Can Part-Time Forex Trading Be Profitable?

Forex trading can be difficult at the best of times. Even if you're doing it full-time and sitting at a computer screen all day closely monitoring your positions, it can be really tough going. So can you really make money from forex trading on a part-time basis?

Well I am a profitable forex trader overall and although I do sit at my screen for most of the day, most of this time is spent working on my various websites. The actual time spent staring at charts is minimal in comparison.

My relaxed attitude to forex trading is down to the fact that my main trading method is based on the 4 hour charts of the major currency pairs. As well as using a number of technical indicators for guidance, one of my most tried and trusted methods is to wait for crossovers in short-term EMAs (Exponential Moving Averages). This generally only requires me to glance at my charts every so often to see if a crossover is imminent.

Admittedly, however, this isn't really a true definition of part-time trading. I still have to be at my monitor for most of the day either looking for new positions or keeping an eye on any open positions.

Part-time trading really means only trading forex for a portion of the day, for example only during certain hours, or taking a hands off approach and setting entry and exit orders (including stop losses and limit orders) that will be triggered automatically if a certain price is achieved some time in the future when you are away from your computer.

This sounds even more difficult but it is actually quite possible to make profits this way. For example if you are only going to trade for a portion of the day and take a shorter-term approach, you could do a lot worse than only trading during the opening hour or two of the London session, ie 8.00-9.00 UK time. I often trade the 5 minute charts during this time and make decent profits because prices of the major currencies, particularly the GBP/USD and the EUR/USD trend strongly during this busy opening hour.

Another method of trading is to only trade the daily charts. For example, if you are working full-time your best bet would probably be to devise a strategy that monitors daily support and resistance levels and looks for possible breakouts the following day. This way you could set your orders the night before and they will be triggered if a certain price is met.

So to sum up, it is most definitely possible to trade the markets on a part-time basis. In fact you will often find that traders who only trade during certain busy periods of the day do just as well, if not better, than traders who trade all day long.

James Woolley runs a forex blog which includes trading tips and strategies, a review of FXcast and a Forex Club review.

Trader Tricks So You Won't Lose in the Forex Market

The forex market or the foreign exchange market has become a central and important business center. $2 trillion trades a day are made in this enormous market that is becoming more and more popular. You can make a lot of money but you can also lose a lot of money if your not careful here are some tips for success.

You begin with making yourself a trading plan one that can fit into your life. Make yourself a proper schedule at what times will you be doing your forex trading. Then check out what money you can put into the Market and build a proper budget so you can see the inflows and outflows. Take time and study the forex market you will have your ups and downs but you must stick to your plans so you will see profits on the long run. Then you must make sure that you have money that you can lose. It's a fact that in the forex market you need money to lose. There is no way to make money without losing some so make sure before you begin you have a sum that can be used for this purpose.

At least until you know what your doing go with the flow. Begin by trading the most popular currencies that are: United States dollar, USD, the Japanese yen, JPY, the European Euro, EUR, the United Kingdom pound, GBP, the Australian dollar, AUD, the Swiss franc, CHF, and the Canadian dollar, CAD. The majority usually chooses these pairs: GBP/USD, EUR/USD, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, and USD/CAD. To make sure that your money will be well used is by keeping to your plan. Don't change your plan because you have a feeling. Make decisions cold minded and teach yourself to exit when the signs show you should.

The trends in the forex market are quite safe. The currencies can shift a bit in different directions but they usually stay quite steadily in a certain direction. So to follow the trends is usually a good idea. If you want success in the forex market be patient it pays off. Expect to have small losses without them you won't win either. The small losses are part of your plan to make big sums of money don't let them bother you. even great traders lose some to gain some.

You should be very careful of forex scams - companies that offer you services that can only pull you down. You must get away from them as quickly as possible. Build your own strategy with forex experts and trade by yourself or by licensed brokers. Make sure that you are using forex strategies that you understand and that all the information you have comes from forex guides, tutorials or professional forex signals providers. Be sure that you now what you are doing. Teach yourself to exit before you are in too deep. Keep inside your money limits and don't allow yourself to go over board. Leave when it's time, don't wait for the fall!

Mauro Sciaccaluga

Using Percent R Indicator to Trade - Get Precise System

In his original work, Williams' method focused on 10 trading days to determine a market's trading range. Once the 10-day trading range was determined, he calculated where the current day's closing price fell within that range.

The %R study is similar to the Stochastic indicator, except that the Stochastic has internal smoothing and that the %R is plotted on an upside-down scale, with 0 at the top and 100 at the bottom. The %R oscillates between 0 and 100%. A value of 0% shows that the closing price is the same as the period high. Conversely, a value of 100% shows that the closing price is identical to the period low. The Williams indicator is designed to show the difference between the period high and today's closing price with the trading range of the specified period. The indicator therefore shows the relative situation of the closing price within the observation period.

The trading rules are simple. You sell when %R reaches 20% or lower (the market is overbought) and buy when it reaches 80% or higher (the market is oversold). However, as with all overbought/oversold indicators, it is wise to wait for the indicator price to change direction before initiating any trade.

Larry Williams defines the following trading rules for his %R: Buy when this percent reaches 100%, and five trading days have passed since 100% was last reached, and after which it again falls below 85/95%. Sell when %R reaches 0%, and five trading days have passed since 0% was last reached, and after which the Williams %R again rises to about 15/5%.

Visit his site at http://www.profitguideforex.com