How to Start Forex Trading | How Much Do You Need in [2025]

Jitanchandra Solanki Jul 2, 2025 11 Min read

Forex (foreign exchange) is the largest financial market in the world, with over $6 trillion traded daily. This guide breaks down how to start forex trading, how much money you need to start trading and how to get started. Whether you're a beginner or just getting back into the markets, we'll cover the essential steps, tools, and strategies.

This material is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. Consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.

What is Forex Trading
How Much Money Do I Need to Open a Forex Account
How to Start Trading Forex Essentials
10 Things to Consider Before You Start Trading Forex
Final Thoughts
FAQs

What is Forex Trading

Forex trading involves buying and selling currency pairs like EUR/USD or GBP/CHF to try and profit from the price movements in the exchange rate. With technological advances, individuals can open a trading account with a Forex broker and use their platform to start trading. However, this does not mean to say it is easy to do so. Trading involves dealing with an unpredictable distribution of wins and losses, which means proper risk management and emotional mastery are also essential tools when learning how to start Forex trading.

How Much Money Do I Need to Open a Forex Account

When you are ready to open a live trading account, you may be curious about how much money you need to do so. Or, perhaps you're thinking whether you can start trading Forex with a small amount of money?

The answer depends on what capital you have available and the type of account you open. Different account types offer a variety of services and generally require different starting deposits.

Minimum Deposit. Brokers will often have a minimum deposit for you to open an account, which can vary from $5 to $5,000. Visit the Admiral Markets Account Types page to learn more.
Trading Goals. Your starting capital should be aligned with your goals. If you set very high goals but only have small capital to start, it can cause overtrading and poor risk management.

How to Start Forex Trading With Just $100

While it may seem impossible to turn $100 into a substantial amount of money, starting to trade with $100 is enough to get started in some places. As trading is difficult, you need to develop a well-defined trading strategy that incorporates proper risk management.

Two of the most important factors in trading are your trading strategy and yourself. Whether your account has $100 or $100,000 in it, you will still need to stick to it. The key ingredient of any strategy is to ensure you do not make emotional trades.

Check out this video from our in-house analyst on 'How to Trade Forex with Limited Funds'

Can You Get Rich Trading Forex?

Even the most successful traders had to start somewhere, and if you regularly make profits from your trades, then you can be considered a successful Forex trader. However, achieving financial success depends on your skill and strategy and, as always, some luck.

It is important to remember that most traders fail to make money in the financial markets. Even professional traders with more education, support, time and capital will have down years and lose money.

The following article provides some examples of people who became wealthy by trading Forex. It also offers some trading and risk management strategies that are important for all traders: 'Top Three Best Forex Traders Ever.'

How to Start Trading Forex Essentials

Here are three Forex essentials to think about before you start trading.

1. Risk Management

The most basic piece of knowledge to know in risk management is that you should never risk more than you can afford to lose. When considering how much to start Forex trading with, it is very much an issue of your own personal finances and your own attitude to risk.

Trading can often be a nerve-wracking and pressure-filled experience. It is important to set yourself realistic expectations to deal with the unpredictable distributions of wins and losses that develop.

One way to quantify the risk on a trade is to use a stop-loss order, which will exit you at a predetermined price level which you set. Emotionally, it is useful to understand how much you could win or lose on a trade so you can manage your risk effectively. Consider using the Admiral Markets Trading Calculator, which can help with risk management calculations.

Rule	Description	Why It Matters
1–2% Rule Per Trade	Risk no more than 1–2% of your account balance on a single trade	Helps preserve capital during losing streaks
Use of Stop-Loss Orders	Always place a stop-loss to limit potential losses	Prevents emotional decision-making and large drawdowns
Define Risk-to-Reward Ratio	Aim for a minimum ratio of 1:2 or higher (e.g. risk $100 to gain $200)	Helps in recovery after a string of losses
Avoid Over-Leveraging	High leverage amplifies wins but also losses	Reduces the risk of margin calls and large losses from small price moves
Diversify Currency Pairs	Don’t concentrate trades in highly correlated pairs	Lowers portfolio risk due to simultaneous losses across correlated markets
Set Maximum Daily Loss Limit	Stop trading after reaching a predetermined daily loss amount (e.g., 5% of capital)	Helps avoid revenge trading and emotional decisions
Review Trade Performance	Maintain a trading journal to analyse wins/losses and identify risk issues	Promotes continuous improvement and understanding of weaknesses
Avoid Trading During High Volatility	Be cautious during major news events or low-liquidity sessions	Minimises unexpected slippage and erratic market moves
Emotional Discipline	Stick to your trading plan and try to avoid impulse trades or chasing losses	Keeps risk under control and builds long-term consistency

2. Trading Strategies

When it comes to deciding which Forex trading strategy is the best and most profitable, there is really no single answer. Determining which are the best Forex trading strategies for you will vary between individuals.

This means that you will have to consider your personality, time available and capital size. What may be ideal for one trader may be a disaster for another. When determining how to start Forex trading, it's important to know the different strategies available.

Different Types of Strategies to Start Trading Forex

Trading Style	Typical Trade Duration	Main Objective	Skill Level	Chart Timeframes Used
Scalping	A few seconds to a few minutes	Trade very small movements in the market	Advanced	1-minute, 5-minute charts
Day Trading	Within the same trading day	Trade short-term intraday movements	Beginner to Intermediate	15-minute to 1-hour charts
Swing Trading	Several days to a few weeks	Trade short- to mid-term price swings	Intermediate	4-hour to daily charts
Positional Trading	Weeks to months (or longer)	Trade longer-term trends	Advanced	Daily, weekly, monthly charts

3. Technical vs Fundamental Analysis

With all of the strategies mentioned above, as well as most other strategies, they all entail some form of analysis. Below are the two main types of analysis you need to know about when learning how to do Forex trading.

	Technical Analysis	Fundamental Analysis
Definition	Study of past price movements and chart patterns	Evaluation of economic, political, and financial data
Main Focus	Price charts, indicators, support/resistance levels	Interest rates, inflation, employment, and central bank policy
Common Tools	RSI, MACD, moving averages, Fibonacci, candlestick patterns	Economic calendars, central bank announcements, and GDP reports
Time Horizon	Short to medium term	Medium to long term
Used By	Scalpers, day traders, swing traders	Position traders, macro traders
Data Used	Price, volume, volatility	News events, data releases, economic forecasts
Limitations	May ignore broader market influences	Doesn’t always help with precise entry/exit points

10 Things to Consider Before You Start Trading Forex

While you learn to trade, you can capitalise on a wealth of resources available online. For example, you may find a video tutorial on YouTube, or watch traders in live Forex trading webinars.

Regardless of what information you gather while you are educating yourself, there are some key principles all traders should incorporate when learning how to start Forex trading.

Manage expectations: Try not to be too focused on profits. This anxiety can cloud your judgment.
Define your trading risk profile: Do not invest more than you can afford to lose.
Choose a trading strategy: When starting, pick a strategy that you think suits you. Continue educating yourself on this strategy. After you become skilled with it, begin educating yourself on a new one
Control your emotions: Never let emotions dictate trading decisions - always stick to your strategy
Use stop losses and take profits: 'stop losses' protect you from incurring major losses in case the market falls fast and deep, while 'take profits' ensure you are capitalising on potential profits when the market rises
Be aware of the markets: Always follow what's happening in the markets so you are aware of any current trends or big events that could impact them.
Don't overtrade: When starting, be sure you don't expose yourself to too many risks. Be sure the opportunities you see are truly opportunities and don't entail too much risk.
You will lose: There's not a single trader who can show a trading statement that doesn't include a single loss. Even the best professional traders incur losses. A successful trader is someone who, in the end, earns more than they lose.
Develop a trading plan: Develop a strict trading plan that will dictate all of your trading activity. This will help you avoid developing bad habits from the start, like overtrading.
Record and review: Ensure you write down your trades in a journal and regularly review your performance to identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Final Thoughts

If you start conservatively and use sensible money management, you do not need a large amount of money to trade Forex. It is possible to start trading with only a few hundred dollars, provided your trading sizes are small.

However, it takes time and experience to build the right strategy and trading plan. Tune into the Admiral Markets' free live financial trading and investing webinars to learn more about trading the financial markets.

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FAQs

How to start forex trading for beginners?

Beginners can start forex trading by choosing an established, well-regulated forex broker, educating themselves on how to trade the forex market using technical analysis and starting on a demo trading account to trade in a virtual environment until they are ready to go live with real money.

Is $100 enough to start forex trading?

Yes, you can start with $100 as a minimum deposit with some brokers. However, you may not be able to open a lot of trades of a big size, which is not a bad thing for a beginner trader. You can also start with a demo trading account to test your skills until you are ready to trade with real money.

Who is the richest forex trader?

The richest forex trader that the industry knows of is George Soros, who infamously made £1 billion in a day trading against the Bank of England.

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Jitanchandra is a financial markets author with more than 15 years experience trading currencies, indices and US equities. He is an accredited Market Technician with a BA Hons degree.

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