Forex is what we call a "zero sum" game. You are making a bet with someone else about whether a currency will rise or fall. For every winner there has to be a loser. If you are smarter than the average player, you may make money. If you are dumber than the average player, you are likely to lose money. Most of the people making the "bets" in Forex are highly trained professionals at banks and other institutions. You are unlikely to beat them at this game.

Actually Forex is not quite a zero sum game. It’s a slightly negative sum game as the Forex broker takes a small percentage each time in the spread. It’s a small amount but over a hundred trades, it ends up being a considerable amount of money. So the average player is likely to lose money, and remember the average player is a highly trained professional and probably smarter than you.

There is a lot of luck in Forex, and if you play it, you will have some periods of time where you make money. This is usually because you are having a lucky streak, not because you have suddenly become an expert Forex player. However, most people are unwilling to admit their success is due to luck. They become convinced they have a system that works, and lose a lot of money trying to refine it.

Further complicating the problem is the large number of Forex scams on the internet. Most Forex websites are of questionable honesty. You will find many people on the Internet that claim they made a lot of money using Forex. They are usually liars trying to make money. They will say: "Go to Forexcrap,com/q2347." The "q2347" is a signal to the Forexcrap site that you are being referred to them by "q2347." If they sell something to you, "q2347" gets a kickback. These coded signals can be hidden by different methods in the link. Other people will refer you to their own private website or blog for the purpose of trying to get money off you. Also there are a good number of trolls out there that like to pretend they are successful forex traders just for the fun of it.

I would recommend not trying to do Forex at all, unless you are a trained professional. It’s like playing poker with people better than you, with the house constantly taking a small percentage from the pot.

It is a rigged game against the unknowledgable. But it is not illegal or a conspiracy. It is very simple to predict the fear/greed emotions of human nature.

You are doing what is natural, and that is what they prey on.

Trading is anything but logical, normal or natural. Trading is all about entry. If you cannot identify and trade at support and resistance, for example, you will either get in at the middle or the end, but never the beginning of a move. You set yourself at a disadvantage by reacting to price, rather than acting on price.

Then there is the psychological side that most amateurs never address. It takes skill and knowledge to identify important reaction points, but it is yet another thing to be able to hit the buy button when price comes crashing down to your fibonacci level entry point.

If you are jumping on the money train in the middle of a move, the markets will shake you out. Ask yourself this: "Does the market go against you almost immediately after entry, within a few seconds or minutes?" Then you are doing it all wrong, and you need to either learn the correct way to enter the market or quit. Trade at the MA, not when it is extended.

You won’t beat the floor traders, or even equal them, so don’t even try to get in on the first move if you are at all late. But you can get in on the first shakeout (pullback). Learn to get in when price is going against you, and you lower your risk, improve your entry, and have greater potential.