How much money can you make trading forex?

Due to the availability of leverage, forex traders can make a return on a single trade that is multiples of the margin they used to open the trade. However, leverage is a double edged sword in that big gains can also mean big losses. Therefore, reliance on excessive leverage as a strategy typically leads to destruction of your account capital over the long run. This is because it only takes one adverse market move to drive the market far enough and trigger substantial losses.

Your expectations on a return on investment is a critical element. When traders expect too much from their account, they rely on excessive leverage and that typically triggers a losing account over time. View forex like you would any other market and expect normal returns by using conservative amounts of no leverage.

Since forex is a 24 hour market, the convenience of trading based on your availability makes it popular among day traders, swing traders, and part time traders. Regardless of your style, use small (if any) amounts of leverage.

If you were to expand the list to a fourth thing learned when starting to trade FX, what would it be?

I touched on leverage above. We researched millions of live trades and compiled our results in a Traits of Successful Traders guide. In the guide we touch on risk to reward ratios and how it is important. With humans being human, we also touch on the psychological element that goes along with trading and why we may still make poor choices even if we know what is right. Sometimes our biggest obstacle is between our ears.