Forex For Beginners: What you need to know to get started, and everything in between

I am not a trader or a person with tremendous knowledge on currency markets or any kind of financial markets. In fact I only have a passing knowledge of markets in general. So when I picked up this book I was trying to determine if forex trading could be a potential side hustle and backup to fall back on in case my full-time job abruptly ends. I had browsed a few online forums here and there and found an overwhelmingly negative perception of forex as a viable income stream. Too many people just keep saying it doesn't work. But all these people sounded like those people who look at muscular fitness freaks and sum it up to steroids ignoring all the work that goes into building that kind of body. So I decided to get this book to determine for myself if this is in fact a pipe dream or a real possibility of making money consistently. I have to admit after reading this book I come away with a wealth of knowledge of financial markets (not just forex, but any speculative market), but the hope that this might actually work as a means to make some real money. I must say that this book is definitely for beginners, but a total noob with no knowledge whatsoever of finance will find some concepts a bit difficult. Since I am a management accountant by training and quite interested in finance I found it quite easy to pick up. But for someone without even basic idea of money or finance might find it a bit more difficult to pick up. Not impossible by any means, I'm sure if you're a reasonably intelligent person you will find this book really useful. I find the book is very realistic in terms of expectations, money management and techniques. No 1 method that guarantees success 100 percent of the time in this book. Just a series of methods to help reduce the risk you take on any position. I personally found this quite wonderful as I do not believe in miracle solutions and neither does the author. All in all I highly recommend reading this book if you're serious about learning about forex and are willing to spend the next few years (not days or weeks) figuring out how to trade successfully.

I don't have any background in trading. I'm an English teacher living in Spain. My brother-in-law got me interested in trading Forex when he spent a lot of money doing a course. Since I work and have 3 children, I didn't have loads of extra money or time to throw into a course. However, I did want to find out more information, be able to read in my free time, and see what all of this was about. I searched on Amazon and bought this book in the Kindle version so I would have it in my smartphone and could read it on the train, at home, etc. when I had time. I have found this book to be straightforward, easy to read, and full of information. It covers everything from what forex is, who the main players are, how to manage your money, the approach of using volume to validate price (which my brother-in-law didn't even know about...), how to choose a broker, how to choose which currency pairs would be good to start with and why, how to get started with the platform and make trades, and it has a very nice resource list and glossary at the back. I enjoyed this book so much that I have also purchased and read two other books from Anna Coulling: "A Three Dimensional Approach to Forex Trading" and "A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis." I'm currently studying all three books, and doing some trades on the demonstration account. I don't plan on buying any more books because these 3 seem to cover everything. So far, my experience with Forex has been very interesting and I look forward to continuing in the Forex world for some time to come. Hopefully this will turn into a nice extra income in my free time. This is a great and complete introductory book!

This book is invaluable for trading the forex market, regardless of whether or not you choose to use Anna's system. The information is not only for beginners, great as it is for also that. Anna is one of the few forex pros that emphasizes the importance of price-volume trading. This is something lacking in much current forex education, and ignoring this aspect of the market can really leave one operating blindly. There are powerful factors affecting price movement from the big players (the international central banks) and one should monitor these closely. In her follow up book Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis, she goes into considerably more detail, but what's here is sufficient to at least get started. What I really like about Anna's approach, is while she does employ a small number of technical indicators, they are used more as a confirmation tool and not as a lazy, poor replacement for doing proper analysis and leg work of the markets and currency pairs. Things like comparing each currency on it's one with the others, and in multiple timeframes. Also, Anna has a plethora of free, useful trading videos on Youtube and articles on her blog. Great book, highly recommended.

I was looking for complaints or recommendations before signing up for a Forex training class offered locally. Instead I found a link to an Amazon review recommending this book be read before taking on the expense of a paid program. I am so glad I found that review! After reading a few chapters I went ahead and ordered Anna's other two books as well. She is methodical and detailed and even though the book is a bit dated she removed all the mystery of Forex trading and in doing so exposed the training I was considering as at best ineffective or at worst a scam. The review I mentioned also recommended purchasing the kindle version of the book and this advice is pure GOLD! Using the kindle app on my ipad I was of course able to continue my reading conveniently as I waited for my family here and there for appointments and a long drive out of town but that is nothing compared to other kindle features. When I came across a term or acronym I did not understand in the book I simply highlighted it and tapped it to get a definition. in addition the option to Google was available as well. This really came in handy for those Wall Street acronyms! I was then able to paste information into notes that are saved in Kindle. They are available when I use my PC to access the book via the web reader. This combination is a powerful learning tool and if you are serious about learning this topic take this advise to heart! UPDATE As Anna says there is no free lunch! We'll..advising newbies to forgo a practice account is crazy...especially after I found many of the tools she uses - the overbought/oversold indicator and such, have to be PURCHASED from a software writer she is associated with. The plans sound good but the ranges for the stops are useless in today's markets because the central banks seem to always PUSH their currency in the directions of their choosing creating HUGE wicks/spikes that take you out of trades that should net 100 pips and you end up with only 30. The key to forex trading is accurate support and resistance levels and she breezes by this critical topic! I can make these statements because the book was such a good introduction and I stand by my initial rating.

I've just read both of Anna's first two books, Forex For Beginners and A Complete Guide To Volume Price Analysis , back to back, and I'm going to be lazy and just post the same review for both, but I'll distinguish where I make comments specifically about one or the other. I'll start with a little background to put this review in context. I started getting interested in forex trading with an email touting some guy that had a "system." I signed up for his live webcam "learn how by watching me trade" membership, figuring I'd take advantage of the 3-month money back guarantee if I learned nothing. At 2 months I couldn't explain his system clearly to myself, and he was changing methods almost every day and frequently seeming to contradict things he'd said before. I kept at it for another couple weeks and then used the money back guarantee. I then started downloading and backtesting all kinds of indicators and EAs and browsing Amazon reviews looking for a better guide. Next I scanned a couple forex books and a couple on trading in general, and I used Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets as an encyclopedia. I continued playing with my practice account for a couple months, but could find nothing that worked consistently enough to be comfortable committing real money, and I lost interest. A year or so later I ran across an article about Richard Dennis and the 'Turtle Traders'. I realized: a) people do make money doing these things, b) anyone can learn the methods, c) and there are experts out there who are willing to share their knowledge. I started looking for a good book again and almost immediately found Anna's books. Forex for Beginners was so cheap and the free sample indicated it would be an easy read. Halfway through, and also after reading comments about it on several forums, I was sold on VPA. I decided to re-open my FXCM practice account and try some of her recommendations, then read the next book (A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis) while waiting for my account to fund. She recommends not using a practice account for anything more than learning the interface, for several reasons: real money is more meaningful and lessons stick better, the practice account feed is usually not a real live feed even if they say it is, and the practice feed won't show you the sudden spikes in the spread caused by your broker sometimes taking advantage of a fast moving market. Forex for Beginners was very helpful in explaining how the different types of forex brokers' operations can work against your interests if you have the wrong type of broker, and how to find the right type so you're not betting against the house. Volume price analysis makes sense to me, and her (and others') assertions that the market is controlled by insiders whose moves can be seen by analyzing volume is the best explanation I've seen yet for why price action forms certain consistent patterns. My previous concept of technical analysis was that specific price patterns form when there are enough people who believe it will, simply a self-fulfilling prophecy, and I could never quite accept that as a reliable way to make money. Now I understand how volume affects candle formation, and how insider action is reflected in volume, and it's all logical. I can trade on that with confidence, which is the biggest thing I've gotten from these two books. My only complaint about both books is that she could use a more attentive editor, but there's nothing so bad it's really distracting. I read a review here recently where the reader said the grammar was so bad he/she couldn't finish the book (I can't remember if it was one of these two or another trading book). That's short-sighted arrogance in my opinion. The most eloquent speaker or the most concise and grammatically correct writer is not usually the best teacher. Also, if Anna had a talented editor go over this with a fine-toothed comb, yes it would be slightly easier to read, a little less repetitious, and probably a little shorter, but it would be more expensive too. If you want to learn how to work on your own Harley, the Haynes manual was written by a professional technical writer with a professional photographer looking over his shoulder at the work of a professional mechanic. Yet they (or their editors) still usually leave out all sorts of important details and perspectives that the grizzled old greasemonkey down at the shop is willing to give you if respect his experience and can dodge his tobacco juice and parse his colorful language. The Haynes manual is certainly cleaner and easier to read, but I'd prefer a conversation with the veteran any time. Another reviewer for one of these books said they couldn't make out the charts in the Kindle version so they bought a print copy and it was no better. I agree some of them are pretty hard to read on my Kindle (6" E-Ink display), but I had no problem with any of them on my iPhone screen or on Kindle Reader for PC. Tip: I found it very helpful to read on my Kindle with my iphone in my lap above it so I could glance at the chart and back to the text without scrolling back and forth constantly - something Amazon could definitely improve in the Kindle experience. I gave A Complete Guide to Volume Price Analysis 4 stars when I started writing this review, but I've decided to make it 5 stars. Part of the reason for this upgrade is that I'm not aware of another book on VPA (or VSA), and I'm grateful to Anna for writing one. Also, I haven't put her recommendations to use yet. My next step is to go through the VPA book again and condense the principles onto a set of flash cards. Then I'll start with the smallest possible lot size (like she recommends), keep a journal, and mark up my flash cards as I go along. I'll update this review when I feel like I've got some meaningful experience.

I don't write reviews but well for this book and a couple of Anna's books i have read, i will be a cheat if i don't. This book is so far the best i have read for complete beginners to forex. I at once a few years ago tried forex after a few trainings but was obviously gambling and my little wins were by chance. However, when i wanted to start trading but this time in a serious way, i researched for books to read and finally found a recommendation to Anna Coulling's work. The recommender wrote of her as a self-trained forex trader. I totally have no idea if she is and have never taken time to find out, but from that perspective that she is a self-trained trader, i believed she absolutely understood the struggles of someone trying to figure out right from the start to placing a first successful trade. This book is one piece of work that i found informative, educative, detailed and to the point. After reading this book, i feel confident and I’m always studying charts and nothing makes me feel like a genius after nailing most of the predictions. With that i decided to thank her but there could be no better way than letting other forex novices like me, know that this book is a great starting point. I sent her an email of thanks but she must be busy with other commitments. I bought her other 2 books "a three dimensional to forex trading” and “a complete guide to Volume Price analysis” and seriously they are great. Thank you Anna

I felt it was a great intro into the forex market and enough to wet my appetite for more research. However, I think this book could be a lot better. It's very wordy with what I feel are unnessisary tangits. As a beginner I felt I had to navigate around her anecdotal comparisons just as much as the subject material. The book dragged at times with obvious filler. Perhaps worst of all, there are ALOT of type Errors. In one case the error portrayed the exact opposite of the message she was trying to convey. I've read two of her books now and the style is the same.

This is a thorough, straightforward, practical guide on how to get started in forex trading. As a fellow Brit, I was relieved that it is written in a practical "British style" - meaning it just gets to the point and doesn't spend chapters on end claiming that this book will change your life, as authors from some, ahem, other countries have a habit of doing. A lot of the book is how to manage your money and your risk, which also added to its credibility for me. I read it on a Kindle and found the charts easy to read. It also has some basic practical advice, like "on the MT4 platform click on this part of the screen to get such and such chart". I haven't actually started trying to trade yet but I will certainly be coming back to this book again if I do.