Foreign exchange trading, also known as Forex trading, has become more and more popular with investors and traders these days. With the ongoing recession in the capital markets, a lot of folks believe buying and selling of currencies is a safe investment. Whenever you look at the mechanics of a currency spot trade, the chance of making money is somewhere around 50%. With each currency spot transaction, someone loses money while the other individual makes some. Despite this, not everyone is profitable from trading currencies. As a matter of fact, it is estimated that almost 80% of all currency traders lose money in their attempts.

Using these statistics, one can easily assume that the 20% of profitable traders either have access to some kind of insider info or a mysterious way to manipulate the market. But even the United States, British, and Japanese governments have systematically failed in their previous attempts to manipulate the world's currency markets; which squelches that possibility all together.

The fact is, profitable currency traders are simply better at using accessible info than their unprofitable counterparts are. Profitable traders know how to choose the most applicable information from the enormous heap of economical data that's released by governments and institutions on a day by day basis. They understand how to head off information overload and zoom in on exclusively the most important facts and numbers that are most probable to have an effect on the currency market. With that in mind, these are the five major national economic reports that each successful trader looks at:

Unemployment Reports. Unexpected surprises in unemployment figures generally have a big impact on the Forex market. If, for example, the anticipated unemployment rate is 6% for a specific country, but the report shows an actual rate of 4%, then this can cause a strengthening of the national currency.

Interest Rates. Interest rates are directly related to the strength of a specific currency. When interest rates move up, it draws in foreign investors and will lead to a stronger currency. The opposite takes place when interest rates go downward.

Consumer Price Index. The CPI is a monthly report that measures the costs of goods in a country and compares this to salaries. An abrupt hike up in inflation is always damaging to the strength of a currency and so it's vital to maintain a close eye on this economic indicator.

Trade Balance. The trade balance measures how much a country exports and how much it imports. A trade deficit means that exports surpass imports and a country is sending out more money than it is taking in. This has a very noticeable impact on the demand for a countries currency. But one must remember that a trade deficit isn't always a bad thing. One must take into account the specific conditions of a country to see why a trade surplus or deficit exists.

Retail Sales. A monthly report of retail sales is possibly the most effective indicator of the average person's thoughts about his nations economy. Sentiment plays a highly critical role in spending patterns, which, in turn, affects the strength of a nations currency.

For currency traders who may plan on being intermediate or permanent players, successful Forex trading means that you need to gain some basic knowledge about worldwide economics and trade. Trading currencies without an awareness of the economic circumstances that bear upon a particular currency market will ultimately lead to losing money. To earn money with Forex trading over the long-run, you also need to learn how to adhere to stable trends and indicators and place your orders accordingly. That is the surest, if not the only way, of trading currency for profits.