Finance Student Looking To Get Into Forex Trading, Anyone Have A Game Plan For Becoming A Successful Trader?
I am an undergrad student with a 3.7 GPA in an finance program ranked in the top 10 nationally. I will graduate early (this December) and am also studying to take the CFA level 1 in June.
I only tell you this so you know a little about my background and understand I am prepared to LEARN how to trade. I am not looking for a get rich quick scheme, but rather, want to study the art of trading until I can consistently make positive returns on FOREX during my spare time. Of course, who knows, if it goes well maybe it will become my career. More than anything though, it seems really interesting and I would like to learn more.
So, what books etc do I need to read to understand how to trade on FOREX? I understand it will take some work, but can anyone lay out a plan to follow in order to become a successful trader? For example, read x,y,x, while trading on a demo account, then open a real account and do x,y,z etc.
Please don’t recommend trading programs like FOREX tracer etc! There is no way I am going to let a program control what happens to my money and, to my understanding, most all of these programs are scams. I have to go with the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Also, for any traders out there…
What’s your holding period return for a typical month and how many hours/day do you trade to generate that return?
If I have limited capital to trade with, will this significantly impact my ability to utilize effective trading strategies?
You seem to be coming into this with the right mindset and congrats for that since 95% want a get rich quick scheme. I too had a high GPA from Ivy Leadue in Econ/Finance but sadly that degree doesnt translate into trading success immediately.
Def dont buy any programs or such online since you have no control over them. Even if they work for a period of time you have no real idea about how to control your risk and how they are supposed to react to market conditions. 99% dont work and ALL need some understanding of risk management.
For advice on trading you should learn what indicators are, such as movign averages, oscillators (like RSI) and such. You should learn common patterns that traders use and what they mean. Watch many charts, pay attention to how prices move during news anouncements and so forth. By this time you should have ideas to test in demo to see if you can make money.
Try to be CONSISTENT in demo mode and try to make like an average of 100 bucks a day or some goal. Once you can consistently hit your targets and are comfortable with your system go live and try to see if it really works. These steps might need to be repeated several times until you get a profitable system you are comfortable with.
Get a good low cost broker. I use Interactive Brokers. Oanda is good too, but i like IB best. Good brokers keep their spreads tight and are highly reliable. This may make the difference between profitability and losses.
Good luck
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forex_scam
Unless you’re Hillary Clinton with a cheating broker by your side you will not gain a dime. Any tiny fractional gains you manage will be consumed by commissions.
This is my personal website
http://www.24forextrading.com/
where you can find a lot of answers in your questions.
And this is the company which I trust for my investments. No problem with them the last 4 years.
http://www.easy-forex.com/Gateway.aspx?gid=94483
But if you want more info, just send me a pm.
I hope that it was helpful.