Sunday, October 4, 2009

Online Currency Trading Explained

What is online currency trading? Put simply, it is a way of making money from the daily changes in currency prices by trading in currency on the internet. It is often called forex or FX trading, which are just short names for 'foreign exchange'. It is a speculative form of investment, so it is risky. At the same time, it allows many people to make money from their home computers by working just a few hours each day.

One of the benefits of forex trading over stock trading is that it is a 24 hour market so you can trade in the evenings. Currency trading can be done in any part of the world, you are not limited to your own country's currency. So you can take advantage of the different time zones which mean that the market is constantly open from Sunday night to Friday night.

In other respects you may think of it as being a lot like stock trading. You are dealing in rising and falling prices, submitting buy orders for currencies that you think will rise and sell orders for currencies that you think will fall in value. You can make these trading decisions on the basis of world economic events or more simply, you can look at charts which show patterns and indicators that many traders follow to make successful trades.

Currency is always traded in pairs because it has to be an exchange: in order to buy one currency you always have to sell another. A common pair for beginners to use is EUR/USD, or the euro and US dollar. These are the most heavily traded pairs so costs are usually low and a lot of information is available, making it one of the easier and cheaper pairs to trade.

When you are trading this pair you are always either buying or selling euros, with the dollar as the quote currency. If you want to buy dollars when trading this pair, you have to place a sell order for euros, and that will automatically mean that you are investing in dollars. This is called 'going short' on EUR/USD. If you want to buy euros, that is called 'going long'.

The aim, of course, is to place a closing order on the trade after the price has moved the right way so that you are in profit. Of course if it goes against you, you can lose, so you need to place stop orders. A stop order cancels out your trade at a certain level of loss so that you are protected from large losses.

Many brokers will accept a very small minimum investment to attract new traders. At the same time, the use of leverage and margins means that you can control large position sizes with a small account balance. You may only have to supply 1% of your trade amount in order to open a trade. The broker guarantees the rest, protecting their position with automatic stops. All of this means that online currency trading does not require a large investment to get started.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Metatrader EA: What You Need To Know About Expert Advisors

The Metatrader EA or expert advisor is a whole family of forex robots that work on the free downloadable software platform called Metatrader 4. MT4 basically acts as a platform or framework that trading robots can be built on. That's why, when you buy a trading robot, you usually have to download Metatrader 4 and install it on your computer before you can set up the robot or expert advisor itself.

Automated trading systems such as expert advisors will act for you in the market, making trades according to their own system with regard to the settings that you put in. This has a lot of advantages if the system is profitable. Your Metatrader EA will not need to sleep, eat, visit the bathroom or have a social life. Provided you can make sure it is always online, it will watch the markets 24 hours and should never miss the right moment for opening or closing a trade.

Robots also have perfect discipline and never feel any emotion. This means that they will not be tempted to make trades that are outside the rules of your trading plan because of fear, greed or over optimism. They do not have hunches that tell them to buck the trend in some disastrous way.

It is easy to set trailing stops in MT4 and this can help to maximize your profits. The trailing stop will automatically move to follow the price when things are going your way, and stop if the market turns. This means that on a successful trade you can play it out to the maximum while guaranteeing profits at a certain level. If things go against you from the outset, of course the stop does not move but is triggered to minimize your loss.

Of course this relies on the Metatrader EA being constantly in touch with the market, like other aspects of the robot's trading. It runs on your own computer and connects with your broker's software platform over the internet. So this means your computer needs to be on 24 hours, except at the weekend when the market is closed, unless you exit all of your trades before the end of your working day.

Many computers automatically shut down when they are left idle for an hour or more, so you will need to make sure that you can alter that setting. In Windows Vista you can change the plan settings in Power Options in the Control Panel. You also have to think about whether anybody else who uses the computer is likely to shut it down after they finish using it. Most traders prefer to have a dedicated computer that nobody else will use, but this is not always possible.

A better option to make the most of your trading robot is to have it hosted remotely. Sometimes the developer of the robot will offer you this option and it is often worth taking. They will then set it up on a server so that it does not run on your computer. This also has the advantage that you can access your Metatrader EA from any computer if you need to go in and change settings.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Currency Trading Australia: A Commodity (Gold) Currency

If you are interested in currency trading Australia you need to know about some of the special factors that affect the price of the Australian dollar. It does not matter whether or not you live in Oz, you still may want to trade this currency from time to time. It can have benefits because the Australian dollar sometimes stays more stable when other major currencies are very volatile. This is partly because of its position as a commodity currency.

Commodity currencies are the currencies of countries whose main exports are in raw materials rather than manufactured goods or services. Raw materials can include food and other agricultural products, iron and other metals, gem stones, oil, etc. In Australia, the main commodity export is gold.

When the average consumer thinks of gold they usually equate it with jewelry. However, in the world of investments, gold is bought and sold more for its commodity value than for use. Gold is something that often preserves its value in times of economic crisis. For example if there is rampant inflation or a major stock market crash, the average person's savings will often become almost worthless but an investment held in gold will maintain or more likely increase its value.

Australia is one of the world's largest sources of mined gold. Production levels have fluctuated a little due to the effect of internal taxation but broadly speaking, Australian gold production has risen from just 20 tonnes a year in the late 1970s to around 300 tonnes a year today.

Because of this, there is a close correlation between the price of gold and the value of the Australian dollar. Interestingly, even though the USA is another major source of gold, even producing slightly more than Australia, the price of the AUD/USD currency pair is also closely correlated with the price of gold, other things being equal. This is because gold is not such an important factor in the huge American economy as it is in Australia.

So when gold prices rise, the price of AUD/USD will often also rise, and when gold falls AUD/USD is likely to fall. Often there is a little delay before the currency price reacts so a foreign exchange trader involved in AUD/USD has the opportunity to use this to his advantage.

You can also expect that commodity prices in general and gold in particular will go up when there is any major economic crisis in the world. Provided that Australia is not too closely involved in a crash, that is often another early indication of an upcoming rise in the price of AUD/USD.

Of course, gold is not the only factor here and if you want to trade AUD/USD you will need to stay informed about anything else that might affect the price. You can never completely remove the risk involved in forex trading. However, understanding the influence of gold prices on the Australian dollar will be of benefit to you if you want to make money from currency trading Australia.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Top Currency Trading Systems

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.

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.

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.

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.