It is essential for every trader to understand that Forex (foreign exchange) market is a volatile and risky market. It is always advisable to only invest in money that you can afford to lose and regard it as ‘risk capital'. The risks can be highly substantial when you use high leverage products like spread betting. As a forex trader, you should understand these risks involved so that you can make better decisions before entering a trade.

The risk experienced by traders in the market is amplified by the fact that the market is liquid. A liquid market is very competitive, volatile, and prone to risk regardless of the instruments, which you are trading on. the number of people that have access to the currency market is also a threat and a source of risk, their activities and decisions drive or move the forces of demand and supply to unknown directions. Your inability in determining the direction that the market is headed is the greatest reason why your portfolio is at risk.

According to expert opinion, diversifying your portfolio is the most effective and result oriented way of curtailing and managing market risk. When you diversify your portfolio, you are spreading the risk, which offers you a way of making up for the losses. For those of you who are newbie's in the forex game, diversification of portfolio can be associated to trading in different currency pairs.

It is also safer to reduce risks by using hedging strategies. Hedging means insuring against the price of a trade, i.e. use strategies those help you to hedge against possibilities of currencies moving against you in the future. There are many different types of currency hedging strategies. Some most used are called forward foreign exchange contracts and buying currency options. You can access such information from your dealers.

Further, your risks can be better managed and your losing trades can be turned into less losses or even some winning trades, if you are willing to base your trade decisions on buy/sell signals that are generated be highly specialized and technical software's, running on back tested system which analyze the market in real-time.

A well-experienced trader is one that is armed with the necessary information. Arming yourself with the most appropriate information is also another means of managing your risk. There is a lot of information you need to know while trading forex, for instance, countries fundamental figures, government decisions, consumer confidence, etc. etc. You can find such information on many websites. When you are properly informed, it shows in the type of trade decisions that you make. A trader, who is well informed, is always in a better position to manage his risk because been informed is one of the greatest measures you can ever take in ensuring that the risks you are faced with as a trader is visibly reduced.

Last and most importantly, I would advice that you should invest only that which you can stand to lose. That way, when you lose, you would not be greatly affected emotionally. Use a proper money management strategy will help you along trading forex.