It’s easy to call yourself a trader. But sustaining it is the difficult part. Many beginner traders are caught in an uphill struggle trying to understand all the information presented to them. The best traders would tell you that it’s not as easy as it sounds. It takes a great deal of learning, skills, practice and discipline. What can you do to be successful in this venture?

The foreign exchange market is one of the fastest-moving markets in the world. Forex trading used to only be used in the realm of giant corporations, big financial institutions, central banks, hedge funds and multimillionaires. But since the emergence of the internet, the average investor can now easily buy and sell currencies via online brokerage systems.

The foreign exchange market provides an opportunity for investors and traders who want to take advantage of the highly active, extremely liquid market. Over $5 trillion a day in trading activity takes place in the world’s forex marketplace, making it one of the largest financial marketplaces in the world.

But challenges are also presented by regulatory, economic and market factors as you try to secure returns. To be successful in the forex market, the first step involves learning, the next steps would be strategizing.

Health of the Capital Markets

The capital markets are a great source of financial capital for a growing business. Several businesses are funded through capital markets, and foreign exchange is one aspect of the global capital markets.

Investments typically go in two directions: they could either soar or drop. This movement is relative to the health of capital markets. There are many factors that affect capital markets return, like worldwide demographic trends, investors’ attitude, consumers’ attitude, government tax and spending policies, and even population aging.

Trends Affecting Currencies

The foreign exchange market provides an opportunity for investors and traders who want to take advantage of the extreme liquidity of the market. For investors, the goal is to find net profits buy buying low or selling high. But this should be done in the way that the exchange rates of currencies change. To understand how they change, you should be able to look at the economic trends affecting the countries issuing these currencies.

Know the Risks

The forex market is affected by daily currency fluctuations. Most currency pairs typically move below one percent per day, which represents a lower than 1 percent change in the currency value. Because of this, the foreign exchange market is very volatile. There are losses involved when you use leverage aggressively.

There are also interest rate risks, transaction risks, counterpart risks and country risk that you have to consider.

To see live trading examples and start advancing as a Forex trader, enroll in our Forex Trading for Newbies training course. The course gives you all of the basics of the market and  provides you the foundation you need in order to be successful in this venture. Once you’re equipped with the essentials, you can start defining your strategies.