How To Become A Forex Trader: What It Is and Career Path

What is a forex trader and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The Foreign Exchange market, or forex for short, is the global market for trading international currencies. A forex trader is someone who buys and sells currencies on this market on behalf of a client, with the ultimate goal of maximizing that client's investment.

To achieve this goal, a forex trader conducts in-depth research and analysis of the forex market. They check market conditions daily and use their findings to select the most profitable opportunities. Moreover, they may also make trades upon the request of their client.

There is no educational requirement to become a forex trader, but having a background in finance or accounting can be a great advantage. What's more important is a good understanding of the mechanics of the market as well as a tested trading strategy that one can only build with experience. Moreover, a forex trader must have great customer service skills to ensure that their clients are satisfied. In the US, the average salary for a forex trader is around $77,000 per year. But more than that, a forex trader may earn extra income through commissions as well as their investments.

ScoreForex TraderUS Average

Salary

8.0

Avg. Salary $115,092

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.5

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 12.08%

Black or African American 5.39%

Hispanic or Latino 11.13%

Unknown 4.11%

White 67.08%

Gender

female 8.49%

male 91.51%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

9.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

10.0

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a forex trader

Explore forex trader education requirements

Most common forex trader degrees

Bachelor's

61.1 %

Master's

20.4 %

Associate

8.9 %

Start to develop specific forex trader skills

Skills	Percentages
Technical Analysis	24.99%
Foreign Exchange Market	17.22%
Technical Indicators	11.07%
Fundamental Analysis	11.01%
Manage Risk	9.16%

Research forex trader duties and responsibilities

Communicate with brokers to ensure accurate allocations for futures, foreign exchange, and equities between separately manage accounts.
Execute institutional equity orders on both an agency and proprietary basis in strict accordance to FINRA regulations and establish company guidelines.
Execute institutional equity orders on both an agency and proprietary basis in strict accordance to FINRA regulations and establish company guidelines.

Prepare your forex trader resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your forex trader resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a forex trader resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Forex Trader Resume templates

Build a professional Forex Trader resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Forex Trader resume.

Apply for forex trader jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a forex trader job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do forex traders rate their job?

-/5

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Forex Trader reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2023

Pros

Flexible job to do other things during the day

Cons

You have to be careful or you could lose money

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2019