Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Learn forex trading step-by-step

Discover everything you need to know about the world of forex trading in six steps. Learn how forex works, the benefits of trading different currency pairs and the strategies available to you.

Call 0800 195 3100 or email newaccounts.uk@ig.com to talk about opening an account.

Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.

Visit help and support for more information.

Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.

Visit help and support for more information.

Call 0800 409 6789 or email helpdesk.uk@ig.com if you have any questions about trading or investing. We’re available from 9am to 5pm (UK time), Monday to Friday.

Call 0800 195 3100 or email newaccounts.uk@ig.com to talk about opening an account.

Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.

Visit help and support for more information.

Get info fast via our instant help and support portal. Available for account queries, ProRealTime, product info and more.

Visit help and support for more information.

Call 0800 409 6789 or email helpdesk.uk@ig.com if you have any questions about trading or investing. We’re available from 9am to 5pm (UK time), Monday to Friday.

6 steps to learn forex trading

Research how the currency market works
Understand the advantages and risks of currency trading
Open and practise on your demo account
Develop your forex trading strategies
Upgrade to a live account
Start trading on currencies

Research how the currency market works

Understanding how foreign exchange (FX) markets work is instrumental to the success of your trading journey. It’s crucial to spend time researching and learning about the different currency pairs to predict how they might move, with relative accuracy.

To help you get a better understanding of how currency markets work, we provide extensive resources on our website. You can have a look at IG Academy – a comprehensive, online learning hub where you can dive into the financial markets.

Another great place to start is our beginner’s guide to forex. We explore the forex market as a whole and how different currency pairs work. Then, we delve into the factors that affect exchange rates before looking at examples of forex trades on our platform.

IG Academy

Explore our educational resource hub, featuring content that covers everything there is to know about trading forex. Our resource material is useful for both beginners and more experienced traders looking to brush up on their knowledge of currency markets.

Here's what you can use to improve your knowledge:

Online courses: our self-learning resource material helps you understand trading concepts at your own pace, catering for beginners to advanced traders
Live sessions: stream live sessions of forex-related content from industry experts to get first-hand analysis of the market
Webinar library: check out our video library of previous trading webinars to discover the best strategies to use in forex markets

Other website resources

Understand the advantages and risks of currency trading

There are many advantages and risks that you need to keep in mind if you want to trade on currencies. Here’s a list of the most important aspects you need to consider:

High liquidity: the forex market is one of the most liquid markets in the world. The benefit of this is that your spreads will be tight, but the downside is that you might not be able to trade at the level you want because underlying prices tend to move quite fast
Market volatility: the FX market is popular among traders because of its volatility, which means that currency prices can move quickly and suddenly. Volatility can result in large profits, but also large losses – and both will only be magnified when trading on leverage
Leverage: when trading forex through brokers like us, you’ll be doing so using leverage. This means you’ll put down a fraction of a position’s size as a deposit (called margin) to open your trade. Because your profit or loss is calculated on the full position size, they’ll be amplified. Keep in mind that losses could exceed your deposit amount, so make sure you understand how leverage and margin works before you trade

Learn more about margin trading

Open and practise on your demo account

You should practise forex trading before committing your capital. You can do this with our free demo account. Here, you’ll get a feel for how different products and financial markets work without the risk of losing any real money, so you can experiment with confidence.

Demo trading is sometimes also called ‘paper trading’. You can use actual paper to do this (which is how the term originated), but our demo account offers all the advantages of keeping record of all your previous positions on our state-of-the-art trading platform.

You’ll get £10,000 in virtual funds that you can use to paper trade on 80+ currency pairs. Plus, you’ll have access to powerful indicators, trading charts, alerts, live news feeds and market analysis produced by our in-house experts, and trading signals.

Paper trading with our demo is useful because you can build your knowledge of forex markets, including how to set stops and limits for risk management, and gain an understanding of how leverage works.

Open a demo account

Develop your forex trading strategies

Strategies guide your decisions and enable you to stay objective when placing a trade. These include:

Trend trading strategy: helps you spot the direction that the market price is taking by analysing historical price movements
Range trading strategy: useful in tracking a market moving between two prices or levels, consistently, for a given period
Breakout trading strategy: assists in establishing when the market price moves outside of the defined support and resistance levels
Momentum trading strategy: uses the strength of a price trend to determine whether it’ll continue in that direction
News trading strategy: based on the concept of closely watching news updates and rumours circulated by media outlets, then buying or selling an asset accordingly
Carry trade strategy: involves buying and holding a high-interest currency against a low-interest currency to receive payment from the broker when it moves in an interest-positive direction
MACD trading strategy: measures the difference between two moving averages and a histogram to determine if the momentum is trending up or down

Learn more about the 7 top forex trading strategies for beginners

Upgrade to a live account

Once you’ve built up your knowledge, you can start thinking about trading in a live environment. You can simply upgrade your demo account. To get started:

Fill in an application form

Get verified in minutes

Fund your account

Start trading on currencies

Once you’ve familiarised yourself with how the currency market works, executed paper trades using our platform, and opened your live account, you’ll be ready to place trades. When trading on currencies, given the risks of volatile markets and leverage, ensure that you always take steps to manage your risk.

These include stops and limits. Continue using our website resources and in-platform news to perfect your strategies, and always only stake amounts of capital that you can afford to lose.

Our support team is available 24/7 between 8am Saturday and 10pm Friday. Make use of our live chat option and message us for resolution of any issues that need troubleshooting or trade queries you may have.

Develop your forex knowledge with IG

Find out more about forex trading and test yourself with IG Academy’s range of online courses.

Try these next

Find out what forex trading is and how it works

Learn the basics of trading forex markets and the currencies available

Discover how to use forex signals and market indicators to trade

Help and support

Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. 

Professional clients trading spread bets and CFDs can lose more than they deposit.

Options and futures are complex instruments which come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. They’re not suitable for most investors. Before you invest, you should consider whether you understand how options and futures work, the risks of trading these instruments and whether you can afford to lose more than your original investment.

Trading stocks and shares ‘on margin’ within a US options and futures account – meaning that you only finance part of the cost of acquiring a position in a security – carries additional risks over buying securities on a fully funded basis and may result in losses exceeding your original investment. Trading on margin will also result in additional costs to you as the investor and any securities purchased using margin may be held as collateral by the lender, restricting both your rights as shareholder, and your ability to use the securities until the margin trade is closed. You should familiarise yourself with these risks before trading on margin.

The value of shares, ETFs and other ETPs bought through a share dealing account, a US options and futures account, a stocks and shares ISA or a SIPP can fall as well as rise, which could mean getting back less than you originally put in. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Some ETPs carry additional risks depending on how they’re structured, investors should ensure they familiarise themselves with the differences before investing.

Share dealing and IG Smart Portfolio accounts provided by IG Trading and Investments Ltd, CFD accounts and US options and futures accounts are provided by IG Markets Ltd, spread betting provided by IG Index Ltd.   

IG is a trading name of IG Trading and Investments Ltd (a company registered in England and Wales under number 11628764), IG Markets Ltd (a company registered in England and Wales under number 04008957) and IG Index Ltd (a company registered in England and Wales under number 01190902). Registered address at Cannon Bridge House, 25 Dowgate Hill, London EC4R 2YA. IG Markets Ltd (Register number 195355), IG Trading and Investments Ltd (Register Number 944492) and IG Index Ltd (Register number 114059) are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.   

The information on this site isn’t directed at residents of the United States, Belgium or any particular country outside the UK and isn’t intended for distribution to, or use by, any person in any country or jurisdiction where such distribution or use would be contrary to local law or regulation.

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Learn forex trading step-by-step

6 steps to learn forex trading

Research how the currency market works

Understand the advantages and risks of currency trading

Open and practise on your demo account

Develop your forex trading strategies

Upgrade to a live account

Start trading on currencies

Develop your forex knowledge with IG

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Help and support