Will Forex Trading Be Right For You?

 When it comes to Forex currency trading, there are some basic character traits and lifestyle elements that need to be in place in order to make a go of this type of trading.

Here are some examples of traits and conditions that should exist in your life before you embark on a round of currency trading.

Many people are looking for a way to get rich overnight.

That there are many scams out there that continually lure people in with wild promises of instant wealth is easily demonstrated by watching television or checking the bulk folder of your email account.

While there are some people that attempt to make ridiculous promises about the money to be made in currency trading, the fact is that for many it is just like any other type of work.

You must be prepared to put in your time, have some success and also experience some failures now and then.

If you are looking for instant success and have visions of spending the rest of your life on the beach after making a killing with currency trading, then you need to do some serious rethinking.

In like manner, you will need to posses the attribute of patience if you are to get anywhere with currency trades.

While you may indeed experience incremental success with your transactions, your gains will come over time and usually will be rather small in and of themselves.

You may need to hang on to a currency for a period of time rather than trading it off, with an eye to the way you believe things will look a week or a month from now.

Make sure you can keep your cool and allow your better judgment to come into play. Patience tends to be rewarded handsomely.

The state of your finances also is a big factor when it comes to making a decision about getting involved with currency trading.

As with any type of investment, you need to make sure you can afford to lose what you invest without creating any problems with maintaining your current standard of living.

While some people like living on the edge, the fact is there is no glory in going for a deal and ending up having to sell the house in order to cover what turned out to be a bad deal.

If you are not able to keep your head when it comes, to only using your disposable resources, to fund your currency trading, then you need to rethink the whole idea.

There is a lot of money to be made with currency trading. However it is not a venture that is right for everyone.

If you are looking for a get rich quick scheme, have a problem thinking decisions through with a cool head, or have a tendency to not take care of your basic financial needs before you invest, then Forex currency trading is not the right choice for you.

If you are business minded and have the ability to make good logical decisions, then I am sure you will love trading currencies.

It should be noted that Forex trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.

Will I Get Rich Trading?...Probably Not

Don't throw that coffee cup at your screen, I'm only being honest. Do some people get rich trading?...Absolutely. The internet is filled with talented pitch men that can hype anything from watching the stars to the latest and greatest make you rich on auto-pilot software program for your trading signals. (but the stars thing does work great with my wife) Well, here today on the World Wide Web I am going to reveal the Holy Grail of trading. The surprise is it won't be found sold on the 'net in fact it is not a trading system at all. It is (drum roll please) being honest with yourself. My goodness, that's not very exciting after all the hype we've been fed by the guru's.

The truth is there are many trading systems that work, but there are precious few people can be honest enough with themselves to pick a system correctly. Most people that want to trade start off by looking for that system that will beat the market. Now I know that some systems out perform others and by all means you should seek the best one. Where many struggling traders miss the boat is they don't understand the best system is the one that matches your own personality. If one trader has good discipline he may not need a system that is very rigid. On other side of the discipline spectrum, a trader would need many rules to protect him. If either of these traders try to trade with other's system they would probably fail. When you try to trade a system that does not align with your need for discipline as an individual you are destined to fight the very system your trading. The holy grail that many seek is the ability to correctly identify their strengths and weaknesses. This sounds simple but you would be surprised at how many people will disregard certain weaknesses that they do not want to admit to anyone, even themselves. If more traders would first be brutally honest with themselves and then design a system tailored to their own attributes we would have many more Rich traders.

Will you get rich trading? If you have the honesty to choose the correct system, and the discipline to follow that system it may be possible.

Winning Strategies With Forex Charts

 As you read forex charts, remember that the two fundamental approaches for online forex trading: fundamental analysis and technical analysis.

Fundamental analysis doesn't rely on forex charts. It scrutinizes political and economic indicators to determine trades. Charts here are deployed as used as a secondary reference.

Technical analysis on the other hand, attempts to predict price swings by analysis of historical price activity. Those who use technical analysis study the relationship between price and time.

The most actively traded pair of currencies is the Euro and the US dollar, so we will use them in our example. The dollar is on the right hand side of the chart and the Euro is on the left hand side. The currencies are expressed in relationship to each other in pairing. Forex charges will always display how much of the currency on the right hand side is necessary to buy a unit of the currency on the left side. Looking at the typical EU-USD, chart you will notice the last price displayed per given date. This number is always emphasized. The time is tabbed horizontally across the bottom of a chart and the price scale is displayed vertically along the right hand edge of the chart. The time and the price are set in all caps to help the trader remember that technical analysis rests upon the relationship between time and price.

The trader observes the price and time movement on a chart. These include bars, lines, point and figure, and Japanese candle sticks-- the most favored method.  With the candlestick method there is a large, red section that is the body of the candlestick. Lines protrude from the top and bottom and they are the upper and lower wicks. When you look at all the candles on a chart it is apparent that bodies come by difference sizes. Sometimes no body exists at all.

The same is true with wicks. Candle wicks come by many difference sizes; there may be no wick at all. The length of the body and the length of the wick are determined by the price range for the candle. Longer candles will have had more price movement during the time that they were open. The top of a candle wick is the highest price for that currency while the wick's bottom is the lowest price. A currency is bullish when the close of the candle is higher than the open. In simple terms this means that there were more buyers than there were sales during the opening time period. Sometimes the candles will not have wicks. The price opened and it dropped off until it closed.

Forex charts don't offer bullet proof trading hints, but they can help a trader. Past trends do have their place in forex trading as most traders will admit, and using the charts to track historical trends can assist a trader in making a snap decision.

The online investor typically joins a service that provides realtime charts that updates on currency activity. Charts can be checked on a minute to minute basis. For those who primarily do their trading based on historical accuracy this can ease the burden of prediction.

Most forex traders however use a combination of fundamental and technical analysis. They may chart historical trends, but they will also pay close attention to political, cultural and economic indicators within a region.  They might use charts and other techniques to check correlation between political climate and currency fluctuations. But even the most sophisticated technical analysis software or tool has its limitations. A trader must be prepared to take risks and invest money that is not needed for the immediate future.

World Events and Wise Forex Trading.

 Forex trading has the great potential of becoming a profitable and fulfilling career that will let you have a lifestyle that few other lucrative activities in the world can offer to people from many roads in life and without asking any of those men and women for a diploma or some special certification. 

But Forex trading is not easy; it may be simple to enter and place your first trade but becoming a profitable trader is a different thing. You will need to acquire the right knowledge and techniques in order to understand and know when to enter or leave a trade always fulfilling the main objective every trader must have; making money.

There are two kinds of analysis you can perform on the Forex markets. They are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. It is common that traders tend to divide themselves into "technical" and "fundamentalists". Each group devoting themselves to the main tools each kind of analysis gives them.  

Technical forex traders base their trading on the analysis of the charts and the number of indicators derived from the plots of price oscillations and patterns. Meanwhile Fundamentalists traders base their trading mostly on the fundamental numbers and economical indicators of countries economies. Though, even if divided, both tendencies tend to complement each other to some degree.

In this article I will place myself on the "fundamentalists" side and focus on one of the situations every forex trader must be aware of and don't let the events involved affect his trading efforts. 

This risky situation is that when unprecedented  chaotic world events start to develop as the trading day goes on. The power of the media (tv, internet, printed) can magnify and sometimes it may even distort the events taking place and impacting the trading journey in a significant manner. The result of this magnification and rapid diffusion of the news about the series of unfavorable events taking place is an increased atmosphere of fear, confusion and uncertainty in the trading world. And fearful traders are not prone to make the best trading choices because they have given themselves to panic and emotional reactions instead of reasoned and intelligent decisions. 

If you need to have more specific examples of these kind of events you can search a bit inside your memories and consider the impact of just a few types of unfavorable chaotic world events as the political upheavals or corporate scandals of companies as; Enron, WorldCom, or of people as the case of Martha Stewart trial, etc. There is also the example of the terrorist attacks on  Sep 11 in New York, March 11 in Spain, etc.  Also natural disasters: tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, freezes, droughts, hurricanes  along with wars can cause great disruption in a trading journey.

In short, every forex trader should be totally sure that his method of trading has built-in safe guards (stops, limit orders) to prevent a major financial loss from his trading account in case any of the unfavorable events I mentioned above ever  takes place. And being realistic, many of those events will surely happen in the future.

Would You Like To Forex Or Day Trade?

Online trading is great way for serious investors to make money, but inexperienced traders often wind up with big losses. A good set of instructions can minimize the risks and save months of expensive trial-and-error learning. 

Day Trading 

Day Trading had its heyday during the bull market of the 1990's. All the amateurs have since dropped out, but day trading is still being practiced by professionals. There are fewer opportunities in the current market, but skilled investors can still find them if they know what to look for. 

FOREX Trading 

The Foreign Exchange Market (FOREX), the world's largest financial exchange market, originated in 1973. It has a daily turnover of currency worth more than $1.2 trillion dollars. 

Unlike many other securities, FOREX does not trade on a fixed exchange rate; instead, currencies are traded primarily between central banks, commercial banks, various non-banking international corporations, hedge funds, personal investors and not to forget, speculators. Previously, smaller investors were excluded from FOREX due to the huge amount of deposit involved. This was changed in 1995, and now smaller investors can trade alongside the multi-nationals. As a result, the number of traders within the FOREX market has grown rapidly, and many FOREX courses are appearing to help individual traders increase their skills. 

As a matter of fact, it's advisable to take FOREX training even before opening a trading account. 

It is vital to know the market mechanics of FOREX, leveraging in FOREX, rollovers and the analysis of the FOREX market. Due to this fact, potential FOREX traders would do well to either enroll in a FOREX training courses or even purchase some books regarding FOREX trading. 

There are pros and cons to enrolling into a FOREX course. For beginners a FOREX course is a rapid method of learning the basics of FOREX trading. Not much time is spent on history of the market or arcane economic theories. Often, on-line or phone support from a skilled FOREX trader is available to answer any questions. Also, the information is condensed and practical, often with graphs and charts. 

The disadvantage is the price, as courses are more expensive than a paperback from the bookstore. Also, 

the course may just teach the approach of the trader who wrote it, and individuals have different trading strategies. The student may grow accustomed to the logic and focus of the teacher without coming to realise that nothing is predictable in the FOREX market, and many different strategies will bring profits in varying market circumstances. Also, knowledge of practical applications may not be enough, as the FOREX is highly unpredictable and there are many external factors, such as political issues, affecting the flow of finances in the market.

Yes, You Can Start Trading Forex For Free!

 Yes, it's true, you can trade the forex markets for free and using the same state-of-the-art software packages that professional Forex traders, around the world, are currently using to make real-time, live currency trades.

And you can also experience the same dynamic market action and go through the same process of making decisions based on breaking news, reacting to charting patterns, and tracking ones performance the same way professional Forex traders do.

And all this can be done even if you don't put any real money into your account, you won't see any difference in how the market behaves  and how you react to the market. In short, at some point, every new forex trader needs to start Demo-trading.

Once you start placing demo trades, you will learn a lot about how Forex transactions are placed. I can't emphasize you enough, that this is a very important step for you in order to be able to learn how to become a trader. A demo account allows one to become familiar with trading procedures, such as placing Market, Limit, Stop, OCO Orders without any risk. All dollar losses or gains on a demo account are imaginary but, as mentioned above, the trading experience you acquire is not. 

You should notice that making big gains in a demo-account does not guarantee profits in live trading; however, those who are not successful trading on paper rarely are successful when money is on the line. So, yes, just playing around and getting familiar with a demo account can be a great learning experience; however, you will not learn how to become a trader this way. You need to have a trading strategy.

Once you sign up for a mini-demo account, you will need to try one of the trial charting packages from the broker you choose. Any demo software you choose will do because they all have the necessary indicator tools you need. Once you have downloaded the software you can then set up your demo account and start drawing trendlines, marking support & resistance levels, monitoring moving averages, etc. This is also a very good way to get used to how orders are placed. Once you have a real trading system, you will already know how to place orders properly.

And remember, everyone makes mistakes placing orders. So you need to experiment before in a demo account  so you can make your mistakes without losing any real money.

You Don't Pay Commissions In Forex Trading

 The Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world. In the US alone, it has a daily trading volumes of $1.2 trillion dollars, which outshines the stock, bond, and other commodity markets. But just what is currency trading or Forex trading, as it is more commonly known?

Forex trading is where you will buy one currency and sell another, or it may be a combination of a few different currencies in total. Your trading involves matching one currency against another. That is, you buy the Euro hoping it will rise against the U.S. Dollar. Which also means you hope the U.S. Dollar will fall against the value of the Euro. This does not mean you wish the U.S. Dollar bad tidings, it is just you are trading using economic information about the two currencies. You can do the same for the Swiss franc against the Japanese yen. Most people probably call this form of trading speculation. But consider that some individuals and groups make millions of dollars daily using the techniques available for trading in currencies.

You would usually do Forex trading using a margin. This means you leave a small deposit with your broker and can trade for many times the value of your deposit. For example, let's say you want to open a trade matching two currencies, and you want to trade for $5,000. You can make a deposit of $50 with your broker, and stand to gain much more than the $50 after you close the trade. You benefit from not using your own money but earning a tidy profit. Of course, you could lose on the trade, but your losses, would be no more than your deposit if you took the necessary precaution to exit the trade once you reached your margin.

You still need a broker as you do in the other markets. With Forex, your broker will open an account for you to make your trades. Different brokers stipulate different amounts you should deposit to your account. Some ask for just $50 to open an account, but you wouldn't trade much on such a small amount. Most brokers set margin at 3-5%, so if you want to open a trade for $10,000 you will need to have on deposit $300-$500. The great thing about Forex trading is that you do not pay a commission on your trades. But don't cry for the market makers just yet. They manage to recover their expenses and profit on all your trades, by picking up the spread between the two currencies you trade. The spread is the difference between the bid and ask prices of the two currencies.

While you may look at Forex trading as pure speculation, you have to consider that to succeed you need to understand the nature of chance as it applies to the market. You may get up one morning to hear the U.S. Dollar dipped against the Euro because exports to Europe fell sharply for the third consecutive quarter. If you take this information without doing further research and decide to trade the Euro against the U.S. Dollar, you are speculating. However, you do not have any solid proof the dollar will continue to fall against the Euro. Successful traders don't only digest the financial news, they also use other tools to decide how to trade.

Your FOREX Trading Philosophy

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

Mistakes Of The Beginning Trader

There are 2 common mistakes that many beginner traders make: trading without a strategy and letting emotions rule their decisions. After opening a FOREX account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by if you don't enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover. 

This kind of undisciplined approach to FOREX is guaranteed to lose money. FOREX traders must have a rational trading strategy and not make trading decisions in the heat of the moment. 

Understanding Market Movements

To make rational trading decisions, the FOREX trader must be well educated in market movements. He must be able to apply technical studies to charts and plot out entry and exit points. He must take advantage of the various types of orders to minimize his risk and maximize his profit. 

The first step in becoming a successful FOREX trader is to understand the market and the forces behind it. Who trades FOREX and why? This will allow you to identify successful trading strategies and use them.

Accountability

There are 5 major groups of investors who participate in FOREX: governments, banks, corporations, investment funds, and traders. Each group has its own objectives, but 1 thing all groups except traders have in common is external control. Every organization has rules and guidelines for trading currencies and can be held accountable for their trading decisions. Individual traders, on the other hand, are accountable only to themselves. 

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

Money Management

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

 

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

Core Equity And Limited Risk

When entering a position try to limit your risk to 1% to 3% of each trade. This means that if you are trading a standard FOREX lot of $100,000 you should limit your risk to $1,000 to $3,000. You do this with a stop loss order 100 pips (1 pip = $10) above or below your entry position. 

As your core equity rises or falls, adjust the dollar amount of your risk. With a starting balance of $10,000 and 1 open position, your core equity is $9000. If you wish to add a second open position, your core equity would fall to $8000 and you should limit your risk to $900. Risk in a third position should be limited to $800. 

Greater Profit, Greater Risk

You should also raise your risk level as your core equity rises. After $5,000 profit, your core equity is now $15,000. You could raise your risk to $1,500 per transaction. Alternatively, you could risk more from the profit than from the original starting balance. Some traders may risk up to 5% against their realized profits ($5,000 on a $100,000 lot) for greater profit potential. 

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

Your Guide To Successful Forex Trading

If you were wondering; forex trading is nothing more than direct access trading of different types of foreign currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was mostly limited to large banks and institutional traders however; recent technological advancements have made it so that small traders can also take advantage of the many benefits of forex trading just by using the various online trading platforms to trade. 

The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and they are always traded in pairs Euro/Dollar, Dollar/Yen, etc. About 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies. 

Four major currency pairs are usually used for investment purposes. They are: Euro against US dollar, US dollar against Japanese yen, British pound against US dollar, and US dollar against Swiss franc. Right now I will show you how they look in the trading market: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF. As a note you should know that no dividends are paid on currencies. 

If you think one currency will appreciate against another, you may exchange that second currency for the first one and be able to stay in it. In case everything goes as you plan it, eventually you may be able to make the opposite deal in that you may exchange this first currency back for that other and then collect profits from it. 

Transactions on the FOREX market are performed by dealers at major banks or FOREX brokerage companies. FOREX is a necessary part of the world wide market, so when you are sleeping in the comfort of your bed, the dealers in Europe are trading currencies with their Japanese counterparts. 

Therefore, it is reasonable for you to believe that the FOREX market is active 24 hours a day and dealers at major institutions are working 24/7 in three different shifts. Clients may place take-profit and stop-loss orders with brokers for overnight execution. 

Price movements on the FOREX market are very smooth and without the gaps that you face almost every morning on the stock market. The daily turnover on the FOREX market is somewhere around $1.2 trillion, so a new investor can enter and exit positions without any problems. 

The fact is that the FOREX market never stops, even on September 11, 2001 you could still get your hands on two-side quotes on currencies. The currency market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. It is also called the foreign exchange market, FX market for short. It is the biggest and most liquid market in the world, and it is traded mostly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market. 

When you compare them, you will see that the currency futures market is only one per cent as big. Unlike the futures and stock markets, trading currencies is not centered on an exchange. Trading moves from major banking centers of the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the U.S. it is truly a full circle trading game. 

In the past, the forex inter-bank market was not available to small speculators because of the large minimum transaction sizes and strict financial requirements. 

Banks, major currency dealers and sometimes even very large speculator were the principal dealers. Only they were able to take advantage of the currency market's fantastic liquidity and strong trending nature of many of the world's primary currency exchange rates. 

Today, foreign exchange market brokers are able to break down the larger sized inter-bank units, and offer small traders like you and me the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units. These brokers give any size trader, including individual speculators or smaller companies, the option to trade at the same rates and price movements as the big players who once dominated the market.