If you run your own business, then making it more efficient is vital. This will not only help you grow as the years roll by but also make more profit. An efficient business will be able to work in a way that minimises wasted effort and enables more of the money earnt to be kept. But what do you do with the business profits you make from operating efficiently?

Naturally, you will want to reinvest some back into the business in terms of additional staffing or improvements to your machinery. If you have some spare cash left after this though, then why not consider trading currency in the forex market to make even more? It could certainly see a better return than if it simply sits in a low interest business savings account instead.

Forex – a brief overview

For any entrepreneur who is new to the world of trading in currency online, we will cover the basics here. The foreign exchange (or forex) market is worth around $5tn in daily trades and is the biggest financial market around. Open 24 hours a day, Monday to Friday, it sees you dealing in currency pairs such as the GBP/USD. In simple terms, you look at the chart for that currency pair to see how it has been performing and predict if the price will then go up or down. If you pick right, then you win the trade and make some money.

Five essential tips for forex traders

As with any kind of investment, trading in forex carries a risk. Therefore, it is crucial to educate yourself first so that you do not simply lose your initial outlay. Although it is entirely possible to make money from the forex market, you do need to know what you are doing first.

Here are some great tips to help:

• Do your research – if you are starting at the beginning of your trading journey, then learn about how the market works, what common candlestick patterns to look out for, and how to read charts in general. Learn about the different technical indicators you can use on them to help and how the news affects price action on the pairs. Very often, it is worth taking a forex for beginners course that brings all the information you need together in one area.

• Formulate a plan – the next tip is to come up with a trading plan. You would be surprised at the number of current traders who do not have one! Make sure that yours sets out how you will look for trading opportunities, what pairs you will focus on, what timeframe you will trade on, and what the potential reward is compared to the risk you are taking on. Also, remember to include using a stop-loss on each trade so that it does not wipe out your whole account if it goes wrong.

• Choose your broker wisely – another superb tip for any forex trader is to select the online broker you will use very carefully. Although there are many reputable ones out there, there are also some scam ones that will take your money. Look for a broker that is fully regulated and has a great reputation.

• Use a funded account to test your skills – you can apply for funding programs that offer prop funding, allowing you to start your trading journey in a risk-free fashion. In such a program, you will likely be provided with a funded account for trading. If you make profits, you can retain a significant portion (up to 80%), and if you incur losses, the liability remains with the company that offered you the account. Before getting involved, it’s crucial to read the terms and conditions of these programs carefully, and if you agree with them, you can then start prop trading instantly.

• Control your emotions – forex trading can be hard in this regard as losing real money if a trade goes wrong is essentially an emotional experience. To help beat this, get into the right mindset. Accept that you will lose trades (everyone does!), and do not let it bother you. Simply stick to your plan and look for the next winning one.

Follow our forex tips for success

As noted at the start of this article, no one said that being successful in forex trading would be easy. With the right approach, hard work and attitude, though, it can be done. The tips above are some great ways to go about doing this and ensure that your business uses its spare profits to great effect in the longer term.