Below you will find the six common beliefs followed by the bulk of traders - and if you believe these myths as well, then they will restrict your chances of making significant currency trading profits.

Ninety percent of currency traders believe at least one or more of these myths - which explains why ninety percent of traders don’t make much profit by trading currencies!

1. You should always be in the Market in Case you Miss a Move

Traders love excitement, and their view is, if they are in the market they may catch the big move. Well they may - but chances are they won’t.

The big trends only come a few times a year in each currency - and you should stay out the market until they come, otherwise you will take losses, and run up commissions that will deplete your account.

Wait for the big trades - patience is a virtue in trading.

2. Diversification Reduces Risk, and Increases Profit Potential

Diversification simply dilutes your profits.

You hit a big move, and your other trades that lose, or give you only marginal profits, eat up all your currency-trading profits.

You need to have confidence to go for the big moves, when they occur, and load up these trades.

Currency trading is about calculated risks - if the trade looks good, hit it hard for big profits.

3. Day Trading is Better than Long Term Trend Following, as it’s Less Risky.

Many brokers spread this myth - and why not? - They make more commission if you believe it!

You will end up having more losses than profits in your trading. You will never make enough money in a day to cover your inevitable losses. When you add in commission and slippage, it’s inevitable that you will lose.

You need to hold longer-term trends, as these yield the big profits to cover your smaller losses.

4. Timing the Market is the Correct Way to Make Profits

Timing the market means you are trying to PREDICT where prices are going to top and bottom - this is not a good way to trade and the odds are against you.

A better way to trade is to wait for the market to CONFIRM a trend is under way, and jump on board. You may not buy the bottom or sell the high, but you can catch the major chunk in between - and with currency trends lasting for many months or years, you can still get plenty of profits from the trend.

5. Markets are the Same Today as they Were Hundreds of Years Ago

Rubbish! Trends now are much more volatile than they were even 50 years ago. Why? Today, with the Internet, price information reaches every corner of the globe in a split second. This increases volatility as everyone has the same information at once - and everyone tries to enter the market at the same time.

This was not the case even 50 years ago - the trends are still there, but volatility is much higher - traders get the direction of the trend right, but they find themselves stopped out by the volatility. How often has this happened to you? - It happens to all traders. Look at using options to give you staying power.

6. You can use a Black Box System to Make Money

You can buy a system from a vendor for a few thousand dollars - and it can make 50 to 100% profit per annum.

These systems normally have a hypothetical track record - and use price information where the results are already known, and of course, the logic of the system remains hidden from you - as it’s unlikely to have a sound basis.

Have you ever wondered why these vendors sell systems, when they could simply get a bank loan and trade their own systems?

Enough said on this one!

How about some Positive Advice?

If you want to make big currency trading profits, you need to do it for yourself.

Get a plan you have confidence in, and execute the plan with discipline - and have the courage to trade for large gains when they occur.

Good luck!

The foreign exchange market or forex simply refers to making big money. This market is concerned with trading one type of currency for the other. You spend one type of currency to buy another. You need to invest some amount of money in your base currency. You can then use this currency to exchange with others and hence the name foreign exchange.

Ordinary trading deals with goods. You exchange goods for money. Foreign Exchange market deals with currencies. You exchange once foreign currency for the other. You won't have any commission based buying or selling. You sell a currency to buy another currency. You gain profit depending on the difference of value between the currencies. Putting it straight foreign exchange is trading related to currency conversion.

Foreign currency exchange is the largest and the most profitable financial market in the world. The trading is done between large banks, governments, great financial institutions and multinational companies. The foreign currency exchange business was not open to the public initially. But after 1998, many individuals started getting into this business. Nowadays, many intelligent people are making huge money with foreign currency exchange. The foreign currency exchange market has no business hours like stock market. The trading is open round the clock on all days except weak ends.

Foreign currency exchange quote always comes in pairs. The quote will be something like EUR/USD. The first part is the base currency and the second part is the counter currency. It means that you are exchanging the foreign currency Euro with US Dollars. You can purchase this quote when the value of Euro is expected to increase the value of USD. The changing currency exchange rates provide you the opportunity to get a profit bigger than the initial invested money.

The value of the currency you hold remains the same in the foreign exchange market. The amount of the currency you hold depends on the foreign exchange rate. When you have 20 Canadian dollars and if the exchange rate is 2 Canadian dollars for 1 US dollars, then you will sell the 20 Canadian dollars to buy 10 US dollars through foreign exchange. This is how buying and selling happens.

The market is very huge that $3 trillion are exchanged everyday. The number does not refer to the money value but the amount of currencies. Anybody can get involve in forex trading but you need to know the ins and outs to make profits. The profit is not based on commission of transactions. It is based on the currency exchange rates.

Individuals can enter into the foreign exchange market through the brokers. You must carefully choose your broker. You have to choose a company which has been in the market for quite a long time. Don't take heavy risks by associating with a company that has newly entered into the market. With internet online currency conversion has become easier. While trading you have to purchase only when if the currency is expected to increase in value. On the whole foreign currency exchange market runs purely on speculation.

Forex trading is where a person buys and sells the foreign currencies of different countries and is similar in many ways to stock trading. But just like stock prices you will soon find that the prices of foreign currencies also move up and down. Forex currency online trading is simply conducting forex trades electronically over the internet.

Although from reading above, it may seem that Forex currency online trading seems a bit dull, in fact it can be quite a lot of fun. Certainly this can often be one of the most profitable forms of internet investing opportunity that a person can get involved in. All you need to do is have a PC or laptop that is connected to the internet and an online forex account and you can start trading.

To trade forex online, all you need to do is open a forex account with one of the many brokers that advertise on the web. Usually for a regular forex account, a minimum of $5000 USD is required. If you do not have so much money, you can open a mini forex account. The minimum can be as low as $100 USD and you can perform all the functions similar to a regular forex account.

Once you have opened a forex account, you just need to follow the forex website simple instructions with regards to purchasing and selling currencies. Often you will find that when you initially purchase your currency the price will be low but within a matter of seconds or minutes the price will have gone up and so you may sell it and this is the way that you make your profit. Certainly by just buying, selling or trading these foreign currencies for between 3 and 4 hours each day a person can easily make between $500 and $1,000. Some forex traders can make a lot more as well.

There are many benefits that a person can gain from doing Forex currency online trading and one of these relates to real time access. Many brokers and trading companies online offer their customers real time quotes and data which is extremely crucial in the world of trading. As the currency market is extremely volatile and things can often change at the drop of a hat having your finger on the pulse of what is happening in the market is key.

Trading is considered to be 24 hours 5 days a week. It starts from 23.00 (EST) Sunday and closes at 24.00 (EST) Friday (trading server time). The time zone in forex trading is referenced in terms of Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Currency trading involves global exchange of currencies all around the world. When forex trading stops in one part of the globe, it opens in another part.

Here trading time does not follow the same time as is the case in other trading markets like the stocks and commodities. If one part of the world goes to sleep, the other part awakens.

When forex trading activity closes with the onset of darkness in one part of the world, it starts in other places with the onset of daylight. Thus, when there is night in Tokyo and Fx trading stops, it is daylight in London and forex activity starts. When London moves towards closure, trading in New York comes to life.

Along with the closing and opening of different forex markets at different times, volume of forex trading also changes. There is a brief lull in trading at certain times while other times are quite brisk.

Major centers of forex market are Wellington, New Zealand, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfort, London and New York. For time zones, we mostly concentrate on Japan, London and New York.

Timings in New York are from 8 am to 3 pm, G. Britain 3 am to 11 am, EUR 2 am to 10 am, Japan 8 pm to 3 am, Australia 7 pm to 2 am. The time is EST.

The volume of overall foreign currency trading on each trading day is the highest when British, European and US markets are open at the same time, that is from 1 pm (GMT) to 4 pm (GMT) or 8 am to 11 am EST.

You currency trading signal is your way of timing the market and determines whether you win or lose and most people lose as they don't understand one key fact behind their currency trading signal so here it is...

The key factor that will determine whether you win or lose long term with your forex trading strategy is - understanding the logic your signal is based upon and most new forex traders in particular, forget this and never make it part of their forex education.

There is a huge industry today in currency trading, where companies and vendors that will sell you currency trading signals and send them to your mobile, or your email box. Most traders simply take the vendors word for it or simulated track record, that these signals will make money.

The trader has no idea of the logic and as soon as they hit a few losses, they throw in the towel.

The same goes for forex traders who buy forex trading system software that generates trading signals. They again accept a simulated track record of profits and have no idea why the system should work (and in most cases it doesn't) and again they throw in the towel when they hit a few losses.

If you want to follow trading signals you MUST understand the logic they are based upon and be convinced it is soundly based, so you can follow the trading systems signals through the bad periods to hopefully, enjoy long term currency trading success.

The equation that is vital to succeed in forex trading (if you follow a vendor) or generate the trading signals yourself is:

Logical methodology = Understanding = Confidence = Discipline = Forex trading success.

Today, too many traders follow vendors who produce enticing marketing copy and make up a simulated track record in hindsight and the trader is blinded by greed and fails to check the logic is sound and that they understand it.

Where and when you enter your trading signal is vital to you winning longer term at FX trading and you need to know the logic, to have confidence in it and the discipline to follow the signals through periods of draw down.

The general perception is that any and every person who is involved in the business of trading of currency or foreign exchange is a person who has a super high IQ. To hear words and phrases like liquidity ratio, central bank intervention and inflationary demand makes us feel as if we are back in the boring and inherently avoidable lecture on economics that we were forced to attend in our college.

However, all these preconceived notions apart, forex or currency trading is not the domain for the super intelligent alone.

There is no doubt that you need brains to get involved in forex trading. Then, I bet you cannot name a single sphere of human activity that does not need the application of one’s mind. A bit of brains and lot of research can help you make a tidy sum in currency trading.

Till recently, the forex trading market was not open to individual investors. To take part in the process of buying and selling of currency, you either had to be a big bank with lots of deposits and assets under your belt or you had to be a big financial institution that carried out the business of trading in forex as its primary activity. Today you do not need a lot of capital to earn money in currency trading. A few thousand dollars as the initial capital is sufficient to get you started.

The advantages of trading in currency are manifold. The biggest advantage is that the currency trading market is a market that remains open round the clock. No other financial market stays open and operation twenty-four hours a day. This round the clock functioning results in constant and immediate reflection of economic, political and social events. A smart investor can take advantage of the fluctuation to make huge profits.

Further, the forex market works without any centralized exchange. There is direct interaction between the persons involved in currency trading over the telephone or electronic network.

However, just because it is easy to enter the currency trading market does not mean it is easy to make profit in the currency trading market. It is very important to possess knowledge of the forex market. You will have to grasp and establish your command over basic concepts. You will have to understand the significance of the technical indicators of the functioning of the forex market. Trying to gain complete knowledge of the currency market without actually entering into the field is like trying to learn swimming without entering the water.