Forex trading made simple (quick guide)

Reviewer

Do you want to profit faster as a novice trader? Then you should pay closer attention to the new trade copiers out there. Copy trading is getting more and more popular as most people haven’t time and effort to trade on their own. Manual trading is time consuming. Although you have set stops and limits to limit your risk, you need to check the performance all the time and make sure that trend lines are not broken or indicators behave as expected. Professional traders have the best tools, including several monitors to have full control of their charts. If you find a good trader, you may copy his trades. Copy trading is executed on the master account to several slave accounts.

FOREX TRADING

Why is it easier to make money on Forex trading today?

Before the copiers were launched, Forex trading was mainly a game for experts, the bank elite. Today everyone – you and me – just with Internet access can start trading, and by using different copiers you may also learn a lot of the strategies that are powerful and really work. The new technology allows the trades from one trader to be mirrored into a huge number of accounts. Using demo accounts and observing what other traders do is a smart way to develop your trading skills. But it is worth to mention that trading with copiers on real accounts may blow your account too. Risk management is Chapter One for new traders – losing money may happen super fast – if you don’t know what you are doing or if the trading behavior of the trader is changed. And most important of all – your risk management skills must not be underestimated. If you have proper risk management skills you may afford to copy several traders at the same time, and you may also afford to lose and recover at a later occasion. The biggest challenge when copying other traders is to know for how long time you should trust the trader – and for how long time you should be patient.

Questions you should consider to ask yourself if the trade copiers are not making money for days or weeks: –  Is it faster to just replace a trader with loss than waiting for him to recover? Do you understand the strategy of the trader you follow? Is the structure of the trading goodDoes the trader communicate well with his followers? Very often, the followers would like to have a quick feedback from their trader – especially while there are many open trades at the same time or many negative positions. It’s a smaller world now and the modern technology is available for everyone. That makes it easier to get help to make money, even for newbies. Communication is done by social media, such as Facebook groups and all kind of forums. Forex and Crypto traders need to take advantage of these new ways to communicate with other traders. Account managers will have an easier way to communicate thanks to the growth in the information sector for sure.

Why do full time traders win more than part time traders? 

If you ever have tried to trade on your own, you have probably learnt a lesson: Winning consistently requires talent and hard work. A full time trader should be able to manage trades 24-7 and not do the same mistakes as newbies. It’s easy to understand why newbies should dedicate time to the professionals and not trade on their own.

Forex trade copier service explained

This is exactly how copy trading works: The trader will trade on his own account and his trades will be posted at the same time in his followers’ accounts. Everyone, including newbies can just copy his trades and the same trades are copied into their accounts. You can look at it as a mirror. Whatever happens will be reflected immediately. If the trader wins, you win, and if the trader loses you lose, and if he doesn’t trade at all, there is no activity on your account neither.

Copy trading enables traders in the financial markets to automatically copy positions opened and managed by a selected investor, usually in the context of a social trading network.

“Leaders” publish live trades that “followers” copy. The copy-trading promise is for experienced operators to help novice traders learn and profit faster. Novice traders can undoubtedly gain from watching a master at work!

How easy is it to use a copy trader?

Should I begin with a demo account for my Forex trading? Even if you’re a total beginner, you can take advantage of the Forex market using one of the social trading services. They should be user friendly and are designed to be easy to understand even for a complete newbie. The copy service connects with experienced traders with those who would like to follow their activity and earn from their success – or if they lose you will lose. It’s as simple as that. We would always recommend you to copy the trader first using a demo account. In this way, you don’t risk anything and you learn what to expect by following a trader with a certain strategy. Afterwards, when you create a real account, you can begin with a low amount of money. Start as small as you like, e.g. $ 300-1000. With proper risk management settings, you will probably not make a lot in the beginning – don’t expect to become rich – with such a low investment amount, but it’s a great way to get experience. We would like to remind you that not losing is more important than winning in the trading business. Although most of the providers include Risk control features, you may like to run manual settings or override them. As long as you can afford to lose the money, you can also do as you want. If you prefer a careful or aggressive trading style, it’s up to you.

Why should you use trade copier services?

How is it possible to make profit copying other traders? By copying professional Forex traders you don’t need to trade on your own. By watching the history and the statistics of the traders’ portfolio, you can see who is performing well in the long run. As a follower you can just relax and let the professional traders work for you while you get passive income every month.

Can I trust my traders? When that is being said, you should actually check their performance on a frequent basis. Because it is your real money and you want to make sure everything is going well. Checking their daily, weekly and monthly results may reveal if their behavior is changed. It’s not good to become naive, because behind every professional trader there is a human, and a human may fail. As a follower you are free to close trades you don’t believe in, stop trades on your own or even reverse trades, so if a trader performs bad for a consistent period, you may choose to reverse the trend on your own – or replace the trader with another one that performs better. Experience is the keyword for success in the trading industry. A trader that can track his records for years and decades has probably been through many difficult situations through his carrier. He will know better how to handle unexpected situations and surprising news in the market than a complete newbie like you.

The stats will help you to find a profitable trader. Choose a trader that makes money every month. We like the illustration below – this trader delivers consistent profits every month. Forex Trading is all about making lots of money and is a great passive income.

Performance1

Should I choose a trade copier for MT4 or MT5?

Let us first make sure you understand: What is MetaTrader? What is MT4? It is a short for MetaTrader 4, the most widely used trading platform in the world. It is easy to find compatible brokers and copiers that support MT4. It will let the trade copier communicate between the platforms. Make sure to obtain a reliable copier which copy exact the same trades at the same time. If the copier doesn’t do what it suppose to do – to copy the exact trades from the other account to yours – you may lose money. It is important that the copier also catches the same stop loss and takes profit limits. Make sure to set the lot settings not too high. You should afford some losing weeks or months although it’s not ideal to lose for such a long time. Check the worst drawdown in the traders’ history, and notice how a bad month could look like. You should also check how many trades your trader normally have simultaneously. You can set the maximum number of trades you allow in the settings.

 

The difference between free trade copiers and paid ones?

Followers can either pay a lump sum (that could be a signal subscription fee like $ 100 or $ 200 per month) or a share in copy-profits. Many traders won’t profit-share, because once they disclose trades they can’t reliably monitor follow-profits…

Who deliver the best service? What kind of trade copiers should I choose? I have personally tried to copy traders, both the free ones and paid ones, and I can’t say who is better. Some people prefer to pay a monthly fee to a trader they know well, because they find this trader reliable and it is a safe investment. If you have a really big investment account (like $ 100.000), a fee of $100 or $ 200 a month are not too much for copying a good trader. You will probably make lots of money. But for people having just a goal of making some few hundred bucks per month will probably not afford using these premium traders. Although it is a premium service, there is no guaranty that the trader will have consistent profits and make money every month – no matter how good the stats look on the paper. The free trade copiers work differently: Brokers charge followers spread/commissions, and leader´s pay traces back to follower spread or commissions. The benefit of using these methods is that you can leave the trader quickly if he should change trading behavior or not be as profitable as expected. Personally, I would rather copy a good trader that just charges for the first Pips of every trade. I don’t like to commit to follow a trader by subscription. You may find it more difficult to leave a trader if you already have paid him for several months or years.

Choose a trade copier software with a great support system

What is important to check when you choose a trade copier? Check if the trade copier software provides customer support and their opening hours. I want to have access to customer service 24-7. I need to be able to talk with a service agent if anything happens – at least when the market is open from Sunday evening to Friday evening It should be easy to contact them (known as 24 – 5 at the brokers’ websites. I prefer to communicate with them on chat, and I expect to get in touch with an agent in just some few seconds or minutes.

A good trade copier should be able to simulate your performance based on your traders’ performance. It will make it easier to know what you may expect of results after using the trader for a specific time, such as one year.

The best ways to check the Forex charts on the go

Forex trading should be available everywhere. Trading is a lifestyle where you can work from everywhere, from home, on the beach or a coffee shop. You should have some criterias for the mobile app. The brokers’ own mobile app should work for both demo and live accounts, utilize low memory and contain good risk management tools. However, many of the brokers’ apps lack good charts. That is why you should download at least one good chart app. Our favorite chart app is free and is named MetaTrader 4 (MT4). You find a desktop version of MetaTrader 4 here – it works well on your computer. Continue reading for the best charts for mobile phones. Here you can see a MetaTrader 4 screen shot:

 

Screenshot 20180320 143005

 

Why should I use MT4? One of the great benefits of using MT4 is that you also will have access to all the charts on the go. There is an iPhone and Android version with all the great functionality you are looking for, and it is completely free to use. That means you can use your mobile phone or tablet on the go to check how the trades are going, and you also have 30 of the best indicators and other great features. By downloading the free MetaTrader 4 app, you will get

  • full management of your trading account
  • trading on the go 24 hours a day 5 days a week, while the market is open
  • all order types and execution modes are accessible
  • history of all trades are integrated
  • interactive symbol charts make it easy to have overview of the trades
  • you will find 3 types of charts: bars, Japanese candlesticks and broken line
  • 9 timeframes: from one minute to one month
  • 30 of the most popular technical indicators available from your mobile phone
  • 24 analytical objects included

Here you can see another Meta Trader 4 screenshot:

 

Screenshot 20180320 143016

Use MetaTrader for mobile phone

How can I be able to trade when I’m not in front of my computer? The flexible MetaTrader 4 is needed to implement a good trading strategy on the go. MT4 for mobile is mobile trading system paired with a full set of orders and trading functions. Instant execution orders let you trade Forex continuously, while pending ones relieve you from the necessity to constantly manage your trading. Your trading request will be executed even if the application is closed. Open positions can be modified by changing Stop Loss and Take Profit order levels in order to set your profit or minimize your losses.

All information regarding the amount of orders and open positions, open prices, volumes and account status can be found in the Trade window, while the History window provides detailed history of all previously performed trades.

Implement any strategy! The flexible MetaTrader 4 trading system for Android will help you. You can download MetaTrader 4 for Android free or for iPhone and iPad here.

We have also to mention MetaTrader 5 which is a newer version of this platform, but since many brokers still only use MetaTrader 4, we don’t cover it in detail. MetaTrader 5 (is just like MT4) an institutional multi-asset platform that offers great trading possibilities and technical analysis tools, as well as enabling the use of automated trading systems (trading robots) and copy trading. MetaTrader 5 is an all-in-one platform for trading Forex, Stocks, Futures and CFDs. As mentioned, MetaTrader 4 is still popular and there is no need to upgrade if you already have what you need. Copy speed and slippage don’t depend of version, but it depends on the broker you are using.

Execution of trades when using trade copier

Will you receive the trades to your account immediately? An average execution time will take between 100 to 200 ms for most users. If you copy a scalper, time does matter. Every second counts, and especially if you use a different platform than your trader, you have to expect and additional 200 ms at least.

Join a community and be coached in powerful Forex strategies

There are many good copiers out there, but more important than the copiers is actually your own psychology as a follower. When starting to follow a copier, you should make your own goals.

Ask yourself: How much money do I expect to make per month and per year? How much drawdown may I allow? Where should I set the stops and limits? How can I make sure that the trader is not changing behavior?

These questions may be difficult to answer. Especially if you don’t have long experience in the Forex market or haven’t traded anything else before. That is why it is great to join a copier community where you get frequently updates and assistance. In the community they will review which traders that deliver great results in the monthly and long run, and review them. They will give you expertise advice when it’s time to replace a trader, when to stop any trades. They will also assist you with recommended lot settings and other adjustments that can be helpful to boost your trading account. A common coaching strategy for trade copier is effective and powerful way to be profitable on a consistent basis with the traders you follow.