5 Negative Habits That Could Be Affecting Your Trading

Currency

Successful traders constantly strive to improve themselves and will do whatever is required to extract more money from the markets.

Controlling our mindset is crucial if we are to grow as effective traders. This article looks at 5 negative habits that could be affecting your bottom line and gives suggestions on how to counteract them.

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How to Beat Forex When You Have a Day Job – Part 4/4

Trading Strategy

This is the final part of my FREE Forex strategy for traders with day jobs. If you haven’t read the previous parts yet, you can find them here: part 1, part 2, part 3.

How to Exit Your Trade

This following exit strategy, although extremely simple, is very effective. It will get you out of a bad trade quickly – also keep you in a good trade when you get on a big move.

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How to Beat Forex When You Have a Day Job – Part 3/4

Trading Strategy

Welcome to Part 3 of this tried-and-tested FREE Forex strategy. If you’ve managed to missed the first two parts I highly recommend you check them out; you can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

We’re going to go through a specific example trade. This will give you an idea of how simple and easy this strategy really is. It will also give you an idea of how profitable it is as well!

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How to Beat Forex When You Have a Day Job – Part 1/4

Trading Strategy

Welcome to the first in a series of four articles that reveal a FREE killer Forex strategy for those who don’t have time to trade through the day.

Most new traders, like YOU, hold down steady day jobs; and most trading strategies out there are targeted at those learning intraday trading. But intraday trading is just not possible for most new traders.

Perhaps you’ve tried Forex “Robots” or “Systems” in the past but were not happy with your results; today is going to be the day that changes your Forex trading forever. Not more systems, robots or signals.

I am going to show you exactly how to trade successfully, profitably and easily for YOURSELF.

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CFD Trading and the FX Market

Trading Strategy

Markets can often be a perplexing arena, with both positive and negative market movements. CFD trading can be used as a financial vessel to trade on these directional trades, enabling traders to react to not only positive market change but also dropping stock value.

The principles of CFD trading are derived from a contract for difference. The notion of a contract inevitably incorporates a two way relationship. The idea of 2 is at the heart of financial trading with a buyer and a seller forming the foundations to multiple trading relationships. At the core of CFD trading resides the concept of underlying value, not necessarily the stock you own but instead the movements of a particularly stock.

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5 Characteristics Of Successful Traders

Trading Strategy

Based on my experience, trading the financial markets, I have identified five characteristics that differentiate professional traders from new traders. Generally speaking, professional traders typically do the following:

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S&P Slashes US Economic Outlook

News

S&P has cut the US outlook from stable to negative. So can Republicans and Democrats put aside their differences to tame the supermassive deficit before the US implodes?

In the last 24 hours the ticking clock Republicans and Democrats have been operating under regarding the US deficit struck an intimidating bong. Ratings service Standard & Poor’s has slashed the US economic outlook from stable to negative – reflecting behemoth debt the US acquired in 2009 and the miniscule odds of its being paid back before 2014.

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Japanese Machine Orders and Binary Options Strategy

News

Machinery orders offer a valuable insight into a country’s spending. Historical technical patterns resulting from the release of Japanese Machine orders, if high normally results in a bullish attitude towards the yen but with the shock of recent events re-writing past predictions, the outcome of the latest Japanese Machinery orders inevitably attracted market attention.

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Is Forex Trading for You?

Currency

Forex or foreign exchange is a way you can invest your money. It works by taking advantage of the daily fluctuations between different currencies. When the forex market changes, the movement in points translates to dollars that you either make or lose, depending on your position.

You may be interested in investing in the forex market. However, it is not for everyone. It may look simple enough, but there are actually a number of social, political and economic factors at play that affect the value of a currency in a given day.

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Why the Amount of Pips Made in a Day May Not Matter At All

Trading StrategyThe internet is saturated with cheap marketing and advertising ploys aimed at reeling in new forex traders. Most of them promise huge returns with the promise of thousands of pips per month. Many of the marketing schemes on the net boast things like, “Learn how to make 100 pips a day!” or “Our trading strategy yielded 2,000 pips last month!”

First of all, there are all sorts of ways these numbers are fabricated, but the reality is that pips don’t really matter. In this article, we are going to discuss why, and then we are going to discuss what really matters.

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Basic Forex Strategies

Trading Strategy

The multi-billion-dollar per day Foreign Exchange Currency Market (Forex) is appealing to the individual investor because it is one of the most liquid investments available. In a way, it is a very simple, straightforward type of investing. Prices can either go up, down or sideways.

That is not to say that you can simply open a Forex trading account with a broker and start placing trades, unless your goal as a Forex trader is to become what’s known as, in Forex jargon, a “donor.”

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How to Trade Out of a Bad Losing Position in Forex Back into Profit (Part I)

Trading Strategy

You need to learn how to effectively trade out of a losing position into profit as a trader. If you apply proper money management, this situation might not arise. But suppose, you made an error of judgment and all of a sudden find yourself in a runaway trade that has the potential of blowing your account.

This situation can easily arise when you are using a mental stop instead of a real stop loss. This is what many pro traders do. They instead of using a real stop use a mental stop that they use to get out of the market. But pro traders also do another thing. Instead of getting out of the market, they prefer to slowly trade their way out of a losing trade.

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Trading The Friday To Sunday Extension

Trading Strategy

As a forex trader, you can exploit the Friday to Sunday Price extension to make 10-30 low risk pips during the weekend while the markets are closed. This trading strategy works very well when there is high volatility on Friday like that what happens on the release of NFP Report.

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The Anatomy of a Good Forex Trade

Candlestick Chart

If like so many people you have become dis-illusioned with the financial system and you feel like you need to take charge of your own investments then forex trading might well be a good option for you.

If you are new to forex though, it can all seem very daunting. Figuring out where to start your education is key. So in this post I wanted to lay down the basic structure of a good trade, so that you have at least some idea what you need to learn.

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Is it Wise to Invest Online?

Forex Software

The great thing about the internet is that you can turn on your computer in the US and hop online to buy something in Africa. All this is done within just a few moments, and once you have made your secure payment (in dollars or otherwise) you can go ahead and sit back to wait for your purchase to arrive.

It’s all rather easy and definitely better than heading along to your local shopping mall to jostle shoulder to shoulder with everyone else there.

But when we think about going online we tend to think in terms of buying items online. Where do we stand when it comes to online investments?

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How Forex Brokers Can Use Social Media to Obtain New Clients

Currency

In recent years, the Forex industry has managed to gain additional exposure by way of social media. Some Forex brokers are attracting new clients by using social media to share knowledge and important information. They’re using social media to make important connections with FX traders and prospective traders.

For example, Deutsche Bank’s online retail foreign exchange trading platform, dbFX, uses Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Linkedln to connect with FX traders and attract new visitors to its website.

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Top 4 Reasons Forex Traders Fail

Trading Strategy

Most forex traders fail. While we don’t have completely accurate statistics to back up this statement, it is estimated that 90% – 95% of forex traders lose more money than they make.

The question that unprofitable traders continue to ask is, “Why can’t I make money in the foreign exchange?” Sometimes it even seems like the whole world is against you – your broker, your government, and, many times, even yourself.

But fear not. There are some common reasons why traders tend to lose money in the forex, and with a bit of knowledge, experience, and discipline, most of the reasons can be overcome. Let’s take a look at 4 common reasons for trading failure now.

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Turtle Trading Rules That Made $100 Million

Trading Strategy

Are great traders born or are they made? This is the most important question that comes to the mind of anyone thinking of taking trading as a profession. This exactly was the topic of discussion between Richard Dennis and William Eckhardt, two great traders. Richard said that good traders are made and not born while Bill thought that good traders were only born.

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Currency Correlations in Forex Trading

Trading Strategy

Everything in the currency market is interlinked to some extent. Most of the currency pairs show correlations. Knowing about these currency correlations is important for you in order for you to reduce risk and diversify your portfolio. This knowledge of currency correlations will help you diversify and double up your investment portfolio without having to invest in the same currency pair plus also reduce your exposure to the market.

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Chinese Tiger Consumes Japanese Economic Status

News

China has consumed Japanese growth, stepping up to its rightful position on the throne of financial supremacy. Binary options can be used to trade on economic events and market direction. China’s increasing prevalence within the financial world, is elevating the impact of Chinese economic events.
Japan has surrendered the title of second biggest economy in the world to China.

Japanese success and forex allure to an extent became a self-fulfilling byproduct of its descent. The rising Yen, driven by investors seeking risk adverse FX pairs, fused with weakening consumer spending to contract Japanese fourth quarter economic results. The tiger’s prowl was in many ways already predetermined by the velocity of Chinese growth throughout 2010, tempering market surprise.

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Bad Risk Management in Forex Trading

Trading Strategy

Bad risk management can create stress and ruin your forex trading career. You might have the best forex trading system in the world but it will fail if you don’t practice good risk management. Losses are inevitable with any forex system. But what if you have bad risk management? You will blow out your account soon and most probably don’t have enough money to make those profits that you had dreamed when you started trading forex.

Bad risk management is one of the main reason that fails the budding career of many new forex traders. Many people start trading forex dreaming of making a million in just a few months. They overtrade, take on too much risk and get blown out by the market.

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Keep A Trading Journal

Trading Strategy

Why you need to keep a trading journal? Trading is all about being disciplined. Successful traders don’t have any holy grail of systems or indicators. What they have is a lot of common sense and discipline. The importance of keeping a trading journal cannot be overemphasized if you want to become a successful trader. This is how hedge fund managers train their new traders. No doubt, leading banks are able to train and breed successful and pro traders using this simple strategy of inculcating the habit of keeping a trading journal and being disciplined in trading.

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Importance of Timeframe Coordination in Forex Trading

Trading Strategy

Using the higher timeframe to confirm a trading signal on a lower timeframe is a skill that can be highly rewarding for a trader. Many traders take a trade that is coordinated on the lower timeframe but not the higher timeframe which often gives them bad trades and a waste of time and energy.

Suppose, you find the trend on the intraday chart and the trend on the daily chart in the same direction, it is like having the wind at your back.If you can master the art of identifying currency pairs that have the intraday trends in the same direction as the daily and the weekly trends, you can reap immense rewards.

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Breakout Trading Entry, Exit and Stop Loss Strategies

Trading Strategy

Breakout trading can be highly profitable. But the problem is most breakouts tend to fail often. A breakout fails when the price returns to a point before the breakout. Suppose the price breaks out above the resistance line but soon retraces back below the resistance line. This means the breakout was false. But in many cases, prices retraces itself slightly above or below an important breakout level before continuing in the direction of the breakout.

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Divergence Trading With MACD Histogram

Trading Strategy

Divergences are considered to be pretty strong trend reversal signals. Divergence happens when the price action and the indicator in this case the histogram moves in the opposite directions. For example, the price action makes a new high while the indicator makes a new low or the price action makes a new low while the indicator makes a new high.

When divergence between the price action and the indicator develops, it means a potential trend reversal in the market. MACD is a very versatile technical indicator that can be used to trade these divergence patterns.

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How To Trade With The MACD Histogram

Trading Strategy

A MACD Histogram is a bar chart. The slope of the MACD Histogram is very important. This is the best indicator that tells whether bears or bulls are controlling the market. An upward slopping histogram indicates that the bulls are getting stronger while a downward sloping histogram indicates that the bears are getting stronger.

The price trend whether up or down is likely to continue if it is in the same direction as the slope of the MACD Histogram. When the slope of the histogram and the price action are moving in opposite direction, it means that the trend is in jeopardy. As a rule, always try to trade in the direction of the slope of the histogram.

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How To Avoid Forex Scams

Forex Software

The Forex market is an unpredictable scene and anyone determined to guarantee any outcome is probably a scammer. Because this market is practically unregulated, those looking to profit from inexperienced traders are doing so via online means. Its a shady enterprise, but it appears as legitimate.

The rule of thumb is, if it’s too good to be true, then it’s just that… be cautious, these promises about making money while you’re asleep or making quick money without any effort is just a load of crap. Wealthy people don’t get to their wealth without doing anything, without making any sacrifices. When approached by an unbelievable offer, don’t get screwed. Here’s what you need to look for.

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How to Be a Top Forex Trader

Trading Strategy

In the Forex market, everyone wants to become the infamous powerhouse broker with an unending stream of money coming out of their pockets. The reality is, according to Forex brokers, 90% of traders fail terribly because they just do not know what they are doing, how things work, or that they aren’t prepared enough. The other 10 percent, well, consider that only 5% comes even while the other 5% experiences repeated success. How do they do it? In this post, I’ll explain five key principles required to become a power trader:

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Fibonacci and Online FX Trading

Trading Strategy

Fibonacci and Online FX Trading offers the capacity not only to react promptly to market change but to react using an online platform which has the necessary strategic resources. The Fibonacci pattern is a well regarded mathematical sequence and can be applied to the forex way of thinking.

The foreign exchange market, aptly known as forex is the biggest financial market in the world and as a result the sheer level of variables, opens a vast array of possibility regarding technical analysis and trading patterns.

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How Can a Computer Program Help Make Forex Trading Decisions

Forex Software

Forex trading is a fast paced, complex, high risk, high reward activity. Good split second decision making can be the difference between riches or ruin on the forex markets. That’s why so many forex traders use computer programs to make forex trading decisions. Many forex traders make consistent profits using computer programs designed to help make forex trading decisions. Don’t quite understand how a forex trading computer program can make decisions for you? Read on.

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Trend Trading With Bollinger Bands

Trading Strategy

Do you know this fact that the Bollinger Bands can be used as a very effective tool for detecting and trading trends even though most of us have only be taught to use them in a range bound market. Here is how to capture the trend with Bollinger Bands (BBs). Bollinger bands are used to measure the deviation or what we call volatility in the market. Bollinger bands measure the standard deviation of price action away from its 20 period moving average.

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Deciding on a Lot for Your Forex Trading

Trading Strategy

As a Forex trader, your natural desire is to reduce risks as much as possible. Inevitably, you develop risk management strategies to combat the side-effects of risky trades. In doing so, Forex traders must pay close attention to the size of their lots. Forex strategists assert that the smaller the lot size is, the better, consequently boosting flexibility and overall risk management. So what are the types of Forex slots? Forex slots come in three forms: 1) Micro Lots, 2) Mini Lots and 3) Standard Lots.

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A Daily Timeframe Strategy That Pulls 100-500+ Pips Per Trade

Trading Strategy

This is a daily timeframe strategy that can make hundreds of pips per trade for you without you having to spend hours staring at your computer monitor. Wake up in the morning, scan the charts on the daily timeframe, setup your trade and that’s it. After that you are free to do whatever you want to do.

Let’s discuss this Daily Timeframe Strategy. This Daily Timeframe strategy uses only two indicators. These are the Bill William’s Accelerator Oscillator (AC) and the Stochastic Oscillator. The Bill William’s Acceleration/Deceleration Indicator (AC) measures the acceleration and deceleration of the current driving force.

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Perfect Order Forex Strategy

Trading Strategy

Perfect order takes places when the moving averages are stacked in a sequential order. For example, suppose you are using a three simple moving average system, 10 day SMA, 20 day SMA and 50 day SMA. In an uptrend, a perfect order world be when the 10 day SMA is above the 20 day SMA and the 20 day SMA is above the 50 day SMA. In the same manner, the 100 day SMA should be below the 50 day SMA and the 200 day SMA should be below the 100 day SMA.

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What is Forex Trading?

Candlestick Chart

A basic definition of Forex Trading can be unraveled relatively easily however utilizing this definition to your maximum advantage requires broader foundations. The roots of Forex Trading are derived from and are an abbreviation for, the Foreign Exchange market. The foreign exchange market is a constant hubbub of activity both for the financial and domestic world.

The forex market need not involve substantial financial knowledge; in fact you have probably already taken part in the forex community as the result of a simple trip to your local bank to convert that leftover change from your trip overseas.

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The Morning Star And The Three White Soldiers Candlestick Patterns

Morning Star

Three stick candlestick patterns are more complicated than the single stick and two stick patterns. These patterns take three days to emerge as a valid signal. One such three stick candlestick trend reversal pattern is the Morning Star. However, a Morning Star and the Bullish Doji Star look almost the same but are in fact two different three stick candlestick patterns. You need to know how to distinguish between them.

In case of the Morning Star and the Bullish Doji Star Patterns, the first day is a large bearish candle, the second day in case of the Doji Star Pattern is a True Doji while in case of the Morning Star it is almost a Doji. The price action behind these two patterns is almost the same.

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Leveraged Carry Trading Strategy

Trading Strategy

Carry trade strategy entails buying a high interest rate currency and selling a low interest rate currency. Suppose, New Zealand Dollar NZD offers an interest rate of 4.35% while the Japanese Yen JPY offers 0.35%. Carry trade strategy involves buying NZD and selling JPY. The investor earns a profit equal to the interest rate differential of 4% as long as the exchange rate between the two currencies does not change.

Carry trade is one of the fundamental trading strategies that uses the basic economic principle that money constantly keeps on flowing from a low interest market to a high interest market. Markets that offer the highest interest rate attract the most capital. Countries are no different. Countries offering a better interest rate attract more capital as compared to countries offering low interest rate.

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The Truth Behind Trading Forex Online

Forex Monitor

Forex trading online can be a very exciting and lucrative hobby. However, you need to know what you are doing to limit the amount of money you could lose. Here are some of the basic things you should know before you even attempt to trade online.

Are you interested in taking part in Forex trading online? If so then you may find that it can be slightly confusing. Many companies let you open a trading account with just $250. However, while this may seem like a very small amount, you need to think that it could let you control more than $25,000.

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Trading Retracements With Fibonacci Levels

Trading Strategy

In the last article, we discussed how to trade breakouts with Fib Projection Levels. Let’s discuss that breakout situation again. But this time, let’s assume it fails. Again assume that breakout scenario where EURUSD price rise from 1.2200 to 1.2300. But you are less confident that the price action will continue to rise. You still want to take the trade with one standard lot (100,000 units).

You enter the market with 1/4 lot (25,000 units) at 1.2300 just like before. If the prices continue to rise just like before, you can still profit from that move by gradually adding to the partial position to target the exit of 1.2400. Now, suppose the price doesn’t rise.

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Advantages of a Forex Robot

Forex Monitor

When we think of a Forex robot, we’re hoping that another Wall-E could make our Forex decisions for us, but that’s no the case. There are all sorts and varieties of Forex software that use automation (i.e. a robot) to create several charts and diagrams to analyze our stocks. We, nonetheless, need to make a choice on what software is the best for us and so, this post will explain what to look for in a Forex robot software.

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Trading Breakouts With Fibonacci Projection Levels

Trading Strategy

Most breakouts tend to fail. It is impossible to know which breakout will succeed and which breakout will fail. But you have to be in it to win it. As a trend trader, you have to take every trade. However, using Fibonacci can optimize your few wins and minimize many losses.

When you spot the breakout candle, enter the market with half of your trade size. If the price continues in your favor as you had anticipated add 1/4th of the trade size at 138.2% of the initial move. And if the momentum continues in the direction that you had wanted and anticipated, add the final 1/4th of the trade size at 162.8% of the move.

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Analysis of the Five Types of Forex Brokers

Trading Strategy

There are variable kinds of Brokers, but in total, there exists five types. These five types of Forex brokers have access to brokerage firms that are recognized and considered legitimate versus those shady backdoor brokers who cannot provide you any guarantees. If you want to succeed in getting the right broker, I suggest reviewing their policies. They have similar access to the Forex market, but their terms and conditions might make you choose one type of broker over another.

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Pros and Cons of Forex News Trading Strategies

Trading Strategy

The Forex market has always been rapidly growing, especially thanks to the affordability and accessibility of internet access and the growing investment opportunities provided by Forex. Whilst it’s accessibilities are advantageous, it’s obvious there are significant investment hurdles such as market fluctuations, leverage, and other investment strategies–it is also one of the most unstable. In other posts, I’ve explained how Forex traders use two forms of analysis: fundamental and technical; however, I did not go through very thoroughly the advantages of news release analysis and how they can effect Forex trading.

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Trading Support And Resistance Using Turnabouts Strategy

Trading Strategy

When you make a mistake in trading, there are no money back guarantees that can give you back your hard earned money. Turnabout is a conservative approach to trading support and resistance. This is the closest to the money back guarantee that you can get when trading support and resistance.

Support and resistance is one of the key concepts in trading. Support is like the floor of a room. When you hit it with a ball, the ball will bounce up. In the same manner, resistance is like the ceiling of a room. When you hit it with a ball, the ball will bounce down.

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Harami – An Important Trend Reversal Candlestick Pattern

Harami Pattern

Harami is an important trend reversal pattern. It is a two day candlestick pattern with the candle of the setup day longer than the candle of the signal day. Harami is the Japanese word for pregnant. If you draw this a pattern, it will look like a pregnant woman. The pattern can be bullish as well as bearish.

In case of the bullish harami, the first day is a bearish candle that occurs in a downtrend. On the second day, bulls enter the market and start moving the prices higher but not with much success as the price close lower than the open of the first day and the first day’s high is not surpassed. However, when this pattern appears it culminates in a trend reversal.

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Choosing the Right Forex Software

Forex Monitor

Software usage is an essential part of successful Forex trading. Softwares allow complete automation, organization, and prioritization of stocks, follow trends, calculate probabilities and assign characteristics that may benefit your day trading skills. Knowing which software to choose can be vital to your Forex day trading success. Software react almost instantaneously to trends, allowing you to optimize your time and not worry about the hardship of statistical analysis. Furthermore, even if you’re new, you can still make use of software since a great aspect of them is user-friendliness and teaching. Some software even come with educational material to not only understand the way the software graphs trends, but how to read them and how to take advantage of such information. In order to find the right software, follow this advice:

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How To Choose The Right Forex Broker

Trading Strategy

Before you jump into Forex trading, consider what the environment you’re getting into. Forex is considered a risky investment, so approach with caution. As we all know, every investment won’t return the profit we sought, and similarly, every potential investor may not have what it takes to be a Forex trader. If you’re approaching these feelings of uncertainty, I recommend speaking with a Forex broker.

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A Successful Start to Forex Trading

Candlestick Chart

In order to start a home business, one must fully analyze their current financial wit and their capabilities. Investment must come with a strong emotional security because it’s important for you to fully understand that your investments come at a high price, there’s always the risk of total failure. Nevertheless, you mustn’t gamble your money away, you’ve got to be prepared, diligent, smart, and very determined.

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Forex Trading Strategies

Trading Strategy

Forex trading has received a great deal of attention from those seeking quick, instant wealth. Nevertheless, without creating a strong and unique strategy to approach Forex, these individuals will be left penniless. Forex trading strategies lower potential risk in either day/swing trading for those individuals with solid determined traders who remain calm at crucial moments and stick to the strategy.

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Market Analysis For Great Forex Gains

Trading Strategy

Forex trading strategies are plentiful, perhaps the exact reasons why a lot of people haven’t got a clue where to start. Nevertheless, all these strategies use two common characteristics and techniques: fundamental or technical analysis.

When you look at a fundamental analysis report, what you see is the whole financial scope including trades, historical analysis. These trends reveal international macroeconomics and influences that effect the supply and demand of currency trading. Here are five factors that influence it:

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Making Money With Forex

Candlestick Chart

Forex is considered one of the most lucrative trading online market ever, consisting of millions of traders all looking to acquire huge profits; nevertheless, Forex trading can be risky, particularly to those lacking sufficient experience. To achieve those Forex success, one must learn and become adept quickly and operate with sound strategies.

In order to get a basic understanding of Forex trading, consider setting up demonstration accounts. These demo accounts provide you the capability of trading, except with “virtual” money rather than the real thing. This method is without risk and a great way to give you results on your trading capabilities. When you’ve used this strategy enough and you see yourself improving significantly, it’s time to move onto the next phase.

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Trading Price Oscillator Divergences Can Increase Your Chances Of Making Winning Trades

Trading Strategy

Trading divergence patterns is not a complete trading strategy rather it is an additional tool in the technical trading toolkit of any trader. Divergence is simply the disagreement between the price action and the indicator movement.

Now any oscillator can be used to show divergence patterns. The most commonly used oscillators include RSI, Stochastics, MACD, CCI, ROC and Williams %R. However, any oscillator can show divergence with price action.

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