The FOMC sets the discount rate or federal funds rate and because interest rates are set higher to induce foreign investment and therefore fight inflation during times of prosperity and lower to increase spending during recessions they are one of the main factors influencing the strength of the dollar. There are many of these platforms available online and the key is to find the one that will best help you reach your goals and learn the skills you want to learn. Many of the forex trading platforms are designed the same way with trading practice, strategies and skill applications. But, the differences lie in the level of skill for the strategies included and the trading tips you learn from the platform.
And to further simplify Forex trading, you could easily limit your trading to the two most liquid and widely traded pairs, the EUR/USD and the GBP/USD. This really starts to reduce demands on your time for trading activities without giving up good profit potential.
Not Using a Stop/Loss Point for every trade- This sounds like it should be a no-brainer, especially if you are using high leverage. Just because you think that the market will do something doesn't necessarily mean that it will. The market can swing very quickly in a direction and if you are on the losing side of the stick, you can quickly watch as your account gets wiped out. In some events, like trading the news, a stop/loss point can be extremely critical as a lot of trading platforms will actually slow making it hard for you to cancel trades. A stop/loss point will help you buffer some of the losses, should you be wrong.
It is important to note that whist your position remains open, each night your account will be debited or credited the swap rate. The swap is expressed in pips and is the difference between the interest paid to borrow the currency that is being sold and the interest received from holding the currency that is bought.
Our curriculum here at the School of Pipsology will make a bold attempt to cover all aspects of forex trading. Trade with LCG's price improvement technologies on the world's most popular trading platform, available for desktop, mobile and tablet. The Forex Market Overview page provides a quick overview of today's Forex and Currencies markets.