How To Keep Your Funds Secure When Trading Forex

As we all look to find new ways to make our money work harder, some are finding hope in the forex space. These deep and liquid markets and tight spreads allow users to trade in and out of various position sizes, which makes it attractive to both small and large players. As institutions and governments try to manage their currency pair values, you can try to predict certain trends and profit off of the changes in value.

However, like in any market, access can be a problem. As more retail traders get involved in trading forex, several online brokerages have popped up to serve the need. While these are legitimate businesses, they are still internet-based, and attacks like phishing and man-in-the-middle attacks are still possible.

If you're trading forex, you may be concerned about your funds' security, especially if you are looking to use a new broker or are entirely new to forex. While you are risking your funds in the market, what you donat don't want is to add additional risk that has no upside exposure.

If you're you're worried about how to secure your funds, then let us help guide you through your options and help you understand the risks. That way, you know what you're getting yourself into and can reduce your risk or allocate positions that won't hurt you too badly if they are unrecoverable.

Check out some of our tips and explore ways to keep your money safe when trading the currency markets.

Choosing a reputable broker & downloading your trading platform

The first job is to download your trading platform from your broker, who will give you access to an MT4 download for PC or MAC if this is your preference. You should ensure you download the platform from a trusted site, ideally, your broker or the Metaquotes website directly, as these will be reputable sources.

Ensure that the site you download from has the little padlock symbol in the browser bar, as this means the site is secure, and you have much less chance of downloading infected files onto your computer. You should also open the software regularly to ensure it updates when necessary.

It'sIt's important you also choose a reputable broker when deciding on who to trade with. Start by ensuring they are a regulated broker. Different countries have different regulating bodies; however, if they are regulated, your money (or at least a chunk of it if you have a large pot to trade with) will be covered should the broker go bust or cease trading.

Make sure you also read the reviews of brokers in addition to checking regulations, check reviews relating to regular slippage, withdrawals and other issues which could affect you financially, and use these reviews to make your decision about who is the best broker for you.

Protect your PC

The ideal situation would be to get a PC that you only use for trading and only have the apps you need on that device, limiting its access to the internet and devices you connect to it. That way, you reduce the chances of adding malware and the attack surface is more a case of you maintaining your best practices and remaining aware of what's happening in front of you on screen.

When entering personal data online, you should ensure your PC is protected. This is especially important when dealing with financial interactions.

Regardless of whether you have stand-alone trading set up or a home computer of general use for trading, you should consider placing good anti-virus and anti-malware software on your computer.

This will not only protect you from spyware which could lead to stolen data but also alert you to non-secure websites before you enter any personal data.

In addition to software, you should make sure you allow Windows or Apple's IOS to update every time an update is available. While this can cause a small amount of disruption to your work, it will ensure your computer is protected from any vulnerabilities.

Keep your login details safe

If you're building an empire, the last thing you want to do is leave the keys to the castle in an easy-to-reach place. If you leave your access codes on your computer or allow your browser or app to save it, you're asking for trouble.

The best option would be to keep your keys offline, write them down on a piece of paper or keep them on a flash drive you keep offline as a duplicate.

If you're not keen on doing all that work, you may want to consider using a password management tool instead that protects your passwords and doesn't allow your browser access to the data.

Also, make sure that you can add layers of security to your account like 2FA for signing in and transactions to provide you with extra protection.

Payment options

Some brokers only offer card transactions, but if your broker has options such as payment wallets like PayPal or cryptocurrency wallets, this is a way to add extra security to your payments. This is primarily because it doesn't involve putting your card information into a website; instead, you just log into your wallet and send the payment.

Ensuring your money is safe is paramount when conducting any online activity.

However, it is even more crucial when dealing with financial transactions, as your broker account could grow significantly over time. Ensuring you have a good security setup in the early stages of your forex career will put you in good stead when your account is inflated with trading profits.

Remove capital from your account

I think this goes without saying, but if you have funds you don't plan to deploy into the market, perhaps take some risk off the table and cash out. You don't want to leave funds idle as they can be the first funds stolen when your account is compromised. Funds in the market would need positions to be closed out, and by then, you could be alerted to your account breach, but funds sitting in the wallet ready to be withdrawn are an easy target.

Limit the chances of low-hanging fruit for opportunists and take your money out and into a bank account, you prefer. You can always top up your account at a later stage if you need more funds.

Tell us your trading story.

Have you started to try and improve your savings by trading in the options market? How is it going? Do you have any tips you feel should be added to the list? Share it with us in the comments, and let's help South Africans save even more.

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Recommended reading

If you enjoyed this post and have the time to spend diving deeper down the rabbit hole, then we suggest you check out the following posts about improving your finances in South Africa.

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Tags: Forex, Trading, Guest Post