Every investment has an upside and a downside. While it’s natural to focus on the good aspects of an opportunity, prudent investors always factor in the other side of the coin, as it were. A forex or fx trade responds to market forces, and the reality is that no one can predict where the market will go. Consequently, forex investment involves mitigating risk as much as making an educated appreciation of where the market will go next. Successful forex traders balance the chance of profit with the risk of loss.
What about scams?
As with any investment where there it’s possible to make money, unscrupulous denizens are trying to take advantage of upstanding citizens. However, the key to finding them and uncovering their less than ethical practices is information; and one of the best tools of information sharing is the internet. There are sites like Forex Peace Army (FXPA) which are dedicated exclusively to reviewing forex sites and detecting those who are not completely above board. Be sure to run a quick search through the FXPA before handing over any cash.
That having been said, it’s important to remember that Forex is a legitimate investment tool that’s used daily by corporations, companies, banks, and governments the world over. In fact, if you’ve traveled abroad, or bought something from overseas online, you’ve already participated in currency exchange. However, there are some things you can do to minimize your risk, such as always use verified and reputable online brokers. Broker trading instead of trading directly with other people will help minimize your exposure to fraud.
How safe is forex investment
Forex is no different from any other investment vehicle; it leverages the value of capital today versus the prospect of future income. Whenever you invest, you expect to get a higher return than the money you put in, but with a certain level of risk.
One of the unique traits of forex is its enormous liquidity: there is a lot of money in the market that moves quickly. While this is an advantage because it allows larger profits with smaller investments, it means that you are at risk of larger losses as well. Typically forex traders will “leverage” their investment by trading on margin.
What this means is that you can buy a large position in the market by borrowing most of the capital you need from your broker. For example, you can buy as much as 100,000 units of a currency by putting up just 1,000. If the market moves just 1% in your favor, you can double your money. Of course, if the market moves against you, then you can lose just as much.
Successful traders learn to manage their risk by modifying their investment size, stop losses and limits. Most forex investment strategies use techniques to figure out where the market might be going combined with judicious study of potential losses and risk management. For a lot of traders, learning how to manage their exposure –risk- is the hardest part of learning how to trade in forex.
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