Beginners Guide to Forex Trading

You’re probably here because you’re asking yourself “How can I start successfully trading forex?”

The thing is, no one starts successfully. But with a bit of guidance and you can get really good over time—and luck is not required. 🍀

The forex market is one of the largest and most liquid markets out there. In fact, the forex market surged to over $6.6 trillion a day in 2019. In stark contrast to the disaster the COVID-19 pandemic caused in most markets, it has only enhanced the potential of the forex market, with more people starting to trade forex as a means of recouping lost income.

Yet, if it were that easy everyone would be doing it right? Before you dip your toe in the cool currency waters, we advise you get to know all the basics of forex trading. Where are you likely to trip up?

In this guide, we seek to point you in the right direction. We’ll explain the most popular forex trading terms, highlight the pros and cons of forex trading, and take you through a real-life example. We will finish by outlining the five steps to forex trading and highlighting our top three brokers for beginners.

Common Forex Market Terms 📚

First things first. Before you start investing, you should familiarize yourself with basic forex trading terms. There are many, many terms in existence, but here are the most popular terms used by traders—this is the first step everyone needs to take when learning to trade forex.

What is a Currency Pair? 💱

In short, a currency pair is what we call the quote and price structure of the currencies that are being traded in the forex market. The value of a currency is a rate, and this rate is decided based on comparing it to another currency.

However sometimes in times of peril instead of interest rates fear can take over and drive global currency markets. Make sure to differentiate the two so you won’t lose your investments.

How currency trading works is, you buy one currency in exchange for another. But when we see a currency pair, it’s easy to look at it as a single unit to be bought or sold.

An example of a currency pair is the British pound (GBP) against the U.S. dollar (USD), also displayed as GBP/USD, and known to be one of the most commonly traded currency pairs.

With this pair, the first listed currency (GBP) is called the base currency, and the second listed currency is called the quote currency. The currency pair will refer to the amount of the quote currency needed to buy a unit of the base currency.

If you want to purchase a currency pair, you are buying the base currency, and selling the quoted currency. In addition, when you sell a currency pair, you are selling the base currency, to receive the quote currency. The current market value for buying a currency is known as the “bid” and the selling price is called the “ask”.

The bid price for a currency pair will let you know how much of the quote currency you will need to buy the base currency. On the other hand, the “ask” for the currency pair will let you know how much you will earn in the quote currency if you sell a unit of the base currency.

Types of Currency Pairs 🗃

In total, there are three types of currency pairs available across the globe; there are major currency pairs, minor currency pairs, and the less popular, exotic currency pairs. 

These three groups cover all currencies in the world, and each one is categorized according to how much it is traded on a daily basis as a pair—we will go into this in more detail soon. The amount of currency pairs changes depending on the currencies there are in the world. 

Brokerage firms such as Interactive Brokers offer traders access to the existing currency pairs across the globe. Now, which currencies are major, which are minor, and which are exotic?

Let’s find out.

Major Currency Pairs 💷

Each existing major currency pair involves the U.S. dollar (USD). It appears as either the base currency or the quote currency, and these pairs are known to be the most traded on the forex market.

The major currency pairs also offer the lowest spread, which we will discuss more below, and are the most liquid. In fact, the EUR/USD pair holds 30% of the trade volume on the entire forex market. Here are the major pairs:

Minor Currency Pairs 🔎

Now we come to the minor currency pairs. These currency pairs do not involve the U.S. dollar. Minor currency pairs are often referred to as cross-currency pairs, or more simply put, crosses. Because major currency pairs have the lowest spreads, minor currency pairs naturally are a bit wider. They’re also not as liquid as major pairs, but still relatively liquid.

In the past, if you wanted to hold a certain currency, you would have had to first convert your currency into U.S. dollars, and then convert it into the currency you’re after. Since the introduction of minor currency pairs, the process isn’t so lengthy.

The most traded minor currency pairs are the three other significant currencies: the Euro, the Pound, the Japanese Yen. Here are the minor currency pairs:

Exotic Currency Pairs 🌴

Now, the final currency type: Exotic currency pairs. This group consists of those in emerging markets. Exotic currency pairs have a drastically different liquidity in comparison to the two types above. Spreads for these are much wider too.

Exotic currency pairs usually have one major currency and one currency of an emerging economy, such as Singapore, China, or Indonesia, or Mexico. Here are some exotic currencies:

Pips Explained 💬

Okay, now we’re going to do some more math. Not much though! We mentioned pips earlier but let’s go through them again to be sure you have them locked down.

You might have heard of pips referred to as “points”, “pipettes”, or maybe even “lots”, well now we will explain what exactly these are and how to calculate their values. Take it slow with this because this is necessary knowledge for forex traders.

Don’t even contemplate signing up to a broker before you can calculate your profit and loss through the value of a pip. This is important because pips determine your spreads—how much you won or lost on a trade.

What Exactly is a Pip? 💡

A pip is a unit of measurement to express the change in value between two currencies. If the EUR/USD moves from 1.1040 to 1.1041, the .0001 USD increase in value is a rise of one pip.

Further, a pip is usually placed at the last decimal place of a price quote. Many currency pairs go up to four decimal places, but as with anything, there are exceptions: The Japanese yen pair goes out to just two decimal places. For example, the EUR/USD is 0.0001, but the USD/JPY is just 0.01.

How to Calculate the Value of a Pip 🧮

Because the value of a currency pair is relative, the value of a pip must be calculated for each individual currency pair. The example we will use, will have a quote with four decimal places. To make the calculations as clear as possible, exchange rates will be written as a ratio (ie. EUR/USD at 1.2500 will instead be written as 1EUR / 1.2500 USD.

For example, USD/GBP=1.0300. This will be read as 1 USD to 1.0300 GBP. (The change in value in counter currency) multiplied by the exchange rate ratio equals the pip value (in relation to the base currency).

Or more simply put: [(.0001 GBP) / (1.0200 GBP)] x 1 USD = 0.00009804 USD per unit traded.

From this example, if we traded 10,000 units of USD/GBP, then a movement of one pip to the current exchange rate would be about a 0.98 USD movement in the position value (10,000 units x 0.00009804 USD/unit).

We say ‘about’ because as the exchange rate moves, so does the value of each pip movement.

What’s a Spread in Forex? 📖

If understood, forex traders can majorly benefit from the low commissions and fees of forex trading. Understanding how forex trading spreads and commissions come into play then is very important.

When you trade forex through a broker, you will be quoted two different prices for a currency pair: the bid price and the ask price. The “bid” price is how much the currency will sell for. The “ask” price is how much the base currency can be bought for. Instead of charging a separate trading fee, the spread is built into the buy and sell price of the currency pair.

In terms of generating profit, this is generally how forex brokers generate revenue:

• ☑️ A broker sells the currency to you for more than the market price
• ☑️ The broker also buys the currency off you for less than the market value
• ☑️ The difference in price is called the spread

You can think of it like you would sell an old MacBook to a store that buys and sells second-hand MacBooks. In order to earn a profit, the store will need to buy your computer for less than it will be able to sell it for. 💰

If it can sell the MacBook for $700, then it will need to buy it from you for $699 or less. The difference is the spread. So when you see brokers advertising $0 commissions, it’s not quite true because, at the end of the day, you will still pay a fee—it’s just a part of the spread!

How is the Spread Measured in Forex Trading? 🤔

The spread is typically measured in pips. A pip is the smallest unit of price movement in a currency pair. In most cases, one pip is equal to 0.0001. For example, a 2 pip spread for a EUR/USD currency pair would be 1.1051/1.1053

When it comes to currency pairs that include the Japanese yen, quotes are made to just 2 decimal places (unless fractional pips are available, then it’s 3 decimal places). For example, the USD/JPY would be 110.00/110.04.

For example, USD/JPY would be 110.00/110.04. This quote indicates a spread of 4 pips.

What Types of Spreads Are in Forex? 📂

The type of spreads you’ll come across will depend on the forex broker and how it makes money. There are two types of spreads: Fixed and variable. 

Fixed spreads are typically offered by brokers that operate as a market maker or “dealing desk” model while variable spreads are offered by brokers operating a “non-dealing desk” model. With a fixed spread, the difference between the ask and bid price remains the same even though prices fluctuate. With a variable, or floating spread, the difference between the ask and the bid price changes depending on market conditions.

Fixed vs. Variable Spreads: Which is Better? ⚖️

Whether you prefer a fixed or floating spread will depend on your individual needs. Some traders will find fixed spreads better than variable spreads because they are more predictable. However, the opposite might also be true for some.

Generally speaking, traders with smaller accounts, who trade less frequently, will benefit more from fixed spreads. With that, active traders, with larger accounts will benefit more from variable spreads. Traders who want fast trade execution and need to avoid requotes will want to trade with variable spreads.

How Does Leverage Work? ⚙️

If you’re new to forex, understanding leverage is incredibly important, so take your time. The classic definition of leverage is the ability to control a large amount of money using only a little, or not of your own money. Rather, you are using borrowed money.

For example, to control a $10,000 position, your broker might take $1,000 from your account. You now have a leverage of 10:1. Some leverages go far higher.

With this leverage, you can control $10,000. Let’s consider the $10,000 investment goes up in value to $10,100, an increase of $1,000. If you were to use $10,000 of your own money, your return would be 10%. In this case, the broker only held $1,000 from your account, so your return is a cozy 100% ($1,000 gain/$1,000) of the initial investment.

Now let’s look at what would have happened if you lost $1,000. If you went about it the same way we did, aka the right way, you would have landed with a -10% return using a 1:1 leverage and a whopping -100% return using a 10:1 leverage. 📉

The classic cliché, leverage is a double-edged sword that can’t be underestimated.

Let’s Review: A Real-Life Forex Trading Example 🎯

Let’s consider what a forex trade would look like in real life. Given that the EUR/USD is the most traded currency pair on the market, we’ll use this for our example. This currency pair consists of the Euro and the U.S. dollar. 

If you speculated that the EUR/USD would increase from 1.1700, you might buy €10,000 against the dollar at the current exchange rate. If your prediction was accurate, and it rose to 1.2000, you could calculate your profit as so: 

€100,000 x (1.2000-1.1700) = $3,000.
You can convert the USD to Euro at the current exchange rate as such: 
$3,000 ÷ 1.2000 = €2,500.

However, if the EUR/USD rate fell to 1.1400, you would make a loss:

€100,000 x (1.1700-1.1400) = -$3,000.

To convert this to Euro at the current exchange rate you would do the following equation: -$3,000 ÷ 1.1400 = -€2,631.58

The Most Popular Forex Trading Strategies 📕

There are a few proven trading tactics to learn in order to really know how to start forex trading. Some, of course, can be more effective than others, and some will also suit your skills and style more so than others.

We advise you to do some more in-depth research into the best trading strategies for forex to discover the best fit for you. Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular strategies: 

Scalping ☑

A scalping strategy specializes in profiting off short-term market changes. This is most suitable for a very active trader. You will generally need to have a strict exit strategy because scalping requires you to move quickly to make a small profit per trade. This means, one large loss could eliminate all the smaller gains you worked hard to accrue.

Day Trading ☑

This strategy involves a trader entering and existing positions throughout the trading day, ensuring all positions are closed by the end of the trading session. Day traders tend to avoid the extra risk that comes along with holding positions overnight.

Swing Trading ☑

This trading style aims to capture short to medium term gains in financial instruments, like a stock, over a time frame of several days to weeks. Swing traders will typically buy low and sell high, and involve entering and exiting the market usually depending on signals from momentum technical indicators, such as the RSI.

Trend Trading ☑

A trading strategy where traders take a position over the longer-term, and involves estimating the intrinsic value, and looking for market trends. Trend traders hold positions to profit from the trend until it has passed.

Forex Market Analysis 💹

More experienced traders learn how to analyze the forex market to make improved decisions. Typically, they will use one or both of the following well-established market analysis methods:

Technical Analysis 🔬

Some consider technical analysis to be the best method of identifying investment opportunities. Using technical analysis for stock research is a common and effective strategy. 

When implementing technical analysis, traders perform a detailed market examination that attempts to predict future market movements and identify trading opportunities based on any visible patterns evidence on the charts and indicators.

Technical analysts believe that past trading activity can be an indicator of an asset’s value in the future. This analysis is generally more useful for forecasting market movements.

Fundamental Analysis 📝

Fundamental analysis is a way to value an asset by trying to determine its intrinsic value. Fundamental analysis for stock trading involves looking at profit margins, revenue growth, and more to determine the value of a company. 

When performing fundamental analysis in the forex market, traders examine relevant financial and economic factors, as well as some other quantitative and qualitative information. Traders using fundamental analysis are usually particularly interested in economic calendars.

Pros & Cons of Forex Trading 👨‍🏫

Benefits of Forex Trading 🌟

There are many benefits of forex trading like the amount of free educational material on the web in all forms – videos, blogs, courses and even tik toks. However, we decided that the following are the ones we should focus on:

High Liquidity 🌊

As the forex market is the largest in the world, it is highly liquid. This means that it will be easier to enter and exit and position in a major currency within a split second for a small spread, and in the majority of market conditions.

A 24/5 Market 🏛️

The forex market is traded 24 hours a day, five days a week. Each day begins in Australia, and ends in New York. The major forex centers and in Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, London, Paris, and Frankfurt.

Costs Are Low 📉

The forex trading market offers traders one of the lowest fees (commissions and brokerage). With that, many brokers charge $0 commissions, but they do make fees from the spreads. This means that you won’t need to worry about adding on, or working out separate charges, because they are all included.

When this is compared to equity or most other securities, the broker structure tends to vary massively, and traders need to calculate more fees. Moreover, the top forex brokerages for beginners have great learning platforms to accompany the low prices, so newbies don’t need to look that hard for the best prices.

Suitable for Most Trading Styles 📊

The forex market is a 24 hour market, which is quite convenient for trading and beneficial for short-term traders looking to take positions for a shorter time-frame (like a few minutes to a couple hours). Traders rarely make trades during off-hours.

Enter With Ease 🥧

The amount of forex technical indicators to look at for short positions is endless. There are also a number of fundamental analysis theories and tools for long-term forex trading, creating choices for traders of different trading levels to quickly and easily enter the forex market.

Volatility is Your Friend 👥

The major currency pairs are regularly subjected to huge price swings. If a trader has created a strong forex trading strategy, then massive opportunity comes with this volatility.

Challenges of Forex Trading ⚠️

The very lack of rules and high skill – high reward system is what stops a lot of people from doing well. There is a large skill gap between beginners and pros.

However, the following three challenges are what we put our focus on:

Requires the Understanding of Complex Economics 📈

To trade currencies effectively you will need to have an understanding of complex economic fundamentals and indicators. Essentially, this means you will need to be able to see and assess the ‘bigger picture’ of economies in various countries and how they are inter-connected so that you can have a grasp on what drives the price of currencies.

Leverage Can Be Risky ⚠️

When forex trading, banks, brokers and dealers generally offer a high amount of leverage. This means that traders can take big positions without needing to have all of the money themselves. A leverage of 100:1 is not uncommon in the forex space.

To use this to your advantage, you must understand the risks that leverage introduces. High amounts of leverage have resulted in many dealers becoming insolvent unexpectedly.

The Volatility is Unpredictable ⚡

As you will have absolutely zero control of macroeconomic and geopolitical events, it isn’t too difficult to end up going through insufferable losses due to the volatile nature of the market.

When things go wrong, shareholders can pressure management to implement changes, and alternatively, they can contact regulators. Forex traders have no one to turn to. When Iceland went Bankrupt, traders holding Icelandic krona could merely observe the destruction.

Because the forex market is 24/7, monitoring the market can be difficult. The best option is usually to keep strict stop losses and trade through a proven researched strategy.

CFD Trading 💴

Curious as to whether anything more adventurous exists outside of the spot forex market? Here’s a little run through CFD trading, and how you can see success.

What’s a CFD? 💲

To start, a CFD stands for contract-for-difference. More-or-less, a CFD is an agreement between two parties to pay the price difference between the underlying asset’s currency value, and its value when the trade closes. This is known as a financial derivative, and it allows traders to take advantage of price movements without needing to own the asset.

How Can You Become a Successful CFD Trader? 💰

When you buy a CFD and the underlying price of the asset rises, you will earn the difference in price, multiplied by the amount of units you’ve bought. However, if the underlying price of the asset falls, you will be liable to pay the price difference.

On the other hand, when a CFD is shorted and the price of the underlying asset falls, you will earn the difference in price, multiplied by the amount of units you bought. When you short a CFD and the price rises, you will need to pay the difference in price to the buyer.

How are CFDs Different From Forex Trading? 💸

Fantastic question. When it comes to the forex market, you are essentially buying or selling a certain number of units of a currency pair for a specified price. Then the gains or losses are decided based on the difference between the opening price and the price at closing. 

CFDs and forex trading are also similar in their OTC execution, the fact they both have a decentralized exchange, and some execution costs like commissions and spreads.

These are set apart because CFD spans across more financial markets, like the equities and commodities market, which offers traders more diversification in their positions.

You can speculate on global stock indices, such as the FTSE and the S&P 500 and trade the price of oil against the U.S. dollar. The more possibilities, the more opportunity to profit!

5 Easy Steps to Trade Forex ✋

You’ve made it this far. I’m sure by this stage you want to know how the heck to start forex trading? Here are five simple steps to follow to get started: 

Step 1: Connect a Device to the Internet ✅

To begin trading forex, you will need some access to a reliable internet connection. This will enable you to trade through a safe and regulated online forex broker. You will also need to get a hold of a smart device, like a phone, tablet, or computer to trade on.

Step 2: Sign up with a Safe Online Forex Broker ✅

You can probably open an account with a forex broker no matter where in the world you reside. Just make sure that you know what you’re looking for: that you know your individual needs and requirements, and that you meet the broker’s requirements. For example, some brokers have high minimum deposit requirements, but the top-tier forex brokers of the world usually charge low fees for their quality service.

The minimum you should look out for is that the broker is regulated in your jurisdiction for example, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK, and keeps your money in a segregated account to its own.

Step 3: Open an Account and Make a Deposit ✅

Once you’ve found the most suitable broker for you, you will need to deposit funds into your account. Most of the leaders in the space accept several different deposit method options, including bank wire transfers, debit card payments, or transfers from electronic payment providers like Stripe, PayPal or Skrill.

Step 4: Download Your Chosen Forex Trading Platform ✅

When you sign up to a broker and fund your account, you will need to download the platform you plan to use for trading. Brokers usually offer a proprietary trading platform in addition to a third-party platform like MetaTrader4 and 5. Different platforms are suitable for different levels, and some have a longer learning curve than others so make sure to choose one that matches your trading level.

Step 5: Start Trading ✅

Once you complete the first four steps you have free range to start trading. Just make sure to trade wisely: Most brokers have a demo account available where you can test out the trading conditions using virtual money, before you invest your own hard earned cash. Within this, you can test out for trading strategies, and just generally get some practice trading in with zero risk to your funds.

How to Avoid a Forex Broker Scam 🚧

The forex market surged to over $6.6 trillion a day in September 2019, including currency options and futures. With such enormous amounts of money floating about, forex broker scams are rife (though less common than they once were).

While forex regulations in the U.S. are monitored by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA)—forex broker scams are yet to be a thing of the past. However, with technology becoming more intelligent, scammers have recently been caught stealing brands of authorized firms to trick people.

Our best advice is to make sure to conduct due diligence into the forex broker you are considering using. You can do this by using the Background Affiliation Status Information Center (BASIC), a platform designed by the NFA.

Even secondary resources that are connected to forex can turn out to be scams. For example, there was an instance where scammers were selling educational resources to would-be forex traders even though they had no idea how to trade.

Below, we will take you through our top three regulated and safe forex brokers for beginners. 

Get Started With a Trusted Broker 👇

Brokers are very necessary when trading if you value ease of use and top educational resources, as well as extra research material and in-depth analysis of the market.

1. IG: Best Platform for Beginners 🤓

When talking about beginner-friendly platforms, IG leads the way. As one of the most popular forex trading platforms worldwide, this software is about more than just simplicity, it’s about a diverse range of functions – a mixture to help both beginners and advanced traders succeed.

Because of the constant surge of new platforms and new investors and traders, the competition is stiffer than ever, even PayPal is exploring a stock-trading platform for U.S. customers. Having a unique characteristic among other things can keep you on top.

Its mobile app is also the source of much praise too. It more or less mirrors the browser version, which is the ideal outcome when it comes to trading apps.

IG’s prices are highly competitive – there are no withdrawal fees, and the only commission you will need to watch out for is on stocks CFDs. There’s also a pesky $12 inactivity fee, but you will only be hit with this after two years of inactivity.

Beginners will also appreciate IG’s comprehensive educational material, including videos, live webinars, courses, and tutorials about the trading platform.

Most importantly, this broker is regulated across 10 countries, and offers beginner traders a well-rounded offering. For more detail about this powerhouse, our IG review covers all the pros and cons you will need to know to help you decide if this is the broker for you.

2. Forex.com: Best for Education 📚

If low fees are a priority for you then Forex.com might be your best bet. This broker isn’t the most fantastic for stock CFDs, but when trading currency pairs, it beats most – it also charges no withdrawal or inactivity fees.

Forex.com’s platform isn’t as beginner-friendly as IG’s but it offers a wide range of functions, and once you understand it better, you will be able to utilize the powerful toolkit to your advantage. The mobile version is considered one of the leading forex trading apps and offers a range of charting tools, customizability, and an information-packed newsfeed.

Users can open an account easily, and will be asked to make an initial deposit of just $50 – which is one of the lowest you’ll find. Aside from this neat advantage, Forex.com shines for its educational offering. The broker offers video tutorials for beginners, right up to experts, along with a detailed course on everything you need to know about the platform.

Overall, Forex.com is one of the most reputable brokers available. Beginners looking to trade forex will more than likely enjoy plenty of aspects about forex.com’s fees and services.

3. eToro: Best for Copy Trading 👨‍💻

Although eToro is the third broker mentioned on our list, it offers the whole package, and more. eToro has climbed the ranks to become a leading forex broker, and is held in high regard by beginners enthusiasts. Impressively, the Israel-based brokerage recently tripled its secondary valuation to $2.5 billion. 

Beginners to forex trading will appreciate eToro for plenty of reasons. Like what you ask? It’s a highly intuitive trading platform, for one. This platform is user-friendly and easy to use, even for the most recent traders.

eToro recently made things that bit easier for its users by adding a Cloud Computing Portfolio to the platform – allowing traders to put money into innovative tech companies that have soared throughout COVID-19.

Trading stocks is commission-free and CFD fees are quite low – the only disadvantage is that forex fees are pretty average, and there is a withdrawal fee of $5. That said, eToro has a low (not as low as forex.com) initial deposit of $200, allowing you to start trading sooner.

A key highlight of eToro is its infamous copy-trading platform. This allows traders to copy the moves of more advanced traders, so you can sit back and take it easy. Like the other two brokers here, eToro is highly regulated, across Europe, the UK, and Australia.

As a whole, eToro’s platform is especially helpful for beginners looking to learn by watching how the pros do it.