Forex Information

Is There Such A Thing As Hedging In The Forex Market

2009-08-24T15:11:00.003-07:00

Is There Such A Thing As Hedging In The Forex Market

Just like hedging your bet at the horse track you can hedge your trading in the Forex Market.

What is the Forex Market: The Forex and the stock market have some similarities, in that it involves buying and selling to make a profit, but there are some differences. Unlike the stock market, the Forex has a higher liquidity. This means, a lot more money is changing hands everyday. Another key difference when comparing the Forex to the stock market is that the Forex has no place where it is exchanged and it never closes. The Forex involved trading between banks and brokers all over the world and provides twenty-four hour access during the business week.

For those who are not familiar with the Forex market, the word "hedging" could mean absolutely nothing. However, those who are regular traders know that there are many ways to use this term in trading. Most of the time when you hear this phrase it means that you are trying to reduce your risk in trading. It is something that everyone who plans to invest should know about. It is a technique that can protect your investments to some degree.

While hedging is a popular trading term, it is also one that seems a little mysterious. It is much like an insurance plan. When you hedge, you insure yourself in case a negative event may occur. This does not mean that when a negative event occurs you will come out of it completely unaffected. It only means that if you properly hedge yourself, you won't experience a huge impact. Think of it like your auto insurance. You purchase it in case something bad happens. It does not prevent bad things from happening, but if they do, you are able to recover a lot better than if you were uninsured.

Anyone who is involved in trading can learn to hedge. From huge corporations to small individual investors, hedging is something that is widely practiced. The manner in which they do this involves using market instruments to offset the risk of any negative movement in price. The easiest way to do this is to hedge an investment with another investment. For example, the way most people would deal with this is to invest in two different things with negative correlations. This is still costly to some people; however, the protection you get from doing this is well worth the cost most of the time. When you begin learning more about hedging, you start to understand why not many people completely know what it is all about. The techniques used to hedge are done by using derivatives. These are complicated instruments of finance and most often only used by seasoned investors.

When you decide to hedge, you must remember that it comes with a cost. You should always be sure that the benefits you get from a hedge should be more than enough to make it worth your while. You should make sure the expense is justified. If it is not, then you should not hedge. The goal of hedging is not to make money. You will not make large gains by hedging yourself. You have to take some risks in order to gain. Hedging is intended to be used to protect your losses. The loss cannot be avoided, but the hedge can offer a little comfort. However, even if nothing negative happens, you will still have to pay for the hedge. Unlike insurance, you are never compensated for your hedge. Things can go wrong with hedging and it may not always protect you as you think it will.

Keep in mind that most investors never hedge in their entire trading careers. Short-term fluctuation is something that the majority of investors do not worry with. Therefore, hedging can be pointless. Even if you choose not to hedge however, learning about the technique is a great way to understand the market a bit more. You will see large corporations and other large traders use this and may be confused at why they are acting this way. When you know more about hedging you can fully understand their strategies.

Whether you decide to use hedging to your advantage or not, you will benefit from learning more about it. You can use it like an insurance policy when trading. You should remember however that hedging can be costly. Always check to make sure the costs of hedging will not run against any profits you may or may not make. Be sure those costs are realistic and that your need for hedging is realistic as well. You will be able to use hedging to help cut your potential losses, however hedging will never guard against the negatives altogether. Learning about it will give you a better understanding at how large traders work the system however, which can in turn make you a better player in the trading game.

Day Trading, Forex Or Currencies Back Testing — A Way To Improve Your Trading Score

2009-08-24T15:11:00.001-07:00

Day Trading, Forex Or Currencies Back Testing — A Way To Improve Your Trading Score

You can draw some useful parallels between running a business and Day Trading, Forex or Currencies trading. For instance, most successful businesses keep statistics on everything from their conversion rate, to their average dollar sale, to the number of people that come in the door. Businesses do this to keep on top of how they are doing on a day to day basis and businesses must first take score before begining to improve on that score. Using a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan in your trading works exactly the same way.

Now that you`re looking at Day Trading, Forex or Currencies trading as a business, you need to learn some valuable statistics about your system so you can improve it`s performance. You would use a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing method. You can`t improve your system unless you have something to measure it against. How could you expect to improve your trading unless you knew what it was you were looking to improve? You can discover these measurements and other valuable information about your trading system, by using a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan.

There are two ways that you can use a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan to back test a system. You can do it manually, which can be a drawn out and labour intensive process, or you can do it with the aid of some software packages. Unfortunately, I recommend you do it by hand when you first start out. You`ll get a much better feel for your system, and you`ll understand exactly how using a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan works in all its intricacies. Once you have the Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan and the in depth knowledge, you could look at finding a software package that does it for you.

There are a few major statistics on your Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan that you need that you will uncover through back testing. The first statistic you need to become familiar with is the R multiple principal. R stands for risk, the risk you take on any trade when you enter the market. The R multiple of a trade is the ratio of the profit or loss compared to the amount of money risked to make the profit or loss.

Therefore, if you risk $200 dollars in your initial purchase, and you make a profit of $1,000, you have made five times the amount you risked in the trade. You have an R multiple of five. This statistic gives you a good idea of the relative size of your profits to your losses. You can compare the average size of your winning trades with the average size of your losing trades.

The next statistic you`ll find useful is your win to loss ratio. This is how many times you get a winning trade in proportion to how many times you get a losing trade. For example, if you had ten trades, four of those trades were winners, and six were losers, your win to loss ratio is simply four to six. This is your hit rate; you`ll get 40% of your trades correct.

With these two simple statistics, you can calculate the average size of your profits and of your losses, multiply these figures with your win to loss ratio, and calculate on average how much money you make with every dollar you risk.

For those of you who think this sounds like a too much work, particularly using a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan that you need to do to uncover these statistics, consider this scenario: Imagine yourself trading a system that you knew had a win to loss ratio of 60/40. You made profit on every six trades and lost one out of every four. How do you think you would feel, where would your confidence level be, after you traded the system for a little while and you received a string of 11 losses in a row?

Now, you know that this system has a win to loss ratio of six to four. Would you have the confidence to open another trade if your system brought up another buy signal after getting 11 trades wrong?

Unless you use Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan to back tested your system, I doubt that your confidence level will remain high. That trading system may be a fantastic profitable system. However, since you didn`t use your Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan to back test it, you don`t know that historically this system received up to 13 losses in a row, but was still profitable.

Here`s another point you may not have picked up unless you used your Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan. Once you`ve set your money management rules and you begin to trade, you will likely experience a string of losses. Countless times, I`ve had clients who get disheartened by this fact because they don`t understand the nature of setting good management. If you`re adhering to the rules of cutting your losses short and letting your profits run, because you`re cutting your losses short, those trades are going to last for a shorter amount of time.

This means once you begin trading the odds of getting losses early in the game are much higher than getting a winning trade. This is particularly true when you consider that many successful trading systems run on a 40/60 win to loss ratio. However, you will never know the intricacies of your system unless you use a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan and back test it.

Using a Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plan, will help you to understand what works and what doesn`t. It will give you the statistics to gauge the effectiveness of your trades. It fills in your scorecard, and allows you to make improvements. But, you shouldn`t simply believe everything I`ve told you. Instead, you need to prove it to yourself by using some Day Trading, Forex or Currencies back testing plans and back test your system.

Learn By Hands On Forex Trading: Demo Accounts Vs Mini Accounts

2009-08-24T15:10:00.001-07:00

Learn By Hands On Forex Trading: Demo Accounts Vs Mini Accounts

If you are new to Forex, you are likely overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information you are finding about currency trading. Although the concept of trading the currency markets is simple to understand, the actual trading methodologies and understanding of how, why and when trades are executed can be hard concepts to grasp and fully understand. If you aren't aware by now, forex trading is not without substanial risks.

There are several schools of thought on how a new trader should progress from learning to actual live trading. In this article we will discuss the best ways for a new trader to learn how to trade the forex and make their first live trades.

To start out, I can not stress enough the need for hands on trading. This is why you will often hear it recommended that new traders start trading with a demo account. What is a demo account? Many online forex brokers offer something known as a "demo account" which is a fake account that you can trade until you feel comfortable trading your own funds. Demo accounts behave just like real accounts, the only difference is that the money you are trading is not real and no actual trades are ever executed.

The purpose of using a demo account if you are new to Forex trading is to get you comfortable making trades and to help you become familiar with the brokers trading platform. You can cut your proverbial teeth so to speak without risking any of your own funds. This makes demo accounts good for a brand new trader who just wants to see how trading works. There are some drawbacks however to using demo accounts to learn Forex trading.

The biggest downside to using a demo account is that you will likely only be able to trade standard size accounts with a demo account. If you intend to trade mini accounts, as many beginning forex traders do, a standard size demo account is going to behave differently than a mini account. Your margins are very different for a standard account versus a mini account. If you become accustomed to trading a standard size account, your trading methodologies will show it. This is because the larger margins offered on standard size accounts allow you to take greater profits from smaller movements in currency prices.

The other major downside to trading with a demo account for learning forex is that as a trader, you need to carefully manage the emotional aspects of trading real money. Since a demo account is fake money, detachment is easy to come by. Once you start trading your actual funds, you might just find that your tolerance for risk is much more conservative. Ideally, as you are learning to trade you are also learning how to manage your risks most effectively.

So what is a beginning trader to do? What is the best way to learn to trade the Forex, hands on?

Once you have read, studied, and completed any courses on Forex trading that you may be taking, you are ready for probationary live trading. The single best way to trade the Forex is to just Do it. Now, this does not mean to jump in and trade a full size account with real money, this would be an enormous risk for a new trader and not a very smart move indeed. What you can do is to find a broker that offers mini accounts. Mini accounts typically start at $200 and typically give you 100:1 leverage. That said, as of this writing, there is one broker (Easy-Forex) that allows you to trade a live mini account for as little as $25.

For less than you paid for any of your books, courses or training materials, you can actually try live trading. You will be amazed at how after just a few trades, the stubborn concepts seem to start making sense and you begin to understand Forex trading.

Now, if you do decide to begin your trading with one of these tiny mini accounts, you should start by making several very small trades. You should also be trading with the same system or methodology that you are trying to perfect. Your profits will likely only be a few dollars since you are trading on a small margin. This is good, however because the reverse is true as well, you are only ever risking a few real dollars. If you happen to have a series of loosing trades and wipe out the funds in your demo account, you can consider it the least expensive education you could possibly get in actual forex trading. Much better than loosing large sums of funds, and more realistic than trading a demo account. Just learn from the experience, and consider it a good deal on a valuable lesson.

Forex Training: Deadly Forex Mistakes That Assure Failure

2009-08-24T15:09:00.003-07:00

Forex Training: Deadly Forex Mistakes That Assure Failure

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.

The Trading Teacher

2009-08-24T15:09:00.001-07:00

The Trading Teacher

When I studied the principles of investing in university, I was taught that the price of a share reflected the value of the company. With fundamental analysis, there are many methods on how one can analyse the financial statements of companies to find out whether a share is a good or a bad investment. You can conduct horizontal and vertical analyses on standardised financial statements, which are just fancy terms for comparing numbers. You can calculate certain financial ratios to get a better understanding of a company's liquidity, working capital management, its ability to remain in business over the long term, and its profitability.

I applied these concepts when I started trading the stock market. Soon I found that if I wanted to trade shares in a timeframe of less than three months, decisions based on these analyses were not useful. I did not want to buy shares only to receive dividends. I wanted to trade for capital gains.

I was dissatisfied with my knowledge, the tools and the methods that I had to trade the markets. With my desire to trade a timeframe shorter than three months and my strengthening belief that emotions greatly impact on trading, I began to search for different approaches to buying and selling shares.

I went back to one of my textbooks in university. I wanted to know how else I could analyse the markets. From the passage I read, I learned that one can analyse the markets in one of two ways: fundamental analysis and technical analysis.

I bumped into a newspaper ad one day for a trading seminar. While reading through the ad I saw the words: technical analysis. An expert trader was going to speak on the exact topic I was interested in learning. It was a free seminar and everybody was welcome to come along. So I called a friend of mine and I asked if he would be interested in attending this trading seminar. He was.

The seminar was organised by a business selling trading courses: courses to instruct people on how to trade the share market. When we arrived, we were led into a small room. There were about thirty people. The spokesman was apparently a veteran trader who wrote two books on trading. Let's call him Bauer for the purpose of this article. Bauer had a very strong presence. He was a huge, tall man with a clean-shaven head.

I was on the front row seat trying to listen and understand every word this man said. It was his teachings that planted the seeds of how I eventually grew as a trader over the years. Many times, I heard his voice in my head, reminding me of the lessons I learnt from his books and the lessons I learnt from him that day. I will try to enumerate the lessons I learnt from this man to help you the way they helped me.

This man had my attention from the very beginning. "The share market is a game where people try to steal money from other people. That is the objective of the game and it is legal", he began. I wondered what the professionals in Wall Street would have thought about that statement if they heard it. I smiled. I liked him already.

He continued: "If you are going to join this game, you are essentially given permission to steal money from other people and in exchange, you are okay with them stealing your money also. Some of the brightest people in the world will be playing with you. Therefore, if you are going to war and fight an army with real weapons, you better make sure you do not go there with a plastic gun."

He said that people rush to the markets to lose their money. It sounded laughable but I guess it was the only conclusion one can draw from the fact that most people begin trading without sufficiently preparing and educating themselves. Of course, most of us do not put on a trade with the hope of losing our money; however, that is what we are effectively doing when we trade without adequate preparation.

"They just cannot wait to lose their money. They do not bother learning about the market first. They think it is easy. Most people know that they need training before they can fly a plane or perform surgery, but I do not know why they think it is easy to make money trading", he exclaimed. He was quite emotional about it.

"Trading is hard", he declared. Only about 5% of people know how to trade profitably. And so the probability of finding someone else who knows what they are doing is very, very small. "Do not rely solely on the advice of your brokers, your fund managers or whoever else. Your best hope for success is to educate yourself. The sooner you do that, the better off you'll be."

"When it comes to buying and selling shares, there is no such thing as investing. What people normally refer to as investing means long-term trading to me". When people hold on to their investments for five or more years with the intention to sell later, then all they are effectively doing is trading:just with a longer time frame.

"Do not buy shares solely for the dividend payments. They offer you measly rewards", he said. "Do trade only with the purpose of making money from capital gains. Buy low, sell high and that's how you should make your profit."

At the time, I was juggling between the concepts of short-term trading or investing for the long-term. I did not know whether I was taking the right approach by attempting to make short-term profits. He made his stance on the matter strongly.

He asked us if we knew what drove prices up or down. Remembering what my lecturer said in university, I responded, "the price moves up and down close to the intrinsic value of the share".

He turned his attention to me and asked, "What share are you trading?"

"XYZ (I changed the name for the purpose of this article)", I replied quite happily. Perhaps I could squeeze a tip or two from him about the stock.

"Do you know what the intrinsic value of XYZ Company is", he asked.

I nodded my head sideways and muttered, "no".

"I'll tell you what the value of XYZ is: it is zero!" He barked.

I was taken aback by his response. Zero? Then what are we paying money for when we buy a share? I thought. Then he clarified himself.

"Price is only a perception — it is people's perception of what they think the value of the share price is".

"The key to success in trading is psychology", he continued. Psychology? I thought. How did psychology get involved in this? "The stock market is like an opinion poll. It is a measure of what people think is going to happen. If they think the price will go up, you will see an upward movement on the chart because there are more buyers so the sellers increase their price because some of these buyers are willing to buy at higher prices", he explained.

He then used an example to explain a typical trader's behaviour when he trades without a system. As he explained it, I recognised my own behaviour in his demonstration.

This was all a revelation for me. When I was buying and selling shares I wondered what type of people were on the other side of the trade because collectively, they were pretty smart. Now I know. It was people like Bauer who were on the other side of those transactions, doing the exact opposite of what I was doing, using similar methods like the ones he was using. They were looking at the share market with a philosophy and an approach that were completely alien to me. Traders like him were making all the money and traders like me were losing.

I shook my head in disbelief that other people saw things the way they did. I felt excited knowing that there was another alternative, another approach in analysing the markets.

"What you need, is to develop your own trading system." He exclaimed to everybody in the entire room. "Without a trading system, you will fail. I guarantee you. This trading system must be something that is suited for you and you only. Even if I give you my trading system I am certain that you will fail to make money, because my system is not designed for you. It is designed for me. That is why you need to learn how to use the tools and acquire the skills needed to be a trader".

I accepted his advice without fully understanding this concept of matching a trading system to suit the trader's own personality. It lingered in my mind for a long time. The wisdom of his advice became apparent to me as I slowly learnt more about the nature of trading.

Bauer diverted our attention to the charts on the screen projected from his laptop. All I saw were lines, curves, rectangular boxes and more squiggly lines. The tools of a professional trader: I thought. I was being shown the tools that my market 'adversaries' have been using to 'clobber' me with all this time. My heart was beating faster than usual. I was in awe. I wanted those tools.

I asked Bauer what program he used to analyse the markets. He told me. I also asked him how many indicators he used. I had read enough about technical analysis by that time to know that technical analysts use indicators to analyse share prices. There are many indicators to choose from so I wanted to know how many of those are used by professional traders. He started counting his fingers. 'Seven', he said.

I think many people there had not really read up on technical analysis but I had done my homework and by that time, I was pretty much the only person in dialog with him, asking him questions. I wanted to gain as much knowledge and wisdom he was willing to give me.

Then I heard one of the most important lessons I've learnt which minimised my losses during my early years of trading: "Trade so small that it is almost a waste of your time. Assume the next trade is going to be the first out of a thousand trades you are going to be making in your life. Even though your profits are smaller, your losses are smaller too. There is no need to rush. Do not worry about getting rich too quickly."

He was suggesting that novices like me should trade using small position sizes. That means to buy small number of shares at the start. I was intrigued. I did not know a person should trade that 'small'.

Eventually, the seminar ended. I grabbed the booklets and brochures given out by some of the staff. In one of these brochures was the name of the program he uses. They were selling the software with the courses they were offering. I could not afford the entire package but I knew I had to buy the same charting software Bauer used. I decided to learn as much as I could about how to use charts and graphs to analyse the market. I needed to develop my own trading system.

As for my friend, he said he had a car loan to take care of first. He would look into trading shares later when he had a little more money to set aside.

A couple of days later, I got a call from the organiser of the seminar, telling me that based from the questions I had been asking that night, I was the type of person that would most benefit from their education package. Bauer was asked to demonstrate the need for trading education because he traded the markets. In the process, he was selling the courses well. Bauer seemed knowledgeable and experienced. He has enlightened me and probably several other people in that room about how much there was to learn. I was sold. I just could not afford the courses at the time but I wanted them so badly that I asked the sales person on the other end of the line if I could work for them in exchange for the course.

I did not get to do the course but I bought the software from a different distributor at a cheaper price. I also bought the two books Bauer wrote. I figured that I could acquire the skills and wisdom through self-education. I learnt a lot from those two books and from using the software. Having that opportunity to attend that seminar was a 'gift from the heavens', as far as I was concerned. Wherever you are, Bauer, I thank you. You — and others like you -- have made me recognize the value of passing on knowledge and experience for others to follow.

The Properties Of Price Movement

2009-08-24T15:08:00.003-07:00

The Properties Of Price Movement

You might look at the stock prices at the bottom of your television screen or, if you are trading currencies in the forex market, you might look at the exchange rates go up and down your computer screen. Prices move and you wonder whether their behaviour means something. Could the market be sending out signals that you can use to make your decisions? How, exactly, are you going to study the market?

For anybody to make money from the market, they must have a way of studying it. There are predominantly two approaches: fundamental and technical. Fundamental analysis focuses on value but this is the subject of another article. Technical analysis, on the other hand, focuses on price and its movement.

The movement of price has the following properties which traders can study to aid in their decisions:

1. Trend — its persistence to move in one direction,

2. Volatility — the magnitude of its fluctuations on a periodic basis,

3. Momentum — the rate of its acceleration and deceleration,

4. Cycle — its tendency to move in cyclical patterns, most especially in the futures market,

5. Market Strength — the number of transactions supporting its movements,

6. Support and Resistance — its tendency to rise or fall to a certain level and then reverse, repeatedly.

Analysts, using the technical approach of analysing the markets, have developed their own set of indicators, different to those used by fundamental analysts. These indicators are used to measure the properties of price movement. Fortunately for modern-day traders like you, you do not have to devise your own tools. You just need to learn how they work and how to use them.

Option Arbitrage in the Forex Market

2009-08-24T15:08:00.001-07:00

Option Arbitrage in the Forex Market

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.

Forex Profits

2009-08-24T15:04:00.001-07:00

Forex Profits

Forex, FX and the Forex market are some common abbreviations for the Foreign Exchange market. Actually it is the largest financial market in the world, where money is sold and bought freely. In its present condition the Forex market was launched in the seventies, when free exchange rates were introduced, and only the participants of the market determine the price of one currency against the other proceeding from demand and supply. As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, the Forex market is a perfect market.

With a daily turnover of over trillions of dollars, the Foreign Exchange market conducts more than three times the aggregate amount volume of the United States Equity and Treasury markets combined. The Forex market is an over-the-counter market where buyers and sellers conduct foreign exchange business using different means of communication.

Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location or central exchange. Since the Forex market lacks a physical exchange, the market trades continuously on a 24-hour basis, moving from one time zone to the next, across each of the world's major financial centers every day. Trillions of dollars of foreign exchange activity takes place every day. From 1997 to the end of 2000, daily forex trading volume surged approximately from US$5 billion to US$1.5 trillion and more (according to various recent studies it has touched $1.7 trillion per day and dwarfs all other markets for trading in size and volume). It is really difficult, if not impossible; to determine an absolutely exact number because trading is not centralized on an exchange. But one thing is for sure that the Forex market continues to grow at a phenomenal rate.

Before the advent of Internet and ecommerce, only big corporations, multinational banks and wealthy individuals could trade currencies in the Forex market through the use of the proprietary trading systems of banks. These systems required as much as US$1 million to open an account. Thanks to advancements in online technology, today investors with only a few thousand dollars can have access to the Forex market 24 hours a day and around 5 ? days of a week.

The Forex market is a nonstop cash market where currencies of nations are traded, typically via brokers called forex brokers. Foreign currencies are constantly and simultaneously bought and sold across local and global markets while traders increase or decrease value of an investment upon currency movements. Foreign exchange market conditions can change at any time in response to real-time events so it is also considered to be a highly volatile and fragile market too. Conditions of the Forex market never remain the same they changes every second.

The foreign exchange market dwarfs the combined operations of the New York, London, and Tokyo futures and stock exchanges. According to its size and scope it is many times larger than all other markets. Stats shows that spot transactions and forward outright Forex trading take place in the inter-bank market. 51% of the market is in spot Forex transactions, followed by 32% in currency swap transactions. Forward outright Forex transactions represent another 5% of this daily turnover, with options on 'interbank' Forex transactions making up another 8%. Therefore the inter-bank market accounts for 96% of the global foreign exchange market, with the remaining 4% being divided among all the global futures exchanges.

For traders, Forex trading provides an alternative to stock market trading. While there are thousands of stocks to choose from, there are only a few major currencies to trade (the Dollar, Yen, British Pound, Swiss Franc, and the Euro are the most popular). Forex trading also provides a lot more leverage than stock trading, and the minimum investment to get started is a lot lower. Add to that the ability to choose flexible trading hours (forex trading goes on 24 hours a day) and you have the reason why so many stock traders have flocked to day trade currencies.

FOREX Trading Philosophy

2009-08-24T15:02:00.003-07:00

FOREX Trading Philosophy

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.

As you can see, the novice needs to get through quite a bit of education, understanding and planning before those 'risk-free' trading, 'high returns' and 'low investment' promises will come into play. What are you waiting for? Get yourself a decent Forex Trading Education. If you need more information, feel free to visit http://www.investing-smarter.com.

Where to Get Forex Training

2009-08-24T15:02:00.001-07:00

Where to Get Forex Training

For those of you who are interested in forex trading, you may want to start off by getting some good forex training. Forex training is a necessity for anyone with this interest. This is because a lot of money is involved in forex trading. If you don't get some forex training, you are bound to lose a lot of money.

Some of you may not even know what forex trading is. If you don't know this, you defiantly need some forex training. Forex stands for foreign exchange. Forex trading is basically the exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. This is done simultaneously in hopes of gaining a profit.

You can get forex training from several different places. The first place you should get forex training from is online. There are many websites that offer free forex training. The forex training these websites offer is both reliable and accurate. The forex training on these websites often offers a free demo account to teach you how to trade without actually using any real money.

A second place to get Forex training is at your local college campus. Forex training courses at college are usually inexpensive and very thorough. The forex training courses offered should also include hands on experience with trading, to help you get the edge. You can also get some books on forex training or research forex training at your local library. The best place to get forex training is from someone who is already involved in forex trading. The forex training these individuals provide will be more realistic for you and give you different aspects of the forex trading game.

The forex training you get should first start with learning how the foreign trade market works. The trade market is always changing, so you need to understand it first. The second part of your forex training should be about risk control. You never want to invest more than you can afford. The right forex training should teach you how to cut your losses and have less risks of failure. Next, your forex training should teach you how to open and manage a forex trading account. But this should be done with a demo account. All forex training should be done this way first, before you try the real thing.

With all of this in mind, you should be able to find some good forex training. Learn the ropes of forex trading and take the time to learn it well. Be sure to try a demo forex trading account before you start a real account. With the right forex training, you will soon be on your way to a profitable way to supplement your income.

Getting a Forex Trading Education

2009-08-24T14:47:00.001-07:00

Getting a Forex Trading Education

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.

Managing The Forex Accounts For You

2009-08-24T14:46:00.006-07:00

Managing The Forex Accounts For You

Managed forex accounts are a boon for those who don't have the time to devote to the foreign exchange dealing. It's also for those who don't have the expertise to deal in the foreign exchange markets. Professionals are there for managing forex accounts. Management of these forex accounts is a very serious and a competitive business. Many investors like to allocate a portion their funds to forex accounts managed professionally. It helps them to diversify their risks and also mitigate any losses that may arise from other portfolios such as stock and bond market. Since forex transactions is a ball game separate from that of the stock markets, their profits and losses are also separate.

Therefore these currency-trading accounts can enhance one's portfolios in a great way. The forex exchange accounts that are managed professionally must be able to provide the following, irrespective of which forex trading manager or account that you choose

A currency trading account not tied to the stock market operations

The forex managed account should be able to provide a better return than the treasury bonds and other such money market instruments

Professional expertise is a must. The firm should have good standing in the market and have professionals who have experience in dealing in foreign exchange accounts. Most foreign banks and transnational firms employ the best and have constantly out performed others. It's not necessary that your forex account manager should be a Harvard Grad but in most cases it, they are better trained.

The firms that professionally handle forex accounts and forex trading must be able to leverage to give maximum profits.

The forex trading manager must be able to book profits in both the falling and rising currency markets.

Should provide for monthly / weekly reporting of the forex transactions as well as real time reporting if need be.

The forex accounts should be such that they are liquid in nature. They should give ease of withdrawal (of money) to the investors at particular time intervals and in cases of emergency too.

Depending on the firms that one chooses, there are various kinds of currency trading accounts that one can invest under. They may be called by several names such as Global forex accounts, aggressive forex accounts, and high value forex accounts etc.

For example the Global forex accounts might deal in many foreign currencies, many of which may not be the liquid currencies such as the Soviet Rouble or The Indian Rupee. Other accounts such as the aggressive forex accounts may deal in the most liquid of the accounts such as the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.

The forex trading accounts also differ on another account, that of the initial investment that is required. Some forex trading accounts may need an initial investment of US$ 10,000, others US$ 50,000, still others might require an initial investment of US $100,000.

Being professionally managed, the forex trading account managers make use of various statistical analysis tools to give the optimum and maximum results and profit. Therefore considering the factors as given, choose the currency-trading fund best suited for your needs.

Forex Day Trading: How To Create Massive Wealth From Forex Day Trading

2009-08-24T14:46:00.005-07:00

Forex Day Trading: How To Create Massive Wealth From Forex Day Trading

Hello, how do you do?

Until now, you may have never known how easy it is to make fast money from forex day trading, because nobody has ever given you the correct information, as I will in this article.

Most people from middle class make their money from investments in real estate, stock trading, bond trading, mutual funds, CDs, auction programs and various internet programs and other small businesses.

They may have never heard about day forex trading, which is where multi-millionaires and billionaires make their money.

Forex day trading is the most profitable and attractive investment opportunity because you can do it from home or office and from any country in the world.

In forex day trading, you don't need to do any marketing or selling or internet promotion to succeed.

In forex day trading, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars to do any internet promotion.

In forex day trading, you don't need any stocks or warehousing.

In forex day trading , all that you've to do is open an account with one of the brokers with as little as $300 or $2000.

Then follow simple instructions to buy and sell the currencies.

When the price of the currency is low, you buy.

In a few seconds or minutes, the price will go up, and you sell it and make a profit.

By so doing , in a day, you can easily make $500-$1000 by just buying, selling and trading these foreign currencies for about 3 or 4 hrs!

The more money you put in your forex day trading account, the more money you can make.

You can use $1 to control $200 investment in foreign currencies.
$200 to control $50,000 investment.
And $1000 to control $200,000 cash.

And get this:

You don't even have to be stuck sitting behind your computer buying and selling these foreign currencies.

You can enter all your buy trades and specify the sell prices you desire and then log off.

Whenever the values of these foreign currencies rise and your selling prices reach, the currencies will be automatically sold for you and you make money!

If you put $300 in your LIVE "Forex day trading", you can generate a minimum of "$10 in 10 mins." or about "$50" minimum daily, 6 days/wk!

If you put $1000 in your LIVE "Forex day trading", you can generate "$100 in 10 mins." or about "$400" minimum daily, 6 days/wk!!

If you put $10,000 in your LIVE "Forex day trading", you can generate "$300 in 10 mins." or "$1000" minimum daily, 6 days/wk"!!!

If you are very ambitious build your live account to $50,000-$100,000 account, you may possibly rake in $1,000,000 in 1 year!

You can do forex day trading and at the same time keep your day job, because in forex day trading, there is no work to do.

In the future when you have made hundreds of thousands of dollars, you may then quit your job and just keep doing forex day trading forever and go on permanent vacation!

To understand the beauty of forex day trading Picture this:

In the morning, you get up from sleep at 6 am.

You go to your bathroom and have your shower.

At 7am, you hurry and eat your breakfast.

At 7.20 am, you login into your forex day trading account on the internet and spend 10 minutes to buy about 3 or 4 different currencies, [for example British Pound, Euro, CHF (Swiss Currency) and Yen (Japanese currency).]

You can specify the price at which you wish to sell each currency.

Then you can log off.

By 9 am, you're at work in your office or business place.

You do your job as usual and by 5 pm, you're finished and heading home.

When you get back home around 6.30 pm, you login into your forex day trading account to see how much money you've made.

Holy Molly, there in your account it says you have made $750!

"Is this for real?", you wonder:

Yes, it is. (Your eyes are not deceiving you:)

$750 in a day for just clicking your mouse twice and doing no work?

(Whereas at your job, you work 8 hrs, but make only probably $150..)

This is how easy it is to make money from forex day trading.

But before you use real money to open a live forex day trading account, you have to open a free trial (demo) forex day trading account and practice first, to understand how it works and to acquire the right skills.

This free demo (trial) forex day trading account (forex simulation trading) will help you to reduce a lot of risks that can lead to loss.

In forex day trading, you can choose how much money to invest, how much money to make and when to make it.

You can make money daily, 365 days all year from forex day trading.

Your computer can be transformed into a personal, home "ATM" machine that cranks out cash for you daily (without large investment or hassles) from forex day trading.

In forex day trading, you can choose what type of risk you can manage, when to invest and when not to invest.

In forex day trading, you're the boss. You may do as you please.

When forex day trading is compared to other investment programs such as stock trading, bond trading, mutual funds, real estate and regular business, it is evident that forex day trading is the fastest and greatest way to make money in the world.

Forex day trading is a 2.5 trillion dollars daily business and it is larger than all the stock trading in the world combined.

These are some of the reasons why I believe that forex trading is the fastest and best way to create fantastic wealth.

Perhaps from reading this article you'll now come to know why forex day trading is the secret behind the greatest wealth on earth and why it has been kept hidden from the average people of the world and therefore little known to the masses.

May these forex day trading insights open your eyes to the possibility of infinite wealth and success that can be yours from forex day trading.

Please feel free to print or publish this article anywhere and read and also send to your friends and well wishers and please preserve the author's resource box below.

Are These Simple Trading Mistakes Costing You Money In The Forex Market

2009-08-24T14:46:00.003-07:00

Are These Simple Trading Mistakes Costing You Money In The Forex Market

The 2% rule is a powerful tool in Forex trading. By adopting this rule you`re using a strategy that decreases the size of your losses during losing streaks, an important consideration. There is, however one small caveat that you need to be aware of when using the 2% rule to calculate how many Forex shares you are going to buy. As you know, the number of shares you can purchase is determined by your maximum loss and the size of your stop. This means that by increasing your risk, you can also increase the dollar value of the position you open. By simply shrinking your stop size, that is by setting a tighter stop loss, you can increase the dollar value of the position you open.

To avoid a situation where you could end up with excessively large positions that may put your Forex trading float at risk, you can choose to introduce an extra rule. This rule would limit the dollar value of a position to be no more than a set percentage of your entire Forex trading float.

For example, you might decide that you`ll never open a position that has a dollar value of more than 25% of your entire Forex trading float. This rule would only be executed if, after calculating the formula that determines how many shares you buy, you find the dollar value of that position would greater than 25% of your float. If this happened, you would scale down the position to make sure it did not exceed that 25%.

The percentage that you decide upon will depend on the type of system you`re trading, the size of your float, and your personal tolerance for risk. Generally, smaller Forex trading floats might use 25%, and larger Forex trading floats might use as little as 10% or even 5%. There are no definitive numbers, and the percentage that you choose will depend on your personal circumstances.

Once this tendency is corrected for you will have all your money management rules in place, ready to control your risk in the Forex market. Now you need to take the next step. Test your system to find out which of the variables best suit you, remembering always that position sizing is the most significant part of any system design. It is the lynchpin of money management. Once you`ve tested your system, and fine-tuned your rules, you will be well on your way to becoming a successful Forex trader.

Revealed — Million Dollar Forex Investing Mistakes

2009-08-24T14:46:00.001-07:00

Revealed — Million Dollar Forex Investing Mistakes

Anytime that you are investing in the Forex market, you are going into the Market blind. You don't know what point of the investing trend you are entering in at. You might be investing in a Forex stock just before the trend changes. Smart investing means you need to protect your trading float and set up a stop loss. This needs to be done before you enter a trade, so that there is no room for error, or last minute indecision. A stop loss is simply a predefined point at which you exit the stock.

Effectively, it's like drawing a line in the sand underneath the share price, saying, "If the share price falls below this line, then the stock hasn't done what I thought it was going to do, and I'll exit the position."

This allows you to protect your investing trading plan, because it cuts your losses short, and guards against an all too human tendency to want to believe you must be right.

95% of investing in an entry Forex position means you are expecting to profit from the trade. If, however, the share-investing price goes against you, you might feel the need to justify why you bought the stock by holding onto it until it turns a profit. You might have heard the idea that all big investing losses once started as small losses. Well, while the share price continues to go in the wrong direction, those losses grow in lockstep. This is why you need to have a stop loss in place — it's like having an ejector seat that tells you when to abort the mission.

One of the most common question I'm asked when traders are introduced to a stop loss is "How wide should I set my stop?"

In other words, how much room should I give the stock to move? There are no definitive answers to this question because it depends on what time frame you're investing in. If you're a shorter-term investing trader, you're going to have a stop loss that's set closer to the share price. If you're a longer-term investing trader, you'll give the share price a little bit more room to move and set your stop loss lower.

Once you've identified what time frame you're looking at trading, you need to be able to remove the normal market noise (volatility) in that particular time frame. You don't want to have to close out of an investing position just because a share price moved a little bit due to its normal trading volatility.

In fact, there are some serious drawbacks to setting tight stops.

First, you'll decrease the reliability of your system because you get stopped out more often.

Second, and probably a little bit more importantly, you dramatically increase your transaction costs, because you're trading transaction costs make up a major proportion of your business expenses.

To give yourself a fighting chance, you want to trade a system that doesn't chew through excessive brokerage fees. This is one of the major reasons I steer my clients into developing a trading system that runs over a slightly longer time frame. With the correct system in place, and your investing risk minimized, you are well positioned to maximize your trading profits.

Your FOREX Trading Philosophy

2009-08-24T14:45:00.005-07:00

Your FOREX Trading Philosophy

"Easy money" is the allure that captivates many beginning Forex traders. Forex websites offer "risk-free" trading, "high returns", "low investment." These claims have a grain of truth in them, but the reality of Forex is a bit more complex.

Mistakes Of The Beginning Trader

There are 2 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 money. Forex traders must have a rational trading strategy and not make trading decisions in the heat of the moment.

Understanding Market Movements

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? This will allow you to identify successful trading strategies and use them.

Accountability

There are 5 major groups of investors who participate in Forex: governments, banks, corporations, investment funds, and traders. Each group has its own objectives, but 1 thing all 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.

Large organizations and educated traders approach the Forex with strategies, and if you hope to succeed as a Forex trader you must follow suit.

Money Management

Money management is an integral part of any trading strategy. Besides knowing which currencies to trade and how to recognize entry and exit signals, the successful trader has to manage his resources and integrate money management into his trading plan.

There are various strategies for money management. Many rely on the calculation of core equity -- your starting balance minus the money used in open positions.

Core Equity And Limited Risk

When entering a position try to limit your 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 $1,000 to $3,000. You do this with a stop loss order 100 pips (1 pip = $10) above or below your entry position.

As your core equity rises or falls, adjust the dollar amount of your risk. With a starting balance of $10,000 and 1 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.

Greater Profit, Greater Risk

You should also raise your risk level as your core equity rises. After $5,000 profit, your core equity is now $15,000. You could raise your risk to $1,500 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.

These are the kinds of strategic tactics that allow a beginner to get a foothold on profitable trading in Forex.

Forex Training: What to Look for in a Forex Training Program

2009-08-24T14:45:00.003-07:00

Forex Training: What to Look for in a Forex Training Program

Should new Forex traders take Forex trading courses or join a Forex training program? Definitely yes; by now you have probably heard that only 5% of traders achieve consistent profitable results when trading the Forex market. The main reason for this is the lack of education. Don't get me wrong here, taking a Forex training program or a Forex trading course won't guarantee profitable results, nothing can, but choosing the right Forex training program or Forex trading course will definitely put the odds in your favor.

Before spending any amount of money on any Forex trading course or Forex training program there are some important aspects you need to take in consideration. There are many training programs available, but not every one of them suits the needs of every trader.

The first thing you should be looking in a Forex training program is the content of the material. Unfortunately, most courses or training programs focus or spend most of the time on basic concepts. Though these basic concepts are important, spending most of the course on them won't help the trader to make consistent results.

The following subjects are what I consider the most important aspects of trading and every training program or trading course should address:

Forex trading basics.

Review basic concepts such as: margin, type of orders, a little background, bid/ask, rollover, etc. You need to make sure you understand every single concept to perfection.

Main drawbacks of Forex traders.

Being aware of the common mistakes made by Forex traders and knowing how to handle them will prevent new traders from making those mistakes.

Technical and fundamental analysis.

These are the two main approaches adopted by Forex traders. Knowing how to properly apply each concept will definitely put the odds in your favor.

The three pillars of Forex trading. I consider that these three subjects have the most impact on every trader trading account.

Forex trading system development.

Having the right system is a must if you want to have consistent profitable results. Having a system that doesn't fit you will cause a series of problems that will make your trading account vanish away (second guessing the system, not following your system, etc.)

Money management.

This is considered by many successful traders to be the most important single aspect of trading. Money management helps to increase your profits geometrically and at the same time limit your losses (i.e. a good risk reward ratio of about 2:1 will make you money in a Forex trading system that is right only 38% of the time.)

Trading psychology.

Being aware and knowing hot to handle the psychological barriers that affect every trader decision will put the odds in your favor.

Other important aspects every training program should include are:

Developing habits for success (such as discipline patience, taking responsibility of every action, commitment, etc.,) understanding and taking our trading as a business, risk and trade management.

Another important aspect you should take into consideration when choosing a Forex training program is the mechanics of it, getting to know how the training program works.

A good course will have the following:

A live conference room, where you can apply everything learned under live market conditions.

One-on-one feedback, every trader has different needs and requires special attention. For instance a trader wanting to improve the system and requires individual feedback from the instructor about it.

Online trading course, a course that could be accessible through internet. A plus is a course where you are able to access the course at the convenient time for you, so you don't have to change your lifestyle.

A forum, where members can talk just about everything related to the Forex market and the Forex training program.

Trading the Forex market is no easy task. It requires a lot of hard work. Making the right decision will definitely put the odds in your favor. Take your time when doing your diligence because it is a big and important step in a trader's trading career.

Trading In The Forex Requires Some Caution

2009-08-24T14:45:00.001-07:00

Trading In The Forex Requires Some Caution

Whether it is in the millions or thousands, trading in the Forex is a bit risky. There are a lot of players involved and if you don't arm yourself properly with knowledge about the Forex you may just get swamped.

The Forex is the largest most vibrant market in the whole wide world. The financial world has never had a market that involves so much transaction. Over a trillion dollars worth of different currencies exchange hands everyday. Some losing in the trade, while some hit the jackpot and make tons of money. The Forex is characterized by its unpredictability and the liquidity because it deals with foreign currencies and each one's value influenced by their own country. That's why anyone who is greatly considering joining the Forex trade should think twice, thrice and maybe even ten times before doing so. This is not an arena for the weak and nervous.

The Forex is a very complex financial arena and only those with enough knowledge, experience and financial capability can join the foray. Managing the risk factors is a priority task for those professionals who do this everyday. They direct and manage accounts from their investors, full confidence is placed on them and their client's success is also their success. Some professional Forex brokers have placed high-value on their credibility. The more clients they have the more they earn as well. They make a profit by eating a slice of their client's profit. If they have made a name for themselves in the Forex trade, they don't need to go look for clients; the clients will look for them and invest.

There are those however who wants to manage their own portfolios. A word of caution though, educate yourself first about the trade. Learn the ropes and tricks of the game before throwing your hat in the ring. Try to gain access to many self learn and self study websites that can impart their knowledge with you. Try out the website of the federal Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), there they offer consumer reports as well as articles about applicable laws in Forex trading. Many Forex management firms maintain a website that offers free online tutorials and brochures. You may need all the educational information about the Forex that you can get your hands on.

They may not outright say it, but the best and the finest and most skilled Forex traders have learned all the secrets of the game. From trading signals technical indicators, and theories that could explain about the market behavior. When you have mastered these skills, you can have a more accurate prediction of the direction of the market resulting to lower risks and higher profits. Even when dealing with money managers they have to be knowledgeable about the trade so they can be on top of their investments. Have a constant conversation with your broker and be updated about your account.

For the self-traders, some of them are very admirable to have the courage to act as their own money managers. As with any business, success will come only after hard work and diligent research. With Forex trading you should always be on your toes for developments. A wise Forex trader knows that that learning and educating about Forex trading never ceases.

Forex Trading Education: Things You Should Know About Forex Trading

2009-08-24T14:44:00.006-07:00

Forex Trading Education: Things You Should Know About Forex Trading

How difficult is it to make money trading the Forex market? How much time does it take to actually be able to make a living trading the Forex market? These and other important aspects of trading are to be discussed in this article.

Trading the Forex market has many benefits over other financial markets, among the most important are: superior liquidity, 24hrs market, better execution, and others. Traders and investor see the Forex market as a new speculation or diversifying opportunity because of these benefits. Does this mean that it is easy to make money trading the Forex Market? Not at all.

Forex brokers agree that 90% of traders end up losing money, 5% of traders end up at break even and only 5% of them achieve consistent profitable results. With these statistics shown, I don't consider trading to be an easy task. But, is it harder to master any other endeavor? I don't think so, consider musicians, writers, or even other businesses, the success rates are about the same, there are a whole bunch of them who never got to the top.

Now that we know it is not easy to achieve consistent profitable results, a must question would be, Why is it that some traders succeed while others fail to trade successfully in the Forex market? There is no hard answer to this question, or a recipe to follow to achieve consistent profitable results. What we do know is that traders that reach the top think different. That's right, they don't follow the crowd, they are an independent part of the crowd.

A few things that separate the top traders from the rest are:

Education: They are very well educated in the matter; they have chosen to learn every single and important aspect of trading. The best traders know that every trade is a learning experience. They approach the Forex market with humility, otherwise the market will prove them wrong.

Forex trading system: Top traders have a Forex trading system. They have the discipline to follow it rigorously, because they know that only the trades that are signaled by their system have a greater rate of success.

Price behavior: They have incorporated price behavior into their trading systems. They know price action has the last word.

Money management: Avoiding the risk of ruin is a primary subject to the best traders. After all, you cannot succeed without funds in your trading account.

Trading psychology: They are aware of every psychological issue that affects the decisions made by traders. They have accepted the fact that every individual trade has two probable outcomes, not just the winning side.

These are, among others, the most important factors that influence the success rate of Forex traders.

We know now that it is not easy to make money trading the Forex market, but it is possible. We also discussed the most important factors that influence the rate of success of Forex traders. But, how much time does it take to have consistent profitable results? It is different from trader to trader. For some, it could take a life time, and still don't get the desired results, for some others, a few years are enough to get consistent profitable results. The answer to this question may vary, but what I want to make clear here is that trading successfully is a process, it's not something you can do in a short period of time.

Trading successfully is no easy task; it is a process and could take years to achieve the desired results. There are a few things though every trader should take in consideration that could accelerate the process: having a trading system, using money management, education, being aware of psychological issues, discipline to follow your trading system and your trading plan, and others.

Day Trading Forex Market Behaviour

2009-08-24T14:44:00.005-07:00

Day Trading Forex Market Behaviour

Technology advances like the internet have spawned a new craze, where anyone with a secure internet connection prepared to undertake a small amount of training can engage in trading foreign exchange on the forex market.

Just as a day trader will closely track stock price movements on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, all over the world forex traders monitor currency fluctuations in a similar fashion.

Forex traders have the aim of using the smallest amount of one currency, say the US dollar, to purchase another currency like the British Pound. If supply of the pound lessens in a busy market, it will cost more dollars to buy pounds, and the forex trader hopes to sell their pounds at a higher than their purchase price. In many respects, this type of trading behaviour is very similar to trading in stocks, where the aim of nearly all traders is to buy low and sell high.

The trading process works under a bid/ask system. In the above example, a forex trader might bid 10 dollars in return for 5.7 British pounds, and the seller of the pounds could be asking 11 dollars for the same amount of pounds. If the seller accepts the bid, the trader then hopes the pound continues to increase in price, so that when time comes to sell, they can get in excess of the 10 dollars initially paid.

As only registered traders have access to this auction process, most online speculators will trade through a bank or broking house. Such brokerages charge a commission for facilitating the trades, and forex traders should consider these transaction costs when calculating their selling offer when time comes to exit their position, as this will influence their profit margin.

The global foreign exchange market can trade in excess of a trillion dollars a day. Sheer market size means there is considerable money to be made, and lost, through miscalculation. It is neither a guaranteed, nor easy path to riches, so traders should be educated in how to play the market. Instructional packages are available, and should be carefully reviewed as they can easily range in quality and price.

Forex Trading Tips

2009-08-24T14:44:00.003-07:00

Forex Trading Tips

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.

Forex Course: A Quick Forex Guide for Traders

2009-08-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

Forex Course: A Quick Forex Guide for Traders

In this Forex course we will review some steps you need to take care before you venture into your trading journey. Most traders venture into the Forex market with little or no experience in the Forex market. This results in painful experiences like loosing most of the risk capital, frustration because it seemed so easy to make money, etc.

The first thing you need to realize is that, it is not easy to make money. As every other endeavor in life, where important rewards are to come after mastering it, you need to work hard. You need to get very well educated and experienced before having the possibility to receive important rewards on it. The key on mastering the Forex market relies on commitment, patience and discipline.

Ok, you have decided you are going to trade the Forex market, you have seen several advertisings featuring how easy is to make money in the Forex market. You might think this is your opportunity to reach your financial freedom, right away, time is money, why waiting any longer if you have the opportunity to make money now. I know, I've been there, but you have a chance now, I didn't, no body told me what I am going to tell you.

We, Forex traders, make transactions based on a set of rules. These sets of rules are what we call a Trading System. Our systems tell us the exact time where we need to get in the market and out the market in order to make a profit (i.e. buy low sell high.)

Creating a system is the first big step you need to take care first. Why is this so important? Because you need to build a system that suits your personality, otherwise you are going to find hard to follow it, thus hard to profit from. A system can be based on technical indicators or what we called a mechanical system or based on experience and intuition or what we call discretionary systems. I highly recommend using and trying first a mechanical system, because discretionary systems are dangerous during the early stages of a Forex trader (can lead to indiscipline.) With experience, on later stages, you will find out which signals work better and which ones to avoid.

The next step in this Forex course is to try your system on a demo account. Most Forex brokers offer a demo account, an account with virtual money. This is an excellent choice to test your trading system as there is no money at risk. In this step you will figure out if the strategy works for you. If you feel comfortable trading it, then it is most likely to produce good results. How much time should you stay in this step? It varies, but you shouldn't go one step further until your system gets consistent profitable results over a period of time. It can take many months, but remember, you need to be patient.

You must be honest to yourself; you need to take every single signal generated by your system, not only the signals you thought were going to work, otherwise, you are going to have problems in the next two steps.

Ok, by know you had consistent profitable results on your demo account. You might think its time to go full. Nope, nope, nope. There is a big difference between trading a demo and a real account. The most important difference lies on emotions (fear, greed, anger, etc.) These are psychological barriers that affect every single decision made by traders regardless of what he/she is trading (stocks, bonds, Forex, futures, grains, etc.) These emotional factors, in my opinion, are the most determinant factor that separates profitable traders from the others.

The next step in this Forex course is specially designed to deal with emotions and to confirm the results obtained in the prior step (consistent results in a demo account.) At this step you need to trade in a real account with limited funds. Some brokers offer fractional lot trading. Meaning you are able to trade any desired amount (even cents.) The important thing here is that these emotions we've been talking about are present only when there is real money at risk. At this stage, you are going to see if you are really comfortable trading your system and if you are able to trade with such system, remember different systems produce different emotions. If you are able to produce similar results than those obtained in a demo account, then ready for the next step. If you didn't, then you might need to create another system, there is chance your system never fit you. If you created consistent profitable results on this stage, you have a chance to produce similar results in the next one, on the other hand, if you didn't produce good results in this stage, you will not be able to make on the next stage. Remember, you need to do things right, and be honest to yourself.

The last stage is trading in a real account with sufficient funds. If you are at this stage, and have passed successfully every prior stage, then you have a chance to make it, go ahead and try it, you need to be confident in yourself and in your system, your strategy have already produced consistent profitable results, there are reasons to believe you are going to make it. Very few traders fail at this stage (if passed successfully prior stages.)

Trading successfully is no easy task, it requires a lot of work, patience, discipline, and education. By completing the steps outlined in this Forex course, you have a chance to produce profitable results. I repeat it again, you need to be honest to yourself about the results obtained in every stage. Some times you might need expert guidance regarding your system development strategies.

Forex Trading Guide- How to deal with Forex Trading

2009-08-24T14:43:00.005-07:00

Forex Trading Guide- How to deal with Forex Trading

Buying and selling of different currencies of the world is known as forex trading. Forex or foreign exchange market is the largest trading market in the world. Forex trading market deals with more than US$2 trillion everyday. It has become favorite option for currency traders. Foreign exchange market is extremely different from stock exchange market. Currency trading is always done in pairs like USD/EUR or USD/GBP etc. Forex trading market works 24 hours a day.

Several investors and traders are joining forex trading every day. First time investors should keep in mind that forex trading works on certain principles. They should remember that it is an investment not an income. Currency can fluctuate at any time so right time investment is the best investment in forex trading. You should have another source of income while dealing in forex trading. If you are a first time investor don't believe in demo trading because it can be dangerous in long run. After getting all information about broker's system you can start forex trading with small amounts. You should always invest that amount for which you can bear profit or loss.

Sometimes forex trading is a risky business but the trader can reduce the risk by following best trading strategy. Trader should know the right time to enter and exit the market. Forex trading is an easy and simple trading business. You can do forex trading while sitting in your home. It requires a PC with Internet connection and a bit of time. You can perform all the transactions online with a small fee and the best thing of forex trading is that you don't have to pay large amounts to professional. Forex trading market offers a large number of online options for currency trading. Before joining it you've to search for the best option to achieve your goals.

Beginners can use forex trading software programs to track and analyze market conditions. These programs will help you in finding the best investment opportunities. Forex trading software enables you to make right decisions about investments. Beginners shouldn't try to predict the forex trading markets because currency fluctuation may occur anytime. You can handle forex trading by using trading system and money management strategy.

Don't be emotional in forex trading. You should behave like a businessman that can efficiently test the market data. Testing system and best money management strategy lets you to invest your capital in the best way. While paying minor attention to the ups and downs of the forex trading market you can easily maximize your profits. You can make profitable trades by focusing on the hours when market generally makes their biggest moves.

With some research, a lot of skill and a bit of luck you can enjoy forex-trading market completely. You've to be smart at the time of making choices and taking risks. The trading process is so simple and can be done with a small amount. You don't have to wait for the opening and closing of stock market because it works for twenty-four hours. Several trading companies are providing free information online. You can search for required information before making any decisions. Some companies also offer free trail periods; you can also check it out.

Real Forex Traders Learn to Like Losses

2009-08-24T14:43:00.003-07:00

Real Forex Traders Learn to Like Losses

As a forex trader you have to learn how to take losses. Period. Don't be a crybaby. Learn how to take losses.

Learning how to take losses is one of the most important lessons you must learn if you want to survive as a trader. Nobody is 100% right all the time.

Losses are inevitable. Even Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods lose sometimes and they're considered the best in their field.

There will be trading streaks where you'll have a number of successful consecutive trades, but that will eventually come to an end you will take a loss.

As that point it's very important not to lose your head, you must remain in control of yourself. Don't have a cow man.

Take a break. Calm down and relax. Take a chill pill dude.

Until you've regained a clear mind and an ability to think logically again, stay out of the market.

Don't whine about your loss and never carry a prejudice against a loss.

The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.

I repeat. The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.

Never ever think that you will never lose. That's just ludicrous. Losses are just like profits, it's all part of the trader's universe.

5 Things You Must Do If You Want To Attain Financial Freedom Through Forex Trading

2009-08-24T14:43:00.001-07:00

5 Things You Must Do If You Want To Attain Financial Freedom Through Forex Trading

With the amazing growth of the forex market, you are going to see an astounding amount of traders lose all their money. Unfortunately, they haven't followed the simple steps I have laid out for you. Go through these steps and give yourself the greatest opportunity to achieve your goals.

1. Have Faith In Yourself

To reach the level of elite forex trader, you must trust in yourself and your forex trading education. You must be willing to make all your trading decisions, instead of relying on someone else's thoughts or ability (or lack of). Of course, you will prepare yourself fully before every risking any money.

2. Accept Your Learning Curve

Unless you are a veteran trader, you will lose money trading the Forex market. This is a near certainty. I don't say this to talk you out of trading. In fact, quite the opposite. You will be trading against others that fall to this reality day in and day out. You, however, will not risk a dime until you have learned the skills you need to make money trading the forex.

3. Decide What Type of Trader You Are

There are many ways to trade the forex. They range from very active to very patient. You must decide which style suits you best. The best time to learn this about yourself is while you are trading a demo account. There is no need to allow your learning curve to cost you money.

4. Get Educated

Education is the shortest path to elite forex trading. Regardless of your ultimate goals, you will reach them quicker with a great forex trading education. Take some time to review different options before deciding on who to trust with your forex trading education needs. A forex seminar will help shorten your learning curve drastically.

5. Continue to Get Educated

In order to achieve and retain elite forex trading skills, you must constantly be adding to you knowledge base. Your education should never end. In fact, one of the key points to look for in an elite forex trading course is ongoing education. It's nice to have an ongoing relationship with the person/people helping you to achieve your goals.

What separates an elite forex trader from all others is their desire and ability to be independent. Many traders are willing to follow signals, systems, strategies, or anything else you may call them. By taking this approach, however, these traders are only as good as the people they follow.

An elite forex trader will lead. Their decisions will be calculated and analyzed to near perfection. They will make decisions with no hesitation, and handle the growth of their account in a predetermined, intelligent fashion. Take your trading to their level and you will never look back.

How to buy the dip in an uptrend

2009-08-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

MACD (Moving Average Convergence/Divergence Oscillator)

2009-08-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Tips to Make Money Fast in Forex

2009-08-17T01:27:00.002-07:00

Tips to Make Money Fast in Forex

This is all about making a fortune with Forex. Most traders just go with the flow and make average gains, with this article you will learn what makes some traders stand out and a lot richer than others!

We are going to assume that you know how to trade, and has quite an experience in trading.

With simple changes in your trade selection, money and risk management, and mindset, you can change that average gains into larger ones!

Fast money is in Forex, it is a lifestyle. here is it how its done.

Tip 1 . Embrace Changeability and Risk With a Smile

Forex systems have instability.

If you cannot manage and calculate your risk, then don't ever think about trading in Forex. Many traders back away from forex because of this ( why do you even traded in the first place?). But taking manageable risks has its rewards.

It's just simple, you know what your losing if ever it doesn't work out, yet what you gain is unpredictable but sure is high! That is what I call excitement, my friend.

To a well-educated Forex trader, this is something you shouldn't be afraid of, might as well embrace it.

Tip 2. Trade Less, gain more

Most traders think that if they don't trade, another door has closed, or miss some move. The tendency, they trade frequently. Most of the trades that come big come a few times in a year. Focus on the trades that make the really big gains. Be alert, and informed.

Tip 3. Diversify is a no-no

Most Investors accept the fact that diversification can make money fast - in reality it does exactly the opposite.

Tip 4. Money and Risk Management

This article has been concentrating on the Big gains, because this is your money, so every penny should be controlled, this is where money management kicks in.

Control your risks, but increase your chances of success:

- Give yourself staying power by buying options at or in the money, this prevents you from getting stopped out. Many traders lose not by the market direction, but because they were stopped out by a instable move, and options will give you staying power.

- Keep your stop in its original position - until the move is well in profit, before moving it up.

- Trading fast and selectively - have the courage to trade when you feel it is good. and enjoy the cash.

Tip 5. Compound growth has its benefits

The way to make money fast in forex, is to understand the power of compound growth. For example, if you target 50% a year in your trading, you can grow an initial $20,000 account, to over a million dollars, in under 10 years.

Break the norm, and gain more. Follow some of these tips and make your way into the big gains!

Making Forex Day Trading Successful

2009-08-17T01:27:00.001-07:00

Making Forex Day Trading Successful

If you're serious about Forex day trading, where open positions are usually only held for one day, then you'll need to set aside a chunk of time each day to make it happen. Many day traders might try to balance their regular full-time job with Forex trading, but it can be difficult to juggle both endeavors. However, it can be done if you plan it right and make the necessary time commitment and thoroughly try to keep abreast of the latest Forex trading news and offerings.

Scheduling your time

Just like anything else that you're serious with, you'll need to keep set hours for day trading. If you work a 9 am - 5 pm job, you can easily day trade from 7 pm - 10 pm since the Forex market is open 24 hours a day, six days a week. You can even day trade on Sunday, when you don't have to worry about your other job. That extra day can really give you the opportunity to study the latest Forex market trends.

Online resources

Online Forex trading offers some of the sleekest and most impressive total package offerings. Many sites provide the latest Forex news in daily online journals where you can keep current with the latest happenings. You can read about such news items as projected interest rate cuts in Europe or the weakening of a certain country's currency due to the political climate. Not only are daily news articles available, but also fundamental and technical news alerts. These alerts can be sent to you around the clock, up to five or six times per day, so you get the latest information before you make that trade. Online Forex trading systems can send these all-important alerts via your email or even mobile phone, so that you have this information at your fingertips wherever you're located. You don't have to wait until you come home to open your account to see the latest happenings. It gives you a real heads-up on the market so you'll be able to make that day trade decision even that much quicker.

Another invaluable resource to make your day trading that much more successful are the online Forex seminars. It can help you brush up on your overall Forex knowledge and give you invaluable trading strategies for your Forex investments.

133 Trading Tips

2009-08-17T01:26:00.002-07:00

133 Trading Tips

Learn the basics of Forex trading. It's amazing how many people simply don't know what they're doing. In order to compete at the highest level in the trading business and be one of the few truly successful participants you must be well-educated about what you are doing. This does not mean having a degree from a well-respected university - the market doesn't care where you were educated.
Forex trading is a zero sum game. For every long there is also a short. If 80% of the traders are on the long side, then the remaining 20% are on the short side. This means further that the shorts must be well capitalized and are considered to be strong hands. The 80%, who are holding much smaller positions per trader, are considered to be weaker hands who will be forced to liquidate those longs on any sudden turn in prices.
Nobody is bigger than the market.
The challenge is not to be the market, but to read the market. Riding the wave is much more rewarding than being hit by it.
Trade with the trends, rather than trying to pick tops and bottoms.
Trying to pick tops and bottoms is another common fx trading mistake. If you're going to trade tops and bottoms, at least wait until the price action actually confirms that a top or a bottom has been formed before you take a position in the market. Trying to pin-point tops and bottoms in the foreign exchange market is very risky, but exercising a little patience and waiting for a proven top or bottom to form can increase your odds of profiting and somewhat reduce your risk.
There are at least three types of markets: up trending, range bound, and down. Have different trading strategies for each.
Standing aside is a position.
In uptrends, buy the dips; in downtrends, sell bounces.
In a Bull market, never sell a dull market, in Bear market, never buy a dull market.
Up market and down market patterns are ALWAYS present, merely one is more dominant. In an up market, for example, it is very easy to take sell signal after sell signal, only to be stopped out time and again. Select trades with the trend.
A buy signal that fails is a sell signal. A sell signal that fails is a buy signal.
Let profits run, cut losses short.
Let your profits run, but don't let greed get in the way. Once you've already made a nice profit on a trade, consider taking either some or all of the money off the table and move on to the next trade. It's natural to hope that one trade will end up as your "winning lottery ticket" and make you rich, but that is simply not realistic. Don't hold the position too long and end up giving all your well-deserved profits back to the market.
Use protective stops to limit losses.
Use appropriate stop-loss orders at all times to cut your losses and never, ever sit back and let your losses run. Almost every trader at some point makes the mistake of letting his or her losses run in hopes that the market will eventually turn around in his or her favor but, more often than not, it simply leads to an even greater loss. You win some, you lose some. Simply learn to cut your losses, take your occasional lumps and move on to the next trade. And if you made a mistake, learn from it and don't do it again. To avoid letting your losses run, get into the habit of determining an acceptable profit target as well as an acceptable risk tolerance level for each and every Forex trade before entering the market. Then simply place a stop-loss order at the appropriate price - but not so tight (close to the market) that the stop could quickly take you out of the position before the market has a chance to move in your favor. Using a stop is always the smart move.
Avoid placing protective stops at obvious round numbers. Protective stops on long positions should be placed below round numbers (10, 20, 25, 50,75, 100) and on short positions, above such numbers.
Placing stop loss is an art. The trader must combine technical factors on the price chart with money management considerations.
Analyze your losses. Learn from your losses. They're expensive lessons; you paid for them. Most traders don't learn from their mistakes because they don't like to think about them.
Stay out of trouble, your first loss is your smallest loss.
Survive! In Forex trading, the ones who stay around long enough to be there when those "big moves" come along are often successful.
If you are a new trader, be a small trader (mini account) for at least a year, then analyze your good trades and your bad ones. You can really learn more from your bad ones.
Don't trade unless you're well financed... so that market action, not financial condition, dictates your entry and exit from the market. If you don't start with enough money, you may not be able to hang in there if the market temporarily turns against you.
Be more objective and less emotional.
Use money management principles.
Money management increases the odds that the trader will survive to reach the long run.
Diversify, but don't overdo it.
Employ at least a 3 to 1 reward-to-risk ratio.
Calculate the risk/reward ratio before putting a trade on, then guard against holding it too long.
Don't trade impulsively; have a plan.
Have specific goals and objectives.
Five steps to build a trading system:
- Start with a concept
- Turn it into a set of objective rules
- Visually check it out on the charts
- Formally test it with a demo
- Evaluate the results
Plan your work and work your plan.
Trade with a plan - not with hope, greed, or fear. Plan where you will get in the market, how much you will risk on the trade, and where you will take your profits.
Follow your plan. Once a position is established and stops are selected, do not get out unless the stop is reached or the fundamental reason for taking the position changes.
Any successful trading system must take into account three important factors: price forecasting, timing, and money management. Price forecasting indicates which way a market is expected to trend. Timing determines specific entry and exit points. Money management determines how much to commit to the trade.
Don't cherry-pick your system's set-ups. Trade every signal.
Trading systems that work in an up market may not work in a down market.
Establish your trading plans before the market opening to eliminate emotional reactions. Decide on entry points, exit points, and objectives. Subject your decisions to only minor changes during the session. Profits are for those who act, not react.Don't change during the session unless you have a very good reason.
Double-check everything.
Always think in terms of probabilities. Trading is all about thinking in probabilities NOT certainties. You can make all the "right" decisions and the trade still goes against you. This does not make it a "wrong" trade, just one of the many trades you will take which, through probability, are on the "loosing" side of your trading plan. Don't expect not to have negative trades - they are a necessary part of the plan and cannot be avoided.
The place to start your market analysis is always by determining the general trend of the market.
Trade only with a strategy that you've proven to yourself.
When pyramiding (adding positions), follow these guidelines:
- Each successive layer should be smaller than before.
- Add only to winning positions.
- Never add to a losing position. One of the few trade management rules that we can state we never break is 'Never add to a losing trade'. Trades are split into winners and losers, and if a trade is a loser, the chances of it turning right around and becoming a winner are too small to risk more money on. If indeed it is a winner disguised as a loser, why not wait until it shows it's true colors (and becomes a winner)before you add to it. If you do this you will notice that nearly always the trade ends up hitting your stop loss and does not look back. Sometimes the trade turns around before it hits your stop and becomes a winner and you can count yourself very fortunate. Sometimes the trade hits your stop loss and then turns around and becomes a winner and you can count yourself unlucky.
- Whatever the result, it is never worth adding to a loser, hoping that it will become a winner. The odds of success are just too low to risk more capital in addition to the initial risk.
- Adjust protective stops to the breakeven point.
Risk Control
- Never risk more than 3-4 percent of your capital on any trade
- Predetermine your exit point before you get into a trade
- If you lose a certain predetermined amount of your starting capital, stop trading, analyze what went wrong, and wait until you feel confident before you begin trading
Don't trade scared money. No one ever made any money trading when they had to do it to pay the mortgage at the end of the month. Having a requirement to make X dollars per month or you will be financially in trouble is the best way I know to completely mess up all trading discipline, rules, objectives, and leads quickly to disaster. Trading is about taking a reasonable risk in order to achieve a good reward. The markets and how and when they give up their profits is not under your control. Do not trade if you need the money to pay bills. Do not trade if your business and personal expenses are not covered by another income stream or cash reserve. This will only lead to additional unmanageable stress and be very detrimental to your trading performance.
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
Never meet a margin call; don't throw good money after bad.
Close out losing positions before the winning ones.
Except for very short term trading, make decisions away from the market, preferably when the markets are closed.
Work from the long term to the short term.
Use intraday charts to fine-tune entry and exit.
Master interday trading before trying intraday trading.
Don't trade the time frame. Trade the pattern. Reversal patterns, hesitation patterns and breakout patterns appear often. Learn to look for the pattern in any time frame.
Try to ignore conventional wisdom; don't take anything said in the financial media too seriously.
Always do your homework and stay current on global events. You never know what's going to set off a particular currency on any given day.
Learn to be comfortable being in the minority. If you are right on the market, most people will disagree with you. (90% losers,10% winners).
Technical analysis is a skill that improves with experience and study. Always be a student and keep learning.
Beware of all tips and inside information. Wait for the market's action to tell you if the information you've obtained is accurate, then take a position with the developing trend.
Buy the rumor, sell the news.
K.I.S.S - Keep It Simple Stupid, more complicated isn't always better.
Timing is especially crucial in Forex trading.
Timing is everything in Forex trading. Determining the correct direction of the market only solves a portion of the trading problem. If the timing of the entry point is off by a day, or sometimes even minutes, it can mean the difference between a winner or a loser.
A "buy and hold" strategy doesn't apply in Forex trading.
When you open an account with a broker, don't just decide on the amount of money, decide on the length of time you should trade. This approach helps you conserve your equity, and helps avoid the Las Vegas approach of "Well, I'll trade till my stake runs out." Experience shows that many who have been at it over a long period of time end up making money.
Carry a notebook with you, and jot down interesting market information. Write down the market openings, price ranges, your fills, stop orders, and your own personal observations. Re-read your notes from time to time; use them to help analyze your performance.
Don't count profits in your first 20 trades. Keep track of the percentage of wins. Once you know you can pick direction, profits can be increased with multi-plot trading and variations in using your stops. In other words, now is the time to get serious about money management.
"Rome was not built in a day," and no real movement of importance takes place in one day.
Do not overtrade.
Have two accounts. One real account and the other a demo account. Learning doesn't stop when trading real dollars begins. Keep the demo account and use it to test alternative trades, alternative stops, etc.
Patience is important not only in waiting for the right trades,but also in staying with trades that are working.
You are superstitious; don't trade if something bothers you.
Technical analysis is the study of market action through the use of charts, for the purpose of forecasting future price trends.
The charts reflect the bullish or bearish psychology of the marketplace.
The whole purpose of charting the price action of a market is to identify trends in early stages of their development for the purpose of trading in the direction of those trends.
The fundamentalist studies the cause of market movement, while the technician studies the effect.
Rising commodity prices generally hint at a stronger economy and rising inflationary pressure. Falling commodity prices usually warn that the economy is slowing along with inflation.
The longer the period of time that priced trade in a support or resistance area,the more significant that area becomes.
There are three decisions confronting the trader -whether- to go long, go short or do nothing. When a market is rising, the best strategy is preferable. When the market is falling, the second approach would be correct. However, when the market is moving sideways, the third choise - to stay out of the market - is usually the wisest.
Channel lines have measuring implications. Once a breakout occurs from an existing price channel, prices usually travel a distance equal to the width of the channel. Therefore, the trader has to simply measure the width of the channel and then project that amount from the point at which either trendline is broken.
The larger the Pattern, the Great the potential. When we use the term "larger", we are referring to the the height and the width of the price pattern. The height measures the volatility of the pattern. The width is the amount of time required to build and complete the pattern. The greater the size of the pattern-that is, the wider the price swings within the pattern (the volatility ) and the longer it takes to build - the more important the pattern becomes and the greater the potential for the ensuing price move.
The breaking of important trendlines. The first sign of an impending trend reversal is often the breaking of an important trendline. Remember however, that the violation of a major trendline does not necessarily signal a trend reversal.The breaking of a major up trendline might signal the beginning of a sideways price pattern, which later would be intedified as either the reversal or consolidation type.Sometimes the breaking of the major trendline coincides with the completion of the price pattern.
The minimum requirement for a triangle is four reversal points. Remember that it always takes two points to draw a trendline.
The moving average is a follower, not a leader. It never anticipates; it only reacts. The moving average follows a market and tells us that a trend has begun, but only after the fact.
Shorter term averages are more sensitive to the price action, whereas longer range averages are less sensitive.In certain types of markets, it is more advantageous to use a shorter average and, at other times, a longer and less sensitive average proves more useful.
When the closing price moves above the moving average, a buy signal is generated. A sell signal is given when prices move below the moving average.
A buying signal on a two-moving average combination occurs when the shorter term of two consecutive averages intersects the longer one upward. A selling signal occurs when the reverse happens, and the longer of two consecutive averages intersects the shorter one downward.
Shorter average generates more false signals, it has the advantage of giving trend signals earlier in the move. The trick is to find the average that is sensitive enough to generate early signals, but insensitive enough to avoid most of the random "noise".
Cutting losses is painful for every trader. The ability to cut one's losses in time is the sign of a seasoned trader.
A channel breakout suggests a target for the currency price equal to the width of the channel.
Long term charts provide important information regarding long-terms or cycles. The trader can get a correct perspective regarding the real direction of the market in the long run, the strength or direction of the current trend occurring within that trend, or the possibility of a breakout from the long-term trend.
Common Points All Of Reversal Patterms
- The first signal of an impending trend reversal is often the breaking of an important trendline
- The larger the pattern,the greater the subsequent move
- Topping patterns are usually shorter in duration and more volatile than bottoms
- Bottoms usually have smaller price ranges and take longer to build
The head-and-shoulders formation is confirmed only when the completion of the three rallies and their reversals is followed by a breach of the neckline. The failure of the price to break through the neckline on closing prices basis puts on hold or negates the validity of the formation.
The double-top formation is confirmed only when the full completion of the two rallies and their respective reversals is followed by a breach of the neckline (the closing price is outside the neckline). The failure of the price to break through the neckline puts on hold or negates the validity of the formation.
The flag formation is a reliable chart pattern that provides two vital signals: direction and price objective. This formation consists of a brief consolidation period within a solid and steep upward trend or downward trend. The consolidation itself tends to be sloped in the opposite direction from the slope of the original trend, or simply flat.
A Breakaway gap provides the direction of the market.
The runaway or measurement gap provides the direction of the market. This gap confirms the health and velocity of the trend.
The runaway or measurement gap is the only type of gap that provides a price objective. The price objective is the previous length of the trend, measured from the runaway gap, in the same direction as the original trend.
The exhaustion gap provides the direction of the market.
Near the beginning of important moves, oscillator analysis isn't that helpful and can be misleading. Toward the end of market moves, however, oscillators become extremely valuable.
When the oscillator reaches an extreme value in either the upper or lower end of the band, this suggest that the current price move have gone too far too fast and is due for a correction of some type.
The oscillator is most useful when its value reaches an extreme reading near the upper or lower end of its boundaries. The market is said to be overbought when it is near the upper extreme and oversold when it is near the lower extreme. This warns that the price trend is overextended and vulnerable.
A divergence between the oscillator and the price action when the oscillator is in an extreme position is usually an important warning.
Oscillator - the crossing of the zero line can give important trading signals in the direction of the price trend.
Because of the way it is constructed, the momentum line is always a step ahead of the price movement. It leads the advance or decline in prices, then levels off while the current price trend is still in effect. It then begins to move in the opposite direction as prices begin to level off.
RSI is plotted on a vertical scale of 0 to 100. Movements above 70 are considered overbought, while an oversold condition would be a move under 30. Because of shifting that takes place in bull and bear markets, the 80 level usually becomes the overbought level in bull markets and the 20 level the oversold level in bear markets.
The first move of RSI into the overbought or oversold region is usually just a warning. The signal to pay close attention to is the second move by the oscillator into the danger zone. If the second move fails to confirm the price move into new highs or new lows, a possible divergence exists. At that point, some defensive action can be taken to protect existing positions. If the oscillator moves in the opposite direction, breaking a previous high or low, then a divergence or failure swing is confirmed.
Stochastics simply measures, on a percentage basis of 0 to 100, where the closing price is in relation to the total price range for a selected time period. A very high reading (over 80) would put the closing price near the top of the range, while a low reading (under 20) near the bottom of the range.
One way to combine daily and weekly stochastics is to use weekly signals to determine market direction and daily signals for timing(it depends from the type of the trader). It's also a good idea to combine stochastics with RSI.
Most oscillator buy signals work best in uptrends and oscillator sell signals are most profitables in downtrends. The place to start your market analysis is always by determining the general trend of the market. Oscillators can then be used to help time market entry.
Give less attention to the oscillators in the early stages of an important move, but pay close attention to its signals as the move reaches maturity.
The best way to combine technical indicators is use weekly signals to determine market direction and the daily signals to fine-tune entry and exit points. A daily signal is followed only when it agrees with the weekly signal (daily-weekly, 4 hour-daily, 4 hour-1 hour).
The failure of prices to react to bullish news in an overbought area is a clear warning that a turn may be near. The failure of prices in an oversold area to react to bearish news can be taken as a warning that all the bad news has been fully discounted in the current low price. Any bullish news will push prices higher.
-Elliot Wave Theory- A complete bull market cycle is made up of eight waves, five up waves followed by three down waves.
-Elliot Wave Theory- A trend divides into five waves in the direction of the longer trend.
-Elliot Wave Theory- Corrections always take place in three waves.
-Elliot Wave Theory- Waves can be expanded into longer waves and subdivided into shorter waves.
-Elliot Wave Theory- Sometimes one of the impulse waves extends. The other two should then be equal in time and magnitude.
-Elliot Wave Theory- The Finobacci sequence is the mathematical basis of the Elliot Wave Theory.
-Elliot Wave Theory- The number of waves follows the Finobacci sequence.
-Elliot Wave Theory- Finobacci ratios and retracements are used to determine price objectives. The most common retracements are 62%, 50% and 38%.
-Elliot Wave Theory- Bear markets should not fall below the bottom of the previous fourth wave.
-Elliot Wave Theory- Wave 4 should not overlap wave 1.
Support and resistance are the most effective chart tools to use for entry and exit points. For purposes of placing stop loss, support and resistance levels are most valuable.
One of the commodities most effected by the dollar is the gold market. The prices of gold and the U.S. dollar usually trend in opposite directions.
The Yen is sensitive to changes in the price or structure of the raw material markets.
The commodity-producing countries (Canada, Australia, N. Zealand ) are more dependent on Japan than the other way around.
The Yen is sensitive to the fortunes of the Nikkei index, the Japanese stock market and the real estate market.
The majority of the pound transactions take place in London with a volume decreasing significantly in the U.S. market, and slowing down to a trickle in Asia. Therefore, in the New York market, many banks have to stop quoting the pound at noon.
Swiss Franc has a very close economic relationship with Germany, and thus to the euro zone.
The major markets are London, with 32 percent of the market,New York with 18 percent and Tokyo with 8 percent. Singapore follows with 7 percent, Germany has 5 percent and Switzerland, France and Hong Kong have 4 percent each.
Don't use the markets to feed your need for excitement.
Don't be too greedy or too cautious.

Stop Loss?? I Don't Want To Use It.

2009-08-17T01:26:00.001-07:00

Stop Loss?? I Don't Want To Use It.

Last week I was reviewing a website which has a trading signal program for those investors who prefer to not being involved in confusing market analysis and I respect them because such services normally will bring them more time to do other important things in their daily life. But the interesting thing was the most of signalers did not actually place a stop loss point on their recommendations. Is that so because they know they are right all the time? Or that's because they did not lose half of their trading account in an unexpected slump of 200 hundred points and a single trade.

However, the answer is most of them have something between -1000 to -5000 pips of open trades on their signal board and they actually trapped in desperately while they could cut the losing trades and ran another one instead. Also I should mention that there are some other types of system trading that called "Hedge Fund" and I don't actually want to argue if they are right or wrong. I am definitely talking to day traders who get into challenge with big bear every day.

Sometimes, I don't understand why a trader could be convinced of not having a Stop Loss while we see almost every month an unexpected uncounted impulse (I would call it Best of the Test for whom with less of the rest) in the market.

There is no specific rule as to where you should place the stop loss, so consider the below mentioned tips as the general rules and ask your mentor to fit reliable Stop loss rules just for you and your trading system(If you have one?).

Many loser traders do place the same stop loss for all the trades they execute without even trying to measure market environment.
Don't be scared of placing a stop loss while it is for your gain and you must know what your profit objective is.
Stop Loss should not be too close to the current price while most of the stop loss enemies have ruined their trading accounts already just by using very close ones.
Stop Loss should not be too far from the point you get into trade while it's better to not placing any Stop Loss rather taking an unreachable, fictional protector.
Try to not to risk more than the points of your profit goal. Pro traders recommend to only take those trades which have at least 2 points of potential profit per 1 pip of potential lose, but I would say it is completely depends on the money management system that you use, as different money management systems has different recommendations for Risk & Reward.
Sometimes a trading system does not work if you risk less than recommended %7 to %10 of your total account balance. It means you trade oversize or you just entered the market when everyone else getting out of the market. In this case this is not your fault as it has a clear message for you "don't trade this way anymore and ask an expert to solve the problem".
If you are convinced enough that you can make up 1 million dollar out of your 10000 dollars account by not using stop losses as you may think you are the one who knows the price will be back on its way to you instead of hitting new highs, well, simply you are wrong.
Remember, there are no sky limits for the price of any of currencies in FOREX market.
If you don't like to place a pre defined Stop Loss on your trades, please ask someone to show you how to follow a wining trade by using "Trailing Stop".
Be sure it is better to have one or two losing trades with 100 points of lose, instead of being desperate with sinking into -1000 pips of dizziness.

How to Define the Best Stop Loss point?

Try these tools to define the most accurate stop loss points easily:

Use 10 pips over/below the first Parabolic SAR spot(dot) appeared over/below the price candles for Short/Long Trades.
Note#1: Remember you just can use 10 pips above the parabolic SAR dots as an Stop Loss point when you have a Short trade and Vice Versa.
Note#2: You realized that the Stop Loss obtained from SAR is too far from the point which you want to enter the market. OK, this means you are about to enter the market very late so better to not do it.
Use 10 pips over/below the day before yesterday's HIGH and LOW and in the case of the market has moved a lot far, use 10 pips over/below the yesterday HIGH and LOW as a Stop Loss point for your Short/Long trades.
Use two Moving Averages of 55 EMA and 144 MA. You may place your stop loss just 10 pips below/above one of those two MAs depending on how do you set up the profit/loss game for your Long/Short trades.
Note#: If you trade on the range market break out be aware of this kind of Stop Loss setting, and it is quite safer to use another way.
Place the Stop Loss 10 pips over/below Bollinger Bands Upper/Lower band for Short/Long trades.
If you use Elliot Waves theory to analyze the market:
# Place the Stop Loss just 10 pips below the lowest point of the Second (2) wave in bullish trend when you LONG on Wave 3.
# places the Stop Loss 10 pips below the lowest point of the 4th Wave when you go for LONG on 5th Wave.
# Place the Stop Loss right above/below the top/low of the previous wave when you go for SHORT/LONG based on A-B-C correctional waves.

Notes:

Aforementioned suggestions are based on 4Hours chart.
Those ways of defining Stop Loss points has worked for me, but It does not necessarily works for you, so ask your mentor or an expert friend to do evaluate the probability of fitting those suggestions to your trading strategy.
10 pips are because sometimes price hit the important support or resistance levels by more than a touch.
Please don't forget, the Stop Loss issue is not actually a game. It is not even an option for you; it is a "MUST" and will save you when you can do nothing, so refresh your mind in this case.
Forward your questions right to my email address s.a.ghafari@iftc.ir , I'll try my best to give you the best answer. Good Lock

Too Many Strategies, But Still Frustrated?

2009-08-17T01:25:00.001-07:00

Too Many Strategies, But Still Frustrated?

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.

FOREX Education — Thinking Of Buying FOREX Advice? Read This First

2009-08-17T01:24:00.000-07:00

FOREX Education — Thinking Of Buying FOREX Advice? Read This First

There is a huge amount of FOREX Education you can buy but before you buy it read this, as in excess of 90% of it will ensure you lose.

So you ensure you get the right FOREX Education follow the guidelines below.

1. Never buy a day trading system!

Most novice traders are enticed by the theory of making money everyday, with low risk and high rewards, but this is not the reality of day trading.

The reality of day trading is:

A quick wipe out of equity — why?

Quite simply, all short term moves are random and using support and resistance as day traders do is destined to failure.

If you don't believe me try this simple test when buying any FOREX Education from a vendor:

Ask for the real time track record of profits and you won't get one from a day trader.

At best you will get a hypothetical track record, but that's done in hindsight, knowing the closing prices and if we know the closing prices its not hard to make money.

If you want to make money don't day trade!

2. Real time profits

A real time track record is an essential requirement on ANY FOREX education you buy, not just day trading systems.

The fact however is, most FOREX education is sold by failed brokers, or people who have never traded in their lives.

If these people have not had the confidence to trade their own money on their own system why should you?

3. Understand the FOREX Education

Even if you are lucky enough to find a system that does have a track record of real FX Profits you need to be mindful of the following:

You need to fully understand the method and not follow it blindly.

If you don't understand why a method works you won't have confidence to follow it through inevitable periods of losses.

Not only must you understand it to follow it with discipline, you must also check it fits your trading personality.

Some traders can take big drawdowns or losses, other traders find them hard to take, so pick a system with a risk to reward you can handle emotionally.

4. The best FOREX education

There is a huge amount of FOREX education and FOREX advice free on the web, so use it.

In other articles we have shown how to build a system that makes profits from free info and it's a lot easier to learn FOREX Trading this way than many people think.

You can also get some great FOREX education at nominal cost from your local bookstore this FOREX advice is from:

Traders who don't just talk the talk — they have walked the walk and made money.

Great books to look at are Jack Schwager's excellent Market Wizards and New Market Wizards — which interview some of the best traders of all time.

Trader Vic — Victor Sperandeo a great all round book and there are many more.

Rather than buying a e-book from someone without a track record, get your FOREX Education free on the net and get some classics from legendary traders.

Most of the courses and systems on the web are over priced, don't work and you can frankly, do better on your own with the above advice.

Secrets To Potentially Making Money In The Forex Markets

2009-08-17T01:23:00.001-07:00

Secrets To Potentially Making Money In The Forex Markets

How would you like to be able to potentially make money trading currencies in the Forex markets? Better yet, how would you like to be able to potentially do this within strict risk control parameters? Even better yet, how would you like to potentially do it with a minimum of effort on your part? I'm talking about only10 minutes a week. Well, I am here to tell you a few key principles or secrets to potentially make it happen.

Secret #1

The Forex markets are heavily advertised as being a great way to make money, which is very misleading. The unwary would-be Forex trader is led to believe all she has to do is open a Forex account to gain access to one of the many excellent Forex trading platforms, begin trading and then become rich in no time. So what's the secret? The Forex market is a highly liquid, potentially profitable market to trade, sure enough, but only if you have a winning edge methodology that you can apply to these markets. Without such a methodology, the hapless trader will quickly lose money trading the Forex as they would any market.

Secret #2

The Forex markets are heavily advertised as commission-free. True, but unlike the futures market, entering and exiting positions in the Forex markets is done by buying at the high end of a rather wide bid/ask spread and selling at the low end. So the difference in the spread is your cost of doing business. This cost may be acceptable for swing and long term traders, but may not be acceptable for day traders. So if your goal is to make money, you may not wan to day trade the Forex markets.

Secret #3

While swing trading could be potentially profitable trading the Forex markets, there is potentially greater opportunity trading the long term trends. Currencies have always moved in long sweeping mega-trends that potentially offer low risk entry points and the potential opportunity to ride a long money making trend (sometimes for several months). The following wisdom from legendary stock trader Jesse Livermore is equally applicable to the Forex markets:

"And right here let me say one thing: After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this: It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight! It is no trick at all to be right on the market. You always find lots of early bulls in bull markets and early bears in bear markets. I've known many men who were right at exactly the right time, and began buying and selling stocks when prices were at the very level which should show the greatest profit. And their experience invariably matched mine — that is, they made no real money out of it. Men who can both be right and sit tight are uncommon. I found it one of the hardest things to learn. But it is only after a stock operator has firmly grasped this that he can make big money. It is literally true that millions come easier to a trader after he knows how to trade than hundreds did in the days of his ignorance."

Secret #4

Potentially the best way to trade for the longer term is to trade off of the weekly charts, thus avoiding the day-to-day volatility that wreak havoc on one's account or at a minimum shake you out of your position prematurely and potentially missing a big money move altogether. By definition, then, a potential winning edge methodology based on a weekly chart only requires analysis once a week after the futures markets close for the week each Friday. You then simply update your chart, determine the following week's entry, trailing stop loss and profit target orders, which should be placed before the futures market opens on Monday. A clarification is in order here, even though we are trading the Forex market, we can use the weekly futures markets charts for determining exit and entry orders that can then be executed in the Forex market. And these same signals, by the way, are equally executable in the futures markets. It becomes a matter of which market platform you prefer to trade the currencies.

It should be clear from this discussion that there is no magic to trading the Forex or currency futures markets. The magic is in the potential winning edge methodology that you apply to these markets that makes the money.

Two Timeless Rules in FOREX Investing

2009-08-17T01:22:00.003-07:00

Two Timeless Rules in FOREX Investing

RULE #1) ~ Cut your losers; let your winners ride.

One important thing that every new trader must know before entering this highly profitable business is that life is not perfect, even in Forex land, and you should always know one fact: YOU WILL HAVE LOSING TRADES.

Every Forex trader does. The key to being a consistent, predictable, reliable trader is to, at the end of the day, add up more wins than losses. And, when you KNOW(based off your trading rules), without a doubt, that YES, indeed you are, in a losing trade, don't keep losing money (lowering your stop loss) just to *prove you are right* or your rules are wrong (however you want to look at it).

All traders have to face it — you can't turn a donkey into a ferrari. You can't change the strips of a zebra and you can't turn chicken poop into chicken salad. The best trades are usually "right" immediately (the techniques, rules, methods and strategies you can learn in my website will be your best indicator for just what a "right" trade really is).

Remember, people have been trading the markets for a hundred and sixty years. The smart traders know there's going to be another trade. Cut your loses short and compound those winning positions.

RULE #2) ~ Thou Shall Not Trade the Forex Without Placing a Stop Loss Order.

When you place a STOP order, right along with your ENTRY order, via your online trade station, you've just automatically prevented a potential loss from "running" too far.

Before initiating any trade, if you haven't already figured out at what point you would be wrong and would want to cut your loses or, at the very least, reevaluate your position from the sidelines, then you shouldn't be putting on the trade in the first place.

Show me a Forex trader who doesn't use stop loss orders and I'll show you someone who loses a lot of money.

How The Matrix Will Boost Your Forex Profits?

2009-08-17T01:22:00.001-07:00

How The Matrix Will Boost Your Forex Profits?

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!

The 7 Undeniable Rules of Forex Trading

2009-08-17T01:21:00.001-07:00

The 7 Undeniable Rules of Forex Trading

Before we go into 7 rules of Forex Trading, that have been approved by a number of full time and successful traders, I'd like to narrate this story.

There was a lion, a donkey and a fox all keen to go out rabbit hunting together. After a productive day of hunting, the three of them sit around the pile of rabbits and the lion asks the Donkey, "Mr Donkey, would you please divide the pile into equal shares for the 3 of us?". The Donkey obliges and counts the rabbits into three equal piles for each of them. The Lion immediately roared and pounced him. He then piled all the rabbits on top of the donkey and asked the Fox "Mr Fox, would you please divide the rabbits up evenly between us?". The Fox takes out 1 scrawny rabbit from the pile and puts it in a pile for himself then say "There you go, Mr Lion, that's your pile" pointing to the large pile of rabbits. The lion says "Mr Fox, where did you learn to divide so equally?" and the fox says "The Donkey taught me."

The moral of the story is to learn from others' mistakes. Now we proceed to our 7 rules. These are for you benefit as mentioned earlier, from experienced, successful traders.

Rule #1 Never risk any more than you can afford to lose, you will lose money, all traders do, make sure you're not sacrificing anything else important in the process

Rule #2 Never risk any more than 2% of your margin trading account on a simple trade. For mini account holders, 2% of $300 would be $6 so realistically you would need around $15 so you can make this 5%. As soon as your account size is big enough, make this 2%.

Rule #3 Always use a stop loss order. If you haven't figured out where your stop loss order and limit order should be at the start of your trade then you shouldn't be trading.

Rule #4 Know your exit point before you enter a trade.

Rule #5 Demo Trade First: Become successful with paper trading when there's nothing on the line before you open a real account.

Rule #6 Take a breather when your equity has taken a dive.

Rule #7 Don't let your emotions call the shots: Stay cool, calm and collected. Patience and a clear head will win the game.

Boost FOREX Trading Profits Using These 3 Simple Guidelines

2009-08-17T01:10:00.001-07:00

Boost FOREX Trading Profits Using These 3 Simple Guidelines

Forex trading is nothing more than direct access trading of different types of foreign currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was mostly limited to large banks and institutional traders. Recent technological advancements have made it so that small traders can also take advantage of the many benefits of Forex trading by using the various online trading platforms.

Forex markets possess unique attributes that offer unmatched potential for profitable trading in any market or any stage of the business cycle. For starters, Forex trading boasts a 24-hour market, giving traders the chance to take advantage of profitable market conditions anytime. Secondly, the Forex market is the most liquid market in the world. Forex traders can enter or exit the market whenever they want, during almost any market condition. There also exist minimal execution barriers or risk and no daily trading limits.

For all the advantages of the Forex market, one glaring weakness emerges. The Forex market is seen as unregulated although the operations of major dealers, like commercial banks in money centers, are regulated under the banking laws. The daily operations of retail Forex brokerages are not regulated under any laws or regulations specific to the Forex market. Many of these types of establishments in the United States, don't even report to the I.R.S. To make the most of the explosive potential of successful Forex trading, individuals should follow these guidelines.

1.Determine the quality of the broker institution you choose. Unlike equity brokers, Forex brokers are usually attached to large banks or lending institutions because of the large amounts of capital that is required. Forex brokers should be registered with the Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) as well as regulated by the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC)

2. Request a free trial. Before you commit to any broker, be sure to request free trials so that you can test their different trading platforms. Brokers usually provide technical as well as fundamental commentaries, economic calendars and other research as a means of assisting you. Basically, a quality broker will provide everything one needs to succeed.

3.Monitor two financial meetings to provide insight into the upcoming Forex market. Two important meetings Forex traders should watch for are the federal Open Market Committee and the Humphrey Hawkins Hearings. By reading the reports and examining the commentary, Forex fundamental analysts can get a better understanding of any and all long-term market trends it also allows short-term traders to be able to profit from extraordinary happenings.

Http://FreeForexTips.blogspot.com provides free commentary and up-to-date information on the Forex currency exchange market.

Day Trading Tips for Dummies

2009-08-17T01:09:00.001-07:00

Day Trading Tips for Dummies

When primitive people have invented money, all they have in mind is to find some means to solidly show the actual exchange of goods or services between two persons or groups. Since then, any exchanges of goods have been centered on money, bearing the most tangible form of trade.

As time pass by, trading has significantly evolved in different industries where money is not the primary agent. Trading becomes a profitable venture; and had created a remarkable spot in the economy.

Today, there are many kinds of trading. Every type of trading depends on the kind of exchange that will take place. For instance, Forex or foreign exchange trading focused on foreign currencies.

Among the many trading types, day trading has slowly etched a name in the industry. With its remarkable turn of profits, day trading has quite gained a good reputation.

What is Day Trading?

Day trading generally stands for the system of selling and buying financial tools such as bonds or stocks throughout the day.

In other words, day trading is a series of material exchanges that all happens within the day. Hence, in day trading, every piece of stock bought has its corresponding sale. The profit or deficit is identified on the discrepancies between the goods and the trade price.

The main concept of day trading is based on the premise that all of the transactions are carried out within the day to ensure that there are no changes on the current closing price.

Changes usually take place overnight, where the preceding closing price will be changed depending on the result of the day's trading activities.

Sounds easy? Guess again.

Day trading may not sound complicated and may not even look perilous to one's financial status. However, trading experts say that more people tend to lose during the day trading. Statistical reports show that nearly 90% of day traders spend more money without gaining something in return.

For this reason, it is important that every day trader should know how to deal with the matter intelligently. It takes some wits and quick thinking just to overcome any probable loss in day trading.

Here are some day trading tips for dummies:

1. Chop down shortfalls quick

The secret is to regain back what you have lost. Try to handle the situation positively and maneuver the condition to a constructive one. There is no use to cry over spilled milk. What you need to do is to reduce the losses with quick, sharp moves.

2. Go with the flow

Like traffic, taking the counter flow is not advisable in day trading. It would be better if you will just go with the flow. This means that you have to focus on the high-selling stocks and sell those that fall under "short-selling" stocks.

This is based on the belief that the development of stocks will continue to rise. Luckily, 8 out of 10 day traders find this strategy effective.

3. Control your emotions

Some day traders tend to be emotionally involved with their dealings.

In reality, day trading can really create hype. Hence, emotional people tend to act on impulse. Any good news will immediately alert day traders to expect a positive turnover of stocks. Hence, if you are too emotional, you may get excited and act without even evaluating the situation.

To avoid trouble, it would be better to control your emotions and analyze each condition first before making a move. If you lost, analyze the situation and identify where you have been wrong.

Do not take your defeats seriously. Keep in mind that an open mind is important to overcome problems encountered in day trading. This will help you achieve the profits that you want.

Is There Such A Thing As Hedging In The Forex Market

2009-08-17T01:08:00.004-07:00

Is There Such A Thing As Hedging In The Forex Market

Just like hedging your bet at the horse track you can hedge your trading in the Forex Market.

Day Trading, Forex Or Currencies Back Testing — A Way To Improve Your Trading Score

2009-08-17T01:08:00.003-07:00

Day Trading, Forex Or Currencies Back Testing — A Way To Improve Your Trading Score

Now, you know that this system has a win to loss ratio of six to four. Would you have the confidence to open another trade if your system brought up another buy signal after getting 11 trades wrong?

Learn By Hands On Forex Trading: Demo Accounts Vs Mini Accounts

2009-08-17T01:08:00.001-07:00

Learn By Hands On Forex Trading: Demo Accounts Vs Mini Accounts

So what is a beginning trader to do? What is the best way to learn to trade the Forex, hands on?

Once you are comfortable trading your mini account, you can always have it converted to a regular account (with an additional deposit) if you choose. Overall, it cant be stressed enough, the best way to learn the Forex is to have experience with live hands on trading. This article showed you ways that you can do this at a minimal cost and with the smallest amount of risk.

Forex Training: Deadly Forex Mistakes That Assure Failure

2009-08-17T01:05:00.001-07:00

Forex Training: Deadly Forex Mistakes That Assure Failure

The Trading Teacher

2009-08-17T01:03:00.001-07:00

The Trading Teacher

He asked us if we knew what drove prices up or down. Remembering what my lecturer said in university, I responded, "the price moves up and down close to the intrinsic value of the share".

He turned his attention to me and asked, "What share are you trading?"

"XYZ (I changed the name for the purpose of this article)", I replied quite happily. Perhaps I could squeeze a tip or two from him about the stock.

"Do you know what the intrinsic value of XYZ Company is", he asked.

I nodded my head sideways and muttered, "no".

"I'll tell you what the value of XYZ is: it is zero!" He barked.

I was taken aback by his response. Zero? Then what are we paying money for when we buy a share? I thought. Then he clarified himself.

"Price is only a perception — it is people's perception of what they think the value of the share price is".

He then used an example to explain a typical trader's behaviour when he trades without a system. As he explained it, I recognised my own behaviour in his demonstration.

I shook my head in disbelief that other people saw things the way they did. I felt excited knowing that there was another alternative, another approach in analysing the markets.

As for my friend, he said he had a car loan to take care of first. He would look into trading shares later when he had a little more money to set aside.

The Properties Of Price Movement

2009-08-17T01:02:00.007-07:00

The Properties Of Price Movement

The movement of price has the following properties which traders can study to aid in their decisions:

1. Trend — its persistence to move in one direction,

2. Volatility — the magnitude of its fluctuations on a periodic basis,

3. Momentum — the rate of its acceleration and deceleration,

4. Cycle — its tendency to move in cyclical patterns, most especially in the futures market,

5. Market Strength — the number of transactions supporting its movements,

6. Support and Resistance — its tendency to rise or fall to a certain level and then reverse, repeatedly.

About The Author:

Marquez Comelab is the author of the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader. It is a guide for men and women interested in trading currencies in the forex market. Discusses analysis, tools, indicators, trading systems, strategies, discipline and psychology. See: http://marquezcomelab.com. His other articles are also published at http://thefreedomtochoose.com along with other helpful articles.

Option Arbitrage in the Forex Market

2009-08-17T01:02:00.005-07:00

Option Arbitrage in the Forex Market

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?

Forex Profits

2009-08-17T01:02:00.003-07:00

Forex Profits

FOREX Trading Philosophy

2009-08-17T01:02:00.001-07:00

FOREX Trading Philosophy

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

Forex Trading Philosophy — Money Management

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.

Where to Get Forex Training

2009-08-17T01:01:00.001-07:00

Where to Get Forex Training

Getting a Forex Trading Education

2009-08-17T01:00:00.003-07:00

Getting a Forex Trading Education

Managing The Forex Accounts For You

2009-08-17T01:00:00.001-07:00

Managing The Forex Accounts For You

A currency trading account not tied to the stock market operations

The forex managed account should be able to provide a better return than the treasury bonds and other such money market instruments

The firms that professionally handle forex accounts and forex trading must be able to leverage to give maximum profits.

The forex trading manager must be able to book profits in both the falling and rising currency markets.

Should provide for monthly / weekly reporting of the forex transactions as well as real time reporting if need be.

The forex accounts should be such that they are liquid in nature. They should give ease of withdrawal (of money) to the investors at particular time intervals and in cases of emergency too.

Forex Day Trading: How To Create Massive Wealth From Forex Day Trading

2009-08-17T00:59:00.001-07:00