Before trading, you must know how to read a quote. Trading is done in pairs of currency. For example, if the currency pair is USD/JPY, then the quote for this currency is 119.50. The first currency is known as the base currency and the second is the quote currency. What is means is that you can buy 119.50 yen for 1 US dollar.
The base currency is stronger when the price of the second or the quote currency increases and vice versa. To understand forex quotes, you must also understand bid and ask prices. A bid price is that which is used by the broker to buy base currency and the ask price at which he will sell his base currency. When he is buying the base currency, he will sell his quote currency, and when he is selling the base currency, he will buy the quote currency.