The forex market is a truly mammoth financial entity and one that sees $5.3 trillion traded on average every single day. As a result of this, it’s extremely alluring to aspiring investors, particularly in an age where online and mobile trading platforms have removed numerous barriers to entry.
While the forex market may be relatively easy to get into, however, generating a profit from currency is far hard than initially meets the eye. After all, the market is incredibly volatile and subject to seismic price changes within relatively short periods of time, while the margin-based nature of forex can cause you to lose more than your initial investment.
In this post, we’ll explore this a little further while considering the most effective methods for minimizing risk and ultimately saving money.
1. Make Knowledge your Ally
Regardless of your appetite for risk or trading philosophy, it’s imperative that you complete due diligence and build a broad base of knowledge before entering the forex market.
More specifically, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that knowledge of the market can only be built through live trading and practical experience. While trading will enable you to learn and grow, of course, taking time to study and understand the forex market is likely to deliver far greater returns over time.
Most importantly, you should focus on learning the underlying laws that govern change in the forex market, while simultaneously recognizing how geopolitical and macroeconomic changes impact on currencies.
With knowledge as your ally, you can minimize your risk as a trader and hopefully boost your future returns.
2. Seek out a Reputable Broker
We spoke earlier about the rise of online trading platforms, and the chances are that you’ll need to trade through this type of entity if you’re to achieve success.
However, it’s crucial that you partner with a reputable broker, primarily because this will help you to minimize commissions, optimize spreads and safeguard any capital that you invest into your account.
Plaforms like Oanda are particularly popular, as they offer competitive sign-up terms and access to a wide range of analytical tools and news resources.
Regardless, just remember to compare the market and try to identify reputable service providers that minimize risk whilst also enabling you to save cash.
3. Access a Demo Trading Account
Most online trading platforms now offer users access to a demo account, and you should definitely make the most out of this when striving to minimize your risk as an investor.
A demo account essentially simulates a real-time trading environment, in which investors can apply their strategies and experiment with new ideas without being required to risk their hard-earned capital.
Such an account can usually be operated for between three and six months, which provides ample opportunity to understand the risks of live trading and adapt your strategy to negate potential risks.
In this respect, demo accounts play an invaluable role in helping forex traders to minimize risk and save money in the long-term, while it can often bridge the sizable gap between theoretical learning and practical market experience.