It’s no coincidence that more than 90% of retail Forex traders lose money in trading. If you’ve done a little research, you’ll realize why this is the case. As a retail trader, the currency market is heavily geared to make you lose money.

And one of the main reasons why it’s so easy to lose money is because of the proliferation of bad trading advice. There are volumes upon volumes of misleading ‘tips’ and ‘strategies’ splattered all over the internet, none of which are actually useful information at all. They are typically dispensed by people who are not actual traders, or traders who aren’t really profitable in practice. Unfortunately, Many novice traders try to implement the ‘strategies’ given by these people, and ultimately wipe out their trading accounts.

But of course, there are indeed some useful tips and techniques that can be found online… you’ll just have to be able to figure out which ones they are!

Just kidding… I’m going to share one of them with you today.

Understanding the risks of trading

So many people get obsessed with the idea of making money that they often forget to pay attention to how NOT to lose money in Forex trading. They jump into the market without first figuring out the inherent dangers, or how to avoid them.

The risks you face as a retail trader are 3-fold: market risk (other traders), counter-party risk (your broker), and self-risk (your psychology).

While many retail traders are well-acquainted with market risk and self-risk, they often neglect counter-party risk. While it is beyond the scope of this article to examine this issue in detail, it’s important that you, as a retail trader understand the driving motivations of your broker.

What makes your broker money? Do they make money when you profit? Most of the time, the answer is no. In fact, most brokers make more money when you trade more. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose; the more you trade, they more money they make (since they get their income from spreads).

Can you see how they don’t actually have an incentive to help you make money? Instead, it would serve their purpose better if they could make you place MORE trades!

So don’t fall into their trap. Make fewer trades with higher winning probabilities. It’ll serve you better in the long run.