FOREX IS NOT JUST A WORD

The Forex Market And Its Three Distinctive Elements

2008-06-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

Although there are many distinctive elements of the Forex market, there are three that can be highlighted as helping new traders learn exactly what the foreign exchange market is all about. These distinctive elements are those that every new trader should know long before they make their first trade. The Forex system is one that is made to encompass the entire globe. It can be difficult to interpret and even more difficult to successfully trade within. The first step to being a successful trader is knowing how the system works. Before you even think about opening a Forex account, be sure that you are familiar with the foreign exchange market's three distinctive elements: geographical, functional, and participant.

Geographical

The Forex is a huge market that encompasses the entire globe. This is a market that spans from North America to Europe, to China, and back. There is no area it doesn't touch which makes the market so popular. There is simply something for everyone within the Forex market. Its easy 24 hour a day access makes it even more attractive for investors. No matter what time of day you want to trade, there will be someone trading in some distant location around the world. Although there is trading in the Forex in every corner of the globe, the major exchanges are Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bahrain, London, New York, San Francisco, and Sydney. The geographical element of the foreign exchange market can help new traders realize the size and volume of the Forex. It is simply unmatched in volume and size making it a powerful tool for investors everywhere.

Functional

The entire Forex market functions to transfer purchasing power between countries. When trades are made, partners are converting currency revenues into their domestic currency. When one country's purchasing power is strong, another country's purchasing power may be weaker. The Forex market also functions to obtain and provide credit for international trade and to avoid an exchange rate disaster. When it comes to international trade, the Forex is helpful because it helps the movement of goods between countries and offers credit for financing.

Participant

There are two main parts to the foreign exchange market. The first part is the interbank, which is often called the wholesale market. The second part is the client, which is often called the retail market. In these two categories are approximately five different types of participants. The first type of participant being the bank and non-bank foreign exchange dealers who buy at bid prices and sell at asking prices. This helps the efficiency of the market as a whole. An interesting thing to note is that by trading currencies, banks often make up to 20% of their profits.

The second type of participants is made up of individuals, and commercial and investment firms. This group consists of importers, exporters, tourists, and other portfolio investors. They use the market to help them invest. These are often the participants who use the Forex to hedge, which is a way to reduce their risk.

The third group type that seeks to profit from the foreign exchange market are s speculators and arbitragers. These people are out to make money for themselves. They are acting in their own self-interest. They seek profitable rate changes in order to help them profit and try to profit with the least possible risk involved. Large banks are sometimes a part of this group.

Also involved in the Forex are central banks and treasuries. They use it to change the value of their own currency, or to at least attempt to do so. This is something that they do with reserves. Their motive is not to profit but to influence the market. They want the value of their domestic currency to benefit their interests.

Foreign exchange brokers are the last of the five groups involved in the participant element of the Forex. These participants are those who facilitate trading but are not partners in the transaction. They typically charge a fee for their service, which is most often on a commission scale. They are often seen as go betweens for large traders.

by forexscreen

Shoes Or Forex?

2008-06-07T11:12:00.001-07:00

Most people, who want to establish a financially-secure future, choose to start their own business by trading goods like shoes, art, crafts, clothing or antiques.

A friend of mine set up a trading business in Indonesia . We met when we were still earning our degrees in Melbourne , Australia . He imports steel and plastic from China and distributes them to his home country. It took him two years before his business stabilized and he is now making a good living out of it.

Even though there is now an ocean between us, we manage to talk once a year over the telephone. He asked me once if I wanted to meet him in a trade show in China . He learnt how to speak Mandarin so he finds it easy to get around China . With his ability to communicate with the Chinese, he offered his assistance to me if I ever wanted to start my own import or export business.

I had the option of trading in whatever goods I wanted. According to my friend, it could be 'anything you can think of'. Had I taken the option, I would have traded shoes because I can vary my investment size according to my financial capability. With limited funds to invest, I can buy only a few pairs of shoes. If I can find a lot of money to invest, I can order big too. I had a couple of months to decide. So I did some thinking.

Readers of this article may not be considering trading shoes, but I will use it as an example to help you decide about the choices available to you.

RESEARCH & INFORMATION

For someone to trade shoes, you would have to:
1. Research the local market for shoes,
2. Find out more about the big players in the shoe business,
3. Get acquainted with the different types of shoes and how much they are selling for,
4. Find out what costs are involved in importing shoes and
5. Determine how you can market and distribute them.
6. When I trade currencies, I have all the information I need by looking at a chart. It takes a long time to learn to do this well, but so does selling shoes.

INITIAL CAPITAL

To order a thousand pairs of shoes, you would require a lot more money than what it takes to start trading forex: usually, anything between $200 to $300 is sufficient. (In my book: The Part-Time Currency Trader , I discuss the costs of trading forex).

LEGALITIES

To start, you would have to establish the paperwork necessary to ensure that you get familiar with the legalities of the goods you wish to import and distribute.

What if a particular shipment of shoes does not sell, because even though they may have been popular in other countries, consumers in your country might not like it? Do you have more money to order another batch?

What if the stock you buy is defective and the seller does not want to have anything more to do with you? You can take them to court, but can you muster the resources to do so? You can threaten them by not doing business with them ever again, but would they care when they have other businesses to deal with?

PASSION

Successful entrepreneurs have taken at least two years to stabilize their business. Others take a lot longer. When starting and building a business, your expectations need to be set for the long term, because it will take time.

Harrison Ford — the famous American actor — had a strategy. He saw that many of the actors, who came to Hollywood with dreams of becoming superstars, gave up because it was too hard. So he figured that he could succeed one day, if he could only persevere with all the hardships associated with his endeavour.

Your ability to stay focused on a task long enough to attain success would be greatly improved if you liked what you do. Would you enjoy being surrounded with things related to shoes for most of your life, or would you hate it?

CONVENIENCE

The forex market is open 24 hours a day. You can buy and sell currencies in your pyjamas at midnight if you like and the transaction is complete before you go back to bed.

BENEFITS OF TRADING FOREX OVER SHOES

There are advantages in trading shoes, but I could see more benefits in trading currencies. You do not need to worry about the process of importing or exporting, transporting goods, defective items, marketing and distribution as well as ensuring that you are complying with the law. Furthermore, in forex, you do not have to invest too much just to 'test the waters'.

ONE MONTH LATER

A month later, I rang my friend and told him that I might take him up on his offer in the future, if it was still available. However for the moment, I explained that I had more passion for currencies than I had for shoes. He laughed and we agreed to meet one day so that I can tell him more about currencies.

Your Mother Could Make Money In Forex Trading

2008-06-07T11:10:00.001-07:00

The question would be not whether she could but rather would she enter the Forex trading market. The Forex day trading arena is a veritable snake pit ripe for scam artists to bilk money out of unwary investors. On the other hand, it is a forum for educated traders with the correct education, tools, and trading strategy to make a handsome income.

Becoming a successful Forex trader basically comes down to four things; 1) attaining the correct education, 2) using Forex tools which 3) use your own personal trading strategy, and 4) finding the correct Forex broker to fulfill your requirements. Let's look at these individually:

Attaining the correct education. Your Mother may not know the difference between a Forex PIP and one of the backup singers for Gladys Knight. So would you send her to one of those infomercial Forex riches classes to find out? We hope not! There are literally hundreds of training courses and materials out there for proper training. Word of mouth recommendations might be the best path to follow here.

Forex tools can also do many things like send trading signals and various buy/sell alerts to your desktop or mobile device based on what your personal trading philosophy dictates. Many of these tools are software based and some are provided via your favorite Forex trading sites. Not all people base decisions based on these signals though and use things like technical and fundamental analysis to determine when to buy or sell.

It also is essential to develop your own personal trading strategy. Your ability to assume certain risks might not exactly be what other traders or your broker recommends. A Forex trading strategy is not something generic and involves your personal game plan.

Before trading Forex you need to set up an account with a Forex broker. You may feel overwhelmed by the number of brokers who offer their services online. Deciding on a broker requires a little bit of research on your part, but the time spent will give you insight into the services that are available and fees charged by various brokers.

One of the most important ways to make the greatest return (and, also carry a greater loss risk) in Forex trading is with the use of a margin account. These accounts may let you trade as much as $100k in currency for as little as $1000. Margin accounts are the lifeblood of Forex trading, so be sure you understand the broker's margin terms before setting up an account. You need to know the margin requirements and how margin is calculated. Does margin change according to the currency traded? Is it the same every day of the week? Some brokers may offer different margins for mini and standard accounts.

Used correctly and together, the above items can lead to a comfortable part or full time income. If you don't use all the information available to you, though, you may as well let Mom take the weekend visit to Vegas with her money to see Gladys Knight. Make sure that she has developed her own Forex trading strategy and has used "paper trades" many times before actually beginning trading for real. Better that ole Mom is equipped to make some real money rather than throwing it away on the gaming tables.

by

nternet Marketing VS Forex Currency Trading

2008-06-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Have you noticed that when someone's trying to sell you something — such as a system for making money — they always make it look far easier than it is?

Let's look at two Internet businesses, almost as diametrically opposed as it's possible to be — Internet Marketing and Forex Currency Trading.

You've probably heard the old Internet adage — build a better website and they will come. Well it ain't true!

You could put up a site advertising dollars for a dime and they still wouldn't come — because they wouldn't know where to look!

Let's look at what you need to have in place in order to build a successful Internet marketing business.

First of all, you need a product. If you've been reading the recent Internet marketing blurb you'll know you need a niche product.

Actually, the new thing is sub-niche but whatever they call it, you need a product for which there is high demand but low supply.

Finding a suitable niche is the hardest part of the whole process but let's say you have a killer product, what else do you need?

The List.

Ask any Internet marketeer and they will say that the most important part of your business is your opt-in list.

For people to join your list you usually have to give them something of value such as a free eBook or report on a subject related to your main product line.

To keep them interested, you need to keep in touch with them offering them additional information, advice and tips.

Website.

To promote your opt-in list you need a website (although there are other ways of promoting your list, too) with features that will encourage people to sign up to your list.

You also need a killer website with killer copy to describe — and sell — your killer product. This may or may not be the same as the one you use for your opt-in list.

Killer copy.

Maybe you're not a good copywriter. There are many eBooks on the subject that can help you or you can pay someone to write copy for you.

You need a domain name, preferably one with some relation to the product but good domain names are becoming increasing difficult to find.

Ads.

To get people to visit your website in the first place you need to register it with the search engines.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is an art in itself. You can mug up on the subject or pay someone to do the job for you (but be aware that not all experts are!).

You might also want to place ads for your list in newsletters and ezines. The better ones will charge you although you might get a free ad in return for an article.

Autoresponder.

To automate your business you need an autoresponder. These clever devices automatically send emails to everyone on your opt-in list at predetermined intervals, and contain predetermined copy.

For example, you could create a series of emails containing, say, five parts of a free course to be sent one a day over the first five days.

Then emails would be sent once a week advertising a different product each time.

Whenever anyone signs up to your list they automatically start at the beginning so everyone gets the full cycle of marketing material.

We haven't even looked at affiliate sales and marketing but I'm sure you get the picture.

The basic idea of selling over the Internet sounds good but there's a lot more to it than most people realise.

Forex Currency Trading

Someone said that trading is the last frontier, the last place where men and women can stand up and pit themselves against the world.

It sounds very Wild Westish but most of it is true! You win or lose entirely by your own efforts and if you win, it's like having your very own bank.

However, even owning a bank is a business and you still have to work hard to put the money there — and to keep it!

Unlike Internet marketing where all your efforts, in one form or another, are geared towards making people join your list and then selling them stuff,

Currency Trading has no customers. That's worth repeating — with currency trading, you don't need customers.

No customers means you don't need any of the associated accoutrements that go with Internet marketing such as:

Products
Web site
Domain name
Opt-in list
Ads
eBooks and reports
Autoresponder
Any other marketing aids

So far so good, but what do you have to do and what do you need? Well, you need to know what currency prices are doing.

You can get a list of prices at the close of each trading day free from many web sites. If you want to trade during the day — intraday trading, you can get real-time prices for a nominal fee from several data suppliers.

In the foreign exchange currency market, commonly called forex, you can get this data and charting software free from many web sites.

Okay, that's the easy bit. In order to trade currencies, you need to analyse the data and determine which way price is heading.

In other words you need a system and this will require study and dedication.

There's lots of other stuff you have to know, too — trading terminology, margin, leverage, money management, order types, trader psychology and more.

But all of this is available in eBooks and courses and on the Net.

You also need some money upfront to fund your trading account. With forex you can begin with as little as $300-500 although you would be advised to start with more.

So while you don't have the ongoing quest for new customers, new products and inventive sales techniques, you do need some sort of education or training before you begin and you need discipline while you're trading.

For more information on getting started with forex currency trading, go to: www.webkept.com

Making money takes work whether it's online or off. Make sure you know what's involved before you start and remember that the more you put into a business, the easier it gets.

by forexscreen

Forex Market Offers Opportunity And Information

2008-06-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

The forex market is what is called an international exchange currency market, where currencies are exchanged on a daily basis. There are five forex market centers around the world — New York, London, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Zurich. One does not need to be on the trading floor, so to speak to be involved in the forex market. Today, forex trading can be done from home on a computer.

The forex market itself is basically a worldwide connection of traders, who make investment moves based on the price of currencies, or their values relative to other currencies. These traders constantly negotiate prices with other traders resulting in the fluctuation or movement of a currency's value. The value of a currency on the forex market also corresponds with supply. If there is greater demand for the Euro, let's say, then there will be less supply of it on the forex market, which means, in time, it will make a Euro more valuable compared to let's say the dollar. In short, in this forex market situation, one Euro would yield more dollars, subsequently weakening the dollar as well. Analyzing the forex market's fluctuations allows investors to make predictions on how a currency will move in relation to another currency. They then can make predictions and buy and sell currency accordingly.

While some people view the forex market as a place to see what their exchange rate will be when they travel abroad, others view it as an opportunity to make great gains in their financial planning and future.

by forexscreen

Forex Enterprise — A Full Review

2008-06-07T11:03:00.001-07:00

A new marketing course to hit the internet by Nick Marks that advertises earnings of $1000 a day and $30,000 a month respectively. This turnkey system generating multiple streams of income is relatively new and so it is my pleasure to review it for you.

After purchasing you are given a login page where you are introduced to the system which is in website format. Everything is easy to access and well organized.

After Nick gives you a little pep talk about positive thinking and goal setting, you will be introduced to his first recommendation: join Coastal Vacations. While not a part of his main Forex system this is a recommendation I could've done without.

In the pay per click section you are given a large list of keywords that Nick found convert really well with his system. Some of the keywords in the list have bid prices already attached to them so you can get front page exposure.

The course also has $50 in free adwords credit that unfortunately only works with new accounts so I was out of luck. If you don't already have an account this is worth the price of the course alone.

The forex course shows you some inexpensive traffic methods and provides links to these sources. He also covers stuff like pop-over ads, e-mail lists and autoresponders. Not bad information by any means, and is an alternative to pay per click advertising if you have a smaller budget.

He has an ebook package that seemed like it was going to be really cool as there were dozens of bonus ebooks and software programs covering everything from creating ebooks and website templates, to getting top positions in the major search engines.

As I took a closer look at this package I realized there were some bargain bin informational products included. However, there were also alot of goodies in there as well that I found rather useful. You get so many ebooks and software in here that it really is worth far more than the price of the course.

There is a section on becoming an Ebay power seller in 90 days that goes into a fair amount of detail and wasn't bad. However, Ebay isn't something I have ever been particularly interested in doing. There is also a section on baccarat strategies that I had no interest in.

One of the last sections of his course introduces you to e-currency exchanging using the DXINONE system. It is a great way to acquaint yourself with this increasingly popular opportunity without having to buy standalone e-currency courses which can cost a couple hundred dollars.

The author has combined several effective ways to earn money online and rolled them all into one course. While I didn't jump up and down about all of his strategies, the free ebooks, software, and adwords credit make Forex Enterprise worth the money.

by forexscreen

Forex Avenue: The Road to Riches

2008-06-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

In my continuing quest to provide visitors of my site with a large amount of options to chose from when considering working from home I have done some research on Forex trading. I first learned of Forex trading while pursuing my MBA program. For those of you who have never heard of this, Forex trading is the exchange of foreign currency.

I know I would have never even know this was an option for making money had I not found out in class. Most of the really big corporations have departments of people that do this for a living because it can be very lucrative if done correctly. The best news I have learned about this process of exchanging currencies is that many of the websites that you can sign up with to do this offer free trial accounts to help you learn before you invest your money into trying it. You won't make any money in the trial accounts if you do well, it is just pretend money essentially but with the real market conditions. If you do well in the trial account you will know if this is something you want to try on your own.

Benefits to Forex trading are that is can be done 24/7 whereas the stock market is a business hours only exchange. It is 24/7 because it is done with countries around the world so clearly there are countries that are awake and working while we sleep. Another benefit is you are in control of the trading on your account. You do not need to hire a licensed broker to make your trades and charge you fees. Along those same lines, anyone who does any investing most likely knows that some funds require you to own then for a certain period of time or pay early withdrawal fees. You do not need to concern yourself with this either. One last benefit that I would like to point out is the fact that Forex is not really subject to the same kinds of swings in the market that stocks are subject to. Of course if you always buy and sell the same currencies then there will be market swings. But, because there are hundreds of currencies out there, there is always going to be something for you to make money on because while one currency is up in value another one is down and vice versa.

There are many resources available to someone interested in becoming involved in this type of training. The Federal Reserve Bank's website is just one example of the information available — http://www.ny.frb.org/markets/foreignex.html. Here is another article that you will find helpful in starting out in this field. http://www.forex.com/pdf/pro2.pdf . I have also included one of the sites that does offer a free lesson.

While there are many benefits to this type of training, as I mentioned above, there are certainly risks involved as well. There are risks with exchange rates, central banks in foreign countries, and risks involving interest rates and credit. Forex is quickly becoming a popular way to help diversify your investment portfolio. If you are good with understanding investing concepts and enjoy doing it this may be the home business opportunity for you. Just do your research and try to find one of the sites offering the free trial account to practice with and you are well on your way down the Road to Riches.

by forexscreen

Who Should Trade a Mini Forex Trading Account?

2008-06-07T10:54:00.001-07:00

A mini forex trading account is designed for those who are new to forex trading or when the trading account balance is less then $10.000.

Mini forex account key points

- Only $250-$300 to open
- Up to 200:1 trade leverage
- 1 pip = $1 for EUR/USD and GBP/USD
- Smaller trade size

Mini forex account advantages

Build up confidence starting small

A trader can trade a mini forex account using 1 mini lot and building up lot size slowly when he makes profits in his account. A general rule is to trade ONLY 1 mini lot for every $1000 a trader has in account. For example, if an account is worth $5000, trader can take up to 5 mini lots.

Develop a forex trading strategy

Because on a mini forex account, pip value is $1 = 1 pip, trader can pay more attention on building a solid trading strategy without focusing on floating profit & Loss (P/L). Most traders with a small account balance trading on a standard account will tend to base trading decisions on profit &Loss and not on their trading strategy, they are emotionally too involved.

Their account balance fluctuations are so important that they even can’t think developing a proper trading strategy. Their account size is too small for the lot size they take and every small pip loss can lead to a painful loss in their trading account.

Such traders will tend to take profits (too) soon and cut losses too late because they always hope the trade will make a reverse and come back.

Consider the following example:

A trader has a $2000 trading Account.

When trading a forex standard account, a 37 pip loss will result in a $370 loss in his trading account or 18.5% of his account balance. When taking the same trade on a forex mini account, a 37 pip loss will result in a $37 loss in his trading account or 1.85 % of his account balance.

Conclusion

By starting with a Mini account- a trader loses only a small amount on every losing transaction making it easier to stick to a disciplined trading strategy, in the long rum, this will lead to much better trading results.

Toby Smitz - Daily Operations Mini Forex Trading

Should a New Trader Take a Forex Trading Course or Not?

2008-06-07T10:45:00.000-07:00

Many new traders come with little or no education to the forex market, only to blow out their entire account in matter of days.

Why?

Because the have never learnt anything about how the FOREX works, technical analysis, strategy's, traders psychology, chart set up and many other important things you should know before you start to trade.

So, knowing this, it is important for new traders to have some serious education about forex before you go trading LIVE.

What type of education?

This can be a forex trading course or online education with live instructors from respectable FX companies.

How much should a trader spend?

It depends on how much a trader is willing to pay but a good forex trading course must be available starting as low as $250, some companies even offer it for free. Online education with live instructors can cost a lot more, finally it is up to the trader what he is willing to pay for proper forex education.

Just think about this: it is very easy to lose an entire forex account with no education, whether it is a $1000 or a $100,000 account, personally, I would learn forex first before wasting my money.

What lessons a trader should learn in a forex trading course or with online forex instructors:

Forex Basics

What is Forex?, Currency Pairs, Order types,...

Technical Analysis

Technical Indicators, Candlestick, Types of charts, Patterns, Moving Averages, Support&Resistance, Trend Lines,..

Trading System

Entry Setup, Limit Levels, Where to place a stop levels,...

Chart Patterns

Special Chart patterns with high probability to look for,...

Trading Psychology

How to succeed in Forex trading and how to avoid pitfalls, Holy grail,..

Money Management

Risk-to-reward ratio's,....

Toby Smitz - Daily Operations Forex Trading Course

This article courtesy of http://www.forexscreen.blogspot.com.

Ways in Which the Weather can Affect the Forex Markets

2008-06-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Currency trading can be approached using a number of different methods. Many mathematical purists will tell you that technical analysis is the only way to go, swearing that they can see the future by poring over chart after chart after chart. Others glance at the trends, ruminate for a minute or two, then go with a hunch and ride a pair wherever it wants to go. Some forex traders, however, attempt to accumulate as much information as they possibly can before investing in a currency pair. These thorough individuals stay apprised of politics, trade and investment, interest rates, consumer trends, the housing market, inflation, capital markets, industry indicators, and the latest economic theory. But even these studious individuals can overlook a resource that offers great insight into developments in the forex markets. This important font of knowledge is, of course, your local weatherman.

While this comment is made at least partially tongue-in-cheek, the idea that the weather could affect the forex markets is not at all far-fetched. Weather conditions have a profound effect on local economies, on energy consumption, and on the all-important agricultural industry. A change in the weather can have a tremendous impact on the economy, causing currency values to fluctuate. This article will examine the affects of North American weather on the Dollar, though the observations herein can easily be applied to most developed countries and their currencies.

So without further ado, here are four ways that the weather affects the dollar: a must-read list for the truly obsessive forexer.
Tornados, hurricanes, floods and the like: Hurricane Katrina is a prime example of how natural disasters can affect the Dollar, but these incidents don’t need to be on the scale of Katrina to have an influence on the forex markets. Any weather event that damages property or impacts citizens to the point that they require assistance from local or federal government agencies can put a strain on the Dollar. Sizeable disasters can also affect national morale, causing unease or even panic, neither of which is ever good for the Dollar.
Droughts and deluges: Anyone who has ever watched the local news in Iowa knows where the agricultural industry’s priorities lie. By the sixth appearance of the weatherman in the first fifteen minutes of the broadcast, it is evident that the weather is a major economic concern. Any conditions that cause crop failure or harm livestock not only hurt farmers, but they drive up prices and force food retailers to look abroad for substitute products. When this occurs, the trade deficit increases and the Dollar takes a hit.
Cold cold winters: An extraordinarily cold winter results in unexpected increases in energy costs for both industries and consumers. As the bulk of the gas and oil used in the US is imported, the Dollar suffers as Americans try to stay warm.
Hot hot summers: An abnormally hot summer also leads to higher energy costs for consumers. The summer months are normally spending months, when Americans travel and shop for big-ticket items. If Americans have less disposable income because of increased electricity bills, then everyone is more likely to stay home and enjoy the AC rather than venture out into the heat to buy a new car and start that cross-country trip. In this way, a hot summer can slow the economy and have a deflating effect on the Dollar.

How to Control Yourself in Forex?

2008-06-07T10:37:00.001-07:00

Joe Chalhoub presents an article about how to become a real Forex trader, not some opportunist who is trying to reap some fast rewards and become a millionaire in no time. Foreign exchange market has became very attractive for many people recently. Traders come with hopes and go without after losing some their hard-earned money. Taking control in trading, developing your own organized approach to trading is the only way the newbie financial trader can become a real professional and start to earn systematically on Forex.

The presented Forex article is called How to Take Control in Forex Trading. I hope you will enjoy it, especially if you are only starting to enter the world of the currency trading

A Lot of Forex Trading Tips

2008-06-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

Someone sent me an article yesterday, so today I’ve decided to put it up on my site. This article is called 133 Trading Tips and it really contains 133 tips on how to trade Forex. I don’t know how one could come up with so many tips to a Forex trader, but all of them really make sense (at least to me). You can read that to sum up your knowledge or to find something new to yourself, but it’s definitely worth seeing. Here I’ll list some of my favorite tips from this article:

24. Be more objective and less emotional.
30. Don’t trade impulsively; have a plan.
47. Know why you are in the markets. To relieve boredom? To hit it big? When you can honestly answer this question, you may be on your way to successful Forex trading.
58. Technical analysis is a skill that improves with experience and study. Always be a student and keep learning.
64. A «buy and hold» strategy doesn’t apply in Forex trading.
69. Do not overtrade.
89. Cutting losses is painful for every trader. The ability to cut one’s losses in time is the sign of a seasoned trader.
132. Don’t use the markets to feed your need for excitement.

Free Forex eBook Download

2008-06-07T10:06:00.000-07:00

Free Forex eBook Download

THRUST BARS

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WHATS YOUR EQ

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LIQUIDATION

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ARCHIEVING PERFECTION

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ULTIMATE STOPLOSS

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STAY WITH TREND

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CAMEL BACK TECH

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BRAIN VS MACHINE

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BABY STEP - GIANT STEP

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ARE YOU A LOSSER

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test your language

2008-05-12T03:54:00.000-07:00

try to test your language here
just answer the questions
then press "test result"

click at the photo down

Understanding What Influences Forex Prices

2008-04-15T11:34:00.001-07:00

This article will explain some of the differences between Technical Analysis and Fundamentals and explain a bit about each type of trading. Excerpts are taken from the best-selling book 'Market Wizards' where Jack Schwager interviews Ed Seykota and Bruce Kovner.

Ed is a trend trader (uses technical analysis) and also relies on hunches from 20 years of experience. He definitely emphasizes his reliance on technical analysis. While reading this, I liken, the 'hunches' to knowing the effect fundamentals can have on a market although I could be mistaken, they could be purely from reading lots of charts so well. Here are is exact words "Fundamentals that you read about are typically useless as the market has already discounted the price, and I call them 'funny-mentals.' However, if you catch on early, before others believe, then you might have valuable 'surprise-a-mentals.'"

Ed says his priorities when trading are the long term trend, the current charts and picking a good spot to buy or sell, in that order.

Bruce says technical is awesome and very useful but by no means disregards fundamentals.

It's important to note that technical analysis is a critical method of understanding the history of market movements and hence useful to identify trends. It doesn't actually tell us where the currency is going but analyses historical data. We then need to use our own intelligence to see what the activity of trading says about future trades.

Technical Analysis can be compared to taking a patient's temperature. To ignore it is ignorance and it can tell you whether a market is active, or cold and dormant.

It also picks up unusual behaviour. Anything that creates a new chart pattern is something unusual. He also says "Studying the charts is absolutely crucial and alerts me to existing disequilibria and potential changes."

It's the fundamentals that will help to indicate whether a trading value will increase or decrease.

Everything that makes a country tick, in Forex terms. Consumer spending, government spending, employment cost index, government policy, political concerns and even an individual event can influence the market heavily.

In summary, the fundamentals will indicate the direction of a price but not exact prices. The chart analysis or technical analysis is better for that, so together you can really increase your chances of coming away with some pips.

The reason technical analysis is so emphasized is that many traders use charts to trade and at any given time, will be drawing the same lines of resistance and same lines of support. So if you can read the charts well, you have an awesome chance of predicting market movements. The best way to learn about the effect of fundamentals is to learn one piece of economic data at a time. This will help you make better-educated trades.

by forex screen

Energy Prices, Inflation and Forex

2008-04-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

Oil futures surged to a record intraday high of $70.85 on August 30th, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast. While prices have moderated in subsequent weeks, it's worth examining how higher commodity prices and the specter of inflation impacts the foreign exchange (FX) market, particularly the U.S. dollar.

Traditional supply and demand factors certainly have contributed to the longer term trend in energy prices. The demand side of the equation has been getting plenty of press this year, with focus on the rapidly growing thirst for oil in both China and India. However, the recent spike in oil can primarily be attributed to hurricane related speculation in the futures market and the limited and centralized (on the Gulf Coast) refining capacity of the U.S.

Economic data released in recent weeks has begun to reflect the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast in August and September. These data reinforce what the Fed has been implying all along; that the economy is growing at a brisk pace and that inflation, not recession, should be the concern.

September jobs data showed the first net job losses since May of 2003, but the decline of 35,000 jobs was much smaller than the decline that was anticipated. September CPI showed the largest monthly gain in 25 years. However, when the volatile food and energy components are removed, inflation was a rather mild 0.1%. That was quite a bit less than the market was anticipating and suggests that the higher energy prices are not being passed through to the core number yet.

Similarly, the September PPI headline number exceeded expectation and was the largest monthly gain in 15 years. However, again we remove food and energy and see that wholesale prices were up a relatively restrained 0.3%. This core number did beat expectations though, so one might deduce that higher energy prices are starting to impact prices at the wholesale level and it's just a matter of time before these higher prices are passed along to consumers. Weaker than expected retail sales and a new 13 year low in Consumer Sentiment suggests that higher energy prices are indeed weighing on the American consumer's mind. How that will play out, particularly in the retail sector going into the holiday season is now a major focus on Wall Street.

With the word 'inflation' seemingly on everyone's lips these days, we expect the Fed to continue on its tightening schedule. The Fed raised the target for overnight borrowing in September by 25bp to 3.75%, the 11th such hike since June of 2004. Another rate hike is expected in October and at least one additional 25bp bump is all but assured in November or December.

Rising U.S. interest rates and an expanding U.S. economy have been the driving forces behind overseas flows into U.S treasuries and the stock market respectively. These flows translate into demand for the U.S. dollar, which has kept the greenback generally well bid in September and October. While we would contend that the equities market is vulnerable at this stage, the interest rate differential picture should continue to favor the dollar through year end.

High energy prices and inflation fears are not exclusive to the U.S. Central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations are meeting in Beijing this month. A statement released on October 16th said, high oil prices "could increase inflationary pressures, slow down growth and cause instability in the global economy.'' This should benefit the dollar as well because in times of global economic uncertainty, the dollar is still considered a "safe haven" currency. While we may see other countries begin to tighten their monetary policies, U.S. interest rates will remain significantly higher.

The definitive move above USD-JPY 115.00 bodes well for additional dollar gains against the yen into the 118/120 zone. On the other hand, the July lows in EURUSD at 1.1868 must be convincingly negated to trigger further dollar gains against the European currency. Such a move would shift focus to the 2004 lows at 1.1759/78 initially, but potential would be for a drop below 1.1500.

In times of inflationary pressures, the U.S. dollar tends to lose ground against the commodity currencies. Commodity currencies are the currencies of countries that derive the bulk of their export revenues from the sale of commodities. Prime examples of liquid commodity currencies are the Canadian dollar, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar.

The dollar hit a new 17 year low late in September against the Canadian dollar on the back of sharply higher oil and metals prices. While the dollar recovered from those lows, gains are considered corrective in nature and we look for the longer-term downtrend in USD-CAD to continue. Similarly, AUS-USD and NZD-USD are consolidating below important resistances with scope seen for additional short to medium term gains.

At some point, domestic inflation and the rise in the U.S. dollar will return focus to the U.S. trade deficit and balance of payments. As U.S. goods and services become more expensive, both domestic and overseas consumers will look elsewhere. That's the point where the U.S. stock market truly becomes vulnerable. Downside risk in the stock market will result in a negative impact on flows into the U.S. and consequently the long-term downtrend in the dollar would likely start to re-exert itself.

Conventional wisdom in the financial services industry suggests that placing 5-10% of one's portfolio in alternative investments, such as those offered by CFS Capital, is desirable to achieve the diversification necessary to protect against adverse moves in the more traditional asset classes.

by forex screen

How Are Interest Rates Set?

2008-04-15T11:29:00.001-07:00

How Are Interest Rates Set

How are interest rates set -- a common question received by those who broker loans. The first thing most clients or prospective clients will ask is "how are rates doing?" Or, "what rate can I get?" It's understandable as the interest rate determines in large part as to what your monthly payment will be. Fundamentally, the interest rate is what you pay the lender in exchange for their lending you the money for your home loan.

How Are Rates Set?

So, how are rates set? Generally speaking, the longer the loan the more the risk to the lender and consequently the higher the rate. Of course, it's not as simple as that for there are a number of factors that determine how rates are set. Here's the nitty-gritty as to how your California home loan interest rate is set. There are three fundamental forces that determine interest rates in the United States. They are:
The Federal Reserve
The Bond Market
Multiple Forces in The Economy
The Federal Reserve
The "Fed" as it is commonly called determines US monetary policy for the entire country. There was no central federal banking system in the US from 1783 to 1913 but that all changed with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Ostensibly, it is the central bank of the US. Don't let the term "Federal Reserve" throw you -- it is NOT a federal US government institution or department.

It is a privately-held organization. There are 12 regional Federal Reserve System banks throughout the US. In addition, the Federal Reserve seeks to constantly adapt its various monetary policies in a concerted effort to combat inflationary and deflationary pressures brought about due to changes in the domestic or global economy. The Federal Reserve Board members meet eight times a year and generally only changes rates during a meeting. The 12-member Federal Reserve Board can control interest rates by changing the rates it charges banks to borrow money.

Here's how it can influence rates. The Federal Reserve loans banks funds from their district Federal Reserve bank who pledge their commercial paper as collateral. The Fed essentially charges the borrowing bank interest on the loan. This is called the discount rate. Banks or lenders then lend the consumer or borrower money charging their primary interest rate. The implications are self-evident. The higher the discount rate the Fed charges the bank, the higher the primary interest rate will be to the borrower as the bank wants to meet the minimum requirements as well as make a profit.

Many people think that when they hear the Federal Reserve Chairman make a monetary policy change with the Prime rate, it automatically affects interest rates. Not so. The Prime rate increase or decrease may affect a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC), but it wouldn't affect interest rates. Interest rates also fluctuate with the various loan programs available to the borrower. (For more information on Loan Programs within this site, please click here.)

The Bond Market

The bond market fluctuates on a daily basis and is a major determinant in the setting of interest rates. In fact, one can actually guess with an astonishing degree of accuracy as to any movement within a business day if there will be a rate adjustment, whether up or down, based on what the bond market is doing, specifically the 10 year bond. For clarity's sake, there a couple of different bonds that affect interest rates. They are:
The 2 Year Bond
The 5 Year Bond
The 10 Year Bond
The 30 Year Bond
The primary bonds that affect interest rates are the 10 year and the 5 year bond. To see actual, real time fluctuations in the bond market, go here at http://money.cnn.com/markets/bondcenter/ to see current prices for bonds. This is the one I view daily. The bond market is highly volatile. How do you read the graphs so as to know if interest rates will have a spike downward or upward?

While looking at the 10 year price graph (the farthest one on the right), if the 10 year price has a massive swing upward from say 99 28/32 to 103 28/32, rates most likely will have a decrease from current levels. On a daily basis, California loan agents receive rate sheets from lenders (we work with over 400 lenders so they are plentiful).

If the bond market fluctuation merits an increase or decrease in the loan broker's yield spread premium (their rebate), it will in turn affect the interest rate that is quoted to a client, which in this example would be a lower rate. If the bond price doesn't have much of a fluctuation during a normal business day, the rate will not move. Every day, in the morning, rates are received in the office. If a price adjustment is required, the primary lenders will immediately issue an adjustment rate sheet to their broker partners.

As I've said, interest rates are set based on the yield in the bond market at any given time. Let's show an example. If, for example, a $100,000.00 bond falls in value to $95,000.00, the corresponding yield (return) is significantly higher. Because the yield is higher, the prevailing interest rate that is set for the mortgage must offset the higher yield and provide a return on the mortgage for the lending institution. With all things being equal, the rates on fixed rate mortgages would tend to rise.

Multiple Forces in The Economy

There are many factors influencing interest rates for your California home loan in the US economy. Higher interest rates can cause fluctuations in the stock market which in turn affects the bond market. In fact, the bond market and the stock market are opposite sides of the same coin. One can't move without the other. If the US Dollar rallies, bonds dip; when oil prices dip, bonds can as well. Generally speaking, when the bond market is up, the stock market is down. In addition, if economic news is worse or better than expected, it will cause a fluctuation in the US dollar currency pairs in the spot Foreign Exchange market (the FOREX), which can affect the bond market and in turn rates.

A quick example. A couple of weeks ago from this writing, the US New Jobs report was projected at 350,000 -- it only came in at 10% of that or 35,000. Once the report was announced, literally IMMEDIATELY the GBP/USD currency pair (Great British Pound and US Dollar) spiked upward. The GBP dramatically increased in strength with the US Dollar becoming weaker. One FOREX trader I know literally made $3,500 in five minutes as he projected the claims to be much less than expected.

Also, interest rates dropped that day due to the lackluster jobs report. Coming into the office that day, a wise loan agent would have locked some loans or at the least knew interest rates would had gone down that day. Truly, the US economy is a highly interdependent organism that is very fluid and dynamic -- it is never static or motionless. Some of the key economic indicators that affect the economy, and in turn interest rates, are:
Durable Goods Orders
New Home Sales
US Trade Balance
Jobless Rate
Weekly Initial Jobless Claims
Fed Chairman Greenspan Speech Before Congress

The key economic indicators that can affect the bond market with corresponding fluctuations are:
Consumer Confidence
Retail Sales
Manufacturing Activity
Industrial Production
Jobs Growth
Inflation

There you have it. There are many forces at work in determining what your rate is on any given day. So the next time you ask a loan agent, "what are rates like today?" You'll see there's a lot behind it.

by forex screen

The Costs Of Trading

2008-04-15T11:27:00.001-07:00

You may have relatives or friends who trade the markets. They could be trading shares, futures, options or forex. You may have heard of their exciting trading stories and perhaps this aroused your curiosity and you wondered whether you should trade too. One of the first questions you ask before you trade would be: what are the costs of trading.

The costs of trading depend on several factors, including the instrument and market you are trading. Most of the costs you pay are to your brokerage firm. They need to make a living in exchange for the services they provide.

Generally, you would expect to incur the following costs:

Commissions

Slippage

Spread

Platform Fees

Expenses

Commissions

These costs are charged by brokers. The commission you pay is usually calculated as a percentage of the size of your trade. For example, if you are buying or selling $10,000 worth of shares, your broker may charge you 1% of that. They may also charge in tiers: for example, if you are buying or selling shares with a total market value of less than $10,000 then your broker may charge you $30. If it is under $20,000, they may charge you $50. Therefore, if you bought $5,000 worth of shares, you would still pay $30 commission. And if you bought $12,000 worth of shares you would still pay $50 commission.

Slippage

The price of a commodity is always moving as long as the market is open. Therefore, if the price of a share is quoted at $10 now, it does not mean that when you decide to buy, you will buy those shares at $10 each. When you put in your order and it gets filled, the market price may have already changed. If your order to buy the shares was filled at a price of $10.25, and you bought 100 shares, then your total slippage cost is: $25 (that is 100 shares * $0.25). If you had the same slippage when you sell, then the entire slippage costs for you getting in and out of the market would be $50 (that is $25 * 2 trades).

Spread

The spread is the difference between the bid to buy and offer to sell for the commodity. If the most eager buyer is willing to buy US Dollars for 0.7500 Australian Dollars each, but the most eager seller is only willing to sell them for 0.7510 Australian Dollars each, then there is a spread of 10 pips. These 10 pips are referred to as the spread. If you bought 100,000 USDs, the spread would cost you 100 Australian Dollars. (Pips are discussed further in the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader .)

Platform Fees

Some brokers charge you monthly for using their trading platforms.

Expenses

These costs include those associated to your trading education like buying books, trading software, data subscription and so forth.

Some people may 'brush' these costs aside as negligible costs of having fun, much like the coins they put in poker machines. However, if you want to look at trading as a business, you have to minimize them and make sure you are getting the most for every dollar you spend to ensure your long-term survival.

by forex screen

FOREX: Exiting positions at a right time

2008-04-15T11:25:00.001-07:00

The presented article covers one of the most important (in author's opinion) aspects of trading in general and Forex trading in particular — managing of orders and positions. This includes choosing entry points, making decisions about exit points, stop-loss and take-profit of the trader. I hope this article will help new traders, who just began to work with Forex, and also to experienced traders who trade regularly and regularly make or loose their money to the market.

When I started to trade Forex and made my first big losses and profits I began to notice when very important thing about the whole trading process. While the right time to enter a position was rarely a problem for myself (nearly 80% of all my open positions had gone into the "green" profit zone), the problem was hidden in the determining the right exit point for that position. Not only was it important to cut my risk on the potential losses with stop-loss orders, but to limit my greediness and take profit when I can take it and make it as high as I can. There are many known guidelines and ways to enter a right position at a right time — like major economic news releases, global world events, technical indicators combinations, etc. But while the entering into a position is optional and trade can decide to miss as many good/bad entry point moments as they wish, this is untrue if we talk about exiting a position. Margin trading makes it impossible to wait too long with an open position. More than that, every open position in a certain way limits trader's ability to trade.

Choosing the good exit points for positions could be an easy task if only the Forex market wasn't so chaotic and volatile. In my opinion (backed by my trading experience) exit orders for every position should be toggled constantly with time and as the new market data (technical and fundamental) appear.

Let's say, you took a short position on EUR/USD at 1.2563, at the time you are taking this position the support/resistance level is 1.2500/1.2620. You set your stop-loss order to 1.2625 and your take-profit order to 1.2505. So now, this position can be considered as an intraday or 2-3 days term position. This means that you must close it before it's "term" is over, or it will become a very unpredictable position (because market will differ greatly from what it was at the time you have entered this position). After the position is taken and initial exit orders are set, you need to follow the market events and technical indicators to adjust your exit orders. The most important rule is to tighten the loss/profit limit as time goes by. Usually if I take a middle term position (2-4 days) I try to lower the stop and target order by 10-25 pips every day. I also monitor global events, trying to lower my stop-losses when very important news can hurt my position. If the profit is already quite high, I try to move my stop-loss the entry point, making a sure-win position. The main idea here is to find an equilibrium point between greed and caution. But as your position gets older the profit should be more limited and losses cut. Also, trader should always remember that if the market began to act unexpectedly, they need to be even more cautious with exit order, even if the position is still showing profits.

Every trader has their own trading strategy and habits. I hope this article will make its readers think about such an important aspect of trading as the exit orders and this will only improve their trading results.

by forex screen

Forex: No psychological limitations

2008-04-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Back when I first started learning about investing, I decided to start from the beginning and read basic books on personal finance as well as "guides" for understanding all of the investment world in a nut shell. Most of these authors were very knowledgeable and informative, but their investment advice was far too conservative for my taste. They would literally write chapter after chapter talking about the differences between conservative investing, which according to them generally yields somewhere around 5% PA, as opposed to "risky" investing which usually meant a diversified stock/mutual fund portfolio yielding (in my mind) only slightly higher averages. What kind of returns can you expect in the stock market? Well they say the market has gone up an average of 10% a year since Adam and Eve. Popular indexes like the DOW and the now more popular S&P500 have always, like real estate, "gone up over time."

Now, these market averages are almost worshiped like golden calves. Repeatedly drilled into my brain was the concept that there were hundreds (if not thousands) of fund managers and other "professionals" out there with Harvard degrees, decades of experience, millions of dollars under management, and they were all spending 15 hours a day consuming every single bit of market information in the hopes of beating these golden calves by a few points.

What chance did I have? If Dr. Fund Guru Jr. who eats, sleeps, breathes the markets and has more credentials than I have individual hairs on my body can't consistently make 20% a year...well...forget it kid...your chances are slim to none. I guess I'll buy some shares of XYZ fund and accept the scraps off the table from the stock gurus.

NOT!

The foreign exchange market offers many benefits that the stock market does not have. Most of these have been beaten to death on various forums, blogs, articles, e-books, etc. However, it's always good to reiterate the positive (my own personal reason is last): — Forex offers unprecedented liquidity. With over two trillion dollars transacted per day on the market, it makes filling any buy/sell order virtually instant. That equates to less slippage and more profitability. "Paper trading" stocks vs actually trading stocks is very different, because orders may not be filled in a timely manner. The difference between trading a forex demo account and an actual account is virtually nill. — Forex is available 24 hours a day 5.5 days a week, as opposed to the daylight trading hours of the stock exchanges. — Forex is uncontrollable by large entities. Large net worth individuals, banks and fund managers who throw their weight around in the stock market can often have huge effects on price action. Because of the immense volume of foreign currency traded per day, the market is unmoved by "heavy hitters." Not even central banks can control the Forex market. — Forex offers up to 200:1 leverage as opposed to 2:1 stock leverage. — Forex has no restrictions for selling short, as opposed to the stock market's "uptick" rule — Forex can actually be traded INSIDE of an IRA or Roth IRA account. — Forex gains are taxed at the preferred 60/40 rate, no matter what trading style you use (intra-day, swing, position) as opposed to the tax penalties for holding stocks for short periods of time.

The list does go on, but for me the biggest advantage is a psychological one. I know it probably sounds silly, but fear and intimidation can sometimes subconsciously defeat us before we even begin. I don't like the idea of having to live up to, and in a way, compete with "professional managers" who have more knowledge of the fundamentals of the markets than I ever will. It's almost as if Forex, in some way, levels the playing field. I don't have to psychologically compete against anyone's idea of what kind of returns are "acceptable and realistic" and what kind of returns are "pure fantasy." I only have to trade until I can find an acceptable reward to risk ratio, and consistent profitability thereof. The only one I compete against is myself.

by forex screen

The Benefits of Trading The Forex Market

2008-04-15T11:21:00.001-07:00

Historically, the FX market was available most to major banks, multinational corporations and other participants who traded in large transaction sizes and volumes. Small-scale traders including individuals like you and I, had little access to this market for such a long time. Now with the advent of the Internet and technology, FX trading is becoming an increasingly popular investment alternative for the general public.

The benefits of trading the currency market:

It is open 24-hours and it closes only on the weekends;

It is very liquid and efficient;

It is very volatile;

It has very low transaction costs;

You can use a high level of leverage (borrowed money) with ease; and

You can profit from a bull or a bear market.

Continuous, 24-Hour Trading

The currency exchange is a 24-hour market. You may decide to trade after you come home from work. Regardless of what time-frame you want to trade at whatever time of the day, there would be enough buyers and sellers to take the other side of your trade. This feature of the market gives you enough flexibility to manage your trading around your daily routine.

Liquidity And Efficiency

When there are a lot of buyers and a lot of sellers, you can expect to buy or sell at a price that is very close to the last market price. The currency market is the most liquid market in the world. Trading volume in the currency markets can be between 50 and 100 times larger than the New York Stock Exchange (Source: Oanda.)

When you are trading stocks, you may have experienced events where one piece of news accelerates or decelerates the price of the underlying stock you may have bought into. Perhaps a director has been kicked out by the shareholders of a company or the company has just released a new product and big investors are buying the shares of a particular company. Share prices can be drastically affected by the actions or inactions of one or a few individuals. So if you are relying on television reports and newspapers to get your news, most of the opportunities or warnings will have come too late for you to take advantage by the time you get them.

The value of currencies on the other hand is affected by so many factors and so many participants that the likelihood of any one individual or group of individuals drastically affecting the value of a currency is minute. Because of its sheer size, the currency market is hard to manipulate. The ability for people to engage in 'insider trading' is virtually eliminated. As an average trader, you are less disadvantaged. You are likely to be playing on relatively equal ground along with all the other traders and investors whom you are competing against.

Note about price gaps:

For those people who have already traded other markets, you probably know about price 'gaps'. 'Gaps' occur when prices 'jump' from one price level to another without having taken any incremental steps to get there. For example, you may be trading a share that closes at $10 at the end of today but due to some event that happens overnight; it opens tomorrow at $5 and continues to go downwards for the rest of the day.

Gaps bring about another degree of uncertainty that may meddle with a trader's strategy. Probably one of the most worrying aspects of this is when a trader uses stop-losses. In this case, if a trader puts a stop-loss at $7 because he no longer wants to be in a trade if the share price hits $7, his trade will remain open overnight and the trader wakes up tomorrow with a loss bigger than he may have been prepared for.

After looking at a couple of forex charts, you will realize that there are little price 'gaps' or none at all, especially on the longer-term charts like the 3-hour, 4-hour or the daily charts.

Volatility

Trading opportunities exist when prices fluctuate. If you buy a share for $2 and it stays there, there is no opportunity to make a profit. The magnitude of level of this fluctuation and its frequency is referred to as volatility. As a trader, it is volatility that you profit from. Large volume transactions and high liquidity combined with fewer trading instruments generate greater intra-day volatility in the currency market that can be exploited by day-traders. The high volatility of the currency market indicates that a trader can potentially earn 5 times more money from currency trading than trading the most liquid shares.

Volatility is a measure of maximum return that a trader can generate with perfect foresight. Volatility for the most liquid stocks are between 60 to 100. Volatility for currency trading is 500. (Source: Oanda.)

In this respect, currencies make a better trading vehicle for day-traders than the equity markets.

Low Transaction Costs

A currency transaction typically incurs no commission or transaction fees. For a forex trader, the spread is the only cost he or she needs to cover in taking on a position. In addition, because of the currency market's efficiency, there is little or no 'slippage' costs.

'Slippage' is the cost involved when traders enter the market at a price worse than the level they wanted to get into. For example, a trader wants to buy a share at $2.00 but by the time, the order gets executed, his gets to buy the shares at $2.50. That fifty cents difference is his slippage cost. Slippage cost affects large-volume traders a lot. When they buy large quantities of a commodity, it oversupplies the market with buy orders. This applies a pressure for the price to go up. By the time they get to buy all the quantities they wanted, the average price they got their commodities would be higher than the price they intended to get them for. Conversely, when they sell large quantities of a commodity, they oversupply the market with sell orders. This applies a pressure for the price to go down. By the time they finish selling all their commodities, their average selling price is less than what they initially intended to sell them for.

Due to lower transaction costs, minimum slippage and strong intra-day volatility, individuals can trade frequently at small costs. As an approximate, you may only expect to have a spread of 0.03% of your position size. To give you an example, you can buy and sell 10,000 US Dollars and this will only incur a 3-point spread, equivalent to $3.

Leverage

There are not a lot of banks or people who would lend you money so that you can use it to trade shares. And if there are, it would be very hard for you to convince them to invest in you and in your idea that a certain share is going to go up or down. Therefore, most of the time, if you have a $10,000 account, you can only really afford to buy $10,000 worth of stocks.

In currency trading however, because you use 'borrowed money', you can trade $10,000 of a currency and you only need anywhere between fifty (For a margin lending ratio of 200:1) to two hundred dollars ( For a margin lending ratio of 50:1) in your trading account. This makes it possible for an average trader with a small trading account, under $10,000 to be able to profit sufficiently from the movements of the currency exchange rates. This concept is explained further in The Part-Time Currency Trader.

Profit From A Bull And Bear Market

When you are trading shares, you can only profit when the price of a stock goes up. When you suspect that it is about to go down or that it is just going to be moving sideways, then the only thing you can do is sell your shares and stand aside. One of the frustrations of trading shares is that an individual cannot profit when prices are going down. In the currency market, it is easy for you to trade a currency downward so that you can profit when you think it is going to lose value. This is easy to do because currency trading simply involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias that makes it difficult to trade 'downwards'. This is why the currency market has been occasionally referred to as the eternal bull market.

This is an excerpt, modified from the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader.

by forex screen

Getting a Forex Trading Education

2008-04-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Many Americans are interested in getting involved in forex trading. Before doing this, you should get a forex trading education. You should never get into forex trading without forex trading education. With the proper forex trading education, you can be on your way to making a tidy profit.

First you need to understand what forex trading is. Forex is short for foreign exchange. Forex trading is the simultaneous exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. By doing so at the right times, you can gain a profit. A forex trading education can teach you how to do this.

The first part of a forex trading education is to learn the market background. The foreign exchange market is always changing. With forex trading education, you will learn how to monitor these changes to be beneficial for you.

The next part of your forex trading education is to learn about risk control and risk management. You learn to control yourself and not over invest at the thrill of the chance of making money. You will also learn how to cut your losses (how to exit losing trades before your losses exceed your limits). You will always lose money when you first begin forex trading. This part of your forex trading education is absolutely crucial to whether you will make it big or end up in a hole.

Another important part of your forex trading education is to learn how to open and manage your forex trading account. Your forex trading education should first have you practice with a demo account. This way you learn the ropes by practicing forex trades with play money. There is no risk involved, but it is just as realistic as the real thing. Your forex trading education should also let you know when you are ready for the real thing. You should then, and only then, open up a live forex trading account.

There are many ways to get a forex trading education. The best place to get a forex trading education is online. There are many free websites available that let you open free demo accounts to practice your forex trading. There are also free seminars that are avaiable at random times. The best thing to do is to get some advice from someone who is a current forex trader. They can give you some down to earth insight on the subject of forex trading.

Now that you know a little bit about forex trading it is time for you to go out and get a good forex trading education. Don't rush into it and take your time. There is a lot of money involved with forex trading. It is best not to get ahead of yourself.

by forex screen

Option Arbitrage in the Forex Market

2008-04-15T11:18:00.001-07:00

What is arbitrage? Arbitrage is the simultaneous buying and selling of identical financial instruments taking advantage of price discrepancies between different brokers, exchanges, clearing firms, etc. and thus looking in a profit. On paper, arbitrage is a risk-less trading strategy. In the real world however, risks abound.

So why trade arbitrage? Well, if the risks can be managed, arbitrage can be extremely profitable if you can find the opportunities and take advantage of the opportunities before they disappear. After all, the arbitrage opportunity is present because one side is slow to react to market news, momentum, etc. When it corrects the opportunity is gone.

Why arbitrage forex options? Well, because the opportunity exists if you look far it. The forex market is a cash inter-bank / inter-dealer market. In simplest terms, this means the foreign currencies traded in the forex market are traded directly between banks, foreign currency dealers and forex investors wishing either to diversify, speculate or to hedge foreign currency risk. The forex market is not a "market" in the traditional sense due to the fact that there is no centralized location for forex trading activity and, therefore, trades placed in the forex market are considered over-the-counter (OTC). Forex trading between parties occurs through computer terminals, exchanges and over telephones at thousands of locations worldwide. Therefore the forex market is not as efficient as the NYSE for example. Price discrepancies exist between trading platforms, clearing firms, banks, etc if only for a small period of time. Options pricing is also affected for the same reasons but since there are other components involved in pricing an option than just the price of underlying currency, they tend to exist for longer periods of time.

One of the most common causes of option pricing differences is the calculation of volatility. Volatility is generally the standard deviation measured over a period of time. Sounds simple enough right? Well, if compare the volatility measure across different forex option providers, you'll likely find differences as large as 2%. When you find this you have also probably found an arbitrage opportunity.

Now that you've found an arbitrage opportunity, how do you trade it? Well, that's a bit trickier and this article cannot possibly cover all the risks associated with pulling off the trade but I will list some issues you should consider.

First of all, are the options really the same? Are the contract sizes, expiration dates and times the same? American or European style?

You also need to consider execution risk. Will there be slippage. Will there be a time delay in getting filled. Is the market moving too fast?

Exit strategy, how are you going to exit the trade and still capture the profit? What happens if the options expire in-the money? Out-of-the-money? What if you get assigned a position on one option but not the other?

These are just a few of the issues one must consider when trying to profit from option arbitrage. The key to option arbitrage is not unlike any other trade -- planning and risk management. Plan the trade, manage the risks, and execute the plan and you will be successful.

by forex screen

Trying Forex Trading with the Best Strategy and Approach

2008-04-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

With the day things are today, more people are getting interested in investing their money to make them grow faster. The problem is, not too many people are willing to take the risk of investing it because of the risks, so some of them just let their money rut in banks. Not that there's anything wrong with banks, it's just that they have low rates and the money takes a long time to grow. If you want real money, you have to have the guts to risk it. Making money needs money; risks are always involved if you want to have money fast and big.

One of the largest arenas wherein you can invest your savings is the Forex. Forex trading has been around for decades already and is regarded as the largest financial forum in the whole world with an estimated 3.1 trillion dollars of volume everyday. The Forex (Foreign Exchange) trading is open 24 hours and never sleeps. Transactions are done all over the world via telephones and computers, money exchanges hand in the number of millions in just mere seconds. The Forex Trading is composed of thousands of banks and individual Forex trading companies that monitors development all over the world, developments that may influence the value of their currency. Forex trading deals with the exchange of currencies from different countries. The idea is to determine the rise and fall of the value of a certain currency and trade when it is deemed advisable.

For small Forex trading transactions, managed accounts are the ideal, they are for the cautious because they have the least risky participation. Here you entrust your investments along with others to a reliable, honest and ethical seasoned Forex brokers. These Forex brokers use their extensive knowledge and lengthy experience and use their strategy to make your money grow, for a fee of course.

With the rise of the internet, Forex trading can be done in a click of the mouse. Money travels through space and wires all the time. The computers have done a big help in the growth of Forex trading, transactions can now be done anytime anywhere. Since somebody is up at a given time everyday anywhere in the world, you will never lose someone to trade with.

There are two basic and fundamental ways to analyze and evaluate foreign exchange trading. There is the technical analysis and the fundamental analysis. There is a huge difference between the two. In Fundamental analysis, Forex analyzers and brokers watch out for causes to market fluctuation. These causes may include the political condition of the country, their laws and legislations, financial policies, their growth rate and other factors as well. Technical analysis of Forex trading includes graphs, charts and other method of measuring past data to see the indication of the rise and fall of currencies. They get all the information they need and use them to calculate and forecast the possible direction of a certain currency.

There are lots to learn about Forex trading; even the seasoned broker learns something new everyday. Forex trading has huge returns in an instant if you catch the right moment and transaction. But always remember there is till the risk, Forex trading can be quite a gamble, especially if your forecast is wrong. Before investing your money in any firm, try to investigate about its record and history in Forex trading.

by forex screen

Forex Enterprise — A Full Review

2008-04-15T11:14:00.001-07:00

After purchasing you are given a login page where you are introduced to the system which is in website format. Everything is easy to access and well organized.

After Nick gives you a little pep talk about positive thinking and goal setting, you will be introduced to his first recommendation: join Coastal Vacations. While not a part of his main Forex system this is a recommendation I could've done without.

In the pay per click section you are given a large list of keywords that Nick found convert really well with his system. Some of the keywords in the list have bid prices already attached to them so you can get front page exposure.

The course also has $50 in free adwords credit that unfortunately only works with new accounts so I was out of luck. If you don't already have an account this is worth the price of the course alone.

The forex course shows you some inexpensive traffic methods and provides links to these sources. He also covers stuff like pop-over ads, e-mail lists and autoresponders. Not bad information by any means, and is an alternative to pay per click advertising if you have a smaller budget.

He has an ebook package that seemed like it was going to be really cool as there were dozens of bonus ebooks and software programs covering everything from creating ebooks and website templates, to getting top positions in the major search engines.

As I took a closer look at this package I realized there were some bargain bin informational products included. However, there were also alot of goodies in there as well that I found rather useful. You get so many ebooks and software in here that it really is worth far more than the price of the course.

There is a section on becoming an Ebay power seller in 90 days that goes into a fair amount of detail and wasn't bad. However, Ebay isn't something I have ever been particularly interested in doing. There is also a section on baccarat strategies that I had no interest in.

One of the last sections of his course introduces you to e-currency exchanging using the DXINONE system. It is a great way to acquaint yourself with this increasingly popular opportunity without having to buy standalone e-currency courses which can cost a couple hundred dollars.

The author has combined several effective ways to earn money online and rolled them all into one course. While I didn't jump up and down about all of his strategies, the free ebooks, software, and adwords credit make Forex Enterprise worth the money.

by forex screen

Forex Avenue: The Road to Riches

2008-04-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

I know I would have never even know this was an option for making money had I not found out in class. Most of the really big corporations have departments of people that do this for a living because it can be very lucrative if done correctly. The best news I have learned about this process of exchanging currencies is that many of the websites that you can sign up with to do this offer free trial accounts to help you learn before you invest your money into trying it. You won't make any money in the trial accounts if you do well, it is just pretend money essentially but with the real market conditions. If you do well in the trial account you will know if this is something you want to try on your own.

Benefits to Forex trading are that is can be done 24/7 whereas the stock market is a business hours only exchange. It is 24/7 because it is done with countries around the world so clearly there are countries that are awake and working while we sleep. Another benefit is you are in control of the trading on your account. You do not need to hire a licensed broker to make your trades and charge you fees. Along those same lines, anyone who does any investing most likely knows that some funds require you to own then for a certain period of time or pay early withdrawal fees. You do not need to concern yourself with this either. One last benefit that I would like to point out is the fact that Forex is not really subject to the same kinds of swings in the market that stocks are subject to. Of course if you always buy and sell the same currencies then there will be market swings. But, because there are hundreds of currencies out there, there is always going to be something for you to make money on because while one currency is up in value another one is down and vice versa.

There are many resources available to someone interested in becoming involved in this type of training. The Federal Reserve Bank's website is just one example of the information available — http://www.ny.frb.org/markets/foreignex.html. Here is another article that you will find helpful in starting out in this field. http://www.forex.com/pdf/pro2.pdf . I have also included one of the sites that does offer a free lesson.

While there are many benefits to this type of training, as I mentioned above, there are certainly risks involved as well. There are risks with exchange rates, central banks in foreign countries, and risks involving interest rates and credit. Forex is quickly becoming a popular way to help diversify your investment portfolio. If you are good with understanding investing concepts and enjoy doing it this may be the home business opportunity for you. Just do your research and try to find one of the sites offering the free trial account to practice with and you are well on your way down the Road to Riches.

by forex screen

Forex The Future Investment

2008-04-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

There are many many advantages over the various other ways of investing. First of all it is a 24 hr market, except for weekends of course. You have the US market then the european and then the Asian. One of the great times to trade is during the over lapping periods. The USA and european overlap between 5am & 9am eastern and the Euro & Asian between 11pm & 1am eastern. Usually the busiest time and best to trade.

The is also the risk factor for the accounts. With futures and options you can get margin calls that can wipe you out. If you get caught in a bad trade not only do you lose the money in the account but you may have to come up with alot more from your pocket. It can be very risking. But not in Forex. Worst case senerio you could lose whats in you account. But you would have to do something really stupid. Like making a big trade on a Fundamental day and leave it alone. If market takes a bad move and you weren't there. OOOPS. But That wouldn't happen with a smarth trader.

Then there are the demo accounts which is an account where you can trade using all the right things, platform,charts,and information. But you are using play money, or what we call paper trading too.

Plus with Forex you have a mini account. Instead of needing thousands of dollars to get into it. You can open an account with as little as $300.00. Now of course you will be trading at 1 tenth of a trade. IN other words you controling 10,000 instead of 100,000.00 These are call lots. Which also means you will only risk 1 tenth too!

So if you would love to learn to do investing and not have near the risk you really need to take a closer look at Forex trading.

by forex screen

FOREX Trading Philosophy

2008-03-16T10:09:00.000-07:00

Keen on starting Forex trading? Why would you not be: Many beginning Forex traders are captivated by the allure of easy money. Forex websites offer 'risk-free' trading, 'high returns' and 'low investment' — these claims have a grain of truth in them, but the reality of Forex is a bit more complex. As with anything in life, what you put in will determine what you get out.

There are two common mistakes that many beginner traders make — trading without a strategy and letting emotions rule their decisions. After opening a Forex account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by if you don't enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover.

This kind of undisciplined approach to Forex is guaranteed to lose you money, and have you waste your time. Forex traders need to have a rational trading strategy and not allow emotions to rule their trading decisions.

The two emotions prevalent in the above example is greed (entering the market immediately) and fear (selling when the market temporarily moves against you). Investing and these two emotions do not gel at all. Keep them out of your trading and you will see results.

To make rational trading decisions the Forex trader must be well-educated in market movements. He must be able to apply technical studies to charts and plot out entry and exit points. He must take advantage of the various types of orders to minimize his risk and maximize his profit.

The first step in becoming a successful Forex trader is to understand the market and the forces behind it. Who trades Forex and why? Who is successful and why are they successful? This knowledge will allow you to identify successful trading strategies and use them as models for your own.

There are 5 major groups of investors who participate in Forex — Governments, Banks, Corporations, Investment Funds, and traders. Each group has varying objectives, but the one thing that all the groups (except traders) have in common is external control. Every organization has rules and guidelines for trading currencies and can be held accountable for their trading decisions. Individual traders, on the other hand, are accountable only to themselves.

If you do not keep yourself in check, nobody else will. Why should they worry if you aimlessly waste your money?

This means that the trader who lacks rules and guidelines is playing a losing game. Large organizations and educated traders approach the Forex with strategies, and if you hope to succeed as a Forex trader you must play by the same rules. That is studying these strategies and rules before starting to trade is so important.

Forex Trading Philosophy — Money Management

Money management is part and parcel of any trading strategy. Besides knowing which currencies to trade and recognizing entry and exit signals, the successful trader has to manage his resources and integrate money management into his trading plan. Position size, margin, recent profits and losses, and contingency plans all need to be considered before entering the market.

This may sound like Greek now! If it does, you have more reason to get to know these terms. Knowledge will empower you on any investment market, including Forex.

There are various strategies for approaching money management. Many of them rely on the calculation of core equity. Core equity is your starting balance minus the money used in open positions. If the starting balance is $10,000 and you have $1000 in open positions your core equity is $9000.

When entering a position try to limit risk to 1% to 3% of each trade. This means that if you are trading a standard Forex lot of $100,000 you should limit your risk to $1000 to $3000 — preferably $1000. You do this by placing a stop loss order 100 pips (when 1 pip = $10) above or below your entry position.

As your core equity rises or falls you can adjust the dollar amount of your risk. With a starting balance of $10,000 and one open position your core equity is $9000. If you wish to add a second open position, your core equity would fall to $8000 and you should limit your risk to $900. Risk in a third position should be limited to $800.

By the same principal you can also raise your risk level as your core equity rises. If you have been trading successfully and made a $5000 profit, your core equity is now $15,000. You could raise your risk to $1500 per transaction. Alternatively, you could risk more from the profit than from the original starting balance. Some traders may risk up to 5% against their realized profits ($5,000 on a $100,000 lot) for greater profit potential.

by forexscreen

Option Arbitrage in the Forex Market

2008-03-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

First of all, are the options really the same? Are the contract sizes, expiration dates and times the same? American or European style?

You also need to consider execution risk. Will there be slippage. Will there be a time delay in getting filled. Is the market moving too fast?

by forexscreen

Forex Training: Deadly Forex Mistakes That Assure Failure

2008-03-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Before venturing into your trading journey there are some things you need to be aware of, otherwise you could succeed on your trading adventure, and we don't want that to happen, do we? This Forex training guide will help you track the most costly mistakes Forex traders do.

First of all, make sure you don't have a trading system. Having a trading system might increase the odds of your success. If you have a system, you will have an objective way to get in and out the market. When traders create their trading systems they think objectively since there is no position to be taken at the moment. If there is no position to be taken, there is also no money at risk, if there is no money at risk, we do think objectively and are open to every possibility, thus we are able to find low risk trading opportunities. So make sure you don't have a system and trade based on a randomly approach.

If you have already created your system, then don't follow it, be undisciplined. If you follow your system, there is a possibility that you can profit from the Forex market based on the trading opportunities you have found. If you want to fail on your trading, be sure to be undisciplined.

Don't get educated. Most successful traders are very well educated in the market they trade (stocks, Forex, futures, etc.) If you get educated, you might acquire the knowledge and experience you require to master the Forex market. Don't read about the Forex market, don't enroll into Forex training programs and don't even look at historical charts.

Don't use any money management technique. The purpose of money management is to avoid the risk of ruin, but at the same time it helps you boost your profits, allowing them to grow geometrically. For instance, by using no money management techniques, there is a possibility that in loosing 10 trades in a row you could empty your trading account. On the other hand, by applying simple money management techniques you can avoid it. So make sure, if you want to fail, don't even consider money management.

Forget about psychological issues. You need to get every trade to win. Successful traders know that they don't need to win every trade in order to profit from the market. This is one characteristic that is hard to understand and really apply. Why? Because we are taught, since kids, that any number below 70% is a bad number. In the Forex trading environment, this is not true.

Don't even consider using a Risk-reward (RR) ratio greater than 1-1. If you use a RR ratio of 1-2 (willing to make twice the amount risked in one trade) then you only need a system that is right around 50% to make money. If you use a RR ratio of 1-3 (willing to make three times the amount risked in one trade) then you will need a system that is right around 40% of the time to make money. So make sure to use a RR ratio below 1-1.

By applying every point outlined in this Forex training guide, you will almost assure your failure in your Forex trading journey. Do the opposite, and you will have the possibility to achieve what every trader is looking for: consistent profitable results.

by forexscreen

How The Matrix Will Boost Your Forex Profits?

2008-03-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

Perhaps you remember one of the most impactful movies of our time, the Matrix? Morpheus believed totally in Neo to the point where he almost sacrificed his life to save him. Yet Neo did not believe in himself at the beginning, he was most uncertain about whether he was the One or not. So when he went to see the Oracle, she told him that being the One is like being in love, nobody tells you that you are in love, you just know it. The Oracle pointed to a sign hanging on the door: "Know Thyself"...

Still Neo didn't believe in himself but when agent Smith captured Morpheus and a member of his crew suggested to pull the plug so the agents of the Matrix won't get access to Zion, something in Neo changed and he began to believe...

A little further down the path of the One, Neo "accomplished miracles" because he learned how to believe in himself fully and completely. And remember Neo had a mentor who believed in him beyond any doubt and who taught him how to use his mind to defeat the Matrix and its dangerous agents. Neo's mentor, Morpheus, showed him the path and helped him empower his mind, yet Neo walked the path to his own success after he started believing in himself and mastered his own mind.

Perhaps you were wondering, yes and what has this to do with trading the Forex market?

"Know Thyself"

Forex trading or any trading for that matter is a mind game in the first place. Some people spend a lot of time and efforts perfecting certain trading skills and knowledge like reading the charts and data, entry and exit skills but any normally intelligent person can learn these skills, they are the easiest part of the trading game. They are no doubt necessary tools to your Forex success but they don't make the biggest difference between a really successful Forex trader and the one who is not successful. So what does make the difference?

Let's ask the question: what is your goal in trading the Forex? It is to make money. Period! Surely while you're making the money and great profits you can have fun too and you should but what you need are specific mental attitudes and strengths, that is if you want to be a successful Forex trader. These mental states are an asset that will help you in many other situations and contexts of your life.

As my Forex mentor told me, the major three mental and emotional frames of mind that characterize the majority of successful FOREX traders are:

1.Discipline & Passion 2.Confidence & Courage 3.Patience & Smart Persistence

We'll touch upon all three briefly to make it as clear as crystal to you so you succeed in the Forex market.

Like trading a Pair of Currencies these mental and emotional mindsets go hand in hand.

Discipline & Passion

Discipline, say the most successful Forex traders, is really important! It helps you be more effective in planning your trades and in sticking to the good plans you established before entering the trade. Always have an action plan for stop and limit levels for the trade before you enter it, your analysis should cover up the expected upside and downside.

Passion means commitment and love for what you do. It is your passion for something that keeps you going, improving, constantly learning (willing to buy excellent Forex courses from experienced and successful traders, remember Morpheus mentoring Neo) and persist beyond the ups and downs of the business. You need to know why you are trading the Forex because it is an awesome opportunity that you have to take, so develop a passion for it. Simply do what it takes to be successful, learn from the best.

A word of Caution: Never mistake your "Forex passion" for emotion that you might feel while trading the Forex, when trying to enter a trade without using clear and sound entry/exit indicators and rules. Have fun, learn, and stay tuned for future developments and grow as a person in strength and character in "your Forex business" while remaining emotionally detached when you get in and out of a trade. If you do, you are bound to incredible success in the Forex trading business.

Confidence & Courage

Successful Forex traders believe in themselves and their abilities to learn and grow, to acquire more competence learning from a mentor. There is no reality only perception, the Matrix can trick you but you can have your own special Matrix inside your mind that empowers you with an unwavering belief in yourself!

Have the confidence and courage to stick to your plan and stay with your rules even if others are doing the opposite. Keep your vision (end result) that you can make it in the Forex market in your mind until you are successful in it.

If you experience a situation where you know exactly how a currency pair will go and have a sound trading plan, go for it! Sometimes people fail to follow their own good plans because all sorts of emotions get in their way, emotions like greed and fear. Stay calm and act with confidence and courage otherwise your planning, analyzing and information gathering will be totally useless to you.

You become more competent when you educate yourself about the markets and learn from successful traders. Self develop: "Know Thyself", get into the habit of monitoring your emotions and questioning your limiting beliefs so that your mind works for you and not against you. Don't take things too personally, if you make a mistake then consider it to be valuable feedback so you become more successful, never a failure!

Patience & Smart Persistence

An Indian wisdom says: "Life is always right!" we say: "the market knows much better than you do!"

Learn to listen and read the signs the Forex market is giving you. Learn how to wait, observe and only enter a trade when it is the right time to do so, before you can reap the profits.

It can be hard to wait before your Forex trading screen and not jump into action but The successful FOREX trader will enter a trade according to the direction of the prevailing trend or will wait until a new trend shows up and establishes itself. The waiting ranges from a few hours to days or even weeks before a winning trend appears.

even if you day trade and are not a long-term or position trader, you still are well advised to keep impatience from ruining your profit chances. Also be patient means you stick with winning trades. But be most impatient with losing trades.

Practice "Know Thyself" and continue learning your Forex trading from the best and we are sure you will be a successful Forex trader. You will be on the path of Neo, the One himself!

by Karima Begag

Too Many Strategies, But Still Frustrated?

2008-03-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

It is not too long ago when veteran traders used to draw trend lines using pencil and paper. Market data was sent by physical mail to them and there was no computer and trading desk. Were they really not able to perform by not using super analytical charting platforms? Were they all losers? I bet they were not only doing great, but compared to my fellow traders (Including me) they were absolutely sophisticated traders. I don't want to undermine anyone as we have many legend traders and hundreds of good traders who actually make money around the globe on daily basis. My argument is merely pointed at those traders who think that broken accounts is a result of them not really having the best strategy to trade in a safe and secure manner while at the same time having a one year outlook for reaching 1 million dollar, through a 10000 buck trading account.

Where a trading strategy is introduced as a reliable method of making money for traders, there are some questions that must be asked, to evaluate the accuracy of the given strategy:

Is it a trend or a range market based strategy?
If it works as a trend based strategy, what can the strategy offer to trade around range markets, and vice versa for the range market based strategy?
Is it a day trading strategy or planned to signal longer term trading signals?
If it is an Intraday trading strategy, how many hours are required and when exactly should I sit down and watch the screen?
If it is a long term strategy, what is the estimated possible drawdown in pips?
Is there any historical performance of trading using the given strategy in real accounts and if the answer is "YES" for how long? (don't rely on less than one year)
Are there any money & risk management rules attached that are specifically tested on this particular strategy?
What is the average/highest/lowest risk to award ratio of the last year's trades?
Is there anyone who has used the strategy on a real account? (Be aware of marketing tactics and ask someone who is honest).
What is the outcome of the trades for the above mentioned trader? Even if positive, don't necessarily trust that exact approach for yourself, because one cannot fit a common strategy with the same characteristics to every trader. In this case you need to test it yourself.
Ask the developer about the psychological pressures that may come upon you while using that strategy on real accounts (We recommend to ask your mentor to analyze the strategy)
Does it have an Exit and Stop Loss rule for different market situations?
Ask the developer if you can get back to him occasionally to ask questions about some points that you don't really understand (don't make it 100 times a week cause he/she won't sell any strategy to you).

However, I know a couple of guys who experienced real damage and disappointment where they tried to believe the strategy given to them from the first day. So I am being serious when I say don't ever try to apply a new strategy on your real account, unless you have met an expert and he has given you the green light, or if you have just passed one year of continuous testing.

Final Words:

You may ask for how long? One year... it's too much...I can't wait...!! Well then you can try it, but count on it as a gamble...You know the gamble...Too many jack pots, nothing Hot Shots.

Let science make you wealthy step by step. Don't ever think you are smarter than any other trader because no one knows what is going to happen next. So it's better to be next to those wise traders who win, because they are disciplined and have spent a long time practicing before doing anything real on their money. Try to admit it if you are not sure enough about your ability, and try to solve the problems with patience and remember it is worth it if you make that million dollars three or even five years later, instead of losing what you got from hard work within just a couple of days.

by forexscreen

FOREX trading psychology

2008-03-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Learn to see the line between the trading plan and your emotional impulses:

The vast majority of Forex education organizations fail to address the only true characteristic of a market place, the human nature.

You can easily find loads of charts, pivot points, moving averages, trend lines and all sorts of Fibonacci ratios, together with the latest in trading automation. Any Forex website publishes some or all of these data, along with myriads of other details, interviews and opinions.

You may even get entry and exit signals, support and resistance levels, all of which could appear as sufficient in the decision making process.

I was under the same impression as a beginner, I was at the same level as an intermediate trader and only heavy losses and low risk/reward decisions made me look for a different approach to trading.

If you are aware of the importance of having a trading plan for each trade you plan to initiate, then you must be familiar with moments of doubt, when following the opening of the trade, the market goes awry, together with your emotions and self-esteem.

Do you feel frustrated? Join the vast club of frustrated professional Forex traders.

When you see the market moving against all odds and logic, your emotional self cries for an immediate position reversal (SHORT from LONG and vice-versa), in a complete disregard of your own trading plan.

On the other hand, all your training books, videos and mentors have pumped the "trading plan supremacy" into your brain.

While the viable solution seems to reside in the robotic way of trading the plan, a professional operator must learn to listen to his or her "hidden partner", the subconscious.

Our brain is capable of storing immense quantities of data, without us being aware of it. Our five senses perceptions are in constant use and they permanently add to our overall life experience. While our subconscious is capable of dealing with all this seamlessly, the conscious mind has only a very limited operational capacity, primarily used to help us dealing with our daily tasks.

As we trade, ALL our experiences are deposited deep within our brain, slowly building up what I call the unseen analyst. This is what you may call the sixth sense or the instinct traders develop as they progress.

As the name of the game with Forex trading is VOLATILITY and 80% of all trades do not last more than 2-3 days, with the vast majority of them being daytrades, it is easy to accept that conditions can and will change in a heartbeat, rendering most trade plans obsolete.

The only way to alleviate the contradictions between your emotional self and the heavily trained brain is to learn how to give them priority over time.

As a beginner, you simply cannot have the emotional experience to "feel" anything related to the market processes and therefore it is advisable to rely completely on the mechanisms of a trading plan.

At this stage, take your time to learn how to interpret the charts, prepare yourself according to the daily economic calendar and how to construct a comprehensive trading plan. Once you took a trading decision, stick with it, no matter what. At this stage, you are a robot, implementing a trading strategy.

Your emotional weight should be nonexistent in the economy of the trade.

As you progress along the path of becoming a professional Forex operator, your unseen analyst will start adjusting your trading decisions, silently participating in your trading decision process.

It is now the time to make room to your "feel", to accommodate your growing sentiment of "feeling the market".

Your emotional weight should now become an accepted presence.

You will soon learn how to adjust this "mix" in a way to achieve the optimal trading performance.

by forexscreen

Forex Trading Tips

2008-03-16T09:56:00.001-07:00

Why do hundreds of thousands online traders and investors trade the forex market every day, and how do they make money doing it?

This two-part report clearly and simply details essential tips on how to avoid typical pitfalls and start making more money in your forex trading.

Trade pairs, not currencies — Like any relationship, you have to know both sides. Success or failure in forex trading depends upon being right about both currencies and how they impact one another, not just one.

Knowledge is Power — When starting out trading forex online, it is essential that you understand the basics of this market if you want to make the most of your investments.

The main forex influencer is global news and events. For example, say an ECB statement is released on European interest rates which typically will cause a flurry of activity. Most newcomers react violently to news like this and close their positions and subsequently miss out on some of the best trading opportunities by waiting until the market calms down. The potential in the forex market is in the volatility, not in its tranquility.

Unambitious trading — Many new traders will place very tight orders in order to take very small profits. This is not a sustainable approach because although you may be profitable in the short run (if you are lucky), you risk losing in the longer term as you have to recover the difference between the bid and the ask price before you can make any profit and this is much more difficult when you make small trades than when you make larger ones.

Over-cautious trading — Like the trader who tries to take small incremental profits all the time, the trader who places tight stop losses with a retail forex broker is doomed. As we stated above, you have to give your position a fair chance to demonstrate its ability to produce. If you don't place reasonable stop losses that allow your trade to do so, you will always end up undercutting yourself and losing a small piece of your deposit with every trade.

Independence — If you are new to forex, you will either decide to trade your own money or to have a broker trade it for you. So far, so good. But your risk of losing increases exponentially if you either of these two things:

Interfere with what your broker is doing on your behalf (as his strategy might require a long gestation period);

Seek advice from too many sources — multiple input will only result in multiple losses. Take a position, ride with it and then analyse the outcome — by yourself, for yourself.

Tiny margins — Margin trading is one of the biggest advantages in trading forex as it allows you to trade amounts far larger than the total of your deposits. However, it can also be dangerous to novice traders as it can appeal to the greed factor that destroys many forex traders. The best guideline is to increase your leverage in line with your experience and success.

No strategy — The aim of making money is not a trading strategy. A strategy is your map for how you plan to make money. Your strategy details the approach you are going to take, which currencies you are going to trade and how you will manage your risk. Without a strategy, you may become one of the 90% of new traders that lose their money.

Trading Off-Peak Hours — Professional FX traders, option traders, and hedge funds posses a huge advantage over small retail traders during off-peak hours (between 2200 CET and 1000 CET) as they can hedge their positions and move them around when there is far small trade volume is going through (meaning their risk is smaller). The best advice for trading during off peak hours is simple — don't.

The only way is up/down — When the market is on its way up, the market is on its way up. When the market is going down, the market is going down. That's it. There are many systems which analyse past trends, but none that can accurately predict the future. But if you acknowledge to yourself that all that is happening at any time is that the market is simply moving, you'll be amazed at how hard it is to blame anyone else.

Trade on the news — Most of the really big market moves occur around news time. Trading volume is high and the moves are significant; this means there is no better time to trade than when news is released. This is when the big players adjust their positions and prices change resulting in a serious currency flow.

Exiting Trades — If you place a trade and it's not working out for you, get out. Don't compound your mistake by staying in and hoping for a reversal. If you're in a winning trade, don't talk yourself out of the position because you're bored or want to relieve stress; stress is a natural part of trading; get used to it.

Don't trade too short-term — If you are aiming to make less than 20 points profit, don't undertake the trade. The spread you are trading on will make the odds against you far too high.

Don't be smart — The most successful traders I know keep their trading simple. They don't analyse all day or research historical trends and track web logs and their results are excellent.

Tops and Bottoms — There are no real "bargains" in trading foreign exchange. Trade in the direction the price is going in and you're results will be almost guaranteed to improve.

Ignoring the technicals- Understanding whether the market is over-extended long or short is a key indicator of price action. Spikes occur in the market when it is moving all one way.

Emotional Trading — Without that all-important strategy, you're trades essentially are thoughts only and thoughts are emotions and a very poor foundation for trading. When most of us are upset and emotional, we don't tend to make the wisest decisions. Don't let your emotions sway you.

Confidence — Confidence comes from successful trading. If you lose money early in your trading career it's very difficult to regain it; the trick is not to go off half-cocked; learn the business before you trade. Remember, knowledge is power.

The second and final part of this report clearly and simply details more essential tips on how to avoid the pitfalls and start making more money in your forex trading.

Take it like a man — If you decide to ride a loss, you are simply displaying stupidity and cowardice. It takes guts to accept your loss and wait for tomorrow to try again. Sticking to a bad position ruins lots of traders — permanently. Try to remember that the market often behaves illogically, so don't get commit to any one trade; it's just a trade. One good trade will not make you a trading success; it's ongoing regular performance over months and years that makes a good trader.

Focus — Fantasising about possible profits and then "spending" them before you have realised them is no good. Focus on your current position(s) and place reasonable stop losses at the time you do the trade. Then sit back and enjoy the ride — you have no real control from now on, the market will do what it wants to do.

Don't trust demos — Demo trading often causes new traders to learn bad habits. These bad habits, which can be very dangerous in the long run, come about because you are playing with virtual money. Once you know how your broker's system works, start trading small amounts and only take the risk you can afford to win or lose.

Stick to the strategy — When you make money on a well thought-out strategic trade, don't go and lose half of it next time on a fancy; stick to your strategy and invest profits on the next trade that matches your long-term goals.

Trade today — Most successful day traders are highly focused on what's happening in the short-term, not what may happen over the next month. If you're trading with 40 to 60-point stops focus on what's happening today as the market will probably move too quickly to consider the long-term future. However, the long-term trends are not unimportant; they will not always help you though if you're trading intraday.

The clues are in the details — The bottom line on your account balance doesn't tell the whole story. Consider individual trade details; analyse your losses and the telling losing streaks. Generally, traders that make money without suffering significant daily losses have the best chance of sustaining positive performance in the long term.

Simulated Results — Be very careful and wary about infamous "black box" systems. These so-called trading signal systems do not often explain exactly how the trade signals they generate are produced. Typically, these systems only show their track record of extraordinary results — historical results. Successfully predicting future trade scenarios is altogether more complex. The high-speed algorithmic capabilities of these systems provide significant retrospective trading systems, not ones which will help you trade effectively in the future.

Get to know one cross at a time — Each currency pair is unique, and has a unique way of moving in the marketplace. The forces which cause the pair to move up and down are individual to each cross, so study them and learn from your experience and apply your learning to one cross at a time.

Risk Reward — If you put a 20 point stop and a 50 point profit your chances of winning are probably about 1-3 against you. In fact, given the spread you're trading on, it's more likely to be 1-4. Play the odds the market gives you.

Trading for Wrong Reasons — Don't trade if you are bored, unsure or reacting on a whim. The reason that you are bored in the first place is probably because there is no trade to make in the first place. If you are unsure, it's probably because you can't see the trade to make, so don't make one.

Zen Trading- Even when you have taken a position in the markets, you should try and think as you would if you hadn't taken one. This level of detachment is essential if you want to retain your clarity of mind and avoid succumbing to emotional impulses and therefore increasing the likelihood of incurring losses. To achieve this, you need to cultivate a calm and relaxed outlook. Trade in brief periods of no more than a few hours at a time and accept that once the trade has been made, it's out of your hands.

Determination — Once you have decided to place a trade, stick to it and let it run its course. This means that if your stop loss is close to being triggered, let it trigger. If you move your stop midway through a trade's life, you are more than likely to suffer worse moves against you. Your determination must be show itself when you acknowledge that you got it wrong, so get out.

Short-term Moving Average Crossovers — This is one of the most dangerous trade scenarios for non professional traders. When the short-term moving average crosses the longer-term moving average it only means that the average price in the short run is equal to the average price in the longer run. This is neither a bullish nor bearish indication, so don't fall into the trap of believing it is one.

Stochastic — Another dangerous scenario. When it first signals an exhausted condition that's when the big spike in the "exhausted" currency cross tends to occur. My advice is to buy on the first sign of an overbought cross and then sell on the first sign of an oversold one. This approach means that you'll be with the trend and have successfully identified a positive move that still has some way to go. So if percentage K and percentage D are both crossing 80, then buy! (This is the same on sell side, where you sell at 20).

One cross is all that counts — EURUSD seems to be trading higher, so you buy GBPUSD because it appears not to have moved yet. This is dangerous. Focus on one cross at a time — if EURUSD looks good to you, then just buy EURUSD.

Wrong Broker — A lot of FOREX brokers are in business only to make money from yours. Read forums, blogs and chats around the net to get an unbiased opinion before you choose your broker.

Too bullish — Trading statistics show that 90% of most traders will fail at some point. Being too bullish about your trading aptitude can be fatal to your long-term success. You can always learn more about trading the markets, even if you are currently successful in your trades. Stay modest, and keep your eyes open for new ideas and bad habits you might be falling in to.

Interpret forex news yourself — Learn to read the source documents of forex news and events — don't rely on the interpretations of news media or others.

by forexscreen

Choosing A Forex Strategy

2008-03-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Technical analysis and fundamental analysis are the two basic areas of strategy in the FOREX market which is the exact same as in the equity markets. However, technical analysis is by far the most common strategy that is used by individual FOREX traders. Here is a brief overview of both forms of analysis and how they directly apply to forex trading:

Fundamental Analysis

If you think it's hard enough to value one company, you should try valuing a whole country instead. Fundamental analysis in the forex market is often an extremely difficult one, and it's usually used only as a means to predict long-term trends. However it is important to mention that some traders do trade short term strictly on news releases. There are a lot of different fundamental indicators of the currency values released at many different times. Here are a few of them to get you started:

* Non-farm Payrolls

* Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)

* Consumer Price Index (CPI)

* Retail Sales

* Durable Goods

You need to know that these reports are not the only fundamental factors that you have to watch. There are also quite a variety of meetings where you can get some quotes and commentary that can affect markets just as much as any report. These meetings are often brought out to discuss any interest rates, inflation, and other issues that have the ability to affect currency values.

Even changes in how things are worded when addressing certain issues such as the Federal Reserve chairman's comments on interest rates; can cause a volatile market. Two important meetings that you have to watch out for are the Federal Open Market Committee and Humphrey Hawkins Hearings.

Just by reading the reports and examining the commentary, it can help FOREX fundamental analysts to get a better understanding of any and all long-term market trends and also to allow short-term traders to be able to profit from extraordinary happenings. If you do decide to follow a fundamental strategy, you will want to be sure to keep an economic calendar handy at all times so you know when these reports are released. Your broker may also be able to provide you with real-time access to this kind of information.

Technical Analysis

Just like their counterparts in the equity markets, technical analysts of the FOREX trading market analyze price trends. The only real difference between technical analysis in FOREX and technical analysis in equities is the time frame that is involved in that FOREX markets are open 24 hours a day.

Because of this, some forms of technical analysis that factor in time have to be modified so that they can work with the 24 hour FOREX market. Some of the most common forms of technical analysis used in FOREX are:

* The Elliott Waves

* Fibonacci studies

* Parabolic SAR

* Pivot points

A lot of technical analysts have a tendency to combine technical studies to make more accurate predictions on your behalf. (The most common method for them is combining the Fibonacci studies with Elliott Waves.) Others prefer to create trading systems in an effort to repeatedly locate similar buying and selling conditions.

Choosing Your Strategy

Most successful traders will develop a strategy and perfect it over a specific period of time. Some people will focus on one particular study or calculation, while still some others use broad spectrum analysis as a means of determining their trades. Most experts would likely suggest that you try using a combination of both fundamental and technical analysis, with which you can make long-term projections and also determine entry and exit points. Of course, in the end, it is the individual trader who has to decide what works best for him.

When you are ready to get started in the FOREX market, you should open a demo account and paper trade so that you can practice until you can make a consistent profit. Many people who fail have a tendency to jump into the FOREX market and quickly lose a lot of money because of a lack of experience. It is important to take your time and learn to trade properly before you start committing capital.

You also need to be ale to trade without emotion. You can't keep track of all stop-loss points if you don't have the ability to execute them on time. You must always set your stop-loss and take-profit points to execute automatically, and don't change them unless you absolutely have to. Make your decisions and stick to them. Otherwise you will drive yourself and your brokers crazy.

You should also realize that you need to follow the trends. If you go against the trend, you are just messing with your money because the FOREX market tends to trend more often than anything else and you will have a higher chance of success in trading with the trend.

The FOREX market is the largest market in the world, and every day people are becoming increasingly interested in it. But before you begin trading, make sure your broker meets certain criteria, and take the time to find a trading strategy that works for you.

by forexscreen

Do You Have A Back Up Plan?

2008-03-16T09:45:00.000-07:00

I know a woman in her sixties. She worked for a company for a little more than a decade as an administration and office assistant for a staff of one hundred sales people, who loved her dearly. She always made sure all the faxes got to their desks; the stationery stock was full and each staff member had what he needed.

Beyond her job description, she was like a mother to all of them: making sure the toilets got cleaned, old food was removed from the fridge and decorating the entire floor which the department occupied. She worked hard and never complained. She was always smiling, friendly and polite.

She felt good about being a 'mother' to all the people who entered and left that department. She was comfortable with her position. No-one else could do the things she did. And she did them better than anyone else in the building.

One day, she went to work as usual. After doing her morning chores, she was invited to the office, where she was told her services were no longer needed. The company was undergoing certain cost-cutting measures in every department and unfortunately, her role would have to be sacrificed. She was then asked to leave the building as soon as possible. She was assured, however, that before having made the decision, every attempt had been made to find a position for her somewhere within the company.

She has financial obligations to fulfil and she still hasn't saved enough for her retirement. She still has credit to pay off and she was saving for a trip overseas, something she never got around to doing in her younger years. She wanted to save up to establish a book-selling business. Suddenly, she would have to re-evaluate her plans. Losing a job and nearing retirement age, she will have to relinquish some of the things she had dreamt for herself.

I am sure you have heard hundreds of similar stories like these. Just five months before writing this article, I had already read about companies cutting costs by laying off jobs. Their main reason is to remain competitive, so they would not have to raise the prices they charge to their customers. Companies are outsourcing jobs overseas because the labour costs in other countries are relatively cheap compared to the local currency and sometimes because of significant skills or technological advantages. Other businesses lessen staff when sales drop and they can no longer sustain to pay the same number of people they have on their payroll. No organisation — not even a big, established business — is immune from the need to become leaner in an ever-increasingly competitive market environment.

In the past, most people believed the companies or the governments — whom they work for — could guarantee them a job for life. Nowadays, I think more and more people are becoming increasingly aware that expecting to have a job-for-life is unrealistic. It is a dire predicament to be working everyday, taking care of someone else's business and realising that at the end of one's career, years of service do not guarantee one's well-being. Because of this, I believe that people are now looking to improve their chances of having enough funds to meet their needs and wants after retirement.

I think there is a dawning awareness that the ultimate responsibility for one's own well-being lies within each individual. People are beginning to understand that their boss or the company they work for does not have an obligation nor the ability to ensure that they are taken care of when they finish working for them.

According to an article written by John Roskam(*), based on a forthcoming Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) Backgrounder on self-employment and the self-reliant society, the trend to self-employment will speed up in coming decades. Five reasons explain this change:

1. Our societies will continue to develop knowledge-intensive and service industries.

2. Jobs of the future need more education; however, better educated workers might opt to work for themselves instead.

3. Older workers are more comfortable with being self-employed than the younger workers, which might indicate individuals would prefer to work for themselves as they grow older.

4. Individuals want more control and flexibility over their working arrangements and self-employment allows for this.

5. Individuals are more willing to assume responsibility for the decisions that affect their lives and their families.

In addition to this trend, more and more people are now seeking to gain greater control over their financial assets.

What we can all learn from this article is the idea that we do not have to rely on our employers to be there for us when we desperately need them to pay us our periodic paycheques at the end of our working days. There are alternatives and, while we still can, I believe we owe it to ourselves and our families to have a back-up plan and look at every single opportunity available. The question for you is this: Do you have a back-up plan?

by forexscreen

Forex Trading Systems: Mechanical Vs. Discretionary Systems

2008-03-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

There are basically two types of Forex trading systems, mechanical and discretionary systems. The trading signals that come out of mechanical systems are mainly based off technical analysis applied in a systematic way. On the other hand, discretionary systems use experience, intuition or judgment on entries and exits. But which one produces better results? Or more importantly, which one fits better your trading style? These are the answers we will try to answer on this article.

We will first analyze the pros and cons about each system approach.

Mechanical systems

Advantages

This kind of system can be automated and backtested efficiently.

It has very rigid rules. Either, there is a trade or there isn't.

Mechanical traders are less susceptible to emotions than discretionary traders.

Disadvantages

Most traders backtest Forex trading systems incorrectly. In order to produce accurate results you need tick data.

The Forex market is always changing. The Forex market (and all markets) has a random component. The market conditions may look similar, but they are never the same.

A system that worked successfully the past year doesn't necessary mean it will work this year.

Discretionary systems

Advantages

Discretionary systems are easily adaptable to new market conditions.

Trading decisions are based on experience. Traders learn to see which trading signals have higher probability of success.

Disadvantages

They cannot be backtested or automated, since there is always a thought decision to be made.

It takes time to develop the experience required to trade successfully and track trades in a discretionary way. At early stages this can be dangerous.

Now, which approach is better for Forex traders? The one that fits better your personality. For instance, if you are a trader that finds it hard to follow your trading signals, then you are better off using a mechanical system, where your judgment won't play an important role in your system. You only take the trades that your system signals.

If the psychological barriers that affect every trader (fear, greed, anger, etc.) puts you in unwanted scenarios, you are also better off trading mechanical systems, because you only need to follow what your system is telling you, go short, go long, close a trade. No other decision has to be made.

On the other hand, if you are a disciplined trader, then you are better off using a discretionary system, because discretionary systems adapt to the market conditions and you are able to change your trading conditions as the market changes. For instance, you have a target of 60 pips on a long trade. But the market suddenly starts trending up pretty strongly, then you could move your target to say 100 pips.

Does it mean that trading a discretionary system has no rules? This is absolutely incorrect. Trading discretionary systems means that once a trader finds his/her setup, the trader then decides what to do. But every trader still needs certain rules that need to be followed, such as the size of the position, conditions that have to be met before thinking to get in the market, and so on.

I am a discretionary trader. The main reason I chose a discretionary system is that my trades are based on price behavior, and as you already know, the price behaves similar to the past, but it is never identical, therefore the outcome of every trade is unknown. However, I do have rigid rules on my system, certain conditions have to be met before I even think in getting in a trade. This keeps me out of trouble, once my setup is present and in accordance with the rules I have set, then I closely watch the price behavior and finally decide whether it is a good opportunity or not.

Whether you choose to be a discretionary or a mechanical trader there are some important points you should take in consideration:

1. You need to make sure the Forex trading system you are using totally fits your personality. Otherwise you will find yourself outguessing your system.

2. You also need to have some rules and most importantly have the discipline to follow them.

3. Take your time to build the perfect system for you. It's not easy and requires time and hard work, but at the end, if done correctly, it will give you consistent profitable results.

4. Before going live, try it on a demo account or even on a small account (I will go for the second option, since psychological barriers will be present.)

by Raul Lopez

My FOREX Trading Strategy

2008-03-16T09:26:00.001-07:00

I ventured into the Forex market a little more than 1 year ago. I have tried and tested many different types of trading techniques and styles. Most were failures and some were successful. From my experience, traders making money in Forex will not reveal their trading system, simply because somebody has to lose money in order for you to make money.

Currently I have two strategies working for me. I started with a demo account a little more than one year ago and used the obvious techniques such as technical analysis and fundamentals. Technical analysis seemed to be the easiest method for an inexperienced trader since it only required looking at charts as opposed to watching the news. I used indicators such as MACD, Fibonacci, and RSI to help assess the market and make a prediction on price movement. Needless to say I was successful in my demo account, however when I went live, fear set in and I could not trade using the same techniques I had developed over 4 months of trading with a demo account.

The stress was too much and like a lot of people, I started looking for a Forex signals provider to minimize the time spent and stress. After some due diligence on quite a few Forex signals providers, I did find a reliable Forex charting software package that provided excellent signals. To my surprise, the signals worked. The only difficult part was to discipline myself to take each signal whether I agreed with it or not. After all, the company I chose had a winning track record for 3 consecutive years.

Now that I had a positive flow of income from a Forex signals provider, I decided to open a second account using my own trading system. This is where I discovered what I feel is a full proof system when it comes to making a fast 30 to 50 pips in Forex.

Trading now for a little more than 1 year, I noticed that the market moved on speculation. Speculation based on fear and news events, such as the CPI and retail sales. I noticed that between the times of 4:30 am eastern and 8:30 am there was a lot of critical news in majors such as the Euro and the British Pound. The market would move at the exact moment these major news events were released. If a news event was due out at 4:30 am on the British Pound, more than likely the market spiked at that exact moment 30 to sometimes 50 pips up or down. What I started to do was trade on these news events. I would wait until that exact moment the news was due out and execute a trade when the market moved more than 7 pips from its current price 15 seconds before the news is released. A stop-loss should be set at 10 pips above or below the current price.

The trick to this method is executing the trade at the right time and discipline yourself to keep your stop-loss very tight, setting it to no more than 10 pips after you got into the trade. The reason being, this works all of the time, but if you click too soon or too late you could fail to predict the direction of the market. However, when you are right, your winning trades will outweigh your losing traders significantly since you are looking to make a gain of 30-50 pips and if you a wrong a loss of only 10 pips. I have used this method for 5 months and it works.

Forex Forecasts — You Never Know What You Will Benefit From

2008-03-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Possible risks and profits to be made can always be predicted if traders would only have more accurate Forex forecast to base their trade and decisions upon. Forex forecasts are only one way of keeping up with the volatile Forex market. Success will depend the most in knowing what and who will affect the rate changes.

The Forex market has already been through a lot of ups and downs that even fortune tellers would have difficulty guessing what will be its next movement. Making a Forex forecast can be helpful but can also be too risky. Besides, doing it is not that easy also.

In Forex forecasts, nothing specific is given. The traders are not made to hope high and expect more. If you have seen or heard a Forex forecast, be sure to check on some projected rate fluctuations whenever and wherever possible so you would have an idea it the Forex forecast shows a likely possibility to be true or not.

Staying in touch and up-to-date with the latest news and happenings around the globe and information about the Forex currency can help traders determine when is the best time to buy, sell and stay away from a particular market. All these things are important in the performance of your trade. Take note of some Forex forecasts if only to serve as guide whenever you are in a situation that you find hard to make a decision upon.

How can one benefit from Forex forecasts?

There are some companies that are offering Forex forecast information as a subscription that traders can avail of. For those who do not have enough patience and browse for information in the internet, this Forex forecast information would be their alternative.

No one said that there is a 100% accuracy in these Forex forecasts. And no one told traders that they should also believe them 100%. If you want to have more degree of accuracy in the Forex forecast, you could always find one with the most accurate percentage rate.

You could look for something or someone that offers free information or a trail period for you to test the degree of their ability to give accurate forecast about the Forex market. There are also some sites that send out Forex forecast to emails that you may want to try out just so you will choice to choose from if you decide to avail the services of some of them.

Relying only on one Forex forecast is not the thing to do. You should at least have some more choices in the process of making an investment decision. Try to get more Forex forecast from sources that are rampant online and offline so you would not stick to just one.

The thing to remember is that your investments are your future and you have already worked too hard to just let it all down the drain. Do not put the future of your Forex trade into the hands of only person. Try to get several Forex forecast and choose the best one that you think has great ounces of accuracy up their sleeves.

Before putting the future of your investments into the hands of those offering Forex forecasts, make it a point to check out the latest that is happening in the Forex trading and see if the trend is likely to go with what the predictions are telling about.

If you think more about it, people doing Forex forecasts would not be out there giving bad forecasts because their reputation is the one at stake there. They surely would not want to ruin the image they have by giving false predictions about things that they know people will listen to, would they?

Like they say, traders should not believe all that is written in Forex forecasts. Some but not all. There are still decisions to be made that will be based upon the trader itself and no amount or accuracy of Forex forecasts can make that decision for them.

Just to be on the right side of things, always make sure and do your own research that will back up the Forex forecast you actually think is going to work. You never know what it will lead to...

by Kevin Anderson

Forex Profits by Buying and Selling at the Same Time

2008-03-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

This article is one of a series which looks at the advantages and weaknesses of trading using the hedged, grid trading system to trade volatile markets.

We will look at how money can be made by breaking a number of trading truths or principles; * cut your losses and let your profit run and * there is nothing to gained by entering into buy and sell deals at the same time.

The hedged grid trading system uses the principle that one should be able to cash in at a gain no matter which way the market moves. No stops are therefore required at all. The only way this is logically possible is that one would have a buy and sell active at the same time. Most traders will say that that is trading suicide but let's take some to look at this more closely.

Let's say that a trader enters the market with a buy and sell active when a currency is at a level of say 100. The price then moves to 200. The buy will then be positive by 100 and the sell will be negative by 100. At this point we start breaking trading rules. We cash in our positive buy and the gain of 100 goes to our account. The sell is now carrying a loss of -100.

The grid system requires one to make sure that cash in on any movement in the market. To do this one would again enter into a buy and a sell transaction. Now, for convenience, let's assume that the price moves back to level 100.

The second sell has now gone positive by 100 and the second buy is carrying a loss of -100. According to the rules one would cash the sell in and another 100 will be added to your account. That brings the total cashed in at this point to 200.

Now the first sell that remained active has moved from level 200 where it was -100 to level 100 where it is now breaking even.

The 4 transactions added together now magically show a gain:- 1st buy cashed in +100, 2nd sell cashed in +100, 1st sell now breaking even and the 2nd buy is -100. This gives an overall a gain of 100 in total. We can liquidate all the transactions and have some champagne.

There are many, many other market movements that turn this strange "buy and sell at the same time" activity into gains. These will be covered in future articles and are covered in a free grid trading course which is available at the expert-4x.com website for those traders whose curiosity has been aroused.

by Mary McArthur

Orders in forex trading

2008-03-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

There are several main types in the Forex market. Here they are.

Limit Order

An order to buy or sell currency at a certain limit is called Limit Order. When you buy, your order is carried out when the market reached down your limit order price. When you sell, your order is carried out when the market reaches up your limit order price. You can use it to buy currency below the market price or sell currency above the market price. There's no decrease with limit orders.

Market Order

The second one is Market Order. It's an order to buy or sell at the running market price. Market orders should be used very carefully as in fast-changing markets there's sometimes a disparity between the price when the market order is given and the actual price of the deal. This occurs because of market decrease. It can lead to a loss or gain of several pips. Market orders can be used to enter or exit a trade.

One Cancels the Other (OCO)

One Cancels the Other (OCO) order is used in case if one simultaneously places a limit order and a stop-loss order. If either order is carried out the other is abrogated which lets the broker to make a deal without supervising the market. Once the market reaches up the level of the limit order, the currency is sold at a profit but when he market falls, the stop-loss order is used.

Stop Order

The last one is Stop Order which is an order to buy above the market or to sell below the market. It's usually used as a stop-loss order to diminish losses if the market behaves opposite to what the broker supposed. A stop-loss order lets sell the currency if the market goes below the point appointed by the broker. In Forex market there are four various types of stop-orders.

1. Chart Stop order

Chart Stop order is a technical analysis that lets elaborate many possible stops caused by the price charts' action or by different technical indicator signs. The swing high/low point is often used as an example of a chart stop is like. In Figure a broker with our suppositional $10,000 account dealing with the chart stop can sell one mini lot at the risk of 150 points, or approximately 1.5% of the account.

2. Volatility Stop order

Another type of the chart stop is Volatility Stop order; it uses volatility instead of price action to fix risk parameters. The sense of it is that when prices strongly fluctuate, the broker has to adapt to the current conditions and let the position more space for risk to avoid being stopped out by intra-market noise, so it's a situation of high inconstancy. On the contrary, can be a situation of a low inconstancy, in which risk parameters would need to decrease.

The volatility stop also lets the broker use a scale-in approach to get a better "blended" price and a faster breakeven point in this following Figure. The joint risk position exposure shouldn't be more than 2% of the account; so it is extremely important that the broker uses smaller lots to properly size his or her joint risk in the trade.

3. Equity Stop order

Equity Stop order is definitely the easiest of the four stops orders. The risk is only with the predetermined amount of one's account on a single trade. On a suppositional $10,000 trading account, a broker risks $300 which is approximately about 300 points, on one mini lot (10,000 units) of EUR/USD, or only 30 points on any dealt. Sometimes brave traders choose to use 5% equity stops. However, it's important to realize that this sum is an the upper limit of reasonable money management as ten consecutive wrong trades would decrease the account by 50%. However, the equity stop order puts an arbitrary exit point on a trader's position - and this is its only but a great weak point. The trade is sometimes abolished to meet the trader's internal risk controls and not because of a logical response to the price operation of the marketplace.

4. Margin Stop order

And finally, Margin Stop order can serve as an effective method in Forex market, if te broker uses it prudently though it is used less than other money management strategies. Forex markets function uninterruptedly that's why Forex players can wind up their customer positions immediately when they trigger a margin call. That's why Forex customers are seldom in danger of generating a negative balance in their account as computers are supposed to close out all positions.

According to this strategy the trader should divide the money into ten identical parts. So if the capital is $10,000 the broker would open the account with a Forex dealer but only send $1,000 instead of $10,000 and leave $9,000 in the bank. Many Forex market traders offer 100:1 leverage, so a $1,000 deposit would give the trader the opportunity to take control of one standard 100,000-unit lot. $1,000 is the minimum that the dealer requires and even a 1 point move against the trader would cause a margin call.

Sometimes the trader decides to trade a 50,000-unit lot position which lets him or her to get about 100 points. Just to compare, on a 50,000 lot the dealer needs a $500 margin, so $1,000 - 100-point loss multiplied on a 50,000 lot is $500. Never mind of how much leverage the trader assumed if he's ready to risk or not, this would stop the dealer from blowing up his or her account in just one trade and would let the dealer to take many fluctuations at a supposedly beneficial trap worrying of setting manual stops. This advice may be useful for the dealers who are used to risking a lot but also getting a lot.

Forex is a risky Business

2008-03-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Of course, every investment is risky but the risks of loss in trading off-exchange Forex contracts are even bigger. That's why once you decide to be the player in this market, you'd better realize the risks connected with this product for make suspended decisions before investing.

In Forex you are operating big sums of money, and it's always possible that a trade will turn against you. The Forex trader should know the tools of advantageous and careful trading and minimizing losses. It's possible to minimize the risk but no one can guarantee eliminating it. Off-exchange foreign currency trading is a very risky business and may not be appropriate for all market players. The only funds that can be used for speculating in foreign currency trading, or any kind of highly speculative investments, are funds that represent risk capital - for example, funds you can afford to risk without worsening your financial situation. There are other reasons why Forex trading may or may not be a suitable investment. We describe them below.

The fraud and Scams in Forex market

A few years ago Forex scams were very usual but since then this business has cleaned up. However it's wiser to be cautious and to check broker's background before signing up any documents with him or her. Reliable Forex brokers work with big financial institutions such as banks or insurance enterprises and are always registered with official government agencies. In the US, brokers should be registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission or should be a member of the National Futures Association. You can also check their background in your local Consumer Protection Bureau and the Better Business Bureau.

There's risk of losing your whole investment!

You will be asked to deposit an amount of money, called the "security deposit" or "margin", with your Forex dealer in order to buy or sell an off-exchange Forex contract. A small amount of money can let you hold a Forex position many times bigger than the value of your account. This is called "gearing" or "leverage". The smaller the deposits related to the underlying value of the contract are, the greater the leverage turns out to be. If the price moves in an unpreferrable direction, high leverage can bring you large losses compared to your first deposit. That's how a small move against your position may become the reason for a large loss, and even the loss of your entire deposit. If it's pointed in the contract with your dealer, you may also be required to pay extra-losses.

The market sometimes moves against you!

It's impossible to foresee with a 100%-gurantee how exchange rates will move, and the Forex market is quite unsteady. Changes in the foreign exchange rate between the time you place the trade and the time you close it out influences the price of your Forex contract and the future profit and losses related to it.

There is no main marketplace!

The Forex dealer determines the execution price, so you are relying on the dealer's honesty for a fair price. As unlike adjusted futures exchanges, in the retail off-exchange Forex market there is no main marketplace with lo ts of buyers and sellers.

You are relying on the dealer's reputation credit reliability

There's no guarantee for retail off-exchange Forex trades because of a clearing organization. Besides funds deposited for trading Forex contracts are not insured and never get a priority in case of bankruptcy. Even customer funds deposited by a dealer in an FDIC-insured bank account are not protected if the dealer faces bankrupt.

There's a risk of the trading system break down!

Sometimes a part of the system fails if you are using an Internet-based or any electronic system for executing trades. In case if the system fails, it can happen that for some time one is not may able to enter new orders, execute running orders, or alter or cancel orders that were entered before. The result of a system failure may be a loss of orders or order priority.

You can become a fraud victim!

Keep away from investment schemes that promise big profit with little risk. To defend your capital from fraud you should carefully examine the investment offer and go on monitoring any investment you make.

Risks Types

There are risks to Forex trading even if you work with a reliable broker. Transactions are unexpected and are up to unsteady markets and political events. Interest Rate Risk is based on differences between the interest rates in the two countries represented by the currency pair in a Forex quote. Credit Risk is a possibility that one party in a Forex transaction may not honor their indebtness when the deal is closed. This can occur if a bank or financial institution goes bankrupt.

Country Risk is connected with governments that take part in foreign exchange markets by limiting the currency flow. The country risks more risk making transactions with "rare" foreign currencies than with currencies of big countries that let the free trading of their currency.

Exchange Rate Risk depends on the changes in prices of the currency during a trading period. Prices can go down quickly if stop loss orders are not used. There are several ways of minimizing risks. Each dealer should have a trading scheme. For example, one should know when to enter and exit the market, what kind of fluctuations to expect. The main rule which every trader should sticks to "Don't use money that you can't afford to lose". The key to limiting risk is education which is necessary for developing successful strategies.

Every Forex trader should know at least the main things about technical analysis and reading financial charts. He should also know chart movements and indicators and understand the schemes of charts' interpretation.

Stop-Loss Orders

Even the most experienced traders can't foresee with absolute certainty how the market is going to change. Therefore one should use these tools to limit losses during every Forex transaction.

The simplest way of limiting risk is to use stop-loss orders. A stop-loss order consists of instructions how to exit your position if the price comes to a definite point. When one takes a long position and expects the price to go up he or she puts a stop loss order below the current market price. When one takes a short position and expects the price to go down he or she puts a stop loss order over the running market price. Stop loss orders are often used together with limit orders to automatize Forex trading.

Forex risks

2008-03-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

There are always risks to FOREX trading, even if your broker is quite reputable. All investments and transactions meet the whole set of risks because of sudden rate changes, changing market conditions and different political events.

Many factors are the reason for these risks. Just a few examples are: the main company's goals; the scheme how these goals are reached; the successful company's administration that guarantees its long functioning and at last ability to oppose any force-majeure with company's own resources.

Other constituents such as - the company's "age", the building in the center of the town, spacious impressive office and the polite staff - are not so important for success. Forex market started functioning quite lately, approximately 20 years ago and since then stands independently from other markets, first of all because it is out of the exchange. Banks made up its primary participants. As communication facilities and automation were developing banks started trading "directly" without any intermediaries such as stock exchanges. Many "classical" financiers criticize and disregard Forex as there's not a single chance of limiting and regulating it legislatively inside one state - from the very start this market became a global phenomenon. However many European and North American banks withdraw their main income in particular from speculative operations on Forex market whereas the number of the staff working in other market sectors is permanently decreasing.

Forex market's broker doesn't need any licenses and certificates for his activity as he is considered to be just a legal person. That's why Forex market on the whole also doesn't run into any "legislative limits" inside countries, and in many states is equated to the games' organization.

So it's important to mention that there are no regulations for Forex market, even despite of great number of complicated problems and risks - such as the risk connected with market prices' changes. Confidence and conscientiousness of carrying out the operations, a lucidity and marketing of Forex brokers are only some of the problems, managed of Forex risks. However, first of all, it's important to know, that broker companies can't operate in a single stock exchange in compliance with all problems and risks, in contrast to quite adaptable exchange markets.

It's absolutely necessary for any FOREX trader to know at least the main rules of technical analysis and reading financial charts, to have experience of studying chart changes and indicators and interpreting of these very charts. This is a certain way of decreasing risk and financial exposure.

However each FOREX transaction should be transmitted using all existing tools specially designed to reduce loss as even the most professional traders can't exactly predict market's future behavior. Many ways to minimize risks when placing an entry order were elaborated. Among them are different types of stop-loss orders. A stop-loss order is a special code of rules explaining how one can leave his position if the currency price amounts to a certain point. A stop loss order is placed below current market price if a person takes the so-called long position and expects the price to go up. On the contrary, stop-loss order is placed above current market price if a person takes the so-called short position and expects the price to go down.

As an example, if you take a short position on USD/CDN it means you expect the US dollar to fall against the Canadian dollar. The quote is USD/CDN 1.2138/43 - you can sell US$1 for 1.2138 CDN dollars or sell 1.2143 CDN dollars for US$1.

You place an order in the following way:
Sell USD: 1 standard lot USD/CDN @ 1.2138 = $121,380 CDN
Pip Value: 1 pip = $10
Stop-Loss: 1.2148
Margin: $1,000 (1%)

You are selling US$100,000 and buying CDN$121,380. Your stop loss order will be executed if the dollar goes above 1.2148, in which case you will lose $100.

However, USD/CDN falls to 1.2118/23. You can now sell $1 US for 1.2118 CDN or sell 1.2123 CDN for $1 US.

Still no existing institution is able to control this market for long on account of the huge volume of FOREX. Whatever you do in the end market forces will still be stronger, making FOREX one of the most open and fair investment opportunities available.

Usually one comes across prices of foreign exchange by FOREX quotes in pairs of currencies where the first currency is the 'base' and the second is the 'quote' currency, for instance: USD/EUR = 0.8419. Here we find out that 1 US dollar costs 0.8419 Euros. Why? The foregoing currency pair "transfers" US dollars (USD) into European Euros (EUR). The base currency always stands in the first place and the second, quote, currency shows the price for one unit of the base currency.

And on the contrary, the pair EUR/USD = 1.1882 clearly indicates that 1 Euro costs 1.1882 US dollars today.

With the help of these quotes it's quite easy to follow the changes in the financial market. If the base currency is becoming stronger, the price of the quote currency rises and this fact indicates that one unit of the base currency will buy more of the quote currency. However, if the base currency loses scores, the quote currency immediately goes down.

Usually one counts FOREX quotes as "demand and supply" - in the so-called "bid" and "ask" prices. The amount of money demanded for the base currency - while selling the quote currency - is called "bid" and the price expected for the base currency - while buying the quote currency - is "ask" price.

How to define in the cross-currency charts which currency - the base or the quote - is on the top and which on the side? If that's the case, the broker should know at least one pair of currencies and which one of the pair values more.

Stop and limit orders will definitely help yon to minimize your Forex risks.

You and Forex broker

2008-03-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

The forex broker is required to become the participant of the world largest market - the forex market. The forex broker can make suppositions of any currency purchase or selling which is not common for stock brokers. Some kinds of technical analysis as well as the tips are sometimes offered by forex brokers to their clients to ameliorate the trading income of the latter.

The broker of the forex market is generally a banking structure able to buy considerable masses of a currency. Banks used to be the only institutions that had a possibility to be forex traders whereas it's easy for any trader to have round-the-clock trade at the market being subscribed with a broker.

The structures like banks, also called the brick and mortar institutions, have fewer opportunities nowadays to give their decisions to individual forex traders who have direct access to the market and latest news by trading from home.

Your needs may be the criteria for choosing the forex broker. There are lots of online forex brokers or houses that offer in-depth research, various demo programs for the newcomers. Other forex brokers, targeted at experienced traders, offer fewer help supposing that you have some skills and knowledge how any particular situation may do good. Before you start dealing with any online broker it is strongly recommended to find out everything about him or her and sometimes to try a demo.

The best forex brokers are characterized by their deep awareness of the techniques of money management. Trading signals understanding, possibility to analyze any market conditions rapid changes, and various market factors comprehension, such as interest rates are the criterion of this characteristic. Traders provided with such information carry out their trades consistently using these time-tested methods.

The positions taken by brokers are intelligent and let them gain their clients' profits.

Statistical tools are widely used by FX (Forex) brokers for trends analyses. FX brokers find the best time to act at the market relying on approximately 26 technical indicators. The principals of dynamic forex trading are carried out by forex brokers by analyzing complicated statistics and charts. FX brokers forecast possible market movements through these indicators. The traders use this ability of brokers to find the correct statistical trends for gaining the profit for the investors.

The most experienced forex brokers are very competent risk managers. The asset market model, which is one of the latest theories, considers currencies to be the asset prices that are dealt with in the financial market. Stock market averages give the basis for Dow Theory. Forex brokers must decide on the trends and market opportunities relying on the experience despite the validity of any theory. The qualities characterizing top FX brokers are: objective, knowledgeable, disciplined, and ethical.

The websites of governmental entities and brokerage firms give the information of such traders. The integrity of traders and firms that propose services to public can be found out due to the investigations. At this very moment you can choose a forex broker but it is recommended for you to get some knowledge of the market before you do it. Being a knowledgeable investor while choosing the broker may do you only good. As far as Forex brokers deal with the Forex market day by bay, you'll come out an emphatic person if you speak to them at their professional language. This gives a chance that you'll be considered separately. Suppose all interaction being just an affair of humans.

The courtesy is valuable among the people involved in investment despite its apparent impersonality. Your financial welfare may depend on the relationship with the broker. You'll find a lot of stories concerning financial success surfing on the web, but we do not advice you to believe this miraculous success. Before you take any decision consider all alternatives objectively and well-thought-out. The honesty in your plans will let you gain a respect form Forex companies. The more straightforward the communication is, the more effective is the strategizing. You shouldn't figure on the stability in such sphere as markets.

Your efforts of the process learning will not be certainly repaid in a day whether the activity undertaken systematically and for a long time can give you a considerable result. So start the game today rising the cost of tour time. There are great opportunities for the European Forex brokers existing nowadays. The European philosophical views have changed due to the combination of international events that affects the strategies taken by the European Forex brokers. The recommendations will help you to decide on which broker to choose.

One of easy ways to do this is to ask for other Forex traders' advice. Special online forums give an access to such expert opinions constantly. Resources triangulation is another way to be aware of the process. It can be done by contacting various firms concerning your certain portfolio and find out their most threatening competitor. Counting the most threatening competitors will get you to triangulating the results. This list is the source to choose the company to be more successful. Moreover your portfolio has a superior agency over it, you shouldn't forget about it.

Forex fraud and scams

2008-02-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

The mediators such as brokers and dealers often use of fraud and scams in Forex market. There is a special organization - The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This agency regulates the trading of Forex currency, commodity futures and options contracts in the US and fights against companies involved in illegal or fraudulent sell of currency, commodity futures and options.

There are some dishonest and disrespectable Forex broker's or dealer's strategies. Any victim of such a broker should put the broker's review.The "kitchen" method makes management of the dealing center sure from the very start that the most part of their clients will once lose their capital because the cores are the lowest vocational training of the client, aggression is overwhelming. Besides they don't know any foreign languages. These market players are very seldom aware of the main information streams.
If you become a victim of such a broker you may put your broker's review.
What is brokerage? It's so-called overlapping of all client transactions during the performance. "Brokerage" turns out to be beneficial in case if many clients take part in it and they are active at transactions' performance. Sometimes brokers earn capitals moving of the market against clients. Market can be shifted in different ways. As all the clients' transactions pass through dealers or dealing centers, the dealer forms the quotation and passes it by to the market player.Dealing center doesn't use brokerage as the main technology. Profit is gained from the client's losses. This is the main point of the broker strategy. Usually the client's transactions performed during one day don't bring to dealing center greater profits or big losses. On the whole, these transactions bring small profit, and real profit is gained when positions open in current of several bank days and the client faces bigger losses. At the so-called "pseudo-brokerage" any position sometimes makes a client to suffer losses, and dealing center, correspondingly, gains profit on this position if this position is not blocked at the foreign broker. Some dealers provide you with a guarantee that you'll never lose more money than you invest including the initial deposit and following deposits for keep the position open.
Let's examine two main distinctions between buying off-exchange Forex currency options and buying options on futures contracts. First, NFA's options brochure describes only American-style options, and they can be exercised at any time until they expire. Nevertheless, many Forex options are of European-style, and they can be exercised merely on or near the date of expiration. One should keep in mind which kind of option to purchase.
Unlike adjusted futures exchanges in the retail off-exchange there is no central marketplace. Forex currency market there is also no main marketplace with lots of buyers and sellers. You are relying on the dealer's honesty for a fair price as the Forex currency dealer says what the execution price is going to be. Second, when you exercise an option on an exchange-traded futures contract, as a rule, you get the basic exchange-traded futures contract. When you exercise an off-exchange Forex currency option, you are more likely to get either a cash payment or a position in the basic currency.
You should check with the dealer's regulator about the dealer's registration status and ask the dealer how it is regulated. Besides there's sense in finding out if the dealer's regulator has taken over rules for regulating its retail Forex activities.
Companies and individuals that demand retail accounts for currency dealers and manage those accounts don't have to be adjusted or combined with a regulated company, unlike Forex dealers. That's why you should know if the person's activities are regulated and by whom.
For noticing fraud be careful and watch the warning signs given below!:
1. Avoid any firm that gives guarantees of huge profits
2. Keep away from opportunities that seem too fantastic
3. Be suspicious of companies that demand to trade in the "Interbank Market"
4. Keep away from firms that guarantee the miracle of little or no financial risk at all
5. Never trade on margin if you don't know what it means
7. Currency frauds as a rule target members of ethnic minorities
8. Be careful about transferring cash on the Internet by mail or in other way
9. Make sure that you have the firm's performance track record
10. Never work with anyone who refuses to give you their background
11. Warning signs of commodity "Come-Ons"
Be aware that the majority of Forex and commodity fraud is exercised by firms from South Florida - in 2000 Boca Raton was considered by CNBC the world's telemarketing fraud capital, Southern California or countries outside the US. As a rule, Forex fraud is exercised by US companies which were once registered with the National Futures Association (800) 621-3570 and have had their licenses recalled, by their directors and brokers. Also never make a bank wire or check payable to someone but a FCM adjusted with the NFA.

Forex Trade: Main Drawbacks of a Forex Trader

2008-01-23T13:51:00.001-08:00

Why is it that very few traders succeed in the Forex trading environment while the grand majority of traders fail to achieve success? Although there is no hard answer to this question, there are a few things that will put you one step ahead and will definitely put the odds in your favor.
The main purpose of this article is to guide you through some important aspects of Forex trading. But in a different way, instead of telling you what to do or the best way to do it, it will tell you what to avoid. Sometimes it is better to identify the main drawbacks on a discipline and then isolate them so we have the best results at a certain level of development.
The search for the Holy Grail
Many traders spend years and years trying to find the Holy Grail of trading. That magic indicator or set of indicators, only known by a few traders, that will make them rich in a short period of time.
Fact: Well, there is no magic indicator, nor a set of indicators that will make anyone rich in a short period of time. The main reason of this is because market changes, every single moment is unique. Every Forex trading system will fail from time to time. Our work here is to find a Forex trading system that fits our personality as traders, otherwise the trader will find it hard to follow it.
Looking for Easy Money
Unfortunately most traders are attracted to the Forex market for this reason. Mainly because of the publicity showing or rather trying to show how easy is to trade and make money in the Forex market.
Fact: Yes, it is very easy to trade, anyone can do it. It is as hard as one click. But the second part of it isn't that easy. Making money or achieving consistent profitable results is hard. It requires lots of education, patience, discipline, commitment, and this list could go to infinite. In a few words, it is possible to have consistent profitable results, but definitely it is not easy.
Looking for Excitement
Some other traders are attracted to the Forex market or any other financial market because they think it is exciting to be a trader.
Fact: Yes, it is very exciting to trade the Forex market. But if this is the main reason you are still trading the Forex market, sooner or later you will discover the most expensive adventure you have ever known. Do some thinking on it.
Not Using Money Management.
Most traders forget about this important aspect of trading. They think they shouldn't be using money management until they achieve consistent profitable results. They totally forget about the risk side of trading.
Fact: Money management allows your profits to increase geometrically, but also limits your risk on every single trade. Money management tells you how much to risk on each trade. Using money management is a must if you want to achieve your trading goals. By using money management you make sure you are going to be able to trade tomorrow, the next week, month and the following years.
Not Being Psychology Tuned
This is one of the most underestimated subjects when it comes to trading. One of the main principles of financial markets is that the price of each instrument is based on the perception of each individual participant "the crowd." In other words the price of each instrument is determined by the fear, greed, ego and hope of all traders.
Fact: Being aware of all psychological issues that affect the decisions made by traders will definitely put the odds in your favor.
Lack of Education
Education is the base of knowledge on every discipline. As lawyers and doctors require several years of college until they get their degree, Forex traders also require long years of study. It is better to have someone experienced to guide you through your trading, since some information could take you in the wrong path.
Fact: The market teaches us invaluable lessons on every single trade made. The process of education for a Forex trader could take for ever. That's right, we never stop learning. We should be humble about the markets and our knowledge; otherwise the market will prove us wrong.
These are some of the most important barriers every trader faces when trying to trade successfully.
Trading successfully the Forex markets is no easy task, it requires a lot of hard work to do it right, but with the right education, you will put yourself closer to your trading goals.

The Best Forex Trading System

2008-01-23T13:49:00.000-08:00

Let me first say there isn't one best Forex trading system that works for everyone. There are lots of great Forex trading strategies and Forex trading systems but to say there's only one, would not be a true statement.Forex trading systems can be as individual as the person using the system. One Forex trader will find a trading system that works perfectly for them and another currency exchange trader will say it's not worth the paper it's printed on. If you know anything about trading in the foreign exchange market, you know there are certain times of the day to trade specific Forex currency pairs to increase your odds of making a winning trade. Trading off hours, using the best Forex trading system could be a losing strategy. Try to stay out of the market during the slow times.Every experienced Forex trader knows the best times to trade in the Forex market. The most active times are between the hours of 2:00am and 11:00am EST. At 2:00am EST the European markets are starting to open and at 3:00am EST the London session starts to kick in. At 7:00am to 8:00am EST the New Your sessions start to come alive. At 8:30am EST there are many news releases (mostly USD) that can cause market volatility. This is when the market moves and can move big. These are the times most Forex trader love and this is where the money is made, and lost. The London session starts to close around 11:00am EST and the Forex market tends to slow down until the Asian market start up again around 7:00pm EST. And everything starts all over again for the next trading day. That's why a Forex trading system is so important to every Forex trader.To make the most out of any Forex trading system, you need to have one Forex trading strategy for trading at news times and another one to trade during the rest of the day. A good strategy for trading the news in the Forex market is to do your homework up front. Know what key news releases are coming out and find out what the consensus numbers are for each report. There are many different Forex news sites, so I recommend looking at no less than 3 news sites to make sure the consensus numbers are the same or very close to each other. Sometimes Forex news sites get the numbers wrong, so doing your homework up front, you will quickly know if the forecast numbers are on the mark or not. At news release time, what you're looking for are numbers with a shock value associated with them. Numbers that do not meet the consensus but exceed or fall far shot of expectations. These are the news events you want to trade. You need to know beforehand what these shock value numbers are, and take action when they're released.When news is out of the way or it's a very slow news day, that's when you need a Technical Forex trading system. Forex technical trading is when you use charts and price action. Tools such as Forex chart patterns, trendlines (trendline analysis), Fibonacci (Fibonacci numbers/Fibonacci studies) and a host of other Forex trading tools can be used. The best advice I can give here is to keep it simple. Do not go overboard with the tools you decide to use. I suggest picking two or three at the most and work with them at all times. Give each one at least a months time to decide if it's working for you before you decide to move on to another. Some folks may find they don't like using Fibonacci retracements for example, while other traders like myself, couldn't imagine not using them. Forex traders are all different so you need to find the tools and Forex trading system that's right for you.There are lots of great online Forex training websites available today and most are free. Read all you can about Forex trading before jumping in. Forex trading is a great profession and like any new business venture, it takes time to learn and do it right. Just take your time and remember to find the best Forex trading system that works best for you and stick with it.

Forex Education - For Building a Profitable Trading System For FREE

2008-01-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

by FOREX SCREEN

If you trade anything you need to educate yourself and I am not taking about how the markets work and how to place orders that's easy, but it won't help you win.Below find some forex education that's free and will help you build a trading system that can make you big long term gains.The good news it's all free.You may be tempted to buy an e-book from a guru and pay but you don't need to, you can get a good solid system for free if you know what to look for.Follow the advice on forex education below and you will see that you can build and apply a forex trading system from free sources on the net.The BasicsThe first thing to learn about is technical analysis simply type in the phrase and all the basics are there for free learn all about trend lines, support and resistance etc.Now let's look at a way of applying technical trading that works today as it always has.Trading breakoutsIf you look up this phrase then you will understand why breakouts work.It really is simple to understand.Keep in mind most of the world's top traders use breakouts in their methodology.So now you will know the basics of technical analysis and the logic of trading breakouts.The next bit of forex education we need to look at is timing trades.For this we need to look at some indicators that will help us time trades, spot trend changes and help us calculate the strength of trends.Here are a few you should learn about:1. Bollinger bands2. Stochastics3. Moving Averages4. RSIThere are more but over 20 years of trading I have always used these as the basis of my own trading.Applying what you have learnedIn further articles in this series I will show you how to use charts, a breakout methodology with the indicators above to build a trading system that you can use which you will understand have confidence in and could make some nice profits.We will look also at money management and adopting the right mindset to go and make some big profits.For now simply brush up your forex education in the areas indicated above and we will move to the next stage of putting it all together.

Forex KISS Strategy. Profits For Sure.

2008-01-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

by FOREX SCREEN

Most experienced traders consider that the best and most profitable of the capital markets is without doubt the Forex market. During many years Forex trading had been not for everyone but the sole domain of the major banks, large financial institutions and countries central banks; for example the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. Fortunately these days, thanks to the internet the market has been opened to anyone willing to learn the appropriate techniques in forex trading and with the intention of making substantial profits using the same pathway the large institutions use to consistently make pretty high profits from trading in the Foreign Exchange market.The Forex markets are open 24-hrs a day during most of the week, allowing forex traders a huge flexibility to enter end exit their trades. As long as the markets keep open the prices will be constantly fluctuating and reacting to news and market conditions. All this activity can be easily seen by looking at the forex charts. And is thanks to this fluctuations that traders can have the potential of profitable trades the whole day.But the simple potential of high profits is not enough to feed your bank account. What you need is a reliable system that will turn the profit potential into real cash for you. Here is where the KISS strategy can work marvels for you if you know how to implement this great and reliable forex system.What is the Forex KISS strategy?. In short; this forex trading strategy is an original system that relies on the long operating week of the currency markets and it shows you how to make a wise use of your stops and entry orders applying them in such an order and sequence that you can easily duplicate your account capital in less than three months without having to worry everyday about losing much money from your account. Maybe the only drawback of the system is that you have the keep your computer working on the markets most of the week. The goood news is the system works alone most of the time.

How to Save $2000 to $5000 on Your Forex Trading Education

2008-01-23T13:45:00.001-08:00

by Scott ShubertWhen I first got started in Forex trading I enrolled in a training program that offered a one day beginners class for $1000 and another one day advanced class for an additional $1000. Later I realized that not only did I learn nothing about how to trade successfully in these classes, I also could have learned more thorough and complete information by purchasing a $30 book from Amazon. Many of my colleagues, associates and students have also related to me that they spent as much as $5000 on similar training that did not empower them to become successful in Forex trading.Forex Trading Course The important point here is that general information on Forex trading is readily available from many sources in some cases for free. But the information on how to actually consistently win in Forex trading is apparently much harder to find. If you are getting started in Forex trading don't be seduced by the many training programs that are available that only provide general information that you could get elsewhere for cheap or for free. Most of the information that newcomers to the Forex industry most need can be obtained for free from Forex brokers. Topics like, "What is leverage?", What is a PIP?", "How do I place a trade?", "How much money can I make in a trade?" should be learned by opening a demo account, reading the information on the broker's web site, and talking with broker customer service representatives. Don't pay $2000 for this information and if possible don't ask your training mentor to waste time on these topics while they are so readily available.Here are some web sites where you can get free information on Forex trading and technical analysis: www.FXCM.com FXCM is one of the largest Forex brokers and has some useful free information on this site. www.interbankfx.com InterbankFX is another Forex broker that has a lot of free information on their site about trading and technical analysis. www.babypips.com This site has an entire free course for beginners on Forex trading. www.forextradingseminar.com This training course includes a free 7 hour video training workshop for beginners.You will also want to avoid buying expensive training courses if you can get the same information in inexpensive books. The courses that cost hundreds or thousands of dollars often do not contain as much information as an average book on the subject that costs much less. Here are some books you may want to check out.Getting Started in Currency Trading by Michael Duane Archer and James Lauren Bickford Technical Analysis of the Currency Market by Boris Schlossberg Technical Analysis for Dummies by by Barbara Rockefeller The Candlestick Course by Steve NisonThese books will give you a solid foundation for getting started in the Forex trading business. Together with the homework assignment of opening a demo Forex trading account, placing trades and talking with Forex broker customer service representatives, you will be ready to concentrate on the information that is really needed, how to consistently win in this business. That information is not widely published and apparently is not as readily available on web sites or in books. But by saving so much time and money you will be much better equipped to find the information that is most needed to achieve long term success in the Forex trading business.Forex Trading Course

The Forex Market

2008-01-23T13:43:00.001-08:00

For the last three decades Foreign Exchange market, - briefly Forex or FX, had integrated into the world's biggest financial market. The volume of daily transactions is about 1-3 trillion of US dollars. The trading instruments on this market are the currencies of different countries, so the fluctuation of currency's rates allows to gain a real profit.
Of course monetary assets of different countries exchanged since the term money appeared as well as an idea to obtain profit from currency's rates difference. Now it is not a new idea, but the transformation of foreign exchange market to the modern stage with an opportunity to conduct conversional operations of such volumes arose only after an introduction of floating rates regime by the state-members of IMF. Within this regime's framework the rate of one currency to another is defining only by the supply and demand on the market.
Presently Forex market is a global telecommunication network of banks and different financial organizations. It does not have any fixed trading place and time restrictions - the trade starts on Monday morning in New Zealand and closes on Friday evening in USA
The advantages of Forex market are:
Round-the-clock trading access: the ability to trade for 24 hours a day;
Liquidity: the market works with a huge money and gives the customers complete freedom to open or close their position of different volume;
Leverage: an ability to use leverage. It decreases requirements to the sum of the initial deposit (margin trade). So in case you deposit 10 000 USD into your account you'd have an opportunity to work with 1 000 000 USD (leverage 1:100);
Objectivity: no exterior regulated structures, so the currency's rate is establishing in accordance with current supply and demand on the market;
Globality: everyone can become a market participant irrespective to the living place, as trading requires only your skills and Internet access.
At present mostly all the operations on the market are conducting only to obtain profit. With the development of Internet and other means of communication this sector of the financial markets becomes more accessible and attractive for the investors of different levels.

The Need for Currency Exchange

2008-01-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

Currency exchange is necessary in numerous circumstances.
Consumers typically come into contact with currency exchange when they travel. They go to a bank or currency exchange bureau to convert one currency (typically, their "home currency") into another (i.e., the currency of the country they intend to travel to) so they can pay for goods and services in the foreign country. Consumers may also purchase goods in a foreign country or via the Internet with their credit card, in which case they will find that the amount they paid in the foreign currency will have been converted to their home currency on their credit card statement. Although each such currency exchange is a relatively small transaction, the aggregate of all such transactions is significant.
Businesses typically have to convert currencies when they conduct business outside their home country. For example, if they export goods to another country and receive payment in the currency of that foreign country, then the payment must often be converted back to the home currency. Similarly, if they have to import goods or services, then businesses will often have to pay in a foreign currency, requiring them to first convert their home currency into the foreign currency. Large companies convert huge amounts of currency each year; for example, a company such as General Electric (GE) converts tens of billions of dollars each year. The timing of when they convert can have a large affect on their balance sheet and "bottom line.
Investors and speculators require currency exchange whenever they trade in any foreign investment, be that equities, bonds, bank deposits, or real estate. For example, when a Swedish investor buys shares in Sun Microsystems on the NASDAQ, she will have to pay for the shares in U.S. Dollars and likely have to convert Swedish Krona to U.S. Dollars. Similarly, a Japanese real estate investor who sells a New York property may well want to convert the proceeds of the sale in U.S. Dollars to Japanese Yen.
Investors and speculators also trade currencies directly in order to benefit from movements in the currency exchange markets. For example, if an American investor believes that the Japanese economy is strengthening and as a result expects the Japanese Yen to appreciate in value (i.e., go up relative to other currencies), then she may want to buy Japanese Yen and take what is referred to as a long position. Similarly, if an American investor believes that the Euro will go down over time, then she may want to sell Euro to take a short position. Interestingly, investors and speculators can profit equally from currencies becoming stronger (by taking a long position) or from currencies becoming weaker (by taking a short position). Speculators are often day traders, trying to take advantage of market movements in very short time periods; buying a currency and then selling it again may happen within hours or even minutes. They are attracted to currency trading for numerous reasons, including (i) the size and daily volatility of the market, which gives them unparalleled excitement, (ii) the almost perfect liquidity of the currency exchange market, (iii) the fact that the currency exchange market is "open" 24 hours a day market, and (vi) the fact that currencies can be traded with no brokerage charges.
Commercial and Investment Banks trade currencies as a service for their commercial banking, deposit and lending customers. These institutions also generally participate in the currency market for hedging and proprietary trading purposes.
Governments and central banks trade currencies to improve trading conditions or to intervene in an attempt to adjust economic or financial imbalances. Although they do not trade for speculative reasons --- they are a non-profit organization --- they often tend to be profitable, since they generally trade on a long-term basis.

Online Forex Broker Is Has Been Posted By 1-Forexscreen.blogspot.com

2008-01-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

Considering the need of good information about online Forex brokers by the forex traders community around the world, the website www.1-forex.com has released an article with a general description of what makes a good broker and what characteristics to consider when looking for the perfect broker for your use.
Before you go online and start trading in the FOREX markets you will need to set up an account with what is known as a Forex Broker. Once you start your search for the perfect broker, you may feel overwhelmed by the number of them who offer their services online. Deciding on a broker requires a little bit of research on your part, but the time spent will give you a much better idea of the services that are available and the fees charged by various of these brokers.
Strictly speaking, a forex broker is an individual or a company that buys and sells the orders placed by the trader according to his decisions. The way brokers earn money is by charging a commission or a fee for their services.
For example; all serious brokers need to be associated with a large financial institution such as a bank in order to provide the amount of funds necessary for margin trading. In the United States a broker must be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) and also with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). These credentials will ensure you have peace of mind, knowing that you have protection against any case of fraud and abusive trade practices.
What you'll always want will be to find a broker who executes orders quickly and with minimum slippage. All reputable online brokers will offer automatic execution of orders and will let you know their policies regarding slippage. A good broker should also be able to tell you how much slippage can be expected in both normal and volatile markets.
These and more important characteristics of an online forex broker are what you will find in the new article published by 1-Forex.com in their FX trading article section.

Make Money Fast - Want $100,000 To Invest Get Now Easily!

2008-01-05T05:58:00.000-08:00

We all want to make money fast but the problem is we don't have much to start with and it is of course easier to make money when you it at your disposal. Well, if you have just $500.00 you can get 100,000 to invest. Lets look at how and putting it work to make money fast. The way to do it is to open an online currency trading account - they will immediately let you trade your deposit x 200 which on $500, is $100,000
Hang on! You may say I don't know how to trade currencies - and you may not but currency trading is a learned skill and many people start with small stakes and build wealth using leverage. It's a fact that online currency trading is now open to all, with the rise of online trading and the money that can be made is truly life changing - however leverage is a double edged sword and can of course work for or against youYou need to make it work for you and restrict risk - so how do you do this? If you want to make money and have a desire to succeed, then you will be prepared to learn forex trading the right way. So if you know nothing about currency trading what do you need to learn? The best way to trade is simply to look at forex charts learn repetitive patterns that continue to repeat and are a reflection of human nature - this is of course a learned skill, anyone can do it. You need to lock into the longer term trends and run them for profit and cut losing trades quickly. Is it really that simple? The answer is yes and no.
It's a fact that 95% of traders fail to make money at currency trading but it's not the market that's at fault it's their approach. Most traders simply fail to appreciate that you need to have not only a good method - but the confidence and the discipline to execute it and stay with it, through periods of losses to achieve long term success. Do not be fooled - obtaining trading discipline is not easy, but there is a big difference between something being easy and being achievable. Again anyone can learn discipline - if they have the right attitude and a willingness to learn the correct way of trading. Making money is never easy and you certainly wouldn't expect it to be with the rewards that are on offer in forex trading but again if you have desire and a willingness to learn you can. Let me tell you an inspiring story... In 1983 Richard Dennis a famous trader set out to prove that anyone could learn to trade successfully. In just two weeks, he taught a group of diverse people, all from different backgrounds, of both sexes and all ages, to trade - none had any previous experience.The result? They went on to become famous and within 4 years had made $100 million dollars!Now I am not saying that you will become as rich as this group - but there is nothing to stop you becoming a competent and successful trader, creating wealth and an income that could change your life. The real crux of this article is - do you have a desire to make money fast and do you have the willingness to learn the skills required? If you do - then welcome to the world of global FX Trading and the opportunity to make money fast. From the above you now know that you can learn forex trading and you know it's a challenge - but its one you can take up if you want to and the rewards as you have seen can be immense.

Great Tips For Profitable Forex Trading

2008-01-04T06:33:00.000-08:00

Here are some tips to help you start trading Forex profitably:
There's so much information about Forex trading online that it's understandable for the novice trader to feel overwhelmed. Here are some guidelines on how to get started in the Forex market.
First of all, study. Read everything you can find on the basics of the Forex market, starting with these articles and continuing with whatever else you can find. With all the free information about the Forex market currently available online, you shouldn't have to purchase anything at this stage.
When the data makes sense to you, choose a broker. This decision should be based on your trading needs. If money is going to be tight, find a broker that offers a micro account, so you don't blow your entire trading budget in the first week.
Also, make certain there are no hidden fees. If you're trading on a small account, it would be inconvenient, to say the least, if your entire monthly profit was eaten up by a maintenance charge.
When you've found the perfect brokerage, open a demo account with them. This gives you access to their live feed, with up-to-the-second price quotes and charts and your choice of indicators, and his economic calendar and knowledge base.
Of course, with all this fresh information, you'll want to read it, too. While you're studying, get to know the brokerage's online trading platform. You should be able to open the chart of the currency pair that interests you, add and remove indicators, change the time frame of the chart and the parameters of the indicators, and use the graphic interface to draw trend lines. You should also be able to open market and entry orders, add and change stops and limits, manage a trailing stop, and close a trade quickly should the market be moving against you.
Then paper trade using the technique of your choice. Pick one currency pair for in-depth study; many people choose the EUR/USD or GBP/USD, because their volatility creates a lot of trading opportunities. But be aware that the best trading opportunities will be during the hours that market is open; for the European markets, that's five to seven hours before the United States, depending upon your time zone. Getting up at three in the morning to watch charts can get old fast, especially with a job or family. If that's the case, consider working with the USD/JPY, the Japanese yen, as Tokyo's trading hours begin during our evening.
Watch the chart of your selected currency pair for the parameters that signal a trade using your technique. Remember to start with the long-term charts before moving to the short-term. When it seems right to you, enter the trade.
Realize up front that paper trading doesn't involve that "Yikes!" feeling you get when real money is involved. In that sense, it's not realistic, but it will teach you the mechanics of working in the Forex market.
Don't quit paper trading until you reach the number of pips you've set as your goal more often than not. This is a very important step; if you quit paper trading too soon, you won't know enough to trade successfully in the "real world" of the Forex market.
When you do deposit funds into your brokerage account and begin trading with real money, start small to give yourself a chance to adjust to that added stress. Don't increase the stakes by adding additional lots or by stepping up to a larger account until you've learned to adjust for your emotions and again become an efficient trader.
When you feel comfortable with these simpler techniques, go on to study Fibonacci retracements, Bollinger bands, candlestick chart patterns, and the Elliott wave theory.
Congratulations! You're there!

The Mindset of The Successful Currency Trader

2008-01-04T06:32:00.001-08:00

Let me begin by saying that if you want to get into forex or currency trading online, DO NOT begin by buying a guide or a training course.
Too many low-lifes out there pander to the uninformed by selling them overpriced guides and manuals, sometimes for a few thousand dollars each.
A forex mentoring course can be a good option once you know the basics of forex and want to hone your skils, but there is just so much good information available on the internet for free that you could literally become an all-star trader without paying anything for education.
Today we are going to talk about the way you need to think if you want to be a profitable forex trader.
I consider myself to be pretty profitable when it comes to forex trading, and my first banking internship on the Foreign Exchange floor was when I was 16! (I was the youngest intern they ever had!) I got hooked on trading, and have been doing it ever since.
One thing that is really necessary to your success is to READ. Alot! The more you know about forex trading, the easier (and more profitable) it will be.
You want to know the mechanics of the forex markets from the inside-out. I'm not going to spend time discussing the practical aspects of the forex market, as you can and should discover this though your own reading.
When you begin to get comfortable with your knowledge of what this market is, how it works, and how to place successful trades, you are in a position where you can feel confident in your trading abilities.
The most important thing that the successful currency trader possess is the ability to separate his emotions from his trading. Confidence in your trading abilities is one important aspect to being emotionally detached from your trades, and the other aspect has to do with the way you fund your live trading account.
Make sure that when you put money into your live forex account, it is extra money that you do not need to survive and could afford to lose. If you are trading with the money that you need to pay your car insurance, your trading will be highly emotional and likely to fail.
In a way, this is kind of ironic, because I'm sure you've heard the saying that 9 out of 10 of new traders fail. Well, traders that CARE and are highly emotional about growing their forex account are the ones that lose their shirts, when the traders that DON'T CARE and have no emotional attachment to their trading make most of the profit.
That's the irony: The less you care about making money in the forex market, the more money you tend to make!
But also realize that you are not 'not caring' out of negligence (pardon the double negative), but rather because you are so confident in your trading abilities that you KNOW that in the long run you will always win.
To the successful currency trader, trading is not so much about making money as it is about collecting pips in their trading account!
Profitable forex trader's also tend to develop and follow their own trading systems. Finding or creating a certain system and trading within it is also important to successful trading.

Automatic Forex Trading Software

2008-01-04T06:31:00.001-08:00

Forex trading has gained tremendously in interest and popularity in recent years mostly due to the introduction of automatic and automated forex trading systems. The market that was open to banks and similar big financial institutions is now luring medium and even small investors. Forex market is the place where currency of one country is traded for currency of another country. These trades happen round the clock with transactions of billions or perhaps trillion of dollars everyday, making it one of the largest and most active financial markets.
With the advent of the internet, network, communication technologies, and sophisticated automated forex trading systems, participating in the forex market is now open to virtually anyone having a computer, an internet connection, a forex brokerage account and a good trading platform. But staying on top of a forex position requires constant monitoring, as this global market is practically open round the clock. Automatic and automated forex trading systems is a tool that lets you specify a currency, an asking price, and a selling price beforehand. With a small seed amount and with the help of a broker, your purchase and sell orders will be executed instantly. An automatic and automated forex trading system allows you to benefit from the profitability of the forex market without having to become an expert in trading. In automated trading through managed accounts, the trading program or human experts executes the trades for you. With a reliable auto trading platform, you are not required to do the actual trading yourself and therefore you save your time. And if you can watch the market constantly, you can mange multiple accounts from your trading platforms, simultaneously, which was never possible with manual trading. Automated forex trading systems present advantage of trading multiple systems and multiple markets.An automatic and automated forex trading allow your trades to be made at any time of the day or night, regardless of your presence. You do not miss a single profitable trade even if you are not present in front of your computer terminal. An automatic and automated forex trading helps you in taking advantage of multiple forex strategies and different systems. Because different systems are designed to be triggered by different trade indicators, you can diversify your investment as well as your risk. An automatic and automated forex trading also eliminates human emotions and psychology that can often affect proper and profitable trading decisions. With an automatic and automated forex trading system, you will be capable of monitoring many currency pairs at a time and you can follow and execute all of them. But, even with automatic forex trading systems, you will have to learn the basics of the forex trading, methods of fundamental and technical analysis, market indicators, etc. for enjoying consistent profits.
Just being automated, the trading system never guarantees you success as the market is influenced by many variables and parameters. The forex automated system is not just mechanical, but is fully programmable and you can customize them according to your needs.

Day Trading Stock Picks

2008-01-04T06:26:00.001-08:00

Day trading stock picks are the best stock deals that are available for day trading. Awareness regarding day trading stock picks allows a day trader to gain maximum returns from the market. The day trader has to capitalize on intra-day price volatility in the most active stocks to reap a regular profit from the stock market.
The main advantage of day trading is that one s stock positions are not held beyond the current trading day. Hence, the chances of potential losses that may arise due to holding a stock overnight are minimized. Increased leverage and profit in any market condition are the other key advantages of day trading. Since trading period is limited, day trading stock picks become a crucial helping factor.
However, day trading may sometimes lead to immediate financial losses. Lower liquidity, higher volatility, changing prices, and unlinked markets are some of the drawbacks of day trading. It is, therefore, necessary for a day trader to have adequate experience and thorough knowledge regarding the securities market and trading techniques. This also necessitates a detailed analysis of the stock picks list and applying one s discretion when selecting the stock.
Day trading stock picks are chosen based on a set of strategies or methodologies, of which the most important are technical analysis, trend analysis, relative strength ranking, fractals and volumes, chart formations, and algorithms. One can look out for reliable newsletters which provide expert advice related to the most active stocks and indices. Further, there are myriad Web sites that provide tips and day trading picks. Interactive chat rooms provide first-hand information on the day trading stock picks. Many good books are available which can educate the day trader on day trading stock picks, as well, though this information is not as up-to-date as Web sites and newsletters, in general.

Real Estate Online Courses - What Should You Study?

2008-01-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

You juggle many daily duties as a working professional and it may seem almost impossible to fit in education to pursue a fulfilling, lucrative career in real estate. With online distance learning, you can take real estate classes at your own time and pace rather than having to attend scheduled classes. Because distance learning is so flexible and convenient, the Washington Post reports that by 2008, one in ten students pursuing higher education will be enrolled in an online learning program.Imagine moving mountains to make money in real estate! Selling land, selling houses, listing houses for sale and determining the value of homes are a sampling of the exciting professions available in real estate. Distance learning courses are offered online in several areas of the real estate profession, such as:
Real Estate salesperson or brokers license. To sell houses, land or other real property, you need a real estate license. This course will prepare you for the licensing exam with courses in forms of ownership, recordation, rights and interests in land, license law, agency, rules and regulations, contracts, closings and closing costs, seller's net, leases, title transfer, finance, appraisal, Fair Housing and taxes. At the end of the required course, you can take the final exam with a proctor, such as a librarian. A student who passes the final exam is qualified to take the State Real Estate Licensing Examination to work in real estate sales. Students may also pursue a brokers license after performed as a salesperson. A real estate broker is allowed to transact business for their own company and employ other people who hold a real estate license.Real Estate courses to prepare for exams. If you are anxious about taking state examinations to become a real estate salesperson or a real estate broker, you can take preparation courses online prior to the big test. Preparation courses traditionally offer practice questions, activities to help you remember the material covered in the course, a list of relevant real estate terms and basic tips for taking an exam. These courses are not a requirement to take the real estate examination but they help to put many students at ease about taking the test.Real Estate courses to meet continuing education requirements. When you earn you real estate license, continuing education is required to maintain the license and qualify for renewal. Distance learning gives busy real estate professionals a chance to fulfill these necessary continuing education requirements while they continue to earn money.Real Estate courses in home inspection Real estate inspectors educate buyers about the physical condition of a perspective home to assist them in making a wise decision. Inspectors ensure a home is suitable to reside in and does not violate local laws according to the guidelines of the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHITM). The online course in real estate inspection teaches you the basic standards of performance for a residential home inspection written report.Real Estate courses in appraisal. Requirements for appraisers vary from state to state but all students basically have to complete certain courses and pass a state licensing examination. Real estate appraisers decide the value of a home based on its condition, amenities and the current market value of similar homes in the area.
Distance learning gives you an accessible way to learn how to become real estate professionals. For current realtors, online courses are a flexible way to fit continuing education into your hectic schedules. With online education, you can land that long-awaited, lucrative position in real estate you always dreamed of.

A Mini-Guide To The Managed Forex Account

2008-01-04T06:19:00.000-08:00

A managed forex account is forex made easy. It is especially tailored for those investors who do not have the time or desire to monitor their own forex account. Many different companies offer these accounts to their clients. A managed forex account is often chosen by individuals who wish to take advantage of the high liquidity and high profitability of the forex market without taking the time to learn forex trading.
The world of forex trading is highly complicated and success requires education and familiarity with terms, charts, signals and indicators. With a managed forex account, the investor can rely on someone who is already familiar with and successful in the forex world.
One type of managed forex account utilizes robots to trade the investors account. To the investor, no human hand means that there will be no emotional trades. These automated systems are designed by experienced traders and take into account all the indicators and statistics of any good forex trading system to signal the robot to trade. This is really forex made easy.
Another type of managed forex account attempts to take the difficulty out of self-trading by allowing the investor to employ a professional trader to make the trades. These accounts remain solely in the individual investor s name, meaning that money can be withdrawn at any time, unlike conventional stock trading. In other words, a managed forex account is not merely combining one investor s money with numerous other investors money to obtain results. These managed forex accounts are actively traded by individuals for individuals. Forex made easy for individuals.
Perhaps you are looking for forex, but you wish to trade your account yourself, for fun or as a hobby. Without a managed account, you must follow all the rules of successful forex trading. Forex education is absolutely necessary. There is no way to trade a forex account successfully without education because this is a complex financial undertaking. In fact, professional advice is highly recommended. Try a demo account, before you invest real money. Software, seminars, daily newsletters and much more is available for the new trader. If you are not looking for a managed forex account, you are not really looking for forex made easy. You are looking for the tools needed to maximize your chances of success.
Forex trading is a risky business. According to statistics, only 5-10% of new traders make it through their first six months with their initial investment intact. Even less make a profit. A managed forex account is a way to reduce the risk and increase the profit.

Forex Trading Systems Thinking of Buying One? Then Look For This

2008-01-04T06:18:00.001-08:00

I read a lot of material on forex trading systems and the great copy offering me huge profits for $100 or so, sounds great!
Then when I come to buy the system I look for one thing and one thing only to see if it s worth me parting with my money.
Its obvious but most forex system buyers don t think to ask the obvious its:
The real time audited track record from the vendor.
After all if they make claims about how great their system is shouldn t they be trading it and shouldn t they have some proof it makes money?
Of course they should!
In most cases however with forex trading systems all you get is a hypothetical track record at best, or a load of vague claims without substantiation.
A hypothetical track record means absolutely nothing.
Let s define exactly what this means:
It means the person had all the closing data in hindsight and can simply make the profit and loss whatever they want it to be.
You never see one that loses money.
Let s face it, if we are doing a track record knowing the closing prices anyone can make money as they know what the prices did.
My 10 year old boy can do that!
There are some good forex trading systems out there and the best way to get one that is reputable is to get a trader who puts his money where his mouth is and trades his own system.
Would you take driving lessons from someone who had not driven before?
Of course you wouldn t!
Use the same rule in trading if the vendor doesn t have the confidence to trade his own system why should you?
Don t fall for the hype
Fact is, there are many forex trading systems sold by vendors without track records and they know their systems don t work and that s why they don t trade.
Of course, they make money from greedy and foolish people who fall for the copy.
Vendor wins you lose Simple. People will say the fact that a froex trading system just because it has made money in the past does not mean it will make money in the future and of course this is true, but I Like the fact the person selling at least has shown profit and has the confidence to trade.
My view is never trade a system without a real time track record of at least two years.

Forex Software - Choosing the Best

2008-01-04T06:16:00.000-08:00

When it comes to forex trading the forex software you choose is essential. There are so many forex trading companies all competing for your business that choosing the right forex software can be quite a difficult task. Most of the forex software products available offers live online forex trading platforms but what other components are vital when it comes to your forex software.
Key Elements For Your Forex Software
Before purchasing any forex software there are a few essential items that should be included. The most important is security and your online forex trading software should include a 128 bit SSL encryption which will prevent hackers from accessing any of your personal details and information such as your account balance, transaction history, etc.
Providing the best security for your forex trading will include a company that provides 24 hour technical server support for your forex software, 24 hour maintenance should anything go wrong, daily backups of all information, and a security system that has been designed to prevent any unauthorized access. Along with these security protocols there are also some forex trading companies that use smart cards and fingerprint scanners to ensure that only their employees can have access to their servers.
Another important factor when it comes to choosing your forex software is to check what the company s downtime is like. When it comes to trading forex and particularly your online forex trading you need to ensure that the forex software you choose is reliable and available 24 hours a day. The forex software you choose for your forex trading should also have technical support available at all times should your session be cut short.
Ensuring that all the above features are listed in the forex software you choose will help to ensure your forex trading success.

Mini Forex Trading - Profiting From Forex Trading Without A Lot of Cash

2008-01-04T06:15:00.000-08:00

Mini forex trading is a way for people without a lot of money to trade the forex. It's also ideal for fthose brand new to forex trading.
Mini forex trading allows those new to forex trading to get a feel for it wihtout risking the amount of capital you would normally use when trading the forex.
So how can mini forex trading help you to make trading profits?
The reason for the 'mini' is obvious. The forex trading contracts are much smaller than the typical forex trading contracts. Mini contracts are about one tenth the size of a typical forex trading contract.
Mini forex trading is an advisable way to start trading the forex if you are staring with a small sum of money. You can test various forex trading systems without a lot o risk, keep good records on your trades and the result, and refine your trading techniques.
Then, as your trading improves and you build your portfolio, you can graduate from mini forex trading to larger, more typical forex trading contracts with confidence that you have a profitable trading system in place.
You can open a mini forex trading account with a lot less money, usually around $300 instead of the thousands required for a typical forex account. The high leverage available to forex traders still applies but you are obviously risking a lot less money in a mini forex account.
Keep in mind, your money is just as much at risk in a mini forex trading account as it is in a regular account. You just don't have as much at risk to lose. But you can still lose it all, and then some, due to the leverage options available.
This means that you need a trading system in place and you must adhere to that system with iron fisted discipline and not let emotion get in the way and cause you more problems and headaches.
Even in a mini forex account, you still need to know what you are doing and be familiar with various forex trading ideas and systems such as trade signals, proper chart points, targets, stop-loss and more.
With the right strategies in place, mini forex trading can be quite profitable but you need to do your homework before risking your money.

Stock Trade

2008-01-04T05:52:00.000-08:00

Trade stocks: Invest and earn more in less timeIf your are seriously planning to invest for your future financial security, then trading stock options is one the best and profitable ways you can look for. Generally, what people think is that savings is the only form of secured investment, but it s not true. Your savings might also get lowered in value with the increasing inflation rate. Contrary to that, trading stocks is much profitable. For example, if you buy a house today and after a year if its value gets appreciated five times, you can easily sell that commodity. In the Internet world, there are multitudes of options available as far as trade stocks are concerned.
The general perception about stock trading is not overwhelming. If you ask your friend, neighbors and relatives, they would always warn you not to invest online, as it is a gamble. If you find the reason, you will be amazed that none of them possess any interest and knowledge about online trading. Though there are certain risks involved in online trading, but things have changed a lot and in the present time, it is one of the most secured and intelligent modes of investment plan available. In this case, you do not have to face any broker or middleman and you also need not to go through elaborate paper works each time you go for trade stocks. Simply click the button online and buy or sell stocks without making a call or meeting in person with a stockbroker.As there is very less processing and no middleman involved in trading stocks, online brokers for this process is also very few. However, you can also choose day trading stock with any of the stock trading companies. Day trading stock as the name signifies is a trading option, which is done on day-to-day basis. In this trading, you can gain maximum profit from your stock investment. Moreover, the broking percentage charged by online brokers are also very less. Therefore, you can trade stocks in no time without any hassles. All these positive factors involved have made day trading stock more popular amongst people.
The online broker you choose determines the key to success for your online trading. Thus, it is very important to find a trustworthy and professional online broker for your stock investment plan. There are so many stock trading companies, offering lucrative deals and trading options and other easy options for opening an online account. For that, you need to make up your mind, do more research online and compare other companies and their offers. Almost all broking firms have extensive research and analysis services. You also get useful tips on trading stocks and stock market strategies. Moreover, there are also some paid and free financial services where you get a chance to discuss about your investment plans with financial experts.So, take your time, do some extensive research and then plan to invest online. There is no deadline, so, you can plan anytime-anywhere. A good and intelligent investment is one that offers maximum return in less time.
By: Micheal James

Forex Marketing Through The Internet

2008-01-04T05:41:00.000-08:00

Historically, the only way to participate was from the trading floor of one of these courses, but today, people can trade Forex from anywhere through a secure internet connection and a PC. That is why Forex will rank the top choice for you if you are an Internet marketer and wish to create a newer source of income- to create personal wealth within a short period of time. You can undertake Forex trading while sitting at home, in an Internet cafe - or on beach.You can easily learn all the basics of trading Forex for free by just doing a simple Internet search on the terms; Forex trading or currency trading. But these days, thanks to the internet the market has been opened to everyone willing to learn the best techniques in Forex trading and with the intention of making substantial profits as the institutions mentioned above that annually and consistently make pretty high profits from trading in the Foreign Exchange market. Forex Trading Online: You can use the internet to do your FX currency trading, and there are plenty of software programs available that give you alerts concerning prices, market condition, whether you should buy or sell, etc.
In the Forex world, order execution is all-electronic and because you ll be trading via an Internet-based platform, instantaneous execution is routine. This great interest in Forex trading is due to its great advantages over other capital markets and its high potential profitability; among these advantages we can find its extremely easy accessibility thanks to the widespread presence of internet connections, the high liquidity of the market and maybe the most important characteristic of this market, its high leverage. A computer with Internet access, a funded FOREX online account with foreign currency exchange broker, and a trading system should be sufficient to get things started.
With the ease of Internet access, transaction in FOREX can be done in anytime regardless on your location. If you take a peek at some of the Forex chat forums on the Internet, you will see enthusiastic newbie traders making the same mistake.
By: Soli Katir

Forex Signal, Forex Signals Advice

2008-01-04T05:24:00.000-08:00

There are lot's of Forex signals providers out there. New Forex traders might be thinking of looking for a reliable Forex signals provider. Is there any reliable Forex signals providers available?Personally, I will say do not pay for Forex signals. Think about it - if a Forex signals provider sells Forex signals for living, you can doubt their Forex trading skills? Or else if they are pretty good in Forex trading and making lot's of profit, I am wondering why do they still bother to sell Forex signals for money. Thus, what would be the value of such Forex signals providers? The answer is ZERO.There are Forex traders who have been relying on Forex signals arguing those Forex signals providers really help them making money in Forex trading. These Forex traders can even show their Forex trading logs as evidence. After some though, I came out with the assumption that assuming I am the owner of a Forex signals provider, in order for my business to be in black, obviously I need some satisfying customers. If I have 100 new customers this month, I send out buy signal for the 50 of my new customers while the another half with sell signal. At the end, I will able to have "some satisfying customers". Finally, free advertising and testimonial will be made available.If you are really new into Forex trading, it's better for you to sign up a demo Forex trading account from any Forex brokers and try some practice trades for a few months. This will give you insight into how the forex market behaves. Then only deposit a small amount of money to get a real feel. There are great differences between demo trading and real trading due to personal trading psychology.Final words, if you really wish to buy Forex signals from a Forex signal provider, make sure they have got an audited results and do provide a free trial over a substantial period.
I hope you find this article useful, contact me shall you have any comment or suggestion.

Mini-Forex Brokers

2008-01-04T05:15:00.000-08:00

With the advent of technology, it has become possible for new and small investors to start currency trading. These investors do not have the huge capital that a conglomerate or an MNC (Multi-National Company) has. Therefore, such small investors are given an option of opening a mini forex account.
Mini-Forex Brokers allow investors to open their forex accounts by putting down a comparatively smaller down payment. The minimum requirement for actual forex trading is $100,000. Mini forex brokers may accept contracts as small as $10,000. Also, the margin in real forex trading is 1%, where as mini accounts may operate at around 0.5%. Many mini forex accounts can be opened with a deposit as low as $100.
A mini-forex broker offers the investor a quick and inexpensive way to trade from the comfort of home day and night. All the specifications remain the same, except that these trades are operated from a mini forex account.
For beginners, many online websites of these brokers offer demo or trial accounts that help the investor practice trading skills. These accounts also help increase the understanding of the functioning of the real time forex market.
Mini-forex brokers often guide their customers regarding the best trading options that could yield the most profit. The major factors to consider while choosing a mini forex broker are feedback from other traders about the broker, if the broker has insured his client's funds and the amount of commissions charged.
A trader's success in forex trading depends on the information they possess. Brokers keep traders informed of market fluctuations, which help them to take maximum advantage of the forex market.

Making Money With Forex Online Signals

2008-01-04T04:39:00.000-08:00

Forex trading is actually a lucrative business.
Of course, you can only be successful if you know the ins and outs as well as the risks and benefits of trading in the Forex market. Investing in the foreign exchange market has become available to individual traders and not only to big financial institutions. The key to being successful with Forex investing is being regularly updated with the latest market conditions and the only way you can accomplish this is with Forex Online Signal. You should know that the foreign exchange market is very liquid. You can trade currencies anytime and anyday. It is not even localized in one specific area. You can easily trade online wherever you are in the world. Foreign exchange trading requires you to sell your own currency in order to buy another currency. Among the most popularly-traded currency pairs include USD/GBP, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and USD/CHF. Since the trading is mostly done online, it is only logical that you would have a fast internet connection, a Forex trading account and an online trading system.
This is where Forex Online Signals come in handy. Forex traders know how important it is to receive any information on the changes in the market especially since the Forex market is quite high risk. If you do not receive the information on any sudden market movement, you will lose much of your money and any potential earnings. In order for you to appreciate the services provided by Forex Online Signals, here are some of the benefits they offer:Pay Per SignalInstant Signals:Flexible ScheduleEmail and SMS AlertTrade on any PlatformNo Monthly ChargesSimple Member s Area Access
Quick Sign Up ProcessExcellent Customer ServiceForex Online Signals work quite simply. You simply sign up and choose which signals you will receive. These signals could be for stopping losses, buying and selling foreign currencies. You will receive signals two times a day via your email address or your mobile phone. This way, you can avoid significant losses because you were given a head s up on the current Forex market condition. Not only will you avoid losses but you will also have a greater chance of making a killing. When you receive a signal to buy, then you can also act immediately and take advantage of the positive market trend. Interested individuals can also choose from three Forex Online Signals packages: mini, standard and pro. Depending on whether you may want flexible schedule, free credit back and preferred currency pairs, you can choose from any of these three packages and only pay a one-time set up fee.
Just like any form of investment, it is always recommended that you should be prudent. It is very important that you only trade with an amount that you can afford to lose. Again, foreign exchange trading, although very profitable and liquid, is high risk and taking precautionary steps is advised.

Mini-Forex Brokers

2008-01-04T04:32:00.000-08:00

Forex Trading Systems

2008-01-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

The foreign exchange currency market is the largest market in the world because it trades up to $1.9 trillion daily. There is an enormous scope of trade in Forex because it is global, and is open twenty-four hours a day, making the presence of buyers and sellers constant, and the fluidity of the market, grand. The market is ever present because it does not have a central venue like Wall Street or Tokyo. It is a series of internet and telephone communications between buyers and sellers and it is not overseen by any one main authority like the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Forex is made available to traders through platforms.
Traders of Forex commonly favor Forex trading systems. Forex trading systems are methods of trading currency based on ideas that have rules associated with them. Forex trading systems are a merging of theory and practice that have been tried and tested over and over, and the results of the tests have been documented.
Some Forex trading systems are based on the idea of going against trends. Other Forex trading systems are based on the idea of going with trends. Some Forex trading systems are based on the idea of tracking breakouts of a particular currency and these Forex trading systems rely heavily on the averages of a currency s highs and lows, and utilize Bollinger bands that track the average highs, the average lows and the moving average of the two.
Traders utilize Forex trading systems in order to work against human characteristics that can hamper trading, like greed, addiction, impulsivity, compulsivity and fear.

Great Tips For Profitable Forex Trading

2007-12-01T05:22:00.000-08:00

Trading Forex With The Right Software

2007-12-01T05:19:00.000-08:00

The trading software is one of the more overlooked aspects of trading Forex online. For those who are not familiar with the Forex market, it is extremely fast-paced and volatile. That is why all brokers claim that their software offers the minimum latency in providing real-market updates. Unfortunately, this is a very generous statement and it does not take into account the client's internet connection or his geographic location.
The client's connection to the web is obviously the most important factor regarding receiving real-market updates from the broker. It really should be the best connection that one can afford, whether it is cable, satellite or ISDN. Cable is the preferred connection, as it is more secure and offers greater bandwidth.
And then there is geography. It is common sense that Broker X who is located in Toronto can establish contact with Client A located in Montreal much faster than Client B, who is located all the way down in Mexico City. The fact is that all internet connections are affected by distance. The farther a client is away from his broker, the more delay he will receive as a result because of the physical limitations imposed on wiring. Thus, always research your broker's geographic location before selecting it as the right one for you. For best results, always choose a broker who is closer to you.
Any decent broker will offer its trading software for free. Some will even offer different versions of its software for traders of different skill levels. Usually, "advanced" versions loaded with extra features are available for free to those who request them.
Trading software comes in two flavours- web based and client based software. If your broker offers both kinds, great! Each has its own advantages, but it is the general consensus that web-based software is better.
Web based software operates completely on the broker's server and is interfaced through a web browser like Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. This creates a lot of flexibility for the client, as he can access his Forex account anywhere providing he has access to an ISP and a browser. Security with web based software is not an issue, as all exchanges between the client and the broker take place over secured sockets and are heavily encrypted.
Client-based software is downloaded onto the computer and executed from there. It is faster and more convenient to access, and is more "homely" in the sense that it will blend into your desktop environment. However because client based software resides on your computer and stores sensitive information like name and passwords locally, it is very vulnerable to hackers. If they managed to sneak pass your firewall through Trojans or some other backdoor virus, they can do great harm to your bank account.
If you are just starting off with Forex, be sure to take these factors into consideration when selecting the best broker. Analyse the features of the provided software to make sure that they're right for you. So with all that said, good luck and happy trading!

Forex Day Trading A 100% Way To Lose All Your Money Quickly

2007-12-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

Having been a forex trader for 25 years it amuses me when I see writers defend day trading. They say it really can make money! - Of course they have no track record to back it up just empty words. Fact is you are guaranteed to lose in day trading for one simple reason: All Movements in Short Time Frames Are Random
Trillions of dollars trade hands each day and million of trader s trade, all with different objectives and opinions and to say that you can predict what they do in a few hours or a day, is ridiculous. You can t. Volatility takes prices anywhere in a day and support and resistance levels are meaningless, so you would have the same success rate flipping a coin. It s absolutely impossible to get the odds on your side PERIOD This is of course why you NEVER see any of the vendors selling these systems give you a real time track record Why?Because they don t dare trade it! They would rather write some enticing copy and appeal to the greed and naivety of traders and make their money selling you the system they win you lose period. But I have seen a track record you may say and yes will have, but it s NOT real. If you check the disclaimer on it you will see there all hypothetical!What does that mean? It means done in hindsight knowing the closing prices! Now who can t do that it s not exactly hard. If we all knew tomorrows price today we would all be millionaires but we don t and neither do we know what will happen tomorrow, so there not worth the paper their written on. Day trading is a good story but the logic doesn t add up and the biggest lie about day trading is you can make money at it longer term. If you could you would see a track record or the vendor would shut up and trade it himself and not need your few hundred dollars. If you want to win Appreciate that trading is an odds game and to trade the odds you need to trade over longer periods ,where the data is valid and you can have a chance of getting the odds on your side.
Finally Don t day trade, get real and trade with the odds on your side.

Learning How to Execute Proper Forex Risk Management

2007-12-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

The foreign exchange or forex market is one of the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world with a daily transaction of almost 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Banks, financial institutions and individual investors, therefore, have huge potential of economic gain as well as losses.
Foreign exchange risk is a potential gain or loss that occurs as a result of a change in exchange rate. In order to minimize the possibility of financial loss, every investor needs to adopt some forex risk management measures.
For minimizing forex risk, one must remember few basic points: (1) value of a currency changes frequently affecting firms and individuals engaged in international transactions; (2) assets, liabilities, and cash flows are affected through changes in the exchange rates.
So the forex market presents risks involving accounting and translation exposure, economic exposure, transaction exposure and real operating exposure.
Transactional exposures involve quite high risk for foreign exchange. Impact of exchange rate fluctuations on present cash flows, export and import, borrowing and lending in foreign currency, all can cause fluctuation in currency rates which should be considered while developing risk management features.
In most currencies there are futures or forward exchange contracts whose prices give indication on expected market prices of the currencies. These contracts can lock in the anticipated change. So the foreign exchange risk arises due to unanticipated exchange rate changes.
Foreign currency risk management involves managing two types of risk: systematic and unsystematic risk. Systematic risk affects all investments, such as the market risk, inflation risk and interest rate risk. Unsystematic risk relates to individual events that affect a particular investment, such as the business risk and financial risk. Unsystematic risk can be hedged.
If you are a trader or an investor engaged in day or intra-day trading, you must have a trading strategy at place. Your online broker or trading platform should incorporate risk management features in their trading strategies.
The signals and indicator to be generated must be based on risk analysis. You can join some professional workshop or course on foreign exchange risk management where you can learn the basics. The course should be interactive and customized where you can get your specific queries answered.
It is important that foreign currency risk management begins before the risk exposures and not after it has developed. The risk management course should include practical examples from real life incidents on basis of which you can learn the techniques of decision-making.
For calculating foreign exchange risk factors, you can find many advanced project management software that has integrated risk analysis. You can seek help from financial advisers who monitor, assess and hedge the risk in particular investments and in overall portfolios, depending on the investment objectives of the investor.
The foreign exchange risk management should use market indexes and averages in market analysis. It should consider theories of forex market behavior, including technical fundamental analysis. The risk management methods should periodically review investment objectives like safety, growth, speculation, and should always inform the investor about his or her investments.

The Mindset of The Successful Currency Trader

2007-12-01T05:04:00.001-08:00

Forex Software - Choosing the Best

2007-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Real Estate Online Courses - What Should You Study?

2007-12-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

Forex Broker

2007-12-01T04:56:00.000-08:00

A broker is any person or firm that charges a fee in exchange for executing trades for a trader. A Forex broker does not charge a commission for placing a buy or a sell order the way a real estate broker would charge a percentage fee of the total price of a sale. A Forex broker is paid according to the spread or the difference between the trader s bid for a currency, and the seller s asking price for that currency. Usually this spread is less than 0.1% or ten pips. (Pips are the smallest movement a currency can make on the Forex. Pips are commonly called referred to as points.) The lower the spread, the less a trader pays a Forex broker for a trade.
The Forex market is global and does not have one central regulatory agency like the Security Exchange Commission. Each country is responsible for the actions of trades in it s own country. A Forex broker in America must register with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). While traders are not regulated, Forex brokers are. A Forex broker must be registered as a Futures Commercial Merchant (FCM) before that Forex broker is allowed to accept a deposit for an account from a trader. Once registered, a Forex broker is given an identification number so that a trader can check the status of a Forex broker before hiring that Forex broker. There are such people known as introducing brokers who may solicit traders for a registered Forex broker, but the introducing broker cannot accept a deposit for a trader s account. It is a good idea for any trader hiring a Forex broker to check the status of the Forex broker with the authorities

Automatic Forex Trading Software

2007-12-01T04:55:00.001-08:00

Simple Forex Trading System - Follow this Simple Forex Trading System For Faster Forex Profits

2007-12-01T04:52:00.000-08:00

Follow this simple Forex trading system for faster profits and faster results. Only a select group of 10 percent of Forex traders consistently perform winning trades. This article will discuss a simple Forex trading system for you to implement to fast track your Forex education and profits.
Simple Forex Trading System One: Generally currencies always trade well and the price always is the leading indicator so be sure to look for convincing clues and follow the lead.
Simple Forex Trading System Two: Your indicators are really your best friend. You must believe in what they are telling you 100 percent of the time with no exceptions. Analyze the clues that they are giving you and act upon them. Never second guess them.
Simple Forex Trading System Three: Always draw pivot points on your 15 minute chart with no exceptions.
Simple Forex Trading System Four: The area between never points is never the place to trade. The best trade are always made in and around the pivot points. Avoid all other areas at all costs.
Simple Forex Trading System Five: After 2am New York time is the busiest time on the Forex market as it's when the major rallies for the Euro begins.
Simple Forex Trading System Six: If you are anxious to follow one signal that you have been given then by all means one signal is all you need. However, for a clearer signal and clue wait for more.
Simple Forex Trading System Seven: Always be aware for combinations of price patterns as well as obvious price patterns when looking for clues.
Simple Forex Trading System Eight: The most successful Forex traders only think one way, in one direction. If the trend is up then buy the dips and if the trend is down then sell the rallies. Forex trading does not need to be any more complicated than that.
Nine: Make sure you get the best Forex trading system education that you can. Avoid free Forex trading system courses and find one that you can budget for. Also be sure to expand your Forex trading education throughout your Forex trading career.

Forenoon Snow (Minnesota's Emerald Snow)(Now In Spanish and English)

2007-12-01T04:45:00.000-08:00

Above , emerald snow, flowsDown (On Minnesota green),As I look out my window:Gaze upon the snowy skies,Capture the morning scene !
Boundless and swift, untroubled:Are , its snowy glistening hues!...Happy I thought: to see this softEmerald, forenoon snow
Follow me, O yes, please do :I called unto the Forenoon Snow: Follow me into my memories,For times when I am old!...
#940 (12/3/05)
Note (by the author): This afternoon, I walked out into the soft snow in my driveway; whizzed the snow away from my car with a broom. Then I remembered how beautiful it all is, winter in Minnesota (how it was, used to be, is); I was kind of in a trance looking at it all descend from the sky, onto the green tree in our yard, the car, driveway, me. I had waked up earlier, and looked out the window (prior to this), and it was boundless snow that filled my eyes: I remember thinking, What a blessing to be able to simply absorb this all . Later on that evening my wife said: I love walking in the snow, she s from Peru, and this is her sixth winter in Minnesota. She has learned there is no other place on earth that has such a wonderful and full winter. Long it is, but beautiful. And then she said that evening as we left the bookstore, to get into our car, Look at the snow how it glistens, it was doing just that with the lights of the bookstore, and arch light by the car, and moon, it all set the mood, touched our senses, this was not a perchance thing, it was a God sent thing; she has learned what we Minnesotans take for granted: Minnesota is by far, the wonderland of all lands in the world, in winter, and St. Paul, is surely the city of cites to enjoy a winter in.
I have learned one must grab the novelistic beauty of a thing, and bottle it, before it disappears
In SpanishTranslated by Nancy Penaloza
Nevada matutina(La Nieve De esmeralda de Minnesota)
Encima-, la nieve de esmeralda fluyeAbajo (Sobre Minnesota verde), Mientras miro fuera de mi ventana:Mirando fijamente sobre los cielos nevosos, Capturo la escena de la ma ana-!
Abundante y r pido, sin problemas:Son-, sus matices nevosos que brillan!... Feliz pens : por ver esta suave
Esmeralda, nieve de la ma ana
S game Oh s , por favor h galo":
Llam a la Nieve de la Ma ana:
S game dentro de mis memorias,
Para tiempos cuando este viejo! ...
940 (12/3/05)
Note (por el autor): " Esta tarde, ande sobre la nieve suave en mi camino regreso; sacudiendo la nieve lejos de mi coche con una escoba. Entonces record cuan hermoso es todo esto,, el invierno en Minnesota (como era, sol a ser, es); era una especie de en un trance mirando descender todo del cielo, sobre el rbol verde en nuestra jard n, el coche, me conduc a. Yo hab a andado temprano, y mirado por la ventana (antes de esto), y esto era la nieve abundante que llen mis ojos: recuerdo pensando Que bendici n ser capaz de absorber simplemente todo este . M s tarde esa tarde mi esposa dijo: " Me gusta andar en la nieve , ella es de Per , y esto es su sexto invierno en Minnesota. Ella ha aprendido que no hay ning n otro lugar sobre la tierra que tiene un invierno tan maravilloso y lleno. Largo es este, pero hermoso. Y luego ella dijo esa tarde cuando dejamos la biblioteca, para entrar en nuestro coche, " Mira la nieve como brilla , estaba haciendo justo esto con las luces de la biblioteca, y por la luz de arco del coche, y la luna, todo esta disposici n del juego, toc nuestros sentidos, esto no era una cosa incierta , era algo enviado por Dios ella ha aprendido lo que nosotros los Minnesotanos damos por echo: Minnesota es por ahora, el pa s de las maravillas de todas las tierras en el mundo, en el invierno, y Saint Pa l, es seguramente la ciudad de ciudades para disfrutar de un invierno. He aprendido que hay que agarrar la belleza novel stica de una cosa, y embotellarlo, antes de que esto desaparezca

Day Trading Stock Picks

2007-12-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

Online Forex Trading Education

2007-12-01T04:37:00.001-08:00

There are many people who are interested in forex trading. But before you start trading in forex, getting a good online forex trading education is important. The forex market is largely a technical market with its own forex terms and processes so it is important you grasp the fundamentals with an online forex trading education.
Why Online Forex Trading Education?
Most people who want to try forex trading are often busy with other aspects of life to take care of. They probably do not have the time to attend a course on forex trading. Therefore, an online forex trading education is more suited.
Since it s online, you can take your time to read and digest the information at your own pace. Also most of the basics of forex trading can be found online for free. There are tons of websites that provide free forex trading courses and tutorials.
There are also free forex trading seminars online available plus advanced forex trading courses online such as the forexmentor program. While it s usually not free, the costs are pretty cheap compared to attending a forex trading course in a classroom.
Another important part of an online forex trading education is practice. I believe no matter how well you understand forex trading or if you score an A in a forex trading course, the real deal comes when you actually start trading.
Most forex trading sites provides a demo account for new beginners to forex trading to learn how to manage their forex trading account. There is no monetary risk, so it is a very good way to learn the ropes.
Once you feel you have sufficient experience, you can open a regular forex trading account or a mini forex account. I would highly recommend you open a mini forex account and start trading in smaller amounts. It has all the features of a regular forex accounts yet you can start one usually with about US $100.
It s important you do not rush through your online forex trading education. Take your time to understand and start trading in small amounts to practice. As the saying goes, practice make perfect.

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2007-12-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

How To Use Divergence Trading And Capture Hidden Stock Market Profits

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Although divergence trading is not a new stock trading method it nevertheless is a powerful one. Through divergence trading you can take advantage of market trend reversals and uncover profit opportunities.
By locating trend reversals that other traders miss you can position yourself to benefit from hidden trading movements. This can be accomplished whether the market is bearish or bullish. Just by simply knowing which direction the market is going through divergent tracking you can realize considerable profits.
The divergence trading formula is an uncomplicated and straightforward method composed of simple indicators and simple rules that multiplies the power of trend reversal. The method consists of 3 elements: exponential moving average, simple moving average envelopes and stochastics. By monitoring these three indicators you can spot divergent trends that will forecast price changes you can exploit.
Also divergence trading is compatible with the more commonly used trend-following method. By coupling divergence trading with trend-following trading you can profit from both sides of any transaction and not leave any money on the table. And the best thing is that divergence trading can be applied to any trading market whether it be Forex, day trading, options, futures, etc. Divergence trading is multidimensional and can show you where to enter a trade, when to stop a trade and where to take profits.
So if you are a newbie stock trader or a seasoned veteran it will pay to learn how divergence trading can diminish your stock trading risks and make your trades more profitable. Add divergence trading to your stock trading toolkit and watch your trading profits grow.

A Look at Online Forex Brokers

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An online forex broker is a firm that facilitates retail trading using Internet technologies. Global Forex Trading (GFT), one of the popular online forex brokers. It provides retail traders with a free demo trading account, allows users to open a live account, gives live help, provides software called DealBook FX 2, and allows viewing of account documents. (DealBook FX 2 can be downloaded for the demo trading account).Gain Capital Group's Online Forex offers 200:1 leverage. In some cases, the total return on investment is higher due to leverage. For example, with $1000 cash in a margin account, the investor can control up to $200,000 in notional value. Of course, trading on leverage magnifies both the investor's profits and losses. GCI Financial Ltd. offers commission-free online trading in forex. GCI offers Internet trading software, fast and efficient execution, and 0.5% margin requirements. This broker offers USD or Euro denominated trading accounts. The spreads are 3 pips in EUR/USD and USD/JPY, and are 4 to 5 pips for other major commissions. Clients can hedge by opening positions in the same currency in opposite directions. Risk to the investor is limited to the deposited funds. Market analysis and research, real-time charts, and forex trading signals are available at no charge.ACM, part of the REFCO group, offers 3 pip spreads on all major currencies, which works out to between 0.02% and 0.03% on the dollar value. They also offer commission-free trading, and forex trading with a 1% margin, which means that a trader can control $1,000,000 with $10,000 in his account.There are many online forex brokers that offer free demo accounts for potential forex traders to practice trading. It is only a matter of registering and starting demo trading to get a feel for forex trading. In addition, at most sites, traders can find free forex news to assist them with their trade strategies.

Forex - You Need A Real System!

2007-11-08T09:57:00.001-08:00

Although it has been some years since I was actively involved in trading, I have just returned to the markets and have begun to trade a small account on my own behalf. This has perhaps given me a slightly skewed perspective of the markets, almost like a new entrant, but one with a lot of experience.There have been some big changes whilst I have been inactive, not least in the number of online brokerages fighting for every dollar.But many things stay the same, at the heart of which is one, I guess, unbreakable truth. Trading is basically a very simple business, with any trading stocks, options, FOREX, whatever only really involving three steps:1. Find several possible trades evaluate them and decide which to go for,2. Calculate how much to trade, and decide at what points to enter and exit the market3. Keeping an eye on, or monitoring, open market positionsNow, these three steps were basically all there was to it a few years ago, and they still And, guess what, people are still getting totally bogged down right here, at this early stage of the trading process, generally, for one of two reasons.The first possible reason is that they simply are not aware that these are the steps involved in the trading process, or (the second reason) they have no clearly defined rules for actioning these steps. Thus, less experienced, more nervous, traders can often take hours to evaluate a small number of potential trades.Experienced day traders, on the other hand, are fully aware that, with little time available to execute their trading, they must have a process plan and they must stick to it.A day trader will set out his (or her) plan of action something like this:1. Recognize the opportunity, enter the market2. Stay in the trade for as long as possible if it is going for him or3. Get the heck out of there with minimum losses, as soon as it is clear it is going to go the wrong wayThat s it! That s essentially what a day trader in any market was doing years ago, and that is what a day trader is still doing today, with little or no change to their working practices brought about by the vastly more advanced technology of today.Savvy day traders learn very quickly that they must plan ahead of time, so that they are in prime position to take full advantages of the opportunities that occur in real time.Thus, day trading, which on paper at least is a pretty dangerous and risky manner of working markets is, in fact, one of the most disciplined trading schools! By the nature of market movements and the way they operate, day traders simply cannot afford to run their trading business on a wing and a prayer!

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