If you’ve done your homework on retail Forex trading, you’ll come to realize that the market is geared to make you lose money.

The big financial institutions around the world have all the necessary human talent, technology and resources to ‘hunt’ for your money, and let’s not forget the smaller pip spreads that they enjoy. Add to this the fact that many brokers have been known to trade against their clients (i.e. taking opposing trade positions), and you’ll have every reason to fear for the loss your money.

Play to your strengths

That’s why it’s important that you have an edge in the way you trade to balance the field. You’ll need to take advantage of your position as a retail trader, to avoid falling prey to the big institutional traders. Play to your strengths as a retail trader!

Strength #1 - No Pressure To Perform

Unlike institutional traders who are constantly under pressure to perform, retail traders (like you and me) have the luxury of cherry-picking the trades with the highest winning probability. The idea here is to enter into fewer, but more potentially profitable trades.

The more traders you enter, the more chance you give the institutional traders to take your money. Don’t give them any such opportunities.

Strength #2 - Small And Agile

Unlike institutional traders who have to trade with hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more), retail traders typically trade with much smaller amounts of money. This enables us to suffer from less slippage and gives us the opportunity to ride on most price trends, since our trades generally won’t influence prices.

This means that retail traders are able to quickly enter and exit the market for small (but quick) profits. This is an area where few institutional traders can go. Because of the sheer size of the funds they trade, institutional traders rarely have the opportunity to move in and out of their positions quickly. Use this to your advantage.