I agree that learning the trade before you indulge in trading is a good precaution to be safe in the trading. A friend in the bank where I used to work said that speculators in forex usually lose money because they just rely on the indications or the trend. What's important is you have an insider information particularly from the central bank of the country. The trading of money is done by banks. When the dollar appreciates it can affect the value of a foreign currency unless the central bank sees that there are lots of dollars coming into the country. That kind of information is the money maker of some forex traders.