That’s one of the not-so-secret secrets about the Forex market. Everyone loves to tell you that you can invest only a few hundred dollars and see thousands of dollars. And while that is true, what they’re leaving out is the long, hard road to get to that point.

The big-time investors in the marketplace, the small 5% of world investors who clean up, are trading thousands upon thousands of dollars every single day. For the small-time investor looking to supplement his or her income, thousands of dollars are not available. Most average people are lucky to have a few hundred dollars free, especially in today’s brutal economy.

With a little bit of money and time to invest in the market, is there any way that you can make nice profits in Forex?

Three Key Steps in Small-Time Investing

Ignore the Gurus

Market gurus are dangerous in part because they’re so convincing. Then there’s also the magic show aspect of it all – you want to be convinced that there are untold riches to be made. A guru is going to claim to have the working formula for Forex. He or she will tell you that the code has been cracked and all you have to do is invest X amount of dollars and the money will begin to pour in.

Stay away from this type of scam. These so-called gurus know nothing about the market. They’re only looking to sell products and probably do not even have a Forex account.

Practice a lot

In order to find what best works for you, it’s all about practicing on your own. Open up a demo account and begin playing the market until you have a firm feel for it. It’s perfectly okay to use tips, but stay far away from any set programs. You need to adjust on the fly in the market, and practicing with a demo will allow for your particular style to make its way through.

Keep it small

Although it is going to be a harder road to make big profits with a small investment, there is also a lot less risk in investing small. So even if it takes you longer to profit, you should always keep it small. Even if you start profiting in the market, it is still a good idea to keep your betting on the low end in order to minimize the risks.

The hope is the same for everyone – turn on the robot, go to work or out to the park or back to sleep, and when you return to your computer, you’ll find piles and piles of cash that the robot has made. Hey, it’s not like people are asking for a lot!

But, without fail, people have to learn the hard way that no system is as easy as touch-and-profit. If there were guaranteed success systems out there, no one would be struggling. Everyone would invest a few hundred dollars to become rich. The simple truth of the matter is that Forex robots aren’t always the best move.

Almost every person to profit in Forex says that it takes a few intangibles:

• Learn to trade the basics and do not invest until you have a firm understanding of the marketplace
• Develop your own system trading strategies that are sound and able to evolve
• Use a sound money-management system to make profits
• Keep your emotions in check and trade in the black-and-white

This is part of the reason robots are so popular. Except for being able to revise strategy once locked in, a robot has no emotion, only trades what you allow it, and “understands” the market, obviously, as it was designed to.

The Working Formula of Discretionary Tactics

The discretionary approach has a leg up on robots out there. It is always a good idea to have some sort of automated program, even if it is just a simulator to teach you more about the market, but a live trader, able to get an objective read on the market and understand the crowd, will always have an advantage.

Even the best robots on the market need live traders to program them. Robots set up logical stop losses and profit targets, and the market is designed to defeat them by making deals outside of the robot’s wheelhouse. A discretionary approach, using the criteria mentioned above, allows you to see how the market is evolving and trade or abstain where your robot would not.

As long as you can develop a thorough understanding of the market and keep your emotions in check, you should have no trouble doing everything a robot can, albeit not as quickly. At the end of the day, though, human intuition simply beats out robotic intelligence.

Why are so many people losing the money they invest in Forex? It all has to do with preparation. The market is the market; it works the same no matter what. So you cannot blame the platform for some people failing when some people do earn great wealth from investing. It is obviously a problem with individuals and nothing to do with the marketplace. To that end, investors need to get started on the right foot if they wish to succeed with Forex.

Getting started correctly with Forex only requires that you take a little bit of time to get your ducks in a row before diving into the pool. If you can do that, then you should be able to take advantage of the marketplace and earn some money back on your investment.

Learning the Ropes

One of the best possible things you can do to put yourself in prime position to profit is to take a Forex-specific trading course and learn about the marketplace in general. It will not take a great deal of time to learn. Most of the Forex trading courses around will provide you not only with the essential knowledge you need to achieve in the market, but you will also receive demo software and be able to trade with Forex without assuming the risk of investing real money.

Finding a Broker

Most trades with Forex are going to require that you have a broker handle your account to some extent. If you are downloading any type of automated Forex robot, then the odds are that you will know about a broker and perhaps even be provided with one before you start. However, you should still seek out a knowledgeable independent broker on your own. Find a broker registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Start Slowly

Because most people are successful with their demo accounts, nickel and diming their way to winning trades, they start off by investing more money than they should. Then when something goes wrong, they do not slow down or back out. They double down on their strategy in order to make up the losses. This is a bad move. Always start slowly and tweak your strategy where needed.

If you can learn about the marketplace, find a reputable broker and pace yourself, making sure to change your style if it isn’t working, then you will be setting yourself up in a low-risk, high-reward scenario that has the best odds of paying off.