Archive for September, 2009

Forex | Forex Currency Trading | Forex Strategy System

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
Forex
Maco asked:


The Foreign exchange market is commonly known as the Forex market, it is the principal financial market in the world. Forex currency trading market is existing almost everywhere in the world where currencies are traded for one another. The Forex market is even larger than the Treasury and Equity markets all over the world. Forex market can best be described in terms of capital; this is to say that a place where the money of one country is traded for another is basically known as Forex. In the present scenario, the most popular and significant currency exchange pairs in the Forex market are the “Euro Dollars”.

However the most complex problems until today is that, there is no single central exchange place or the facility in the Forex market where everybody can exchange the currency they wish to. All the currency trade is either done on online or over the telephone in the Forex currency trading market. Forex currency trading is done online via huge networks, which are in connection with all the principal participants of the Forex strategy system such as the banks, the government, big financial institutions, currency traders and Forex brokers.

With the revolution that has been brought about in the form of electronic economy, online Forex currency trading has started offering plenty of services to all the currency traders and brokers all over the world. Today, Forex strategy system is such that anybody having access to the Internet can easily enter into the Forex currency trading business. However, this does not mean to say that anyone without having the basic knowledge of Forex strategy system can blindly jump into the Forex game. In order to become a Forex trader, one should have a good amount of knowledge and all the necessary bits of information about the existing Forex strategy system, Forex trading signal, Forex alerts, Forex signal, Forex trading strategy, and the overall Forex currency trading.

At present, Forex currency trading has become the most popular arena for all the speculators and traders worldwide. Earlier Forex strategy system was not open to everybody and it used to be the domain of the banks and the high risk investors only but now, the boom in Forex strategy system has facilitated the easy entry of outsiders and beginners. If you aspire to be one of the successful Forex traders, it is most essential to have prior knowledge about the Forex trading signal, Forex alerts, Forex signal and the Forex trading strategy. In order to be a Forex trader and an active participant in the Forex trading strategy, it is best advised to seek help from a professional Forex trader or an experienced Forex expert. But, if you really want to earn a living out of Forex currency trading, then the best thing you could possibly think of would be undertaking a Forex training course. Such courses are readily available and genuinely helpful in training students in Forex trading strategy, Forex currency trading, Forex trading signal, Forex strategy system, Forex signal and Forex alerts.



Blas

How can I find a programmer to write a program using real-time streaming prices for forex analysis?

Monday, September 21st, 2009
Forex
RICHARD J asked:


I have designed a system for analysing and predicting the movements, under certain condictions, of forex prices of various currency pairs.

The programmer who was writing this program for me has totally let me down, after receiving a large part of the payment for this job.

I need a programmer who is very experienced in writing programs to interface with real-time forex price feeds.

Irene

Learning Forex Trades

Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Forex
itmar asked:


This article is for the traders who want to make some bucks from forex trading. Before you learn more about forex trading, out of 10 traders 7 persons keep losing money in this market; and the rest work freely from their house and earn millions. Rest 30% might be those with insider news, or those with forex trading skills and knowledge. It is true; the foreign exchange market is full of crocodiles, in seconds you might lose your hard-earned money. Through forex trading want to make money, you have to build the network with so-called an insider that seems to be waste of time and energy. So, learn forex trading or do not ever think of it. If you are eager to step into this big trading game, it is better learn forex trading, before you step into it. It is true; foreign exchange, so called forex market is not for beginners. Before you start with it, you need to brush up your skills.  

How to Learn Forex Trading

Using the internet to find right resources to learn forex trading you are doing the right thing. Before you learn forex trading stick to these following points.

1) Basics about FX are quotes and what makes the market move

2) Find a simple way to develop a forex trading strategy with money management

3) With the help of forex trading simulator test your trading strategy

4) Start trading with a mini FX account and feel about winning and loosing real money.

5) Before you increase your trading size, try to trade four individual weeks in a row making money.

It has been, demonstrated that most of the people fail in this trading game. Because, the two driving emotions of trading, Fear & Greed are not controlled by them. In statistical probabilities, a common set that we generally refer is “50/50” propositions. Flipping a coin is a classical example of 50/50 proposition. There is only 50% chance it will be either heads or tails. Same thing happens when you enter forex market. The winning and loosing factor might be 50/50 when you trade. However, sometimes the profit and loss ratio changes according to the movements of the market.

Why trade Forex instead of stocks?

Reason of trading in forex instead of stocks, is that forex opens 24 hours a day. In forex market, there are no restrictions if trading through a short sell position. You get an equal prospective in a rising and falling market.  In forex market, trading is done in pairs; traders always get a chance to make huge money anytime, on every rise and fall of currency of one single country. Perhaps the list of advantages in Forex trading has the answer.

Continue Forex Trading for 24 hour a day

You do not need to wait until the opening of the market. One can always response to world news and movements immediately. Because forex market never sleeps. If want to be a winner in this market, you need to brush your skills. Forex market starts every Sunday 5:00 pm in New York, followed by Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, and London. As compared to other equity market, you can respond much faster to the market trend. With the flexibility of trading time in forex market, you can learn forex trading. During the free time, you can work on your trades. This means that before going as a full time trader in FX trading you can start small and can work as a part time trader. Flexibility in market and trading time helps you to learn forex trading efficiently.   

High Leverage Margin

Trade margin offered by brokers is of 50, 100, 150, or even 200 to 1 of trade margin. Through, leverage provided forex traders find themselves controlling a huge sum of money with little cash outlay. For example, a $1,000 in a 150:1 Forex account will give you the purchase power of $150,000 in the currency market. Some times more leverage can give you more losses. If you do not learn forex trading properly, leverage or margins provided cannot work. 

Leverage is powerful moneymaking tool. While it is not a powerful money making tool for everyone. Leverage is a essential tool in forex market, it is merely loading up on risk as many people assume.  The daily average percentage move of a major currency is less than 1%, where as in stocks it can easily have 10% price move per day.



Kate

Is there anything to learn before starting forex trading for success? Or it is totally depend on one’s fate?

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
Forex
geeta g asked:


Is there anything to learn before starting forex trading for success? Or it is totally depend on one’s fate?

Haikui

The Job of the Forex Day Trader

Saturday, September 12th, 2009
Forex
Justin Owen asked:


Forex Day Trading can be very lucrative. No matter what type of market you chose to day trade you must know the “personality” of the market you are trading. Every market has its own characteristics and it is important to know what they are before attempting to profit from it. The forex market is no different. In this article we will go over very important general day trading principles/rules and then we will see what a day trader has to recognize when specifically day trading the forex market.

As the term implies, day traders are concerned with what happens in the market today. Not tomorrow, not next week and not next month, but today. Forex day trader’s job is to capture intraday price swings. Depending on the system or trading method employed, this can mean capturing one intraday swing or various intraday swings.

The general job of a Forex day trader is: To be disciplined.

This principle is key for any type of trading but particularly for forex day trading. If I had to name one single aspect of a day trader that can make him or her a winner or a loser it is discipline. You can have a so-so system but still make money if you are disciplined. However, you can have the best trading system in the world but if you are not disciplined I guarantee you will not be a successful trader. So, what is all this discipline everyone talks about when discussing trading? Very simple, it’s respecting and strictly following your forex trading plan, your forex trading system, your money management rules, and your commitment to the business. Being disciplined with regard to each and every one of these components is essential for your success.

It is so easy to deviate from your trading plan, the rules of your forex trading system or any of the above mentioned components, especially when day trading. Why? Two reasons. First, because the trader is trading very frequent and does not have time to cool down, think, and evaluate. Second, because reality is replaced by hope. Your trading system rules (reality) say: “get out of the trade” hope says “hang in there, maybe it will still be profitable”. Your money management rules (reality) say “risk only 2% of your account on this trade” hope says “since I lost on the last trade I will risk 4% on this next one so I can make up for the loser and also be profitable”. Your trading plan (reality) says “trade each day 4 hours, give yourself Wednesday or Thursday a vacation to rest” hope says “Since I am not doing very well now I don”t need this rest day, and I will also trade 7 hours per day to make up”. I know (not hope!) you now understand the point!

To control risk:

One of the most important jobs as a day trader is to control your risk exposure. Sure, controlling risk is a concept you must use in any type of trading; however in day trading you must look at this issue from a different angle. Since your job is to capture various price swings during the day naturally your profit objectives will be much smaller then of a swing trader (who places a single trade aiming for a much larger profit objective). So, when placing several trades during the day it can be easy to “drift” away from your pre-determined stop loses. A common (very common actually!) day traders thought is “if I extend my stop loss just a bit I hope the market will turn around”! Hope is one of the trader’s biggest enemies. These little extensions of stop losses add up and suddenly without noticing you are losing more dollars per trade than planed making your risk/reward ratio turn against you.

To focus on the appropriate time frame:

As a day trader your primary concern is to catch intraday swings. Your trades start and finish the same day. Your world is the day you are trading in. You don’t care what will happen in the market tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Your objective when trading is focusing on the appropriate time frame chart. My opinion is that day trading should be done on a 1, 5 or 10 minute bar chart. Remember, you are looking to capture several fast and short moves during the day and hence you must focus on the charts that best illustrate events as they happen in a short period of time.

However, the fact that you are day trading on a 1,5 or 10 minute bar chart does not mean you cant use a larger time frame chart for the purpose of analysis. This however, is very subjective and depends very much on the traders’ strategies and methods of trading. As an example, many day traders would look at one hour bar charts in order to have a view of how the market has been behaving in the last week. Is it moving sideways (and so maybe I should only place trades between support and resistance areas)? Is it trending (and so maybe I should only be looking at placing trades in the direction of the higher time frame trend)? Are there any major support and/or resistance levels I should be aware of (areas where I should refrain from placing trades since it is uncertain how the market will react when reaching them)? Did the market brake out of a congestion area?

Again, it is very subjective. Some day traders believe that with proper larger time frame analysis they can select better their day trades. My personal opinion is that the more you analyze the more conflicts you will have and the more uncertainties will appear (especially if you are new to trading). I like making things simple and I found it very useful when trading (proof of this is that all of the trading systems I use are 100% mechanical). Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that larger time frames should not be used at all for analysis purposes. But, try to keep it simple and if you see that looking at larger time frame charts interferes with your correct decision process when placing day trades then simply stop.

To trade volatile and liquid markets:

Since your job as a forex day trader is to capture intraday swings it is crucial that the market you are trading has enough movement to allow you to do this. It is also important that the market you are trading has enough liquidity so that order fills do not suffer from excessive slippage. You have to select a market that it’s volatility is permanent and not a temporary occurrence. Since you are basing your trading method on catching intraday price swings you have to know that you are trading in the right place. As a day trader volatility is your allay and you have to know that you can count on it every single day (or at least 90% of the days). Liquid markets will provide you with good order fills. As a day trader this is very important since you are aiming at smaller profit objectives and hence larger slippage will eat away more of your profits. When trading several times a day this adds up and can be the difference between success and failure.

As a forex day trader you have to apply all the above rules and principles plus other criteria that are unique to the forex market.

Time of day trading:

The forex market is a 24 hour market. Never stops except on weekends. Within this 24 hour period different currencies behave in different manners. As a forex day trader it is very important to know the “personality” of the currency pair you are trading. For example, the GBP/USD is more volatile in early to mid European session then any other liquid pair. For a day trader trading in these hours it would be wise to take advantage of the price swings the GBP/USD pair offers instead of trading some other currency pair that constantly shows no movement. The USD/CAD pair is “silent” in the early to mid European session but starts to have more price movement toward the start of the US session. Every time Non Farm Payroll is released most if not all currency pairs have a very small price range up to release time. As a day trader it wouldn’t be wise to trade during these pre-announcement hours with strategies that are based on breakouts. It would probably be smarter to use strategies that are based on range support and resistance.

Spread and liquidity:

Forex brokers don’t charge you a commission for every trade you make (at least most forex brokers). Instead, they make their profit on the bid/ask spread which is measured in pips. As a forex day trader you are aiming at capturing small price swings sometimes several time per day. Also, your profit objectives are obviously much smaller than the swing trader’s profit objectives. All this means one thing: every pip counts. You cannot afford to trade currency pairs with large spreads; if you do your profit will get eaten up to a point where you will not be trading with an adequate risk/reward ratio. Forex day trading must be done with liquid pairs. Most forex brokers will provide you with a very narrow spread for the most liquid currency pairs. As an example, many brokers are now offering a 2 pip spread for EUR/USD and USD/JPY and a 3 pip spread for USD/CHF and GBP/USD. These are the most liquid pairs and the ones a day trader should focus on.

Specific news announcements:

Currency rates are affected by rumors, news, economic indicators and government reports. As a forex day trader you must always be aware of what economic reports are scheduled on the day you are trading and at what time. Why? Simply because many of these reports can have a strong momentary impact on the market once they hit the news wires. This impact can be of 10 pips or 100 pips depending on the report and it’s difference from the market consensus. The most important and impacting economic indicators and government reports are issued by the US government. They affect every USD/X or X/USD currency pair. Again, always know what are the release times and the importance of the economic report. For example, suppose you are in a EUR/USD trade at 8:25 a.m. You know that an economic report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. You might consider either exiting the trade before the release (in order to avoid unnecessary speculation as to what impact the report will have on the market) or entering your profit objective and stop loss into your deal station (for risk exposure reasons).

Volatility of currency pairs:

As a forex day trader volatility is you friend, a friend you cannot afford to trade without. In it’s basic definition, volatility is simply the amount of price change with relation to time. Volatile currency pairs have various price swings (price changes) during a small period of time (one day). These price swings are what a day trader lives on. In the forex market volatility many times comes hand in hand with liquidity. The most liquid currency pairs are the ones that are the most volatile. The big 4: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and USD/CHF are the most liquid pairs that provide the best volatility and hence opportunity for the forex day trader. Within these four pairs, the GBP/USD is the most volatile. Although it’s not the most liquid (the EUR/USD is), but it’s the most volatility. This pair, traded with the right forex broker (one that provides a 3 pip spread) can present many profitable opportunities for the astute day trader.

In conclusion, the forex day trader has to be prepared not only with the basic day trading rules, skills and principles. His job is to incorporate into his trading the characteristics and uniqueness of the forex market. Remember, every currency pair might present different opportunities and it is your job to always focus on the ones that best fit the purpose and objectives of forex day trading.

I hope to have contributed to your forex trading education and I thank you for taking the time to read this article.



Mangkhut

Forex Trading Companies Geared Towards Beginners

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Forex
Korbin Newlyn asked:


Are you searching for a Forex trading company, yet you are also new to trading Forex and aren’t sure which trading company is best for you to use? Let’s discuss some unique Forex trading companies and the various advantages as well as disadvantages of each one. A first step to take is getting a little background on Forex in general.

What Exactly Is Forex?

The word Forex is actually a slang term for “foreign exchange” trading. What Forex traders do is to leverage the exchange rate differences of money that is used throughout the world to make a profit through trading foreign currency. What Forex trading companies do is hire brokers who end up making trades for investors.

Forex  For Beginners

If you are a new person to the arena of Forex trading, search for several elements in a company that does trading that will assist you in acquiring Forex trading experience while not end up losing too much money in the process.

Training Account For Free

For those that are beginners in Forex, you should attempt to locate a Forex trading company that allows you to do trading of foreign currency without cost. This is accomplished in many places as a ‘game account’. They let you play with ‘virtual money’ for a trial period of training.

Numerous Forex trading companies are hoping to aquire your Forex trading business, so they make available free virtual $10,000 account that you can experiment with in a simulated Forex trading scenerio. Ten thousand dollars in virtual money is typically enough money to get your feet wet, so to speak, in this type of trading prior to you taking the plunge with your own real actual money.

Forex Education For Free

It is a good idea to take advantage of the Forex education available for free that many companies offer. Numerous trading companies make available seminars that are online to present to new investors ways in navigating the Forex trading system.

If you are a do-it-yourself type of person and prefer to educate yourself, you can try an online tutorial; you would be surprised at the amount of information you can learn when watching a short tutorial. If you would rather have an in person experience compared to the isolation of cyberspace, you can also attend a free in person seminar.

Course For a Fee

An additional option for learning the Forex trading environment is to spend a fee for these courses. The benefit of these types of courses is that you take away an individualized strategy for your Forex trading account.

Forex Discussion Board And Chat Forums

One of the methods that many up and coming forex investors use is that of going through discussion boards and chat rooms. These boards have plenty of information in regards to ways to begin in Forex trading and some recommendations on which Forex trading companies are available.

Recommendations

Based on some criteria such as free training accounts as well as free educational Forex offerings, you might want to do your research and due diligence into some of these; Signals-Forex, CMC Markets, Forex Systems, GFT Forex, FXSolutions, and Pro-Forex. You assume full responsibility in your choice of course.



Sandy

Forex Trading Systems – How Well Do They Work?

Saturday, September 5th, 2009
Forex
John Callingham asked:


For some forex traders, using special forex trading systems are the only way to go if they want to enter the world of forex trading. Since Forex market is a very complex world it is only appropriate for the forex traders to have the assistance of different systems. These forex trading systems will allow the forex traders to have an edge when it comes to boosting and increasing the odds of earning loads of money in the long run.

First and foremost, you have to understand the basic ways how the forex market works before making any forex trading transactions. Forex market has three markets which allow for the forex traders to trade all day long, 24 hours a day. Though the 24 hour market has some advantages, you should not also neglect the fact that this can be difficult and confusing at some point. The main objective of the forex market is to deal all the different currencies in the world. This exchange causes the rates of the different kinds of money all over the world to fluctuate. A lot of people have earned a lot of money just by trading Forex. However, getting to the top of the Forex market is not that easy that’s why you will need the help of different forex trading systems to aid you on how to make trades successfully.

With this in mind, here are the different kinds of trading systems that will help you earn a lot of money as far as making forex transactions are concerned.

The trading platform is a system used in forex trading which basically contains all the important skills that you will need as you go through the training process of making the right decisions when it comes to trading. This software or system has all the information and basic knowledge that will aid you to make wise decisions in the world of forex trading. Though this software will help you to eliminate all the guess work, this does not necessarily mean that it is the perfect forex trading system for everyone.

Another type of trading system used in the forex market is the signal software. As the name of this system suggests, it will help you to look for the signals that are significant when it comes to making forex trading. Though this system may help you in most advantageous ways, this has also some limitations and therefore an extra attention when it comes to trading is required on the part of the forex trader.

Charting applications is another form of forex trading systems. This system allows the forex traders to understand the current trends of foreign exchange and it enables them to receive important tips when it comes to purchasing and and making the right decisions when it comes to foreigh exchange. A single forex trading system is not enough for you to earn lot money as far as forex trading is concerned. The combination of these three Forex trading systems is one of the best recipes for earning huge amount of profits.



Nicholas

Where To Find A Good Forex Trading Education

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
Forex
Gerald Mason asked:


Forex or Foreign Exchange is the most liquid and the largest financial market in the world. Unlike other financial market, the Forex market doesn’t have a centralized location. Exchanges are done through electronic network and the whole world participates in the trade.

Forex trading involves buying and selling of different currencies. As with most trades, to make a profit in Forex, you need to buy low and sell high. Forex isn’t really complicated. However, there are things that you need to consider in order to successfully make some profit out of this very liquid financial market.

Forex trading can really give you a chance to earn large amounts of money. In fact, people who traded in Forex became instant millionaires almost overnight. However, you need to realize the fact that aside from the earning potential you can get when trading Forex, there are also risks involved and many people suffered huge financial losses trading in Forex.

This is why it is important for you to get an education on Forex trading. You have to get a proper education and not just a crash-course-read-articles kind of education.

In most business schools in the United States, there are courses that specialize in trading in the financial market such as Forex. These schools can really give you that proper skills and knowledge you need in order for you to successfully trade in the Forex market. Not only that. Getting a proper education from good business schools about Forex prepare you when you enter the Forex market to trade.

A good Forex trading school will educate you on how to read charts effectively and how to spot trends. Since knowing how to read the Forex market charts can give you an idea on where a particular currency is heading, you will have an idea on which currency you want to buy and sell. Knowing how to read the charts is one of the most important skills you need to have when you enter the Forex market. This skill will substantially minimize the risk of losing money and maximize the chances of earning.

As much as possible, you should look for a school that offer real-time trading with dummy accounts and real accounts. Since the best teacher is experience, schools should require you, as their students, to set up dummy accounts for practice and also real funded accounts to trade currencies in the actual Forex market. However, the real funded accounts should be in mini Forex accounts to avoid risking and losing a lot of money in case you made a mistake in the trades.

Another benefit that you can gain if you trade in real or dummy accounts for practice is experience. Once you enter the Forex market, you will have a better idea on how Forex markets work. The school should also have different trading systems to allow you to choose which trading system you are most comfortable with. Also, you will get a first hand feel on how to use these systems and avoid making mistakes in the real world.

Since trading Forex today is widely available for all kinds of people with a computer and an active internet connection. Most people don’t realize that Forex requires you to have skills and considerably, a high amount of money to invest. Forex doesn’t guarantee that everyone will win; you should know that Forex is a very risky financial market to invest in and having the proper knowledge and skills is essential for your success in trading in the Forex market.

You should know about the risks involved in Forex and you should also know that many people have suffered financially because they entered the Forex market without having the knowledge and skills required to be successful. Therefore, it is very important for you to get the proper education first before you enter the Forex market.

Always remember, with the proper knowledge about trading Forex, the better your chances will be to profit in this financial market.

There are different schools available that teaches all about the basics in Forex and allow you to experience trading in Forex with a trial account. Look for the things mentioned above and you can be sure that you will obtain all the things you need in order to start trading in the Forex market.



Earl

What are some of the differences between trading stocks vs. futures vs. forex?

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Forex
vagabond79 asked:


I trade only stocks right now but I’ve heard people swear by trading futures or forex. I’ve never tried either. Is one more volatile and therefore easier to make more money?

Nadine