Forex trading online has become more and more popular in recent years, due in large part to the popularity of stock trading on the internet. But along with this popularity comes the inevitable hype, myths, and at times, complete untruths. While many of these myths are relatively harmless - they do cast doubts on the Forex industry, and some can actually be costly to beginning currency traders as well. Here is the list of the most common Forex myths:
· Forex trading is easy. First the truth. It is easy to start Forex trading and it is easy to buy and sell currencies online. But succeeding and making money is anything but easy. It takes education, time and practice. Of course, there are talented traders that learn very fast, but generally speaking, starting traders should dedicate part of their time to educating themselves, practicing and developing strategies.
· Forex is gambling. This is a myth and is often heard about all forms of trading; whether it's stocks, bonds, futures, options etc. In reality Forex is the epitome of macro economics in the purest form, even more so than other types of market trading as it deals solely with the performance, structure, and behavior of national or regional economies as a whole, and their interrelationships with each other. If this were true, then all the national economic administrators, advisors, consultants and students are the world's best gamblers. Rather we are all students of economics, technical analysis, fundamental analysis and psychology.
· Forex is a scam. Forex got some bad press after High Yielding Investment Programs (HYIP's) started to claim that they earn money on Forex. More recently a firm in New York was shut down and another's internet trading site dismantled for bilking investors out of millions. Fortunately prison terms have been issued for bringing discredit to a legitimate, regulated and law abiding industry. Actually Forex is a real currency market where anyone can trade for themselves and be responsible for their own decisions, so it's hardly a scam. The only scams you should be afraid of as a Forex trader are scamming brokers and marketers that sell Forex books, sure-fire strategies, trading systems, guaranteed returns or the usual "to good to be true" devices.
· Only the rich can trade Forex. This was true. Now with the fast development of high bandwidth in the common Internet connection, coupled with the financial backing of the largest financial institutions in the world, Forex is now open to everyone. You can start trading with just $1.
· Forex is completely random. Although the short time fluctuations of the Forex market may seem spontaneous and random, this is a complete myth. When you order a trade, there has to be a counter trade to yours. There is nothing random about it. Long term movements of currency pairs are far from random. There is a certain range of probability, but it is not random and can be predicted, controlled and influenced by global, regional and national economics.
· There is a "Holy Grail" in Forex. Some prefer to believe that they can find some strategy that will earn millions and work forever. Unfortunately that belief has no proof. Successful traders are always changing their strategies and adapting them to the current market conditions. Usually even a Forex strategy is something that can't be expressed as a simple set of rules, it must used with flexibility and adjusting to be really profitable. Yes, a Philippine housewife opened a $25 Forex trading account and built it to $2.6 million in three years. She is a phenomenal trader. She studied, practiced, learned and constantly adjusted and executed her trading strategy flawlessly.
· Brokers trade against their clients. In a short, this is both true and false. When you execute a trade there has to be someone executing the exact counter trade at the same time. If there isn't your broker counters it to cover your trade until they can match the trade in the opposite direction with another trader to minimize their exposure. Remember, Forex brokers make their money from the difference in the currency pair (the spread), and try to keep their exposure to the market minimal for the most part.
· Forex trading is risky. THIS IS NOT A MYTH - THIS IS TRUE. Just as in any form of trading or investing, there are no guarantees and you could lose all the money you invested. While practicing sound risk management techniques prevent this, it could happen. If you open an account with $25, please make sure it is not $25 you need to feed the baby. Also, while I have never heard of anyone losing more than they invested (modern internet trading systems prevent it), technically you could.