Different between forex brokers, forex traders and currency traders
Being a forex trader is an exhilarating profession where you bounded your daily 24-hour a day life with forex news alert from around the globe five and a half days a week. The forex/currency trading market starts from the East where Tokyo will start trading around 9am Monday their time which is Sunday 7pm in New York and it ends about 4 pm (EST) Friday in New York.
I was once a forex trader expert in the four major currencies operational in a small boutique currency trading company in San Francisco. I still remember the working hours was almost 16 hours per days where you only got few hours of sleep each day. We specialized in private investors’ funds and managing those funds were high in pressure and stress; the reasons are that the private investors will call you anytime to check their forex trading positions and forex account balances. The payout was high but the working hour was dreadful.
After few years of trading and managing clients’ funds, I was promoted to head the marketing department of the company and my function is to draw in new clients’ funds for the company. Training and motivating the forex brokers and traders was one part of the job description; the challenging part is to maintain them. Since the job required the individual to be high in stress tolerance, and to be able to commit long working hours; the forex brokers turn over is extremely high even though the payout is good.
Let me clarify the different between individual forex brokers, forex traders and currency traders. All of these three professions have the same job descriptions except forex brokers spend more time in communicating and dealing with investors whereas forex traders and currency traders spend most of their time monitoring the global foreign exchange market. To be more specify, all of them are individual who manage clients’ funds in the currency market using their expertise and knowledge. A forex broker can share a client with the forex trader where the broker brings in the funds and the trader manages the funds.
As for qualification, a candidate needs to have a tertiary education preferably majoring in business finance or marketing. Once hire, forex trader has to go through long hours of training where the trainee will be assigned to a senior trader to assist him in daily trading activities. It will take the trainee at least six months to have a good feel of the market and small funds will be allocated to the trainee to manage. Off course there will be a base salary and bonus which is depending on individual performance. Most companies, banks and financial institution have their own pay compensations scheme. The negative aspect of forex trader’s profession is that he could face penalty such as deduction in bonuses or even get sack if they do not meet the standard performance requirement for the company; which inevitable to keep the treasury department in good performance.
With the current global financial meltdown, this profession may be sluggish as banks and financial institutions are cutting back in hiring. Looking back, it has been more than 17 years since I was once a forex trader and I have no regret to be one as it is my passion to deal with investors as well as the gigantic forex market. Even though I went through tiring days and sleepness nights, the unforgettable experience was wonderful and electrifying just to add in some spices to my journey of my career life.
By Editor of FYP.
Other Interesting Articles:
Common Questions About Currency Trading
June 14th, 2009 at 4:03 am
I have a son who has decided to change careers and learn currency trading. He is learning it on his own. Being a rather intelligent person to begin with, he took an online course and has begun trading from home. Is there any other additional means of learning he should pursue given your experiences? Thank you. Steve
June 15th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Dear Steve,
In response to your question, taking an online course is a good beginning for your son. My advise to him is to sign up with some free demo account from any forex broker without any obligation in opening real forex account with them. Use the free forex demo account to practice the trade and do it as it is real, not demo. Ask him to really practice for couple of months before start real. Another advise is to find one or two technical analysis http://www.24fx.com/Technical-Analysis.html
method that your son would be comfortable with and stick with it. Too many of analysis is not benefiting your trade. Lastly, understanding of fundamental analysis and important as well. http://www.24fx.com/Fundamental-Analysis.html
August 27th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
@Steve That is good advice given by Admin. To the practice is the best way to learn. I always advice people to trade a demo account until they make a profit on the demo. If you do not make constant profitable trades on a demo account there is no way you will do it on a real account. When you trade with real money there are more emotions involved which will cause you to make the wrong decisions . So let him trade demo until he is successful.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
hye, i wonder how to become a forex trader. For your information.Im an engineering student.Can u explain step by step..
September 1st, 2009 at 11:25 am
To become a forex trader, you need to understand the much about the economy situation of the world as well as countries. I will suggest you to start up with some free demo account and try it out whether you like it. If you would like to pursue a career at forex trader in a bank, maybe you should start scouting with financial institutions and banks. You need at least a tertiary education to qualify.
September 1st, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I’m Currently Deployed To Iraq & When I’m Not Out In Sector On Patrol Or On A Mission, I Live & Breathe Forex. I Did Make The Mistake Of Not Sticking To A Demo Acct. Until I Was Successful & Then Opening A Live Acct. In The Beginning, Which Taught Me A Lot. Especially Since I Had Real Emotions Attached To Real Funds. I Took A Break And Decided To Spend A Couple Of Months Doing Nothing But Learning & Watching The Market. During This Time I Identified Which Pairs That I Felt I Should Specialize In. Them Being GBP/JPY EUR/JPY As My Main Two & Of Course EUR/USD & USD/JPY When I See A Real Opportunity. The GBP & EUR JPY Pairs Are What I Stick To The Most Especially The GBP/JPY Since It’s My Most Profitable Pair. I Successfully Traded A Demo Acct. That Started @ Around $50,000 & Turned It Into $400,000 In Less Than A Month. Now My Question Is, I Identified That Price Action Trading Is The Most Successful Trading Technique For Myself & That Are There Any Mentors Out There Or Websites That Specialize In Progressing This Technique W/ Education & Mentorship? Also, I’ve Dabbled W/ Inside Bar Trading & Pivot Point Trading. Anyone’s Thoughts On Those 2 Techniques Are Greatly Appreciated!
October 7th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Naim if you want to trade I have some which I know which may be good for you,,,