My Forex journey started in 2007. Prior to discovering Forex, I had been trading various high-liquidity stocks and funds in the stock market since 2003. I had always been under the impression that in order to effectively trade Forex, you needed a lot of money. By a lot of money I mean at least $50,000 or so. In 2007 I was 23 years old and certainly didn't have that kind of money.

One day I decided to research things a little further to find out what Forex was all about and what was required to trade it. I was shocked to learn that many broker’s were opening accounts for as little as $100. Now this isn't to say those traders were making money with a $100 account. But I had finally disproved my belief that I needed a lot of money to trade Forex.

The Switch

I had enjoyed trading the stock market since 2003, but when I made this discovery about Forex in 2007 I couldn't resist. I immediately began researching different brokers to find a good fit. Once found, I opened a demo account (the other great thing about Forex) and began trading.

Up to this point I had only read the basics about Forex. I had no clue how to open or close trades on the new platform, nor did I know what strategy was best to use. But hey, that’s what a demo account is for.

I figured that the strategy I had previously used in the stock market should work in the Forex market. After all it’s just another “market”. I was wrong. After a few weeks of failed trade after failed trade, I began searching for other methods of trading Forex. If I had only known then what I was getting myself into…

Love at First Trade

I get asked a lot why I made the switch from the stock market to the Forex market. I always respond with the same two answers.

1. Liquidity — the Forex market is the largest financial market in the world. This means I never have to worry about liquidity when it comes to entering or exiting a trade. It also means greater consistency in terms of technical analysis. Simply put, the more eyes you have on certain Forex candlestick patterns, the more likely it is that those patterns will play out accordingly.
2. Long or Short — the ability to trade long (buy) or trade short (sell) in the Forex market is second to none. Sure, you can short a company’s stock, but there’s all kinds of criteria to do so including a specific type of brokerage account. In the Forex market, selling a currency pair is as easy as buying a currency pair. This means you have double the opportunity from the same number of currency pairs.

There are a dozen other reasons why I prefer the Forex market over the stock market, but those two are what sold me from day one.

From Indicators Galore to Raw Price Action

Like most beginning Forex traders, I was obsessed with finding the “perfect” indicator or set of indicators. In the first three years I tried everything from a modified MACD to a combination of five different indicators. Little did I know that Forex is best traded using a “less is more” mindset.

Fast forward to 2010 and after three years of struggling to find the right indicator, I finally had my “ah ha” moment. That day I decided to clear all the indicators from my chart; every last one! That meant removing about four indicators at the time. Thinking back on it, I’m not 100% sure why I did it, I just remember thinking that there had to be a better way — a simpler way. I was right!

As soon as the indicators were gone, I made my way to the daily time frame. What I saw was as exciting as it was obvious (or should have been). The price action on my chart immediately popped out at me, clearly showing key levels of support and resistance.

By removing all of the indicators, the actual price action on the chart was made larger. Furthermore I was no longer distracted by multiple indicators going every which way. I had finally found something I could appreciate.

The next few months were the most exciting in my Forex journey. This is when I began to perfect my price action trading strategies such as the pin bar and inside bar strategy. I also began to learn about the importance of a proper risk to reward ratio.

Full Time Forex

Discovering the power of raw price action without a doubt changed the course of my Forex trading career. After a little more than a year of practice using nothing but raw price action, I soon became profitable. Shortly after that I was fortunate enough to begin trading full time from the comfort of my own home.

I'm now dedicating my time to showing others the power of price action and the simplicity it can bring to their Forex trading career. No matter which financial market you decide to go with, trading doesn’t have to be difficult. It’s never easy, but it surely isn’t complicated.

In the end, becoming a successful Forex trader isn't about finding the perfect trading strategy, it’s about finding the trading strategy that’s perfect for you. Price action was the right fit for me, what’s yours?