From low transaction costs, to low spreads, multiple opportunities to profit and the use of leverage have made forex trading extremely popular. Learning to trade forex and discovering whether you have what it takes may be exciting.

However, investing the time and capital, and taking the necessary risks may not be for everyone. In this article we will look at what it takes to become a forex trader, learn how to trade, and build your own trading portfolio.

If you are a beginner and want to learn how to trade, you can start by educating yourself. There are countless financial websites, trading forums and brokers’ websites that provide tailored education and trading resources.

T4Trade, for example, has invested in its traders’ trading education. They are committed to helping traders learn the basics, develop and boost their trading portfolio and gain valuable forex trading skills.

Starting your trading education

Everyone who hears about trading naively believes they will make money on forex in an instant. Trading takes dedication, learning, enhancing your skills and expanding your knowledge on an ongoing basis. It also entails keeping a very close eye on the markets. Learning how to trade the financial markets involves learning how to read charts and price action, and analysing the impact of economic releases and market-moving events on the markets.

Do you have what it takes?

Trading never sleeps, and if you are going to become a forex trader, you may have to make some sacrifices: build a solid plan, invest hours of learning and even act during the most unsociable hours so you capitalise on international market movements. Education is paramount. But your character as a forex trader is also key. Passion and discipline are some of the most successful traits of traders. Having a real interest in the forex market, as well as understanding the currency pairs you want to trade and events such as central banks’ monetary policy decisions, is vital.

Another essential element about forex trading is that currency pairs are always driven by both sides, so you will need to understand what moves both currencies in a pair. If you are going to trade the GBP/USD, you will need to keep updated about market news and politics so you know what news will move the pound and which news will impact the dollar at that particular moment.

Money management

Another significant point to have in mind is the ability to have sound money management. You may be the most knowledgeable forex trader with the best skills and education, but still lose if you cannot limit your losses and capture profits.

Strong mindset

Taking responsibility and holding yourself accountable is very important. Like every trader, you will experience challenges and learn from your mistakes but this is part of the journey and learning forex. Forex trading requires a strong mindset and self-discipline so you act according to plan and avoid taking emotionally driven reckless decisions. At the same time, the unpredictability of financial markets will surprise you, so you must be ready to make some unpredictable decisions too. That’s why being flexible and quick to adapt to changing circumstances is key.

Trading is not a straight forward path to success. Everyone, whether a beginner or professional trader, will face challenges along the way. While many on the outside will very often assume that trading is easy and just requires clicking a few buttons to buy or sell, it’s simply not that easy.

Trading depends on multiple factors with many of them being difficult to control. This is another reason that a forex trader would need to have the perseverance and strength to keep on going and not give up when things become difficult.

The best online forex trading education

One of the first steps of building a strong trading foundation is finding the best broker who can assist you with trading and offer some good educational resources. While it can be intimidating and overwhelming at the start, with a vast amount of information and a great choice of forex brokers, once you register with a trusted broker, you will feel that you have taken a solid first step. The rest will then follow as long as you remain focused and committed.

Learning the basics

A reliable and trusted broker would provide you with support and educational resources to start learning the basics. From learning how to read currency pairs to some basic terminology, such as what the spread, leverage, or pip mean will help to get you on the right track.

Learn how to use MT4

Once you feel you have enough knowledge and understanding of the markets, it is time to get a feel for the software and learn how to use the standard trading platform, MT4. T4Trade offers you the choice of multiple platforms depending on your style of trading.

You can trade on your desktop or mobile devices and download your preferred platform from T4Trade’s website, Client portal or get the apps from the Google Play store or App store. You can open a demo account first and test your skills without risking real money.

T4Trade Academy

From watching to listening and reading, traders have many resources available to learn for free. T4Trade offers a wide range of online forex trading resources including webinars, podcasts, and video on demand through its Academy. Additionally, T4Trade’s Blog includes a wide range of articles covering commodities, indices, metals, as well as an introduction to forex and various trading guides.

With so many resources, starting from the very basics to more advanced subjects on technical analysis, traders have all they need to learn trading with T4Trade. T4Trade’s multilingual support team and account managers are always ready to help with trading queries or anything you need regarding your account.

Forex trading can be quite difficult at the beginning but registering with a trusted broker such as T4Trade will help you get started with confidence and gain valuable forex trading insights. T4Trade’s expert analysts and trading resources will equip you with the necessary knowledge and tools to keep yourself updated and help you develop strategies that work.

Trading is a work in progress and may take months or years to achieve a level you feel confident about. Even the best traders learn new things everyday, so take each day as it comes and make the best of it.

DISCLAIMER: This information is not considered as investment advice or an investment recommendation, but is instead a marketing communication