How to Be a Currency Trader

I've been working with the Forex market - global currency exchange - since posting this article (a few months now). At this point I'd have to say, mmmmm, no. All in all, until the global economy becomes more "normal," less unpredictable (it's always been unpredictable, but not to this extent), and just a little less volatile, I'd totally advise AGAINST putting any money into currency trading. Unless you're a market pro, or if you've taken courses or whatever, there are just too many sudden trend swings that don't seem to make any sort of sense.

FapTurbo (which you'll read about later in this article) is a great little robot and performed well, even when this global economic crisis was beginning. But in my opinion, it just can't keep up with the jolts and jitters that are part of today's market of fear. My recommendation? Keep FapTurbo in the wings, and break it out when the global economy settles down.

I do suggest, if you've already purchased FapTurbo, that you keep up to date by reading the posts on their excellent forum, and continuing your courses and reading your books on the subject. Currency trading can be lucrative. To me right now, though, it's just tooooooo risky.

Okay, so here's the article on currency trading:

First Step: Open a Demo Account

If you're new to currency, or Forex, trading, you must run a demo account before risking any of your own money. Brokers' demo accounts use the same platform as their real accounts - except that you're not trading with real money.

You can set yourself up with a demo account of any size. I have a $10,000 demo account, but then I realized I don't have $10,000 to deposit with my broker when I go "live," so I'm going to open a second demo account with the same broker, and put in a pretend $500.

To open a demo account, you first open an account with a Forex broker. This is free, and in fact any good broker will encourage newcomers to trade a demo before using real money. The broker makes money later, when you trade with real money, by taking a small amount out of each of your trades. So there's no upfront money needed to start your currency trading experiment.

Some established and reputable brokers to look at might be FXDD (www.fxdd.com), Alpari-us (www.alpari-us.com), FX Open (www.fxopen.com), and Forex.com (www.forex.com).

Each broker will have slightly different requirements for their demo accounts. Mine lets you trade with play money indefinitely, others give you a set number of months and then require you to either "go live" or close your account.

Learning the Trade

Of course during the demo months, you've got to study your tush off. Forex is not only a complicated market, it's one of the riskiest markets there is. Most brokers have online study guides and forums, but your best studies would be with a local mentor who has success to back up her teaching. Or you could take a course at a local community college at night, or an extension on-line course from a business college.

Never trade money you can't afford to lose. That's how risky this market is. Also, read your broker's fine print. Read every agreement, every term, every nuance, and write to their support people if there's anything you don't understand. Small points and terms differ from broker to broker.

Am I Nuts?

No, because: I have a Plan. It's called FAP Turbo. I bought a copy recently, installed it on my computer, and let it rip. It's kind of a futuristic robot thingee that does your trades for you. You set it up according to the FAP Turbo  website video tutorials, and it actually makes your trades for you. My demo so far is showing mostly "wins," so I have decided to become a FAP Turbo  affiliate because so many people I know are having cash flow problems right now.

continued below - or visit the FAP Turbo site yourself.

Who's Behind this HAL-type "FAP" (Forex Auto Pilot)?

The guy who designed this FAP Turbo  is an IT programmer named Steve Carletti. He teamed up with an uber-mathematician named Mike and a shock'n'awe programmer named Ulrich, and they created a robot that, once installed, analyzes the markets, opens trades, puts in OCOs (Stop Loss triggers to protect you from too much loss, and Take Profit triggers that close your trades once you've made a certain amount of profit), and keeps tallies of your wins and losses. According to documents published on the FAP Turbo  website, 95% of the robots' trades are winners.

Realize, of course, that although 95% of FAP Turbo  trades are winners, the 5% of losing trades could conceivably blast away all your profits. It's a risk. But I've observed in my own short time on the demo, that Steve, Mike, and Ulrich have programmed their robot to be very conservative. It gets in and out of trades fast, and it monitors all open trades to adjust the Stop Loss or Take Profit points as necessary, even though the trade starts out with a fixed SL and TP. What that means is, once the robot opens a trade for you, it stays in there and keeps an eye (?) out for what's needed to get you out of the trade successfully. It doesn't just put you in and go somewhere else.

Here's What the Guys Say on their FAP Turbo  Website:

"Q: Can you guarantee I will make money with this?
While we can't make any explicit guarantee that you will make money (this is illegal) you only need to check out our unique 'make money or it's free' guarantee... You can demo with it using none of your own money until you're happy it works. Remember, we're going for a modest return on a daily basis which means low risk. That's another reason why we can boast a 95.9% success rate."

In keeping up with the FAP Turbo  member forum, I'm noticing that people who install it correctly and choose a good broker seem to be having positive financial experiences. I hope to join their ranks, and I'll keep you posted as to how I do, in case you want to try it.

Personal Servants?

Another thingee I got, that the FAP Turbo  people recommend for beginners, is called a VPS (Virtual Personal Server). VPSs don't bring you margaritas, but they will run your FAP Turbo  program for you remotely, so you don't have to keep your own computer on all the time. The cost of a VPS varies from $8.00 a month up to about $70.00 a month. I have the $70. one, but plan to switch to one for $35.00 that has been recommended by many people on the forum boards. A friend is running his FAP Turbo  directly from his computer (also on demo for now) so the only cost he's incurred is the initial purchase of the FAP Turbo  program.

Having a VPS means that if my cat decides she must walk on my keyboard to get to the other side, something from which I gently discourage her, evidently not gently enough, she won't open any weird trades for me and end up in the kitty poor house. All the trades are carried out on the remote server.

But - What IS Currency Trading, I Hear You Ask.

Currency is constantly changing in its value. The Forex market is a large group of traders worldwide, who go "long" (believing their trade will rise in value) or "short" (believing their trade will go down), and make money if the currency moves in their favor.

Unlike the stock market, the currency markets are open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. (Closed weekends.) My FAP Turbo  robot usually trades for me in the evenings, because it has determined that I'll do best then. The robot is more conservative than I would be if I traded manually, and that's a good thing because it takes (most of) the emotion out of it. Emotion is deadly when you're working in anything financial.

Now I realize this brief how-to barely even taps the outermost rim of the Forex planet. But the beauty of FAP Turbo  is that evidently, that's all I have to know. Every evening I go to my VPS, see what's going down, and that's it. Hopefully I'll be part of the 95% winning trades - and hopefully I won't have any really horrible trades. There are horrible trades, no matter how careful you are or how good your FAP robot (also called an "EA" or Expert Advisor) is. That's part of the risk of being in the market at all. But with FAP Turbo 's ultra-cautiousness, I'm hoping losses will be small.

How Do You Take Your Money Out? Is It Yours To Keep?

When I go live, I plan to start with a $500 investment, and when I've built that sum up to $1,000.00 I'll withdraw my original $500, leaving $500 still in the account. At that point, I will have made my initial investment back and will be trading purely with the earned money. If the account builds up again, I'll seriously consider adding more to my base funds. And yes, it's your money, ready to save or spend or give to the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee (that's my current favorite place to give money - OMG those elephants are so wonderful. And smart? They are just awesome, and this sanctuary gives old or abused elephants a chance to live out their lives with love and dignity). Oh - and yes, to report to the IRS, too. It's real money. And it's yours. (Not the demo money, of course.)

If you're interested in seeing the documents supporting FAP Turbo 's claims, and what Steve, Mike, and Ulrich have to say, Click Here for the possible ride of your life! (I'm hoping it's the ride of my life.)