Friday, December 4, 2009

A Personal Watershed - Is Forex For You?

By Thomas H. Rivera

Millions of investors are making (and sometimes losing) money in the forex markets around the world. It's a huge opportunity and creates a steady job you can do from the comfort of your own home. We're going to cover the ups and downs of forex trading and how to make it work for you - and give some guidance on whether or not it's the right job for you.

In a nutshell, forex trading is about taking a pair of currencies and their exchange rate; and playing off how that exchange rate varies on a day by day (or month to month) basis. You're not betting on the performance of a company, you're betting on the fiscal reputations of countries. There's less research involved, and you have the advantage that it's very difficult for currency values to plummet as rapidly as stocks can and do (and have, recently).

The opportunity with forex is endless. There are always people trading the markets 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. This means that you can trade as often or as little as you like. You can develop a trading plan that works for you and stick with it. This means that you can completely customize your plan, your money management, and your results.

While there is a potential to make a lot of money in forex trading, that potential is only seemingly boundless. You're still going to be constrained by the usual trading range in basis point pips between a currency pair, and if you spot a trend, it's odds on that others have as well; like any kind of volatility based trading, you're always running on five minute old information. You can make (or lose) thousands of dollars in a handful of minutes.

If manual trading isn't your thing, you can even set up several expert advisors to make your trades for you. In this way, you can make steady gains with your account over a long period of time. This strategy doesn't even require you to know much about the forex market. You can just set them up and forget them.

Forex is a great way to make a lot of money from home; doing it on a day trading strategy requires constant attention. Don't think that this is something that will rake in the bucks while you practice your golf swing. This is a job, and if you don't treat it as such, it's going to bite you in the ass, and hard. That said, it lets you work from home without anyone lurking over your shoulder. You are at the mercy of the trading desks schedules, so keep that in mind. Day trading forex is sometimes called a lifestyle choice.

You can make more than some doctors and lawyers without having to go to college for eight years. You can really make as much or as little as you want. If you just need enough to get by, there are a number of safe, conservative strategies that are available. If you want to ride the trends and rake in huge profits, there are also a lot of methods for that.

If you're the sort of person who lives for being wired on coffee, staying inside for a-- hour trading day, and staring at a computer screen, forex trading may be for you - even if only temporarily. The real secret of forex day traders is that the successful ones get out of it and retire, and retire early.

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