Which books would you recommend for learning about FOREX trading? Or any other methods of learning?

Comments

1. Joe says:

   July 29, 2010 at 6:13 pm

   Playing Forex can appear alluring, but the majority of people who try it lose money. All you have to do is do a web search on the words “Forex” and “lose” to see this is the consensus.

   Forex is what we call a “zero sum” game. You are making a bet with someone else about whether a currency will rise or fall. For every winner there has to be a loser. If you are smarter than the average player, you may make money. If you are dumber than the average player, you are likely to lose money. Most of the people making the “bets” in Forex are highly trained professionals at banks and other institutions. You are unlikely to beat them at this game.

   Actually Forex is not quite a zero sum game. It’s a slightly negative sum game as the Forex broker takes a small percentage each time in the spread. It’s a small amount but over a hundred trades, it ends up being a considerable amount of money. So the average player is likely to lose money, and remember the average player is a highly trained professional and probably smarter than you.

   There is a lot of luck in Forex, and if you play it, you will have some periods of time where you make money. This is usually because you are having a lucky streak, not because you have suddenly become an expert Forex player. However, most people are unwilling to admit their success is due to luck. They become convinced they have a system that works, and lose a lot of money trying to refine it.

   Further complicating the problem is the large number of Forex scams on the internet. Most Forex websites are of questionable honesty. You will find many people on the Internet that claim they made a lot of money using Forex. They are usually liars trying to make money. They will say: “Go to Forexcrap,com/q2347.” The “q2347″ is a signal to the Forexcrap site that you are being referred to them by “q2347.” If they sell something to you, “q2347″ gets a kickback. These coded signals can be hidden by different methods in the link. Other people will refer you to their own private website or blog for the purpose of trying to get money off you. Also there are a good number of trolls out there that like to pretend they are successful forex traders just for the fun of it.

   I would recommend not trying to do Forex at all, unless you are a trained professional. It’s like playing poker with people better than you, with the house constantly taking a small percentage from the pot.
2. SammiChengHK says:

   July 29, 2010 at 6:55 pm

   Agree with the second reviewer. Forex trading is basically a zero sum game and slightly negative in consideration of brokerage fee. Retail investors are likely speculators for short term gain. It is similar to the scenario of casino. Professional traders are also speculators but they are equipped with better inforamtion and tools for the market. Corporate traders use Forex for hedging purpose on their business to minimize risk in currency fluctuation. These three category of traders entered into a zero sum game.

   From the tone of the question, it seems to learn the skills of a professional trader to compete in the market. If you treat it as a game with a small amount of dispensable income, it may be fun just like playing in a casino. Indeed it may be more interesting than casino gambling since there is stragtegy and competition in the game and less depending on pure luck. But it is not a good idea to think of forex trading as a stable source of profit although professional traders may be able to achieve such objective.

   From the point of view of investment, stock investment (not trading) is a better game since in the long run (I mean decades if not years) stock market has an up trend. Temporary loss (may be years) would not hurt long term profit. For speculative trading, stock is more favorable to retail investors than forex since retail investor can hold on to wait for up trend. But again, speculative stock or forex trading should not be considered as a reliable source of profit.

   Lastly, I think personal trait is also an important factor in the success of speculative trading besides learning the skills and pure luck.
3. StrategiesForMarket.com says:

   July 29, 2010 at 7:00 pm

   You don’t have to compete with professionals – go with them. Trends exist in any market, all you have to do is to follow them. Read Michael Covel’s books about trend trading.
4. mark mc donnell says:

   July 29, 2010 at 7:05 pm

   http://knol.google.com/k/mark-mc-donnell/-/3j2ez79fq3qkn/0

   This is a link to my e-book, its free. Its a series of five award winning articles about the spot forex, It describes my system completely from the ground up. You can contact my company with any questions.

   Mark Mc Donnell
   http://www.forexearlywarning.com.
   Yahoo Answers level 3 Responder.
5. Never mind says:

   July 29, 2010 at 7:48 pm

   for help ; open the second & fourth link in: http://www.total-forex-trading.co.cc
6. Ella says:

   July 29, 2010 at 8:19 pm

   there are more ways than one to learn forex. read and understand forex ebooks and do practice accounts would be advisable but if you are serious in learning forex trading, the best way would be to have a personal coach where you could interact and ask advises first hand. i can recommend this site. it will lead you to a reputable, trusted and leading forex broker. whether you want to simply download a free forex ebook and a free demo account or you want the services of a personal mentor also for free. the ebook and demo account can be downloaded anytime, however, to avail of the free services of a mentor you need to open any of their accounts- mini, gold, platinum or vip. discussions can be done live via phone, email, chat or even personal meeting if you happen to reside near any of their regional offices worldwide including usa, canada, europe, uk, australia, middle east and asia. all the best.