Forex Trading Success & Automated Trading  
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Success is possible, but it's worth investing in your education
If you don't learn how to trade forex with a proper strategy and mental attitude, you'll become another forex 'victim', joining some 90% of forex traders who lose money by thinking it's just a game. FOREX IS NOT A GAME, and even less a way to 'get rich quick'. It's a serious business and there is risk of loss. With nearly two trillion dollars worth of currencies being traded by banks, governments, brokers and private traders each day, what else could it be but a serious business?

Forex trading is certainly not for everyone, and attempting to trade forex without some understanding, training and experience, your chances of winning at a casino are probably higher. Stocks, options or futures trading may also suit you better than forex.

Understanding the basics of forex
A good, basic understanding of forex trading is essential and it's worth paying for. Here's a small 'investment' every forex trader should make right at the start - even before opening a trading account. The now famous "Bird Watching in Lion Country" costs $70, but it will put you well on the way to success, as it has done thousands of traders. That's much better than losing $100 or more, literally in the blink of an eye by starting to trade live when you're unprepared.

Build up your knowledge with reliable sources
Only through perseverance, understanding, training and personal experience will anyone start winning with forex. But it may take some time. There are no short cuts to forex success, and no guarantees either. Those that have become successful traders know this, and many will admit they realised it only after losing money or buying inferior products and information – for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Try not to become one of those – unless you have 'money to burn'! Remember, only a small percentage of forex traders profit consistently and they're the ones that have learned well. Many of them started by getting their copy of this book which you can review here.

As forex enthusiasts ourselves, we have visited forums, tried different systems and strategies, and paid money for both useful and useless information that can often be found for free. We've already mentioned the book you should start with, by downloading it and reading it more than once. The few dollars it costs are paltry compared to the difference it will make to your profit potential. It is written by Dirk du Toit (Dr Forex) a professional trader and capital fund manager (but not a broker) with years of experience in stock and currency trading. He qualifies as a forex mentor and he has excellent references from students past and present who he continues to help. The book is "Bird Watching in Lion Country" and if you are interested in genuine first-hand knowledge and advice, do yourself a favour and get a copy. We bought BWILC over two years ago when we started forex trading ourselves, and since then nearly 150 of Retire-Asia visitors and members have followed our recommendation; of those, only two asked for (and received) a refund. Maybe they thought the book was going to be about bird watching (ornithology) in Africa!

Being in possession of the right information and developing the correct mental approach, which involves considerable self-discipline, are important but often-overlooked factors for success in market trading (as well as many other types of business). Some call it OptiMINDzation or optimising your mind for specific tasks or activities. A mind-set is more than just focus or concentration. Learn more about this here. You can get an inexpensive CD based course here.

Armed and prepared with a pre-planned trading strategy, and trading through a reliable broker, it is certainly possible to make good money as a forex trader. Successful traders, both professional and amateur, rarely brag about their gains. Fortunately, however, some of them are prepared to share their knowledge with others, such as in forums where information (not always valuable or helpful) is shared for free. A trading system that works for one trader may be quite unsuitable for others who will lose money by trying to use it exclusively. Provided the source is genuine, and there are some dealers that are interested in their clients' success and financial well-being, it may be better to pay for a course or system training, suitable for most prospective traders.

We recommend only genuine courses and trading systems with proven results from personal experience or from satisfied customer testimonials. From Bill Poulos, check out Instant Profits. He also offers an excellent video training course which you can get a 'sneak preview' at Profits Run. where you will also receive three reports as a bonus. All Bill's offerings come with this disclaimer:

Not all merchants are as open and honest as they should be about the risks involved in forex, stock trading or stock swing trading, which you may also have heard of. Bill Poulos's Quantum Swing Trader is the de facto course for swing traders. This course sells out within days of release. QST is currently available.

Automated forex trading systems
There is increasing demand among forex traders for an automated trading system or 'forex autotrader' that can be set and left to run on autopilot. With today's new technology it is possible to develop programs that once set up with the correct parameters will enter and exit trades without user intervention. This avoids spending long hours in front of a computer screen for the 'right moment'.

Automatic systems must be easy to learn and implement, give precise and potentially profitable buy, sell, stop loss and exit signals, and require a minimal amount of time at the computer to be set up for potentially profitable trades, without further manual intervention. They must also include ongoing training, support and backup.

Recent successful products include Bill Poulos' Forex Profit Accelerator and Quantum Research's Forex Profit Pro AutoTrader (both now fully subscribed).

New Products in the pipeline

Quantum Research (ForexProfitPro Autotrader) are working on GOmega Trader FX, a system expected to be released by the end of May. There is interesting content and feedback on their blog site, including video of how the GOmega Trader FX program will function and some profitable results so far.

The cost of forex training
Expensive is a relative term. It means different things to different people. For some it's a hundred dollars while others happily pay several thousand for a full-blown automatic forex trading program. Buying something that doesn't work is always expensive, but paying out money for something which returns greater and ongoing gains is called investment and is  quite different! Getting back more than you pay out is the ultimate goal.

What you see is not always what you get
Forex trading devotees scour the web for good reliable information, and are subject to sometimes amazing claims and hype from copy writing wizards. There are exaggerations and even outrageous claims contained in many advertisements. Some will be from reputable brokers and trading professionals, but be wary when clicking on this type of ad for forex or any other topic. Often those that draw attention to possible scams are often there simply to promote other scam products!

Opening an Account – demo, virtual, paper and 'live'
Demo, virtual and paper all mean the same. They are accounts opened free with brokers that allow you to trade in the open market at real quoted prices, but without risk of losing 'real money'. Free training and online support is usually given at the same time. Trading online requires either the use of a special software program that you download once and run on your computer, or is web-based, which means you access it through a browser like Internet Explorer. Both methods have their advantages.

You can open a demo account with any number of brokers and be very successful with your 'paper' trades, possibly showing profits of several thousand dollars within a few weeks, which is very exciting! Unfortunately this does not happen with  'ive trading' i.e. using real money. Although real time prices are the same for both types of account, there is a psychological component which comes into play with live trading, especially if you make a few losing trades and see your account balance reducing. Both fear of loss and greed now enter the equation. You can learn more about this by getting this free report: Mental Fitness for Traders.

There are several 'trading platforms' or software programs available from the various brokers. Some are easier to use or have better features than others. For beginners who don't want to risk large amounts of money, we currently recommend Easy Forex. Open an account for free, then deposit as little as $50 to start trading under live supervision if you wish, and in any one of seven languages! Apart from FREE LIVE one-on-one training, you can get a training manual in English or Arabic. Take a look at the EasyForex Trading Platform and see a video 'walk through' a trade.

What you don't know about forex brokers – and how to benefit
For every forex transaction made, whether profitable or losing, forex dealers, banks and brokers all make money from 'spread'. This is the difference between the buy and sell prices of the currency pair for any trade entered. This can range between 2 and possibly 10 or more pips, depending on the broker and the currency. When you enter a trade, the price needs to change in your favour by that number of pips before you break even or start to make a profit on the trade. If you are in a losing situation and decide to close a trade to limit your losses, you lose the spread too. Spread is commission under another name. Some traders, especially those who have online businesses or web sites, offset spread by joining a forex broker affiliate program to earn introductory and trading commissions themselves. This may be achieved by sending emails to friends or other contacts with a potential interest in forex. Here you can learn more about forex affiliation.

The Internet is full of both opportunities for making and losing money, as well as opportunists! People buy, people sell, and some people steal - it's what makes the world (and world wide web!) go round. But if you are selective in what you choose, you can certainly avoid becoming a forex loser! Hopefully the information we have provided will help you achieve that goal. If you want to download tools now or be advised of new articles and files in the future, visit our Membership page.

There are many forex products and trading systems on the market today. Those that are worth considering will offer a free trial or money-back guarantee – or preferably both. So the risk of losing your money on worthless training is low. We found out the hard way first, however!

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