Forex trading involves buying one currency while selling another concurrently. With all the hype about Forex and the easy access to its markets, many laypersons familiar with stock trading are viewing Forex trading as an attractive alternative. Key reasons for the popularity of Forex trading include: 24-hour market; plenty of liquidity; small start-up capital; leveraged trading; trade in your time zone; good trade setups everyday; and low transaction costs.



However, the downside is that while Forex trading looks easy, it is in fact not easy to learn, especially on your own. Of course there are the few good traders that are self-taught, but the majority ends up paying expensive lessons for the Forex markets to "teach" them how to trade. Can traders academy club be avoided?

There is a plethora of Forex training seminars, e-courses, training videos, Forex how-to books, etc, that are offered both online and offline. Each commands a different price, but you should not judge on price alone on the suitability of the offer. More importantly, you have to find a method of teaching which enables you to learn well. Before purchasing, always examine and compare various offers to find the one you are comfortable with.

As most seminars, books and videos target a general audience, be aware that you might not be properly trained and mentally prepared for real trading even though you have digested every bit of knowledge being dispensed. Quite often, you can be left with questions and doubts that could not be addressed by learning to trade via these channels.

Enter the Forex mentor: a teacher, guide and companion on your Forex learning and mastery journey. The mentor leverages his/her trading experiences to teach you necessary skills and knowledge for successful Forex trading. Armed with many past successes and failures as examples, the mentor will show you the good, bad and ugly of trading and impart valuable lessons from these.

A Forex mentor helps you to establish what trading methods resonate well with you and helps you put them into action. Doing this can actually help you become profitable sooner, which is a real boost to your Forex education and trading account as well. You save many hours of needless trials and errors, get your doubts clarified and questions answered, and avoid doing trading research that usually leads nowhere.

More importantly, your Forex mentor is someone who has an interest to see you succeed. In a mentor, you get a real person coaching you one on one; when you learn trading on your own, you have to contend with online forums or Email type of "answering service" that often cannot address the difficulties you face as a trader. Your mentor keeps you on track with defined trading goals and gives you feedback on how you are doing as a trader.

Just as important, you will get to learn that all traders will make bad trades -- your mentor included -- and how they recover and learn from their mistakes to become better traders. Compare this with the typical "high success rate" hype that many marketers are telling you about their Forex training services and products. A Forex mentor will give you the real deal with no sugar coating.

When it comes to trading, a little knowledge is often a dangerous thing. There is no substitute for proper education in Forex trading, as ill-informed traders will find out soon enough after putting their money into the markets. If you have the discipline to learn on your own and see through its completion, attending seminars, watching trading videos and reading Forex books can be a good investment in yourself. If you don't, consider seeking a Forex mentor.

Whether you are already trading Forex or contemplating to do so, a Forex mentor's guidance can help you jump-start your trading and get real results quicker. Before you invest or continue to pour more money in the Forex markets, serve yourself first by investing in your Forex education, which can go a long way to underpin your trading venture. Learn well, then trade well!

Engie F is an independent and freelance article writer. Get a firm footing for your Forex trading pursuit
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