Learn to use multiple time frames. Using the lowest time frame for accuracy, second highest for positioning and the highest for following the smart money. I use 60M, 1D & 1W and i close my trades 2 hours before the close of the weekly candle. Keeps you from needing to look for an exit and keeps you making gains.
Do you play poker or heard someone play online poker? Most American pros playing online poker play at offshore pokerooms, which are unregulated. If they instead play at domestic pokerooms, they won't be able to make enough money to support their living. I trade with an offshore forex broker,what is the benefit? 1. spread is 0.2 pip on euro, so my trading cost is 1/3 of what if I trade on currency futures.Since my trading cost per year is roughly equal to my total capital, trading currency futures means I add extra cost of 2 times of my total capital per year. 2. 500:1 leverage. 3. the most high reliable income source is EUR/GBP, which is not available in currency futures.
Start with developing your trading idea/strategy first. Without a plan/strategy/edge it is difficult to beat randomness. But with randomness I do not refer to the question whether a specific market or asset is random but whether your trading PNL is better than random. To be specific, Based on your strategy idea, get back-test results and then do a statistical test, say student-t or wilcox-test. If you can reject the null hypothesis of zero (i.e. on average zero returns) by a wide margin (or low p-value), then you maybe onto something. Leverage is a two-edged sword. If you plan to stay in this game for the long term, stay conservative. Bet-size 1-2% of your trading capital per trade. If you keep stick to a percent rule, you will not go broke. You would actually need more than 50-100 consecutive losers to be out of business but if you have a strategy which you back-tested and which works, you will not go broke. So, risk management is key. Trading is nothing but risk management really. The 1-2% rule on trade size depends on the holding period, contract/tick size and of course your account size. Read up on concepts of risk of ruin and the Kelly criterion. You can wait with that if you just start out but keep this in the back of your mind. What you can do if you know a bit of programming: Do a simulation: Generate a PNL series (or a series of random numbers adding a small positive of your expected/historic edge) using different degrees of leverage and simulate say 1,000 trades and see the percentages of running your theoretical account to zero. Run this simulation 10,000 times. Not overly difficult in R. Exercises like these make you appreciate how crucial risk management is. Available exchange traded FX futures contracts, here with Wednesday's volumes: https://www.cmegroup.com/daily_bull..._And_Open_Interest_FX_Futures_And_Options.pdf which include EUR/GBP if you should be so inclined. The exchange symbol is RP on Globex and has traded 867 lots so far today.
I position trade forex. Usually I don't dare to position trade equities. TA is much more effective in forex than equities. Plus, relevant information are available to everyone in forex but not so in equities. Most of my position trades in forex are profitable, but are losing in equities, so I decide equities are not for position trading.
Just leverage, both move in similar ways, forex is 24/5, stocks fixed hours. Stocks you can swing and leave in play for weeks till you get the profit, forex forces 20pt SL's so surgical entries and exits required, same as futures.
How about spreads? It's possible to put on a low volatility play of relative value or across the curve. Calendars in commodities, inter-market spreads in financials, the possibilities are vast: one class of wheat vs. another, old crop vs. new crop. the current crop itself, bonds vs equities, 2's vs 5's vs 10's, crack spread, crush, the ED yield curve, the list goes on.... Plus depending on the markets in question, they can be highly capital efficient. Outright ED margin $400-600, a 3-months spread just 85 bucks initial.
Be careful with this. I once disagreed with a contributor to this forum who had more likes than posts and whom just about everyone seemed to be very big on. However, to me it seemed like this person was just repeating stuff that s/he read in books or was finding online, especially when the individual was unable to elaborate when I questioned one of their positions. The person was later discovered to be "fake" and the approach that would supposedly lead to my downfall has continued to work quite well so far. I'm not saying this applies to anyone else. I'm just pointing out that more likes than posts should be viewed in context. As for Forex being manipulated more easily than stocks, I disagree with this idea completely, but more on this later...
I look forward to hearing your insights too on why forex is not manipulated more than stocks. So far, I think forex is manipulated more. THere're only a few big banks and a few forex pairs. Easier to manipulate.
For retailers you can be sure of a lot of manipulation by your broker. Stuff like spread widening, requotes, slippage, ... This is all controlled by your broker since most retail brokers one way or the other take the other side of your trade, either directly or they use a different company that takes the other side of your trade which is also owned by the mother company of the broker. Not all brokers are bad, but a lot of them take the other side of your trade and most of the time it is clearly stated in their legal documents like order execution policy or terms and conditions. Stocks are traded through a central exchange so the broker can't manipulate your trades and execution.