How to start trading in 4 easy steps.
With an OctaFX account, you can access the foreign exchange market and start trading. Once you register, you'll receive an email with your Personal Area login details, trading account credentials, and all the necessary instructions. You'll need to login to your Personal Area to manage your funds, get bonuses, and take part in our promotions. The trading account credentials are used to access the trading platform itself.
2. Make a deposit.
Log in to your Personal Area to make a deposit without any commissions. At OctaFX, you can start trading with a minimum of $25. The minimum deposit can vary depending on your region and the payment method.
According to the Risk Management basics, the more funds you have, the fewer risks you are exposing yourself to.
3. Sign in to the web-based platform.
The web-based platform requires no installation and allows you to trade from any device anytime. Alternatively, you can download a desktop version, or the OctaFX Trading App for your Android device. You can compare the platforms and choose the best one.
4. Start trading.
Open an order.
To open an order, you can simply select the volume of your position and press Buy or Sell.
Basically, you open a Buy order if you expect the price to go up and open a Sell order if you expect the price to go down. It means that you buy a certain amount at a lower price now to sell it back at a higher price later and gain profit from the price difference.
Set leverage.
Leverage reduces marginal requirements, the amount necessary to maintain a certain position, and helps you open orders with a volume larger than your balance would allow otherwise. It is important to note that the higher the volume of your order, the more you gain or lose for each pip.
Let's say, you have a trading account with 500 USD and a 1:500 leverage applied. You decide to open a position for 1 lot (100,000 units) on EUR/USD, when the price is at 1.13415. The required margin for this position is 226.83 USD, almost half of your funds. Each pip movement is then worth 10 USD. Therefore, the price only needs to drop to 1.13145 for you to lose nearly all of the money in your account. If you open a position for 0.5 lots, each pip will cost you only 5 USD. In this case, if the price falls to 1.13145, your loss will amount 135 USD.
This should be taken into account when making a trading decision and evaluating the potential risk of an adverse price fluctuation.
Predict the price movement.
As a beginner, you can simply track the general direction of the price on the chart and open Buy orders when it goes up or Sell orders when it goes down. This may not get you a guaranteed profit every time, however, it is a good start for developing your strategy.
If you have little to no experience, it's better to avoid trading during major news releases, as the market tends to be highly volatile. Two more advanced methods of price prediction are technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Basic risk management techniques may also prove beneficial in reducing losses.
Make a profit.
There are many strategies that allow you to profit from currency price fluctuations, for example, scalping, martingale, hedging, news trading, and many others. Read our article to find a detailed description of the most common strategies and choose the best one for you.
Close an order.
Your order profit fluctuates depending on the current market price until the moment you close it. If you feel like you’ve gained substantial profit, open the Trade tab on your platform, find the open position, press on it to open a context menu, and select Close order.
Before you start.
There are certain concepts and terms that are essential to get familiar with. We’ve covered them in the How to Trade Forex article. You can also explore our Education section. It'll help you expand your knowledge about the market in general and our services in particular. If you feel like practising with virtual funds before switching to real trading, you can open an OctaFX demo account.