Best way to Trade Forex Profitably

According to research in South Africa, it is really possible to trade Forex profitably. But the odds may be stacked against novice traders, even more so if they do not prepare and plan their trades. According to reputable sources, more than two out of three Forex traders will suffer a loss. This will suggest that self-education and caution comes highly recommended. Here are some approaches which may improve a traders odds of making a profit.

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Be Prepared

Because the Forex market is highly leveraged it can have the same appeal as buying a lottery ticket.  Who wouldn’t want to take a small chance of making a killing? This isn’t trading but gambling. A better way of starting off in the Forex market is to carefully prepare. Reading up on the subject comes recommended by professional investors and the most frequently recommended Forex trading books include:

• Currency Forecasting: A Guide to Fundamental and Technical Models of Exchange Rate Determination by Michael R. Rosenberg
• Forex Strategies: Best Forex Strategies for High Profits and Reduced Risk by Matthew Maybury
• The Little Book of Currency Trading: How to Make Big Profits in the World of Forex by Kathy Lien

Traders should use the information gained from their reading to plan out their trades before jumping in.

Find and Choose a Reputable Broker

The forex industry, just like many other, is not immune to scams. It is unfortunately possible that investors may end up doing business with a less-than-reputable forex broker. Forex traders should only open an account with a Forex Broker which is well-regulated by one of a number of excellent regulatory authorities.  Traders should research a broker’s account offerings, leverage amounts, commissions, spreads, initial deposits, account funding and withdrawal policies before making a final choice. Contacting a Brokers customer service should answer many important questions.

Here is an overview of the 15 Best Forex Brokers and Trading Platforms available.

Axitrader

Axitrader is an online broker which was founded in 2007 and offers Forex, CFDs and Social Trading, is a global broker and has a head office situated in Australia with no minimum deposit needed to get started plus a demo account is on offer.  Axi is authorised and regulated by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

Pros and Cons

Axi is able to accommodate various levels of traders and offers the MT4 forex trading platform plus mobile apps for Android and iOS, respectively.

Trading Benefits

Customer support is available via Phone, Live Chat and Email.

Markets.com

Markets.com offers traders access to the world’s most traded CFDs using instruments such as shares, currencies, indices, bonds, ETFs and commodities.  Markets.com is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

Pros and Cons

To open a live account, traders will need to make a minimum deposit of at least $100.  Markets.com offers over 2,146 different instruments to trade, including over 56 currency pairs on MT4 and MT5 forex trading platforms.

Trading Benefits

Customer support is available in over 25 languages, 24/5 via email, telephone and live chat.

IQ Option

IQ Option offers its clients services in binary options, stocks and shares, currencies, and ETF trading.

Please Note:  This material is not intended for viewers from EEA countries. Binary options are not promoted or sold to retail EEA traders

Pros and Cons

IQ Option provides clients with a proprietary platform which is also used for CFDs and for binary options trading. Traders can also install the mobile trading app which is provided free of charge. The mobile trading app has been designed specifically for use on smartphones and mobile devices and allows traders to check their account status, keep updated with all the developments in the market as well as to execute trades.

Trading Benefits

The IQ Options trading platform and website are available to traders in thirteen different languages and allows traders to choose the currency to trade with. The selections of currencies are: GBP, RUB, EUR, IDR, USD, MUR, and Yuan.

Customer service is available via email, live chat or the telephone.

Trading 212

Trading 212 are an online broker which was founded in 2006 and offers Stocks trading, Forex trading, Commodities trading, and Indices trading.  Trading 212 are a global broker and has a head office situated in UK.  Trading 212 is Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) and is used by over 14,000,000 traders.

Pros and Cons

Trading 212 are the UK’s number one trading and investment app with over 14,000,000 downloads, thus a large userbase but is not available in the following countries: US

Trading Benefits

Trading 212 offers an outstanding, highly responsive customer service team available 24 hours a day across a variety of platforms and in 16 different languages.

Pepperstone

Pepperstone was founded in 2010 and is regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), as well as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Pros and Cons

Trading platforms on offer include MetaTrader 4,  MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. All three FX trading platforms come with a free demo account which will allow traders to test out the forex broker and platform for 30 days.

Trading Benefits

Pepperstone offers 24/5 multiple language support via email, phone and live chat.

OANDA

OANDA is a globally regulated Forex and CFD broker which also provides corporate Forex solutions and currency conversion. Users have the choice to trade on Forex, Indices, Metals, Commodities and Bond CFDs on the broker’s own proprietary trading platform for desktop, web and mobile, as well as on MetaTrader 4.

Pros and Cons

OANDA is the most Regulated Forex Broker and operate across six of the most credible authorities.

Trading Benefits

Customer support is available via a FAQ section, a OANDA Virtual Assistant and phone.

IG

IG Group was founded in 1974 and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the U.K. and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) in Australia.

Pros and Cons

The country of a traders residency will determine which account type they can open. In most countries, they will only be able to trade forex, CFDs and options.  Traders can choose between two trading platforms, IG’s proprietary trading platform or MetaTrader 4.

Trading Benefits

Customer Service is available 24/7 via Phone, Live Chat and Email.

FXPro

FXPro is an online broker which was founded in 2006 and offers Forex, Share Dealing, Spot Indices, Futures, Spot Metals and Spot Energies trading.  FXPro is a global broker with a head office located in the UK. FXPro is regulated by CySEC and operates under the CIF license number 078/07. As a CySEC regulated broker, FXPro is also a member of the Investor Compensation Fund scheme.  FXPro provides traders with access to top-tier liquidity and advanced trade execution with no dealing desk intervention and a starting account will need a minimum deposit of $100.

Pros and Cons

With FXPro, the minimum and maximum trade requirements vary depending on the trader and the instrument chosen.

Trading Benefits

FXPro offers customer support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week via Live Chat, Telephone and Email in a variety of different languages including English, Spanish, French, Polish, Malay, Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and others.

NordFX

NordFX is a forex broker located in the Republic of Vanuatu, regulated by the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission (VFSC).  NordFX offers Forex trading with specific accounts for each type of trader, including Zero accounts which offers spreads from 0 pips.

Pros and Cons

Trading instruments on offer ranges from more than 30 currency pairs, the popular precious metals gold & silver, 11 major cryptocurrency pairs, plus CFDs based on Brent oil and stock indices such as Dow Jones 30, S&P 500, DAX 30, NASDAQ 100, and NIKKEI 225.

Trading Benefits

NordFX offers customer support via Email, Telephone and a 24/5 Live Chat function plus an Online Contact Form available on their website.

XTB

XTB is a European broker which was founded in 2002, and has offices in 13 countries across the globe.  XTB is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 522157) and has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2016.

XTB is a fintech company which combines financial services with innovative technology and it offers clients two platforms to choose from:

• xStation5
• MT4

Pros and Cons

Traders can choose from 25 crypto CFDs (9 individual coins or 16 crypto pairs) which are available 7 days a week (from 3am Saturday to 9pm Friday). Traders can buy or sell digital coins with 2:1 leverage and 365-day expiry.

Trading Benefits

XTB support a wide range of languages including English, Spanish, Czech, Chinese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovenian, Turkish, Arabic, and Russian.

CMC Markets

CMC Markets is a multi-asset class spread betting and CFD broker which is regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Clients have the ability to trade on more than 9,000+ trading instruments covering Indices, Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, Shares and Treasuries, all on the MetaTrader4 platform or the broker’s own proprietary, web-based Next Generation platform.

Pros and Cons

CMC Markets offers a wide range of instruments to trade on covering all major asset classes such as 300+ Forex instruments, 60+ Indices, 15 Cryptocurrencies, 90+ Commodities, 30+ Treasuries and 9,000+ Shares and ETFs.

Trading Benefits

Customer support is available 24/5 via Live Chat, Telephone, and Email.

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers was founded in 1978 and is regulated by multiple financial authorities including the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Interactive Brokers offers many account types, which fall into two big groups:

• accounts for individual traders and investors
• accounts for institutions

Pros and Cons

Trading Benefits

Traders can choose between two different web trading platforms:  The Client Portal and Webtrader and IBKR Mobile, Interactive Brokers’s mobile trading platform, is available both for iOS and Android.  Users can trade on Stock, Forex, Option and Futures – to name but a few.

Customer Service is available 24/7 via Live Chat, Phone and Email.

Saxo Bank

Saxo is a globally regulated, multi-asset class broker which offers traders the option to trade on more than 40,000 instruments covering Forex, CFDs, Stocks, Options, ETFs, Commodities, Futures, Bonds and Mutual Funds from a single account across multiple platforms including their own – SaxoTraderGO and professional-grade SaxoTraderPRO.

Pros and Cons

The Saxo Group is regulated in 15 jurisdictions including authorisation from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Financial Services Agency of Japan (FSA) and many more.

Trading Benefits

Customer support is available in nearly 30 different languages via phone, email and an FAQ section.

Forex.com

Forex.com is a platform which can be used for trading foreign currencies and precious metals. Traders can trade over 80 currency pairs as well as silver and gold.

Pros and Cons

To open a live trading account, traders will need a minimum deposit of at least $50.

Trading Benefits

Customer support is available by phone, live chat, or email 24 hours a day during market hours.

eToro

eToro is an online broker which was founded in 2006 and offers CFDs and Social Trading, with a head office based in Cyprus, UK.  eToro is supervised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) regulatory bodies and has been in operation for over 14 years.

Pros and Cons

eToro offers traders two ways to trade: CFDs, Social Trading and eToro traders will need to make a minimum deposit of $200 and the platform can accommodate various levels of traders from beginner to expert.  Traders can trade in a wide variety of over 100 instruments and over 50 currency pairs on eToro’s user-friendly custom trading platform which is available as a browser-based web application. eToro also offers traders mobile apps for Android and iOS, making it easier to keep an eye on and execute trades.

Trading Benefits

eToro supports a wide range of languages including English, German, Spanish, French, and Italian.  24/6 customer support is available via telephone and support ticket.

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Make use of a Demo Account

Most Forex Brokers will have a demo account on offer which will allow traders to place risk-free trades without a funded account. Traders can use a demo account to test strategies, become adapt to the Brokers trading platform and all without the risk of losing any capital.

Diversify and Limit Risks

Two trading strategies which belongs in every trader’s arsenal includes:

Diversification 

Traders who execute multiple small trades in different markets where the association between markets are low will have a better chance at making a profit. Traders should never place all of their money into a single big trade.

Limit Risks

Traders should familiarize themselves with ways which guarantee a profit on an already profitable order. This includes a trailing stop or stop and limit orders.

Be Patient

Forex traders, particularly those new to the market, are prone to overacting when it comes to both profit and loss. Investors should always keep in mind, “You win some, You lose some” and it is never needed to throw in the towel when a loss is suffered, or on the other hand, blow the bank when profits roll in.  Traders should take their time and know that they will not become “insta-millionares” overnight.

In Conclusion 

The Forex market seems like a get rich quick solution to many but reaching this level of success will not happen overnight.  A lot of due diligence is needed even before the first trade is made. With that said, following a few, straight-forward steps, such as those mentioned here, will definitely increase an investors chances.