Technobabble

Virtual Forex Trading

Posted by on Mar 8, 2007 | 6 Comments

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at Forex trading, but have been afraid to ask? Forex.com is offering a deal for folks to “Experience the exciting world of currency trading with a FREE practice account.” Forget about your online poker addiction, my friends. With the US Government’s crackdown on Internet gambling, this just might be the biggest money game in town. Could it be time to get hooked on something new?

There I was this afternoon, unwittingly reading a CNNMoney.com article. Forex.com’s ad beckoned “TRADE TRADE TRADE MOOOOONEY,” with a Yen symbol for the Y. “Start trading currencies now.” A big pillowed LEARN HOW button called to me like a siren.

The landing page was simple. “Get Into Currency Trading,” read the headline. “The only thing that’s not real is the money in your account,” said the knockout type that floated over the photograph of foreign currency.

This sounded too good to be true.

Oh how I longed to take advantage of the $50,000 in virtual funds, real-time quotes and charts. I salivated over the thought of easy-to-use trading tools, daily research and trade ideas. The promise of 24-hour support by phone or live chat was ever so enticing.

I wanted to plug my info into the form and click the GET STARTED button. But I had a tinge of fear. Forex seems so mysterious, so alien … yes, even foreign … what if I pushed the wrong button and started trading real funds?

I would love to have the chance to “practice Forex trading under real market conditions, absolutely free.” Even better, with “no risk, no obligation.”

Alas, the squeeze page was left unsqueezed (or perhaps unsquozen, if you prefer the incorrect past tense). I just couldn’t cough up my info without learning more about the process.

[tags]forex[/tags]

  • http://www.forexsherpa.com Patrick Fitzsimmons

    Hi Dan,

    Why didn’t you give it a try? The cool thing about stock and currency trading as opposed to online gambling is that at least the at the odds aren’t stocked in favor of the house. Also, there’s no chance you’ll start trading real money unless you give them bank and credit card information, so you don’t have to worry about that. The one thing to watch for is that you don’t want to get seduced by early winnings. It takes two years at least to actually become a decent trader. If you win early it may have more to do with luck. But let me know if the trading works out for you.

    -Patrick

  • http://www.geekbooks.com/ Dan Gray

    I’ve been giving it some thought, Patrick … wondering how much of an investment of time it might require. Two years is quite a while. I just wonder how much time it would take each day.

    I know how I used to be when things started rolling at the roulette table or at racetrack … top of the world, ma! But I learned years ago that once you’re ahead, you have to get up from the table while you’re still gambling with their money. :)

  • http://www.backup4all.com Claudiu Spulber

    In Forex only about 5% of the “players” actually win the big bucks. Even if you have a good strategy, at a certain point the market will have an unpredictable turn.

    If you really want to be a trader, first thing to learn is discipline. Will you be able to set your targets without being influenced by current variations? Also, you need to make rigurous calculations on how much money to invest and how much can you risk losing.

  • http://forexprofiting.blogspot.com James

    I’m a full-time trader, and trade both UK shares and the forex markets.

    My advice would be to stick to the three main forex markets – the GBPUSD, EURUSD and USDJPY, and just watch them for a few weeks. See how they move, both intraday and over a longer timeframe.

    Also make use of free charting software and add technical indicators to your graphs to see how effective they are for predicting future moves. My favourite indicators are RSI, EMA, Stochastics and MACD Histogram.

    Finally I can highly recommend getting a copy of “Come Into My Trading Room” by Dr Alexnader Elder. It offers information not only on how to successfully trade the markets, but also has sections on mindset and discipline, which is very important if you are going to become a successful trader.

  • http://richbuddy.blogspot.com/ Nagendra Rai

    I think being profitable in Forex requires a lot of work, dedication, learn, practice, more than a good discipline, sharp knowledge of money management and understanding of the psychology of the currency market. Therefor it is better to practice on virtual currency before taking risk on your real money.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_PZA5BBMAIKRTG3JYF5EPIJQNAU Sophia Williams

    Forex trading is one of the best business now a days and many people are opting it for the earnings.. There is so much money in the business that you will be glad to invest in it..
    Forex