Beginner Forex Trading Course: 6 Practice Tasks With Answers

How do I set up a practice account?

These 6 tasks turn forex lessons into practice. You can do them with a calculator, or with virtual money in a simulator. All prices and balances here are made up for practice. They are not live quotes or trade ideas.

First, pick one practice balance and keep it. We use $2,000. If your simulator hands you $100,000, keep your own $2,000 record next to it. Huge pretend balances make huge trades feel normal.

For every practice trade, write down the date, the pair, the time zone of your chart and the fees you assume. Pick one major pair, such as EUR/USD, and keep each trade small. Set a stop-loss every time.

Tasks 1 and 2: Can you read a quote and price the spread?

Task 1. Say USD/CAD 1.3500 in words. Which currency gets stronger if the price falls to 1.3300? Does a long USD/CAD trade gain or lose?

Answer: 1 US dollar costs 1.35 Canadian dollars. After the fall, each US dollar buys fewer Canadian dollars, so the Canadian dollar got stronger. The long USD/CAD trade loses, before costs. If this felt hard, go back to how to read currency pairs.

Task 2. EUR/USD is 1.1000 to sell (the bid) and 1.1002 to buy (the ask). You buy 5,000 euros, then sell at once. There is no commission. How much do you lose, in dollars and in pips?

Answer: 5,000 × 0.0002 = $1. That is 2 pips, and each pip is worth $0.50 on this trade. If the broker also charged $0.50 each way, the total would be $2. Compare with the spread lesson.

Tasks 3 and 4: How much can I lose, and how big should my trade be?

Task 3. Your $2,000 account holds a $10,000 trade. The price moves 1% against you. Ignore costs. What do you lose? Does a small margin requirement change the answer?

Answer: 1% of $10,000 is $100, which is 5% of your $2,000. Margin does not change it. Margin is money the broker locks, not a limit on your loss. Depending on your country and account, you can even lose more than the margin. See margin vs leverage.

Task 4. You decide this trade may lose at most $10. Your stop is 25 pips away on EUR/USD. How many euros can you trade? What if the broker's smallest trade is 10,000 euros?

Answer: $10 ÷ 25 pips = $0.40 per pip. On EUR/USD, 10,000 euros make $1 per pip, so $0.40 per pip means 4,000 euros. At 10,000 euros, the same 25 pips would cost $25. That does not fit your plan, so skip the trade. Do not move the stop closer just to make a bigger trade fit.

The $10 is a practice number, not advice. A price jump can still make the loss bigger than planned.

Task 5: Which came first, the stop or the target?

A one-hour candle opens at 1.1000. It reaches a high of 1.1040 and a low of 1.0980, then closes at 1.1020. You were long with a target at 1.1030 and a stop at 1.0990. Which order filled first?

Answer: you cannot tell from this candle. Both prices sit inside its range. The candle shows only 4 prices: open, high, low and close. It does not show the order in which they happened.

To score this trade, you need more detailed price data. Or you can use a careful rule, such as "if both were touched, count it as a loss". Never count it as a win just because the candle closed higher.

This matters a lot when you test a strategy on past prices. See the chart lesson and how to backtest.

Task 6: What should I do if my order gets stuck?

Imagine the prices freeze just after you press "Buy". The screen does not say if your order went through. What do you check before you try again? Do this task on paper, not in a real account.

Answer: check 3 places first:

• the order status,
• the list of open positions,
• the trade history.

Then check your internet connection. If you still cannot tell, use the broker's support line or emergency contact.

Do not just press "Buy" again. If the first order did go through, you would now have 2 trades and twice the risk. Closing the app or the browser does not cancel an order the broker has already accepted.

How do I keep a useful practice journal?

A practice journal turns trades into lessons. Write the plan before the trade, and the review after it.

Keep your mistakes in the journal. If you reset the account after every loss, your record will look far better than reality.

Judge your process apart from the result. A winning trade that broke your rules is still a mistake. A losing trade that followed the plan may be fine. If any answer above is still unclear, return to the 7-step forex course. This workbook sets no deadline for using real money.