Figuring out where to learn forex trading can be quite a challenge. The large influx of retail traders over the past decade have led to a boom in available resources as well. Some free, some paid. Some provide amazing value and others questionable quality.
The Foreign exchange is the largest market in the world. Daily trading volume is way in excess of $6 trillion, which is enormous liquidity. Historically, the currency markets have been controlled by large institutions. With the large online trading boom over the past decade, barriers to entry have been largely eliminated. Making Forex trading easily accessible to anyone with a few hundred bucks and some willingness to learn.
In this post, we will take a look at some high quality free courses, paid resources and also required reading.
Advice and expectations
So where to learn forex trading? Before we review some of the quality resources, a few words of advice. So many new traders are looking for the easy way. They want to follow trades passively. Or they want some magic easy strategy that will provide steady profits. They sign up for a course or service with unrealistic expectations. After they realize how much work it is to go through a comprehensive course, they procrastinate. And after a period of not putting in the required effort, they blame the resource. They start looking for somewhere else. They pay for another resource and the cycle repeats itself. This is called the shiny object syndrome. Don’t fall into this trap.
The truth is, there are a million ways to make a million bucks in the Forex markets. There are many trading styles and strategies. The path to success is relatively simple, but it’s not easy. You need to commit yourself. As with any business endeavor or career choice, you can’t expect to master it overnight. Ask any professional full-time trader and they will tell you it took them at least a few years to get to a point where their trading became consistently profitable.
Four stages of learning
As you progress on your journey to mastering Forex trading, you’ll go through four distinct stages of learning.
- 1Unconscious Incompetence - You’re unaware of the skills required and you lack proficiency.
- 2Conscious Incompetence - You become aware of the skills required for trading success but you’re still far from proficient.
- 3Conscious Competence - You acquire the required skill set but applying it requires mental effort.
- 4Unconscious Competence - Performing the skill becomes automatic and effortless.
Keep this in mind before you set out reviewing all the learning options available. Make a commitment that any resource you deep dive into, you’ll absorb the knowledge and practice its application until you become proficient. With this in mind, let’s go ahead reviewing some of the recommended resources on the topic of where to learn Forex trading
Free Courses & Resources
#1
4.5/5
MarketLife Free Membership
MarketLife has been co-founded by its current CEO, Adam Grimes. The website offers a range of paid plans containing analysis of Futures, Forex, Stocks and Options. A Premium Courses membership is also available. If you sign up for the Free Membership, you get full access to a 54 video (22 hours) training course. This course is very high quality and quite frankly I can’t believe it’s offered for free. It’s very well structured, going from basics into more advanced subjects of price and structure.
#2
4/5
Fx Academy
Fx Academy was started by dailyforex.com, a high authority website providing daily forex news since 2006. Their vision with Fx Academy was to create a free educational platform for traders of all experience levels, providing them the skills and knowledge required to succeed. They currently offer 15 well structured classes covering every important area from basics to advanced trading techniques.
#3
4/5
BabyPips School of Pipsology
BabyPips.com is very well known in the Forex trading space. Mostly for the community aspect with a high volume of interaction on the forum. But they do also have a free online course helping beginners learn how to trade Forex. Personally I love the gamification of the course and the Trading Quizzes, which are there to test your knowledge. They also have a handy Forex Glossary, which is very useful especially for new traders.
#4
4.5/5
Smart Forex Learning
The Smart Forex Learning site is operated by Felix De Vliegher, a professional full-time Forex trader. He does have a paid Trade Advisor program, which is currently closed to new members. He only accepts a few new members every year after an application process. If you would be interested in joining, drop me a message and I can provide a recommendation. Felix’s site is not that content heavy, but the few posts he has published over the years are very comprehensive. Especially his guide to supply & demand trading is something you can learn and apply to your trading immediately.
#5
4/5
How To Trade
How To Trade is a new service created by the team behind Forex Signals. It is a paid service, however they offer a range of free courses, which are quite comprehensive and well recommended. They do offer a free trial of their paid service which includes a range of courses, trading room access and mentoring.
Paid Resources
#1
4.5/5
Forex Signals
I have written an extensive review of this service, which I highly encourage you to check out. Forex Signals is a comprehensive platform designed in a way to speed up your learning curve. You’ll get access to a range of courses and training modules. Clearly documented trading strategies and mentoring. Analysis and insights from professional traders on the platform. And a range of tools and further resources to aid in your trading.
Recommended Reading
#1
4.5/5
The Art and Science of Technical Analysis: Market Structure, Price Action, and Trading Strategies
The name of Adam Grimes might sound familiar to you. He is the owner of MarketLife, another resource I referenced in this post. His book is surprisingly very comprehensive and well structured. He will explain how to analyze and utilize market structure and core price action principles. In addition to going into detail on specific trading strategies. I highly recommend his Workbook as well, which is a complement to this book, going into examples, case studies and exercises.
#2
5/5
Technical Analysis of Stock Trends
Don't let the title mislead you. Although it says Technical Analysis of "Stock Trends", this book is considered the Bible of technical analysis. It's heavy reading but it might be the most comprehensive book out there on the topic of technical analysis. It goes deep into market structure, disseminating reversal and continuation patterns and market behavior. And as we know, these principles do not only apply to the stock market, but to all markets ruled by supply and demand dynamics. Originally published in 1948, when there were not that many options of trading outside of the stock market, hence the title.
#3
4/5
The Wyckoff Methodology in Depth
If you haven't read my Introduction to Wyckoff Trading, I encourage you to check it out. This book is the best summary of the core Wyckoff methodology that I have found. The only reason I give it four stars and not five is that the English translation of the book is not perfect. The author is Spanish and parts of the text feels like it would be run through Google Translate. I have been told this should improve in future editions. But that said, it's still fantastic work by the author, Ruben Villahermosa.
#4
4.5/5
Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques
With the popularity of candlestick charting nowadays, I had to include this book on the list. It feels like a course in book format, going deep into candlestick analysis and patterns. And the newest edition has some revisions to focus more on the needs of modern day traders. There is large emphasis on active trading and how to synergistically combine candlesticks with other forms of charting an analysis.
#5
4.5/5
The Art of Currency Trading
This book was written by an accomplished interbank FX trader. Brent Donnelly has over 20 years of institutional trading experience. And in his book he goes deep into currency market dynamics. He explains how he combines fundamental and technical analysis with principles of behavioral finance to trade profitably. You'll learn several of his specific trading setups in addition to his risk management tactics. He touches on psychology as well, which is an important component of successful trading.
#6
4/5
Forex For Beginners
This book is really a prequel to Anna Coulling's first two books. And it's the one I recommend you start with. It's really written in a way to provide you with the foundations and equip you with a framework for getting stated with Forex trading. You'll learn the basics of market structure analysis, volume profile and impactful market events. Anna's other books further build on the foundations of this book, providing you with specific skills and knowledge to further enhance you trading.
Where to Learn Forex Trading Summary
With so many resources available, it's easy to get a bit of analysis paralysis. But now that you have a few recommendations regarding where to learn forex trading, I encourage you to simply pick one course, service or book and get to work. Immerse yourself in learning and absorb as much as you can before moving on. And work on application. It's not simply a matter or learning but you need to apply your newly acquired knowledge and skills in order to grow as a trader.
Also, remember that there are as many trading approaches as there are professional traders out there. Your goal should be to define a trading strategy and plan that suits your personality and schedule. But there is no other way to get to this point than to go through the learning curve. Learn about principles that might not be a good fit for you (but are for other traders) and gradually tweak a strategy tailored for you.
I will be gradually adding some other recommended tools and resources to this page. Also, feel free to comment with any resources that helped you, which I didn't mention here.
Hey Ronny,I’ve always wanted to learn forex trading but have never been able to do it. I can begin today because of your brilliant article. I know it will be of great assistance to anyone in need of advice, and as long as you maintain your honesty, this website will thrive. Thank you so much for all of your assistance!
Hi Raja, thank you so much for your nice words! I really appreciate it! 🙂
This is a very helpful list of places and resources where one can learn about Forex trading. I am pleasantly surprised that there are so many free courses available online to help one get started. This is particularly helpful for any beginners.
I am often guilty of getting stuck in analysis paralysis, so like you advise to just pick a course and start learning. With the free courses, can one also join a trading platform through them? Or can you recommend a Forex trading platform that a beginner can use? Thank you.
Hi Line, thank you for your nice words!
Several of the free courses provide recommendations and advice on trading platforms. In the end the choice of your trading and execution platform and broker will depend largely on your location as regulations are different in US vs EU vs offshore, etc. Personally, I use TradingView for charting and Darwinex as my primary FX broker with either MT4 or MT5 as the execution platform 😉
Hey thanks for this post!
I’ve been looking at trading for a while now however haven’t really had the courage to begin probably due to not knowing much about it as well as the risk of loosing out.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’m going to check out these resources they do look promising!
Hey Sariyah, thanks for your comment!
I wish you the best of luck if you decide to go ahead with trading. Not knowing much is easily fixable…just pick one of the resources I featured and get to work. Risk of losses will always be there…and losses are part of this business as expenses in any other business. You can limit any downside risk by starting out on a demo account and once you progress to a live account, increase your trading size gradually. Risk management is the key. You can read about some typical trading mistakes and how to avoid them here 😉
Thank you for this information-rich article on Forex trading. When it comes to trading, you are right, one has to choose one program go all in, and learn as much as possible.
It is so easy to give up after a few short weeks and chase the next best course/shiny object syndrome. Normally, success rarely happens overnight.
I love your explanation of the 4 stages of learning. I think more people need to read this so they can see the process and not have too many unrealistic expectations.
You have given a lot of valuable information and resources on Forex trading. Now to find the one that best suits is priceless.
Hey Dana, thank you very much for your nice words!
I would say, there is no one best resource to dive into…all of the ones I listed are those I would recommend to my closest friends. Just pick one to start and get to work 🙂
Hi Ronny. I love how you explained everything, and it’s easy to understand. I’ve seen a lot of articles about forex trading but you are the best one I’ve seen. it’s not making me overwhelmed, because all your blogs are easy to track and in order. Also recommended this to my friends who are interested in forex trading. thank you!
-Glorie
Hi Glorie, thank you so much for your nice words 🙂
I really like forex trading a lot. I did forex trading some time ago. And then stopped. Now I do not remember a lot of those things. In this post you have recommended a lot of good courses. I will definitely join them and learn forex again. Thanks so much for posting like this. Keep posting like this.
Hey Pasindu, so glad you liked my post and decided to pick up trading again. Feel fee to post questions or get in touch if you would have any questions 😉