We have tested some of the most popular Forex automated trading software systems in the marketplace and below are the results of our tests. If you are new to forex, then one of these tools would be an excellent way of teaching you the forex market. It will also save you the heartache of losing money when you first start out.
Graded On :
The internet revolution of the 90’s changed many aspects of everyday and corporate life. One such change was to open the Forex market to individuals. What was once the domain of banks, hedge funds, and giant multinational corporations is now accessible to retail consumers. What fueled this change was the onset of trading software that connected anybody to the currency markets through the internet.VT Trader has live quotes, charts, and detailed and up to the minute account reports.
VT Trader charts serve as a virtual canvas for trader to:
There are many markets: markets for stocks, futures, options and currencies. These are probably the most accessible markets for everyday traders like you and I. People easily understand the basics of trading shares, so I will occasionally use examples from that market. I began trading shares first and then I moved on to trading currencies; therefore, most of the examples I will be using in this book are derived from trading currencies.
If you do not know a lot about currency trading, allow me to introduce it to you. It is what I trade and I believe that it is one of the best markets to trade because of its efficiency. The transaction costs to execute a trade are minimal and most brokers provide you with the tools and data you need to make your trading decisions, they usually provide them for free. The market is open 24 hours a day which allows you to design your trading hours around your daily commitments. It is very volatile, which is great for those people who are looking for day-trading opportunities.
The foreign exchange market is the market in which currencies are bought and sold against one another. People may loosely refer to this market under different labels, including foreign exchange market, forex market, fx market or the currency market.
The foreign exchange market is the largest market in the world, with daily trading volumes in excess of $1.5 trillion US dollars. All transactions involving international trade and investment must go through this market because these transactions involve the exchange of currencies.
It is the most perfect market that exists because it has a large number of buyers and sellers all selling the same products. There is a free flow of information and there are little barriers to participate.
Forex trading is nothing more than direct access trading of different types of foreign currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was mostly limited to large banks and institutional traders. However recent technological advancements have made it so that small traders can also take advantage of the many benefits of forex trading just by using the various online trading platforms to trade. The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and they are always traded in pairs. About 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies. Four major currency pairs are usually used for investment purposes. They are: Euro against US dollar (EUR/USD), US dollar against Japanese yen (USD/JPY), British pound against US dollar (GBP/USD) and US dollar against Swiss franc (USD/CHF).
If you think one currency will appreciate against another, you may exchange that second currency for the first one and be able to "stay" in it. If everything goes as you plan it, eventually you may be able to make the opposite deal in that you may exchange this first currency back for that other and then collect profits from it. As a note bear in mind that no dividends are paid on currencies.
The foreign exchange market (Forex) offers many advantages to investors. But you need to know where to begin. This short guide will give you the Forex basics, so you can quickly start participating in this fast growing market.
In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980's the rules were changed to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why Forex trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.
A Learning Curve
Forex is not simple, though, so you'll need some knowledge to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the Forex, there are risks involved.
Your first move as a beginner should be to find out as much as possible about the market before risking a dime.
Find A Broker
Forex traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.
Open an Account
Opening a Forex account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary identification. The form includes a margin agreement which states that the broker may interfere with any trade deemed to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker, since most trades are done using the broker's money.
Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.
Many brokers offer a variety of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in Forex trading for as little as $250. Standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500, depending on the broker. The amount of leverage (how much borrowed money you can use) varies with account type. High leverage accounts give you more money to trade for a given investment.
Trades are commission-free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the 'spread': the difference between bid and ask prices.
Paper Trading
Beginning traders are strongly advised get accustomed to Forex by doing "paper trades" for a period of time. Paper trades are practice transactions that don't involve real capital. They allow you to see how the system works while learning how to use the various software tools provided by most Forex brokers.
Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new Forex investor should use these demo accounts at least until they are consistently showing profits.
Forex Software
Each broker has its own set of software tools for making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all Forex brokers. Real-time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit-and-loss analyses are some of the features you can expect to see on most online brokers' web sites.
Almost every broker operates on the Internet. To access a broker's online services you'll need a reasonably modern computer, a fast Internet connection, and an up-to-date operating system. Once your account is set up, you can access it from any computer just by entering your account name and password. If for some reason you are unable get to a computer, most brokers will allow you to make trades over the phone.
There are lots of ways to make money. Forex trading is just one more potential stream of income -- if you are prepared to learn and practice.
How Are Interest Rates Set
How are interest rates set -- a common question received by those who broker loans. The first thing most clients or prospective clients will ask is "how are rates doing?" Or, "what rate can I get?" It's understandable as the interest rate determines in large part as to what your monthly payment will be. Fundamentally, the interest rate is what you pay the lender in exchange for their lending you the money for your home loan.
How Are Rates Set?
So, how are rates set? Generally speaking, the longer the loan the more the risk to the lender and consequently the higher the rate. Of course, it's not as simple as that for there are a number of factors that determine how rates are set. Here's the nitty-gritty as to how your California home loan interest rate is set. There are three fundamental forces that determine interest rates in the United States. They are:
The Federal Reserve
The Bond Market
Multiple Forces in The Economy
The Federal Reserve
The "Fed" as it is commonly called determines US monetary policy for the entire country. There was no central federal banking system in the US from 1783 to 1913 but that all changed with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. Ostensibly, it is the central bank of the US. Don't let the term "Federal Reserve" throw you -- it is NOT a federal US government institution or department.
You may have relatives or friends who trade the markets. They could be trading shares, futures, options or forex. You may have heard of their exciting trading stories and perhaps this aroused your curiosity and you wondered whether you should trade too. One of the first questions you ask before you trade would be: what are the costs of trading.
The costs of trading depend on several factors, including the instrument and market you are trading. Most of the costs you pay are to your brokerage firm. They need to make a living in exchange for the services they provide.
Generally, you would expect to incur the following costs:
Commissions
Slippage
Spread
Platform Fees
Expenses
Commissions
First, what is Forex: The FOREX or Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with an volume of more than $1.5 trillion daily, dealing in currencies. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location, no central exchange. It operates through an electronic network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another.
Mind Games defined: Mind Games are a kind of social interaction where participants try to screw with one anothers' heads. The concept is most often used colloquially to refer to deceitful, confusing or Machiavellian situations. However some mind games are described by the psychology of transactional analysis.
When it comes to trading on the Forex market, winning is a matter of the mind rather than mind over matter. Any trader who's been in the game for any length of time will tell you that psychology has a lot to do with both your own performance on the trading floor and with the way that the market is moving. Playing a winning hand depends on knowing your own mind — and understanding the way that psychology moves the market.
Studying the psychology of the market is nothing new. It doesn't take a genius to understand that any arena that rides and falls on decisions made by people is going to be heavily influenced by the minds of people. Few people take into account all the various levels of mind games that motivate the market, though. If you keep your eye on the way that psychology influences others — including the mass psychology of the people that use the currency on a daily basis — but neglect to know what moves you, you're going to end up hurting your own position. The best Forex coaches will tell you that before you can really become a successful trader, you have to know yourself and the triggers that influence you. Knowing those will help you overcome them or use them. Are you saying 'Huh?" about now? Believe me, I understand. I felt the same way the first time that someone tried to explain how the mind games we play with ourselves influence the trades and decisions that we make. Let me break it down into more manageable pieces for you.
Market knowledge and ability to understand analysis will only get you so far in forex trading, but without the nerve to actively compete risking your own money in the process you can never become a successful trader.
Wagering huge volumes of money in a market as susceptible to change is liable to cause a whole range of opposing emotions; fear, excitement and anxiety just to name a few. Battling against your emotions in order to complete a successful deal is one of the major hurdles, which must be overcome if you are to become a trader able to close huge deals and earn vast sums of money. If you can overcome or even use these emotions to make trades on the Forex then a successful career may be beckoning, but failure to do so will almost certainly cost you a substantial amount of money and end any lingering desires to progress in the busy world of exchange rate trading.
Why do Forex Traders fail? I have a theory.
At the time I decided to start forex trading (2 years ago) the Forex Boom was just starting. I really did think I had stumbled on that legendary pot of gold, and that I would soon be on easy street.
Here was a multi-trillion dollar online business where a smart guy like me couldn't fail to make lots of easy money.
I'd read that over 90% of forex traders fail, but hey — that wouldn't happen to me — I've got a college degree! If I learned the best forex trading techniques and studiously avoided the pitfalls, I'd be a top forex trader in no time!
So I invested in the best forex training course I could find, almost entirely dvd-based training, and it cost me more than $4000. It came on 10 dvds, with 14 hours of top quality forex education, and several pieces of software, including free forex signals software which was already set up with passwords etc... and ready to go. I even got a forex spread-betting account. Mmm... better still, now I can trade forex tax-free!
I also received access to the author's web site and could see his daily forex trades. Every evening I could review his trades and listen to his commentary, and see how many pips he had made or lost. Most days he made about 20 — 30 forex pips — mostly in the GBP/Dollar market.
As a forex trader you have to learn how to take losses. Period. Don't be a crybaby. Learn how to take losses.
Learning how to take losses is one of the most important lessons you must learn if you want to survive as a trader. Nobody is 100% right all the time.
Losses are inevitable. Even Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods lose sometimes and they're considered the best in their field.
There will be trading streaks where you'll have a number of successful consecutive trades, but that will eventually come to an end you will take a loss.
As that point it's very important not to lose your head, you must remain in control of yourself. Don't have a cow man.
Take a break. Calm down and relax. Take a chill pill dude.
Until you've regained a clear mind and an ability to think logically again, stay out of the market.
Don't whine about your loss and never carry a prejudice against a loss.
The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.
I repeat. The key to manage losses is to cut them quickly before a small loss becomes a large one.
Never ever think that you will never lose. That's just ludicrous. Losses are just like profits, it's all part of the trader's universe.
Losses are unavoidable. Get over the loss and move on to the next trade.
In this Forex course we will review some steps you need to take care before you venture into your trading journey. Most traders venture into the Forex market with little or no experience in the Forex market. This results in painful experiences like loosing most of the risk capital, frustration because it seemed so easy to make money, etc.
The first thing you need to realize is that, it is not easy to make money. As every other endeavor in life, where important rewards are to come after mastering it, you need to work hard. You need to get very well educated and experienced before having the possibility to receive important rewards on it. The key on mastering the Forex market relies on commitment, patience and discipline.
Ok, you have decided you are going to trade the Forex market, you have seen several advertisings featuring how easy is to make money in the Forex market. You might think this is your opportunity to reach your financial freedom, right away, time is money, why waiting any longer if you have the opportunity to make money now. I know, I've been there, but you have a chance now, I didn't, no body told me what I am going to tell you.
We, Forex traders, make transactions based on a set of rules. These sets of rules are what we call a Trading System. Our systems tell us the exact time where we need to get in the market and out the market in order to make a profit (i.e. buy low sell high.)
Creating a system is the first big step you need to take care first. Why is this so important? Because you need to build a system that suits your personality, otherwise you are going to find hard to follow it, thus hard to profit from. A system can be based on technical indicators or what we called a mechanical system or based on experience and intuition or what we call discretionary systems. I highly recommend using and trying first a mechanical system, because discretionary systems are dangerous during the early stages of a Forex trader (can lead to indiscipline.) With experience, on later stages, you will find out which signals work better and which ones to avoid.
Technology advances like the internet have spawned a new craze, where anyone with a secure internet connection prepared to undertake a small amount of training can engage in trading foreign exchange on the forex market.
Just as a day trader will closely track stock price movements on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, all over the world forex traders monitor currency fluctuations in a similar fashion.
Forex traders have the aim of using the smallest amount of one currency, say the US dollar, to purchase another currency like the British Pound. If supply of the pound lessens in a busy market, it will cost more dollars to buy pounds, and the forex trader hopes to sell their pounds at a higher than their purchase price. In many respects, this type of trading behaviour is very similar to trading in stocks, where the aim of nearly all traders is to buy low and sell high.
The trading process works under a bid/ask system. In the above example, a forex trader might bid 10 dollars in return for 5.7 British pounds, and the seller of the pounds could be asking 11 dollars for the same amount of pounds. If the seller accepts the bid, the trader then hopes the pound continues to increase in price, so that when time comes to sell, they can get in excess of the 10 dollars initially paid.
"Easy money" is the allure that captivates many beginning Forex traders. Forex websites offer "risk-free" trading, "high returns", "low investment." These claims have a grain of truth in them, but the reality of Forex is a bit more complex. Mistakes Of The Beginning Trader
There are 2 common mistakes that many beginner traders make: trading without a strategy and letting emotions rule their decisions. After opening a Forex account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by if you don't enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover.
This kind of undisciplined approach to Forex is guaranteed to lose money. Forex traders must have a rational trading strategy and not make trading decisions in the heat of the moment.
Many Americans are interested in getting involved in forex trading. Before doing this, you should get a forex trading education. You should never get into forex trading without forex trading education. With the proper forex trading education, you can be on your way to making a tidy profit.
First you need to understand what forex trading is. Forex is short for foreign exchange. Forex trading is the simultaneous exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. By doing so at the right times, you can gain a profit. A forex trading education can teach you how to do this.
The first part of a forex trading education is to learn the market background. The foreign exchange market is always changing. With forex trading education, you will learn how to monitor these changes to be beneficial for you.
The next part of your forex trading education is to learn about risk control and risk management. You learn to control yourself and not over invest at the thrill of the chance of making money. You will also learn how to cut your losses (how to exit losing trades before your losses exceed your limits). You will always lose money when you first begin forex trading. This part of your forex trading education is absolutely crucial to whether you will make it big or end up in a hole.
Another important part of your forex trading education is to learn how to open and manage your forex trading account. Your forex trading education should first have you practice with a demo account. This way you learn the ropes by practicing forex trades with play money. There is no risk involved, but it is just as realistic as the real thing. Your forex trading education should also let you know when you are ready for the real thing. You should then, and only then, open up a live forex trading account.
For those of you who are interested in forex trading, you may want to start off by getting some good forex training. Forex training is a necessity for anyone with this interest. This is because a lot of money is involved in forex trading. If you don't get some forex training, you are bound to lose a lot of money.
Some of you may not even know what forex trading is. If you don't know this, you defiantly need some forex training. Forex stands for foreign exchange. Forex trading is basically the exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. This is done simultaneously in hopes of gaining a profit.
You can get forex training from several different places. The first place you should get forex training from is online. There are many websites that offer free forex training. The forex training these websites offer is both reliable and accurate. The forex training on these websites often offers a free demo account to teach you how to trade without actually using any real money.
Keen on starting Forex trading? Why would you not be: Many beginning Forex traders are captivated by the allure of easy money. Forex websites offer 'risk-free' trading, 'high returns' and 'low investment' — these claims have a grain of truth in them, but the reality of Forex is a bit more complex. As with anything in life, what you put in will determine what you get out.
There are two common mistakes that many beginner traders make — trading without a strategy and letting emotions rule their decisions. After opening a Forex account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by if you don't enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover.
This kind of undisciplined approach to Forex is guaranteed to lose you money, and have you waste your time. Forex traders need to have a rational trading strategy and not allow emotions to rule their trading decisions.
The two emotions prevalent in the above example is greed (entering the market immediately) and fear (selling when the market temporarily moves against you). Investing and these two emotions do not gel at all. Keep them out of your trading and you will see results.
To make rational trading decisions the Forex trader must be well-educated in market movements. He must be able to apply technical studies to charts and plot out entry and exit points. He must take advantage of the various types of orders to minimize his risk and maximize his profit.
The first step in becoming a successful Forex trader is to understand the market and the forces behind it. Who trades Forex and why? Who is successful and why are they successful? This knowledge will allow you to identify successful trading strategies and use them as models for your own.
Forex, FX and the Forex market are some common abbreviations for the Foreign Exchange market. Actually it is the largest financial market in the world, where money is sold and bought freely. In its present condition the Forex market was launched in the seventies, when free exchange rates were introduced, and only the participants of the market determine the price of one currency against the other proceeding from demand and supply. As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, the Forex market is a perfect market.
With a daily turnover of over trillions of dollars, the Foreign Exchange market conducts more than three times the aggregate amount volume of the United States Equity and Treasury markets combined. The Forex market is an over-the-counter market where buyers and sellers conduct foreign exchange business using different means of communication.
When I studied the principles of investing in university, I was taught that the price of a share reflected the value of the company. With fundamental analysis, there are many methods on how one can analyse the financial statements of companies to find out whether a share is a good or a bad investment. You can conduct horizontal and vertical analyses on standardised financial statements, which are just fancy terms for comparing numbers. You can calculate certain financial ratios to get a better understanding of a company's liquidity, working capital management, its ability to remain in business over the long term, and its profitability.
I applied these concepts when I started trading the stock market. Soon I found that if I wanted to trade shares in a timeframe of less than three months, decisions based on these analyses were not useful. I did not want to buy shares only to receive dividends. I wanted to trade for capital gains.
I was dissatisfied with my knowledge, the tools and the methods that I had to trade the markets. With my desire to trade a timeframe shorter than three months and my strengthening belief that emotions greatly impact on trading, I began to search for different approaches to buying and selling shares.
I went back to one of my textbooks in university. I wanted to know how else I could analyse the markets. From the passage I read, I learned that one can analyse the markets in one of two ways: fundamental analysis and technical analysis.
When primitive people have invented money, all they have in mind is to find some means to solidly show the actual exchange of goods or services between two persons or groups. Since then, any exchanges of goods have been centered on money, bearing the most tangible form of trade.
As time pass by, trading has significantly evolved in different industries where money is not the primary agent. Trading becomes a profitable venture; and had created a remarkable spot in the economy.
Today, there are many kinds of trading. Every type of trading depends on the kind of exchange that will take place. For instance, Forex or foreign exchange trading focused on foreign currencies.
Among the many trading types, day trading has slowly etched a name in the industry. With its remarkable turn of profits, day trading has quite gained a good reputation.
What is Day Trading?
Day trading generally stands for the system of selling and buying financial tools such as bonds or stocks throughout the day.
In other words, day trading is a series of material exchanges that all happens within the day. Hence, in day trading, every piece of stock bought has its corresponding sale. The profit or deficit is identified on the discrepancies between the goods and the trade price.
The main concept of day trading is based on the premise that all of the transactions are carried out within the day to ensure that there are no changes on the current closing price.
Changes usually take place overnight, where the preceding closing price will be changed depending on the result of the day's trading activities.
Before we go into 7 rules of Forex Trading, that have been approved by a number of full time and successful traders, I'd like to narrate this story.
There was a lion, a donkey and a fox all keen to go out rabbit hunting together. After a productive day of hunting, the three of them sit around the pile of rabbits and the lion asks the Donkey, "Mr Donkey, would you please divide the pile into equal shares for the 3 of us?". The Donkey obliges and counts the rabbits into three equal piles for each of them. The Lion immediately roared and pounced him. He then piled all the rabbits on top of the donkey and asked the Fox "Mr Fox, would you please divide the rabbits up evenly between us?". The Fox takes out 1 scrawny rabbit from the pile and puts it in a pile for himself then say "There you go, Mr Lion, that's your pile" pointing to the large pile of rabbits. The lion says "Mr Fox, where did you learn to divide so equally?" and the fox says "The Donkey taught me."
The moral of the story is to learn from others' mistakes. Now we proceed to our 7 rules. These are for you benefit as mentioned earlier, from experienced, successful traders.
Rule #1 Never risk any more than you can afford to lose, you will lose money, all traders do, make sure you're not sacrificing anything else important in the process
Rule #2 Never risk any more than 2% of your margin trading account on a simple trade. For mini account holders, 2% of $300 would be $6 so realistically you would need around $15 so you can make this 5%. As soon as your account size is big enough, make this 2%.
Rule #3 Always use a stop loss order. If you haven't figured out where your stop loss order and limit order should be at the start of your trade then you shouldn't be trading.
Rule #4 Know your exit point before you enter a trade.
Rule #5 Demo Trade First: Become successful with paper trading when there's nothing on the line before you open a real account.
Rule #6 Take a breather when your equity has taken a dive.
Rule #7 Don't let your emotions call the shots: Stay cool, calm and collected. Patience and a clear head will win the game.
Perhaps you remember one of the most impactful movies of our time, the Matrix? Morpheus believed totally in Neo to the point where he almost sacrificed his life to save him. Yet Neo did not believe in himself at the beginning, he was most uncertain about whether he was the One or not. So when he went to see the Oracle, she told him that being the One is like being in love, nobody tells you that you are in love, you just know it. The Oracle pointed to a sign hanging on the door: "Know Thyself"...
Still Neo didn't believe in himself but when agent Smith captured Morpheus and a member of his crew suggested to pull the plug so the agents of the Matrix won't get access to Zion, something in Neo changed and he began to believe...
A little further down the path of the One, Neo "accomplished miracles" because he learned how to believe in himself fully and completely. And remember Neo had a mentor who believed in him beyond any doubt and who taught him how to use his mind to defeat the Matrix and its dangerous agents. Neo's mentor, Morpheus, showed him the path and helped him empower his mind, yet Neo walked the path to his own success after he started believing in himself and mastered his own mind.
Perhaps you were wondering, yes and what has this to do with trading the Forex market?
"Know Thyself"
Forex trading or any trading for that matter is a mind game in the first place. Some people spend a lot of time and efforts perfecting certain trading skills and knowledge like reading the charts and data, entry and exit skills but any normally intelligent person can learn these skills, they are the easiest part of the trading game. They are no doubt necessary tools to your Forex success but they don't make the biggest difference between a really successful Forex trader and the one who is not successful. So what does make the difference?
RULE #1) ~ Cut your losers; let your winners ride.
One important thing that every new trader must know before entering this highly profitable business is that life is not perfect, even in Forex land, and you should always know one fact: YOU WILL HAVE LOSING TRADES.
Every Forex trader does. The key to being a consistent, predictable, reliable trader is to, at the end of the day, add up more wins than losses. And, when you KNOW(based off your trading rules), without a doubt, that YES, indeed you are, in a losing trade, don't keep losing money (lowering your stop loss) just to *prove you are right* or your rules are wrong (however you want to look at it).
All traders have to face it — you can't turn a donkey into a ferrari. You can't change the strips of a zebra and you can't turn chicken poop into chicken salad. The best trades are usually "right" immediately (the techniques, rules, methods and strategies you can learn in my website will be your best indicator for just what a "right" trade really is).
Remember, people have been trading the markets for a hundred and sixty years. The smart traders know there's going to be another trade. Cut your loses short and compound those winning positions.
RULE #2) ~ Thou Shall Not Trade the Forex Without Placing a Stop Loss Order.
When you place a STOP order, right along with your ENTRY order, via your online trade station, you've just automatically prevented a potential loss from "running" too far.
Before initiating any trade, if you haven't already figured out at what point you would be wrong and would want to cut your loses or, at the very least, reevaluate your position from the sidelines, then you shouldn't be putting on the trade in the first place.
How would you like to be able to potentially make money trading currencies in the Forex markets? Better yet, how would you like to be able to potentially do this within strict risk control parameters? Even better yet, how would you like to potentially do it with a minimum of effort on your part? I'm talking about only10 minutes a week. Well, I am here to tell you a few key principles or secrets to potentially make it happen.
Secret #1
The Forex markets are heavily advertised as being a great way to make money, which is very misleading. The unwary would-be Forex trader is led to believe all she has to do is open a Forex account to gain access to one of the many excellent Forex trading platforms, begin trading and then become rich in no time. So what's the secret? The Forex market is a highly liquid, potentially profitable market to trade, sure enough, but only if you have a winning edge methodology that you can apply to these markets. Without such a methodology, the hapless trader will quickly lose money trading the Forex as they would any market.
Secret #2
The Forex markets are heavily advertised as commission-free. True, but unlike the futures market, entering and exiting positions in the Forex markets is done by buying at the high end of a rather wide bid/ask spread and selling at the low end. So the difference in the spread is your cost of doing business. This cost may be acceptable for swing and long term traders, but may not be acceptable for day traders. So if your goal is to make money, you may not wan to day trade the Forex markets.
Secret #3
While swing trading could be potentially profitable trading the Forex markets, there is potentially greater opportunity trading the long term trends. Currencies have always moved in long sweeping mega-trends that potentially offer low risk entry points and the potential opportunity to ride a long money making trend (sometimes for several months).
If you're serious about Forex day trading, where open positions are usually only held for one day, then you'll need to set aside a chunk of time each day to make it happen. Many day traders might try to balance their regular full-time job with Forex trading, but it can be difficult to juggle both endeavors. However, it can be done if you plan it right and make the necessary time commitment and thoroughly try to keep abreast of the latest Forex trading news and offerings. Scheduling your time
Just like anything else that you're serious with, you'll need to keep set hours for day trading. If you work a 9 am - 5 pm job, you can easily day trade from 7 pm - 10 pm since the Forex market is open 24 hours a day, six days a week. You can even day trade on Sunday, when you don't have to worry about your other job. That extra day can really give you the opportunity to study the latest Forex market trends.
Online resources
Online Forex trading offers some of the sleekest and most impressive total package offerings. Many sites provide the latest Forex news in daily online journals where you can keep current with the latest happenings. You can read about such news items as projected interest rate cuts in Europe or the weakening of a certain country's currency due to the political climate. Not only are daily news articles available, but also fundamental and technical news alerts. These alerts can be sent to you around the clock, up to five or six times per day, so you get the latest information before you make that trade. Online Forex trading systems can send these all-important alerts via your email or even mobile phone, so that you have this information at your fingertips wherever you're located. You don't have to wait until you come home to open your account to see the latest happenings. It gives you a real heads-up on the market so you'll be able to make that day trade decision even that much quicker.
Another invaluable resource to make your day trading that much more successful are the online Forex seminars. It can help you brush up on your overall Forex knowledge and give you invaluable trading strategies for your Forex investments.
This is all about making a fortune with Forex. Most traders just go with the flow and make average gains, with this article you will learn what makes some traders stand out and a lot richer than others!
We are going to assume that you know how to trade, and has quite an experience in trading.
With simple changes in your trade selection, money and risk management, and mindset, you can change that average gains into larger ones!
Fast money is in Forex, it is a lifestyle. here is it how its done.
Tip 1 . Embrace Changeability and Risk With a Smile
Forex systems have instability.
If you cannot manage and calculate your risk, then don't ever think about trading in Forex. Many traders back away from forex because of this ( why do you even traded in the first place?). But taking manageable risks has its rewards.
It's just simple, you know what your losing if ever it doesn't work out, yet what you gain is unpredictable but sure is high! That is what I call excitement, my friend.
To a well-educated Forex trader, this is something you shouldn't be afraid of, might as well embrace it.
Tip 2. Trade Less, gain more
Most traders think that if they don't trade, another door has closed, or miss some move. The tendency, they trade frequently. Most of the trades that come big come a few times in a year. Focus on the trades that make the really big gains. Be alert, and informed.
Tip 3. Diversify is a no-no
Most Investors accept the fact that diversification can make money fast - in reality it does exactly the opposite.
Tip 4. Money and Risk Management
This article has been concentrating on the Big gains, because this is your money, so every penny should be controlled, this is where money management kicks in.
Forex trading refers to an international, 24/7, over the counter, exchange market where currencies of different nations are bought and sold. Trading is always done in pairs assuming the price of currency bought to go up and that sold to fall down. It is the largest liquid financial market making it impossible for any single investor to influence the prices of currencies.
There are two kinds of Forex investing strategies:
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS
TECHNICAL ANALYSIS:
Technical analysis is mostly undertaken by small and medium size investors. A technical analysis considers factors that are actually affecting the market rather than factors that can affect it. Thus the price quoted reflects all the factors that have influenced it. Only market generated facts and figures are taken into account and factors like fear, hope, expectations or other changes are not considered. Thus the analysis is generally based on these suppositions:
* Price reflects all actual market movements. That means price includes everything known to the market like supply and demand of foreign exchange, political factors, trade agreements etc. It is not concerned with what resulted in change rather deals with actual changes. It works on the assumption that price can take only one of the three directions:
Upward, downward and sideward
* It rest on those market patterns that have been identified as significant. That means those factors which are repetitive in nature or will produce desired results.
* History always repeats itself as human psychology changes very slowly with time. That is market movements are predictable.
Trading the Forex market has became very popular in the last few years. But how difficult is it to achieve success in the Forex trading arena? Or let me rephrase this question, how many traders achieve consistent profitable results trading the Forex market? Unfortunately very few, only 5% of traders achieve this goal. One of the main reasons of this is because Forex traders focus in the wrong information to make their trading decisions and totally forget about the most important factor: Price behavior.
Most Forex trading systems are made off technical indicators (a moving average (MA) crossover, overbought/oversold conditions in an oscillator, etc.) But what are technical indicators? They are just a series of data points plotted in a chart; these points are derived from a mathematical formula applied to the price of any given currency pair. In other words, it is a chart of price plotted in a different way that helps us see other aspects of price.
There is an important implication on this definition of technical indicators. The fact that the readings obtained from them are based on price action. Take for instance a long MA crossover signal, the price has gone up enough to make the short period MA crossover the long period MA generating a long signal. Most traders see it as "the MA crossover made the price go up," but it happened the other way around, the MA crossover signal occurred because the price went up. Where I'm trying to get here is that at the end, price behavior dictates how an indicator will act, and this should be taken into consideration on any trading decision made.
Technical analysis and fundamental analysis are the two basic areas of strategy in the FOREX market which is the exact same as in the equity markets. However, technical analysis is by far the most common strategy that is used by individual FOREX traders. Here is a brief overview of both forms of analysis and how they directly apply to forex trading:
Fundamental Analysis
If you think it's hard enough to value one company, you should try valuing a whole country instead. Fundamental analysis in the forex market is often an extremely difficult one, and it's usually used only as a means to predict long-term trends. However it is important to mention that some traders do trade short term strictly on news releases. There are a lot of different fundamental indicators of the currency values released at many different times. Here are a few of them to get you started:
* Non-farm Payrolls
* Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)
* Consumer Price Index (CPI)
* Retail Sales
* Durable Goods
The world of trading and investment can be as frustrating as it can be rewarding! And Forex (Foreign Exchange) is no exception — often described as risky, profitable and complicated.
Forex is the largest trading market in the world.
Forex is the worldwide market for buying and selling currencies. These markets were developed to cater for the supply and demand of different currencies by governments, companies and individuals — for international trade and assisting importers and exporters.
Therefore those who trade in this market include consumers, businesses, investors, speculators and the banking industry.
Different countries use different currencies — which vary in their values against each other. Forex trading invovles the buying and selling of two currencies — trading pairs — you are selling one and buying another eg you may use the US dollar to purchase British pounds — if the supply of the pound lessens — it will cost more dollars to buy pounds — the Forex trader hopes to sell their pounds at a higher price than the purchase price.
A speculator in Forex is someone who accepts the possibility of adverse exchange-rate movements in the hope of making a profit from favourable movements in currency.
As a speculator you should always start trading with a small amount and have a trading system — which tells you when to get in and out of the market. It is a favourite option for currency traders as you can trade the Forex market 24 hours per day and the transaction costs are minimal.
WebMoney is an electronic currency system operated by WM Transfer Ltd. There are several e-currencies circulating in this system, with the most popular being - WMZ (equals to $1 U.S.), WME (equals 1 euro) and WMR (equals 1 Russian ruble). WebMoney utilizes several methods for their customers to access system accounts - WebMoney Keeper Classic (the most secure and fully functional access with highly sophisticated software), WebMoney Keep Lite (less secure, but still protected access - via Internet browser). Other methods are available but are rarely used. WebMoney can boast more than 100 million dollars daily turnaround funds and millions customers around the world. Though, WebMoney started as a Russian payment system, it is now became an internationally popular e-currency system with a large number of representatives in all over the world and the developed deposit/withdrawal system.
WebMoney is a highly secure on-line payment system, offering security through the special protected key-files - even if your password is hacked your funds are still secure. While generic WebMoney accounts are anonymous, money withdrawal transaction involve personal identification. These ways make WebMoney far more secured than e-gold or any other on-line payment system.
WebMoney is a good alternative for those Forex traders which search for fast, secure and easy-to-use method to fund their accounts without the troublesome worries with credit cards or bank wires. Many Forex brokers support WebMoney as the deposit/withdrawal option. Here is a short list of recommended Forex brokers supporting WebMoney.
PayPal is an electronic payment, storage and money transfer method that is operated by PayPal Inc., which is owned by eBay Inc. Founded in 2000 PayPal was one of the first and currently is one of the most popular on-line services for money transferring. Although there is account balance associated with each PayPal account, PayPal doesn't employ virtual currency units (unlike e-gold and WebMoney), remaining a pure payment system. PayPal accounts are anonymous and are based on the customer's e-mail address. But the credit card is required to add the funds into the balance or send payments to other customers.
PayPal charges fees for receiving funds and for withdrawing funds from the account balance to the bank accounts outside U.S. The sender of the funds doesn't pay any fees if transfer occurs only inside the payment system.
PayPal is a convenient electronic payment system to use with the Forex brokers. Because all payments are instant, you can use your credit card without exposing it to anyone except PayPal and there are enough various brokers that accept PayPal for funding purposes. Unfortunately, PayPal doesn't allow residents of certain countries (the majority of the countries) to accept PayPal payments, making it useless to the Forex traders from such countries.
Here is the short list of the Forex brokers that accept PayPal:
Moneybookers is a British electronic payment, storage and money transfer system that is operated by Moneybookers Ltd., which is owned by Investcorp Technology Partners. Moneybookers was founded in 2001 and by its functionality is a competitor of other popular payment system PayPal. Like PayPal, Moneybookers doesn't offer any electronic currency, but the account balance can be uploaded and is measured in the common currency units.
Moneybookers requires mandatory account owner verification, which can be done via confirming the credit card, the bank account or the physical address. All three methods can be used together to increase the transfer limits that are active for all customers.
Moneybookers charges fees for sending the funds, which is usually quite convenient for the sellers and providers of the various paid on-line services.
Moneybookers is less popular in the world than PayPal or WebMoney, but is a convenient electronic payment system to use with the Forex brokers. It's a secure payment system that isn't anonymous and complies with the British anti-fraud laws. Unlike PayPal, Moneybookers is fully available to the residents of almost all countries in the world, making it potentially more widespread system.
Here is the short list of the Forex brokers that accept Moneybookers:
Liberty Reserve is an e-currency account-based system operated by Liberty Reserve S.A. (based in Costa Rica). It allows fast, reliable and secure transactions between the members of the system. The customers can buy and sell Liberty Reserve e-currency via authorized dealers and various exchange services.
One of the disctinctive features of Liberty Reserve that gives the system an advantage against other similar e-currencies is the privacy option. Each selected transaction within the system can optionally be made private by the account holder. Another interesting feature is the wallet-based spending, which allows creation of separate wallets apart from the main account to hold small amounts of money. These wallets have separate security details to ensure better protection of the main balance.
Since the late 2006 Liberty Reserve became one of the most popular payment method among the Forex traders from many Asian, South American and African countries, because it doesn't require credit card or bank account verification and is not strictly regulated by the authorities. Many trader-friendly Forex brokers list Liberty Reserve as one of the deposit/withdrawal option. Here is a short list of recommended Forex brokers that support Liberty Reserve:
FXOpen is a major Forex trading service providers for the Islamic traders, but it doesn't limit itself to Muslim traders only. Anyone can benefit their "no overnight interest" system which is rare for MetaTrader 4 platform broker. They also offer trading courses which might be useful to the beginning traders. Regular contests and deposit bonuses with To open account with FXOpen — complete a registration process on their site and download a free MetaTrader 4 trading platform. Then you will be able to deposit money into your trading account and enjoy your Forex trading process.
LiteForex is one of the leading MetaTrader 4 Forex brokers that accept e-currencies (such as WebMoney) as the payment method. Accounts can be started with the minimum of $1, which combined with flexibility of MetaTrader platform makes LiteForex an ultimate choice for the traders that want to test their automated trading strategies on real account, but without risk of losing too much money. CFD trading is also available, so Forex traders can diversify some of their portfolio into stocks traded on NYSE. It is easy to start trading with LiteForex - all you have to do is just register at their website, download their MetaTrader 4 client software, deposit money via one of the available methods (takes no more than an hour) and start trading!
InstaForex is a MetaTrader Forex broker, which offers all the useful features sought by the Forex traders in their broker — convenient way to fund the account and get the earned profit back, excellent connection with the trading servers and the quote quality, helpful support and the abundance of the trading tools to choose from. All these features are well combined in InstaForex. Here's the quick glance at its advantages: | Deposit: | Bonus: |
|---|---|
| $100 | $30 |
| $800 | $200 |
| $5,000 | $1,000 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
To start trading with InstaForex you first need to open an account on their website, then download MetaTrader 4 terminal from their website and deposit the funds to this account via your favorite payment system. That's all! Now you can enjoy Forex trading with InstaForex.
eToro offers of the most innovative Forex trading platforms on the on-line market. eToro Forex platform allows beginner traders to start trading almost without a traditional Forex learning: Bonus System. Upon your first deposit to the trading account you immediately receive a free bonus up to $1,000! It's that easy! Just register and deposit as much as you want. Your bonus will automatically appear in your account balance.
| Deposit: | Receive Bonus: |
|---|---|
| $100–$399 | $25 |
| $400–$999 | $100 |
| $1,000–$4,999 | $250 and get a Silver Account |
| $4,999–$9,999 | $500 and get a Gold Account |
| $10,000–$19,999 | $1,000 and get a Gold Account |
| $20,000+ | Special VIP bonus |
Bonus is applicable only to the first deposit. It can be added only once per trading account, person or a household.
You can open a trading account and download eToro platform in minutes.
If you want to learn more about eToro you can read an on-line interview with eToro's Jeff MacKenzee about their platform and plans for the further innovations: Interview with eToro.
FXcast is a unique Forex broker registered on Antigua and Barbuda and is an accredited member of GDCA. All traders can benefit from the MetaTrader 4 platform that allows using custom indicators and automated expert advisors. FXcast also supports almost all possible ways to deposit and withdraw trading funds — everything for the trader's comfort. FXcast is very easy to start with: register via their website, update your personal identification information and enjoy trading.
You can also read an interesting interview with the FXcast broker about their vision of the Forex trading and some issues related to this broker specifically: Interview with FXcast.
MasterForex — offers a wide variety of trade instruments (Forex, CFD, Futures), an easy and user-friendly trading platform (MT4), terminal for PDAs and Smartphones. 24/5 customer support is always online. Minimum deposit is 1$. We also have Islamic accounts. Spreads begin from 2 pips. Leverage can be up to 1:500. We have the best conditions for partners! MagnumBroker.com interbank forex broker, futures and stocks broker — Terminals: MetaTrader 4, Strategy Runner, Laser trade, mobile trading, 1000+ trading instruments, automatic trading, catalog of trading systems, trading central research, no requotes, fast execution, direct access, currenex, licensed broker.
FXstreet — Many useful articles, constantly added expert commentaries and forecasts DailyFX — Everything happening in Forex world is covered here
ForexCenter.net — The complete Forex portal offering live forex rates, forex charts, forex news, forex trading forecasts, technical analysis, currency converter, forex books & educational material
Currency Newswire — daily currency news and Forex highlights.
This list of Forex resources contains URLs to other useful Forex sites - Forex forums, general Forex information resources, Forex signals providers and our partners. If you find a broken link, or wish to exchange links with us - please, contact me via the link exchange form.
EarnForex.com receives only high quality and extremely targeted traffic which comes mainly from search engines, online directories and Forex related forums. Visitors are highly interested in everything about Forex and financial trading. Constantly updated content keeps a large part of our auditory revisit EarnForex.com on a regular basis. The advertising rates are quite moderate, making your Forex advertisements an effective marketing tool. Buying Forex advertisements (banners or text link) will bring you only high quality targeted visitors.
For the last three decades Foreign Exchange market, - briefly Forex or FX, had integrated into the world's biggest financial market. The volume of daily transactions is about 1-3 trillion of US dollars. The trading instruments on this market are the currencies of different countries, so the fluctuation of currency's rates allows to gain a real profit.Of course monetary assets of different countries exchanged since the term money appeared as well as an idea to obtain profit from currency's rates difference. Now it is not a new idea, but the transformation of foreign exchange market to the modern stage with an opportunity to conduct conversional operations of such volumes arose only after an introduction of floating rates regime by the state-members of IMF. Within this regime's framework the rate of one currency to another is defining only by the supply and demand on the market.
Presently Forex market is a global telecommunication network of banks and different financial organizations. It does not have any fixed trading place and time restrictions - the trade starts on Monday morning in New Zealand and closes on Friday evening in USA
The advantages of Forex market are:
Round-the-clock trading access: the ability to trade for 24 hours a day;
Liquidity: the market works with a huge money and gives the customers complete freedom to open or close their position of different volume;
Leverage: an ability to use leverage. It decreases requirements to the sum of the initial deposit (margin trade). So in case you deposit 10 000 USD into your account you'd have an opportunity to work with 1 000 000 USD (leverage 1:100);
Objectivity: no exterior regulated structures, so the currency's rate is establishing in accordance with current supply and demand on the market;
Globality: everyone can become a market participant irrespective to the living place, as trading requires only your skills and Internet access.
At present mostly all the operations on the market are conducting only to obtain profit. With the development of Internet and other means of communication this sector of the financial markets becomes more accessible and attractive for the investors of different levels.
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