Having been a forex trader for 25 years it amuses me when I see writers defend day trading. They say it really can make money! - Of course they have no track record to back it up just empty words. Fact is you are guaranteed to lose in day trading for one simple reason:
All Movements in Short Time Frames Are Random
Trillions of dollars trade hands each day and million of trader’s trade, all with different objectives and opinions and to say that you can predict what they do in a few hours or a day, is ridiculous. You can’t.
Volatility takes prices anywhere in a day and support and resistance levels are meaningless, so you would have the same success rate flipping a coin.
It’s absolutely impossible to get the odds on your side – PERIOD
This is of course why you NEVER see any of the vendors selling these systems give you a real time track record – Why?
Because they don’t dare trade it!
They would rather write some enticing copy and appeal to the greed and naivety of traders and make their money selling you the system – they win you lose – period.
But I have seen a track record you may say and yes will have, but it’s NOT real.
If you check the disclaimer on it you will see there all hypothetical!
What does that mean?
It means done in hindsight knowing the closing prices!
Now who can’t do that it’s not exactly hard.
If we all knew tomorrows price today we would all be millionaires but we don’t – and neither do we know what will happen tomorrow, so there not worth the paper their written on.
Day trading is a good story but the logic doesn’t add up and the biggest lie about day trading is you can make money at it longer term.
If you could you would see a track record or the vendor would shut up and trade it himself and not need your few hundred dollars.
If you want to win
Appreciate that trading is an odds game and to trade the odds you need to trade over longer periods ,where the data is valid and you can have a chance of getting the odds on your side.
Finally
Don’t day trade, get real and trade with the odds on your side.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Forex Day Trading – a 100% Way to lose ALL Your Money Quickly
Through the method of Forex trading the dealers can earn quick profits and with the changes in the economic conditions the investors get attractive opportunities to invest. Although there are no fixed guidelines for the Forex trading but the specialists have their own views and observations at the same time not deviating from the main objective. In simple terms it can be said with the method of Forex trading it regularizes the doubts and queries of the investors to invest more. Every entry is exclusively administrated with some set of guidelines which is only affected by any changes in the market.
It is no different from other methods of trading, as here also there are risks and rewards. The only thing that really matters is that how much capital you put at risk to receive significant rewards. Before investing you should also make a survey of the prices prevalent in the market, various market behaviors.
Experts are of the opinion that Forex trading is a combination of both science and art. It is an art because it includes a defined practice, set guidelines and theories. Having appropriate knowledge and with the assistance of the technology is very important for every individual life, as you have to take important decisions in your life.
Mechanical trading methods are a part of Forex trading and which assists you in making significant judgment. With the input of any data the system makes provides you with the suitable solution for it.
With the advancement of the technology the advanced computer editions of these mechanical methods are known as ‘black box’ processes. They are very smart that is the reason these are known as mechanical methods. With this just switch on your computer and it will revise all the trading suggestions and will straightaway make an order to the dealers.
Even a nanosecond matters a lot in the trading of five minute charts, so no doubt conducting fast operations is a must in the Forex trading. The base of the Forex trading relies on moving averages. The major and the most superior systems employ the mixture of the cost and the volume. Stochastic is put into use by the most efficient systems these are mathematical methods for non-linear science.
Forex trading systems are reactive in nature as under the changes in the market the system presumes that it will stay like this only. It takes these decisions through the systems that are planned in the system. There are Black Boxes that calculate a major collection of markers in accordance to increase the confidence of the action proposal.
In the stock market the dealers those who purchase and sell breakouts they are known as momentum players. Does that system will be successful or not or will produce a loss, the formulas of the investors think that this will be continue.
It is no different from other methods of trading, as here also there are risks and rewards. The only thing that really matters is that how much capital you put at risk to receive significant rewards. Before investing you should also make a survey of the prices prevalent in the market, various market behaviors.
Experts are of the opinion that Forex trading is a combination of both science and art. It is an art because it includes a defined practice, set guidelines and theories. Having appropriate knowledge and with the assistance of the technology is very important for every individual life, as you have to take important decisions in your life.
Mechanical trading methods are a part of Forex trading and which assists you in making significant judgment. With the input of any data the system makes provides you with the suitable solution for it.
With the advancement of the technology the advanced computer editions of these mechanical methods are known as ‘black box’ processes. They are very smart that is the reason these are known as mechanical methods. With this just switch on your computer and it will revise all the trading suggestions and will straightaway make an order to the dealers.
Even a nanosecond matters a lot in the trading of five minute charts, so no doubt conducting fast operations is a must in the Forex trading. The base of the Forex trading relies on moving averages. The major and the most superior systems employ the mixture of the cost and the volume. Stochastic is put into use by the most efficient systems these are mathematical methods for non-linear science.
Forex trading systems are reactive in nature as under the changes in the market the system presumes that it will stay like this only. It takes these decisions through the systems that are planned in the system. There are Black Boxes that calculate a major collection of markers in accordance to increase the confidence of the action proposal.
In the stock market the dealers those who purchase and sell breakouts they are known as momentum players. Does that system will be successful or not or will produce a loss, the formulas of the investors think that this will be continue.
Forex Education – The 4 Major Mistakes That Cause 90% of Traders to Lose
If you want to trade Forex and win the odds are against you – 95% of traders lose and only 5% succeed. If you want to win at forex trading (and the rewards are huge) then don’t make these 4 trading mistakes.
If you make any of these mistakes you will never achieve long term profitability in forex trading.
1. Predicting Market Movement
This is the one major error almost all new forex traders make and it’s a critical one.
If you try and predict then you are simply hoping or guessing and the market will destroy your equity.
Hoping or guessing is not a way to make money in any business – forex trading included!
For example, traders spot a support level and think it will hold so they buy – what they should do is:
Wait for proof that the level will hold by looking for a change in price momentum that shows prices are moving back up – this is the proof.
Check out and start using momentum indicators in your trading.
2. Using Logic That Does Not Work
Trader’s very often use methods or systems which can never work.
Here are some examples:
Day trading
Is popular but you will NEVER win.
All short term volatility is random - therefore you can’t get the odds in your favour and lose.
The Appliance of Science
Many traders think markets move with scientific accuracy and use cycles or Fibonacci numbers – they don’t work and never will, yet traders still use them.
Obviously they can’t work:
If markets moved to a scientific formula, we could all work out the price in advance and there would be no market.
Two Many Inputs
Many traders try to be too clever and have systems with huge amounts of indicators.
After all, 12 indicators must be better than 2 or 3 – Wrong!
Too many indicators, simply means the system simply breaks in real time trading and are not as robust as simple systems.
The above are just a few examples and there are many more – look them up in our other articles.
3. Poor Money Management
Most novice traders are paranoid about losing - they place stops so close their guaranteed to get stopped out.
On the other hand, when they have a profit they get so excited, they bank it early by moving their stop too quickly!
If you want to make money you have to take meaningful risks to make big rewards.
To do this you must keep your stops outside of normal volatility - if you want to hang onto the big trends, that make the big profits.
4. Lack of Confidence and Discipline
The reason most traders lack this is because they try and buy success.
They think someone can give them success for a few hundred dollars and buy an e-book or system from a vendor.
When the system starts to lose, they have no confidence in it and throw in the towel.
An important vital part of your forex education is:
Only you can give yourself success.
Most systems sold on the net are junk if they were that good the vendor would trade them himself and not bother you for small amounts of money!
You need to build your own system and know how and why it makes profits, have confidence in it and this will give you the discipline to follow it through inevitable losses in the short term and hold on for long term profitability.
If you make any of these mistakes you will never achieve long term profitability in forex trading.
1. Predicting Market Movement
This is the one major error almost all new forex traders make and it’s a critical one.
If you try and predict then you are simply hoping or guessing and the market will destroy your equity.
Hoping or guessing is not a way to make money in any business – forex trading included!
For example, traders spot a support level and think it will hold so they buy – what they should do is:
Wait for proof that the level will hold by looking for a change in price momentum that shows prices are moving back up – this is the proof.
Check out and start using momentum indicators in your trading.
2. Using Logic That Does Not Work
Trader’s very often use methods or systems which can never work.
Here are some examples:
Day trading
Is popular but you will NEVER win.
All short term volatility is random - therefore you can’t get the odds in your favour and lose.
The Appliance of Science
Many traders think markets move with scientific accuracy and use cycles or Fibonacci numbers – they don’t work and never will, yet traders still use them.
Obviously they can’t work:
If markets moved to a scientific formula, we could all work out the price in advance and there would be no market.
Two Many Inputs
Many traders try to be too clever and have systems with huge amounts of indicators.
After all, 12 indicators must be better than 2 or 3 – Wrong!
Too many indicators, simply means the system simply breaks in real time trading and are not as robust as simple systems.
The above are just a few examples and there are many more – look them up in our other articles.
3. Poor Money Management
Most novice traders are paranoid about losing - they place stops so close their guaranteed to get stopped out.
On the other hand, when they have a profit they get so excited, they bank it early by moving their stop too quickly!
If you want to make money you have to take meaningful risks to make big rewards.
To do this you must keep your stops outside of normal volatility - if you want to hang onto the big trends, that make the big profits.
4. Lack of Confidence and Discipline
The reason most traders lack this is because they try and buy success.
They think someone can give them success for a few hundred dollars and buy an e-book or system from a vendor.
When the system starts to lose, they have no confidence in it and throw in the towel.
An important vital part of your forex education is:
Only you can give yourself success.
Most systems sold on the net are junk if they were that good the vendor would trade them himself and not bother you for small amounts of money!
You need to build your own system and know how and why it makes profits, have confidence in it and this will give you the discipline to follow it through inevitable losses in the short term and hold on for long term profitability.
Forex Tips – 5 Simple Ones to Increase Your Profits
The forex tips below are all easy to do and all will help you achieve one aim increasing your overall profitability. So here are 5 forex tips for greater profits.
1. Use the Weekly Chart
I am amazed that most traders never bother looking at weekly charts but if you want to separate out “the wood from the trees” the weekly chart gives you a much clearer perspective.
The big trends are clearly visible on the weekly chart and if you are long term trend follower, start with this chart first and you will have a clearer view of support and resistance levels and entry points.
2. Cut Your Trading Frequency
This Forex tip addresses a major problem that most novice traders have – they trade too much.
They think they have to be in the market all the time and chase profits but the fact is, if you cut your trading frequency, you stand a better chance of success. Keep in mind; you only get paid for being right in forex trading - NOT for your effort and how often you trade!
By cutting your trading back, you can concentrate only on the high reward, high odds trades which give the best potential profits.I know traders who only trade a few times a year yet - they make between 120 – 430%! Annually.
Their simply trading the cream of the trades and ignoring the low odds, high risk ones and there are plenty of those.
If you cut your trading, you will probably see your profits soar.
3. Risk More Per Trade
This is directly related to the above point.
If you have a high odds trade take this tip and risk more.
You will read a lot of nonsense on the net about risking 2% per trade and no more.
Well, that’s fine if you are trading 100k but if you’re a small potato trader, trading 10k or less, that’s a maximum of $200!
If you have a small account you need to load up and risk 10 -20% on the high odds trades. Keep in mind if you don’t risk much you won’t make much!
To make meaningful gains you have to take risks – if you don’t like taking risks don’t trade forex.
4. Don’t Diversify
If you are trading a small account don’t diversify!
You need to load up as we have said above and concentrate on one trade only.
Diversification is simply another word for diluting profit potential and is something a small trader should not engage in.
5. Use an Account Profit Target
What s a realistic target to make per annum in forex trading?
You may have your own ideas - but if you made 100% that puts you up there with the best fund managers in the world.
You will often see people look at risk per trade but looking at your account overall and using a profit target is highly effective.
You will often see trades that give you big profits in short periods of time and if they are a substantial – i.e. more than 25% of your 100% bank them.
Have a break and start again.
If you hit your profit target for the year early - decide whether you should trade again at all or at the very least give yourself a deserved break.
The tips above are really saying:
Focus only on the best trades with the best odds, load them up and have a target -if you do the above, chances are you will make bigger profits.
1. Use the Weekly Chart
I am amazed that most traders never bother looking at weekly charts but if you want to separate out “the wood from the trees” the weekly chart gives you a much clearer perspective.
The big trends are clearly visible on the weekly chart and if you are long term trend follower, start with this chart first and you will have a clearer view of support and resistance levels and entry points.
2. Cut Your Trading Frequency
This Forex tip addresses a major problem that most novice traders have – they trade too much.
They think they have to be in the market all the time and chase profits but the fact is, if you cut your trading frequency, you stand a better chance of success. Keep in mind; you only get paid for being right in forex trading - NOT for your effort and how often you trade!
By cutting your trading back, you can concentrate only on the high reward, high odds trades which give the best potential profits.I know traders who only trade a few times a year yet - they make between 120 – 430%! Annually.
Their simply trading the cream of the trades and ignoring the low odds, high risk ones and there are plenty of those.
If you cut your trading, you will probably see your profits soar.
3. Risk More Per Trade
This is directly related to the above point.
If you have a high odds trade take this tip and risk more.
You will read a lot of nonsense on the net about risking 2% per trade and no more.
Well, that’s fine if you are trading 100k but if you’re a small potato trader, trading 10k or less, that’s a maximum of $200!
If you have a small account you need to load up and risk 10 -20% on the high odds trades. Keep in mind if you don’t risk much you won’t make much!
To make meaningful gains you have to take risks – if you don’t like taking risks don’t trade forex.
4. Don’t Diversify
If you are trading a small account don’t diversify!
You need to load up as we have said above and concentrate on one trade only.
Diversification is simply another word for diluting profit potential and is something a small trader should not engage in.
5. Use an Account Profit Target
What s a realistic target to make per annum in forex trading?
You may have your own ideas - but if you made 100% that puts you up there with the best fund managers in the world.
You will often see people look at risk per trade but looking at your account overall and using a profit target is highly effective.
You will often see trades that give you big profits in short periods of time and if they are a substantial – i.e. more than 25% of your 100% bank them.
Have a break and start again.
If you hit your profit target for the year early - decide whether you should trade again at all or at the very least give yourself a deserved break.
The tips above are really saying:
Focus only on the best trades with the best odds, load them up and have a target -if you do the above, chances are you will make bigger profits.
The Best Forex Trading Platforms
Forex trading platforms are software through which online brokers and investors can perform daily forex trading from anywhere around the world.
New age forex trading platforms offer you advanced, unique features that can actually change the way one used to perceive online trading. The best forex trading platform presents the blend of functional usage combined with ease of use.
The best forex trading platform will be designed to help the investor in executing the trading most effectively by employing strategies to maximize the return. Most of the forex trading platforms are powered with unique analysis and strategy-testing features to test all buy and sell rules.
With a click of your mouse you can access strategy performance reports with simulated results like profit versus loss, annual rate of return, etc. Based on them you can modify your trading strategies without incurring losses.
The best forex trading platform always comes with fully automated real-time online streaming data from the market to take the advantage of the liquidity of the market. The best forex trading platform connects your monitor to the markets.
This also ensures that you get the execution prices on every order type available without any slippage. The best forex trading platform should provide the robust backbone to handle transaction of heavy data and information traffic.
The best forex trading platform must offer more than one type of account like standard, institutional or mini. The platform should come with different operating packages like Flash, Java, or WAP. These software provide firewall protection to maintain the security and integrity of your trading.
You can perform your trading from home, office, laptop on the go or even from an internet café with equal ease. The best forex trading platform will facilitate you to use the system without downloading any program, which presents perfect mobility to the traders or investors.
The best forex trading platform should offer:
These platforms come with easy to use interface, where you can easily move from one screen to the next. You can place market and contingent orders with simple steps and can have full reports including execution and open order.
New age forex trading platforms offer you advanced, unique features that can actually change the way one used to perceive online trading. The best forex trading platform presents the blend of functional usage combined with ease of use.
The best forex trading platform will be designed to help the investor in executing the trading most effectively by employing strategies to maximize the return. Most of the forex trading platforms are powered with unique analysis and strategy-testing features to test all buy and sell rules.
With a click of your mouse you can access strategy performance reports with simulated results like profit versus loss, annual rate of return, etc. Based on them you can modify your trading strategies without incurring losses.
The best forex trading platform always comes with fully automated real-time online streaming data from the market to take the advantage of the liquidity of the market. The best forex trading platform connects your monitor to the markets.
This also ensures that you get the execution prices on every order type available without any slippage. The best forex trading platform should provide the robust backbone to handle transaction of heavy data and information traffic.
The best forex trading platform must offer more than one type of account like standard, institutional or mini. The platform should come with different operating packages like Flash, Java, or WAP. These software provide firewall protection to maintain the security and integrity of your trading.
You can perform your trading from home, office, laptop on the go or even from an internet café with equal ease. The best forex trading platform will facilitate you to use the system without downloading any program, which presents perfect mobility to the traders or investors.
The best forex trading platform should offer:
- Tight spread on all major currency pairs with cutting-edge trading technology
- Quick execution with unlimited transaction amount
- No slippages and no requites
- Constant margin requirements in all volatile market condition
- Multiple real-time charts and other technical analysis based predictions with maximum visual representation
- Flexibility of placing complex orders including contingency orders
- Real time margin and position monitoring.
- Technical analysis for all demo and live accounts
- Authentic market news and economic calendar
- Performance, Security, Simplicity and Transparency
- Trading history and print out any reports
These platforms come with easy to use interface, where you can easily move from one screen to the next. You can place market and contingent orders with simple steps and can have full reports including execution and open order.
Forex Trading Strategy - Essential Indicators Six of the Best
If you are devising a Forex trading strategy and using technical analysis you will need some indicators to help you execute your forex trading signals and below, we have outlined six essential indicators that any trader should consider using on their forex charts.
1. Moving Averages
A great back indicator to trend lines for seeing the direction of the trend.
Moving averages should not be used on their own to enter trades but combined with other indictors.
Moving averages in longer term time frames work best and I find the 200 day MA important and also use the 40 day and 18 day MA useful. Never use short term averages as trends need sufficient periods of data to be effective.
2. Bollinger Bands
If you want warnings of trends developing, or a tool to help you sell high volatility to execute trading singnals i.e. open new positions or to lock in profits, then Bollinger bands are ideal.
Like moving averages, this indicator is simply there to show you the opportunity and you should time your entry with other tools.
3. Net Trader Positions
This is simply one of the best tools there is for spotting the big contrary trades and is realized bi-weekly by the CFTC. Although it applies to futures markets, the data can be used for spot currency markets as well.
This tool will help you spit every major trend change in advance.
The reason for this is, it breaks the open interest in speculative and commercial positions.
We don’t have room to explain the full logic here - but in essence speculators are always heavily net long at important market turning points while the commercials ( smart money ) are short.
By looking for divergences in speculative and commercial positions and looking for extremes, you can spot the big turning points coming.
So far we have looked at tools that can alert you to trading opportunities in your forex trading strategy – now, its time to look at some indicators to time entry on your forex charts and we have picked out 3 of the best.
4. Stochastic
George Lane, who developed the indicator, concluded that in an uptrend, prices tend to close near their high, and in a downtrend market, prices tend to close near their low.
This may sound simple, but the stochastic is simply one of the best momentum indicators out there for entering trades and taking profits.
5. Relative strength Index (RSI)
This indictor complements the above indicator perfectly and is another superb indicator to have in your forex trading strategy.
The RSI, as its name implies measures the relative strength of price currently compared to the past and gives you an idea of how strongly a market is trending.
This is one of the most popular momentum indicators in the world and was developed by trading legend, Wells Wilder as is the next indicator
6. Average Directional Movement (ADX)
The ADX is a momentum indicator, which aims to measure the strength of the trend - and attempts to determine if the market is in a trend or not.
The ADX line is a great momentum indicator and will help you trade the strongest trends - and give you advance warning of changes in momentum for profit taking or contrary trades.
So there you have six great technical indicators to incorporate in your forex trading strategy. There are of course others worthy of consideration, but these 6 are the ones I have used for the last 25 years and found them highly effective in my own forex trading systems and think you will to.
Take a look at them and see for yourself – Good trading
1. Moving Averages
A great back indicator to trend lines for seeing the direction of the trend.
Moving averages should not be used on their own to enter trades but combined with other indictors.
Moving averages in longer term time frames work best and I find the 200 day MA important and also use the 40 day and 18 day MA useful. Never use short term averages as trends need sufficient periods of data to be effective.
2. Bollinger Bands
If you want warnings of trends developing, or a tool to help you sell high volatility to execute trading singnals i.e. open new positions or to lock in profits, then Bollinger bands are ideal.
Like moving averages, this indicator is simply there to show you the opportunity and you should time your entry with other tools.
3. Net Trader Positions
This is simply one of the best tools there is for spotting the big contrary trades and is realized bi-weekly by the CFTC. Although it applies to futures markets, the data can be used for spot currency markets as well.
This tool will help you spit every major trend change in advance.
The reason for this is, it breaks the open interest in speculative and commercial positions.
We don’t have room to explain the full logic here - but in essence speculators are always heavily net long at important market turning points while the commercials ( smart money ) are short.
By looking for divergences in speculative and commercial positions and looking for extremes, you can spot the big turning points coming.
So far we have looked at tools that can alert you to trading opportunities in your forex trading strategy – now, its time to look at some indicators to time entry on your forex charts and we have picked out 3 of the best.
4. Stochastic
George Lane, who developed the indicator, concluded that in an uptrend, prices tend to close near their high, and in a downtrend market, prices tend to close near their low.
This may sound simple, but the stochastic is simply one of the best momentum indicators out there for entering trades and taking profits.
5. Relative strength Index (RSI)
This indictor complements the above indicator perfectly and is another superb indicator to have in your forex trading strategy.
The RSI, as its name implies measures the relative strength of price currently compared to the past and gives you an idea of how strongly a market is trending.
This is one of the most popular momentum indicators in the world and was developed by trading legend, Wells Wilder as is the next indicator
6. Average Directional Movement (ADX)
The ADX is a momentum indicator, which aims to measure the strength of the trend - and attempts to determine if the market is in a trend or not.
The ADX line is a great momentum indicator and will help you trade the strongest trends - and give you advance warning of changes in momentum for profit taking or contrary trades.
So there you have six great technical indicators to incorporate in your forex trading strategy. There are of course others worthy of consideration, but these 6 are the ones I have used for the last 25 years and found them highly effective in my own forex trading systems and think you will to.
Take a look at them and see for yourself – Good trading
Profitable Forex Trading Strategies
By far regarded as the largest and the busiest market, the Forex market has tremendous profit potential. The Forex currency market is a lot different from the stock market and you need to have a very good understanding about the way this market functions. Its not surprising that there's a lot being said and written about Forex currency trading. In fact, those who are keen on mastering Forex trading skills can actually take up a Forex trading course and get formal Forex education. Before you set out to trade in the Forex market or the Foreign Currency Exchange Market, you must make sure that you have done plenty of research, studied historical trends, analyzed existing trends, and worked out profitable Forex trading strategies that can boost your Forex trade.
There is no standard strategy that can be safely applied when it comes to Forex currency trading. Basically, what may work for one may not necessarily fit your trading needs and you must therefore devise your own strategies that can guarantee success in the long run. You need to first analyze the market using a technical analysis approach or the fundamental analysis approach to plan your moves. While technical analysis refers to forecasting future movement based on past performance, fundamental analysis refers to studying current accounts and impact of imports and exports on currency flow.
Understanding how volatile this market is, every experienced trader understands that it is not practically possible to generate profits from every trade. However, as you study this market closely, you will be able to work out better strategies that can minimize your risk levels.
Use surplus money for trading
This market is speculative and "timing a trade' is crucial. Even a slightest mistake can cost you a lot of money. So, make sure that you use only surplus money in order to save yourself from financial wreck. One of the biggest mistakes many traders do is staking all their money in a single trade. If you are not sure, go for margin trading to enjoy more leverage.
Do some market research
Consult your financial advisor or a Forex broker who can tell you the exact status of the Forex market. You need to understand whether current trend is upwards or downwards, is it strong or weak, and how long has this trend been going on or is a new trend in the making. A trade without prior market research can lead to financial disasters.
Decide the time frame for trading
As a smart Forex trader, you must have a time frame in mind beyond which you wont like to trade and also decide an approximate exit price. This gives you a proper perspective and helps you to plan your Forex trade more efficiently. You need to therefore decide whether you would like to go for long term trading or intra-day trading. This will help you to determine which approach you must adopt for research and analysis. For instance, for someone trading several times a day, a daily graph analysis will be useless and the trader will require thirty minute or hour graphs to plan his exit. Another important factor that you need to take into account is the time periods when different financial companies enter and exit the foreign exchange market in order to study the market trends.
Choosing the right time to trade Timing is everything when it comes to Forex trading and once you have understood the market trends you need to immediately plan an entry. Rely on technical analysis to time your move and predict market movements.
If you are not sure about which Forex trading strategy to use, find a good Forex broker who can handle your financial portfolio for you.
There is no standard strategy that can be safely applied when it comes to Forex currency trading. Basically, what may work for one may not necessarily fit your trading needs and you must therefore devise your own strategies that can guarantee success in the long run. You need to first analyze the market using a technical analysis approach or the fundamental analysis approach to plan your moves. While technical analysis refers to forecasting future movement based on past performance, fundamental analysis refers to studying current accounts and impact of imports and exports on currency flow.
Understanding how volatile this market is, every experienced trader understands that it is not practically possible to generate profits from every trade. However, as you study this market closely, you will be able to work out better strategies that can minimize your risk levels.
Use surplus money for trading
This market is speculative and "timing a trade' is crucial. Even a slightest mistake can cost you a lot of money. So, make sure that you use only surplus money in order to save yourself from financial wreck. One of the biggest mistakes many traders do is staking all their money in a single trade. If you are not sure, go for margin trading to enjoy more leverage.
Do some market research
Consult your financial advisor or a Forex broker who can tell you the exact status of the Forex market. You need to understand whether current trend is upwards or downwards, is it strong or weak, and how long has this trend been going on or is a new trend in the making. A trade without prior market research can lead to financial disasters.
Decide the time frame for trading
As a smart Forex trader, you must have a time frame in mind beyond which you wont like to trade and also decide an approximate exit price. This gives you a proper perspective and helps you to plan your Forex trade more efficiently. You need to therefore decide whether you would like to go for long term trading or intra-day trading. This will help you to determine which approach you must adopt for research and analysis. For instance, for someone trading several times a day, a daily graph analysis will be useless and the trader will require thirty minute or hour graphs to plan his exit. Another important factor that you need to take into account is the time periods when different financial companies enter and exit the foreign exchange market in order to study the market trends.
Choosing the right time to trade Timing is everything when it comes to Forex trading and once you have understood the market trends you need to immediately plan an entry. Rely on technical analysis to time your move and predict market movements.
If you are not sure about which Forex trading strategy to use, find a good Forex broker who can handle your financial portfolio for you.
Forex Day Trading – How To Earn BIG Profits Everyday!
There are many forex day traders whose aim is to make regular profits everyday and over time these small profits mount up. There are plenty of forex trading systems on the net to choose from - but how do you choose the best for this form of trading?
The fact is you can’t choose the best one because NONE of them work.
Fact:
It is impossible to earn money every day or regularly when trading and it’s impossible with day trading - because day trading simply doesn’t work at all.
The Reality
Day trading systems are sold on hyped advertising copy and use hypothetical track records (that means done in hindsight knowing the closing prices!) so their of no use in proving profitability going forward.
Keep in mind you never find a day trading system with a real time track record.
So why doesn’t day trading work?
Quite simply because the data period is to short and you cant get the odds on your side.
Think about it:
There are millions of traders trading trillions of dollars each day and to say that you can judge what they will do in a few hours is laughable, yet many naive and greedy traders take the bait, buy a system and lose.
FACT
All short term volatility is random and prices can and do go anywhere in a day, support and resistance levels are therefore meaningless.
You can never get the odds on your side and over time you will lose – PERIOD.
Are there any day traders with real time track records?
Many claim they have but will never show it to you maybe there is one somewhere but I have never found one in 25 years of trading.
The people who sell these systems know there a good story and simply use hyped advertising and a meaningless hypothetical simulation to sell the system. Of course these people don’t have the confidence to trade themselves for real, as they know the systems don’t work.
The deal is:
You buy the course or system, then lose and they pocket a fee or guaranteed income.
You lose they win, it’s as simple as that.
Sorry - No FREE Lunch
There are a huge number of forex trading systems out there (most in forex day trading) that promise that if you follow them you will get rich. Of course if it were as simple as that everyone would be traders and no one would work!
Forex trading is hard – 95% of traders lose.
To win you need to learn and trade in away that you can get the odds in your favour and that means no day trading - look longer term and do your homework.
There is no “free lunch” when it comes to making money, so when you see the next “sure fire” forex day trading system don’t be fooled by the copy or ask for the real time track record and if you do get one – let me know.
The fact is you can’t choose the best one because NONE of them work.
Fact:
It is impossible to earn money every day or regularly when trading and it’s impossible with day trading - because day trading simply doesn’t work at all.
The Reality
Day trading systems are sold on hyped advertising copy and use hypothetical track records (that means done in hindsight knowing the closing prices!) so their of no use in proving profitability going forward.
Keep in mind you never find a day trading system with a real time track record.
So why doesn’t day trading work?
Quite simply because the data period is to short and you cant get the odds on your side.
Think about it:
There are millions of traders trading trillions of dollars each day and to say that you can judge what they will do in a few hours is laughable, yet many naive and greedy traders take the bait, buy a system and lose.
FACT
All short term volatility is random and prices can and do go anywhere in a day, support and resistance levels are therefore meaningless.
You can never get the odds on your side and over time you will lose – PERIOD.
Are there any day traders with real time track records?
Many claim they have but will never show it to you maybe there is one somewhere but I have never found one in 25 years of trading.
The people who sell these systems know there a good story and simply use hyped advertising and a meaningless hypothetical simulation to sell the system. Of course these people don’t have the confidence to trade themselves for real, as they know the systems don’t work.
The deal is:
You buy the course or system, then lose and they pocket a fee or guaranteed income.
You lose they win, it’s as simple as that.
Sorry - No FREE Lunch
There are a huge number of forex trading systems out there (most in forex day trading) that promise that if you follow them you will get rich. Of course if it were as simple as that everyone would be traders and no one would work!
Forex trading is hard – 95% of traders lose.
To win you need to learn and trade in away that you can get the odds in your favour and that means no day trading - look longer term and do your homework.
There is no “free lunch” when it comes to making money, so when you see the next “sure fire” forex day trading system don’t be fooled by the copy or ask for the real time track record and if you do get one – let me know.
Forex Trading News – How To Use it Correctly For Profit
Today, forex trading news is more plentiful than ever. There are numerous sources to choose from and there all delivered at the click of a mouse, so you can get breaking news whenever you wish.
Here we will look at how to use Forex trading news and mistakes to avoid.
First let’s start with a rather startling fact:
100 years ago 90% of traders lost and today the ratio still remains the same.
This is despite better more frequent Forex news, better computers, more powerful software and more information than ever on the markets.
The fact is knowing the news won’t help you win – in fact, it generally helps traders lose! There are 3 main reasons for this:
News is discounted in a split second.
In today’s world of instant communications news is discounted immediately, so by the time you have seen it and had a chance to act upon it, the moment has gone and the market is looking toward the future.
News is Stories
Those analysts are so convincing with their arguments! Their normally great at explaining what has happened - but you can’t trade off what they say, as they have no idea what will happen - there simply stories and opinions.
Will Rodgers once said.
“I only believe what I Read in the papers”
Now he was joking, but its surprising how many traders take what they hear on the news as a recommendation to trade.
News Gets Your Emotions Involved
Humans don’t like to stand alone and the news reflects what the majority want to hear but that is completely different from what you have to do, to trade to win.
The bulk of traders lose and the bulk listen to the news, so if you avoid it, you can step aside and not let your emotions get involved.
If you do this, you can trade in a disciplined fashion and join the elite minority of winners.
If you use forex charts and simply follow price action, you are far more likely to be successful than you would be by following news stories.
WHERE THE NEWS CAN HELP YOU!
There is one great way to use the news:
If you see a very bullish or bearish market and the news supports the prevailing view but the market does not react the way it should – then its time to look for a contrary trade and time your entry points via your forex charts.
It’s a fact that:
Bullish markets collapse when the fundamentals are most bullish and bearish markets rally when the news is at its most bearish.
If you can look for these turning points on your charts and find the news suddenly stops pushing the market the way it should, a contrary trade is developing and a big profitable trade is shaping up.
Finally
The way to use forex news outlined above, is a very powerful profit tool but completely different to the way most forex traders use it!
Here we will look at how to use Forex trading news and mistakes to avoid.
First let’s start with a rather startling fact:
100 years ago 90% of traders lost and today the ratio still remains the same.
This is despite better more frequent Forex news, better computers, more powerful software and more information than ever on the markets.
The fact is knowing the news won’t help you win – in fact, it generally helps traders lose! There are 3 main reasons for this:
News is discounted in a split second.
In today’s world of instant communications news is discounted immediately, so by the time you have seen it and had a chance to act upon it, the moment has gone and the market is looking toward the future.
News is Stories
Those analysts are so convincing with their arguments! Their normally great at explaining what has happened - but you can’t trade off what they say, as they have no idea what will happen - there simply stories and opinions.
Will Rodgers once said.
“I only believe what I Read in the papers”
Now he was joking, but its surprising how many traders take what they hear on the news as a recommendation to trade.
News Gets Your Emotions Involved
Humans don’t like to stand alone and the news reflects what the majority want to hear but that is completely different from what you have to do, to trade to win.
The bulk of traders lose and the bulk listen to the news, so if you avoid it, you can step aside and not let your emotions get involved.
If you do this, you can trade in a disciplined fashion and join the elite minority of winners.
If you use forex charts and simply follow price action, you are far more likely to be successful than you would be by following news stories.
WHERE THE NEWS CAN HELP YOU!
There is one great way to use the news:
If you see a very bullish or bearish market and the news supports the prevailing view but the market does not react the way it should – then its time to look for a contrary trade and time your entry points via your forex charts.
It’s a fact that:
Bullish markets collapse when the fundamentals are most bullish and bearish markets rally when the news is at its most bearish.
If you can look for these turning points on your charts and find the news suddenly stops pushing the market the way it should, a contrary trade is developing and a big profitable trade is shaping up.
Finally
The way to use forex news outlined above, is a very powerful profit tool but completely different to the way most forex traders use it!
Insider’s Guide to Forex Trading
This is the first in a series of insights into trading the forex markets successfully. We have ten keys to trading success that all new forex traders and certainly many experienced forex traders need to learn and need to know. We’ll start with the top three with the rest detailed in the rest of this series.
11. Commission Free Trading
This was the initial sales pitch most brokers used and many still do. “You’ll trade for free – no commissions!” Well, any of us who trade actively know commissions add up to some ungodly amounts – many times you look at your annual statements if you trade actively and it’s not uncommon that your broker makes more, maybe much more, than you do in your trading profits. Forex trading is not commission free. Sure, there is usually not an “add-on” commission. However, they force you to pay a spread on every trade. You have to always buy at the ask and always sell at the bid. This is not the case in stocks, or futures or really any other market.
This forced spread on every trade is a commission. That’s what it is. Despite what the broker might claim. And that forced spread is not cheap. 3 pips is $30 on a just one full sized pair. Try $50 on a 5 pip spread you still see as commonplace.
Now, compare that to your average futures or stock trade. Which is more? Forex usually by far. Now, let’s not leave it at that. Remember, you get some amazing leverage opportunities with Forex so the actual commission compared to the dollar volume you are able to trade is actually reasonable in some cases – assuming you trade at the right places and follow the right strategies. We’ll cover that below.
12. 100:1 Leverage…No, Wait! How about 200:1….or 400:1?
You’re going to be rich! With that kind of leverage you make just a few pips per days and you’ll spend as much time with your banker as you do with your significant other, right? You look at the end of month totals from your strategy, run it through your state of the art Leverage Calculator and instantly you are making 100%, 300% or 500% per month. Do that a few months, a bit of compounding and you’ll be buying that private island after all. This is another one of those broker come-ons. It just doesn’t work this way. Yes, you can get this leverage. The brokers are going to allow it so I’m not saying it isn’t as advertised. However, you are guaranteed to wipe out using it. Guaranteed. There simply is no way you can trade at these leverage levels and make it. Not unless you are some trading genius who can take a trade and never lose. If you are – please contact me at once!
For the rest of us, you are going to lose. You are going to lose more than once. You are going to have some losing streaks. It’s the nature of trading. It’s not a big deal, especially if you can win more than you lose, and if your average win is greater than your average loss. You do that and who cares about some losses. Don’t get hung up on it.
11. Commission Free Trading
This was the initial sales pitch most brokers used and many still do. “You’ll trade for free – no commissions!” Well, any of us who trade actively know commissions add up to some ungodly amounts – many times you look at your annual statements if you trade actively and it’s not uncommon that your broker makes more, maybe much more, than you do in your trading profits. Forex trading is not commission free. Sure, there is usually not an “add-on” commission. However, they force you to pay a spread on every trade. You have to always buy at the ask and always sell at the bid. This is not the case in stocks, or futures or really any other market.
This forced spread on every trade is a commission. That’s what it is. Despite what the broker might claim. And that forced spread is not cheap. 3 pips is $30 on a just one full sized pair. Try $50 on a 5 pip spread you still see as commonplace.
Now, compare that to your average futures or stock trade. Which is more? Forex usually by far. Now, let’s not leave it at that. Remember, you get some amazing leverage opportunities with Forex so the actual commission compared to the dollar volume you are able to trade is actually reasonable in some cases – assuming you trade at the right places and follow the right strategies. We’ll cover that below.
12. 100:1 Leverage…No, Wait! How about 200:1….or 400:1?
You’re going to be rich! With that kind of leverage you make just a few pips per days and you’ll spend as much time with your banker as you do with your significant other, right? You look at the end of month totals from your strategy, run it through your state of the art Leverage Calculator and instantly you are making 100%, 300% or 500% per month. Do that a few months, a bit of compounding and you’ll be buying that private island after all. This is another one of those broker come-ons. It just doesn’t work this way. Yes, you can get this leverage. The brokers are going to allow it so I’m not saying it isn’t as advertised. However, you are guaranteed to wipe out using it. Guaranteed. There simply is no way you can trade at these leverage levels and make it. Not unless you are some trading genius who can take a trade and never lose. If you are – please contact me at once!
For the rest of us, you are going to lose. You are going to lose more than once. You are going to have some losing streaks. It’s the nature of trading. It’s not a big deal, especially if you can win more than you lose, and if your average win is greater than your average loss. You do that and who cares about some losses. Don’t get hung up on it.
Small Forex Managed Accounts
Small forex managed accounts are ideal for the investors who have some preoccupations and can not observe or trade in the market on a consistent basis.
Traders who are engaged in jobs but still looking for ways to enter into the forex market without investing hours in front of the computer, can now open a small forex managed accounts for some passive income. In a market where over two trillion dollars are traded every day, a small managed forex account make big profits for you.
Forex small managed accounts are managed by a trader, paid for by an investor, and result in high return. There are two types of small managed forex accounts—either automated or managed by human traders or brokers.
Automated small forex managed accounts are completely automatic programs which are designed by experienced traders and offer unmatched simplicity to the investors. It takes into consideration all indicators and statistics open to it and once it receives a signal, it trades accordingly. But these systems lack the human intelligence and instinct, which undoubtedly play an important role in decision-making.
The second type of forex small managed accounts employees human traders with market experience of many years. The biggest advantages of such accounts are they can be personalized depending on your need.
The typical investment in a small managed forex account can be from $5,000 to $10,000, which leaves the very small investors out of the loop. A managed account which is either traded by another person or an automated system can earn up to 20% per month or more depending on the performance of the system.
Small managed forex accounts are the best option before you leap into the market if you are receiving professional training and preparing yourself on how to trade in the market. You can fine-tune your own trading system and strategies and learn how the market may respond to specific news and patterns.
Searching for a good managed small forex account is a troublesome task. Some trading systems may take too many trades causing you to margin out too soon and some may generate poor signals. Make sure that the trading system can substantiate its data with proven results and perform back tests on their system in real-time. The broker you chose must be established, registered, and has credibility within the market.
Many brokers offer their services for small managed forex accounts for private or individual investors. They may offer some preferences for high investments for portfolio diversification and effective risk management. The brokerage firms have pool of experienced financial advisors who can provide ready-made, excellent and even personalized solutions in trading and programs for you. Your small investment may be clubbed together with other investments to earn the kind of profit you are looking for with substantial risk management procedures.
Your small managed forex account starts operating the moment you authorize your broker to take investment decisions on your behalf and can start to manage your funds. The advantages of using a small managed forex account to trade are --
1. You need not to trade yourself and can engage in other activities.
2. You no longer deal with trading emotions.
3. Lesser chances of making mistakes, especially so with automated forex.
4. You will have time to develop strategies and can take advantages of trading multiple systems and multiple markets.
5. You invest small amounts but receive high returns with proper risk management facilities.
Traders who are engaged in jobs but still looking for ways to enter into the forex market without investing hours in front of the computer, can now open a small forex managed accounts for some passive income. In a market where over two trillion dollars are traded every day, a small managed forex account make big profits for you.
Forex small managed accounts are managed by a trader, paid for by an investor, and result in high return. There are two types of small managed forex accounts—either automated or managed by human traders or brokers.
Automated small forex managed accounts are completely automatic programs which are designed by experienced traders and offer unmatched simplicity to the investors. It takes into consideration all indicators and statistics open to it and once it receives a signal, it trades accordingly. But these systems lack the human intelligence and instinct, which undoubtedly play an important role in decision-making.
The second type of forex small managed accounts employees human traders with market experience of many years. The biggest advantages of such accounts are they can be personalized depending on your need.
The typical investment in a small managed forex account can be from $5,000 to $10,000, which leaves the very small investors out of the loop. A managed account which is either traded by another person or an automated system can earn up to 20% per month or more depending on the performance of the system.
Small managed forex accounts are the best option before you leap into the market if you are receiving professional training and preparing yourself on how to trade in the market. You can fine-tune your own trading system and strategies and learn how the market may respond to specific news and patterns.
Searching for a good managed small forex account is a troublesome task. Some trading systems may take too many trades causing you to margin out too soon and some may generate poor signals. Make sure that the trading system can substantiate its data with proven results and perform back tests on their system in real-time. The broker you chose must be established, registered, and has credibility within the market.
Many brokers offer their services for small managed forex accounts for private or individual investors. They may offer some preferences for high investments for portfolio diversification and effective risk management. The brokerage firms have pool of experienced financial advisors who can provide ready-made, excellent and even personalized solutions in trading and programs for you. Your small investment may be clubbed together with other investments to earn the kind of profit you are looking for with substantial risk management procedures.
Your small managed forex account starts operating the moment you authorize your broker to take investment decisions on your behalf and can start to manage your funds. The advantages of using a small managed forex account to trade are --
1. You need not to trade yourself and can engage in other activities.
2. You no longer deal with trading emotions.
3. Lesser chances of making mistakes, especially so with automated forex.
4. You will have time to develop strategies and can take advantages of trading multiple systems and multiple markets.
5. You invest small amounts but receive high returns with proper risk management facilities.
Forex Scalping Systems– Choosing the Best For a Regular Income
Forex scalping is a method of trading that is very popular online and intends to take small regular profits each day to mount up big profits over time. There are many vendors selling forex scalping systems but how do you choose the best – lets find out.
While there are many vendors who claim to make a living forex scalping none of them do as it’s a method destined to failure which we will look at in this article.
Fact:
Forex scalping involves calculating where prices may go in a matter of hours and as all short term volatility within a day is random this is doomed to failure.
If you think about the above its really common sense to anyone but forex scalpers:
Trillions of dollars are traded daily, by millions of participants and to say that you can work out where prices will go in such a short time frame is simply laughable.
Forex day trading and forex scalping simply doesn’t work – PERIOD
The Myth of Forex Scalping Track Records
So why do you see so many track record that make money sold by vendors?
The answer is these track records are not "real" - to understand this, you need to understand and digest the disclaimer they use.
Below is the standard CFTC disclaimer you will see and after you have read it you will see why the track records presented are so meaningless. Here it is:
"Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those show".
If you have read the above disclaimer you will realize that any forex scalping system that uses this disclaimer needs to be treated with extreme caution.
Hypothetical and simulated means exactly that – the track record has been compiled KNOWING The closing prices! So how hard is it to make one profitable?
Its not difficult and anyone who can read and write can do it – and it is amazing people take them seriously.
The forex scalping systems you see have marvelous results on paper ( and no wonder ) and then fail in real time trading – no surprises really.
The only way to judge a system is its performance going forward, NOT knowing the closing prices – but the people who sell these systems, know they don’t work and want to make money selling systems not trading them.
Of course this is fairly obvious when you think about it.
If a vendor could produce the track record in real time they do in their simulations, they wouldn’t bother you for a few hundred bucks – they would be to busy making money!
Do not fall for the myth that forex scalping systems will make you money – they wont and never will succeed, because the logic they are based on is totally wrong.
If you are ever lucky enough to find a real time one that does let me know I have been looking for one for over 20 years!
While there are many vendors who claim to make a living forex scalping none of them do as it’s a method destined to failure which we will look at in this article.
Fact:
Forex scalping involves calculating where prices may go in a matter of hours and as all short term volatility within a day is random this is doomed to failure.
If you think about the above its really common sense to anyone but forex scalpers:
Trillions of dollars are traded daily, by millions of participants and to say that you can work out where prices will go in such a short time frame is simply laughable.
Forex day trading and forex scalping simply doesn’t work – PERIOD
The Myth of Forex Scalping Track Records
So why do you see so many track record that make money sold by vendors?
The answer is these track records are not "real" - to understand this, you need to understand and digest the disclaimer they use.
Below is the standard CFTC disclaimer you will see and after you have read it you will see why the track records presented are so meaningless. Here it is:
"Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those show".
If you have read the above disclaimer you will realize that any forex scalping system that uses this disclaimer needs to be treated with extreme caution.
Hypothetical and simulated means exactly that – the track record has been compiled KNOWING The closing prices! So how hard is it to make one profitable?
Its not difficult and anyone who can read and write can do it – and it is amazing people take them seriously.
The forex scalping systems you see have marvelous results on paper ( and no wonder ) and then fail in real time trading – no surprises really.
The only way to judge a system is its performance going forward, NOT knowing the closing prices – but the people who sell these systems, know they don’t work and want to make money selling systems not trading them.
Of course this is fairly obvious when you think about it.
If a vendor could produce the track record in real time they do in their simulations, they wouldn’t bother you for a few hundred bucks – they would be to busy making money!
Do not fall for the myth that forex scalping systems will make you money – they wont and never will succeed, because the logic they are based on is totally wrong.
If you are ever lucky enough to find a real time one that does let me know I have been looking for one for over 20 years!
Forex Signal Service Providers
Forex signal service provides price action that set off market entry, exit, or any other intra-trade adjustment on the basis of technical indicators. Forex signal service providers are either brokers or professional traders or some market analysts.
It is always advisable to subscribe to one of such forex signal services, as you need not to spend time in monitoring the market round the clock. Forex trading signal providers help you in minimizing risks or losses in trading. But it is important that you understand the logic behind the signals. Then only you will be able to take the complete advantage of such signaling services.
There are forex signal service providers who offer their assistance in return of a small subscription. Many automated forex trading platform however offer free signal services to their customers. The purpose of the forex trading signals is to make informed decision for the trading. A mix and match of various signals provides a full proof trading strategy to gauge the right direction of the market.
The Forex signals service providers analyze several factors responsible for the movement of the market. The signals indicate the buying and selling time of the different currencies which are traded in the forex market. The signals are calculated and generated by using different indicators such as trends, moving average, Elliott waves, Bollinger bands, Fibonacci series, etc.
Forex signal service providers send you alerts when the conditions are right for the trade. They use cutting-edge technology based software, which constantly monitor all major currency pairs for generating technical indicators.
These forex signal service providers use historical data to match current chart patterns with old ones. Therefore you can judge the quality of service of the forex signal service providers by judging their past performances. The forex signal service providers must have proven track records of recommendations, which turned out to be true.
Some forex signal service providers specifically generate services for advanced or experienced traders and others are for new or intermediate investors and traders. To take the full advantage of the forex signal service, you should have a basic knowledge of the forex market.
Time frame for which the forex trading signals are generated is equally important. Few trading signals can be valid only for a few minutes or an hour; others may have recommendations that are valid for a day or more. If the forex trading signal providers generate signals for shorter time frame, you need to monitor the market frequently.
Some forex signal service providers offer add-on services like email or mobile alerts. The service provider should have end-to-end technical support for the customers. Some other factors, which you need to check before choosing a forex signal service provider are
Spread: Some forex signals providers do not include spread in their recommendations, which affects the performance of the trading system negatively. So find out the average number of positions performed per month on all currencies to guess the real profit.
Back testing results: Some forex signals providers may display only back testing result of their system performance that may show positive result. But this does ensure that the system will run in real time with same efficiency.
It is always advisable to subscribe to one of such forex signal services, as you need not to spend time in monitoring the market round the clock. Forex trading signal providers help you in minimizing risks or losses in trading. But it is important that you understand the logic behind the signals. Then only you will be able to take the complete advantage of such signaling services.
There are forex signal service providers who offer their assistance in return of a small subscription. Many automated forex trading platform however offer free signal services to their customers. The purpose of the forex trading signals is to make informed decision for the trading. A mix and match of various signals provides a full proof trading strategy to gauge the right direction of the market.
The Forex signals service providers analyze several factors responsible for the movement of the market. The signals indicate the buying and selling time of the different currencies which are traded in the forex market. The signals are calculated and generated by using different indicators such as trends, moving average, Elliott waves, Bollinger bands, Fibonacci series, etc.
Forex signal service providers send you alerts when the conditions are right for the trade. They use cutting-edge technology based software, which constantly monitor all major currency pairs for generating technical indicators.
These forex signal service providers use historical data to match current chart patterns with old ones. Therefore you can judge the quality of service of the forex signal service providers by judging their past performances. The forex signal service providers must have proven track records of recommendations, which turned out to be true.
Some forex signal service providers specifically generate services for advanced or experienced traders and others are for new or intermediate investors and traders. To take the full advantage of the forex signal service, you should have a basic knowledge of the forex market.
Time frame for which the forex trading signals are generated is equally important. Few trading signals can be valid only for a few minutes or an hour; others may have recommendations that are valid for a day or more. If the forex trading signal providers generate signals for shorter time frame, you need to monitor the market frequently.
Some forex signal service providers offer add-on services like email or mobile alerts. The service provider should have end-to-end technical support for the customers. Some other factors, which you need to check before choosing a forex signal service provider are
Spread: Some forex signals providers do not include spread in their recommendations, which affects the performance of the trading system negatively. So find out the average number of positions performed per month on all currencies to guess the real profit.
Back testing results: Some forex signals providers may display only back testing result of their system performance that may show positive result. But this does ensure that the system will run in real time with same efficiency.
Day Forex Signal Strategy Trading
Day forex signal strategy trading is different from swing trading strategy in frequency of trade signals, depth of stop-loss, and profit-taking levels. Forex day trading is meant for active traders.
But traders who hold positions overnight or even for several days may consider the swing trade signals. There are many traders who prefer a hybrid trading strategy to take advantage of short-term and long-term trading opportunities simultaneously.
For forex day signal strategy trading, stop-loss levels range between 15-25 pips with profit-taking levels at 25-45 pips. Signals are generated on the basis of knowledge of experienced traders and institutional research.
Day forex signal strategy trading is an ideal solution for those who do not have the time or experience to analyze the market effectively or for experienced traders in making informed trading decisions. Day forex signal strategy trading systems also offers excellent risk management measures.
Using a day forex signal strategy trading platform, you can create your own trading signals during any of trading period. All you will have to do is to fill some data in a grid and the software will automatically calculate the entry signals.
These software use advanced non-linear computing algorithm to generate signals for forex day trading. Signals are generally updated periodically for all the major currency pairs like EUR/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, GBP/USD, and USD/CAD in real-time and allows you to stay ahead of the market.
Day forex signal strategy trading needs real-time market analysis indicators. The signals are therefore supported with integrated trend, volatility and sentiment gauges. With proper indicators, you can identify when a pair may be toward the top or bottom of a range.
For example, if a pair is highly overbought or oversold and the trend is weak, there may be an opportunity for an aggressive range or reversal play. If a pair displays a strong bullish trend, a day forex signal strategy trading can identify dips for an optimal entry point.
Volatility is another strong statistical measure of the tendency of a market or pair to rise or fall sharply within a short period. A day forex signal can use it in conjunction with other variables to determine strength of price action and to effectively manage market risk. In other words the trader can instantly assess how fast or uncertain the market is moving.
Day forex signal strategy trading systems generate alerts via email, SMS, AIM, ICQ, etc. You can receive notifications for new signals, updates on the status of existing signals. On an average you can receive 4-6 signals per day which comes with easy-to-use graphical interfaces.
Day forex signal strategy trading is to help you in buying or selling decisions. But you must keep in mind that no trading signals can be 100% accurate and all trading strategies contain losses. Therefore it is important that your gains are greater than your losses. Be sure to set the stop-loss to the entry price. Ultimately, experience is the determining factor for your success.
But traders who hold positions overnight or even for several days may consider the swing trade signals. There are many traders who prefer a hybrid trading strategy to take advantage of short-term and long-term trading opportunities simultaneously.
For forex day signal strategy trading, stop-loss levels range between 15-25 pips with profit-taking levels at 25-45 pips. Signals are generated on the basis of knowledge of experienced traders and institutional research.
Day forex signal strategy trading is an ideal solution for those who do not have the time or experience to analyze the market effectively or for experienced traders in making informed trading decisions. Day forex signal strategy trading systems also offers excellent risk management measures.
Using a day forex signal strategy trading platform, you can create your own trading signals during any of trading period. All you will have to do is to fill some data in a grid and the software will automatically calculate the entry signals.
These software use advanced non-linear computing algorithm to generate signals for forex day trading. Signals are generally updated periodically for all the major currency pairs like EUR/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, GBP/USD, and USD/CAD in real-time and allows you to stay ahead of the market.
Day forex signal strategy trading needs real-time market analysis indicators. The signals are therefore supported with integrated trend, volatility and sentiment gauges. With proper indicators, you can identify when a pair may be toward the top or bottom of a range.
For example, if a pair is highly overbought or oversold and the trend is weak, there may be an opportunity for an aggressive range or reversal play. If a pair displays a strong bullish trend, a day forex signal strategy trading can identify dips for an optimal entry point.
Volatility is another strong statistical measure of the tendency of a market or pair to rise or fall sharply within a short period. A day forex signal can use it in conjunction with other variables to determine strength of price action and to effectively manage market risk. In other words the trader can instantly assess how fast or uncertain the market is moving.
Day forex signal strategy trading systems generate alerts via email, SMS, AIM, ICQ, etc. You can receive notifications for new signals, updates on the status of existing signals. On an average you can receive 4-6 signals per day which comes with easy-to-use graphical interfaces.
Day forex signal strategy trading is to help you in buying or selling decisions. But you must keep in mind that no trading signals can be 100% accurate and all trading strategies contain losses. Therefore it is important that your gains are greater than your losses. Be sure to set the stop-loss to the entry price. Ultimately, experience is the determining factor for your success.
Forex Day Trading – The Illusion That Will See You Lose
Forex day trading is popular and there are numerous Forex day trading systems sold on the net - but you need to be aware of one illusion, if you buy a system or back test it yourself. This relates to "curve fitting" - If you don’t know what curve fitting is read on.
If you are going to trade any forex trading system you will normally test it on back data first and this is where you have to be very careful. Many "traders curve" fit – either deliberately or without thinking of the consequences.
The Illusion of Curve Fitting
"Curve fitting" involves tweaking the system to fit the data. A common occurrence is for forex traders to find their system doesn’t work first time around, so they create rules and parameters to make it work.
This was once likened by a trader I knew, to shooting at a barn door with a shotgun and then drawing a bull-eye around every shot AFTERWARDS to make each shot perfect.
Of course, no data sample EXACTLY replicates itself going forward and in real time trading the system collapses. To spot a "curve fitted" forex day trading is easy, look for lots of rules and parameters and unique ones used in certain instances.
The Worst Form of Curve Fitting
Many vendors who sell systems don’t even bother trying to curve fit.
They simply make up a track record and put simulated or hypothetical on the disclaimer!
This is done by lots of vendors, who are simply assuming the buyer will believe the simulated track record WITHOUT questioning it and by putting the disclaimer they can say what they want and as they are back testing and know the closing prices its easy to make a profit.
Clues to these forex day trading systems are marketing copy which says the following or similar – "picking tops in advance", "earn a regular income", "make x pips a day" and track records with extraordinary performance with no drawdown – all for a few hundred bucks!
These forex day trading track records should not be trusted and you should ask yourself:
If these systems are so good why are they being sold as the vendor could make so much money why bother me for a few hundred bucks?
Well now you know the answer.
The fact is you should only buy a track record in day trading if its real time and shown over two years and you won’t find one – Why?
Because forex day trading doesn’t work.
Why?
Because all short term volatility is random and you cannot get the odds on your side.
There are millions of forex traders trading trillions of dollars in equity daily and to say you can tell which way a market will go in a few hours is laughable.
If you don’t believe me look at the track records ( you will never find a real one) there all done in simulation and hindsight and anyone can make a profit doing that – problem is we have to trade in the real world and that means not knowing the closing prices!
The Appeal and the Reality
Day trading systems appeal to greedy novice or naive investors as it looks an easy way to make money but of course trading is not so simple – keep in mind 95% of traders lose and in forex day trading you can increase this number to 100%.
The logic is wrong and these systems will lose - the fact you cannot ever find a forex day trading system with a real time track record over the longer term proves the point.
If you want to trust a simulated track record and base your forex trading strategy on it, go ahead - but chances are in one form or another it’s been "curve fitted" and that makes it odds on to lose.
If you are going to trade any forex trading system you will normally test it on back data first and this is where you have to be very careful. Many "traders curve" fit – either deliberately or without thinking of the consequences.
The Illusion of Curve Fitting
"Curve fitting" involves tweaking the system to fit the data. A common occurrence is for forex traders to find their system doesn’t work first time around, so they create rules and parameters to make it work.
This was once likened by a trader I knew, to shooting at a barn door with a shotgun and then drawing a bull-eye around every shot AFTERWARDS to make each shot perfect.
Of course, no data sample EXACTLY replicates itself going forward and in real time trading the system collapses. To spot a "curve fitted" forex day trading is easy, look for lots of rules and parameters and unique ones used in certain instances.
The Worst Form of Curve Fitting
Many vendors who sell systems don’t even bother trying to curve fit.
They simply make up a track record and put simulated or hypothetical on the disclaimer!
This is done by lots of vendors, who are simply assuming the buyer will believe the simulated track record WITHOUT questioning it and by putting the disclaimer they can say what they want and as they are back testing and know the closing prices its easy to make a profit.
Clues to these forex day trading systems are marketing copy which says the following or similar – "picking tops in advance", "earn a regular income", "make x pips a day" and track records with extraordinary performance with no drawdown – all for a few hundred bucks!
These forex day trading track records should not be trusted and you should ask yourself:
If these systems are so good why are they being sold as the vendor could make so much money why bother me for a few hundred bucks?
Well now you know the answer.
The fact is you should only buy a track record in day trading if its real time and shown over two years and you won’t find one – Why?
Because forex day trading doesn’t work.
Why?
Because all short term volatility is random and you cannot get the odds on your side.
There are millions of forex traders trading trillions of dollars in equity daily and to say you can tell which way a market will go in a few hours is laughable.
If you don’t believe me look at the track records ( you will never find a real one) there all done in simulation and hindsight and anyone can make a profit doing that – problem is we have to trade in the real world and that means not knowing the closing prices!
The Appeal and the Reality
Day trading systems appeal to greedy novice or naive investors as it looks an easy way to make money but of course trading is not so simple – keep in mind 95% of traders lose and in forex day trading you can increase this number to 100%.
The logic is wrong and these systems will lose - the fact you cannot ever find a forex day trading system with a real time track record over the longer term proves the point.
If you want to trust a simulated track record and base your forex trading strategy on it, go ahead - but chances are in one form or another it’s been "curve fitted" and that makes it odds on to lose.
Using Forex Prediction Software
Forex prediction software let you trade knowing the market direction in advance. These software are easy-to-trade and specially designed to trade in forex market which issues prediction on the future direction of the market at any point of time and just with a click of the mouse.
A sophisticated forex prediction software may be based on neural network or genetic algorithms to produce intra-day and daily charts or snapshots of the future direction of the market. These software computing techniques analyze patterns from historical data and optimize system parameters to create highly accurate, full proof trading predictions.
A forex prediction software can generate intra-day chart that looks 6 1/2 hours into the future and is updated periodically. The most important function of such forex prediction software is to identify important intra-day pivot points.
In a forex prediction software, the daily chart looks even 20 days into the future and is updated everyday. With a forex prediction software, you can determine optimum entry points for short term trades or swing trades.
In a forex prediction software you can build your model and then backtest your trading system prior to entering the real market. You have to simply enter the online results and the forex predictor software will tell you the market trends. Most of the forex trading software uses one-hour moves to determine long and short positions. By using the last hour of price action it predicts the high, low, or close.
The forex prediction software may forecast the exact price level to enter the position and then exit at a predetermined price level. The upper and lower price lines in the forex prediction software are drawn and updated automatically through free live feed. Many forex prediction software may be customized to have an audio and visual alarm that will alert you whenever a currency pair price is about to hit major turning points.
The forex prediction software generates hourly turning points of any currency along with resistance and support levels. This will allow you to trade at these key turning points. If the forex trading software combines pivot price prediction with a news trading system, it gives you the greatest control over your trading. A forex prediction software helps you in trading with enough pip movement to create sizable profits while minimizing risk.
As the forex market is highly speculative, it is suitable for traders who understand the market and willing to assume the economic, legal and any other risks involved. A forex prediction software can only predict the future and can never guarantee a win or a specific price.
There are many factors and parameters that dynamically influence the market. Forex trading requires in-depth knowledge of the markets, trading techniques, and strategies. So you cannot dream of a profit depending only on a forex prediction software. But with knowledge, you can maximize your profits by using the predictions made by any forex prediction software.
A sophisticated forex prediction software may be based on neural network or genetic algorithms to produce intra-day and daily charts or snapshots of the future direction of the market. These software computing techniques analyze patterns from historical data and optimize system parameters to create highly accurate, full proof trading predictions.
A forex prediction software can generate intra-day chart that looks 6 1/2 hours into the future and is updated periodically. The most important function of such forex prediction software is to identify important intra-day pivot points.
In a forex prediction software, the daily chart looks even 20 days into the future and is updated everyday. With a forex prediction software, you can determine optimum entry points for short term trades or swing trades.
In a forex prediction software you can build your model and then backtest your trading system prior to entering the real market. You have to simply enter the online results and the forex predictor software will tell you the market trends. Most of the forex trading software uses one-hour moves to determine long and short positions. By using the last hour of price action it predicts the high, low, or close.
The forex prediction software may forecast the exact price level to enter the position and then exit at a predetermined price level. The upper and lower price lines in the forex prediction software are drawn and updated automatically through free live feed. Many forex prediction software may be customized to have an audio and visual alarm that will alert you whenever a currency pair price is about to hit major turning points.
The forex prediction software generates hourly turning points of any currency along with resistance and support levels. This will allow you to trade at these key turning points. If the forex trading software combines pivot price prediction with a news trading system, it gives you the greatest control over your trading. A forex prediction software helps you in trading with enough pip movement to create sizable profits while minimizing risk.
As the forex market is highly speculative, it is suitable for traders who understand the market and willing to assume the economic, legal and any other risks involved. A forex prediction software can only predict the future and can never guarantee a win or a specific price.
There are many factors and parameters that dynamically influence the market. Forex trading requires in-depth knowledge of the markets, trading techniques, and strategies. So you cannot dream of a profit depending only on a forex prediction software. But with knowledge, you can maximize your profits by using the predictions made by any forex prediction software.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Forex Strategies
Forex strategies are essential for a forex trader to profit from the market. Forex trading strategies make a trader more sophisticated and confident by helping him in making right calculations about the market. In a market with always changing exchange rates it is foolishness to trade hysterically by just following the emotions or advices from unreliable sources.
There are lots of forex trading strategies followed by forex traders. They can be broadly classified in to two type of strategies are profit maximizing strategies and risk minimizing strategies. The strategy differs with individuals as each trader has unique needs and has unique trading abilities. A trader must design a forex trading strategy according to many factors such as his or her initial investment, account size, trading ability, risk tolerance, currency pairs trading, geographical limitations/advantages, the broker to which he is affiliated, the trading system he/she uses, the profit goal (short-term profit or long-term profit), etc.
The most followed forex profit maximizing strategy is the leverage. Leverage allows forex traders to trade with more funds than in his or her account. The leverages are provided by the forex brokers to their clients. The usual leverage is 100:1 – i.e., for $1 in account the trader can borrow $100 from his broker. Day traders get much more leverage than other traders and the ratio leverage differ with brokers and also with the account minimum, type of contract trading etc.
The most popular forex risk minimizing strategy is the stop loss order. Stop loss orders help traders to limit their loss by stopping a trade at a preset price. Forex trading systems allows traders to set their stop loss order prices. One related strategy is the trailing stop losses, which are proportional stop loss prices that come into play only when the prices are falling. There are also many other types of stop loss orders available which mainly depends on the broker to which the trader is affiliated to.
One another related strategy is the automated order entry. Automated order entry enables a trader to enter into a trade at a preset price rate automatically. The trader can set the price at his trading platform. Automated order entry methods help traders to enter the market at most favorable time. Apart from these strategies forex traders can use forex futures and forex options to cover the loss and well as to cover the profit. These contracts help forex traders to buy or sell currencies at a predetermined rate at a point of time in future.
Apart from these trading strategies, forex trader follow many other strategies for choosing currency pairs, trading hours, entrance and exit prices etc. Irrespective of the type of the strategy, all forex strategies involve risks. The success of a forex strategy depends on many factors like the market condition and the discipline of the trader.
There are lots of forex trading strategies followed by forex traders. They can be broadly classified in to two type of strategies are profit maximizing strategies and risk minimizing strategies. The strategy differs with individuals as each trader has unique needs and has unique trading abilities. A trader must design a forex trading strategy according to many factors such as his or her initial investment, account size, trading ability, risk tolerance, currency pairs trading, geographical limitations/advantages, the broker to which he is affiliated, the trading system he/she uses, the profit goal (short-term profit or long-term profit), etc.
The most followed forex profit maximizing strategy is the leverage. Leverage allows forex traders to trade with more funds than in his or her account. The leverages are provided by the forex brokers to their clients. The usual leverage is 100:1 – i.e., for $1 in account the trader can borrow $100 from his broker. Day traders get much more leverage than other traders and the ratio leverage differ with brokers and also with the account minimum, type of contract trading etc.
The most popular forex risk minimizing strategy is the stop loss order. Stop loss orders help traders to limit their loss by stopping a trade at a preset price. Forex trading systems allows traders to set their stop loss order prices. One related strategy is the trailing stop losses, which are proportional stop loss prices that come into play only when the prices are falling. There are also many other types of stop loss orders available which mainly depends on the broker to which the trader is affiliated to.
One another related strategy is the automated order entry. Automated order entry enables a trader to enter into a trade at a preset price rate automatically. The trader can set the price at his trading platform. Automated order entry methods help traders to enter the market at most favorable time. Apart from these strategies forex traders can use forex futures and forex options to cover the loss and well as to cover the profit. These contracts help forex traders to buy or sell currencies at a predetermined rate at a point of time in future.
Apart from these trading strategies, forex trader follow many other strategies for choosing currency pairs, trading hours, entrance and exit prices etc. Irrespective of the type of the strategy, all forex strategies involve risks. The success of a forex strategy depends on many factors like the market condition and the discipline of the trader.
Forex Training: How to Read a Forex Quote
Forex is an abbreviated name for "foreign exchange." The Forex market is a non-stop cash market where the currencies of nations are bought and sold, typically via brokers. For example, you buy Euros, paying with U.S. Dollars, or you sell Euros for Japanese Yen.
The value of your Forex investment increases or decreases because of changes in the currency exchange rate or Forex rate. These changes often result from economic and political factors, such as the price of oil or political unrest. To better understand how the exchange rate can affect the value of your Forex investment, this article shows you how to read a Forex quote.
Forex quotes are always expressed in pairs. In the following example, your "pair" of currencies are the U.S. Dollar (USD) and the Euro (EUR). The Forex quote, USD/EUR = 265.50, means that one U.S. dollar is equal to 265.50 Euros. The currency to the left of the / (USD in this case) is referred to as base currency and its value is always 1. The currency to the right of the / (EUR in this case) is referred to as the counter currency. In this example, one USD can buy 265.50 EUR, since it is the stronger of the two currencies.
Because the U.S. dollar is regarded as the central currency of the Forex market, it is always treated as the base currency in any Forex quote where it is one of the pairs. Incidentally, the U.S. Dollar is involved in nearly 90% of all Forex transactions.
In this example, your "pair" of currencies are the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the Euro (EUR). The Forex quote, JPY/EUR= 175.10, means that one Japanese Yen is equal to 175.10 Euros. The currency to the left of the / (JPY in this case) is referred to as base currency and its value is 1. The currency to the right of the / (EUR in this case) is referred to as the counter currency. In this example, one JPY can buy 175.10 EUR, since it is the stronger of the two currencies.
The goal of any Forex trading system is to profit from foreign currency movements. This requires adequate training in basic Forex principles, such as performing a Technical Analysis, using Forex charts and Stop/Loss tools, and keeping up-to-date with economic and political events. In a sense, Forex training never ends.
The value of your Forex investment increases or decreases because of changes in the currency exchange rate or Forex rate. These changes often result from economic and political factors, such as the price of oil or political unrest. To better understand how the exchange rate can affect the value of your Forex investment, this article shows you how to read a Forex quote.
Forex quotes are always expressed in pairs. In the following example, your "pair" of currencies are the U.S. Dollar (USD) and the Euro (EUR). The Forex quote, USD/EUR = 265.50, means that one U.S. dollar is equal to 265.50 Euros. The currency to the left of the / (USD in this case) is referred to as base currency and its value is always 1. The currency to the right of the / (EUR in this case) is referred to as the counter currency. In this example, one USD can buy 265.50 EUR, since it is the stronger of the two currencies.
Because the U.S. dollar is regarded as the central currency of the Forex market, it is always treated as the base currency in any Forex quote where it is one of the pairs. Incidentally, the U.S. Dollar is involved in nearly 90% of all Forex transactions.
In this example, your "pair" of currencies are the Japanese Yen (JPY) and the Euro (EUR). The Forex quote, JPY/EUR= 175.10, means that one Japanese Yen is equal to 175.10 Euros. The currency to the left of the / (JPY in this case) is referred to as base currency and its value is 1. The currency to the right of the / (EUR in this case) is referred to as the counter currency. In this example, one JPY can buy 175.10 EUR, since it is the stronger of the two currencies.
The goal of any Forex trading system is to profit from foreign currency movements. This requires adequate training in basic Forex principles, such as performing a Technical Analysis, using Forex charts and Stop/Loss tools, and keeping up-to-date with economic and political events. In a sense, Forex training never ends.
What Is An Automated Trading System
In simplistic terms, an automated or mechanical trading system is a set of specific rules which when applied to the markets, signal entry and exit points automatically. The rules can consist of instructions with regard to the position of say moving averages, oscillators, or some other technical indicator, or maybe specific price patterns, or a markets proximity to certain key price levels, Etc. Most often several of the above are combines in order to create a full set of rules. As a simple example, if a 20 period moving average crosses over a 50 period moving average and the stochastic indicator is less than 20, then buy.
Once your list of rules are coded into a full system, you instruct your trading platform to trade the system on an automated basis. The system will from this point on, automatically place all of the buy / sell orders into the markets.
Automated trading systems take all of the guesswork, personal interpretation, gut feeling, instinct and emotions out of trading, thus eliminating many of the knee jerk reactions traders might find themselves making due to the fear and greed emotions that are part and parcel of non automated trading. Most Systems fall into one of three categories, either they are designed to trade with the trend, against the trend, or on a breakout.
Trend Following means that if the market is moving strongly in a particular direction, then you look for a good place to enter, in the direction of the current strong movement. Counter Trend or Fading means that if the market is moving in a particular direction, then you look for a good place to enter, as you predict that the strong move is about to end, i.e. the market could be overbought or approaching strong resistance. Breakout trades look for prices to move out beyond a certain range, i.e. if the market trades above the highest high of the last 20 bars, then buy. Or positions are taken if prices are breaking out of a particular chart formation, like a triangle for instance.
They can be designed to day trade, say on 1, 3, 5 or 15 minute charts, swing trade on say 60 minute or daily based charts, or trade long term on say daily or weekly based charts.
Day Trading is where traders look to make quick profits from the small market moves that occur during the day. They never hold positions overnight. Swing or Short Term Trading is where traders take a position in the market and look to hold this position for several days in order to make a profit from short term market movements. Long Term Trading is where traders take a position in the market and look to hold it for weeks, months or maybe even years.
Other aspects that are included in the development of a trading system should be risk management, i.e. using a stop loss, trade management, i.e. using a profit target or trailing stop and money management, i.e. how many contracts to trade in relation to the account size.
A person who wishes to trade the markets with an automated trading system has 3 choices, either develop a trading system themselves, have an expert code the system for them, or purchase an existing trading system. Developing a profitable trading system yourself is by no means an easy task. It requires a great deal of understanding with regard to the indicators, the various parameters and how they all interact with each other.
A second option is to write out your desired trading rules and then have a professional code those rules into a fully automated trading system. This can be a very expensive exercise. One way to reduce the costs of this is to use a specialist broker, such as http://www.thetradingsystemsbroker.com, who have a panel of trading system coding experts. They will send out your requirements and then inform you as to the lowest quote for the coding to be completed.
The third option is to purchase a trading system, however, with every system developer out there claiming that their system is most definitely the greatest system available, how do you filter through all of the hype, promises, clever marketing and sometimes downright misleading information in order to find genuine, proven, profitable trading systems that are right for you. Fortunately there is a company that can solve this dilema for you. Which Trading System specialises in fully impartial testing, monitoring, and publishing performance ranking tables for hundreds of futures, stock, options and forex trading systems. Not only this, but they also publish detailed individual system performance reports for every trading system in their database. You can access a free detailed individual system performance report for the best performing trading system in their database by visiting their website.
Once your list of rules are coded into a full system, you instruct your trading platform to trade the system on an automated basis. The system will from this point on, automatically place all of the buy / sell orders into the markets.
Automated trading systems take all of the guesswork, personal interpretation, gut feeling, instinct and emotions out of trading, thus eliminating many of the knee jerk reactions traders might find themselves making due to the fear and greed emotions that are part and parcel of non automated trading. Most Systems fall into one of three categories, either they are designed to trade with the trend, against the trend, or on a breakout.
Trend Following means that if the market is moving strongly in a particular direction, then you look for a good place to enter, in the direction of the current strong movement. Counter Trend or Fading means that if the market is moving in a particular direction, then you look for a good place to enter, as you predict that the strong move is about to end, i.e. the market could be overbought or approaching strong resistance. Breakout trades look for prices to move out beyond a certain range, i.e. if the market trades above the highest high of the last 20 bars, then buy. Or positions are taken if prices are breaking out of a particular chart formation, like a triangle for instance.
They can be designed to day trade, say on 1, 3, 5 or 15 minute charts, swing trade on say 60 minute or daily based charts, or trade long term on say daily or weekly based charts.
Day Trading is where traders look to make quick profits from the small market moves that occur during the day. They never hold positions overnight. Swing or Short Term Trading is where traders take a position in the market and look to hold this position for several days in order to make a profit from short term market movements. Long Term Trading is where traders take a position in the market and look to hold it for weeks, months or maybe even years.
Other aspects that are included in the development of a trading system should be risk management, i.e. using a stop loss, trade management, i.e. using a profit target or trailing stop and money management, i.e. how many contracts to trade in relation to the account size.
A person who wishes to trade the markets with an automated trading system has 3 choices, either develop a trading system themselves, have an expert code the system for them, or purchase an existing trading system. Developing a profitable trading system yourself is by no means an easy task. It requires a great deal of understanding with regard to the indicators, the various parameters and how they all interact with each other.
A second option is to write out your desired trading rules and then have a professional code those rules into a fully automated trading system. This can be a very expensive exercise. One way to reduce the costs of this is to use a specialist broker, such as http://www.thetradingsystemsbroker.com, who have a panel of trading system coding experts. They will send out your requirements and then inform you as to the lowest quote for the coding to be completed.
The third option is to purchase a trading system, however, with every system developer out there claiming that their system is most definitely the greatest system available, how do you filter through all of the hype, promises, clever marketing and sometimes downright misleading information in order to find genuine, proven, profitable trading systems that are right for you. Fortunately there is a company that can solve this dilema for you. Which Trading System specialises in fully impartial testing, monitoring, and publishing performance ranking tables for hundreds of futures, stock, options and forex trading systems. Not only this, but they also publish detailed individual system performance reports for every trading system in their database. You can access a free detailed individual system performance report for the best performing trading system in their database by visiting their website.
Knowing the Differences in Forex Trading Systems
There are a wide variety of forex trading systems available online. Every investing niche has a group of people who claims to be experts. Foreign exchange trading is no different. While some may find it helpful at first to pay for forex trading strategies, they are generally redundant; and after getting started, many traders go on to develop their own successful strategies.
Most of the companies that are selling forex trading systems offer a free online simulator. It is a very good idea to spend some time investing with play money so you can carefully track the performance of a particular strategy. If you feel, after some time, that you just aren't comfortable with the forex trading strategy that they are producing, don't think twice about walking away. The tools are there for a reason, and it may just be to keep you from making a costly mistake.
Once you have done some research and have found several forex trading systems with which you are comfortable, you should do some additional research to check on the validity of those few. Consumer advisory sites keep running listings of companies that have been found to the fraudulent, or that have made false claims about earnings potential. The chances are pretty good that theses companies haven't actually made a dime trading forex. Instead, they make their money selling promises to unsuspecting investors.
There are several ways that these companies dupe new traders into believing that their forex trading systems are legit. The first is that they offer hypothetical results. You, as an investor, shouldn't be nearly as concerned with what their system could have accomplished, as you should be with what it actually accomplished. Anyone can use a little common sense and hindsight to create a hypothetical trail of forex trades that will look good on paper. Make sure you see actual return on investment numbers before you commit any money to a forex trading system.
Another way that these fraudulent companies get foreign exchange traders to buy into their forex trading systems is by guaranteeing profits. If a company promises high returns with minimal or no risk, then they are trying to sell you something. Any type of investing comes with inherent risk. When trading forex, that risk can be fairly substantial, especially when you start dabbling in the 60 some odd currencies that are not considered majors. The world economy is volatile by nature. Therefore, the markets that are controlled by it are volatile as well.
As with anything else available to consumers, there are different levels of quality available in forex trading systems. The best information that you can get will always be from other customers who have used the product. Service providers will always have great things to say about themselves, but a true test of their worth is to find another consumer who believes in the one you are considering.
Most of the companies that are selling forex trading systems offer a free online simulator. It is a very good idea to spend some time investing with play money so you can carefully track the performance of a particular strategy. If you feel, after some time, that you just aren't comfortable with the forex trading strategy that they are producing, don't think twice about walking away. The tools are there for a reason, and it may just be to keep you from making a costly mistake.
Once you have done some research and have found several forex trading systems with which you are comfortable, you should do some additional research to check on the validity of those few. Consumer advisory sites keep running listings of companies that have been found to the fraudulent, or that have made false claims about earnings potential. The chances are pretty good that theses companies haven't actually made a dime trading forex. Instead, they make their money selling promises to unsuspecting investors.
There are several ways that these companies dupe new traders into believing that their forex trading systems are legit. The first is that they offer hypothetical results. You, as an investor, shouldn't be nearly as concerned with what their system could have accomplished, as you should be with what it actually accomplished. Anyone can use a little common sense and hindsight to create a hypothetical trail of forex trades that will look good on paper. Make sure you see actual return on investment numbers before you commit any money to a forex trading system.
Another way that these fraudulent companies get foreign exchange traders to buy into their forex trading systems is by guaranteeing profits. If a company promises high returns with minimal or no risk, then they are trying to sell you something. Any type of investing comes with inherent risk. When trading forex, that risk can be fairly substantial, especially when you start dabbling in the 60 some odd currencies that are not considered majors. The world economy is volatile by nature. Therefore, the markets that are controlled by it are volatile as well.
As with anything else available to consumers, there are different levels of quality available in forex trading systems. The best information that you can get will always be from other customers who have used the product. Service providers will always have great things to say about themselves, but a true test of their worth is to find another consumer who believes in the one you are considering.
Forex Strategy Builder
Dear Sir or Madam,
Our company, Forex Software, would like to announce the release of Forex Strategy Builder. We hope you will consider reviewing our freeware product for your edition.
For immediate release
Contact: Miroslav Popov
Title: Author
E-mail: info@forexsb.com
Forex Strategy Builder
Build Your Profitable Forex Trading System Within Minutes
The Forex software team is very pleased to announce the latest release of Forex Strategy Builder - a complete solution for building and testing on-line foreign exchange market trading strategies. It is free for use and distribution. With Forex Strategy Builder's user friendly interface you can create and back test a profitable trading system with just a few clicks. Thanks to the program's automatic system generator a successful market strategy can be quickly produced without detailed technical analysis or programming skills.
Using market rates, dating back to the 1980s, Forex Strategy Builder immediately calculates statistics and creates charts for the whole trade. You can easily create and test highly complicated trading systems using a wide variety of indicators and logic allowing for almost infinite combinations. The program also includes unique interpolation methods yielding reliable test result within each data bar. Forex Strategy Builder looks inside the current time frame using all shorter data periods to produce a realistic market back test, calculates the most profitable combination of parameters for the selected indicators, shows the average result balance between all possible market scenarios (while protecting from curve-fitting), shows you the price fluctuation inside each bar, and recognizes all the ambiguous bars in the back test.
In short, Forex Strategy Builder provides you all you need to quickly accomplish an in-depth technical analysis. Once done you can publish your trading system in our users' strategies forum to get feedback from other experienced investors.
Find additional information, help articles and tutorials on the web site: http://forexsb.com
Read the source code of more than 70 indicators: http://forexsb.com/library/sourceindex.html
Learn more about the safety principles of back testing: http://forexsb.com/library/safetyfirst.html
Use ideas and systems from the forum members: http://forum.forexsb.com/
Forex Strategy Builder Pricing and Availability
The Forex Strategy Builder is compatible with Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista. Net Framework v2.0 or latter is required to run the program. Free to download, use and distribute - no registration is needed. Auto update is included and it is also free. Technical support is available through the forum.
About Forex Software Team
We are a group of professionals in the fields of Forex trading, software development, engineering, marketing and insurance. We create tools based on our investing experience to make the Forex trade more accessible and profitable.
Our company, Forex Software, would like to announce the release of Forex Strategy Builder. We hope you will consider reviewing our freeware product for your edition.
For immediate release
Contact: Miroslav Popov
Title: Author
E-mail: info@forexsb.com
Forex Strategy Builder
Build Your Profitable Forex Trading System Within Minutes
The Forex software team is very pleased to announce the latest release of Forex Strategy Builder - a complete solution for building and testing on-line foreign exchange market trading strategies. It is free for use and distribution. With Forex Strategy Builder's user friendly interface you can create and back test a profitable trading system with just a few clicks. Thanks to the program's automatic system generator a successful market strategy can be quickly produced without detailed technical analysis or programming skills.
Using market rates, dating back to the 1980s, Forex Strategy Builder immediately calculates statistics and creates charts for the whole trade. You can easily create and test highly complicated trading systems using a wide variety of indicators and logic allowing for almost infinite combinations. The program also includes unique interpolation methods yielding reliable test result within each data bar. Forex Strategy Builder looks inside the current time frame using all shorter data periods to produce a realistic market back test, calculates the most profitable combination of parameters for the selected indicators, shows the average result balance between all possible market scenarios (while protecting from curve-fitting), shows you the price fluctuation inside each bar, and recognizes all the ambiguous bars in the back test.
In short, Forex Strategy Builder provides you all you need to quickly accomplish an in-depth technical analysis. Once done you can publish your trading system in our users' strategies forum to get feedback from other experienced investors.
Find additional information, help articles and tutorials on the web site: http://forexsb.com
Read the source code of more than 70 indicators: http://forexsb.com/library/sourceindex.html
Learn more about the safety principles of back testing: http://forexsb.com/library/safetyfirst.html
Use ideas and systems from the forum members: http://forum.forexsb.com/
Forex Strategy Builder Pricing and Availability
The Forex Strategy Builder is compatible with Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista. Net Framework v2.0 or latter is required to run the program. Free to download, use and distribute - no registration is needed. Auto update is included and it is also free. Technical support is available through the forum.
About Forex Software Team
We are a group of professionals in the fields of Forex trading, software development, engineering, marketing and insurance. We create tools based on our investing experience to make the Forex trade more accessible and profitable.
Advantages of the Forex Commodity Trading Systems
Are you searching for a great way to invest in the international foreign exchange market? Then look no further than forex commodity trading systems. This is one of the fast, easiest and smartest ways for you to invest your money. With only a twenty-five dollar set-up charge for starting the account and one hundred dollar monthly transaction fee, the system is affordable for everyone. It is one of the easiest ways to trade because you don’t need to spend a lot of time learning how the system works. You can access the system anytime Monday through Saturday, twenty-four hours a day. This makes it one of the most convenient methods of investing around.
There are many other advantages of forex commodity trading systems that you will enjoy. For instance, when you set up the account you can use the practice account to get the feel of how the system works. If you are a little nervous about trading this will help you to relax and feel more at ease, which will help prepare you for the real thing. The forex commodity trading systems has six major currencies that you can choose from. Other systems have hundreds which makes them much more complicated to use. You have total control over the account and once you use the propriety software to set up the account, it will automatically buy and sell according to the way you choose.
You can then set back and relax. The Forex system will do all the work for you. You don’t have to worry about spending long hours taking care of the account, all you need is a few minutes each day to check the account. Forex uses a strategy that really works. They use currencies pairs that are opposites. This means that when one is losing money the other is normally making money. The two pairs will balance out and usually leaves you with a profit. This system has been proven to work very well. It is because of this strategy that Forex is becoming so popular with investors.
If you are searching for the best way to engage in foreign currency exchange, then Forex is your best choice. It’s fast, easy and designed for the inexperienced trader that is serious about receiving a good yield with their investments. If you have an interest in investing, then checking into and spending some time learning more about Forex is de
There are many other advantages of forex commodity trading systems that you will enjoy. For instance, when you set up the account you can use the practice account to get the feel of how the system works. If you are a little nervous about trading this will help you to relax and feel more at ease, which will help prepare you for the real thing. The forex commodity trading systems has six major currencies that you can choose from. Other systems have hundreds which makes them much more complicated to use. You have total control over the account and once you use the propriety software to set up the account, it will automatically buy and sell according to the way you choose.
You can then set back and relax. The Forex system will do all the work for you. You don’t have to worry about spending long hours taking care of the account, all you need is a few minutes each day to check the account. Forex uses a strategy that really works. They use currencies pairs that are opposites. This means that when one is losing money the other is normally making money. The two pairs will balance out and usually leaves you with a profit. This system has been proven to work very well. It is because of this strategy that Forex is becoming so popular with investors.
If you are searching for the best way to engage in foreign currency exchange, then Forex is your best choice. It’s fast, easy and designed for the inexperienced trader that is serious about receiving a good yield with their investments. If you have an interest in investing, then checking into and spending some time learning more about Forex is de
Forex Information
The foreign exchange market or forex for short is a trillion dollar business that encompasses the trading of any and all the world's currencies. Individuals who trade in the forex market usually do so through a trained broker or other professional. You must be kept up to date on forex information in order to trade in the forex market. This not only includes such things as the value of a particular currency, but you must also be kept well informed of the world's economic, political, and environmental news. For example, unlike the stock market where you may have insider trading or secrets, there is very little of this in the forex marketplace. This is because the forex is a reactive marketplace that gets its strength from real cash flows and also the flow of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), interest rates, budgets, and trade deficits. Many of these things, especially cash flows, can be a result of a natural disaster, gas prices, and can even be seasonal such as during December when people tend to spend more because they are purchasing Christmas presents. Therefore, since the forex is so reactive, no one can truly know what will happen in the forex marketplace, no matter how seasoned they have become at forex forecasting.
Of course, keeping up with the entire world's political, economic, and environmental news can be taxing since there are only so many hours in a day. You could attempt to keep up with this and other forex information on your own, but you would have to read a lot of newspapers and watch the news a lot. A simpler way to stay up to date on forex information is through websites that are devoted to forex information. There are a variety of forex information sites on the web, and your level of forex expertise will ultimately determine which forex information sites you visit.
When you are starting out in the forex marketplace, you should look for a site that provides forex information such as up-to-the minute headlines, as well as education tools. One of the best sites for forex information is Forex Knowledge.com (www.forexknowledge.com). Obviously, one of the draws to this site is the up-to-the-minute news and the excellent charts, but there is also a knowledge section that allows visitors to learn about the forex market, how to get started, history of the forex, and a forex introduction. Below the educational section, visitors will find information on the fundamentals of the forex market. This section contains information on the PIP, how to read prices, country currency codes, and there is even a glossary of forex terms. Visitors will also find forex trading tools that include articles on technical analysis, market awareness, and trading strategies. For the seasoned forex investor who only needs the up-to-date news, charts, and quotes, the website Forex Markets.com (www.forex-markets.com) will be useful. While the forex information found at this site will prove indispensable, the chat forum, where each day hundreds of messages are posted, will prove equally as useful. This allows users to not only obtain forex information from the website but also from colleagues. The forum is open to all users, and registration to use the service is free. Prior to participating in the chat forum, users must keep in mind that the chat forum is not a chat room and should not be treated as such.
Trading in the forex can be quite lucrative if you know and understand what you are trying to accomplish. No matter what your intentions are, forex information is vital to your success. If you are just getting started in the forex marketplace, it would be smart to take it slow and learn about the forex as well as how to interpret and apply forex information.
Of course, keeping up with the entire world's political, economic, and environmental news can be taxing since there are only so many hours in a day. You could attempt to keep up with this and other forex information on your own, but you would have to read a lot of newspapers and watch the news a lot. A simpler way to stay up to date on forex information is through websites that are devoted to forex information. There are a variety of forex information sites on the web, and your level of forex expertise will ultimately determine which forex information sites you visit.
When you are starting out in the forex marketplace, you should look for a site that provides forex information such as up-to-the minute headlines, as well as education tools. One of the best sites for forex information is Forex Knowledge.com (www.forexknowledge.com). Obviously, one of the draws to this site is the up-to-the-minute news and the excellent charts, but there is also a knowledge section that allows visitors to learn about the forex market, how to get started, history of the forex, and a forex introduction. Below the educational section, visitors will find information on the fundamentals of the forex market. This section contains information on the PIP, how to read prices, country currency codes, and there is even a glossary of forex terms. Visitors will also find forex trading tools that include articles on technical analysis, market awareness, and trading strategies. For the seasoned forex investor who only needs the up-to-date news, charts, and quotes, the website Forex Markets.com (www.forex-markets.com) will be useful. While the forex information found at this site will prove indispensable, the chat forum, where each day hundreds of messages are posted, will prove equally as useful. This allows users to not only obtain forex information from the website but also from colleagues. The forum is open to all users, and registration to use the service is free. Prior to participating in the chat forum, users must keep in mind that the chat forum is not a chat room and should not be treated as such.
Trading in the forex can be quite lucrative if you know and understand what you are trying to accomplish. No matter what your intentions are, forex information is vital to your success. If you are just getting started in the forex marketplace, it would be smart to take it slow and learn about the forex as well as how to interpret and apply forex information.
Facilities Offered In Forex Market
Forex trading market is the huge market where, huge number of financial transaction takes place for different kinds of foreign currencies. Forex market enables the customers of the foreign currencies to know about the foreign currency exchange rates. Since more number of financial transaction takes place in foreign exchange market, the buyers and sellers of foreign exchange market. Forex market is nothing but, exchanging of foreign currency for a foreign exchange rates. Foreign trading system should be known to the customers of the forex trading market in a defined manner. Forex rates are not fixed and it finds to be fluctuating always.
Forex trading market comes up with wide opportunities to the traders and they provide FX market data in a comprised and efficient manner. Foreign exchange trading can be made effectively way of FX market data provided by the forex market. With regards to the FX market data or information provided by the forex trading market, foreign currency exchange market can be made effective and competent. Generally, huge number of financial transaction takes place in the forex exchange market and the buyer and seller of the foreign currency exchange should be known regarding the FX market data and foreign currency exchange rate.
To avail the customer with information regarding foreign exchange market, forex news, forex rates, forex book, forex ebook, forex trade signal, forex option prices and forex strategy have been offered to the customers. With regards to the forex news, forex books, forex charts and forex rates, the buyer and seller can go for further financial transaction of foreign currency exchange in the forex trading market. Forex guides are also offered to the buyers and sellers of financial transaction of forex trading market. Forex data provider provides forex data to the customer regarding various updating and current affairs of foreign exchange market.
Online forex trading system or online forex trading course have been offered along with online forex rate in online forex chart. Forex trading market provides more facilities to the customers and also enables the customer to come up with effective and efficient forex platform. Best forex training is also offered to the customers along with best forex software. Currency trading comprises more uncertainties and fluctuations. Currency exchange chart will be updated every now and then in currency exchange online. More facilities are offered in forex trading market to enable more number of buyers and sellers to avail the services provided.
Forex trading market comes up with wide opportunities to the traders and they provide FX market data in a comprised and efficient manner. Foreign exchange trading can be made effectively way of FX market data provided by the forex market. With regards to the FX market data or information provided by the forex trading market, foreign currency exchange market can be made effective and competent. Generally, huge number of financial transaction takes place in the forex exchange market and the buyer and seller of the foreign currency exchange should be known regarding the FX market data and foreign currency exchange rate.
To avail the customer with information regarding foreign exchange market, forex news, forex rates, forex book, forex ebook, forex trade signal, forex option prices and forex strategy have been offered to the customers. With regards to the forex news, forex books, forex charts and forex rates, the buyer and seller can go for further financial transaction of foreign currency exchange in the forex trading market. Forex guides are also offered to the buyers and sellers of financial transaction of forex trading market. Forex data provider provides forex data to the customer regarding various updating and current affairs of foreign exchange market.
Online forex trading system or online forex trading course have been offered along with online forex rate in online forex chart. Forex trading market provides more facilities to the customers and also enables the customer to come up with effective and efficient forex platform. Best forex training is also offered to the customers along with best forex software. Currency trading comprises more uncertainties and fluctuations. Currency exchange chart will be updated every now and then in currency exchange online. More facilities are offered in forex trading market to enable more number of buyers and sellers to avail the services provided.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Forex market tips
The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex markets currently exceeds US$ 2–2.5 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banksThe foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex markets currently exceeds US$ 2–2.5 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks.
[edit] Market size and liquidity
The foreign exchange market is unique because of
its trading volume,
the extreme liquidity of the market,
the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
its geographical dispersion,
its long trading hours: 24 hours a day (except on weekends),
the variety of factors that affect exchange rates.
According to the BIS,[1] average daily turnover in traditional foreign exchange markets was estimated at $1,880 billion. Daily averages in April for different years, in billions of US dollars, are presented on the chart below:
This $1.88 trillion in global foreign exchange market "traditional" turnover was broken down as follows:
$621 billion in spot transactions
$208 billion in outright forwards
$944 billion in forex swaps
$107 billion estimated gaps in reporting
In addition to "traditional" turnover, $1.26 trillion was traded in derivatives.
Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, but only accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).
Average daily global turnover in traditional foreign exchange market transactions totaled $2.7 trillion in April 2006 according to IFSL estimates based on semi-annual London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore Foreign Exchange Committee data. Overall turnover, including non-traditional foreign exchange derivatives and products traded on exchanges, averaged around $2.9 trillion a day. This was more than ten times the size of the combined daily turnover on all the world’s equity markets. Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as internet trading platforms has also made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. [2]
Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to IFSL estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 31.3% in April 2004 to 32.4% in April 2006.
The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 0–3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $100,000.
These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' checks. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (i.e. 0.0003). Competition has greatly increased with pip spreads shrinking on the major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.
The foreign exchange market is unique because of
its trading volume,
the extreme liquidity of the market,
the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
its geographical dispersion,
its long trading hours: 24 hours a day (except on weekends),
the variety of factors that affect exchange rates.
According to the BIS,[1] average daily turnover in traditional foreign exchange markets was estimated at $1,880 billion. Daily averages in April for different years, in billions of US dollars, are presented on the chart below:
This $1.88 trillion in global foreign exchange market "traditional" turnover was broken down as follows:
$621 billion in spot transactions
$208 billion in outright forwards
$944 billion in forex swaps
$107 billion estimated gaps in reporting
In addition to "traditional" turnover, $1.26 trillion was traded in derivatives.
Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, but only accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).
Average daily global turnover in traditional foreign exchange market transactions totaled $2.7 trillion in April 2006 according to IFSL estimates based on semi-annual London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore Foreign Exchange Committee data. Overall turnover, including non-traditional foreign exchange derivatives and products traded on exchanges, averaged around $2.9 trillion a day. This was more than ten times the size of the combined daily turnover on all the world’s equity markets. Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as internet trading platforms has also made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. [2]
Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to IFSL estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 31.3% in April 2004 to 32.4% in April 2006.
The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 0–3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $100,000.
These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' checks. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (i.e. 0.0003). Competition has greatly increased with pip spreads shrinking on the major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Optimize Your Forex Trading with the RSI
Among the different indicators in technical analysis, Relative Strength Index (RSI) is the easiest to interpret. Developed by J. Welles Wilder, the world first knew about this powerful analytical tool in 1978 through an article in commodities magazine (now Future Magazine). Then, RSI was introduced in Wilder’s book, New Concepts in Technical Analysis that was published in the same year. RSI is based on the statistical phenomena of “regression to the mean”. The basic application of these phenomena assumes that within a statistical sample, a random variable should have a value closer to its mean value. Applying this to the foreign exchange market will imply that the price of a currency pair shouldn’t rise or fall dramatically over a short period of time; and if this happens, the market is said to be in an overbought or oversold status.
Setting the Parameters of the RSI Although traders can customize the input periods of the RSI, 14 is the most frequent one. This is what Wilder has recommended in his book as a default period and this is what the majority of traders are using today.
Interpreting the numbers:
RSI is based on a scale of 100 points with a reading below 30 indicating an oversold status and a reading above 70 referring to an overbought status. Suggested Strategy:
1) Traders need to identify a range bound market (higher lows and lower highs).
2) When the RSI moves above 70, traders may place a short position after the RSI moves back below 70 or after formation of a bearish candlestick pattern.
3) When the RSI moves below 30, traders may place a long position after the RSI moves back above 30 or after the formation of a bullish candlestick pattern.
Forex Trading Success - Learn to Deal With Volatility or Lose Your Money
If you want to enjoy forex trading success then you need to know how to deal with volatility and that means knowing and understanding standard deviation, - if you don’t know what it is you should it’s a key part of forex education and vital to achieve Forex trading success.
The Problem
Most forex Traders can spot long term trends but they cant profit from them because they get stopped out by volatile counter moves which clip their stop and give them a loss – then they see the currency go the way they thought and pile up huge gains.
If you want to win at forex trading then you need to deal with volatility. Let’s look at standard deviation and what is and how we can use it to help us deal with volatility.
Standard deviation is a statistical term that refers to and shows the volatility of price in any currency or financial instrument. Standard deviation measures how widely values are dispersed from the mean or average.
Dispersion is defined as the difference between the actual closing value price and the average value, or mean closing price.
The larger the difference between the closing prices from the average price, the higher the standard deviation and volatility will be. On the other hand, the closer the closing prices are to the average mean price, the lower the standard deviation, or volatility of the currency is.
Technical Calculation
Standard deviation the square root of the variance, and the average of the squared deviations from the mean.
High Standard Deviation is present when the price of the currency studied is changing volatile and has large daily ranges in reverse low Standard Deviation values take place in periods of consolidation i.e. when prices are more stable and range bound.
Keep This in Mind
Prices spike away from the average as the participants react to the emotions of greed and fear and then return to the average mean, when prices have moved to far to quickly.
A great tool for helping you understand standard deviation and picking areas to enter your trades with good risk / reward is the Bollinger Band.
Dealing With Volatility.
Key points to keep in mind are:
That strong trending moves will break back to the mid Bollinger band and this provides you with an area to target to get in on the trend. When the bands expand and volatility is high, prices will normally recoil back and you can take a contrary trade in the opposite direction, as prices return back to the mean.
Consider this equation:
Fundamentals (Long term average mean) + Investor perception (High volatility to Inner and outer bands) = price.
The price of anything tends to dip back to the mean or average - but investors will spike prices to far up or down along the way. This is a simplified version but its obvious how to trade this equation, as we have suggested above.
Always keep in mind that huge price spikes don’t last and the average in a strong trend is a value area.
Target these areas and use your technical tools on your forex charts to define entry.
Using Standard Deviation for Greater Profits
Standard deviation tells you how volatile prices are and a Bollinger band reflects this – it is not however on its own a signal to trade. By understanding volatility and how it occurs through standard deviation you will be able deal with volatility better and pick low risk / high reward exit and entry points.
If you don’t understand standard deviation and its impact day to day you won’t make money trading currencies so make it an essential part of your forex education. If you do it will help you on the road to currency trading success.
Forex Trading Education Works For Every Newcomer
Forex or foreign exchange is definitely the most vulnerable market for those who wish to earn little more than they invest. With large number of traders involved and almost 2 to 3 trillion dollars being traded each day, forex tends to magnetize every other person who wishes to trade and trade big. But, if you are someone new to the ecstasy of foreign exchange then a prior knowledge or a good forex trading education is a must to ensure that you do not regret your deals and trading.
Following are some of the things you will benefit from forex trading education as a newcomer or novice in trading:
- Basic knowledge of forex, it's benefits and role
- Technical terms involved in forex
- Introduction and implementation of various tools and software
- How to make strategies while trading in forex market
- Understanding of trading system i.e. when to enter a trade and when to stop the trading
- Execution of risk management tactics such as stop loss.
An education in forex trading is the best way to begin in forex, as forex is a market with unexpected fluctuations, sudden announcements and lots of risk. For someone who is new to trading, education acts as a guide to doubts like why forex is unpredictable and how to manage trading along with the instability factor.
Forex when taken carelessly can jeopardize the investment and effort put in by a novice, thus without the basic idea of risk involved and method to avoid or minimize them comes from a good forex trading education.
Apart from the basics and technical aspects of trading, forex trading education also teaches methods to build following skills:
- Patience
- Discipline
- Handling pressure
- Analyzing situation
- Trading on a well planned pace
Thus, Forex trading education makes sure that you, as a newcomer, understand forex well enough to trade. Forex is full of benefits but to make the most of it, a newcomer needs to have proper and complete understanding of it and that's where forex trading education helps or works for a new comer.
Forex Trading With The Kiss Strategy
Find the right strategy and you will never look back in the world of trading. A great forex trading strategy is what separates the wishful thinkers who dedicate themselves to losing money everyday while the professional and successful traders with the right strategy dedicate their time to making money every trading session.
Forex is not something you should enter without the proper education. The more information you have about what forex is about and how the currency markets behave the closer you will be to becoming a successful trader. And as you already know, that means more money in your pocket.
As you surely know, markets are open the whole day during six days of the week, with the desirable consequence of allowing traders a huge flexibility when it comes to knowing when to enter end exit a trade. Due to the constant buying and selling of currencies in the market, as long as they are kept open the prices will be constantly fluctuating and reacting to the world news and market conditions. All this activity can be easily seen by looking at a forex chart. And is thanks to this fluctuations that traders can have the potential of profitable trades the whole day. Here the secret is, again, to find a successful system with the right strategy.
For example, with the Forex KISS strategy you can easily duplicate your account capital in less than three months without having to worry about losing much money from your account if you apply the rules of the system as you are told to do. Understand how to implement the KISS and you will be kissing good bye to sad losing trading days.
Monday, September 17, 2007
FOREX 101: Make Money with Currency Trading
For those unfamiliar with the term, FOREX (FOReign EXchange market), refers to an international exchange market where currencies are bought and sold. The Foreign Exchange Market that we see today began in the 1970's, when free exchange rates and floating currencies were introduced. In such an environment only participants in the market determine the price of one currency against another, based upon supply and demand for that currency.
FOREX is a somewhat unique market for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few markets in which it can be said with very few qualifications that it is free of external controls and that it cannot be manipulated. It is also the largest liquid financial market, with trade reaching between 1 and 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. With this much money moving this fast, it is clear why a single investor would find it near impossible to significantly affect the price of a major currency. Furthermore, the liquidity of the market means that unlike some rarely traded stock, traders are able to open and close positions within a few seconds as there are always willing buyers and sellers.
Another somewhat unique characteristic of the FOREX money market is the variance of its participants. Investors find a number of reasons for entering the market, some as longer term hedge investors, while others utilize massive credit lines to seek large short term gains. Interestingly, unlike blue-chip stocks, which are usually most attractive only to the long term investor, the combination of rather constant but small daily fluctuations in currency prices, create an environment which attracts investors with a broad range of strategies.
How FOREX Works
Transactions in foreign currencies are not centralized on an exchange, unlike say the NYSE, and thus take place all over the world via telecommunications. Trade is open 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon (00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday). In almost every time zone around the world, there are dealers who will quote all major currencies. After deciding what currency the investor would like to purchase, he or she does so via one of these dealers (some of which can be found online). It is quite common practice for investors to speculate on currency prices by getting a credit line (which are available to those with capital as small as $500), and vastly increase their potential gains and losses. This is called marginal trading.
Marginal Trading
Marginal trading is simply the term used for trading with borrowed capital. It is appealing because of the fact that in FOREX investments can be made without a real money supply. This allows investors to invest much more money with fewer money transfer costs, and open bigger positions with a much smaller amount of actual capital. Thus, one can conduct relatively large transactions, very quickly and cheaply, with a small amount of initial capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market is quantified in lots. The term "lot" refers to approximately $100,000, an amount which can be obtained by putting up as little as 0.5% or $500.
EXAMPLE: You believe that signals in the market are indicating that the British Pound will go up against the US Dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the Pound with a 1% margin at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to climb. At some point in the future, your predictions come true and you decide to sell. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips or about $405. Thus, on an initial capital investment of $1,000, you have made over 40% in profits. (Just as an example of how exchange rates change in the course of a day, an average daily change of the Euro (in Dollars) is about 70 to 100 pips.)
When you decide to close a position, the deposit sum that you originally made is returned to you and a calculation of your profits or losses is done. This profit or loss is then credited to your account.
Investment Strategies: Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis
The two fundamental strategies in investing in FOREX are Technical Analysis or Fundamental Analysis. Most small and medium sized investors in financial markets use Technical Analysis. This technique stems from the assumption that all information about the market and a particular currency's future fluctuations is found in the price chain. That is to say, that all factors which have an effect on the price have already been considered by the market and are thus reflected in the price. Essentially then, what this type of investor does is base his/her investments upon three fundamental suppositions. These are: that the movement of the market considers all factors, that the movement of prices is purposeful and directly tied to these events, and that history repeats itself. Someone utilizing technical analysis looks at the highest and lowest prices of a currency, the prices of opening and closing, and the volume of transactions. This investor does not try to outsmart the market, or even predict major long term trends, but simply looks at what has happened to that currency in the recent past, and predicts that the small fluctuations will generally continue just as they have before.
A Fundamental Analysis is one which analyzes the current situations in the country of the currency, including such things as its economy, its political situation, and other related rumors. By the numbers, a country's economy depends on a number of quantifiable measurements such as its Central Bank's interest rate, the national unemployment level, tax policy and the rate of inflation. An investor can also anticipate that less quantifiable occurrences, such as political unrest or transition will also have an effect on the market. Before basing all predictions on the factors alone, however, it is important to remember that investors must also keep in mind the expectations and anticipations of market participants. For just as in any stock market, the value of a currency is also based in large part on perceptions of and anticipations about that currency, not solely on its reality.
Make Money with Currency Trading on FOREX
FOREX investing is one of the most potentially rewarding types of investments available. While certainly the risk is great, the ability to conduct marginal trading on FOREX means that potential profits are enormous relative to initial capital investments. Another benefit of FOREX is that its size prevents almost all attempts by others to influence the market for their own gain. So that when investing in foreign currency markets one can feel quite confident that the investment he or she is making has the same opportunity for profit as other investors throughout the world. While investing in FOREX short term requires a certain degree of diligence, investors who utilize a technical analysis can feel relatively confident that their own ability to read the daily fluctuations of the currency market are sufficiently adequate to give them the knowledge necessary to make informed investments.
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