Trading as a whole has always been popular. Whether you are talking about small scale trading where you buy and sell products or you are talking about trading huge volumes of stocks and shares, you cannot deny that people in general love to trade. That’s why it isn’t surprising that a lot of people make a living from trading in the foreign exchange market.

Unfortunately, even in the trading business there are no guarantees when it comes to profit and no matter how much money you invest in currencies or stocks, without knowledge and determination as well as a sprinkling of hard work, you aren’t going to succeed. Unfortunately, few people succeed without failing but what determines your capabilities is how you can jump back from failure. Of course, that being said, failure can be difficult and you will want to stay as far away from it as possible. That’s why it helps to get some advice at the start, to help keep you out of trouble, or at least provide a little guidance.

If you are one of the newbie FOREX traders and are after success, here are a couple of pointers to help make failure a little less painful.

1. Know your facts – Trading isn’t a game. Although it may certainly bring a rush of excitement when you have made a quick buck, that isn’t what trading is about. You have to learn how to use facts and numbers and learn how situations affect currencies. You have to do your homework and learn to really analyze facts otherwise you risk making biased and unsafe decisions in your trading. Learning how to read trends is part of using your facts to come to a good trade

2. Keep something for yourself – The difference between gambling and trading, is knowing to stop. You should always put a limit on what you are trading. Just as a shop owner doesn’t sell all of his supplies at once, you must have a boundary of when to cut your losses. Don’t risk more than 4% of your account at once. You never know what will happen tomorrow and you may be risking selling everything for pennies.

3. Stay calm – All traders, especially newer traders get sucked in by emotions. Since trading provides a thrill plenty of people search for that thrill and it can be hard to stay calm with all the adrenalin flowing through your veins. You have to though, because as with all major decisions, thinking on a cool head always brings the best results.

4. Learn to use the tools available to you – Trading is a skill and an art. As with any art, you have to become good at your craft and one way to do this is to make sure that you know which tools are the best to use. Don’t rely on everything coming to you.

Trading is one of the most lucrative professions in the world if you know how to do it right. Unfortunately, many new traders forget to practice good common sense and use the tools available to them. Understanding what is there to help and how to keep calm are essentials in making trading a profitable and worthwhile career.

Alisha Smith