So you want to be a forex trader? Before you start, you may have already come up with an idea of what it is that is involved with trading and what you will need to learn. Let’s get one thing straight from the get-go, there is a lot to learn. For a complete beginner, it can be incredibly overwhelming, we are talking about things like charts, numbers, trends, rates, pips, spreads, leverages, and many other terms and ideas too. For many, it may simply seem like it is too much and there is no point in trading. But when we break it down, is it actually as complicated as it seems? That is what we are going to be looking at today, we are going to work out exactly how hard or easy it is to learn to be a forex trader.
So what exactly is it that makes trading look so difficult? When we look at things from a sample statistic viewpoint, the forex markets can span over $2 trillion each and every day. This straight away gives the impression that reading is most likely just for those that you would consider mega-rich or at least rich who simply use their hired expert to do their trading for you. While this is true, it is for them, it is also a little deceiving, it is also for pretty much everyone else. While a few big fish such as the banks have large amounts of money in the markets, there are also millions of individual retail traders in there too, each with a much smaller amount. Pretty much anyone with access to the internet is now able to trade.
The main thing that would separate those so-called experts and the average trader is simply their knowledge and experience, not simply the amount of money that they have available to trade with. We need to remember that the markets are the same for everyone, regardless of how much money is in your trading account.
If we look at trading in simple terms, it consists of two different teams, the buyers and the sellers. The buyers are simply trying to push the price and value of a currency or asset up while the sellers are trying to push the same currency or asset down. Due to this tug of war, the markets are constantly moving up or down. A successful trade is simply a trade where you have predicted the movement of the markets the correct way which then means that you can close your trade in profit. It is a very simple concept, but this doesn’t mean that it is necessarily easy to implement.
You have also probably seen the various warnings that are up on pretty much any site to do with trading, the fact that the majority of people that trade end up losing money. Again, this does not on its own mean that trading is hard, but it certainly gives the perception of it, after all. If it was easy, surely the majority would be successful. The main reason why people fail is either the lack of knowledge and understanding or they are simply not disciplined or dedicated to their cause. Learning things before you actually start could help to reduce some of the early losses (and there will be losses) when you decide to start trading. The one thing that you cannot do is to simply expect to be successful and profitable.
The number one reason why a lot of people get into trading is simply the fact that they can potentially make a lot of money. Yet the reason why people should be getting into it is to simply be in control of your money. If we take your current balance and simply leave it in the bank, the value on your money will actually go down, due to things like inflation which are often higher than the interest rates that you will be receiving, the value of your money will potentially go down by about 2% per year.
Managing and maintaining your finances is an uphill battle, pretty much everyone out there is designed to part you with your money. Learning to trade gives you the opportunity to manage your own finances and to even use it to your advantage to allow it to grow. Finance causes stress to many people, so being in control and using that stress to give you added determination and drive to be a good forex trader is a fantastic thing and this is of course a great opportunity.
So back to the question of whether or not forex trading is hard to learn, well technically no it is not, there are vast amounts of information out there which can help you and can teach you to trade. The issue is that many people do not want to go through it all. Trading can be very simple, as long as you are putting in the effort to learn and taking your time. When you have bad results, you get through them and carry on instead of giving up. It is those that give up after a loss or two that make it seem harder than it is, just stick with it and continue learning and you should be fine.
Learning to trade is much like anything else in life, it is generally harder to do the older that you get. However, this does not mean that you should be put off if you are slightly on the older side. The best way to learn is to simply try to clear your mind, come at it fresh without any of your preconceptions in the back of your mind and do not use your own opinions during your learning, use only what you are reading or being taught.
A lot of what makes learning to trade easy or hard is the way that you are learning, there are various methods available and so you need to find the one that works for you, as it may be different to the person next to you. If you simply try and force yourself into trading, forcing trades, and not putting in all the required work, it will be a hard journey, but it will also be an unsuccessful one. This also goes for simply endlessly and aimlessly looking at information on the internet. This won’t help, it will be too much information and it will all be jumbled up. You need to have a plan and a reason for what you are learning. It is also worth having the right people around you, people with a similar mindset or goal. Use them to work out what you are doing well or not so well, use them to analyse what you have done, and to also get ideas from them about what else you could be doing.
Something that a lot of newer traders do is to make things too complicated, far more complicated than it needs to be. Knowledge is a fantastic thing, but it can also be overused, or at least it can be attempted to have too much of it too quickly. If you begin to read everything around, you will be reading far too much, and it won’t be in order, this can confuse you and can make working out what information you actually need pretty complicated. Many people also have their own ideas and assumptions that lie in the back on their mind, you need to get rid of these, as these are what can cause you to second guess what it is that you are learning or they can even make you misunderstand what it is that you are reading.
So the question as to whether or not forex trading is easy and hard is complicated and it will all come down to the individual that is looking to trade. Take in as much information as you can, but do it in a methodical manner, not simply reading as much as you possibly can. Do Things slowly, do things properly and trading can be easy, but do it out of order or without a plan and you will certainly struggle at becoming a profitable trader.