Currency trading scams can take many forms. Essentially it means defrauding individual traders by convincing them that they can make huge profits by trading in foreign currency.

A retail trader can be asked to pay commissions, buy some sort of software promising high profits, participating in fake managed accounts, false advertising, ponzi or HYIP schemes and plain fraud. All of these will constitute currency scams.

Foreign currency trading involves equal potential for both profits and losses. If somebody claims that there is minimal risk and great profit potential in forex trading, that is also forex scam. Forex scams mostly occur with non-bank forex traders. The main reason being ignorance of individuals, greed, lack of education, improper selection of brokers or trading platforms and lack of control. Read the rest of this entry »

Courage Under Stressful Conditions When the Outcome is Uncertain All the foreign exchange trading knowledge in the world is not going to help, unless you have the nerve to buy and sell currencies and put your money at risk. As with the lottery “You gotta be in it to win it”. Trust me when I say that the simple task of hitting the buy or sell key is extremely difficult to do when your own real money is put at risk.

You will feel anxiety, even fear. Here lies the moment of truth. Do you have the courage to be afraid and act anyway? When a fireman runs into a burning building I assume he is afraid but he does it anyway and achieves the desired result. Unless you can overcome or accept your fear and do it anyway, you will not be a successful trader.

However, once you learn to control your fear, it gets easier and easier and in time there is no fear. The opposite reaction can become an issue – you’re overconfident and not focused enough on the risk you’re taking.

Both the inability to initiate a trade, or close a losing trade can create serious psychological issues for a trader going forward. By calling attention to these potential stumbling blocks beforehand, you can properly prepare prior to your first real trade and develop good trading habits from day one. Read the rest of this entry »

Forex trading is done in pairs of currencies. One currency is called the base and the second constitutes the quote or counter currency.

For example, EUR/USD is one pair of currency. Under this pair, EURO is the base currency and USD or US dollar is the counter currency. Here, it has to be seen how many units of the counter currency are needed in order to buy a unit of the base currency. The quotation EUR/USD 1.2500 will mean that 1.25 of US dollar will be needed to buy one unit of Euro.

The above rate may go up or down as USD strengthens or weakens. Trading always takes place in combination of two currencies or currency pairs.

There is always a long (bought) and short (sold) side to any forex transaction. One buys Euro (long) in exchange for yen (short) or sell sterling pound (short) in exchange for Euro (long). Profits or losses are reflected in the second currency. Read the rest of this entry »