Before this article I would like introduce my friend Leo, Leo has been a reader of the blog and has been in my premium trading service. So visit Leo’s site and we expect to see many good things that will be of great value from Leo. Also Follow Leo on Twitter.
Leo Ong— Forexandlife.com
Forex trading is the easiest and fastest way to get rich. Really! After all, haven’t you seen ads all over the internet conveying the same message to you? “Ex top bank trader reveals the one secret that makes 1,000% a month!”, “Quit your job in one week after learning our simple strategy”, “How one trader turned $2,000 to $1,000,000 in 8 months!”, no-loss robots and many more ads fill your screen day by day showing you the possibility of your life filled with riches if you step into the world of forex trading. All you need is to pay USD 49 and you will become a millionaire! After all, there is a 30-day money back guarantee (which according to marketing research, a lot of people do not bother asking for a refund even if they don’t like the product). So come one, come all and buy this product that will instantly change your life!
How many people reading this right now have, in one way or another either believed the above OR have been “tricked” into forex trading by something that is similar in nature to the above? I won’t lie to you, I have clicked on many such wonderfully marketed ads and may even have learned a thing or two from them but it was far from making 1,000% a month, a no-loss robot nor did it turn my $2,000 into $1,000,000.
Learning to Pay
The forex spot market has a daily turnover $3 trillion dollars and more. While trillion is a figure many have not heard of til the recent bailouts (and the now famous term “too big to fail”), the enormous amount of money in the forex markets continue to attract people to this “lucrative” market day by day. The reason why good traders make money is because suckers (excuse my term but I feel it is the best word to really define what I want to mean) continue throwing money into the market after buying a Holy Grail e-book or after they find some free “make one million” trading system from the internet. Now, while every decent/good trader I know has been a sucker i.e. blown an account, lost lots of money etc in their quest to be a profitable trader, the question to ask is, how long do you want to remain one?
Let me digress a little. Say you need to go for a brain surgery. Would you opt for the brain surgeon who has gone through seven years of specialization in brain surgery or would you opt for your next door neighbor who has just bought the latest copy of ‘Brain Surgery for Dummies’? Would you board a plane with a pilot with hundreds of hours of flight experience or would you be comfortable with a ‘pilot’ that just bought the latest video of ‘How to Fly in 80 days?’
Whether you choose to accept the fact or not, being a professional trader takes more education than an online e-book and more time and effort than you think. If you think you can be a great trader without having to spend some money on your education as a trader, I am pretty sure you will learn that the market will let you learn to pay the price of being a sucker.
Paying to Learn
Okay, so you’ve been slapped around a few times and you decide it’s now time to pay to learn how to trade. Who do I seek? Where do I go to? What do I do? While I can provide no answer to the path of the Forex Oracle, here are some of the stuff you can pay for (both in money and time) to improve your trading:
1. Trading Books – No, not those e-books that cost USD 49 with a 30-day money back guarantee (although you might learn a thing or two from there) . Get books on trading psychology, books on money management, books on success stories, good trading systems etc.
2. Trading Courses – The biggest problem with courses is that you pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a few day course. Let’s be honest, how much can one really absorb in a few days especially if they are new. The best way to go about courses is to ask for feedback from either previous participants and experienced traders. You may even find a couple of feedbacks from online forex forums. The most effective courses also come with some form of “after course” support where the student can continue to ask questions and receive guidance after the course.
3. Trading Rooms – Of late, this source of learning has become popular as students get to mingle with both the instructor(s) and fellow students. One such trading is the Winner’s Edge Trading Live Trading Room. These group of people really have a good time and really are excited about each other making money. When looking for a trading room, make sure that their trading style suits you and that they are as interested in everyone making money as they are interested in your subscription.
4. Trading Mentor – A good trading mentor is the hardest to find. Most are either are too busy making very good money or are too expensive to pay for. However, if you can get one, this is one of the fastest ways to be successful at trading. That being said, there are probably a few out there who might do it for free or at reasonable prices. It all depends on how hard you look and how you manage to convince them to take you under their wings.
I have left out forums, which are also great places to meet fellow traders and learn stuff for free. However, new traders will struggle to filter out quality information from the rest which can make it a very confusing experience. You’ll probably want to join forums after you have had some experience.
Whichever source of learning you choose to pay for, make sure that it suits your personality and your budget. You do not want to buy something to realize that requires you to be at the computer twelve hours a day when you only have two hours. Neither do you want to spend all your money on some course and be left with no money to trade after that.
Lastly, the road to successful trading requires an investment combination of money, time and effort. Make sure you allocate time and budget to Pay to Learn or you’ll sure be Learning to Pay.
Happy Trading,
Leo
Forex and Life – http://www.forexandlife.com
