How to start trading in 4 easy steps
By learning how to start trading on Forex, you can open a new source of income for yourself. But first, you need to learn how to trade and make a profit with it. In this Octa trading guide, you’ll learn how to start trading wisely and maximise your profit in the long run.
1. Learn about Forex trading
If you’re a beginner, there are certain concepts and terms that you need 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 Octa demo account. Let’s start with some important Forex concepts.
Margin is the amount of funds required to open new and maintain open positions. It is different for each instrument. You can use our Trading Calculator to figure out your required margin. If you don't have enough funds (for example, if your floating loss gets too high)—you might be asked to top up your account to keep your orders. This event is known as margin call.
Pip is a standardised unit of price change. 1 pip is calculated by the second to last digit. For example, when the price for the EURUSD currency pair changes from 1.11634 to 1.11645, it means the price has changed by 1.1 pips. For the USDJPY currency pair, which has 3-digit pricing, a change from 123.857 to 123.864 means that the price has grown by 0.7 pips.
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.
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 EURUSD, when the price is at 1.13415. The required margin for this position is 226.830 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 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 to 135 USD.
How much leverage should you use? It depends on the level of risk you’re willing to take. Higher leverage means higher risk and reward. You can change it at any time as you learn.
2. Open an Octa account
With an Octa account, you can access the foreign exchange market and start trading.
First, you need to enter your name, email, and a secure but easy-to-remember password. You’ll also need to specify your experience in trading. This way, we’ll offer you more useful content. After clicking ‘Open account’, open your inbox and confirm your email.
Next, you’ll need to provide more details about yourself. After you enter your country, phone number, and birthday, press ‘Continue’ and pick a trading account creation mode. Standard mode allows you to create an account with a single click, while the Custom one lets you pick between an Octa demo and real accounts, choose a trading platform and leverage. By default, it will be an OctaTrader account with 1:500 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.
If you’re just starting out, a demo account is a better option than the real one. It allows you to practise trading without risking your funds. You don’t need to make any investments—simply specify the amount of simulated funds you want to add to your account upon creation.
Once you register, you’ll receive an email with your profile and trading account credentials. From there, you can log in to your profile to manage your funds, get bonuses, and take part in our promotions, or start trading immediately in the web terminal.
Which trading platform is right for you
We support three trading platforms: MetaTrader 4, MetaTrader 5, and OctaTrader MetaTrader 4 is an older version of MetaTrader. It’s not as powerful as its newer counterpart, as it offers a limited amount of instruments and tools for trading. However, such limitations make the platform perfect for beginners and traders who prefer to use external tools.
MetaTrader 5 is a newer version of MetaTrader. It offers a highly customisable interface and a wide selection of instruments. Another strength of the platform lies in professional tools, such as level 2 market data, partial fills, a full-size tick chart, and an economic calendar.
Keep in mind that MetaTrader apps are blocked on iOS, so you might have to use their web or desktop versions. You can also download the Octa Trading App and trade on OctaTrader.OctaTrader is our built-in trading platform. The best of both worlds, it offers a modern interface that’s easy to learn and tinker with, along with a complete selection of instruments. With OctaTrader, you can trade and manage all your accounts in a single web or mobile app.
3. Choose your trading strategy
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.
There are three types of trends you should look for: uptrend, downtrend, and sideways trend. If you notice a trend, you should mark it with lines as shown on the picture below. The closer the price is to one of the lines—the more likely it is to go in the opposite direction.
Two more advanced methods of price prediction are technical analysis and fundamental analysis. They allow you to predict short-term and long-term price changes, respectively.
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. You should also consider learning about the basic risk management techniques, as they will help you avoid losses from.
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 Trading Strategies article to find a detailed description of the most common strategies and choose the best one for you.
4. Deposit and start trading
Log in to your profile to make a deposit without any commissions. You can start trading with a minimum of USD. The minimum deposit in Octa can vary depending on your region and the payment method.
Octa minimum deposit by region
| Argentina | Brazil | Ghana | India | Indonesia |
| 25 EUR/USD | 25 EUR/USD | 25 EUR/USD | 1,500 INR | 400,000 IDR |
| Kenya | Malaysia | Mexico | Nigeria | Pakistan |
| 25 EUR/USD | 100 RM | 500 MXN | 30,000 NGN | 5,000 PKR |
| Philippines | Singapore | South Africa | Thailand | UAE |
| 25 EUR/USD | 500 SGD | 480 ZAR | 1,000 THB | 180 AED |
A minimum deposit might not be enough to diversify your investments. According to the risk management basics, the more funds you have, the fewer risks you expose yourself to.
When you trade, 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.
Let’s assume that you chose OctaTrader as your trading platform. First, you need to pick the instrument (‘Symbol’) you’d like to trade. Then, select the volume of your position and press Buy or Sell to open an order. Congratulations, you placed your first order!
You can view and manage all your orders in the ‘Orders’ section. To close an order, pick it from the list and press ‘Close’ in the ‘Edit order’ window. You can also set stop loss and take profit here to make your order close automatically if the price gets lower or higher.
That’s it. If you have any questions—explore the links we provided and the FAQ section below. Immerse yourself in trading, play around with simulated funds in your demo account, and when you feel you’re ready to earn real money—open the real account. Good luck!
FAQ
Yes, you can. You’ll need to learn how to trade Forex first, but if you’re an adult—there’s nothing stopping you from making Forex your second or even a primary source of income. Keep in mind that you’ll need to verify you’re over 18 years of age to withdraw funds.
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