The forex, or foreign exchange market is the most liquid market in existence. By that, we mean that it is the most heavily traded market, where trillions of dollars are exchanged every year. What exactly is it? Well, very simply, it is the buying and selling of money in all the various currencies which exist around the world. Some of the main currencies are the US dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen, the British pound, the Swiss franc, but there are many more.
What many people are unaware of however, is the revolution which has taken place due to the development of electronic trading systems, particularly over the internet, in the last 10 years or so.
It is now possible for the average person to open an online forex trading account for a few hundred dollars, and become a trader in this trillion dollar market. Not only that, but the typical trading account allows that few hundred dollars to control thousands of dollars worth of currency, because of the margin lending facility attached to the account. So even a tiny movement in the price of a currency can generate large profits. Equally, of course large losses are possible.
Because of this, it is necessary to know when to enter and exit a trade to maximise the possibility for profit and minimise the possibility of a loss. To this end, there are many programs available which provide training firstly on how to trade, and also to provide signals which essentially give traders a good idea of when to enter and exit trades. This usually involves software which either manually or automatically, allows the trader to execute their trades. There are pluses and minuses to both types of software. As the forex market is not easy to predict and can be affected by events which happen in the business world, and even by current events such as 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina, many would say that a purely automated system because it is triggered by data, and not necessarily by real-world input, can be risky. However, good results have been achieved using such automated software and professional forex traders use them as a tool in their toolbox, so to speak, without relying on them for 100% of their trading.
Other membership based programs provide signals delivered by email or SMS, or software which one has to operate manually to interpret the signal and place the trade at the right time. One such system I have personally paper* traded with and recommend, is the “Aussie Rob Lifestyle Trader” system available at www.lifestyletrader.com.au.
*”paper trading” simply means simulated trading based on data only, without risking real money.
Lifestyle Trader, while relatively expensive, provides exhaustive training not only in forex trading, but also in options and commodity trading, as well as sophisticated software pre-installed on a laptop computer (also provided). The training comprises not only live seminar-type events, but also hands-on workshop training and a full DVD set of past training sessions which a Lifestyle Trader member can take home and study.
Of course there are many so-called “forex robot” programs available on the internet for a relatively low cost which make impressive claims. I have not personally tested these, although I do know someone who has, and has got some pretty good results, so I may test one of these sometime in the future. I have created a link page at http://greg.annett.tripod.com/forex.html which lists some of these programs. This is not a recommended list, however, as I say I have not tested them personally so can’t recommend any of them, but it will give you an idea of what is available.
In summary, there are wealth creation opportunities in the forex market and they are affordable, but one must be aware that there is an element of risk in any trading where one is exposed to any financial markets. However, with a good knowledge of the forex market and tools which allow a trader to make good trading decisions, the risks can be considerably reduced.