The Foreign Exchange (Forex) market is where participants from around the world converge to trade currencies. It operates 24 hours a day, five days a week and - with a daily trading volume of $6.6 trillion in 20191 - it is the largest financial market in the world.

For beginner traders, therefore, trading the Forex market can seem like a daunting prospect and it is difficult to know where to start.Whilst I focus mainly on the Forex market, these top trading tips can also be applied to trading other financial markets, such as stocks and commodities.

Forex Trading Tips for Beginners

1) Choose the Right Broker
2) Create a Trading Plan
3) Educate Yourself
4) Start Gradually
5) Get Used to Being Wrong
6) Keep a Trading Diary
7) Control Your Emotions
Take Risk Management Seriously
9) Take Breaks
10) Be Patient
Forex Trading Tips – Final Thoughts

1) Choose the Right Broker

The first of our Forex trading tips for beginners does not have much to do with trading itself, but is a crucial starting point.

Don’t just settle for the first Forex broker you find online. Set some time aside to research different brokers, read their reviews and ensure that you choose the right one for you and your trading style. Here are some important factors to consider when choosing a broker:

A range of different trading instruments
Competitive spreads
A good, reliable trading platform
Access to leverage
Client fund security
Excellent customer service
Educational resources


As well as these factors, and others, it is particularly important to make sure the broker you choose is authorized and regulated by an internationally recognised authority.

2) Create a Trading Plan

The right broker successfully chosen, our next Forex trading tip is to create a trading plan.

Many Forex traders are guilty of being too eager to start trading straight away without setting out a clear plan beforehand. As the old cliché goes: “failing to prepare is preparing to fail..” and Forex trading is no different.

You can think of your Forex trading plan as a set of rules for you to follow when trading and how you will implement them. Defining these rules beforehand and writing them down will help you stick to them when you start trading. Here are some questions to ask yourself when creating your plan:

What are your trading goals?
What is your trading style?
How much time will you spend trading each day?
What will determine your market entry and exit?
How much can you afford to risk?

Creating a trading plan can help prevent you from overtrading, which can result in a lack of concentration and reckless trades. As you develop your trading plan, set yourself a maximum number of trades you will make per day or week.

3) Educate Yourself
You cannot expect to be a successful Forex trader if you don’t dedicate time to learning about the Forex markets and how to trade them. The next of our Forex trading tips, therefore, is to make sure you educate yourself thoroughly on the art of trading!

Studying does take time and effort, but your trading will undoubtedly benefit. And the learning never stops. No matter how experienced you are as a trader, there is always more to learn. So, keep reading the news, analyzing market trends and make sure you don’t forget the basics.

4) Start Gradually

As when learning any new skill, when you start trading, you need to begin with the basics and go forward from there.

Don’t be tempted to jump straight in with big money trades, but instead, start with small position sizes and build upwards from there, being sure to take your time doing so. Learn gradually from each step you take and don’t increase your position sizes until you feel comfortable doing so. Remember, it's not a race!

5) Get Used to Being Wrong

Even the most successful traders make mistakes and lose money occasionally so, as a beginner trader, you need to accept that you are going to be wrong from time to time, particularly at the beginning.

Being wrong and making mistakes are unavoidable consequences of learning to trade, and the sooner you accept this the better. If your last trade was a loss, try not to obsess over it and don’t let it impair your decision making process on the next trade. Instead, analyze your mistakes and try to learn from them.

So, how best to learn from your mistakes when trading? That’s where the next of our Forex trading tips comes in.

6) Keep a Trading Diary

Keeping a trading diary is an excellent way for both beginner and experienced traders to improve their trading strategies and develop their skills as a trader.

A good trading diary will record details about all your trades, regardless of whether they resulted in a win or loss. By regularly setting time aside to go through your historical trades, you can see what you did right and, more importantly, what you did wrong.

Being able to analyze both your successes and failures will help you develop and grow as a trader.

7) Control Your Emotions

It is important to keep your emotions in check when trading, particularly your levels of stress. Make sure you have a clear head and are making informed, rational and unemotional decisions.

Reduce your stress levels by finding the cause of your stress and either removing it or reducing its impact on you. This is easier said than done, especially after a spell of losses, but it can prove to be the difference between a successful trader and an unsuccessful one.

Take Risk Management Seriously

If you only take one lesson away from our list of Forex trading tips, it should be this one. Good risk management is an absolutely crucial part of becoming a successful Forex trader.

Risk management is all about identifying the risks which exist within Forex trading and taking steps in order to limit your exposure to these risks. Two key things which beginner Forex traders should take on board is to only ever risk a small portion of your overall capital on one trade and to always trade with a stop-loss.

A stop-loss is a tool which allows you to instruct your broker to automatically close a trade once the price hits a certain level. By using a well-placed stop-loss, traders can minimize the risk of losing all their money on a bad trade if the market moves against them.

9) Take Breaks

An essential Forex trading tip to follow daily is to remember to take some time away from your trading terminal.

This is particularly important when you are involved in a long, demanding trading session. When this happens it is beneficial to take a break and walk away from the computer for a while. Give yourself some time to collect your thoughts. When you return to your desk, you will be calmer and able to focus better.

10) Be Patient

Finally, our last Forex trading tip is to be patient, because there is no list of forex trading tips or secrets that will ensure quick success.

Many people new to trading have an unrealistic vision of becoming rich in a matter of days. The reality is that the journey to becoming a successful Forex trader requires, not just lots of effort, but also lots of time. You are not going to become a successful trader in a couple of weeks.

So, be patient and don’t try to rush the process; instead, take your time and enjoy the journey.

Forex Trading Tips – Final Thoughts

As a new forex trader the market can be a bit overwhelming, the fear of losing money and blowing your account are part of what plagues a new trader so my advice for you is to get to know and learn from experienced traders, most preferably those with visible evidence and social proof to back it up, follow their advice and do as they say

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