10 Tips for Traders and Investors...

1. Do NOT believe everything you are told. Do NOT fall for the 'FOREX is a business where everybody wins' myth. This is not a charity program, but an industry where competition is as tough as it can be.

2. Respect your rights, respect yourself. Remember, you are the guy with the cash. Brokers, advisors, money managers, writers, educators, etc., all of them need you. While you still hold a penny that you are willing to invest, you can be sure that you are important to everybody. They will write to you, call you, invite you over for tea, give you presents, promotions, whatever. Do NOT believe that they are doing all this for you. You have the right to be moody, to take your time and choose whatever suits you from all this, you have the right to ask questions and receive proper answers.

3. Get to know the business. Know the actors, the trading mechanisms, who does what, when and for which purpose. It will help you avoid being taken for a ride. Trade a demo account before trading real money, and take it seriously. Ask everywhere you can for information on all matters that are unclear to you, ask for second and third opinions. That could make you see things you never believed were there.

4. Whenever you decide to put some money on the market, do it smartly. Never invest a dollar more than you are prepared to lose. I mean really, NEVER! They will all tell you that, and of all clichés this is probably the one with most truth in it. Make sure you fully understand and accept the high risk of trading and the possibility that you lose the ENTIRE capital invested.

5. Whether you are trading yourself or having someone trade for you, make sure your leverage stays as low as possible, preferably under 10:1, ideally 1:1. The leverage is a loan a broker offers you during a trade so that you have more buying power and increase your profits (and your losses, by the way!). The higher the leverage, the higher the risk. Refuse the services of any money manager who offers to trade on your account with a 200:1 or higher leverage. Trading is a serious business, and should not be treated as a state lottery.

6. Choose well your business partners: your broker, your trader, your bank. They determine to a large extent your success and failure as an investor. If you need help with that please contact us, we will be happy to assist you at least with some advice.

7. Treat trading as a business, not as a means to get rich instantly. Try to design a business plan, set your objectives clearly, analyze your results objectively. If it goes well over a fair period of time you may be on the right track. If you see trading is constantly losing your money just change your entire approach to it, or simply drop it, take up something else. Life's too short.

8. Always learn, always advance. Make sure you are smarter today than yesterday, and that the mistakes you've been making so far will not repeat themselves over and over. Stay close to your business, but also give it proper space to breathe.

9. Control your emotions at all times. Easy to say and difficult to achieve, that's for sure, but it's a must. Don't be greedy. Don't be shy either, don't fear the market. In both cases it will eat you alive before you even know it.

10. Have patience, and have fun! Give trading time to yield the expected results. Enjoy it while you're there. If you don't just love every minute of it, if you don't give the market a part of who you are, it will never offer you something valuable in return.

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