhere and the quality of the initial course that you take could have a big impact on your style, technique, and risk mitigation when it comes time to trade Forex for real.
Finding a Beginner Forex Course
There are a number of prop firm courses available on the internet. Many of these are text based courses, but there are also a number which offer video Forex tutorials and instructional guides.
In many cases, Forex brokers also have their own proprietary courses for traders to consider, as this is a major draw card for pulling in new members. You should check with each particular broker before you join to check whether or not they have a tool set for beginners to utilize once they have signed up.
But even if the broker does offer a Forex tutorial or course, what actually is it that you should be looking out for in such a course? Are there individual items which are extremely important in a course? Yes there are. Let’s take a look at what these might be.
Important Components of Forex Tutorials
Almost all Forex tutorials and courses will contain a section explaining exactly what the Forex markets are, and why it is beneficial to trade them rather than some other financial markets. There will also often be an introduction to trade types, currency quotes and currency pairs, and how to place trades.
However, we think that a decent and comprehensive Forex course should have the following additional information for you to consider:
Information on risk management through the use of special order (i.e. stop loss orders and limit orders)
Detailed info on rollover, leverage, and the dangers of trading positions that are too big
Technical and fundamental analysis techniques – to help you choose a particular trading style
A section devoted to trading psychology and how to read the market
If the course that you Forex broker offers includes all of these individual components – then we would highly recommend that you give it a good read before trading the markets for real. This is especially the case if you do not plan to use a demo account to start off with – and simply want to head straight for the real time, real account Forex trading.
Is a Forex Demo Account Exactly the same as a Live Forex Account?
When you first start trading the Forex markets, you will most likely receive a number of recommendations from Forex brokers and FX courses to start with a Demo Account. Essentially, Demo accounts are those in which you can use fake money instead of fronting up with real money – so that you can get a sense of what Forex trading is all about.
There are two major benefits to using Demo accounts. They are:
Ability to use the brokers software and Forex platform without committing any money
Ability to try out strategies and systems without risking real money
Both of these benefits have huge implications for Forex traders in the long run. However, many people often ask whether or not trading on a Demo account is a genuine representation of what Live account trading is like. After all, Demo accounts are sometimes delayed by 20 minutes with their data, and trade times are significantly reduced because of the fact that real money is not being processed.
Let’s take a look at whether or not Demo trading provides a fair representation of Live trading.
Demo Accounts Are Almost Identical
Aside from the fact that currency quotes are often delayed with Demo accounts, the reality is that trading on a Demo platform is almost an identical experience to trading in real life.
The only major difference, obviously, is that you are not using real money.
Many people still believe however that because the money you are using on a Demo Forex account is fake, the processing times for trades are significantly improved from before. This is simply not the case. The reality is that the amount of time it takes for a Demo trade to be executed is almost on par – if not exactly the same as that of a Live account.
Do not forget, just as a live trade needs to be routed to an exchange through the Forex broker – demo trades also need to be routed through the system and executed in the same fashion (albeit on the Demo database). Therefore, this should actually give you a very good idea of how long it will take for a real Forex trade to be place, sent, and executed on the system.
Switching to Live Platforms
After a few weeks of demo trading, most traders in the Legendafxs feel comfortable enough to switch to live account trading. Usually, you will simply have to alter the username and password that you log in to the system with – and everything else will remain exactly the same (except your account will obviously reflect the actual real account balance, not the demo balance).