Amateur Foreign exchange trading - advice?

[The Hack]

Does anyone dabble? If so any advice as to the cheapest way to buy relatively small amounts of currency - for example £5k of Turkish lira?! ;)

[Pelicans]

Do you actually want the currency, or just exposure to the exchange rate (i.e. a derivative). If it's the latter your best bet is spread betting or CFD trading (e.g. IG Index, CMC Markets etc...) - with spread betting you pay no tax, but it's a mugs game.

Unless you are extremely experienced I would stay far far far away from FX, the volumes traded are astronomical, the volatility and market factors (particularly with an EM currency such as TRY) affecting the rates are very tough for inexperienced traders. It's not really something you can just dip your toe into. Your best bet is to set up a dummy account somewhere and see how you get on (for a few months).

[Omegamanic]

Don’t do it.

[JP28]

FX trading needs £mn’s executable at less than one seconds response to make money. Anything else is self delusionionable gambling that will eventually result in losses.
If you want to gamble go to the track and pick a horse.

[Kingstepper]

FX trading needs £mn’s executable at less than one seconds response to make money. Anything else is self delusionionable gambling that will eventually result in losses.
If you want to gamble go to the track and pick a horse.

For day trading maybe, but if OP just wants a punt on the Turkish Lira over the coming months timing isn't crucial.

[Coronet king]

I can think of a lot better ways of losing money. Don't do it.

[Chris_in_the_UK]

[Tokyo Tokei]

HSBC and Citi offer multimoney accounts where you can trade foreign currencies, if you must. The spread isn't too bad on the major pairs, but for small amounts you'll still need to see about a 5% swing in your direction to break even. The global FX market trades about $8 trillion a day, far more liquid than equities, so you are unlikely to find short term market opportunities other than luck. For £5K~ you might prefer to invest in easily-traded commodity time pieces priced in a devaluing currency. This has worked well in certain countries for a while.

[Mr Curta]

I considered it, but decided that it wouldn't make any cents for me

[-Ally-]

Turkish property seems pretty cheap atm, could that be better idea ? No idea how easy or difficult it is to buy there though.

[Passenger]

cheap for a reason I reckon Ally. We looked quite a few years ago and it looked like an accident waiting to happen back then tbh, Spain V.2.0.

[The Hack]

Thanks All for the advice. It's the wife who wants to dabble - spurred on by the rapid devaluation of the Turkish lira.

Even if she bought TRY at 7.8 - how long do you think it would take to recover to 5.5 say? Or could it just spiral out of control further?

[Andrzej]

Turkish property seems pretty cheap atm, could that be better idea ? No idea how easy or difficult it is to buy there though.

Not sure about cheap. Where I have a property in Bitez, near Bodrum, they have been priced in Euros for a considerable time. A 1 bed apartment on the beach will cost 550,000 Euros. Some new villas on the beach, with no gardens are 1.5 million to 2 million.

[Andrzej]

Thanks All for the advice. It's the wife who wants to dabble - spurred on by the rapid devaluation of the Turkish lira.

Even if she bought TRY at 7.8 - how long do you think it would take to recover to 5.5 say? Or could it just spiral out of control further?

Err never! If you/she is are going to be dabbling in trading, then you need to read the underlying financial / economic factors. Because of the situation there, lots of articles in the Times, Telegraph and Guardian about the level of underlying company debt, inflation and lack of reserves. Plus the appointment of Erdogan's son in law as finance minister.

[David_D]

Even if she bought TRY at 7.8 - how long do you think it would take to recover to 5.5 say? Or could it just spiral out of control further?

That’s the point, if anyone knew that, they could guarantee to make money, but they don’t. How often are economists wrong? (Answer: very often). It’s basically the toss of a coin. If you win, you think you’re a genius and then are tempted to do it again (and again) until you lose.

[walkerwek1958]

Don’t do it.

+1, betting on the horses is probably safer and more profitable

[T1ckT0ck]

I have been looking in FOREX trading the last few weeks. So many experts, opinions, strategies, analysis has lead me to the conclusion why they would bother spending so much time teaching others if they were making good returns?

Many have links to brokers or at least reccomend using specific brokers... hmmm... perhaps thats how they are making their FOREX returns. I’m certain the Brokers love all the positive spin though.

We love to gamble, horses, dogs, casino but have come to the conclusion that this is also pure gambling and as fast as you win you can lose, i was hoping it was something you can learn and get an edge on but seems like the best you can do is learn how to control a losing your ‘stake’ too quickly.

Horses it stays, least it’s a day out with a few beers and a burger if we win!



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[Ontological]

Don’t do it.

Listen to this man

[ISCB]

Very tough market to start with. The best advice would be to get a simulator account and have a go to get an understand of what is required.

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