I am going to tell you a story here. It is a story often told and I am telling my own version here in the hopes that you Mr. Forex Investor, do not allow yourself to get caught up in a similar story.

"We would line up those long card tables side by side about five tables deep. Than we would put are flimsy chairs on top of the tables. On top of our chairs we would set our phones. Those heavy duty old school phones. The big beige ones that weighed about three pounds or so. On top of the handset was embossing tape that read "Greed" in red. The mouth piece of each phone was removed and was replaced with a special confidencer that would only pick up the sound directly from your lips. This made it easy for a boss to stand next to you and pitch loudly into your ear what you were to say to the client . Not even a trace of background noise would be picked up. Across the room several people were shouting into the ears or demonstrating in front of junior brokers who repeated verbatim what they were being told to say."

How does this apply to you Mr. Forex Investor? If you are letting someone else manage your account remember that at the end of the day you have given your money to someone who is no more than a Sales Person. His main concern may only be to tow the Company line. If the trades they are making with your money sound overly risky to you and do not seem to make sense to you than they probably don't make sense. If you get caught up and allow your own greed to combine with the greed of someone else, a dangerous combination has developed. Be wary of boiler room tactics that generate a sense of urgency or "pandemonium" over the phone. Be wary of lines like "Marty that yen is making a move..." Bottom line: Why are you allowing someone else to manage your account anyway? Do you think they are super skillful? Or have your best interests in their heart? Think twice.

"While there was no script, everyone was on the same page. The client would open an account with a minimum of $5,000.00. This was his margin. The trade would be executed shortly on a big foreign currency option contract. In a few days would be another call. Time to put in some more money a margin call is coming, or time to put in some more money we want to buy more positions because a big move is coming. It went on like this every day. It was so arbitrary. Take half the clients put them on Puts. the other half on Calls. Today put half on the Yen and half on the Swissy. You won big money in this place and you paid big commissions. If you were the lucky half. Otherwise you lost it all. This was not trading for the timid. It was "taking a shot". Everyday "taking a shot", or "stepping up to the plate" . It was time to "play with the big boys" or "are you a quitter". It was telephones thrown at the wall and trophy wives and Maserati's parked in the driveway overlooking the pacific ocean."

Mr. Forex Invstor: Your account should be handled like a precious Infant. Nothing should be bold or courageous when invested in a market on margin where fast moves can decimate your account in minutes, or seconds. The best person to care for an infant is his parent and that is you.

"We occupied the finest real estate that Newport Beach had to offer. Above and below us the biggest brokerages in the country. They didn't talk to us. They wondered about us. They were afraid of us. They invied us. In two months they moved me to the center of the floor. I pitched hard and loud they liked that. When they would threaten to fire all of us I only smiled. I knew it would not be me. I was on my way to being one of them."

"When the F.B.I. came in I caught a glimpse of a yellow jacket behind me. One of those yellow windbrakers. For awhile they were a popular clothing item among cool kids so I had to look back twice. My first thought was simply that someone had one of those F.B.I jackets. When I heard "everyone put your phones down" I looked back the second time and saw pistols drawn. It wasn't just the F.B.I. it was the Sheriff's Department, The City Police, The U.S. Postal Service, the State Board of Corporations, and the room quickly flooded with law enforcement."

Mrs. Forex Investor: All of the law enforcement Officers and lawyers in the world can't get your money safely back into your pocket. Many will fill sorry for you - including you - but that won't bring the money back. There will be a large line that you will have to stand in and maybe it will be all gone by the time you reach the front.

"They went straight for the offices of the Principals. Out came the handcuffs. Inside the office of the President was a big black trashbag. Inside the bag, I found out later, was over one million dollars cash. Under his desk. I was too low on the pole to matter. They asked me a few questions and let me go. I went and visited one of the Principals in the jail cell the next day. I don't know why. I felt like I owed him something. After all, he gave me a job. His white shirt was dirty now and his sleeves rolled up. He had a day's growth and looked like someone who spent the night in jail. It struck me so strangely. He was one who never looked like he could be dirty. Yet there he was RICO laws, money laundering, fraud, all of it. The ugliness of what it was all about has never escaped me."

Mr. and Mrs Forex Investor: Part of the ugly truth is that it took excitement and desire on both ends of the phone to make this happen. Be wary of the promises of fast money being generated from "Big Moves" in software programs, trading signals, Managed Account offers, or any other scheme that causes you to lose control of your funds.

"Occasionally, I read and hear about new trading systems, and how to earn money fast. I hear about guys who are looking for people to provide them with their accounts to trade. Always the same story. Fast money and big trades. I always think about that guy looking at me from behind chicken wire embedded in Plexiglas."

Mr. Forex Investor: The good news is that with hard work which you take upon yourself you can trade your own account with a good broker - which you have researched - maintaining control of your own account and trading - with risk levels acceptable to you - that you have also researched - to see if they are within the norm. Currency Trading is High Risk. Start small and build your way up. A good trader builds his or her account from the bottom up.