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Unit 01 · 35 minutes

What Is Forex and How Trading Works

Start at zero: understand currency trading, long and short positions, simulated accounts, brokers and where prop firms fit.

By the end, you can

  • ✓Explain why currencies trade in pairs
  • ✓Distinguish trading, investing and simulated prop trading
  • ✓Describe what a trader can and cannot control
01

Trading without the jargon

Trading means taking a position on how a quoted price may change. In forex, that quoted price compares one currency with another. A trader is not buying certainty; every position is a decision made under uncertainty.

02

Why currencies come in pairs

EUR/USD compares the euro with the US dollar. The first currency is the base and the second is the quote. If EUR/USD rises, one euro buys more dollars; if it falls, one euro buys fewer dollars.

03

Long, short and uncertainty

A long position benefits if the quoted price rises and loses if it falls. A short position does the reverse. Direction is only one part of the decision: size, invalidation and cost determine how much the outcome matters.

04

Broker, prop firm and simulation

A broker provides market access. A retail prop firm evaluates traders under defined rules, often in simulated accounts, and may pay rewards under its agreement. The fee buys access to an evaluation, not a guaranteed funded account or income.

05

The first professional habit

Judge a trade by whether it followed a tested process, not by whether one outcome happened to win. Markets, fills and outcomes are outside your control; preparation, size and behavior are not.

Practice room

Turn the idea into a decision

These are fictional learning scenarios. They do not place trades or use real money.

Practice 1 · scenario

Practice room

EUR/USD rises from 1.0800 to 1.0850. Which currency strengthened relative to the other?

Practice 2 · knowledge check

Knowledge check

Which statement best reflects this lesson?

Finish this unit

Pass each required activity, then save the current lesson version to your record.

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