The Forex Market - Get Rich, Maintain Sanity

Written By Our Expert Currency Trading Author, John Eather
The foreign exchange market can be a frightening thought. You can make money in a short amount of time, but you can lose it fast too. If you suffer from nerves, this may not be something you want to do. Even those of strong constitution can be reduced to blubbering idiots by the Forex market. If you think you can handle the stress, here are a few pointers to help you in the right direction.
Do you want to trade in the foreign exchange market? Setting limits and deciding what you want to accomplish is where you must start. How much money do you want to make and how much are you willing to lose? Make sure that the risk is worth whatever the outcome may be. Once you find your center, stay with that pace and do not exceed it.
A successful foreign exchange market trader is a cool trader. This means that you must distance your feelings and your emotions from your actions. In fact to preserve your sanity it is essential that you do so. Remember that what you are doing is applying logic and statistics to the maximization of your profit. Successful trading is analogous to the professional poker player with a perfect knowledge of the odds and the ability to apply this knowledge with both a poker face and a poker soul.
Of course, nobody succeeds all the time in the Forex trading market. Nobody is perfect! Be aware that you will make mistakes as that is just the way it is. Using the guidelines in the following paragraphs can help you succeed and maintain your sanity.
Decide from the outset how you are going to play the game. As they say, a Failing to plan is planning to fail. Go in with a plan. It does not matter if this is not the right plan or that you will need to modify it as time goes on, but you must start with a plan of some sort
What should you include in your plan? Well some things are: From which sources do you obtain your information? What indicators will you follow? What tools will you use to assist you in your decisions? Who (if anybody) will you listen to and learn from? Make sure that in your approach you are clear on all the above.
Finally we will look at two approaches and you must choose the one that you will adopt. You will find many conflicting views regarding which is the better. These are the gut instinct approach in which you attempt to assess market movements rationally based on events, trends, sentiments and politics, or the more mathematical approach that uses various algorithms and trend analysis to make your decisions or at least assist in your decision making. The second approach assumes that the markets function in a predictable statistical manner. You must decide if you think this is true.
So, to summarize; you need to establish your basic goals and constraints, assemble your initial plan, decide on your approach, and go for it. By adopting these basic rules you will maximize your chances of making some real cash without compromising your sanity. Of course, you should also have some good fun in the process of trading in the Forex market.