Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Choosing Forex Accounts

By Ahmad Hassam

Good money management is the key to your long term success in currency trading. Many people ignore this aspect of trading at their own peril. Trading discipline means using a trading system that uses good money management rules to avoid using emotions in making trading decisions.

You need to have sufficient capital in your account if you want to make meaningful profits. One of the worst blunders that currency traders can make is to trade without sufficient capital. Low capital increases your chances of getting blown out too soon. This does not mean that you should have a lot of money before you start trading. It only means that you need to have enough capital in your account in order take advantage of the movements in the currency markets.

A trader with limited capital is always a worried traders always looking to minimize losses beyond the point of realistic trading. The minimum amount required to open a standard account with most forex brokers is $2000. You can start with $2000 but it is recommended by most of the professional traders that you should start with $5000-$10,000 to get good results.

A regular account or a standard account often also called 100k account lets you trade a $100,000 standard lot with a $1000 deposit. This $1000 is kept as the margin by the broker. This is a 1% margin.

When you open an account with the broker, you must determine what the default margin is. You can change the account margin to whatever you feel comfortable with. If you start with a 2% margin, then it will cost you $2000 to trade one standard lot.

Many brokers try to offer huge leverage to the new trades in order to entice them. You can get a leverage of 200% in most of the standard accounts. Using 200% leverage means trading $200,000 with a $1000 deposit. With this small deposit you are controlling a huge amount. Be careful! Dont use more than 4% leverage while trading in the beginning. Too much leverage is dangerous.

I am not saying that leverage is bad. You need to know it is a double edged sword that can cut both ways. It can increase your ROI but at the same time it can wipe you out in case of a slight market move going against you. Its just that you need to understand and learn how to use leverage. You can only do so with practice and with practice and more experience; you can increase the level of leverage in your trading.

The mini account was developed to accommodate investors who were looking for diversification of their stocks portfolios. You can open a mini account with a deposit of $300. This small dollar requirement allows many investors to participate in the forex markets who were previously unable to do so.

One lot on a mini account means $10,000. On a mini account, you have a different lot size as compared to the standard account. You only need $50 to control a mini lot of $10,000. This is a leverage of 200%. Pip size on a mini account is also small as compared to the standard account. A pip size on the mini account is equal to $1 instead of $10 as on a standard lot.

If you lose 100 pips on a mini account, it means losing only $100. Losing 100 pips equal $1000 on a standard lot. A mini account reduces your risk by 10%. But it also reduces the profit that you can make by 10%. Start with at least $500 on a mini account. A mini account is a great way for new traders to practice forex trading. First develop the feel of how the forex markets work. Once you become an expert, trade on a standard account. Standard lot gives you the opportunity to make good ROI.

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