What you need to know about forex as a beginner
Before starting forex trading, it’s important for beginners to understand a few key concepts to get off on the right foot. First, knowing how currency pairs work is essential—since forex trading always involves buying one currency and selling another. It helps to learn about major, minor, and exotic pairs so you can choose the right ones to trade. Understanding leverage and margin is also important because while leverage can boost your profits, it can also increase your losses.
Pips, which measure price changes, are how traders track their gains and losses. It’s useful to know when the forex market is most active, as this affects how prices move.
Finally, getting familiar with basic tools like charts and economic news helps you make smarter decisions. Knowing these basics will help you trade more confidently and manage your risks better.
Yes I agree, especially on forex market session times, a lot of beginners dont know when the market opens for certain instruments.
People at different sides of the globe will experience the same forex session at different times.
For example the London session in Nigeria starts from 8 am (during DST), but for another person in Kenya it will start from 10 am etc.
It is important to know the basics of trading, and to be honest, one can learn the basics of forex trading very quickly.
However, it is really important to understand that trading is fundamentally a risk management business. Most traders don't lose because they don't know how to do technical analysis, it is the relationship with loss.
It is really hard to accept losses, and protecting your capital at all costs. Most really good traders are really good at controlling losses, even when it means quickly accepting that you are wrong.
Believe me, it is really hard mentally. Technical analysis is not hard, that is why analysts are not traders. Anyone on youtube, who has zero risk on a trade, he/she can say anything. But when you have your position in the market, depending on who you are as a person, you can feel different emotions.
Also, I'll add that with experience you will learn how the instrument you trade moves, a lot of it is muscle memory, because you have seen that move over & over.
If you know someone who is actually profitable in trading, then the learning curve to profitability can be faster (although it is not guaranteed). Because you can see the trader managing their risk, and you will see them doing what they know.
But never pay anyone to teach you about trading.