There are many currency trading systems out there. You could probably find hundreds or even thousands on the internet and in books. So how do you pick out a good one?
This is one of the most important questions when you start out as a forex trader. Anyone will tell you that psychological factors are vital in making a successful trader and it is true that it is very important to have discipline and the ability to apply your system consistently. But you must have a system that is capable of returning a profit in the first place.
Now you probably do not want to spend years in demo accounts trying to reinvent the wheel and design your own new system from scratch. So given all of this variety of systems set out in forex books, ebooks and video courses available online, how can you find a reliable system that will have a good chance of making you money?
One factor that you should look at when you are considering different currency trading systems is the success rate of the trades. Usually the publicity will tell you this, or you can ask.
Theoretically a system with a low success rate could be just as profitable, depending on the amount of money gained and lost on the trades. However, a high success rate is important for two reasons. One is that this is a good sign that the system works well in most market conditions. No system has a 100% success rate but something over 80% is achievable. If you put this into practice consistently, and perhaps avoid the very worst market conditions such as a choppy market, you should have a good chance of getting a profitable result.
The second reason that most traders work better with a high success rate is that it increases our confidence in the system. This helps us to keep motivated to apply the system consistently.
For the same reason, it is important to make sure that the system will give you enough trading opportunities to keep you satisfied that you are trading actively. That may sound crazy but if you only have one trade a week you will start looking around for other possibilities and probably take chances with your trading that will lead to losses.
Plus of course you need to be sure that it will only involve you in a level of risk that you are comfortable with.
The best currency trading systems are usually provided by someone who is a professional trader and using the system to make money themselves, so look out for information about the person's trading experience, and check that they will offer support if you have questions.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
International Currency Trading Explained
What is international currency trading and why should it matter to you? The answer is that maybe it does not matter at all, unless you are interested in making money from home with this fast growing speculative trading method.
Have you ever thought about the way that the dollar or another currency is constantly rising or falling, and what this means in practice? It means that they can be traded on the open market, just like stock. Money can be made from assessing which currencies are likely to rise or fall, and trading them one way and then the other in order to make a profit on the difference.
Keep in mind that when you see financial news reports on TV, they do not just say "the dollar rose" or "the dollar fell". They always talk about it rising or falling against another currency, such as the euro, or against a basket of currencies. This is because a currency only has exchange value when you compare it with one or more other currencies.
The international currency trading market is usually known as the foreign exchange market, or forex for short. This is a huge global market, much bigger than the stock market, that trades in all time zones, operating 24 hours a day.
It is something that can be done from home these days if you have a computer with a high speed internet connection, but trading currencies can be very risky, especially if you do not know what you are doing. As with any speculative investment there is no guarantee that you will make money and there is always a risk of losing your investment.
However, there is a safe way to get started and that is by opening a demo or practice account. This is a dummy account that lets you trade using real time prices but without any real money. It's a little like the play money that you might use in certain online games.
To make the most of your practice trading you should do everything you can to convince yourself that it is real, so that you learn not to take unnecessary risks. You will find that sometimes you gain and sometimes you lose, but when your profits are consistently exceeding your losses you are probably ready to begin trading with real money.
These accounts are available from forex brokers who are doing all they can these days to attract new clients. When you are ready to start forex trading for real, they will often let you begin with just a few hundred dollars or even less.
There are many facilities available to help you make money from your international currency trading. When you are starting out you will find plenty of books, ebooks, instructional DVDs and online videos aimed at helping beginners to get started and find a successful trading system. You will also find free newsletters, forex forums and charting services. As you become more serious about your trading you may find it worthwhile to attend one of the many currency trading seminars that are run by brokers or successful traders.
The hardest part of learning forex trading is having the discipline to stick to your system so that you do not take too many risks. Focus on this when you are looking for training and you will have the best chance of setting yourself up for success with international currency trading.
Have you ever thought about the way that the dollar or another currency is constantly rising or falling, and what this means in practice? It means that they can be traded on the open market, just like stock. Money can be made from assessing which currencies are likely to rise or fall, and trading them one way and then the other in order to make a profit on the difference.
Keep in mind that when you see financial news reports on TV, they do not just say "the dollar rose" or "the dollar fell". They always talk about it rising or falling against another currency, such as the euro, or against a basket of currencies. This is because a currency only has exchange value when you compare it with one or more other currencies.
The international currency trading market is usually known as the foreign exchange market, or forex for short. This is a huge global market, much bigger than the stock market, that trades in all time zones, operating 24 hours a day.
It is something that can be done from home these days if you have a computer with a high speed internet connection, but trading currencies can be very risky, especially if you do not know what you are doing. As with any speculative investment there is no guarantee that you will make money and there is always a risk of losing your investment.
However, there is a safe way to get started and that is by opening a demo or practice account. This is a dummy account that lets you trade using real time prices but without any real money. It's a little like the play money that you might use in certain online games.
To make the most of your practice trading you should do everything you can to convince yourself that it is real, so that you learn not to take unnecessary risks. You will find that sometimes you gain and sometimes you lose, but when your profits are consistently exceeding your losses you are probably ready to begin trading with real money.
These accounts are available from forex brokers who are doing all they can these days to attract new clients. When you are ready to start forex trading for real, they will often let you begin with just a few hundred dollars or even less.
There are many facilities available to help you make money from your international currency trading. When you are starting out you will find plenty of books, ebooks, instructional DVDs and online videos aimed at helping beginners to get started and find a successful trading system. You will also find free newsletters, forex forums and charting services. As you become more serious about your trading you may find it worthwhile to attend one of the many currency trading seminars that are run by brokers or successful traders.
The hardest part of learning forex trading is having the discipline to stick to your system so that you do not take too many risks. Focus on this when you are looking for training and you will have the best chance of setting yourself up for success with international currency trading.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Currency Trading Markets: Avoid these Mistakes to Make Money
Making money in the currency trading markets is not nearly as easy as it should theoretically be. The fact is that there are a lot of good systems and profiting from them is actually very simple. Yet it is obviously not easy to put these simple systems into practice, because 99% of new traders entering the market just lose money.
One of the biggest mistakes that traders make, even those with some experience, is that they dream. They are just like lotto gamblers, they spend their time fantasizing about the perfect trade that will bring them hundreds of pips. These fantasies are fueled by other traders who boast about such successes on blogs and forums, which make it hard to let go of the dream.
Of course such trades do happen ... but not to those who spend their time dreaming instead of getting some solid focused forex trading education. All that happens to them is that they feed their hard earned cash into the currency trading markets where it is lost, going into the pockets of the banks or successful private traders who took the time to learn their business.
It is vital to understand your own abilities, neither underestimating or overestimating them. This is hard when you start out, because it takes a while before you realize how much there is to learn. It is not so much a question of theoretical knowledge which you can pick up quickly from a few books. It is the practical experience that gives you a 'feeling' for the currency trading markets.
While a successful trader always follows a plan rather than his own feelings, that kind of experience can help you spot emerging trends and market patterns that signal a trade for your system. More importantly, it will mean that you know when conditions are wrong and you should just switch off and do something else with your day, rather than sitting there trying to find an opportunity to trade until frustration leads you into something reckless.
This is one reason why it is important to have support from more experienced traders. A mentor is ideal but when you are starting out, it can be hard to find one. If you are not in the fortunate position of having a friend or family member who is a successful trader, you are unlikely to find anybody who is willing to spend a lot of time on you when they could be using that time to make money.
The best way is probably to visit forex forums and show that you are seriously trying to learn, rather than hoping to make thousands of dollars overnight like most of the other newbies. That way, you may make some useful contacts.
You can also look for technical help. It is possible to cut corners and start trading for real much faster if you have a good automated forex system such as one of the top expert advisor software programs. They are not expensive and most of them come with a money back guarantee so you can try them in demo and if they don't work, trade them in. Be sure to give them a good run in demo mode and take time to understand the settings, however. You must give them a chance if you want to find one or two that will consistently make money for you.
Of course forex trading is risky however you do it, but good software can certainly help a beginner to start making money in the currency trading markets.
One of the biggest mistakes that traders make, even those with some experience, is that they dream. They are just like lotto gamblers, they spend their time fantasizing about the perfect trade that will bring them hundreds of pips. These fantasies are fueled by other traders who boast about such successes on blogs and forums, which make it hard to let go of the dream.
Of course such trades do happen ... but not to those who spend their time dreaming instead of getting some solid focused forex trading education. All that happens to them is that they feed their hard earned cash into the currency trading markets where it is lost, going into the pockets of the banks or successful private traders who took the time to learn their business.
It is vital to understand your own abilities, neither underestimating or overestimating them. This is hard when you start out, because it takes a while before you realize how much there is to learn. It is not so much a question of theoretical knowledge which you can pick up quickly from a few books. It is the practical experience that gives you a 'feeling' for the currency trading markets.
While a successful trader always follows a plan rather than his own feelings, that kind of experience can help you spot emerging trends and market patterns that signal a trade for your system. More importantly, it will mean that you know when conditions are wrong and you should just switch off and do something else with your day, rather than sitting there trying to find an opportunity to trade until frustration leads you into something reckless.
This is one reason why it is important to have support from more experienced traders. A mentor is ideal but when you are starting out, it can be hard to find one. If you are not in the fortunate position of having a friend or family member who is a successful trader, you are unlikely to find anybody who is willing to spend a lot of time on you when they could be using that time to make money.
The best way is probably to visit forex forums and show that you are seriously trying to learn, rather than hoping to make thousands of dollars overnight like most of the other newbies. That way, you may make some useful contacts.
You can also look for technical help. It is possible to cut corners and start trading for real much faster if you have a good automated forex system such as one of the top expert advisor software programs. They are not expensive and most of them come with a money back guarantee so you can try them in demo and if they don't work, trade them in. Be sure to give them a good run in demo mode and take time to understand the settings, however. You must give them a chance if you want to find one or two that will consistently make money for you.
Of course forex trading is risky however you do it, but good software can certainly help a beginner to start making money in the currency trading markets.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Currency Trading Course: FAQ, Is Currency Trading Safe?
One of the first questions that many people ask when they are thinking about taking an online currency course, is whether currency trading is really safe. There are so many advertisements and promotions on the internet, as well as in magazines an on TV, that people often become suspicious. Is it really such a great way to make money? Can anyone profit from it? And is your investment secure?
The first thing to understand is how currency trading works. It is also known as forex or foreign exchange trading, and it a kind of speculative investment that allows traders to make money by speculating on the rise and fall of currency exchange values. These are the prices that you often see quoted in the financial pages of the newspaper, that tell you what the dollar is worth against other currencies.
These prices are constantly changing, so a person who can predict which way they will move can make money by buying a currency that is about to rise or selling one that is about to fall. But how can you tell which way the prices will go? Currency values are closely linked to economic performance: when a country's economy is strong, its currency is likely to have a high value. When there is an economic crisis, the currency value will fall.
However, most forex traders do not rely on predictions of the economic status of a nation to make their money. Instead they use analytical tools that help them to identify emerging trends on a mathematical basis. This is called technical analysis. Fortunately these days everything is computerized so there are no calculations to do. Brokers and charting services provide tools such as charts and indicators to give traders signals that tell them when to enter and leave the market.
Forex trading used to be something that was only done by professional traders working from banks, but now everything is online and you can get involved from home. Brokers are keen to attract more clients and so they will let you start with just a few hundred dollars.
There are many kinds of currency trading course and also systems that you can follow that will help you to be successful with forex trading. It is also possible to get software that will trade automatically for you according to a pre set system. This is called a forex robot.
However, even with all the tools and software programs that are available these days, forex trading remains a risky business. Predictions are never 100% correct and all traders make losses at times. Also, an unexpected event such as a terrorist attack or the sudden collapse of a bank can turn everything around without warning. So it is very important to understand the risks and put stops in place to minimize your losses when things go wrong.
Most people who begin forex trading are hoping to make a lot of money in a short time. They soon find out that this is not realistic. It is much better to aim for slow and steady profits, and keep your risks as low as possible. Nevertheless, there are no guarantees that you will make money.
Forex trading is exciting and it can be very profitable but no, it is not safe. As any currency trading course will tell you, forex is for people who are prepared to take a risk.
The first thing to understand is how currency trading works. It is also known as forex or foreign exchange trading, and it a kind of speculative investment that allows traders to make money by speculating on the rise and fall of currency exchange values. These are the prices that you often see quoted in the financial pages of the newspaper, that tell you what the dollar is worth against other currencies.
These prices are constantly changing, so a person who can predict which way they will move can make money by buying a currency that is about to rise or selling one that is about to fall. But how can you tell which way the prices will go? Currency values are closely linked to economic performance: when a country's economy is strong, its currency is likely to have a high value. When there is an economic crisis, the currency value will fall.
However, most forex traders do not rely on predictions of the economic status of a nation to make their money. Instead they use analytical tools that help them to identify emerging trends on a mathematical basis. This is called technical analysis. Fortunately these days everything is computerized so there are no calculations to do. Brokers and charting services provide tools such as charts and indicators to give traders signals that tell them when to enter and leave the market.
Forex trading used to be something that was only done by professional traders working from banks, but now everything is online and you can get involved from home. Brokers are keen to attract more clients and so they will let you start with just a few hundred dollars.
There are many kinds of currency trading course and also systems that you can follow that will help you to be successful with forex trading. It is also possible to get software that will trade automatically for you according to a pre set system. This is called a forex robot.
However, even with all the tools and software programs that are available these days, forex trading remains a risky business. Predictions are never 100% correct and all traders make losses at times. Also, an unexpected event such as a terrorist attack or the sudden collapse of a bank can turn everything around without warning. So it is very important to understand the risks and put stops in place to minimize your losses when things go wrong.
Most people who begin forex trading are hoping to make a lot of money in a short time. They soon find out that this is not realistic. It is much better to aim for slow and steady profits, and keep your risks as low as possible. Nevertheless, there are no guarantees that you will make money.
Forex trading is exciting and it can be very profitable but no, it is not safe. As any currency trading course will tell you, forex is for people who are prepared to take a risk.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Make Money On The Internet With Forex Trading
Whether you need a little extra cash or want to dump your job and work from home, it is great to be able to make money on the internet. You do not have a boss and you do not have to leave the comfort of your own living room or den. You can stay home with the kids and work whenever you want. For some people who have trouble getting a job, it is the only option; for others, it is a very attractive alternative to the 9 to 5 world.
The world wide web has opened up so many possibilities for anybody who has a computer and a broadband connection. One of these new possibilities is forex trading, also known as foreign exchange or currency trading.
Forex trading is a way of making money online through financial speculation on the changing values of world currencies. A few years ago the forex market was only accessible to banks and other large financial institutions who could put representatives in the trading floors of the big financial centers of the world, but the internet has changed all of that.
Anybody can get involved these days and you do not need a lot of money to get started. A few hundred dollars is enough. In fact it is so easy to get into online forex trading that many people go live before they should.
We all have dreams of turning a 3 or 4 figure fund balance into 5 or 6 figures, but despite what you may see in the advertisements, this is not easy to do. Forex trading is risky and the only way to make money on the internet with forex trading in the long term is to keep your risks as low as possible. This means that your funds will grow more slowly, assuming you are following a profitable system, but your account is likely to stay in credit even through the inevitable losing runs.
Many people get into forex trading as if they were gambling. They hope for luck and trade on the basis of their intuition instead of looking for a system that works. They talking about 'playing' or 'getting into the game'. The result is that they take too many risks, again like a gambler, and end up losing everything.
This kind of mindset is easy to get into when you are trading with small funds. In fact, forex trading has replaced the online casino for many Americans. That is why so many new traders quickly lose all the money that they put in. If you are serious about wanting to make money, and we hope you are, you must avoid falling into this trap.
Forex trading is simple, in a sense, but it is not necessarily easy. It is tempting to want to rush in and hope that you will be lucky. You must avoid this temptation if you want to be successful. Instead, you will find a good system and master the techniques and tactics that are required to implement it. That is the best way to make money on the internet with forex trading.
The world wide web has opened up so many possibilities for anybody who has a computer and a broadband connection. One of these new possibilities is forex trading, also known as foreign exchange or currency trading.
Forex trading is a way of making money online through financial speculation on the changing values of world currencies. A few years ago the forex market was only accessible to banks and other large financial institutions who could put representatives in the trading floors of the big financial centers of the world, but the internet has changed all of that.
Anybody can get involved these days and you do not need a lot of money to get started. A few hundred dollars is enough. In fact it is so easy to get into online forex trading that many people go live before they should.
We all have dreams of turning a 3 or 4 figure fund balance into 5 or 6 figures, but despite what you may see in the advertisements, this is not easy to do. Forex trading is risky and the only way to make money on the internet with forex trading in the long term is to keep your risks as low as possible. This means that your funds will grow more slowly, assuming you are following a profitable system, but your account is likely to stay in credit even through the inevitable losing runs.
Many people get into forex trading as if they were gambling. They hope for luck and trade on the basis of their intuition instead of looking for a system that works. They talking about 'playing' or 'getting into the game'. The result is that they take too many risks, again like a gambler, and end up losing everything.
This kind of mindset is easy to get into when you are trading with small funds. In fact, forex trading has replaced the online casino for many Americans. That is why so many new traders quickly lose all the money that they put in. If you are serious about wanting to make money, and we hope you are, you must avoid falling into this trap.
Forex trading is simple, in a sense, but it is not necessarily easy. It is tempting to want to rush in and hope that you will be lucky. You must avoid this temptation if you want to be successful. Instead, you will find a good system and master the techniques and tactics that are required to implement it. That is the best way to make money on the internet with forex trading.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Currency Trading Chart: What is it?
The currency trading chart is one of the most important tools for the forex trader. Charts are at the root of forex technical analysis, which forms trading systems based on studying price movements rather than economic forecasts which are the basis of fundamental analysis in forex trading. Most traders these days prefer technical analysis which does not require any special knowledge or training in economics.
Any currency trading chart will show price movements. Usually you can track these over a variable period of time. You can look at the last few minutes, hours, days or longer. Using a chart in conjunction with the mathematical indicators provided by most brokers and charting services, you can identify emerging tendencies and trends that can signal a trading opportunity.
Forex charts come in three formats.
1. The Line Chart
A line chart plots the closing prices at the end of each trading period, which could be anything from one minute to one day, you can set this. These are joined with a line to show the direction of movement. However, a line chart does not tell you anything about what happened at different times during the time period, only the final closing price.
2. The Bar Chart
A bar chart gives you four prices for each period: opening, high, low and closing price. You will see a vertical line for each period. The top of the line marks the high and the bottom is the low. A notch on the left side shows the opening price and a notch on the right shows the close. Usually these are at different levels but they could be the same. Either one of them could be the same as the opening or closing price but more commonly they are somewhere between.
The advantage of the bar chart over the line chart is that it shows you how wide the fluctuations were during the period, giving you an idea of the volatility of the pair at a glance.
3. The Candlestick Chart
This last type of chart gives you all of the same information as the bar chart but in a coloured format which many people find easier to take in.
Again a vertical line marks the high and low prices during a period, but there is also a wider block that runs between the opening and the closing price. This block will be filled with colour, usually red if the price is falling (opening price is the high end of the block, closing price is the low end) and green or blue if it is rising (closing price is the high end of the block, opening price is the low end). If shown in black and white you will see black for a falling price and white for a rising price.
The colours give you an instant view of whether prices rose or fell during the period. This makes candlesticks quicker to read at a glance than a bar chart. You can immediately see a reversal, which will show up as a series of green blocks marking the trend followed by one red marking the reversal, or vice versa. That is why candlesticks are the favorite type of currency trading chart for many traders.
Any currency trading chart will show price movements. Usually you can track these over a variable period of time. You can look at the last few minutes, hours, days or longer. Using a chart in conjunction with the mathematical indicators provided by most brokers and charting services, you can identify emerging tendencies and trends that can signal a trading opportunity.
Forex charts come in three formats.
1. The Line Chart
A line chart plots the closing prices at the end of each trading period, which could be anything from one minute to one day, you can set this. These are joined with a line to show the direction of movement. However, a line chart does not tell you anything about what happened at different times during the time period, only the final closing price.
2. The Bar Chart
A bar chart gives you four prices for each period: opening, high, low and closing price. You will see a vertical line for each period. The top of the line marks the high and the bottom is the low. A notch on the left side shows the opening price and a notch on the right shows the close. Usually these are at different levels but they could be the same. Either one of them could be the same as the opening or closing price but more commonly they are somewhere between.
The advantage of the bar chart over the line chart is that it shows you how wide the fluctuations were during the period, giving you an idea of the volatility of the pair at a glance.
3. The Candlestick Chart
This last type of chart gives you all of the same information as the bar chart but in a coloured format which many people find easier to take in.
Again a vertical line marks the high and low prices during a period, but there is also a wider block that runs between the opening and the closing price. This block will be filled with colour, usually red if the price is falling (opening price is the high end of the block, closing price is the low end) and green or blue if it is rising (closing price is the high end of the block, opening price is the low end). If shown in black and white you will see black for a falling price and white for a rising price.
The colours give you an instant view of whether prices rose or fell during the period. This makes candlesticks quicker to read at a glance than a bar chart. You can immediately see a reversal, which will show up as a series of green blocks marking the trend followed by one red marking the reversal, or vice versa. That is why candlesticks are the favorite type of currency trading chart for many traders.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Forex Trading Course: The 5 Essentials
If you want to get involved in currency trading it is worth looking around to make sure that you find a top rated forex trading course. Of course you will want to start making money as soon as possible but forex trading is risky and if you do not get a good grounding you could easily be losing money instead.
It is not so simple to predict which way currency prices will go. There are many factors to take into account. On top of that, it is vital to open and close your trades at the right moment to get maximum profit from any price change. If you try to work all of this out for yourself it will take a lot of time. So why not give yourself a head start by taking a good forex trading course?
Your course should cover all of the basics so that you are well prepared to begin trading. Here is a short list of important points that you will need to understand. Make sure that your course covers all of these before you sign up.
1. Principles of currency trading
Any good currency trading course will explain the basic principles of the forex market including leverage and margins, pips, spread and other costs, and what to look for in a broker.
2. Technical analysis
Technical analysis includes interpreting charts and indicators to identify trends, swings, breakouts and other factors that could be signals for you to open or close a trade. Different systems rely on different indicators. In the beginning, you only need to master the indicators for your own chosen system. Trying to cover them all could be confusing. Later, you might want to refer to other indicators to tweak your system for better profitability, so it's good if you have access to a course that you can dip into again further down the line.
3. Fundamental analysis
Fundamental analysis relates to the economic news, announcements and other events which affect currency prices. In the end, it is each country's economic performance which causes the value of its currency to change. You do not necessarily need to be able to predict these events. In fact many traders stay out of the market completely around the time of a forex news announcement. But it is important to understand how the process works and keep an eye on the alerts for anything that might affect your trading.
4. Risk management
Risk management concentrates on minimizing your losses through the use of stops, and protecting your funds by limiting the position size. In general your risk on any one trade should never be more than 5% and many traders work on 2%, 1% or even less. Broadly speaking you should expect to reduce the risk for larger fund sizes, simply because it will be more important to protect a fund of several million dollars than one of only a few hundred dollars. But you are pretty sure to crash and burn if you exceed 5% so make that your limit. You may feel like taking a chance for quicker growth on a small fund but wiping out your funds is not a good way to go!
5. Mindset
We put this last because it is usually the last thing that beginning traders want to hear about, but it is possibly the most important of all. In the end, if you do not master the mindset of a successful trader you will not be able to profit from the forex market.
You must develop a cool headed approach and work on your discipline so that you can follow a trading system without letting fear, excitement or other emotions get in your way. You also need to understand how to handle losses on the psychological level. Risk management techniques can help but if you let your emotions get the better of you, it is easy to fall into a pattern that will guarantee more losses. A good forex trading course will include teaching and exercises to help you master the art of self discipline and keep your emotions off the trading floor.
It is not so simple to predict which way currency prices will go. There are many factors to take into account. On top of that, it is vital to open and close your trades at the right moment to get maximum profit from any price change. If you try to work all of this out for yourself it will take a lot of time. So why not give yourself a head start by taking a good forex trading course?
Your course should cover all of the basics so that you are well prepared to begin trading. Here is a short list of important points that you will need to understand. Make sure that your course covers all of these before you sign up.
1. Principles of currency trading
Any good currency trading course will explain the basic principles of the forex market including leverage and margins, pips, spread and other costs, and what to look for in a broker.
2. Technical analysis
Technical analysis includes interpreting charts and indicators to identify trends, swings, breakouts and other factors that could be signals for you to open or close a trade. Different systems rely on different indicators. In the beginning, you only need to master the indicators for your own chosen system. Trying to cover them all could be confusing. Later, you might want to refer to other indicators to tweak your system for better profitability, so it's good if you have access to a course that you can dip into again further down the line.
3. Fundamental analysis
Fundamental analysis relates to the economic news, announcements and other events which affect currency prices. In the end, it is each country's economic performance which causes the value of its currency to change. You do not necessarily need to be able to predict these events. In fact many traders stay out of the market completely around the time of a forex news announcement. But it is important to understand how the process works and keep an eye on the alerts for anything that might affect your trading.
4. Risk management
Risk management concentrates on minimizing your losses through the use of stops, and protecting your funds by limiting the position size. In general your risk on any one trade should never be more than 5% and many traders work on 2%, 1% or even less. Broadly speaking you should expect to reduce the risk for larger fund sizes, simply because it will be more important to protect a fund of several million dollars than one of only a few hundred dollars. But you are pretty sure to crash and burn if you exceed 5% so make that your limit. You may feel like taking a chance for quicker growth on a small fund but wiping out your funds is not a good way to go!
5. Mindset
We put this last because it is usually the last thing that beginning traders want to hear about, but it is possibly the most important of all. In the end, if you do not master the mindset of a successful trader you will not be able to profit from the forex market.
You must develop a cool headed approach and work on your discipline so that you can follow a trading system without letting fear, excitement or other emotions get in your way. You also need to understand how to handle losses on the psychological level. Risk management techniques can help but if you let your emotions get the better of you, it is easy to fall into a pattern that will guarantee more losses. A good forex trading course will include teaching and exercises to help you master the art of self discipline and keep your emotions off the trading floor.
Monday, September 21, 2009
How To Trade Currency: The Basics
If you are considering getting involved in forex trading, it is essential that you know the basics of how to trade currency. Even if you plan on using an automated forex trading system (or forex robot) you will need to understand something about what it is doing in order to set it up right.
Forex trading and currency trading mean the same thing. You will be trading world currencies on the foreign exchange market. Forex and FX are simply abbreviations of 'foreign exchange'.
If you do not use a robot then you will need some system that will help you sort out whether a country's currency is rising or falling, so that you can decide whether to buy or sell the pair that you are trading. You always have to trade a pair of currencies because you are exchanging one currency for another. A popular pair for beginners is EUR/USD, the euro and the US dollar.
Currency trading systems are usually based on technical analysis, which means watching price movements and indicators on charts. Most brokers supply this kind of data or if you do not get everything that you want from your broker, you can sign up to one of the many online forex charting services.
You can get started for a very low initial investment these days. Competition between brokers and the ease of access through the internet has meant that brokers are offering mini and micro forex trading accounts to encourage the smaller investor to get involved.
Costs are generally low too. Most brokers do not charge a fee or commission, but make their money from the difference between the bid and ask prices of the currency pair (that is, the different prices depending whether you are buying or selling). This is good for small investors who can make many small trades without paying any fixed fees. This is one of the reasons why more and more private individuals are getting into forex and wanting to know how to trade currency.
The forex market is open 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening (or Monday morning to Saturday morning if you are in Australia or Asia). This can be very convenient if you have a day job and want to get into trading in the evenings. It is also a huge market, with deals totalling almost $4 trillion a day. Prices move fast and there is a lot of money to be made.
Of course there is also a risk. Like any speculative investment, you may lose more than you make, especially in the beginning. You should be prepared to possibly lose your investment funds so do not trade with money that you need for other purposes.
It is important to stick to a system exactly and keep clear records of your trades. If you do not do this you will be shooting in the dark and the net results could be damaging. You need to be sure of what you are doing and able to look back and see what worked and what did not work.
There are many forex trading systems sold online but remember that you only need one profitable system to make money. It is not a good idea to try to use more than one system, and certainly do not switch from one to another all of the time, because that will not work for you. Being consistent in your trading is the key.
Forex trading is risky, but it can also make you a lot of money. Follow these pointers and you will soon have mastered how to trade currency.
Forex trading and currency trading mean the same thing. You will be trading world currencies on the foreign exchange market. Forex and FX are simply abbreviations of 'foreign exchange'.
If you do not use a robot then you will need some system that will help you sort out whether a country's currency is rising or falling, so that you can decide whether to buy or sell the pair that you are trading. You always have to trade a pair of currencies because you are exchanging one currency for another. A popular pair for beginners is EUR/USD, the euro and the US dollar.
Currency trading systems are usually based on technical analysis, which means watching price movements and indicators on charts. Most brokers supply this kind of data or if you do not get everything that you want from your broker, you can sign up to one of the many online forex charting services.
You can get started for a very low initial investment these days. Competition between brokers and the ease of access through the internet has meant that brokers are offering mini and micro forex trading accounts to encourage the smaller investor to get involved.
Costs are generally low too. Most brokers do not charge a fee or commission, but make their money from the difference between the bid and ask prices of the currency pair (that is, the different prices depending whether you are buying or selling). This is good for small investors who can make many small trades without paying any fixed fees. This is one of the reasons why more and more private individuals are getting into forex and wanting to know how to trade currency.
The forex market is open 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening (or Monday morning to Saturday morning if you are in Australia or Asia). This can be very convenient if you have a day job and want to get into trading in the evenings. It is also a huge market, with deals totalling almost $4 trillion a day. Prices move fast and there is a lot of money to be made.
Of course there is also a risk. Like any speculative investment, you may lose more than you make, especially in the beginning. You should be prepared to possibly lose your investment funds so do not trade with money that you need for other purposes.
It is important to stick to a system exactly and keep clear records of your trades. If you do not do this you will be shooting in the dark and the net results could be damaging. You need to be sure of what you are doing and able to look back and see what worked and what did not work.
There are many forex trading systems sold online but remember that you only need one profitable system to make money. It is not a good idea to try to use more than one system, and certainly do not switch from one to another all of the time, because that will not work for you. Being consistent in your trading is the key.
Forex trading is risky, but it can also make you a lot of money. Follow these pointers and you will soon have mastered how to trade currency.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Currency Trading Pip - What is it?
If you are getting into forex trading it is essential to understand the currency trading pip. This is how your profit, loss and costs are measured. Your broker account may translate pips into dollars or other currencies for you, but it may not. In any case you will want to know what it means for yourself.
A pip is a percentage in point which is a transferable unit of measure, much more useful for the purpose of comparison than a dollar profit figure. It is used in price quotes and as a measure of the change in currency prices.
The pip is the smallest measure of movement in the quoted price. Prices for most currencies are quoted to four decimal places, so one pip is 0.0001 units of the quote currency. (The exception is the Japanese yen which is much less valuable and is therefore quoted to 0.01 yen.) The quote currency is the second of the two currencies in a pair. So for example in the pair EUR/USD, the quote currency is the US dollar.
Some brokers are now beginning to quote to five decimal places and there is some argument among traders as to whether a pip then becomes 0.00001, or whether this would just be confusing, since it would mean that some brokers' pips were 10 times as big as others.
If you visit forex forums you will see traders all the time talking about their profitable trades in terms of pips. They will not tell you how many dollars they made, because that depends on their position size which another person would not necessarily replicate. Talking in terms of pips also means that they do not have to reveal the size of their account.
For example you may see a trader talking about making 200 pips profit on a trade in EUR/USD. They could be an amateur who traded a micro lot or a professional bank trader who traded tens of thousands of lots. Each would have made 200 pips, but the value of those pips would have been vastly different.
To know how much it would mean to you in terms of profit and loss, you simply multiply by 0.0001 and then by the lot size. The result will be the profit in the quote currency.
The quote currency for EUR/USD is the US dollar. So if the trader is dealing in standard lots of $100,000, one pip is 0.0001 x $100,000 i.e. $10 per lot. If he made 200 pips profit, that is $2,000 per lot. But if he uses mini lots of $10,000 it's a profit of $200, and on a $1,000 micro lot it's only $20 profit.
Still, if you assume 100 times leverage, he has only had to put up $10 for his $20, $100 for his $200 profit or $1,000 for his $2,000 profit. So it's a pretty good return and no wonder he is haunting the forums to boast about this trade!
Anyway, you can see how it is an advantage to be able to talk in terms of pips.
Also, of course, the currency itself could vary. The quote currency will not always be the dollar. If that example trade was in EUR/GBP then the 200 pip profit would be 20, 200 or 2,000 British pounds. If you wanted to know what that was in US dollars you would need to add another step into the calculation, multiplying by the current exchange rate.
This may sound confusing at first but when you start trading, even in a demo account, you will soon understand what a currency trading pip means in practice.
A pip is a percentage in point which is a transferable unit of measure, much more useful for the purpose of comparison than a dollar profit figure. It is used in price quotes and as a measure of the change in currency prices.
The pip is the smallest measure of movement in the quoted price. Prices for most currencies are quoted to four decimal places, so one pip is 0.0001 units of the quote currency. (The exception is the Japanese yen which is much less valuable and is therefore quoted to 0.01 yen.) The quote currency is the second of the two currencies in a pair. So for example in the pair EUR/USD, the quote currency is the US dollar.
Some brokers are now beginning to quote to five decimal places and there is some argument among traders as to whether a pip then becomes 0.00001, or whether this would just be confusing, since it would mean that some brokers' pips were 10 times as big as others.
If you visit forex forums you will see traders all the time talking about their profitable trades in terms of pips. They will not tell you how many dollars they made, because that depends on their position size which another person would not necessarily replicate. Talking in terms of pips also means that they do not have to reveal the size of their account.
For example you may see a trader talking about making 200 pips profit on a trade in EUR/USD. They could be an amateur who traded a micro lot or a professional bank trader who traded tens of thousands of lots. Each would have made 200 pips, but the value of those pips would have been vastly different.
To know how much it would mean to you in terms of profit and loss, you simply multiply by 0.0001 and then by the lot size. The result will be the profit in the quote currency.
The quote currency for EUR/USD is the US dollar. So if the trader is dealing in standard lots of $100,000, one pip is 0.0001 x $100,000 i.e. $10 per lot. If he made 200 pips profit, that is $2,000 per lot. But if he uses mini lots of $10,000 it's a profit of $200, and on a $1,000 micro lot it's only $20 profit.
Still, if you assume 100 times leverage, he has only had to put up $10 for his $20, $100 for his $200 profit or $1,000 for his $2,000 profit. So it's a pretty good return and no wonder he is haunting the forums to boast about this trade!
Anyway, you can see how it is an advantage to be able to talk in terms of pips.
Also, of course, the currency itself could vary. The quote currency will not always be the dollar. If that example trade was in EUR/GBP then the 200 pip profit would be 20, 200 or 2,000 British pounds. If you wanted to know what that was in US dollars you would need to add another step into the calculation, multiplying by the current exchange rate.
This may sound confusing at first but when you start trading, even in a demo account, you will soon understand what a currency trading pip means in practice.
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