BIG PLAYERS SEE ONLY BIG NUMBERS

It's a fact that many of the worlds top traders are either good poker players or came from playing poker to Forex and the reason they are so good at Forex trading is the skills of poker are very applicable to trading and there is much you can learn...

It's a fact that poker players tend to make far better traders than geeks or nerds and that's because, they see Forex for what it really is - a high stakes game where simple systems applied with discipline, are more robust than complicated ones.


The forex market is the biggest financial market in the world by trading volume. Every day currencies valued at approximately 3 trillion dollars are traded. This means that a trade of one million dollars is not even scratching the total daily volume of the forex market. A volume so big is created by many traders and institutions, each of them with a different intention.
Central banks are big players in the forex market. The purpose of central banks, like the Federal Bank of the United States, is to keep the economy and currency of their country stable. They do it with the interest rate decision and trading the currency market. Most central banks are active traders in the forex market, mainly to stabilize their currency and have a sufficient foreign currency reserve if the need for it ever arises.
Commercial banks are the main part of the forex market. These banks carry out the trades by other traders. This action requires them to exchange currencies with one another according to their clients' needs. The commercial banks also trade currencies for their own profit and speculation. When banks believe that one currency will rise over the other, they perform the appropriate trade to make sure they profit from it. Since commercial banks control most of the money in the world, they are the one of the biggest parts of the forex market.



Where do the big players trade?

I guess there is a limit that broker don't like you to win more and therefore don't let you to trade with them anymore. However, there are big traders who trade hundreds of lots and make millions of dollars. Where do they have accounts? I think they are not trading with brokers who manipulate prices and do some other "tricks" to make your trading harder. Do they have accounts in some major banks, or how is it possible to trade that big?


Lets look at the key areas you can apply poker skills to trading.

Forex and Poker are Games of Odds NOT Certainties

Many look for some hidden order to price movement and create complex theories they think will work but they break in the brutal world of trading, as prices only move to the odds and not to certainties and this means waiting for high odds set ups and taking losses and keeping them small, until high odds trades emerge.

Responsibility for Action and Confidence

Most traders try and follow others or buy a robot and think they will make money easily. The good poker player though knows when he sits at the table he is on his own and responsible for his results and no one can help him. He has confidence in what he is doing, because he has learned all the skills needed and doesn't rely on anyone but himself.


Discipline and Money Management

Most traders can't take losses and keep them small and can't trade with discipline but you have to manage losses with discipline, to win long term in both Forex and poker.

The good poker player will pass hands by and fold and cheerfully lose, as he knows he must keep his losses small and wait for the right opportunity. He has confidence a high odds hand will come, he just needs to preserve his chips until the time is right.

Courage and Conviction and Bet Size

Most traders even when they get a big trend can't make the most of it. They bet too little and take profits to soon as they lack confidence in what there doing and courage to bet big. The poker player on the other hand, will bet big and have the courage, to see the hand through to the end and make as much as possible from it.

Focus on Making Money not being Clever

In Forex trading you are not judged on how clever you are and how hard you work you are judged on the profits you make and thats all. If you want to be clever do something else. Forex trading is a combination of a simple method applied with confidence and discipline with one aim making money.

Confidence, Courage and Discipline = Success

When a poker player sits down he is out to win, he has no ego and takes his losses and knows they must be kept small - he has to lose to win and knows that he then, has the courage to hit high odds hands and maximize his gains. All these traits come together, to see a huge number of poker players emerge as super traders.

Importers and exporters are also a crucial part of the forex market. Since these companies work with countries other than their own, they also work in different currencies around the world. Their main activity in the forex market is to exchange money from their currency to their client's currency and vice versa. They also use the currency market to "lock" an exchange rate and guarantee a certain profit. This is done to avoid the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates and guarantee a future profit.
Private speculators, including private citizens, hedge funds, and other non-regulated or little-regulated institutions also make up a big volume of the forex market. Usually they are not trading to do international business or stabilize an economy, but rather to make a profit for themselves or their clients. Their trades are being carried by commercial banks.