Currency trading is like gambling

20 May 2012
Editor, Forum Page
Straits Times

Some educated people who lost their jobs want to trade in currencies to make
a living. They have heard stories from friends who claimed to have made money
through trading.

They should realize that currency trading is like gambling and that they can
make a profit or a loss. Like gambling in a casino, it is likely that they will
lose money in the long run.

Some have paid fees of $3,000 to attend a 3 day training course, in the hope
of learning the techniques to trade profitably. A few people that I knew had
attended these expensive courses and were disappointed that the techniques
did not work and they have lost their capital. The experts in forex trading
have told me that it is not possible for a novice to learn the
trading techniques through a training course.

 A friend who had attended such a course told me that that he could learn
more reliable techniques from the free online courses.

For people who insist on giving forex trading a try, I suggest that they enrol and
open a demo account in an online trading platform, learn the techniques from the
online courses and try trading with the demo account for three months.

If they found that they are able to trade profitably at the end of three months,
they can then convert to a live account and trade with real money.

Most of them will probably find that trading is stressful and difficult,
and it is more likely that they will make a loss on trading.

If they wish to find a better way to invest their savings to produce a decent income
over the long term, they should attend the educational talk conducted by
consumer based organisations, such as the Financial Services
Consumer Association (www.fisca.sg).

Tan Kin Lian
President
Financial Services Consumer Association