Getting Started in Currency Trading, + Companion Website: Winning in Today's Market, 4th Edition

Chapter 9

How to Open a FOREX Account

Introduction

YOU ARE HERE—You are ready to open a demo account for the purposes of learning the mechanics of FOREX trading. No trading at this time!

In the fall of 1974, I accompanied a friend to the local Denver office of E.F. Hutton to open a new commodity futures account. The broker handed my friend the account form—an 8 ½ × 5 inch card. On the front side, one was to enter name, address, telephone number, Social Security number, employer, position, and estimated net worth. On the reverse, a two-paragraph disclosure requiring a signature and the date. After filling out the form, my friend handed it back to the broker, opened his briefcase and counted out $30,000 in $100 bills. The broker calmly recounted the money and handed it to the cashier along with the account card. The cashier issued my friend a receipt and an account number, wished him good trading, and we were done.

Times have changed. Opening an online retail FOREX account is easy business—barring a glitch in the software or the broker’s due diligence of your suitability to trade FOREX—but the information required is much more extensive than it was in the halcyon days of 1974.

You will trade online and that is also how you will open both a demo and live account with a currency broker.

Tip: Do not open a live account until you have completed a thorough due diligence of the broker-dealer and worked several hours with their demo trading platform. You will need to follow this entire ...