The foreign exchange market, or forex market, can be a great place to invest your money, but like any market, it has its share of pitfalls. Too many traders jump right in without knowing what they are doing and end up losing their shirt. Before you start trading, read this advice.

The wise trader has a plan in place before he or she gets into the Forex market. Codifying expectations can help the trader determine whether or not they are getting what they want out of the Forex market. With a pre-set goal, a well-prepared trader can better determine if their efforts on Forex are effective or not.

Trading forex can get complex if you are trying to deal with multiple currencies at once. As you are starting out, it is a good idea to start out by only dealing with one currency pair. This helps you keep track of your investments as you are starting out.

Don’t overpay for forex trading services. Most brokerage firms that offer forex trading do so for a no-commission basis, which means the profits are higher to you than for commissioned stock trading. While there is always someone to pay in investments, forex can be an option which requires less of an initial pay-out from you.

The best forex trading methods are also the simplest. A more complicated trading method is not more likely to be successful than a simple one. All a complicated trading method will do is confuse you, leading you to mistrust your plan, overextend your account, and eventually suffer major losses of capital.

Give yourself breathing room before making any of the following changes to your trading plan. Increasing or decreasing your stop loss, moving your stop loss when it’s close to being hit, or taking trades without analysis. These are all changes you can make, but only after examining all of the pros and cons. Doing it just because you see a good trade will cause you to lose money more times than not.

Learn the best times to trade by identifying major trends. To identify major trends, you need to watch the forex market for a longer period of time. A day is best, but four hours is sufficient. By identifying major trends, you can make wiser trades for better profit on forex.

Once you’ve learned the basics of trading on the forex market, it can be a great place to invest your money. A little education can go a long way in protecting you from big losses. If you apply the lessons you’ve learned from this article, you’ll be a successful forex trader in no time.