Monday 30 April 2007

The Skills Traders Need To Acquire



(by Peter Bain)

Each individual trader creates his own experience of the markets based on this picking and choosing process and the decisions that result. If you accept this concept as valid, then the implications are that you will never have a valid reason to blame the markets for your unsatisfying results. The markets don't owe you anything (regardless of how hard you work to be successful) because every other trader participating is doing so to take your money away. You and you alone are completely responsible for whatever you end up with. The sooner you accept that responsibility (if you haven't already), the easier it will be to identify what skills you need to learn to interact with the markets more successfully. Even if you can't identify the mental components responsible for what you ended up with, at least by assuming that you are responsible, you will be opening yourself up to find out.

Nine Skills To Be Acquired:

1. Learning the dynamics of goal achievement so you can stay positively focused on what you want, not what you fear.

2. Learning how to recognize the skills you need to progress as a trader and then stay focused on the development of those skills, instead of the money, which is merely a by-product of your skills.

3. Learning how to adapt yourself to respond to fundamental changes in market conditions more readily.

4. Identifying the amount of risk you are comfortable with, your "risk comfort level", and then learn how to expand it in a way that is consistent with your ability to maintain an objective perspective of market activity.

5. Learning how to execute your trades immediately upon your perception of an opportunity.

6. Learning how to let the market tell you how much is enough, instead of assessing the potential from your personal value system of how much is enough.

7. Learning how to structure your beliefs to control your perception of market movement.

8. Learning how to achieve and maintain a state of objectivity.

9. Learning how to recognize "true" intuitive information and then learning how to act on it consistently.

From "The Disciplined Trader", Mark Douglas

Peter Bain is the Internet's #1 Forex coach and mentor. He is famous for his unique ability to uncover new and innovative ways to harness the power of the Forex. Peter has long been known for his passion for commodity and currency trading. Peter learned trading in the early days of his career from some of the top traders in trading houses. Over the years, he has developed his instincts for a simple yet powerful trading system based on his Pivot Program, which has been continuously refined over the years. His system is the same system used by many trading houses today. For more information, please visit http://www.forexmentor.com

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Saturday 28 April 2007

Forex Day Trading- Two Step Trend Analysis



(by Michael A Jones)

If you approach forex day trading by just looking at the 5 minute and 15 minute charts there is a strong possibility your account will evaporate sooner rather than later.

In order to get a feel for the market and an indication of the current trend it is necessary to do an analysis by looking at multiple charts on different time frames starting with higher level charts first.

Rather than having the charts cluttered with numerous indicators and signals which can cause signal paralysis, I recommend just two:

1. MACD (with default settings)

2. 200 EMA (Exponential Moving Average)

Now examine your charts using a top down approach:




Daily


4 Hour


1 Hour

As you check each chart take note of these two factors:




Has MACD crossed down or up and is it above or below the water line?


Is price above or below the 200 EMA?

While it is not crucial to have them all lined up on these three time frames for successful forex day trading, if you want to be a cautious trader and go for high probability trades then certainly MACD on the 4 hour chart and 1 hour chart should be in agreement as also should price in relation to the 200 EMA.

The daily chart can be useful in seeing the larger picture and for noting key levels of support and resistance. They stand out on a daily chart so if price is within 100 pips of a crucial level of support or resistance as seen on the daily chart, make a note of the figure.

Then scale down to the lower time frames and see if this level matches with other indicators such as pivot points or Fibonacci levels.

Once you have done this groundwork, NOW you can look at the 15 minute and 5 minute charts for a suitable entry point.

Remember, for successful Forex day trading you need to adhere to the No. 1 commandment: Buy The Dips and Sell the Rallies!

So avoid chasing the market and going with the flow. Instead, wait for price to come the level you want, set your entry order, and let price pull you into the trade.

The Danger With Lower Time Frames

Just concentrating on the 15 minute and 5 minute charts will not give you the bigger picture. You could see what looks like a perfectly good trade and set your stops and limits only to find you get blown out within a few minutes.

By looking at the higher time frame you would probably have seen you were close to a key support or resistance level and either not gone into the trade or adjusted your stops and limits accordingly.

For the novice, Forex day trading can involve a huge learning curve. Include this simple daily top down analysis approach to your trading and protect yourself against making trades you wish you didn't!

Michael A. Jones is a writer, webmaster and Forex trader.

Do you want to make consistent profits and take your trading to the next level?

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/forex-course.html

For a purely mechanical strategy for the EUR/USD pair click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-trading-machine.htm

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http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

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Friday 27 April 2007

The Forex Mini Account - The Best Way To Start Off Trading Forex On Low Capital- Part #1



(by Peter Lim)

A lot of people assume that forex trading will require a huge capital base. As a result, they would instantly decline to entertain any proposal to start trading in forex, preferring to remain with trading stocks and shares which is more affordable. This is simply not true, because in forex trading, you can start off with minimal capital when you utilise a forex mini account.

There are four main advantages of a Forex Mini Account.

1. Low Minimum account size

$300 will allow you to start a forex mini account. This is affordable for most people to start off with in forex trading. When you consider forex trading as a business, there are very few businesses costing only $300 as a startup capital offering lucrative prospects of earnings within a very short time.

2. High leverage

You can get leverage of 200:1 In the mini forex account, there is a small margin deposit required fixed at $50 for per lot traded. This amounts to a stunning leverage of 200 to 1. One of the key factors to accelerate profits is to use trading vehicles of high leverage, and a forex mini account certainly meets or fulfils the definition of high leverage.

3. One pip is equivalent to $1

Trading in pips allows the new forex trader to scale down his risk. With such a low denomination, the trader is able to deal with forex trading with less pressure and more discipline. For example, a 20-pip floating loss is approximately $20, so that if you have a 20-pip sudden move against the direction of your trade on a 100K account, that is translated into a $200 floating loss. In every transaction, by using a Mini account, the trader does not end up with a total loss as he loses only a small amount on every losing transaction. This allows him to follow his trading strategy in a disciplined manner.

4. A smaller trade size

The mini forex account trades in smaller contract sizes of 10,000 units which is 1/10 th the size of the standard account. This smaller trade size allows traders an opportunity to trade live with less overall risk. As a result, a beginner can transit or move into forex mini trading quickly from paper trading. While the standard lot is 10,000 units, the beginner trader can increase trading to more lots or units as he gains experience and confidence, and as his profits increase as a result of disciplined trading.

One hidden benefit of trading the mini forex account is that traders can become familiar with the quality and also the reliability of the forex trading platform or trading station of his broker. This is because the forex mini account utilises the same state-of-the art trading software as that for normal sized forex trading.

Mini accounts are recommended for traders with account balances of less than $10,000, allowing them more trading opportunities without over leveraging their account and hence get more staying power in the market.

We will discuss how you can exploit these features of a forex mini account to your advantage in Part #2 of this article so that it is easier to earn a consistent income trading on low capital and lower risk.

Be sure to read Part 2 of this article to discover how you can acquire the powerful trading knowledge from an experienced mentor to trade mini forex and where to secure an online mini forex trading account ."Click Here For Part #2-Mini Forex Trading” or visit http://1forex-trading.blogspot.com

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Thursday 26 April 2007

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



(by Kelly Price)

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

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

1. Never buy a day trading system!

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

The reality of day trading is:

A quick wipe out of equity – why?

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

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

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

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

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

2. Real time profits

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

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

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

3. Understand the FOREX Education

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

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

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

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

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

4. The best FOREX education

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

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

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

Traders who don’t just talk the talk – they have walked the walk and made money.

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

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

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

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

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Wednesday 25 April 2007

Forex Trading Strategy - 3 Major Ways To Improve Your Trading Skills In Forex Trading



(by Peter Lim)

If you are trading forex as a beginner, or if you have been trading for some period of time but have not been a consistent profitable trader, then it may be necessary for you to take a pause in trading and to reconsider and review your forex trading strategy with the primary objective to improve your trading skills. Here are three factors you need to look into.

Develop and "over-study" your trading system

Your trading strategy should involve the use of a defined trading system. The first step in a practical trading strategy is to develop or adopt a proven trading system that will incorporate generating signals for entry and exit positions with the relevant risk management controls such as initial stop loss, trailing stop losses , risk-reward ratio requirement. There are many trading systems but generally they can be classified into systems that are capable of, from a functional purpose, trading the bottoms and the tops, trading at the outbreaks, and trading the pullbacks. But among all these trading systems, I would like to single out time-price trading or price action analysis which can be very powerful effective trading systems that you can use. Once you have developed or adopt these trading systems, over-study them. In other words, you must keep on studying how to use these trading systems and use the trading systems in a disciplined way. This is important because any deviation from following the trading signals from the system is going to work against you. The sure way to ruin is to over-ride well planned and well thought out trading action from a proven trading system.

Understand the nature of trading

In forex trading, like in any other business, there are losses and gains. Being consistently profitable does not mean there are no losses. There are times when your trades may not pan out, but once they hit your stop losses, take the trading signals and cut your losses. Understanding this is important because it keeps you level-headed so that you are able to handle losses and continue to take the trades as they come. In trading, the pressure may gets heated up especially when you are faced with a series of losing trades. But if you keep to your trading strategy, those losses will be small. When the signal works, and moves into a sustained trend, it is very usual to make a lot more profits that will cover the series of small losses which you may have sustained in following strictly to your trading system.

Have an Overall Wealth Creation Plan

Your forex trading activities should only form part of an overall wealth creation plan. In your forex trading strategy, you may use part of your trading profits to add on to your capital monthly, and also withdraw some profits for savings or as an income to "pay yourself to trade". In other words, you pay yourself as a forex trader with your profits, creating an income source as an incentive for performance. As part of your wealth creation plan, you may like to pay yourself up to 20% of the profits montly as your income or allowance. At the same time, allocate 10% fo the profits into a miscellaneous account that will pay for trading related literature, courses, seminars or software that will add on new skills to help you to trade better. The balance of 70% of the profits can be ploughed back into your trading account as additional capital.

Having a forex trading strategy allows you to have an overall perspective of whatever you are doing as a forex trader. The forex trading strategy acts as a simple guide that will allow you to grow as a trader and yet maintain a way to tap the profits from your trading in a sensible way as you develop your career as a professional trader.

Be sure to read the related article " Practise Forex Trading Part #2 " of this series to discover how you can apply a good forex trading strategy, avoid the major trading flaws, and start to earn a consistent income trading forex. Click "Practise Forex Trading Online Part #2" to read this related article now, or go to http://forex-trading.cashflowpc.biz for more free information.

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Tuesday 24 April 2007

The Best Toolkit For Forex Trading-Is It Fundamental Or Technical Analysis



(by Ariyo Akinlosotu)

Forex trading is an immensely profitable venture but may I add very risky as well. We have traders making 5 figures or more constantly on a monthly basis. Many have been in the business for years or are in a good network that provide them very profitable tips and at the right time.

Some traders swear by the fundamental method while others prefer the technical method. While some who are the hybrid types, use the two. Which of these are right?

Many say the money is in the trends. So they like the candle sticks, moving averages, MACD, charts etc. And many have made big bucks doing so. Yes, it is true that the market does mirror some trends. The question is what happens when things go wrong or may I add, spectacularly wrong i.e. when the markets move unexpectedly due to a major world event, one unforeseen by the model?

Crisis could occur unexpectedly as was frequent in the 1990’s such as the Mexican devaluation of 1994, the Asian crisis (1997) and the Russian default (1998). These unexpected events usually make models irrelevant and often lead to excessively high losses.

A case in point is Long Term Capital Management founded by John Merwether? It was a hedge fund that went belly up in 1998. Its specialty was bonds but the model used was akin to that of the technical analytical model used in forex trading. This eventually proved to be its undoing.

Founded in 1994, and making use of computer models, it made high returns, over 30% annually for the first few years. Things however took a turn for the worse in 1998 when it lost $4.6billion in a space of only 4months. The U.S government had to come to its rescue. And interesting its trading formula was one of the most advanced in its field having been designed by two Nobel laureates. It was the unexpected Russian default of 1998 that finally sealed its fate. From this, it never recovered

Many newbies in the forex business may start off making profits using the technical analytical model but many eventually make losses just like LTCM. It is said that 90% of traders make losses and I am sure that majority of these are the inexperienced using technical model.

Do not get me wrong. Traders do make money based on the technical model but an overemphasis on it can be dangerous-very dangerous. Flexibility is the key.

What about fundamental analysis? Though not fool proof, it has proven more resilient and long lasting. Traders who use this model tend to be professional and therefore quite skilled.

One of the greatest kills made in the forex industry was when George Soros a formidable trader bet that the British Pound would be forced to devalue in 1992. He did bet heavily on this and was reputed to have made a $1billion in that trade.

How did he put fundamental analysis to work? He knew then that the strong pound was adversely affecting the British economy and the only way out was for the currency to weaken and that sooner or later, the government would capitulate. And that was what happened.

He was heavily involved in betting against Asian currencies in 1997 and it was his activities and those of other traders that eventually brought the then known rising tigers- Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia to their knees.

Their currencies then were not only strong or to use the proper word-overvalued but their current account deficits were over the top, as high as 8% instead of the more prudent 3% or less. And to add to their woes, their companies had borrowed heavily from foreign banks. It was a ticking time bomb which he only capitalized on.

All traders desire to have such mega-kills as Mr Soros had. He is a legend. That is the result of knowing your onions.

Technical analysis good but fundamental-much, much better.

Ariyo Akinlosotu is an online Marketer. For More Articles You will Find Beneficial, Kindly Visit His Blog At http://www.forexmakingit.blogspot.com

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Monday 23 April 2007

Successful Forex Trading



(by Martin Bottomley)

Forex trading is fast becoming one of the easiest ways to earn large amounts of money on your investment. Then again, it can also be the easiest way to lose all of your money in a short period of time. That is, if you do not know what you are doing. The fact is that even seasoned traders make mistakes and only through the understanding of basic principles and the application of sound strategies can you be assured of earning money in the long run.

One of the most basic things that you have to understand about Forex trading is that there will always be losing streaks along with the winning ones. Having this fact in mind will keep you going during those times that you do not get a good deal. The best way to handle Forex trading is to have a reliable trading system coupled with a rigid money management system.

There are many different strategies employed in Forex trading today. What you should do is either adopt one of them or come up with your own. No matter which path you choose to take, the important thing is that your trading system has been proven or can be proven to be reliable. How would you know that your trading system is reliable?

It is quite simple, really. A reliable trading system is one which gives you more winning trades than losing ones. More than this, your winning trades should be – in general – of greater value than your losing trades. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. More wins with greater value equals profits. No matter how you come up with your trading system, the bottom line is that you get consistent results.

Once you have come up with your trading strategy, try it out first. You can do this by using a demo account before trading live. Using a demo account is advantageous as you will be doing exactly the same thing as live trading – without real money. This way, you can test your strategy and pick out the flaws f there are any.

If, after you have tested your strategy, you are confident that you are getting consistent results, you could go live. Your strategy should not stop there, though. Once you engage in live trading, you must take care to instill strict discipline when it comes to money management. Do not deviate from your strategy once it is put in place. This is perhaps the foremost reason for traders to suddenly lose everything. Always remember that you cannot win all the time and that losses are part of trading. If you have a strategy in place, do not scramble to recoup your losses outside the boundaries of your strategy. The trend is that winning will come soon after your losses.

One rule you should stick to is never trading with more than 2% of your account at risk on a single trade. Whether you win or lose, this percentage is going to get you the long term results that you are aiming for.

Martin Bottomley is a co-founder of Stealth Forex Trading Systems as well as being a full time forex Trader. http://www.stealthforex.com . Article submission service by rcplinks team.

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Sunday 22 April 2007

Economic Calendar - April 23-27

A quiet start to the week this week with no major news announcements scheduled for Monday.

However, Tuesday will certainly be a busier day, starting at 4.30ET when we get two lots of data from the UK - MPC Treasury Committee hearings and public sector net borrowing figures. Then in the US later on we have existing home sales and consumer confidence numbers at 10.00ET which will probably have some impact on the markets.

Wednesday's another busy day this week with durable goods data at 8.30ET, followed by new home sales at 10.00ET, at which time Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will also be speaking. Finally we have crude inventories at 10.30ET.

On Thursday we only have one major news announcement - jobless claims at 8.30ET, although this is unlikely to have a major impact on the markets.

Finally on Friday we have a potentially lively day on the markets with some important figures scheduled. We have GDP and employment cost index data at 8.30ET, then we have consumer sentiment at 10.00ET.


(Disclaimer: the information provided above is intended to be as accurate as possible, but is only a guide and may subsequently change without notice. No investment advice is intended and readers should do their own research relating to the data given).

Saturday 21 April 2007

FOREX Day Trading - A Great Way To Wipe Out Your Equity Quickly



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

There is no better way to wipe out your equity quickly than FOREX day trading.

I read all the time about how great FOREX day trading is, but never seen anyone able to give me a real time long term track record.

The reason of course is:

FOREX day trading is based upon logic that is simply ridiculous and dooms it to failure.

So why do day traders lose?

Consider this:

Day traders think they can predict movements in short time frames, but all short term moves are random and volatility can (and does) take prices anywhere.

If all the moves in a day are random you have no chance of making money as support and resistance points are meaningless.

Trillions of dollars are traded daily by millions of participants and to try and predict where prices will go in short time frames is laughable.

Support and resistance levels are NOT valid

Day traders try and work off support and resistance levels and continually get stopped out as volatility can and does take prices anywhere.

So you have a high probability of being stopped out and day trader’s pile up a huge number of small losses.

Occasionally they get a winning trade (more by luck than judgement) but of course they snatch any profit they can get as running profits is totally alien to day traders.

The result is a wipe out of equity and it normally happens quickly.

What about all the day trading systems promising gains?

Most of these are sold by people who have never traded and rely on enticing copy to sell their systems, or failed brokers looking to appeal to the greed and ignorance of buyers.

These day trading systems NEVER come with real time track records they come with hypothetical track records.

If you don’t know a hypothetical track record is one those us done in hindsight knowing the closing prices!

Well that’s hard; my seven year old daughter could do that.

The fact is day trading is simply a great way to lose money quickly and it is surprising how many traders fall into the trap of trying to win at it

Don’t make the same mistake, unless you want to lose your account equity quickly.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Friday 20 April 2007

Factors That Impact the Forex Market



(by Mark Crisp)

Perhaps the single most common influence on the daily market is that of economics within a given country. One factor that can really make a difference in how well a nation's currency will trade, has to do with the amount of the deficit currently held by the current government. Sudden jumps in the deficit will result in the currency falling in exchange with other countries. As the government reduces the deficit, the currency will begin to recover and actually rise in the rate of exchange.

Along with the budget deficit, a trade deficit can also impact the rate of exchange. Simply put, if a country is not doing at least as much exporting of goods and services as it is importing, a deficit arises. This is a clear economic indicator that will have a negative impact on the value of the country's currency.

Internal inflation or recession will also make a difference in the way the currency of a given country is valued. Inflation in particular has the ability to cause currency to lose value. As a country enters into a period where inflation is rampant, the desirability of the currency will fall, as it is perceived as being less stable overall. Because inflation lessens the purchasing power of a country internally, it is also seen as being a deficit in the ability to purchase goods and services from other countries. As inflation is reined in and periods of mild recession come into play, the value of the currency will once again rise in comparison to other countries.

As with all facets of life, politics also can have a good effect on currency exchange rates, or it can bottom them out. Changes in government personnel that are viewed in a negative light will very quickly reflect a devaluing of the country's currency. The same is true when the current government makes decisions that are perceived as not being in the best interests of the world community. At the same time, an election that puts in office persons, who are esteemed to be favorable by the world community, can very quickly raise the value of that country's currency, at least as long as those officials maintain their favorable status.

The fact of the matter is that quite a few factors that have to do with trading and the overall financial picture of a country will make a huge difference in how the country's currency will fare on any given day. Some factors may result in only temporary upward or downward trends, while others will be more long term in effect. One thing is for sure: the Forex market is never boring.

Get your Momentum Stock Trading System and sign up for my free weekly online trading system newsletter here at: http://www.stressfreetrading.com

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Thursday 19 April 2007

The British Pound – Another Profit and a Lesson for Novice Traders



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

The best trades very often tend to be the most uncomfortable.

Buying significant breakouts works, but you never get in at the bottom (and let’s face it we all want to buy low and sell high) but “buying high and selling higher” is much more profitable if, supported by price momentum.

Most novice traders hate doing this.

They miss the trade because they want to buy the bottom, then want to wait for the pullback to get in.

In most cases this does not yield an entry with the best risk to reward.

Most major moves start from market highs NOT market lows.

If you don’t grit your teeth and learn to buy them, you will simply miss out on most of the best trends.

When you have significant resistance broken and price momentum on your side the odds are very much in your favour if you enter the long side.

Sure, you miss some of the move but odds are the move will continue when important resistance is broken.

By not predicting and acting on confirmation, you will enjoy some great profits with breakouts.

So how far will the pound go up?

No one knows or can predict, so look at the charts and look for clues.

The pound could drop when the RSI peaks and the stochastic lines cross to the downside and point down with bearish divergence.

These indicators are great for getting into trades and their both great indicators to take profit with as well.

Watch them closely and act on confirmation.

Trading online FOREX is all about getting the odds in your favour.

If you trade important breaks of resistance and support with price momentum on your side, you will make some great profits.

If you read my articles regularly you will know we give live trade set ups for you to look at and tools you can apply to spot and enter trades in live situations.

The British Pound set up worked well and a great profit has unfolded, but there is an important lesson I wanted to share with you here.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Wednesday 18 April 2007

Forex Trend Following - A Key Tool Most Traders Don't Use But Should



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

If you want to catch the really big trends there is a key tool for FOREX Trend following that you should use.

If you use this tool then you will have a much better chance of catching and holding the really big trends that can yield the big profits of $10,000 or more.

So here it is:

It’s the weekly chart.

Most traders simply use daily charts but if you are after the big trends the weekly chart is essential.

Why?

Quite simply, because it gives you the big picture of the prevailing long term trend.

You can see the weekly charts on many free chart services

Keep in mind that the long term currency trends last months or even years, as they reflect the underlying health of the economy.

By looking at the weekly chart these trends are clear to see and you can then time your entry via the daily chart.

The best set ups for trading are when support and resistance line up on BOTH charts.

You know then that if they hold or if they are broken they are much more significant than simply points on the daily chart.

So the way to catch the really big trends is to do the following:

Look at the weekly chart for the long term trend, then time your entry on the daily chart by looking for important resistance or support.

Once this is done you need to time your entry.

Don’t simply trade on breaks or holding of support or resistance.

CONFIRMATION

Once you have lined up support and resistance on both the weekly and daily chart you need to watch price momentum.

You want price momentum to either be with you on a break of support or resistance i.e. strong momentum or if you are looking for these levels to hold you want to watch for weakening price momentum.

Use these indicators

1. The stochastic

2. RSI

They are great indicators and discussed in our other articles.

If you use them to see and trade with price momentum, the odds of your trade being successful are dramatically increased.

This METHOD

Will ensure you get in on all the big trends, with the odds on your side and help you make the really big profits.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Tuesday 17 April 2007

Fibonacci Trading - Key To Forex Profits



(by Alexandros Louizos)

If you have at least a few months that Forex came into your life you have surely heard of Fibonacci levels in Forex charts. But what is Fibonacci?

Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers. Every number is being produced by adding the last Fibonacci number to the previous. The first numbers of Fibonacci sequence are 1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,….etc But what has Fibonacci sequence to do with Forex Trading? IF you divide two sequential numbers you get the result 1,618. The square of 1,618 is 1,27. The inverse number of 1,618 is 0,618. The inverse of 1,27 is 0,786. These numbers are called Fibonacci numbers because they result from Fibonacci sequence number’s analogies. The 1,618 number was called ‘Golden Mean’ by ancient Greeks and other ancient cultures. They called it so because they observed that this number is found everywhere in nature.

The result of creations, living organisms to space galaxies, that have this number embedded is symmetry. But enough with maths and science! Let’s see the use of Fibonacci numbers in trading. Since the beginning of investment industry, traders have noticed that prices tend to change direction in levels that are very close to these numbers I mentioned above. For example in an uptrend prices will go up and then swing down to a level that is a Fibonacci number before continuing the uptrend. These levels are called Fibonacci Retracement levels.

The most common Fibonacci levels in Forex market are 0.382, 0.5, 0.618 and 0.786. Nobody knows why prices tend swing in these Fibonacci levels. And nobody knows at which exact Fibonacci level will the price change direction in advance. How could you use this knowledge to improve your trading? Well, you should know that prices tend to reverse at Fibonacci retracement levels. A lot of novice traders use the exact point of a fibonacci retracement level e.g. 0.618 as a trade entry. Experienced traders know this fact and wait for other traders to get their stop loss hit and then enter the market. Fibonacci retracement levels should be used as an indication of entry and not as the exact point of entry. Moreover the bulk of traders use 0,618 and 0.386 retracement levels. Experienced traders know this tendency and wait for other retracement levels not widely used like 0.786 or 0.707 in order to enter a trade. Use these Fibonacci retracements as well. Make the difference! But how would you know at which Fibonacci retracement level will the price change direction? Fibonacci retracements, like other technical indicators are more valid when they are calculated for a greater time value.

Do not pick minor swings to calculate Fibonacci retracements. Pick greater price swings instead. Moreover, a Fibonacci level becomes more valid when it coincides with another technical indicators such as trendline resistance or support, MACD or RSI divergence and so on. The most valid retracement level should be choosen keeping in mind that further confirmation from other technical indicators should be taken into account. You wouldn’t like to put your money on risk with only one reason, would you? So choose the Fibonacci retracement level that coincides with other reverse signals. Last of all let’s see the use of Fibonacci numbers in trading time analysis. It is a method that only few traders know. Pick a significant hi or a low in a daily chart. Then calculate trading days (excluding weekends) from that point and on using Fibonacci sequence.

You would have the first, the second, the third, the fifth the eighth trading day and so on. Watch that in trading days that are Fibonacci numbers, prices tend to reverse direction! Isn’t it amazing? Add this tool to your chart analysis and you wont lose! After all these years of trading experience and research I have found that Forex charts iclude some special patterns created by price swings. These patterns are formed under certain Fibonacci relations between their swings. Fibonacci Patterns can give low risk and hi reward trading entries.

The accurancy of these patterns is as high as 80%. It takes some practice to recognize these Fibonacci patterns correctly but the result is highly rewarding. You could learn more about Fibonacci Patterns by clicking here.

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Monday 16 April 2007

Economic Calendar - April 16-20

Monday looks set to be quite a busy day this week with several economic announcements scheduled. Firstly we have the Empire State manufacturing survey and retail sales reports out at 8.30ET which could well affect the markets, and then we have long term TIC (Treasury International Capital) flows and business inventories at 9.00ET and 10.00ET respectively.

Tuesday sees two important data releases at 8.30ET - CPI and housing starts. Then we have industrial production at 9.15ET.

On Wednesday we have less significant economic data releases with the MBA purchase applications at 7.00ET and the usual crude inventories at 10.30ET.

Thursday sees the jobless claims release at 8.30ET followed by leading indicators at 10.00ET which could both have an effect on the markets, but the biggest announcement of the day is the Philadelphia Fed Survey at 12.00ET.

Finally on Friday there are currently no important data releases scheduled.

Friday 13 April 2007

Forex Money Management



(by Milos Pesic)

Forex money management is one of the most important things you can learn before you actually begin making live trades.

The money management principles discussed here will teach you how to avoid the costly mistakes many new traders make, often to the degree that they lose their entire investment on the first handful of trades.

Psychology is really the most important factor to money management in forex. You have to be able to separate yourself from any emotional attachment you may have to your money. This is not very easy to do, but it works and it can be done.

If you allow yourself to become emotional on a trade, you will not exit the trade properly, and this could mean holding on to a trade when you should have let it go, or letting go before the trade had a chance to turn profitable.

First and foremost, you should consider leverage and risk. It is advisable that you never risk more than two percent of your account balance on any trade. However, some go further and allow for as much as ten percent, but never more than that. This gives you the ability to withstand market fluctuations, and if the trade goes bad, you still have money to try again. You should never operate under the assumption that you will profit from every trade. You should also plan for losses. Therefore, most traders will tell you that the best thing to do is to keep your gains large and your losses small. Develop your trading strategy around this idea.

Keep track of your gains and losses. Keeping accurate and detailed records of your account activity will allow you to see whether or not the strategy is working, or if it needs to be re-built.

Never go blindly into trading without a way to keep track of results. You will lose all of your funds and never understand why it happened.

Finally, it is highly advisable that you first practice a strategy on a demo account. Nearly all brokers offer a virtual account whereupon you make trades in real-time, but with imaginary money, so nothing is risked. This is the best way to test a strategy before you put your real money on the line.

However, be careful, once again, of the psychology of trading. When you play with fake money, nothing is risked. When real money is on the line, you must not get emotional. If you do, you will find yourself with very different results, most likely losses, than you had with the demo account.

Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Forex Trading and runs a highly popular and comprehensive Forex Trading web site. For more articles and resources on Forex related topics, online forex trading, trading tips, forex software and much more visit his site at:

=>http://forex.need-to-know.net

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Thursday 12 April 2007

Online FOREX Brokers – A Brokers View Of Why Novice Clients Lose



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

I write frequently on how to trade but my observations on the markets here I will go back to may days as a broker and give you the view from the dealing room on client behavior and the major reasons traders lost.

I dealt with several thousand traders over 8 years and here are my observations.

This was the late eighties and early nineties and online FOREX brokers of course did not exist, clients behave no differently today as they did then.

Here are the top reasons traders lose with any FOREX broker and that includes online FOREX brokers

1. Methods traded were illogical

The first reason was simply methods did not work as logic they were based upon was not relevant to market movement.

Today, day trading is more popular than ever with online FOREX brokers, but it was around 20 years ago and the same results were obtained which were:

A wipe out of equity in a short time.

Day trading did not work then and it doesn’t work now- Volatility is random in short time frames.

Any support and resistance seen in a daily time frame therefore is useless for trading purposes.

Online FOREX traders just like we did must love day traders lots of commission generated!

As a broker your balance sheet is based upon commission to equity.

You generally assume all clients lose anyway, so if they pay lots of commission while losing all the better.

There were other methods that lost especially the ones that clients bought that promised regular money or an income from trading.

These methods were normally bought tested in hindsight and the trader threw in the towel after a few losses, or was wiped out.

Another group that lost were the ones with complicated methods.

They figured the more complicated a method was the more likely it was to succeed, this of course is totally wrong.

Simple systems work best as there are fewer elements to break.

We had one trader who bought a system which he proudly boasted was based on artificial intelligence and the same technology used by NASA to put a man on the moon

Unfortunately, it did not help him in the market!

2. Discipline

What always struck me was how few clients could trade in a disciplined fashion.

They had jobs where they had to be disciplined everyday, yet in the markets they simply behaved irrationally as soon as a few losses came along.

- They would chop and change methods looking for the perfect one. - They would revenge trade to catch up losses. - They would blame the markets and call them stupid

When money is on the line we all know it’s hard to be disciplined, but the emotions that we saw ranged from crying to total despair, including one suicide.

3. Money management

Many clients were good at picking market direction but could never make any money due to poor money management.

This was problem for them not only in cutting loses ( they very often removed stops or never placed them) of course, a small loss soon becomes a big loss, the trader cant take that, then he was handed a loss he had to take.

He would have been better of taking the small loss in the first place.

What surprised me was how few traders could accept big profits.

The bigger the profit became the more they wanted to take it even if their system indicated further gains.

The argument given was:

“you don’t go broke taking a profit”

Of course you do, if profits don’t exceed your inevitable losses.

This was perhaps more important than taking small losses.

Traders I saw could not allow trades run to $10,000 or more, a couple of thousand and they banked.

There are more reasons but they above are the ones that caused most losses and of all the traders I traded less than 1% made money longer term.

In part 2 of this article we will look at different personalities we traded, who won, who lost and the traits of the traders who won.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Paper Trading – Is It A Worthwhile Exercise?



(by Jim Buccini - my article)

Paper trading is where you make dummy trades with no real capital being used, and is where most traders start their trading career. It allows you to make decisions and trade accordingly, on paper only, so you can freely try out different techniques and learn how the markets move. Ultimately though, is paper trading really a worthwhile exercise?

Well there's no doubting that if you're completely new to the world of trading, then I would say that it's almost essential that you place trades on paper only, before you risk any of your hard-earned money on the markets.

The financial markets, whether it's stocks, commodities, forex or any other markets, are a ruthless place. The professional traders, and indeed the financial institutions, have no qualms about taking your money from you. Therefore, it is indeed a good idea to trade on paper initially, and become accustomed to placing trades and seeing what works and what doesn't, before you start trading for real.

Paper trading also enables you to use, and get to grips with a particular trading platform that you may choose to use. For example, many brokers now offer newcomers a practice account, where they can practice making trades and become accustomed to using the particular company's trading software. So this is another positive benefit of paper trading.

For the more experienced trader, there are also added benefits. By placing pretend trades, you can effectively try out any new technical indicators or systems that you may discover.

So what are the downfalls of paper trading?

Well, unfortunately no matter how many trades you do on paper, the harsh reality is that it will often give slightly false and misleading results. This is because nothing comes close to real-life trading with real money. The emotions and mindset are completely different when real money is being staked, which is why overall I think paper trading is only worthwhile up to a certain point.

It's only when you start trading for real that you notice how much different it is to trading on paper. The markets seem to move faster, your heart beats faster, and you have to make split second decisions. There's also a bigger fear of losing, which you cannot recreate unless you're trading for real.

So to conclude, if you're new to trading, then yes it is a good idea to paper trade only to begin with, but please remember that no matter how successful you may be on paper, it's only when you start trading for real, that you can identify how good a trader you really are.

If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Tuesday 10 April 2007

FOREX Trading Advice - The Good News Is That You Can Get Great Advice For FREE



(by Kelly Price)

All the forex advice you need to become a successful trader is available on the internet for free.

Here we will show you where to get the best forex advice for free and turn you into a profitable trader.

A common error

A common error made by many novice forex traders is to think that they can buy a system or an e-book from a guru for $100 or so and buy success.

Now, while there is some good forex advice sold on the net, the bulk of it is not worth the money.

Most of it is sold by salesmen (who have never traded) or failed brokers who cant trade and decide they may as well sell advice.

It is common sense that you cannot buy forex success for $100 or so, as if the forex advice worked then it would not be sold.

A quick way to decide if sold forex advice is worth your hard cash is to ask for a real time track record of real money made in the markets.

After that look for a money back guarantee.

If you don’t get both the above don’t buy it.

The reason you should do it on your own is that if you get your own forex advice and study it you will have confidence in it.

This means you will be more likely to follow it with discipline when you come to trade it.

It is far harder to follow someone else’s advice with discipline than your own, as you will always understand your own better.

The internet has all the information you need for free and here are some topics to look up and study

1. Technical analysis

Everything you need to know can be found on the net from advantages to the chart formations.

2. Technical indicators

You will know how to draw charts and what the formations mean from Point 1. Now you need some timing indicators.

Good ones to look up are: Bollinger bands, stochastics, moving averages, RSI and MACD. By all means look up others but the above are the ones we find most useful for entering a market

Go to a free chart service such as futuresource.com and look at them on some live charts.

3. Breakouts

Now you have looked at some charts and some indicators to help you identify and enter trends you need a methodology.

Perhaps the easiest methodology to use is a breakout method.

Look it up.

It’s easy to understand and easy to implement and it works.

4. Putting it altogether.

With the forex advice you have you can build a simple system to trade.

Base the system on breakouts and use chart support and resistance to spot profitable trading set ups.

You can then experiment with various technical indicators to help you enter breakouts.

Our own personal way of trading uses chart support and resistance to set up trades.

We then define entry with stohastics (a momentum indicator) and RSI which is an indication of the strength of the price and that’s it.

There is a lot of forex advice on the net that makes forex trading more difficult than it really is.

In fact, anyone with the free forex advice on the net can build test and implement a system based upon sound logic.

Keep in mind

The majority of traders fail because they lack discipline.

This comes from the fact that they don’t have confidence in their system and throw in the towel as soon as they have a few losses.

By taking some time to build your own system, you will have confidence in it and will be more able to follow it with discipline.

The fact is all the forex advice you need to build and trade a system for yourself is free.

If you put in the time and effort your study will be handsomely rewarded.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Sunday 8 April 2007

Economic Calendar - April 9-13

Monday and Tuesday this week are both very quiet with no major economic releases scheduled to be released in the US.

Wednesday is the first day this week where we have potentially market-moving releases scheduled. Firstly we have crude inventories at 10.30ET, then we have Fed chairman Ben Bernanke speaking at around 13.00ET followed by FOMC minutes and the treasury budget at 14.00ET.

On Thursday we have an interest rate announcement from the ECB at 7.45ET, followed by two announcements scheduled for 8.30ET - import and export prices, and initial jobless claims.

Finally, on Friday we have probably the most significant economic releases of the week. At 8.30ET we have the trade balance and PPI announcements, and then at 10.00ET we have consumer sentiment figures.


(Disclaimer: the information provided above is intended to be as accurate as possible, but is only a guide and may subsequently change without notice. No investment advice is intended and readers should do their own research relating to the data given).

Saturday 7 April 2007

Forex Trading 101 – 10 Essential Tips For Novice Traders



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

If you are new to forex trading you know that 90% of traders lose their money quickly, so you need some tips on how to join the 10% that make big consistent profits.

Here are 10 essential tips to increase your chances of making big profits from forex trading.

1. You need to rely on yourself

Many novice traders think they can buy success.

If you think you can buy success from someone else for $100 or so, you are mistaken.

Think about it – If you could a lot more traders would win than do!

Rely on yourself, do your own research and homework and come up with a system that you are confident you can make money with.

2. Avoid day trading

Day trading is popular, but the fact is it doesn’t make money, as it’s based upon flawed logic.

You cannot predict volatility in short time periods so don’t try.

Do it and you will lose.

If you don’t believe me then ask any day trader for a track record of real profits and you won’t get one.

3. Get a method your confident in

This means a simple method and for novice traders one which is based upon technical analysis.

A simple method will be easy to understand and more importantly, it’s a fact that simple methods work better than more complicated methods.

Why?

Quite simply, their less likely to break in the face of brutal market conditions.

Just a few indicators you understand and are confident in. are all you need

If you want a methodology to base your method on:

Base it on “breakouts”, most of the world’s top systems are based upon this methodology and you should consider it.

4. Discipline

If you have a method you must execute the signals with discipline.

As you will have devised the method yourself and it will be simple to understand, you will be able to acquire discipline.

Keep in mind, if you can’t execute a method with discipline you don’t have a method at all!

If you are using a technical method don’t be tempted to listen to the news.

Why?

Because you will hear lots of convincing stories that are probably wrong.

Remember, that experts in the media tell good stories but their more often than not wrong.

It’s a fact that:

Important market tops form on very bullish news and market bottoms form on bearish news – SO ignore it!

5. Money management

This is a major problem for most novice traders.

You need to protect what you have and run longer term trends.

You must take a risk!

Don’t be tempted to place your stops to close and MOVE them to quickly - you will be stopped out continually.

Most novice traders try to restrict risk, but actually end up creating it by ensuring they will be stopped out.

6. Have realistic aims

Most traders think trading is easy but of course it isn’t.

If you consider that the top traders in the world make 50 – 100% per annum then you will see that getting rich over night is not an option.

You need to set realistic objectives and be patient.

7. Work smart not hard

You don’t need to work all hours of the day, or acquire vast amounts of knowledge.

Once you have a method you are happy with, your trading should take less than an hour a day.

There is no reward for how much effort you put in.

You only get rewarded for getting market direction right.

8. Forex trading looks easy

But, if it was easy, 90% of people would not lose there money quickly.

Be humble and accept that the market is all powerful and you need to work smart to make money.

9. Patience

Many novice traders think that they need to trade all the time in case they miss a move, but this is a recipe for loses.

You need to be patient and wait for the right opportunities to come along.

10. Perseverance

If you are in a losing run (and don’t worry this will happen) you need to persevere and maintain your discipline.

Wait for the losing run to end and keep your emotions in check.

TO be successful at forex trading you need to work smart and acquire the right knowledge and then apply it with discipline.

If you can do the above forex trading can build you serious wealth over the longer term

Good luck!

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Friday 6 April 2007

Online FOREX Trading – To Be Successful Don't Listen To The News



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

The online forex trader today has a vast amount of news at his fingertips due to growth of the web and many investors think the more news they study and act on the more likely they are to win, however the exact opposite is true:

Pay to much attention to the news and you will lose.

The reason for this may not be obvious, so let’s look at this question in more detail and see why.

Will Rogers once said:

“I only believe what I Read in the papers”

He was joking but the majority of new online forex traders think they can use the news to their advantage, but they can’t here’s why:

Markets discount

Let’s face it, we see stories all the time from news wires that are full of convincing reasons why a currency will rise and fall, but in most cases there simply good stories and the currency often moves in the opposite direction.

The markets however don’t move on supply and demand fundamentals and opinions nor do they move logically.

Currency prices move to the following equation:

Supply and demand fundamentals + Investor psychology = Market movement.

Investors are in the equation and it is how they view the news that is so important, not the news itself.

Investors are driven by emotions greed fear and hope and it is they that determine the price.

Markets discount news instantly in today’s world of lightening fast communications, so it is almost impossible for most traders to trade off news stories.

Throw in the unpredictably of human nature and trading news for most investors means losses.

Discipline

If you pay to much attention to the news, your emotions can well come into play.

You will hold positions you should not, simply because the “experts” are saying they are right in the press.

Don’t forget these experts are selling stories and are not traders.

If you pay to much attention to the news you will simply let your emotions get in the way and discipline will go out the window.

It’s a fact, that:

Major market tops are formed on bullish news and major market bottoms are formed on bearish news.

A compelling conclusion

For small traders the best way to trade fore markets is with a disciplined technical system.

Why? Because it takes the news into account anyway.

All it assumes is that fundamentals are instantly discounted and will show up in price action.

Not only does technical analysis take into account the fundamentals and news, it also takes into account investor psychology.

Taking into account investor psychology is critical, as investors determine the price of anything.

Human nature never changes.

Repetitive price patterns can be seen in charts that reflect human psychology and can be traded for profit.

That is the opportunity, if you trade with a technical system and ignore the news.

MORE FREE TRADING INFO & A SYSTEM WITH A REAL TIME TRACK RECORD

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including info and for an exclusive visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Thursday 5 April 2007

Day Trading – Why You Are Guaranteed To Lose



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

Day trading is popular and you will find more vendors selling day trading systems than any other method.

People buy them yet they don't work and guarantee you will lose longer term. Why?

Let’s find out.

Successful trading is all about trading the odds and you must have data that’s reliable that enables you to do this.

In day trading you simply don’t have any reliable data to work with and therefore cannot get the odds in your favor and may as well flip a coin.

Trillions of dollars are traded daily by countless millions of traders and daily volatility is random.

Therefore, using support and resistance areas in a day session is useless.

The only people who take any notice of daily support and resistance levels are day traders and their small losing minority.

The net result is:

Day traders place stops behind meaningless levels and are then surprised when they get stopped out. Of course, even if their lucky enough to get a profit in day trading, they break one of the fundamental rules of investing:

Run your profits

Day traders are normally glad to scalp a few points or want to close out at the end of the day.

They therefore have huge amount of losing trades and their winners are tiny ensuring that their account equity is wiped out quickly.

Still not convinced?

Then try this simple test:

Ask any day trader for a real time track record of profits over the longer term and you simply won’t get one.

Of course, they can produce hypothetical track records (but their done knowing the closing prices!) so they are no use at all.

People selling day trading systems make their money selling a good story and collecting money from greedy or in experienced traders, so they are guaranteed to make money while the trader loses.

Day trading sounds great in theory but although it looks low risk it is not.

You are working with data that is simply unreliable and all day traders eventually end up losing their money.

If you want to make money in online forex trading then avoid day trading.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Wednesday 4 April 2007

The Forex Trader Does Not Need To Be Right But He Has To Be Objective



(by Donald Saunders)

One of the hardest lessons for any novice Forex trader to learn is that in the foreign exchange market anything can happen at any time. Because new traders spend a great deal of time learning about the mechanics of the market and focusing their attention on finding a method for predicting movements in the market, it is only natural that they also come to believe that there is a strict set of rules that govern the direction of the market at any given moment in time. Unfortunately, this is not the case and this fact catches many traders out.

Most Forex traders will use a variety of tools to judge when the moment is right to open a position and then later to close out that position, but the majority of traders will also tend to have one tool in particular which is their favorite and which they tend to rely on more than anything else. Having opened a position therefore they will tend to keep their eye on their favorite indicator and base their decisions largely on what this one indicator is telling them.

The problem comes when this indicator is telling them one thing but the other indicators start to tell them something else. They are in an open position and their favorite indicator is telling them to hold that position, but everything else is telling them to close out their position and to get out of the market. In most cases the trader will hold his ground and, more often than not, will find himself in a losing trade.

The problem here is that the trader is not viewing the market objectively but has created an expectation about the market in his own mind and is using his favorite indicator to reinforce this expectation, rather than standing back and viewing the wider picture from the information which he is receiving. In most cases he is also being urged on by the thought that he must be right, and by the profit available from this trade according to his favorite forecasting tool, and is looking at the money rather than at the market.

The foreign exchange market is by its very nature unpredictable and, if this were not the case, the market would soon collapse as we would all be making a profit on every trade we make. There are of course a raft of tools available to help us to predict the course of the market and thankfully most of the time they do a pretty good job, but sometimes even the best of tools in the hands of the most experienced traders are going to come up against an unexpected change in the direction of the market.

Getting it wrong is part and parcel of Forex trading and traders must learn to accept this as a fact of foreign currency trading. More than this however traders must learn to guard against getting themselves into a position of being proved right or wrong and this means accepting that the market has a will of its own and that the only way to trade successfully is to be totally objective about the market and to follow movements in the market rather than try to get the market go where you think it should go.

ForexOnlineTradingSystem.info is the ideal place to learn Forex trading and provides information on a wide range of topics including currency exchange rates and the benefits of testing the water through mini Forex trading

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Tuesday 3 April 2007

An Ideal Forex Trading Education Module in Preparing Yourself for Profit and Risks in Forex Market



(by Fakhrul Anuar Malek)

The Forex market is the largest and the most liquid market in the world that operates 24 hours a day and generates exchanges that amounts to 3 trillion dollars each day. Due to this kind of features, everyone would like a piece of the action going on inside the Forex market. However, before you join the Forex market, you should have the fundamental and proper Forex trading education, knowledge and skills on trading currencies. The ideal forex trading education module should consist of the following:-

Background

This is the first parts of the Forex trading education where you will learn the whereabouts of Forex market. Understand the nature of the market, which is a volatile market-conditions and keep changing frequently. Keep these two characteristics in your mind and along the way learn how to examine such market changes and make appropriate decisions.

Risk Control and Management

The second part of your forex trading education is how to manage and control the risk. This will be the crucial part of your activities in Forex market since this is the point of whether you are gaining profit or end up with loses. At the thrill of making huge money and at the same time there is opportunity in front you, don't be overconfident and over investing.

New starters especially, who instantly gain a lot of profits may think that they know too much. But it helps to know that it is not the same all throughout. Good profits oftentimes encourage more people to trading so much, without thinking of the risks. Discipline is one trait that you should practice and learn.

Through Forex trading education module you will study how and when to cut off your potential loses before getting worse and learns when to stop although you gaining profit from the market.

Psychology

This part will complement the risk control and management lesson. Why? During the trading, you may not every time gaining profit and worse case, you may face losses. This is a fact since you can't expect to gain at all times. You should know how to properly deal with all your losses and in Forex trading market, you must always mentally fit to make decisions.

Demo Account

Once you have learned and understand the essence and inside out of Forex trading, you will proceed to manage a demo Forex trading account. You will practice the Forex transactions as if a real trading activities. Although there is no reality risk involve, please do treat this demo account as realistic as the real Forex trading market. A good Forex trading education module will simulate a near cases to real risk of Forex market. In managing a demo account, please implement whatever you have learn before, especially in making decisions and controlling the risk.

Through this practice, the end result will reflect whether you are ready to take the ownership of managing the real thing.

Forex market is considered the largest market in the world. It is operational twenty four hours a day, five days a week. Its processes are been carried out in real times without boundaries. Therefore, prepare yourself with forex trading education so you have a better understanding before plunging into the business. Some people may suggest that the best way of learning Forex market is during the trading period, but it is always your own call to choose the best way that will be most appropriate to your needs.

Fakhrul Anuar Malek presents more information on forex trading education at http://forex-trading.cosmomatrix.com Click here now -> http://forex-trading.cosmomatrix.com, and discover all the techniques that the pros are using with great success.

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Monday 2 April 2007

Learn Forex Trading - Dealing With A Market That Is Always On The Move



(by Donald Saunders)

The foreign exchange market never stands still and, while it may move slowly at times, it is always on the move. In many ways this is one of the great benefits of Forex trading as it is this movement which provides the opportunity to profit from buying and selling global currencies, but it can also make it difficult to decide when to get into a trade, get out of a trade or simply stay out of the market altogether.

Perhaps the biggest problem with a market which is constantly presenting the trader with the opportunity to make a profit is that it plays on our natural sense of greed and this is a very real problem if you are not aware of the danger you face.

We all love to make a profit, but how much profit is acceptable? If you're in a trade and looking at a profit of $800 should you close out your position and take that profit or hang on in there for $1,000? You trade to make money and the more money the better so, when the market is moving in your favor it's only natural to want to ride the wave all the way to the beach. The problem however lies in knowing when you've hit the beach and not waiting until the undertow starts to drag you back out to sea again. Once you get caught up in the undertow it can prove to be very strong and drag you out again very quickly.

Many people enter Forex trading with a picture in their mind of just what they're going to do with all the money they make and that's no bad thing. It's extremely important to have a goal, and a plan to reach that goal, and to plant a visual picture in your mind as something concrete to aim for. However, the other side of this coin is that you may well be tempted to try to reach that goal faster than you had originally planned or to create a bigger and better goal as you go along, allowing your natural tendency towards greed creep in and begin to take control of your trading.

Another problem here is a simple failure to recognize that money does not drive the market.

Think about it for a moment. Whether you have $5,000 or $500,000 in your trading account is not going to make any difference at all to the way in which the market moves. Similarly, whether you have a $700 profit or a $700 loss in an open trading position isn't going to make the slightest difference as far as the market rising or falling is concerned.

The fact that you've done well in a trade and have made a profit of $700 doesn't mean that this is going to turn into an $800 or $900 profit if you wait a while longer. However, it's perfectly natural to find yourself caught up in your 'winning streak' and to convince yourself that there is more to come.

It's also perfectly normal to find that, having lost $700 in an open trade, your natural fear of losing is going to convince you that things will turn around if you just keep your nerve and hold on a little bit longer.

Setting yourself a goal and making a plan to reach that goal is essential, but your trading decisions need to be based not on your goal but on the market. Money should have nothing to do with whether you enter or exit a trade, or stay out of the market, and such decisions should be based solely on what your analysis and the numbers tell you.

ForexOnlineTradingSystem.info is the ideal place to learn Forex trading and provides information on a wide range of topics including currency exchange rates and the benefits of testing the water through mini Forex trading

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.

Sunday 1 April 2007

Online FOREX Trading – Become a Successful Forex Trader in Two Weeks!



(by Sacha Tarkovsky)

One of the most inspiring stories I ever read, was how legendary trader Richard Dennis taught 14 people who had never traded before, to trade successfully in just two weeks.

The result?

They traded and went on to make millions and become some of the most famous traders of all time.

So how was it done and can you do the same? Let’s find out.

Richard Dennis taught them three major points:

1. A simple method they could have confidence in.

2. Money management.

3. Applying the method with discipline.

His advice was very specific with no filler.

So, let’s look at what you need to learn.

1. Method

You need a method you have confidence in and it needs to be simple.

There is no correlation between how complicated a method is and how much money it makes.

In fact, the reverse is true.

A complicated method has more components to break and is less robust in the face of brutal market conditions.

Look up “technical analysis” on the net and learn specifically how and why it works and also the theory of “trading breakouts”

You should be using a long term trend following methodology looking for the big trends that produce the big profits and breakout trading is ideal for this.

If you want to win at online forex trading, you need to know about breakouts.

Base your methodology on it – It’s simple and it works.

Now you need to time entries.

Look at some indicators that are based on momentum and look up “stochastics” this is simply the best momentum indicator you can use.

2. Money Management

If you start with a “breakout method” and base your trading method on it, then stop placement is obvious.

If you only trade significant breaks your odds of success will be high.

3. Discipline

Is perhaps the hardest part of trading online forex.

You need to apply your method with rigid discipline otherwise you have no method at all.

Discipline is all about experience and even seasoned traders find it hard to keep executing a method when a string of losses occur.

However, you are part of the way there to having discipline, if you have devised your own method.

You know its logic and should be able to stay with it as you will have confidence in it to work.

All the material you need to get up and running is free and on the internet, but it’s worth reading a few books.

These are my favorites and will they inspire you.

1. Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards ( edit )

By Jack Shwager.

These are interviews with some of the top traders of all time including:

Richard Dennis and the turtles and many more – Packed with insight and very inspiring.

2. Trader Vic

By Victor Sperandeo.

A true trading legend, who shares with us his thoughts on trading, money management and trading psychology, a fantastic all round book.

By all means read a few more, but these three are my favorites from over 500 I have read.

Trading is Simple, yet people try and complicate it.

They think the more effort they put in the more they will get out – This is totally false.

Work smart not hard!

If you want to make money you need to work smart not hard and if you want a perfect example of this look at the turtles!

In just two weeks they all became great traders.

Maybe, you wont make as much money as them, but if you learn and do the above, you will have the basic platform to make big profits in online forex trading.

Finally, you will have done it all on your own and will have given yourself success, how satisfying is that?

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S AND MUCH MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some great FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

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If you're looking for a forex trading platform, I can highly recommend Easy Forex. They offer competitive spreads, guaranteed stop-losses if required, live training and support, and you can start trading with as little as $25.