The Straightforward Guide to Getting Started with Forex Online

Explained in simple terms the Foreign Exchange Market (FX) is the arena in which one nation's currency is exchanged for that of another at a mutually agreed rate. It was created in the 1970's when international trade transitioned from fixed to floating exchange rates, and is now considered to be the largest financial market in the world because of its huge turnover. The Forex market can be broken up into four major trading sessions: the Sydney session, the Tokyo session, the London session and the New York session.

All currencies are traded in pairs, with the ‘base’ currency being the first currency of the pair and the ‘quote’ or ‘term’ currency being the second currency in the pair.

Base currency Quote currency Rate
USD JPY = 120.25

This abbreviation specifies how much you have to pay in the quote currency to obtain one unit of the base currency (in this example, 120.25 Japanese Yen for one US Dollar). The minimum rate fluctuation is called a point or a pip.

Most currencies, except USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, CHF/JPY and GBP/JPY where a pip is 0.01, have 4 digits after the period (a pip is 0.0001), and sometimes they are abbreviated to the last two digits. For example, if EURUSD is traded at 1.2389/1.2391 the quote may be abbreviated to 89/91.

When first starting Forex it’s important to read up on the subject and practice, practice, practice on demo accounts which most online trading companies provide free of charge. ICM Capital (www.ICMCapital.co.uk) is a highly respected company which offers this type of practice account free of charge. ICM Capital also offers extensive educational resources that help and support knowledge acquisition of the Forex trading industry. Once you feel comfortable that you know the ins and outs of this industry you can start trading for real.

The next step is to choose a professional broker and an easy-to-use trading platform. The ICM Capital web trading platform allows you to trade from anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home. It is important to have good internet access because the Forex market trades 24 hours a day; from Sunday night GMT to Friday night GMT.  The ICM Capital trading platform is called Meta Trader 4 and is highly regarded around the world.

Once you've chosen a Forex broker, the next step is to start the registration process, which is simple at ICM Capital; all you need to do is register online for the trading platform and follow the application process and complete the application by entering an initial deposit. ICM Capital have well trained and efficient staff to make this process as fast and hassle free as possible. Getting started trading Forex is easy and if you keep learning, training and practicing through a demo, you can quickly feel confident to move to trading a live account. 

For further information, help or assistance please visit our website www.ICMCapital.co.uk

CFD trading offers many benefits, but it's important to note that it carries a high level of risk to your capital, so you should only trade with money you can afford to lose. It is possible for you to lose more than your initial deposit so please ensure CFD trading meets your investment objectives and seek independent advice if necessary.

This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment or service. ICM Capital Ltd has based this document on information obtained from sources it believes to be reliable but which it has not independently verified. ICM Capital Ltd makes no guarantees, representations or warranties and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion herein are subject to change without notice.