Opportunities and risks of trading: A beginner's guide

Trading can be challenging for beginners. That's why it's worth reading this article. After reading it, you will be one step closer to your goal of making successful trades on your own.
The basics of trading for beginners

What is Trading?

Some trading beginners still think of the term "trading" as a stock exchange floor, where professionals such as brokers and banking experts shout orders at each other and execute them.
In fact, until relatively recently, it was a laborious business to get into. Transactions were only conducted on exchanges and you needed a license to gain access.
The Internet made the whole process of stock market trading much easier for everyone. This gave birth to a whole new phenomenon - online trading. This is what we mean when we talk about "trading" for a moment.
For some it became a hobby, for others a full-time profession. And although it is now widespread among private investors, many still don't know what online trading even is, why it is so popular, and how easy it is to get started as a beginner.

So what is online trading? One possible definition is that it is trading in the financial markets over the Internet. In the past, transactions were done in person or over the phone. Today, each transaction is completed with the help of an electronic terminal called a trading platform.

All you need as a trading beginner is a computer with Internet access and an installed trading platform.
Thus, Internet trading allows virtually anyone to complete trades on the financial market within seconds. However, one thing remains the same compared to pre-Internet times: a private investor still needs a broker to be able to trade.

A broker provides the trader with the software to place orders and then executes them in the name and for the account of the trader. More about this later.

How are prices created on the stock market?

As promised, we'll take the time to clarify the basics and make trading as understandable as possible for beginners.

What is an exchange? And what is a price? One could of course answer: An exchange is where trading takes place, and a price is what something costs. But this is too simple. And above all, one does not recognize the background.

Let's start with the price. Price formation is really a process of information gathering. It ensures that market participants are sufficiently informed about the assets traded in the market so that they can make informed decisions.

So when people talk about something costing a certain amount, it is a statement about the supply and demand situation at the time. Economists therefore speak of the information function of prices.
Simply put, these decisions are buying (demand) or selling (supply). Prices thus come about through the interaction of supply and demand.

At the point where the supply and demand curves intersect is the (theoretical) market equilibrium. This means that every demand is satisfied by a corresponding supply.

However, if the price is above equilibrium, there is excess supply for which there is no demand. So a new equilibrium must be found and either prices or quantities change accordingly.
So much for the basics of economic theory. But what does the whole thing look like in the practice of financial markets?

Like markets where goods are traded, financial markets bring buyers and sellers together and establish prices that ensure that available supply matches demand.
Financial instruments are products whose earnings prospects are difficult to predict. When you buy a financial asset, you implicitly make assumptions about the future cash flows that could come to you from that asset. However, these cash flows are hard to predict, and the person you are buying from may have an informational advantage over you.

This unique characteristic makes the process of information gathering in financial markets particularly important. Price formation is thus a central component of well-functioning markets.

A continuous price increase is called an upward trend, and a price decrease is called a downward trend. Sustained upward trends form a so-called bull market and sustained downward trends are called bear markets.
Incidentally, the origin of these terms is not fully understood. Legend has it that the bear pushes an attacker down with his paw, whereas the bull throws him up with his horns.
In any case, it is crucial to understand that there are other factors that can affect prices and cause sudden or temporary changes. These include important corporate events such as earnings announcements or economic and political news.

Prices can also be driven by what is known as herd instinct, which is the tendency of market participants to mimic the actions of a larger group. For example, if more and more investors buy a stock, driving the price ever higher, others jump on board, assuming that the crowd can't be wrong - or that it knows something that you don't know yourself.

Conversely, it can happen that market sentiment takes a turn for the worse. When a wave of selling then sets in, many investors follow this trend without giving it any further thought.
Such behavior naturally contradicts the theory of supply and demand, which assumes the rational behavior of economic agents. In a herd mentality situation, there is usually no fundamental or technical rationale for the behavior (see the section "Fundamental and Technical Analysis" below).

Nevertheless, market participants keep buying or selling simply because others are doing so and they are afraid of missing out. This is one of many phenomena studied under the concept of behavioral finance.
The market and its participants

The term financial market is the name given to the abstract place where regular activities of buying and selling a variety of possible financial instruments take place.
The associated transactions are conducted through institutionalized formal exchanges or over-the-counter marketplaces (known as over-the-counter or OTC trading) that operate according to a set of established rules.
The group of participants in these markets is diverse.

Central banks provide money to the economy. Commercial banks are also involved in money creation, but can also act as securities dealers.

Fund companies collect money from investors and invest it for a specific purpose. Industrial companies and insurance companies can take on different roles. Either they offer financial instruments for sale themselves, such as bonds, or they act as investors themselves.

Brokers, on the other hand, are the link between investors and the financial markets. Trading beginners sometimes overlook the fact that the broker is not just a broker, but an important market participant who wants to be well chosen.

Trading beginners should know these terms
Online trading for beginners is a broad field. It is easy to get lost in the thicket of technical terms such as pips, ticks and lots. Therefore, this chapter offers an introduction to the basic terminology, so to speak, trading for beginners in technical jargon.

So that this does not get out of hand, we will limit ourselves primarily to the field of CFD trading and the central terms for it.

CFD

CFD stands for Contract for Difference. The instrument offers several advantages that have made it popular especially among trading beginners.

A CFD is a type of security derived from an asset. Therefore, CFDs also belong to the so-called financial derivatives. The underlying asset, the so-called underlying, can in principle be anything: Shares, an index, commodities and much more.

CFDs offer traders the opportunity to profit from price movements without owning the underlying asset. It is a relatively simple construct whose value is simply calculated by the price change of the underlying asset.
The transaction is formally a contract directly between the client and broker, without the intermediary of a stock, forex, commodity or futures exchange.

The advantages of CFDs include access to the market of the underlying asset at a lower cost than direct purchase. The execution of the trade is comparatively simple.

CFD traders also appreciate the possibility, in addition to buying CFDs in anticipation of rising prices (so-called long position), to sell them "short". Thus, one can also make a profit when prices are falling (short selling).

A disadvantage of CFDs is the immediate reduction of the investor's initial position, which is reduced by the size of the spread when entering the CFD. More about this below in the "Spread" section. Moreover, the leverage used in CFD trading multiplies not only the potential profits, but also the potential losses.
In summary, CFDs are suitable for trading beginners because of their transparency and favorable cost structure. Futures, options or certificates have more disadvantages compared to CFDs, for example, the higher capital investment. Therefore, they are more likely to be the instruments of choice for experienced traders. Many beginners choose trading with CFDs.

Fundamental and technical analysis

Before we get into the individual technical terms, it is useful for an introduction to trading for beginners to briefly introduce the two approaches to assessing the markets: fundamental and technical analysis.
Both are, in a way, on opposite poles. Fundamental analysis aims to determine the "true" value of a financial instrument (the so-called intrinsic value). To do this, it looks at all kinds of data, from the overall economy and the state of certain industries to the financial situation and management of companies. Earnings, expenses, assets and liabilities are important characteristics for fundamental analysts.
In contrast, technical analysis uses only the price and traded volume of an instrument as input. The core assumption here is that all crucial fundamental data is already reflected in the prices. Therefore, these themselves do not need to be analyzed in more detail.

So instead of looking at intrinsic value, technical analysts use price charts to try to identify patterns and trends, and thus identify future price developments.

These price charts, usually called charts, are the central tool of technical analysis.

Chart

The trading chart displays information that can help you decide when to open and close a position. There are many types of charts, such as bar charts, line charts and candlestick charts.
The candlestick chart is one of the most widely used chart types. One of the reasons is that each candle provides four points of information-.

A candlestick chart can be thought of as a combination of a line chart and a bar chart. If the candle is red, the market has fallen in the trading interval, so the closing price is below the opening price. If the candle is green, it is exactly the opposite.

In MetaTrader, the most widely used trading software, you can select and customize the chart types according to your preferences. The colors of the candles are also flexible.

Order

When an investor gives an order to his broker to trade a certain financial instrument on his behalf, it is called an order.
Often, however, the trading order is not simply "buy or sell." Rather, certain conditions are attached to the order in terms of execution price or time.
There are different types of orders, which even the trading beginner should use. The most common are market, limit and stop-loss orders.

A market order is an order to buy or sell a security immediately at the prevailing market conditions. This type of order guarantees that the order will be executed, but not the execution price.
A market order is generally executed at or near the current bid price (for a sell order) or ask price (for a buy order). However, it is important for investors to remember that the last traded price visible to the trader is not necessarily the price at which the order is then executed. The final execution price depends on the one hand on the execution speed of the broker and on the other hand on the volatility of the traded instrument.

A limit order is an order to buy or sell a security at a certain price or better. A buy limit order can only be executed at the limit price or lower, and a sell limit order can only be executed at the limit price or higher.

Example: An investor wants to buy shares of company X for not more than 10 US-DOLLAR each. He can place a limit order for this purpose, which will only be executed if the share price is $10 or less.
A stop order, also known as a stop loss order, is an order to buy or sell a stock when the price of the stock reaches the specified price, called the stop price. When the stop price is reached, a stop order becomes a market order.

A buy stop order is entered at a stop price that is higher than the current market price. Investors generally use a buy stop order to limit a loss or protect a profit on a stock they have sold short.
A sell stop order is entered at a stop price below the current market price. Investors generally use a sell stop order to limit a loss or protect a profit on a stock they own.

Lot

The word "lot" simply refers to the quantity of something. In the financial world, lot size refers to the quantity of a particular instrument being traded.

Lots are used to standardize trade sizes in Forex and CFD trading, among others. For example, in Forex trading there are the following lot sizes:

Lot size Units of the base currency
Standard (1.0 lot) 100,000
Mini (0.10 lot) 10,000
Micro (0.01 lot) 1,000
Nano (0.001 lot) 100

Especially trading beginners should know the different lot sizes. They are fundamental to knowing how much of something to trade in the first place.
The practical difficulty is that what exactly a lot is depends on the underlying asset.
For CFDs, the simple formula is 1 lot = 1 CFD. In addition, traders should always inform themselves about the respective contract details of the chosen financial instrument.

Pip

A pip, short for "price interest point" (although the exact origin of the word is not clear), is a term used in Forex trading. It represents the measure of the change in a currency pair on the foreign exchange market.

A pip is the smallest amount by which a currency quote can change. Exchange rates always refer to a currency pair and state what currency A is worth in terms of currency B.
The rates are given with several decimal places. For example, the rate of the EUR/USD currency pair may increase from 1.1816 to 1.1817. This change at the fourth decimal place corresponds to one pip.
By the way, a similar term is the tick, which indicates the smallest permissible price movement of a financial instrument.

Spread

With the term spread, it also makes sense to first understand the meaning of the word. In English, spread stands for "spread" or "dispersion". Basically, a spread can refer to the spread or difference of two values, whether interest rates, yields or prices of a financial instrument.
In trading, the spread is the difference between the bid (from "offer," referring to the buyer) and the ask price (from "demand," referring to the seller). Therefore, the spread is also often referred to as the bid-ask spread (or in German, as the bid-ask spread).

Along with the commission (see below), the spread is the most important item in the transaction costs of a trade. The broker finances his service offer through the difference between the selling and buying price. The purchase or repurchase price is therefore always slightly lower than the selling price.
From the investor's point of view, this means that the spread must first be "earned" before a trade ends up in the profit zone.

Commission

Similar to the spread, the commission (sometimes called commission) is a fee charged by the broker for his service. Unlike the spread, however, the commission usually does not change during the trading day, but is calculated as a percentage or absolute share of a reference value.
However, commissions can differ from broker to broker and from financial instrument to financial instrument - sometimes even significantly.

Margin and Leverage

CFDs are so-called leverage products. The leverage is created by the margin. What does it all mean?
The English word "margin" can also be translated as leeway. This captures the essence of its meaning quite well. Margin trading is about the following: Instead of backing the entire equivalent value of a trading position with one's own capital, the trade is only opened with a security deposit (the margin), which amounts to a fraction of the traded capital.

The difference between the actual value of the transaction and the deposited margin creates the leverage, which could also be called the trading margin. It is the quotient of the trade size and the margin.
For example, if the margin is 20%, the leverage is equal to five. This means that with one euro of deposited margin, five euros of profit can be made. However, it is important to remember that the leverage can also work in the opposite direction and amplify possible losses.

Indicator

The subject of economic indicators is simple only at first sight. From the meaning of the word it is clear that an indicator shows something. This means that certain data are interpreted in such a way that either the past or the future development of the economy can be better predicted or understood.
Commonly known examples of economic indicators are the gross domestic product (GDP) or the unemployment rate.

In trading there are a lot of special indicators. However, the problem already starts with filtering out which indicator is the right one for the respective purpose. With this question, not only trading beginners quickly reach their limits.

Just how diverse the topic of indicators can be is shown by two somewhat bizarre examples from the USA:
- The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Indicator correlates the performance of the S&P 500 in a given year with the nationality of the swimsuit model who appears on the cover of the respective issue of the sports magazine Sports Illustrated.
- The Leading Lipstick Indicator suggests that an increase in sales of less expensive luxury goods such as lipsticks may indicate an impending recession or a period of diminished consumer confidence.

These two examples show that indicators are not always about hard science and reliable utility. Some indicators can be seen to be a tentative attempt to shed light on a future that is in the dark.
In terms of trading for beginners, this means that you should use indicators as tools, but not trust them blindly. If there was an indicator that could reliably predict price trends, all traders who used it would be rich.

From the multitude of trading indicators that should also play a role in trading for beginners, here is a brief look at three of the most important.
- Moving Average: The reason for calculating the moving average is to make the price data more meaningful over a period of time. To do this, a constantly updated average price is created in order to use it to smooth out outliers in the price trend during a certain period. This way, their significance is not overstated. The simplest variant is to create the arithmetic mean of different prices of a time period.
- Fibonacci Retracements: The name goes back to the Italian mathematician of the 13th century Leonardo Fibonacci. Retracement is to be understood in the sense of (price) collapse. Traders use Fibonacci retracements to draw support lines, identify resistance levels, place stop loss orders and set target prices. A Fibonacci retracement is created by identifying two extreme points on a price chart and dividing the vertical distance between the two by the major Fibonacci ratios of 23.6%, 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% and 100%.

- Trend: You may have heard the trading adages "follow the trend" or "the trend is your friend". They suggest how important trends are for many traders, even if they are not indicators in the true sense. If you can identify either an uptrend or a downtrend, that is definitely an advantage. The only problem is that you can practically never be sure if the specific point in time you are in is still or already a trend, or just a short-term price movement.

Finally, here is a trading for beginners tip: Never rely only on indicators. Especially trading beginners tend to pick an indicator and trade what this indicator is currently showing.
This will go wrong in the majority of cases. Consider indicators only as one of several elements of your strategy. And do not rely on a single indicator. Try to use several at the same time to get an idea of the market situation.

Which markets are suitable for trading beginners?

As explained above, when trading for beginners, CFDs are a suitable instrument. Therefore, this section focuses on the underlying assets that can be traded via CFD.

Of course, this is not an investment recommendation. But a few points will be elaborated to show why some underlyings are suitable for trading beginners.

Currency pairs (Forex): In currency trading, the price of one currency is always expressed in units of the second currency. Therefore, in Forex trading you always trade two currencies.
The foreign exchange market is one of the most active and liquid markets. Many billions are turned over every day. This makes the Forex market attractive for beginners.

However, one should also keep in mind that the price fluctuations, i.e. volatility, can be comparatively high. Especially currency markets react quickly and sometimes violently to certain news from politics and economy.

Indices are among the most suitable underlyings for trading beginners. Due to the fact that in an index always numerous individual values are gathered, a risk spreading through diversification is automatically given.

Make sure to choose an index that is as broad and well-known as possible as the underlying.
Stocks: This diversification advantage does not apply to individual stocks, but CFDs on stocks can still be recommended for trading for beginners. This is because the development of the underlying is easier to follow than, for example, with CFDs on futures.

ETFs, or Exchange Traded Funds, generally track an index. Therefore, essentially the same applies to ETFs as CFD underlying as to indices in general. Of course, you should also know other details of the ETF you are considering, such as the replication method.

Commodities, for example precious metals or agricultural products, are often subject to high volatility, similar to foreign exchange. Therefore, one should already have some experience and be able to estimate the price formation of the respective commodity. Just as an example, the price development of crude oil is influenced by different factors than that of organ juice concentrate.

Cryptocurrencies: With Bitcoin & Co. caution is required for the trading beginner. In this area, a certain expertise is essential to assess the market situation and future price development.
In summary, foreign exchange, stocks, indices and ETFs are more suitable for trading for dummies than cryptos. Gain experience with the more manageable instruments first before you venture into the more difficult ones.

What costs should trading beginners expect?
Brokers charge for the provision of a trading account and the processing of trading orders. It is worthwhile to compare, as the differences are sometimes considerable. On the one hand, the same types of costs can differ in their amount, on the other hand, some brokers charge for services that are free of charge with competitors.

With the following cost overview you are prepared for trading for beginners.
Spread
As mentioned above, the spread usually refers to a price difference that is nominally only small. However, this should not tempt you to give no importance to the spread. Remember that your trading profit is always the trading profit minus costs. If the spread is too high, it can eat up your profits.

Commission
The relationship between (gross) profit and (net) return naturally applies equally to commissions. Make sure that these are also as low as possible. What is most favorable for you, spread or commission, depends, among other things, on your trading behavior. Do you open and close dozens of positions every day, or is your trading frequency low?
Account management fees
Quite a few brokers charge flat account maintenance fees. However, with some providers you get your live trading account for free. By the way, the same applies to the demo account, which is the ideal way for beginners to get started with trading, where you can practice everything.
Fees for deposits and withdrawals
This cost item can also come into play with some brokers.

Overnight holding costs (swap)
The active trader, who is in fact often a day trader, opens and closes his trading positions on the same day. Sometimes it can happen that a position is held over night or even over the weekend. This incurs certain costs, also called swap. These swaps are passed on by the broker to the trader.
Inactivity fees
It is understandable that brokers cannot provide the infrastructure for live accounts for free. Especially not if these then lie idle and are not used for trading.
Some brokers therefore charge inactivity fees from the very first month.
Software costs
There are even brokers that charge a fee for providing the trading platform. You should avoid this in any case. Likewise, some providers provide you with popular trading softwares such as MetaTrader for free download.
10 important tips for beginners
Technical jargon, unfamiliar software, decisions to make: Online trading can be a bit overwhelming for beginners.
The good news is that it ends up being easier than you might think. Quickly, you'll have a better grasp of what's going on. The following 10 tips will help you get started.
1. choose the right broker
Sure, not all brokers are the same. But what should the trading beginner look for when choosing a broker? Here are the most important points:
- The broker must be regulated, i.e. subject to official control, preferably by such renowned authorities as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) from the UK, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) from Cyprus, the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) from Estonia or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) from Australia.
- Broker account costs must be fair, transparent, and most importantly, low. Don't let costs eat away at your returns.
- The broker should get very good ratings in independent customer surveys.

2. choose the right trading software
Without an electronic trading platform, there is no online trading. And since the software is your direct link to the markets and your broker respectively, you need to be able to rely on it.
The most widely used platform in the world is MetaTrader.

3. do not use too complicated strategy
Having a trading strategy is good. What is bad is if it is so complex that you do not understand it yourself.
As a CFD or Forex beginner you should start small. Set up a clear and easy to follow strategy and gain experience with it. Based on this, you can gradually refine your strategies.

4. test your trading strategy and stick to it
The best strategy is worth nothing if the trader does not follow it. Therefore, for trading beginners and professionals alike: First, design strategy, second, test it in demo account and third, stick to the plan!
5. make a trading plan
Putting together a trading plan is of paramount importance to your success for several reasons. In the trading plan you set rules for market entry (Entry) and exit (Exit). You also set the levels of stop loss, take profit and the target price.
You should then stick to these rules unconditionally. Only in this way will you be able to maintain the necessary discipline. Trading psychology plays an important role in your success.
Every person tends to panic in case of losses. He then wants to make up for the lost money as quickly as possible with higher stakes. Exactly in this situation it comes to rash actions, which lead then mostly to still higher losses. In order to avoid such panic reactions, traders should always stick to the plan they have drawn up themselves.
Incidentally, psychology also comes into play when you make high profits. Then you believe all too quickly that from now on you can no longer make the wrong decisions. And that, you guessed it, can lead to arrogance and wrong, potentially disastrous decisions - all the way to the dreaded margin call.
To avoid one, you should first test your trading strategy selection and the composition of your trading plan risk-free, without having to bet real money right away.
6. keep a trading diary
A budding trader needs to develop a mindset like a business owner. Every business needs a business plan, constant monitoring and regular audits. Simply rushing ahead without any plan is the direct path to a fiasco.
Therefore, we recommend that you keep a trading diary. The following points should be noted in it on a daily basis:
1. starting points for further research
2. reasons for opening or closing a trade
3. your successes and trading mistakes
You can then use your diary to analyze your trading activities. It ensures that none of your actions are in vain. Analyzing good trades will boost your confidence in your trading strategies and thus motivate you to do even better and dare to do more. Analyzing the bad trades, on the other hand, will help you recognize mistakes and avoid them in the future.
7. the trend is your friend
Whether you are a trading beginner or an advanced trader: You should trade what you see, not what you think. For example, you may think that the U.S. dollar is overvalued - and has been for too long.
Of course, you now want to go short, which you might even be right about. But if the rate continues to rise, it doesn't matter what you thought. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks - if the price goes up, then you should adjust your trading to the trend.
8. be careful with high volatility
Market volatility does keep your trading activity going. However, if you are not careful, it can become a danger especially for trading beginners. When the market is volatile, it moves sideways. As a result, spreads may increase and your orders may be triggered with a delay.
You should make volatility analysis part of your trading strategy. As a trading beginner, you need to accept that anything imaginable can happen after the market enters. In the worst case scenario, the respective development can completely invalidate your strategy.

9. in this industry every news is old
When you learn about relevant news through the media, the market has already processed it. The only thing that such news promises is volatility.
Spreads rise as soon as news is released. Before you know it, you are dealing with price gaps or delayed stop losses. Unless you are a professional news trader, trading beginners should stay away from news trading.

10. keep calm
As exciting as trading may be for beginners, it is also a lot of work. You will experience many setbacks along the way. At some moments, your emotions may gain the upper hand and lead you to be tempted to open trades too early or close them too late.
The main cause of stress that trading beginners experience is the fact that there will always be trades that end in a loss. But that's part of it. It is the nature of the market.
In these moments, remind yourself that no war can be won in just one battle. Rather, it's the overall performance that counts (which, by the way, is another good reason to keep a trading diary).
How trading beginners find a suitable strategy
Before you decide on a strategy, you need to know in what time frame you want to trade the markets: Long-term, medium-term or short-term. For example, if you want to hold positions for several days, position trading or swing trading would be suitable for you.
If you want to open and close positions within a day, day trading is well suited. Very short-term oriented traders can also use scalping. This involves making many small profits by quickly opening and closing positions. Sometimes positions are kept open for only a few seconds.
So think about which type of trading suits you best and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Excursus: Forex Trading for Beginners
How Forex Trading Works
Financial instruments in the Forex market are presented in the form of currency pairs, because one currency is always in relation to another. Each trade consists of a purchase and sale.
For example, placing a BUY order, also called a LONG go, in the EUR/USD pair means that you buy EUR for USD when you open the order. Then you wait for the euro to appreciate against the dollar. When you sell the euro, you get more dollars for it.
A SELL order, also called a SHORT order, would work the other way around. The trader expects the Euro as the base currency to depreciate against the USD. There are three things to note here:
- Mechanism explained above can be applied to all Forex pairs.
- Traders can trade by CFD (Contract for Difference) with currencies they do not own
- Buying and selling takes place (implicitly) in every transaction.

The Forex Pairs
One could combine any two currencies to get a Forex pair. However, with some pairs it makes little sense to trade them. What attracts traders is high volatility and liquidity. Based on this, the different Forex pairs can be divided into four groups:
1. forex majors - the main currency pairs.
2. forex minors - the minor pairs
3. cross pairs - combinations (see below)
4. exotic pairs - exotic currency pairs that are rarely traded.
Both Majors and Minors always contain the USD on one side. Majors include, for example:
- EURUSD
- USD/JPY
- GBP/USD
- USD/CHF

Minors include, for example:
- USD/CAD
- AUD/USD
- NZD/USD

Combinations of currencies from these pairs that do not include the USD are called cross pairs. These include EUR/JPY, GBP/CHF, AUD/CAD and many others.
All other pairs belong to the exotic currency pairs. Together they form only less than 10% of the daily volume and are less liquid, but they can also be very volatile.

Forex Trading Hours
The Forex market is an electronic trading network that is open 24 hours a day, except on weekends. A trading day consists of three overlapping trading sessions, the main trading hours of the three main global economic zones. Each session lasts approximately eight hours:
- Asia/Pacific from 0 to 8 a.m. CET.
- London/Europe from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. CET
- North America from 4 to 24 p.m. CET

So, since the whole world can participate in Forex trading, trading is possible around the clock, resulting in enormous liquidity in the market.
Trading for beginners: Am I ready?
Experience shows again and again that your gut feeling will tell you when the right time has come. However, this feeling will only set in if you do your homework beforehand.
Start by reading up on the subject and get smart!
Once you have decided on a financial instrument and a strategy, the next step is to practice extensively in the demo account.
And when you finally go live, don't forget to learn lessons from your experience. If you take this to heart, you may soon wonder why trading for beginners once seemed so difficult.