The Forex. Just mentioning it strikes fear into even the most experienced stock trader as the what you have been told about the stock market doesn't apply - I mean, you can't check whether the Swiss Franc has a new product coming out that might boost share price, can you?

Plus, the Forex trades for 24 hours a day, how do you work out when to trade?

My day job is Internet marketing but, I'm a little bit addicted to stock trading but a few months ago I discovered a method of trading the Forex to generate some pocket money, but it was by giving up my hunches and emotion to a robot that did my trading for me. I was hooked.

Essentially, this means that a computer program does all the work for me. My cash is now in the hands of an 'expert' that simply trades for me based on some rules. It enters trades, closes trades and decides how much to bet and how much I might make.

It can be quite scary, I mean, how do I know that it's not going to just throw all my money away on a recommended bet that will turn into a huge loss? Obviously you don't really know and of course, there are no guarantees. Even the best computer system in the world can't account for presidents who pump trillions in to the markets.

It's still the same risk

As with any share trading, Forex or stock market, you need to understand that you only invest as much money as you are willing to lose. If you are happy to hold a burning wad of cash above your head then count how much you are burning and that is what you can safely invest.

Trading on the Forex isn't a matter of phoning a broker, it's all computerised. A piece of computer software runs on your PC and you buy and sell by pressing buttons. Many people buy and sell based on 'technical trading' methods, charts and indicators that tell you when to buy and sell a particular share. On the Forex this method seems even more common, probably due to the sheer amount of data that is required if you want to analyse a country's outputs and make a decision on how successful its currency is going to be over the next few weeks.

And here's where the software comes into its own, you see the biggest problem with share trading is the emotional aspect. Traders will tell you and explain in great detail how they have lost a lot of money based on a hunch - it's the downfall of many.

All the technical analysis in the world won't help you if you allow emotion to cloud your judgement and you close a trade or open one based on a 'hunch'. If you leave your trading to robots then you are essentially putting all your trust into the systems.

If your system has won in the past, then you can be fairly confident it will win in the future, so you need to trust the system.

Sometimes you can have a bunch of losing trades which can make you give up. This happens to many people in may walks of life and you need to find a way to combat this - it can be difficult, but trading should be robotic, hence the benefit of robot traders.

Forex trading is a 'long game' and should be considered as a long term investment. If you see it in this way then even some heavy losses won't deter you.

I'm an avid follower of stock market trends and trades both the traditional markets and the Forex. I'm especially interested in the role of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/FOREX-Robot-Trading/91323165046">Forex Robot </a>and how they can achieve incredible results for even a small investment. If you'd like to know a bit more about it, follow me on Twitter (@andycal) or pop along to Facebook/andycalloway and give me a buzz.