You will need to open a brokerage account. Generally, brokers are associated with a large financial institution such as a bank, and so can be considered reputable. They have to be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), which is administered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to help protect the consumer from abusive trade practices and fraud.

Once you've filled out the necessary forms and provided ID, you can open your FOREX account. Part of the form will be a margin agreement. What this does is give the broker the right to interfere with any trade it feels has become too risky. This is reasonable, as most of the money used for trading will actually belong to the broker, and they need to be able to protect their interests.

Now you have your account, it's time to put some funds in there and begin trading. The size of your account is your choice - some brokers will allow you to have a mini account of $250, while others prefer a minimum of between $1000 and $2500. The broker will also determine how much leverage you're entitled to. So one client may be able to control $100,000 with his $1000, while another may only be able to control $80,000. The higher your level of leverage, the more money you have available for trading.

It's never a good idea to start out by putting all your money into the market in your first trade. It's vital to get some practice first, usually by paper trading. This involves working out transactions and pretending to trade them, without actually putting the money into the market. Paper trading is a great way to learn how the market works, and become familiar with the software tools your FOREX broker will provide to you. Most online brokers will allow you free paper trades for a period of time, so look for the ability to trade a demo account if you're choosing an online broker. If you find that your paper trading results in losses, you may want to learn some more before trading with real money.

Very simple and obvious: buy cheap and sell for more! The profit is generated from the fluctuations (changes) in the currency exchange market.

The nice thing about the FOREX market, is that regular daily fluctuations, say - around 1%, are multiplied by 100! (in general FOREX companies offer trading ratios from 1:50 to 1:200). If, for example, the exchange rate of "your" pair of currencies increased by 0.6% in the last 4 hours, your profit will be 60% on your investment! Such can happen in one business day, or in a few hours, even minutes.

Moreover, you cannot lose more than your "margin"! You may profit unlimited amounts, but you never lose more than what you initially risked and invested.

You can implement your choice (the pair of currencies, the volume amount) under any direction to which the market is moving, and yet make profit. It does not matter whether the exchange rate is going up or down: you can always decide to buy Euro and sell dollar, or vice versa - buy dollar and sell Euro. You don't have to physically possess certain currencies in order to perform "buy" or "sell" with them.

You select the pair of currencies with which you wish to make a Forex deal. You determine the volume (the amount of the deal). You deposit the "margin" (collateral needed to facilitate the deal. Usually - only a very small portion of the whole deal, say: 1% or 1:100).

Before you finally activate the deal, you can still "freeze" it for a few seconds. That enables you to either change the terms, or accept it as is, or altogether regret the whole idea. The "freeze" feature is a unique service.

When your Forex deal is running (you hold an "open position"), you can monitor its status and check scenarios online, whenever you wish. You may change some terms in the deal, or close it (and cash the profit, if any, or minimize the loss, if any). Moreover, some companies let you determine a "take-profit" rate, with which the deal will close automatically for you, when and if such rate occurs in the market. Meaning: you do not have to stay near your computer when you hold open positions.

Understanding a Forex 'Carry Trade'
How to Start Forex Trading
Forex Charting: It's Not As Hard As You Think
Choosing the Right Forex Trading Software
Forex Mini Account: The Best Way To Start Off Trading Forex On Low Capital
The Best Forex Books