I have $5000 and I'm interested in trading forex. What are the best brokers on the internet?
Also when they say minimum trade size micro unit (1k) does that mean I have to buy at least 1000 units which is for instance for a currency (1.05) $1005?
Also what is the lot size? Is that the range of profit/loss? Like instead of gaining $1 for 1 pip gain $10 if I change the lot size?

Thanks

Answer
Wow... you're on your way to an unbelievable surprise.

There are no good Forex Brokers... there are only Forex Brokers that are not as bad as most.

The first thing you want to consider is where is the corporate headquarters (what country?). Assuming you're from the USA... make sure they are licensed in the USA. Do not, for any reason, deal with a Forex Broker not licensed in your home country.

The next thing is to compare the "spread" charges. All these brokers advertise "no commissions".You'd actually be better off with a commission charge than the way they charge (by the spread). Make sure that the pairs that you'll be trading have comparatively smaller spreads than the competition.

No matter what you see on the web (especially from the brokers)... understand that it will take, on average 3-5 years to be profitable in any type of trading. Forex traders usually destroy their account in days, weeks or months.

The free "classes" taught by the brokers are a joke. They concentrate on the least important aspect of trading, which is Technical Analysis. The two fields of study, significantly more important are;
A. Psychology (yours and the markets).
B. Risk Management.

Read 6-12 books on trading and another 2-3 books on Forex Trading before you open a Forex brokerage account.

Good luck!

How much leverage are you comfortable trading in FOREX?

Does anyone have any suggestions on a leverage limit?

Many FOREX brokers allow up to 200:1 leverage. My trading strategy is to take just very small gains (3 or 4 pips at a time) and set the stop losses way out there just to avoid a total wipeout. I never trade on Fridays either and of course close out before the market closes.

Because of the giant stop losses, I am only comfortable with around 20:1 leverage or maybe 30:1.

In other words, with a $500 margin account balance, I would only consider buying 0.1 lots of EURUSD (10,000) at a time; 0.2 lots with $700; 0.3 lots with $1100 and so on...

Does anyone out there use the same strategy as me and feel comfortable with higher leverage like 40:1, 50:1 or even higher?

Answer
As you indicated, it is not just your leverage that you need to take into account...it is also your margin level that is important.

When I am drawn back to my technical analysis days I usually use a leverage of 40:1 unless I have a high probability setup occurring (based on pivot points and fibs). In that case I might go as high as 100:1.

Currently the majority of my Forex activity is based on conservative hedge trades (usually hedging the EUR/USD and USD/CHF). With my hedge trades I use a leverage of 400:1 and a margin of 10%. Hedging is awesome because the position can make profit regardless if the market goes up or down. I also get paid a daily interest payment, 7 days a week.

I have an analysis of the daily performance of 5 different hedge strategies over the past 500 days if you would like to see it. And these were all at 400:1 leverage and never anywhere near a margin call.

Paul