While you're looking for your ideal job, it can be tempting to try your hand at forex trading.
But as a beginner in the world of Forex Trading, even if you have the greatest system, ample capital and a wonderfully helpful broker - if you can't manage yourself, your emotions and your mindset, you are almost certain to fail.
Trading online is not a place either for the faint-hearted or the foolhardy.
Those in first category are likely to prove the truth of the old saying "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady", while those in the second are equally likely to prove that "A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted".
But if you can control your emotions in what can be a very stressful environment, you will have set your foot on the first rung of the ladder of financial success.
Here then are some points to consider before you take the plunge - and if you're already in and struggling to keep your head above water, maybe some of these Do's and Don'ts will help.

• Don't make decisions based on intuition.
  

Experienced traders will talk of intuitive decisions, but what that really means is that they have paid their dues and built up a level of experience that allows them to make an almost sub-conscious assessment of whether the information they are seeing on the screen means conditions are right for a trade.
The newcomer's level of experience is unlikely to be sufficient to allow successful "intuitive" decisions.

• Do have a trading plan.
  

This is the opposite of the intuitive approach to trading.
Decide what your strategy is going to be.
Decide how you are going to implement it.
Make the plan concrete - write it down.
Follow the plan.
If it says act, then act.
It is just as dangerous to hesitate when your indicators and your plan say "Act!" as it is to act over-hastily.
Hesitation can kill a trade as effectively as an impetuous decision.
Keep checking the plan.
If it is making money for you in the longer term, then stick with it.
Fine-tune if necessary, but stay with it unless you are sure that you need to switch to something else.
Remember that demo accounts are there to help you test a plan before you risk real money.

• Don't trade with money you need for day-to-day living.
  

Nothing is more calculated to cause you to make silly decisions that the knowledge that you are trading with the rent or food money.
Only trade with money you can afford to lose.
In fact, once you've put the funds in your trading account, write the money off.
When the profits do roll in, they will be an (almost!) unexpected and unanticipated plus.

• Don't be tempted to use silly levels of leverage.
  

Some brokers will let you have as much as 200 times leverage.
It is tempting to use that leverage, particularly when you're working with a smallish account, in an effort to make big profits quickly.
The danger is that if you go for maximum leverage, you could also be committing a large chunk of your account.
If the trade goes wrong, your entire account could be in danger.
This point ties in with the next, which is

• Do manage the risk.
  

Risk management is one of the absolutely basic building blocks of any good trading plan.
Do use stops, and use tight stops.
Don't commit more than 5% of your available funds on any one trade, and even that is probably too much.
A 1% or 2% limit is far more sensible.

• Don't think you're going to get rich quickly.
  

If you are managing your risk properly, accept the fact that you are not going to get rich quickly.
While it's good to have a dream, to believe in your eventual success, be realistic about the rate at which that dream will most likely be realized.
In the same vein, don't spend your time daydreaming about riches; take action to make the dreams come true.

• Do educate yourself.
  

Even the experts will tell you that they are constantly learning as they trade.
For the beginner, there is a lot to learn.
Read, study, keep up with advances in the field of forex trading, keep your eye on new systems as they emerge (but see below for some remarks on switching systems), hone your technical analysis skills, master the trading platform you are using, keep an eye on breaking news and also longer-term trends that may change the fundamentals of the currency pairs that interest you.

• Do network and visit forums.
  

Networking and forums are part of the education process, and also an important part of your support system (see below).
The forums can be particularly useful if you show you are sincere, want to learn, and appreciate any help you get.
It is amazing how much valuable information real experts are willing to pass on, free, to those who show genuine interest.
Many of these experts regard this knowledge transfer as part of their contribution, their "giving back", to the industry in which they operate.

• Do be patient.
  

First, don't feel you have to trade every minute that you're awake and the markets are open.
If your system, whatever it is, says "don't trade", then don't.
If the day looks too choppy to you, maybe you should use the time in some other way (see "Don't turn into a hermit" below).
Even if some trade is possible, don't force matters and particularly don't try to make a killing in a few trades.
Even if your immediately results are not as good as you hoped they would be, don't give up too soon.
And if you are making a profit of 5% a month, rejoice.
Know what that is a year compounded? About 80%.
Try and get that from your neighborhood deposit-taking institution!

• Do know yourself.
  

Make sure you know your own abilities.
What do you really know, what do you really understand, what do you still have to learn? What level of risk are you comfortable with? How well can you read the markets? Don't sell yourself short - but don't think you've become an expert overnight.
You're learning to trade within trend lines; you also need to learn the upper and lower limits of your ability, and trade within those limits.

• Don't keep switching systems.
  

There are many systems on offer.
Each of them will probably work for a group of users, somewhere, sometime.
The trick is to find one that you understand, that you are comfortable with, and that shows signs of working for you.
Stick with it until you are certain that it either definitely works, or definitely is not for you.
Then, and only then, consider changing.
The biggest mistake you can make is to keep changing systems; you will enrich the vendors, but it won't do much for your bank balance.

• Do use as much automation as you can.
  

Make friends with your software, so that using it becomes second nature.
The modern software advisor programs can be really helpful in getting you trading successfully much sooner than would otherwise be the case.
Remember that most of the vendors of these programs offer a money-back guarantee, so you can try them out on a demo account and see if they live up to their claims, and if they fit in with the trading plan that you have crafted.

• Do believe in yourself.
  

If you can, build a support system - friends, family, fellow traders.
Even if you can't, back yourself.
There will certainly be times when you worry, when you are fearful of the decisions you have to take.
Use that fear, turn it into a positive, use the heightened emotion that fear brings to sharpen your assessments, double-check your calculations, and then take action.

• Don't turn into a hermit.
  

Remember, you have a life away from the screen.
Take frequent breaks, relax your mind, exercise, go surfing, for a run, for a workout, for a coffee.
Make the most of your friends and family.
After all, isn't that one of the major reasons you got into the forex market - to earn the money that will give you a better quality of life?