Why trade Forex?

I trade forex because of the leverage. Again for a very small upfront investment I can control a large position. I would like to say that there is no commissions but since you 'pay' the spread on all your transactions I really can't say that. However, it does seem like a painless way to pay to play.

Key to taking positions is understanding how much you are risking when you entering a trade. This is a great reason to trade demo for a while, it will help you to understand what different lot sizes over different pip amounts will cost the account if the stoploss is hit while the trade is not in profit. For instance if .01 lots result in 10cents/pip then a 100 pip stoploss against my position will cost me $10.00
So if I want to keep my risk down to say 1% for any given trade I will need to have at least 1000 in my account for every 100pips risked at .10/pip. Once you have mastered how much risk any given stoploss represents to the account you can beging looking for entry triggers.