To say forex day trading is not risky would be a lie because it is definitely the riskiest form of trading in the forex market, but you can make money if you know what you are doing and have the ability to contain your emotions in this high paced environment. The risk and tempo are what keep a lot of people out of this aspect of it and going the long term way.

I once had a student Alvin who attended my forex training course and one day, he asked me if he should go for forex day trading using the forex scalping methods I’ve thought him. I told him forex day trading may be lucrative but may not be suitable for everyone. I went on to analyze the pros and cons of forex day trading with him.

Firstly, something that is a draw to forex day trading is the fast trading cycle. Many traders like the rush and potentially, it could actually be more fruitful than long term trading. Each individual trade may not make as much as a long term trade, but because you may be making 10 trades to every one of theirs, if not more, your profitability can actually be higher than that of the long term forex trader.

Another drawing characteristic of day trading is that you do not have the overnight worries of the long term trader. Your money is out of the market at the end of the day and if anything happens to affect the currency of a certain country, you just roll over and go back to sleep. The long term investor will be chewing on their nails waiting for the market to reopen.

Of course, with any positive there are negatives that have to be considered. The first of these is that the plain fact of the matter is that about 4 out of every 5 people that day trade end up losing money. There are several reasons for this. One of them we have already mentioned in the risk factor and another is that traders are pulled in by the lure of making very fast money and don’t do the work that is necessary to be a successful day trader.

Also, a lot of the people that are day trading are doing so on borrowed money. They are leveraging against their forex account and they end risking too much on one trade and then they end up in massive debt when a trade goes bad. It is not the forex market that is causing this, it is the trader that is not putting in the necessary work and effort to be an effective day trader.

Another thing about forex day trading you should know is that it will take up quite a fair bit of your time as you need to monitor the forex market very closely. Some part time forex traders overcome this by using automated forex trading system that trades for them.

If you’re having a full time job, it can also be quite distracting. Having heard my analysis, Alvin said he’s just not that into forex day trading as he has a full time job and he does not have the time to monitor the forex market. Also, he said he does not need the extra excitement as his job is already stressful enough for him.

If you are still interested in day trading and have the time, give it a shot, but just do it conservatively. There are plenty of very successful day traders, but they take the time to create a successful forex day trading system that works and gives them an overall profit day in and day out. If you find that it is too much for you, just explore the long term aspect of this market niche as there is plenty of money to be made!