Forex Store

Why Gold Didn't Go Down Under

2011-09-19T02:43:00.000-07:00

Gold is a most useful metal in Jewelery and other products like mobile etc.

AUSTRALIA IS MOSTLY known for koala bears, kangaroos and Foster's beer. The central bank in Sydney rarely figures prominently as a major actor in global financial markets.

Yet, the Reserve Bank of Australia's surprise decision to raise interest rates Tuesday set off a global surge in gold prices and provided new evidence that emerging economies will likely recover from the global credit crisis before developed nations such as the U.S. Australia increased rates 25 basis points to 3.25%, while U.S. rates remain between zero and a quarter percent.

Australia's decision created massive trading in gold options, futures, and stocks as a hedge against U.S. inflationary pressures and weakening U.S. dollar. Similar trading occurred in European and English markets where investors also fear a hangover from coordinated central bank efforts to stabilize the global economy after the credit crisis.

Indeed, Australia's rate hike, coupled with ongoing fears of Israel bombing Iran, may prove to be a milestone in how gold trades in the options market and elsewhere. By all accounts, gold has entered a new trading range that portends higher prices.

"No one knows how far gold prices will increase," a top options market maker said. "Remember what happened to oil last year? It kept powering higher and stocks surged as short sellers were taken out."

In the past, many traders reflexively sold short-term call options or used other trading tactics to profit from gold's inevitable loss of momentum every time it surged higher. Panic peak prices are typically followed by price declines because everyone has spent all of their money chasing gold higher, and they have nothing left to spend. But buyers remain active for gold and related companies even as the price of SPDR Gold Shares(GLD), the primary proxy for gold, was recently unchanged at about $102.

Upside call buying also is active in Newmont Mining (NEM),Barrick Gold (ABX), Yamana Gold (AUY), Gold Fields (GFI) andHarmony Gold Mining (HMY).

Real-world economic concerns, rather than trading tactics, seem to be increasingly weighing upon traders who want to own gold -- not trade it -- so that they can protect themselves against the inflationary effects of the U.S. Federal Reserve printing money to end the credit crisis.

Some options traders say there is now ever-present demand to buy gold as a hedge against macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns. In the past, options were primarily used to take advantage of gold's price swings, rather than as a tool to cost-effectively buy gold.

The persistent demand for gold is firmly reflected in the prices of options on SPDR Gold Shares.

The implied volatility of GLD's call options, which increase in value if GLD's price rises, are incredibly expensive. This reflects demand for bullish calls, and also shows the reluctance of market makers who are forced to sell calls into a powerful rally to maintain an orderly market. In normal markets, the price of out-of-the-money puts tends to exceed call prices. Why? Because investors tend to be more afraid of losing money, rather than missing an opportunity to make money.

That Australia figures so persuasively in this ongoing conversation about how the world recovers from the credit crisis will surprise many people. Australia, however, is a backdoor play on fast-growing Asian markets. Australia is rich in the commodities that Asia needs to propel its growth.

As economic expansion in major countries is expected to be modest due to the legacy of the credit crisis, Glenn Stevens, governor of Australia's central bank, said prospects for his nation's Asian trading partners appear noticeably better.

"Growth in China," Stevens said in a statement announcing the bank's rate hike, "has been very strong, which is having a significant impact on other economies in the region and on commodity markets."

For now, everything that is wrong with the world is reflected in the price of gold. As it seems those problems are not likely to subside anytime soon, traders say it is unlikely gold prices will significantly decline in the near future.

This article taken by online.barrons.com .

Diamonds Investment

2011-09-19T02:38:00.000-07:00

Investment Diamonds

Many people think of diamonds as an investment. In recent years they have increased in value but there are numerous reasons why we do not think diamonds should be considered for investment purposes.

1) While De Beers does, to a great extent, control the distribution and pricing of rough (uncut) diamonds, they do not control the price of polished diamonds. Polished diamond prices fluctuate up and down and are highly impacted by things such as interest rates and inflation. During the high inflation period of 1978-1980 in the U.S., white diamonds were approximately 4 times more expensive than they were twenty years later.

Click here for our discussion of diamond prices

2) Top quality diamonds are more liquid than real estate but less liquid than stocks or gold. It will take some time to find a buyer for your "investment" diamond. Expect the wholesale or retail buyers to offer you much less than they are selling the same diamonds for.

3) Like any good investment, the purchase price is just as important as the selling price. Do not expect to buy a diamond at a jewelry store with 100% mark up and then expect to make money selling it in a couple of years. If you do not have a retail source that is able to sell you at 5 to 10% over their cost, you are paying too much.

4) The diamonds that have historically been the best investments are natural colored diamonds. Blue and pink diamonds are hundreds if not thousands of times rarer than D color white diamonds. While the diamond buying public is becoming more expert in white diamond shopping, colored diamonds still tend to be a mystery to most shoppers in terms of quality and price.

5) Beware of dealers who put all the emphasis on what percent off "Rap Price" they are selling diamonds. Just because a diamond is priced to you at 40% below the Rapaport List Price, does not mean it is a good value and it certainly does not guarantee it will be a good "investment." Cheap diamonds are often just that, cheap. The Rapaport Price does not take into account cut, polish, symmetry, fluorescence and appearance. Some diamonds are better values at 5% below Rap Price than others priced at 40% below Rap Price. Unless you are a diamond expert and trade (buy and sell) every day, do not expect to master the diamond pricing game.

Click here for our discussion on Rapaport Price

6) Many of the sales pitches given for investing in diamonds have to do with the high value in a small size, easy to hide, easy to transport and anonymity for both the seller and buyer. These aspects seem to have more to do with tax evasion, money laundering and fraud than they do with ethical and legal investing.

7) Many diamond shoppers have been told that their investment will hold its value better if they buy a very high quality stone. On the surface, this sounds reasonable but this logic fails to take into account the effect of supply and demand. Since there are many more buyers seeking diamonds with H color and VS2 clarity than D color and IF clarity, these H/VS2 diamonds tend to be easier to sell and often have appreciated at a higher rate than the D/IF stones.

Ten Year Diamond Price Performance (One Carat Diamond)

As the following chart shows, over some time periods very "high quality" diamonds have appreciated less than "high demand" diamonds. While most shoppers don't intend to have to sell their diamond in the future, it still makes sense to invest in an asset that is expected to appreciate and that has a large potential market for a sale when needed.

Ten Year Diamond Price Performance (One Carat Diamond)

Advice: While most shoppers don't intend to have to sell their diamond in the future, it still makes sense to invest in an asset that is expected to appreciate. If investment appreciation is an important shopping requirement for you, seek VS1 to VS2 clarity range, G to H color range and the best cut possible.

Beware of retailers who tell you that your diamond is "investment" quality if it has high clarity (IF or VVS). We talk to a lot of customers who bought "investment" diamonds in the past who paid premium prices for very high clarity but still had low color, poor cut and/or strong fluorescence. Just like real estate, if you want to sell a diamond you must find a buyer willing to purchase. If your diamond has low color or poor cut, you will have a hard time finding any buyer, let alone one willing to pay what you think it is worth.

This article taken by diamondsourceva.com.

Forex Multiple Trading

2011-09-19T02:36:00.000-07:00

To improve the efficiency of our trading strategy. We see the major Trend using a higher time frame than what we intend to use & a lower Time frame to enter a trade.

Say we want to trade using the Daily Charts. We take the Weekly charts to see the major trend. Suppose it's an uptrend in a Weekly chart. We will tend to trade only long positions. We will use entries in the daily charts to enter long positions only.When sell signals are generated we will just exit our long positions. I.e. we don't short sell.Suppose it's a downtrend in a Weekly chart. We will tend to trade only short positions. We will use a entries in the daily charts to enter short positions only. When buy signals are generated we will just exit our short positions. I.e. we don't enter long positions.Now that we are using two timeframes. Now coming to timing the entry of trades or adding additional positions. (Pyramiding) We can further use a Hourly chart to time our entries. Suppose the weekly & daily charts are in a uptrend. We will enter a long position or an additional long position when a hourly chart gives us a buy signal. Suppose the weekly & daily charts are in a downtrend. We will enter a short position or an additional short position when a hourly chart gives us a sell signal. This timeframe would not be used to exit the trades. It's solely to improve the timing for entry. For exits we would use the signals generated in the daily charts.Using multiple time frames to trade.We take three charts of the same security. First is the weekly chart. Next chart is the daily chart. Third chart is the hourly chart.We will now use the daily chart to trade. We check the weekly chart for the weekly trend. Lest assume the weekly trend is up. So based on this information we will just trade long positions in the daily chart.We look for a buy opportunity in the daily chart or we can see the hourly chart to enter a long position.Now for entering additional positions we use buy opportunities in the hourly chart. We would exit based on the daily chart only, because we were trading based on the daily chart.Similarly we can trade short where weekly charts are in a downtrend and daily chart generates sell opportunity. Additional positions are entered whenever sell opportunities are generated on the hourly charts.For Day trading we can use the Hourly, 15 Min and 5 Min charts here we trade the 15 Min chart. Or we can use 15 Min, 5 Mins and 3 Mins charts here we trade the 5 Mins chart.

Forex Trading Currency Useful Information

2011-09-19T02:34:00.000-07:00

When you trade in the forex exchange, you are working with foreign stocks, money and corresponding kinds of products. The monetary value of one nation’s money is set against the same from a different nation to figure the value. The entire value is counted when buying and selling stocks on the forex markets. Most nations have control over the entire worth of their country with respects to monies. Those who are frequently engaged in the FX markets include banking institutions, large business enterprises, international administrations and finance companies.

So what makes the forex market dissimilar from their US counter parts? A forex market transaction is a trade between two countries, and occurs all over the world. The two countries must be 1, the country of the investor of the funds and 2, the country where the finances are being given. Most all transactions taking place in the forex market are going to be qualified through an experienced broker such as a bank.

What is involved in the forex stock exchange? The overseas market is comprised of a mixture of financial exchanges amongst nations. For those invested in the forex exchange are trading in large volumes and huge amounts of money. Those who are involved in the forex market probably have financial businesses or in the trade of very liquid assets that you can sell and buy fast. The market is large, very large and it would not be wrong to imagine the forex stock market as even more immense than an individual market exchange in any one country.

Forex traders 365 days per year, twenty-four hours a day is completed on the weekend, but not all weekends.

You might be surprised at the great number of investors who issue trades on the forex exchange. In the year 2004, almost two trillion dollars was the median forex exchange trading volume. This is an immense number of trades with regards to the amount of daily dealings at a time. If you imagine how much a trillion dollars amounts to and multiply that by two, and this figure is the money that is changing hands every day!

The forex exchange has been around for thirty years, but with computers coming into play and the global web, the forex exchange is growing exponentially as growing numbers of investors start to understand the power of the forex market. The forex exchange accounts for only 10% of the sum of all trades between two countries but as its popularity grows so will its number of transactions.

How to Calculate Rollover Interest?

2011-09-19T02:33:00.000-07:00

In the Foreign Exchange Market or Forex market, Rollover is a method of stretching the arranged clearing date or what is known as the settlement date of an open position. Mostly, in common currency trades, trades ought to be completed in two business days and traders who wish to stretch their positions with no intention of settlement must close their positions before 5:00 in the afternoon Eastern Standard Time on the date of settlement day, plus re-opening of them the next trading day. This means by rolling over the position, this at the same time closes the existing positions at the daily close rate and again coming into a new opening rate at the next trading day. This precisely means that the trader is indirectly extending the settlement day by one more day.

This is also known as tomorrow next strategy, it is functional in forex due to many traders have no purpose of getting delivery of the currency they buy but instead they have the intention of getting profit from fluctuating exchange rates. Since rollovers shove out the settlement by another two trading days, it may cause a gain or a cost to the trader depending on the existing rates.

Apparently, Rollover is when you reinvest funds from a mature security into a new issue of the similar security or same security. You are transferring the holdings of one retirement plan to another without the agony of tax effects. Plus a charge is incurred by Forex investors who extend their positions on the following delivery date.

Rollover interest is the net effect of the money borrowed by an investor to purchase another currency and such interest is paid on the borrowed currency and earned on the purchased currency. To calculate this interest, you should get the short-term interest rates on both currencies, the existing exchange rate of the currency pair and the number of the currency pair purchased. For instance, an investor possesses 15,000 CAD/USD. The present rate is 0.9155, the short term interest rate on the Canadian dollar (base currency) is 4.50% plus the short term interest on the US dollar (quoted currency) is 3.75%, so the interest would be $33.66 [{15,000 x (4.50% - 3.75%)} / (365 x 0.9155)].

If on the contrary, the short term interest rate on the base currency is lower than the short term interest rate of the borrowed currency, the interest rate would result into a negative number which may reduce the value of the investor’s account. Such interest can be avoided by taking a closed position on the currency pair. If an option is about to expire is quite favorable to grip, you can either buy or sell the later expiring option. Always note the interest rate that is paid by a currency trader or he may received in the course of these forex trades is considered by the IRS as ordinary interest income or expense. For taxation, the trader of the currency should always keep track the interest received or paid, separate from regular trading gains or losses.

Stocks Extend Gains in Mid-Day Trading

2011-09-10T02:48:00.000-07:00

Stocks have extended their gains in mid-day trading, with all three major indexes currently sharply higher. Stocks are bouncing back after three straight days of losses on speculation that President Obama will launch a $300 billion package to support jobs growth. A German court’s decision to reject a case seeking to block the country’s participation in bailouts of euro zone countries also boosted global equity markets today.

At last check, the Dow Jones was trading 1.84% higher at 11,343.95, the S&P 500 was trading 2.30% higher at 1,192.08, and the Nasdaq was trading 2.34% higher at 2,531.69.

All sectors in the S&P 500 are up sharply in mid-day trading. Industrials and Conglomerates are leading the gains in the S&P 500 in mid-day trading. At last check, Industrials were trading 2.69% higher, while Conglomerates were trading 2.49% higher.

Energy stocks have also bounced back sharply after Tuesday’s losses. At last check, Energy stocks were trading 2.65% higher. Among the major gainers in the Energy sector in mid-day trading are Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), which is currently trading 2.29% higher at $72.78, Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), which is currently trading 3.18% higher at $98.65, Schlumberger Limited (NYSE: SLB), which is currently trading 3.04% higher at $76.58, and Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), which is currently trading 2.74% higher at $41.99.

Other major gainers in mid-day trading are MELA Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: MELA), which is currently trading 66.52% higher at $3.73, FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL), which is currently trading 20.39% higher at $1.24, CONN’s Inc. (NASDAQ: CONN), which is currently trading 34.01% higher at $7.29, and VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY), which is currently trading 2.91% higher at $36.09.

Among the major losers in mid-day trading are Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV), which is currently trading 0.26% lower at $38.70, National Retail Properties Inc. (NYSE: NNN), which is currently trading 1.73% lower at $26.14, and Royal Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD), which is currently trading 2.33% lower at $78.82.

Forex Market Worldwide

2011-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Forex is a buying and selling system also referred to as FX or foreign market exchange. Those concerned in the foreign exchange markets are some of the largest businesses and financial institutions from around the world. They deal in multiple currencies from many nations to produce a balance as some are going to gain money and those who fall down. The basics of forex are similar to the form of dealing found in any country, only much bigger and complex. Forex buying and selling involves individuals, currencies and trades from around the world, between every last country.

Different currency rates happen and change every day so the measure of the dollar on one particular day of trading might be different on the next trading day. Forex trading can be hard to keep track of so you must dedicate yourself to keep an eye out on your funds, especially if you have invested a great amount of them, there is a chance you could lose it all. Primarily, trading in the forex exchange occurs in Tokyo in New Your and in London as well as several other spots around the globe.

The types of currency that are commonly traded are the Swiss franc, the Australian dollar, the British pound, the Japanese yen, the Eurozone euro, and the United States dollar. You can cross-trade currencies and you can intermingle one currency trade to another in order to attain supplemental interest and monetary gains.

The regions included where forex trading will start at one hour then shut down as other markets start to open shop. This is seen also in the stock exchanges from around the world, as different time zones are processing orders while making other transactions during various times. What happens in forex trading in a certain country might create various results in another forex exchange as time zones dictate the opening and closing of forex markets. The exchange rates will be varied between forex exchanges, and brokers and day traders alike will want to know the rate changes for each new day before committing money.

The stock exchange is primarily measured on products, prices, and other factors within businesses that could alter the cost of shares. If someone knows what is going to happen before the general public, it is often known as inside trading, using business secrets to purchase or sell stocks on that information — which is punishable by law. There is very little, if any at all inside information in the markets of forex. The monetary trades, buys and sells are all a part of the forex market but very little is based on business secrets, but much more dependent on the status of the currency, economy of any given country.

Code are given to each type of currency on the forex market exchange so no confusion exists when knowing which currency one is investing with at the time. EUR is the symbol for the euro and the US dollar is known as the USD. The GBP is the British pound and the Japanese yen is known as the JPY. If you want to get involved in the forex market and want to contact a brokerage then you should have no problems finding and online brokerage where you can investigate the type of exchanges and profile ahead of throwing your money down the drain.

Forex Currency Trading Useful Information

2011-08-30T13:25:00.001-07:00

When you trade in the forex exchange, you’re engaged with foreign stocks, currency and similar varieties of products. The money of one country can be likened to another currency from a different nation to figure the monetary value. The value of that foreign currency is taken into review on every last trade made in the forex stock markets. Many international markets will have control over the altered monetary value their nation brings affecting the money, or currency. People who’re investing their money into the FX market exchange includes many large business organizations, banks foreign administrations and finance businesses.

What are the things that make the forex exchange so different from the US stock market? A trade on the forex market is one that involves at least two countries, and it can take place worldwide. The two countries must be 1, the investor’s country and 2, the place receiving the investment. Most all of the transactions that take place in the forex markets will be qualified through an experienced broker such as a bank.

What are the ingredients of trading in the forex market? The overseas market is comprised of a mixture of financial exchanges amongst nations. Investors in the forex stock market are trading in large volumes and huge amounts of money. Those deeply imbedded in the forex exchange are likely to have companies who are cash businesses or are in businesses where assets are bought and sold quickly. The US market is massive but it is correct to imagine the forex stock market as even more immense than any given single stock market. Forex traders daily twenty-four hours a day and sometimes trading is completed on the weekend, but not all weekends.

You might be surprised at the great number of investors that are involved in forex trading. In 2004 alone, as much as two trillion dollars was the median forex exchange trading volume. This number is massive in trade volume with regards to the amount of daily transactions to take place. Think about how much a trillion dollars really is then double that, and this amount is the average that is traded on any given day on the forex exchange!

The forex market is not something new, as it has been used for over thirty years but with the introduction of computers, and the global web, the forex exchange is growing exponentially as growing numbers of investors become aware of the availability of this trading market. Forex only accounts for about ten percent of the total trades between countries but as the popularity in this market continues to grow so could that number.

Forex Accounts

2011-08-30T13:23:00.001-07:00

If you trade on the forex market, professional is never unit honest long green exchanged. All pesos on the market is kept path online. That means you blame fix irrefutable completely electronically. From side computer cloak an internet connection at subdivision life span, allotment stage, and from anywhere. Considering of this rope that the market provides, absolute is elementary to get into.

Slick are a immense numeral of mainly speculative trades done on the market. Most of these are done by mortally big financial institutions. Weight actuality, 80 % of forex trading is done by these bare banks and institutions. That means that most of the transactions are done money the billions of dollars.On the forex, most currencies are traded domination pairs. When a trader exchanges currency indubitable is done weight a pair of one currency for increased. These pairs are bracketed into lots that are worth $1, 000 for each. Every $1, 000 lot is equal to $100, 000 on the market.Here ‘ s an sample of a usual traded duo. For precedent, if you trade USD / EUR that is a US dollar / European Union Euro span. If you trade one lot ( 100, 000 units ) of EUR / USD you would serve short euro and gangling dollar. Numerous journey to envisage of true is buying. If you earnings $10, 000 seeing a fashionable car, therefore you would symbolize $10, 000 dollars expanded also 1 car cramped. Or control terms of the dealership, the dealership would epitomize 1 car short and $10, 000 dollars expanded. Tangible ‘ s due to manageable through that!This is all done electronically on the market. But uncolored whereas trained are no undeniable exchanges ball game on, you obligation still compose lots of almighty dollar on the forex market. Away that you have scan this article, you perceive how all of the exchange happens and how all the resources is false.

Recent Recommended Trades

2011-08-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

Update Time: 26 Aug 2010 09:08GMT

INTRA-DAY USD/CHF OUTLOOK - +1.0280+

Despite intra-day rebound fm 1.0281 to 1.0319,

current retreat on renewed cross buying in chf sug-

gests recovery fm y'day's low of 1.0247 has possi-

bly ended there n consolidation with downside bias

wud be seen for weakness to 1.0280/81.

Trade fm short side n exit on decline. A firm

rise abv 1.0338 may risk stronger gain twd 1.0373.

Rate: +1.0280+

Strategy: +Target met+

Position: Short at 1.0315

Objective: 1.0280

Stop-Loss:

Resistance: 1.0319/1.0338/1.0373

Support: 1.0268/1.0247/1.0220

******************

Update Time: 26 Aug 2010 07:03GMT

INTRA-DAY EUR/USD OUTLOOK - +1.2730+

Lack of strg follow through buying abv 1.2727/

30 n present retreat fm 1.2738 suggest risk is seen

for a pullback to 1.2690/95 b4 prospect of a resump

tion of erratic upmove fm 1.2588 to 1.2745/50, how-

ever, reckon 1.2772 (prev. sup) shud cap upside.

Wud be prudent to exit long n look to buy again

on dips as only below 1.2678 wud signal top made.

Rate: +1.2730+

Strategy: +Target met+

Position: +Long at 1.2695+

Objective: 1.2730

Stop-Loss:

Resistance: 1.2738/1.2772/1.2833

Support: 1.2678/1.2650/1.2608

*********************

Update Time: 26 Aug 2010 06:06GMT

INTRA-DAY AUD/USD OUTLOOK - +0.8885+

Aud's breach of 0.8867 (AUS) indicates the rise

fm y'day's low at 0.8770 to retrace recent decline

remains in progress n upside bias is seen for fur-

ther gain twd 0.8895, however, sharp move beyond

there is prevented due to nr term o/bot condition.

Hold long with stop as suggested n only below

0.8830/32 signals intra-day top is made, 0.8805/10.

Rate: +0.8885+

Strategy: +Target met+

Position: Long at 0.8850

Objective: 0.8885

Stop-Loss:

Resistance: 0.8895/0.8925/0.8946

Support: 0.8830/0.8796/0.8770

*********************

Gold higher on worsening US outlook

2011-08-26T10:04:00.000-07:00

Headlines
Gold higher on worsening US outlook

US DOE reports reports fall in domestic demand for petroleum

Base metals lower on terrific new home sales

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US GDP second estimate revised down, but upward of forecast

2011-08-26T10:01:00.001-07:00

The Bureau for Economic Analysis released today the second estimate for Q2 GDP at 1.6% growth, a heavy foot on the breaks from the first quarter's 3.7%. However, the revision was expected to land at 1.4% from the Q2 first estimate of 2.4%.

The release also includes the Gross Domestic Purchases Price Index showing that inflationary pressures remain low. The indicator stayed put at 0.1%, turning a blind eye on the 1.8% forecast.

Real Personal consumption Expenditures QoQ rose from a revised 1.9% to 2.0% bypassing expectations of a drop to 1.7%.

Gross Domestic Product Annualized

1.6%

Actual

1.4%

Consensus

2.4%

Worries are Intensifying

2011-08-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

Market Movers Ahead

Market focus is likely to remain on the US economy in the coming week. The minutes of the most recent FOMC policy meeting could reveal important information about the Federal Reserve’s decision to reinvest the proceeds of its MBS portfolio in Treasuries. There have been rumours that several FOMC members were in doubt about the decision. In addition, the ISM will give us an update on the pace of the slowdown in the US manufacturing industry. We expect the ISM to decline to 53.6 in August. The August employment report will finish off a hectic week on Friday. Early labour market indicators are pointing towards a weak report, with private employment set to grow a meagre 20,000.
In Europe, the key event of the week will be the ECB Governing Council meeting on Thursday. While policy rates are likely to remain unchanged, a key question is whether the ECB has become more worried about the effect of the increasingly disappointing US indicators on the European growth outlook. Another important question that might be addressed at the policy meeting is whether the ECB will extend the full liquidity allotment - we believe this is likely. In Sweden, we expect the Riksbank to hike policy rates by 25bp to 0.75%.

Global Update

The flow of weak economic indicators out of the US continued in the past week. Home sales have plummeted following the expiry of the tax credit for homebuyers. This has raised concerns about the strength of the underlying trend in home sales. Also, durable goods orders have called the strength of business investment into doubt. However, the reduction of weekly jobless claims was a positive, with initial jobless claims retreating to 473,000.
The weakness in US indicators is likely to feed through to the European economy. In fact, new export orders in Europe’s manufacturing PMI weakened. The European economy, led by Germany, should nonetheless be able to continue delivering abovetrend growth in Q3. However, although it has remained strong so far, Germany’s Ifo manufacturing activity index is also pointing towards slowing growth.

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Trading Forex Systems

2011-08-26T09:58:00.001-07:00

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2. Start the too easy installer

3. Watch the sometimes money roll call in

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Essential Elements of a Successful Trader

2011-08-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Courage Under Stressful Conditions When the Outcome is Uncertain

All the foreign exchange trading knowledge in the world is not going to help, unless you have the nerve to buy and sell currencies and put your money at risk. As with the lottery “You gotta be in it to win it”. Trust me when I say that the simple task of hitting the buy or sell key is extremely difficult to do when your own real money is put at risk.

You will feel anxiety, even fear. Here lies the moment of truth. Do you have the courage to be afraid and act anyway? When a fireman runs into a burning building I assume he is afraid but he does it anyway and achieves the desired result. Unless you can overcome or accept your fear and do it anyway, you will not be a successful trader.

However, once you learn to control your fear, it gets easier and easier and in time there is no fear. The opposite reaction can become an issue – you’re overconfident and not focused enough on the risk you're taking.

Both the inability to initiate a trade, or close a losing trade can create serious psychological issues for a trader going forward. By calling attention to these potential stumbling blocks beforehand, you can properly prepare prior to your first real trade and develop good trading habits from day one.

Start by analyzing yourself. Are you the type of person that can control their emotions and flawlessly execute trades, oftentimes under extremely stressful conditions? Are you the type of person who’s overconfident and prone to take more risk than they should? Before your first real trade you need to look inside yourself and get the answers. We can correct any deficiencies before they result in paralysis (not pulling the trigger) or a huge loss (overconfidence). A huge loss can prematurely end your trading career, or prolong your success until you can raise additional capital.

The difficulty doesn’t end with “pulling the trigger”. In fact what comes next is equally or perhaps more difficult. Once you are in the trade the next hurdle is staying in the trade. When trading foreign exchange you exit the trade as soon as possible after entry when it is not working. Most people who have been successful in non-trading ventures find this concept difficult to implement.

For example, real estate tycoons make their fortune riding out the bad times and selling during the boom periods. The problem with trying to adapt a 'hold on until it comes back' strategy in foreign exchange is that most of the time the currencies are in long-term persistent, directional trends and your equity will be wiped out before the currency comes back.

The other side of the coin is staying in a trade that is working. The most common pitfall is closing out a winning position without a valid reason. Once again, fear is the culprit. Your subconscious demons will be scaring you non-stop with questions like “what if news comes out and you wind up with a loss”. The reality is if news comes out in a currency that is going up, the news has a higher probability of being positive than negative (more on why that is so in a later article).

So your fear is just a baseless annoyance. Don’t try and fight the fear. Accept it. Have a laugh about it and then move on to the task at hand, which is determining an exit strategy based on actual price movement. As Garth says in Waynesworld “Live in the now man”. Worrying about what could be is irrational. Studying your chart and determining an objective exit point is reality based and rational.

Another common pitfall is closing a winning position because you are bored with it; its not moving. In Football, after a star running back breaks free for a 50-yard gain, he comes out of the game temporarily for a breather. When he reenters the game he is a serious threat to gain more yards – this is indisputable. So when your position takes a breather after a winning move, the next likely event is further gains – so why close it?

If you can be courageous under fire and strategically patient, foreign exchange trading may be for you. If you’re a natural gunslinger and reckless you will need to tone your act down a notch or two and we can help you make the necessary adjustments. If putting your money at risk makes you a nervous wreck its because you lack the knowledge base to be confident in your decision making.

Patience to Gain Knowledge through Study and Focus

Many new traders believe all you need to profitably trade foreign currencies are charts, technical indicators and a small bankroll. Most of them blow up (lose all their money) within a few weeks or months; some are initially successful and it takes as long as a year before they blow up. A tiny minority with good money management skills, patience, and a market niche go on to be successful traders. Armed with charts, technical indicators, and a small bankroll, the chance of succeeding is probably 500 to 1.

To increase your chances of success to near certainty requires knowledge; acquiring knowledge takes hard work, study, dedication and focus. Compile your knowledge base without taking any shortcuts, thereby assuring a solid foundation to build upon.

TRADING: A MIND GAME

2011-08-26T09:55:00.001-07:00

You must change your mental attitude first from a normal person to that of a speculator. Almost all traders I have met, except a few successful ones who really made millions and billions trading in the market, simply waste all their time trying to learn the easiest part in perfection, like about how to read data and charts, and trying to perfect entry and exit skills, etc. Trading is a mind game and without having a right frame of mind, it is a losing game even before it starts. Training a trader�s mind is the first step for any successful trader but almost all new traders neglect that part and that explains why more than 95% of traders are a failure in the long run.

Acquiring the knowledge of the market is not difficult for anyone with average intelligence after a few years of hard study in the market. But it is neither the level of intelligence nor the knowledge that decides the outcome of the market operations of a trader. It is the decision making process that is so hard for most traders to overcome and that is the main reason for a success or a failure for all the traders. Some find it easy to make decisions and stick to it and most find it so hard to make decisions and stick to it. Unfortunately, any decision making process in trading is a pain-taking process and humans tend to avoid pains and go for pleasures even if for temporary ones. Assuming one has acquired enough market knowledge and acquired one�s proven trading system (this is the second most important element of success in trading, in fact. An edge in any system is based on the quality of info one has, charts being only an info of secondary quality not the best one)

Through studies and research, a trader faces the task of making decisions to put this knowledge and system into practice. Then, how many traders can honestly say they can commit their ranch when the trade is suggested by their own system (given that trading is just a chance game) and let the profit run for weeks and months when their system tells them, and how many can manage to cut the loss as a routine process when the situation arise. It all sounds so easy when saying it but so difficult when doing it affecting real money in the market. I still do not sleep well when I am running position because even if the profits are running into a few hundred dollars and the system is telling you to carry on, there is no guarantee that the profit will turn into a yard or two in a month time, and it may even turn into a loss in a day or two when something unexpected happens. A painstaking process in real sense. The pain is not knowing what will happen in the future and in fear of losing. So at the end of the day, assuming one has decent trading system and market knowledge and decent info, it is ultimately how disciplined and how well that trader can take the pain of making right decisions at the right time that decides the outcome of the trades. Hence I call trading a mind game. When I interview prospective young traders, I always look for disciplined and strong-willed person as my first priority as long as one has decent education, but strangely in many cases, it is some kind of genius or half-genius with lots of brains with no disciplines who turn up for an interview thinking only bright people can make good traders.

In fact, I always try to pyramid while position trading medium-term once I am convinced of a new medium-term trend emerging. Like in USD/JPY position trading 135-132 as an initial position, adding in 132 and 129 areas. Same for AUD/USD and EUR/USD with similar strategies. But sitting on positions and watching the counter-rallies costing truck load of money is not easy job to do and causes lots of pain all the time. Most traders even among experienced ones cannot bear that pain and give up too early. But there is no other way to make a big money and we have to bite the bullet and "sit and accumulate" as long as the medium-term trend is intact. That is why I always believe psychological aspects of trading is far more important than anything else in successful trading. A mind game like those bluffing game of poker.

Entries and exits can never be "irrelevant" for any trader for any purpose. It is just that psychological aspects of trading are much more important than entries and exits, and decisive for the success or failure of a trader in the long run. Perhaps exits are more important than entries because any perfect or near-perfect entries are possible only in hindsight.

Forex Trading Tips

2011-08-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Tip 1. Gamblers go to casino. All unproved, spontaneous actions in Forex trading — are a part of pure gambling.

Any attempt to trade without analysis and studying the market is equal to a game. Game is fun except when you are losing real money

Tip 2. Never invest money into a real Forex account until you practice on a Forex Demo account!

Allow at least 2 month for demo trading. Consider this: 90% of beginners fail to succeed in the real money market only because of lack of knowledge, practice and discipline. Those remaining 10% of successful traders had been sharpening and shaping their skills on demo accounts for years before entering the real market.

A good demo account to start practicing with could be, for example, FXGame from Oanda.

Tip 3. Go with the trend!

Trend is your friend. Trade with the trend to maximize your chances to succeed. Trading against the trend won't "kill" a trader, but will definitely require more attention, nerves and sharp skills to rich trading goals.

Tip 4. Always take a look at the time frame bigger than the one you've chosen to trade in.

It gives the bigger picture of market price movements and so helps to clearly define the trend. For example, when trading in 15 minute time frame, take a look at 1 hour chart; trading hourly would require obtaining a picture of daily, weekly price movements.

If a trend is hard to spot — choose a bigger time frame. Up and down market patterns are always present. Always make sure you know the dominant trend, unless you are a scalper. Scalpers have no need to spend their time studying big trends, what's happening in the market here and now (during 5-10 minute time frame) should be of only importance to a Forex scalper.

Tip 5. Never risk more than 2-3% of the total trading account.

One important difference between a successful and an unsuccessful trader is that the first is able to survive under unfavorable conditions on the market, while an unsuccessful trader will blow up his account after 5-10 unprofitable trades in the row.

Even with the same trading system 2 traders can get opposite results in the long run. The difference will be again in the money management approach. To introduce you to money management, let's get one fact: losing 50% of total account requires making 100% return from the rest of money just to restore the original balance.

Tip 6. Put emotions down. Trade calm.

Don't try to revenge after losing the trade. Don't be greedy by adding lots of positions when winning.

Overreaction blocks clear thinking and as a result will cost you money. Overtrading can shake your money management and dramatically increase trading risks.

Tip 7. Choose the time frame that is right for you.

Choosing wise means that you are comfortable and have time enough to analyze the market, place and close orders etc. Some people can't wait for hours for the price to make a move, they like action and therefore prefer smaller time frames. On the contrary, for others 10-15 minutes is a hustle to be able to make the right decision.

Tip 8. Not trading or standing aside is a position.

When in doubt — stay out. If it is not clear where the market will move — don't trade. In this case saving present capital is and absolutely better choice than risking and losing money.

Tip 9. Learn to use protective stops. Respect them and don't move.

Hoping that market will turn in your direction is a very delusive hope. By moving a stop loss further a trader increases his chances to end up with much bigger loss.

When holding to a losing trade too long, and even if funds permit, traders as a rule are very reluctant to accept big losses, thus often continue "hoping for best". In the mean time invested money is stuck in the open trade for unknown period of time (weeks and even months) and cannot be used for opening new positions. Not working money — dead money. Also this will result in constant interest payments for holding open positions.

Tip 10. "Keep it simple, stupid" — applies to indicators, signals and trading strategies.

Too much information will create a controversial picture of when to trade and when not to. To avoid lots of confusion create a simple but working method of trading Forex.

Tip 11. Think about risk/reward ratio before entering each trade.

How much money can you lose in this trade? How much can you gain? Now, make a decision if the trade is worth entering.

Example: if trader is looking for possible 35 pips gain and possible 25 pips of loss, such conditions are not worth trading. Compare it with the situation when a trader has 100-120 pips of potential gain and only 10-20 pips of possible loss. This is the trade to open!

Tip 12. Never add positions to a losing trade. Do add positions when the trade has proven to be profitable.

Don't allow a couple of losing trades in a row become a snowball of losing trades. When it is obviously not a good day, turn the monitor off. Often not trading for one day can help to break a chain of consecutive losses. Trying to get revenge can often make things worse.

Tip 13. Let your profits run.

Let your position be open for as long as the market wishes to reward you. Of course, for this traders need a good exit strategy, otherwise they risk to give all profits back...

Running two or more open trades gives an option to close some positions earlier and keep others running for higher profits.

Tip 14. Cut your losses short.

It's better to finish unprofitable trade quickly than wait for the situation to get worse. Don't put a stop loss too far — it's your money you risk. Better calculate the best spot to enter when a potential loss would be minimized. Again: respect your stop and don't move it "cherishing hopes".

Tip 15. Trade currency pairs in respect to their active market hours.

Learn about overlapping market hours: when two markets are open and highest volume of trades is conducted.

For example, Australian and Japanese trading sessions are overlapped from 8pm to 1 am EST. At that time trader can successfully trade AUD/JPY currency pair.

Tip 16. Choose the right day to trade.

This recomendation is often wrongly taken as an optional thing, because everyone knows that Forex market is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Yet, choosing the time to trade can make a difference between successful and hopeless trading.

It's proved and highly recommended not to trade on Mondays, when the market has recently awaken and is making first "probation steps" to form a new or confirm a current trend; and on Fridays afternoon, during the huge volume of closing trades. The best days to trade are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Tip 17. Learn about Fibonacci levels and how to use them for trading.

Fibonacci can be very helpful in trading, even partially using the study, for example, to determine the best exit, can bring traders to a new edge of trading.

Tip 18. Always ensure that a signaling bar/candle on the chart is fully formed and closed before you enter a trade.

A golden rule of trading: "Always trade what you see, not what you would like to see" is the best explanation here.

Tip 19. If you ask for someone else's advice as about how and when to trade

in other words, choose to rely on live trading signals from other traders, make sure you do it for your benefit, not for disaster. If you use such signals to discover how other traders do analysis and study on the price — you are on the right track and soon you'll be able to do analysis yourself.

But if you're just blindly following recommendations and your only task is to push the correct button... think again.

Tip 20. Using a highly leveraged account comes at a cost.

It will, of course, give a trader more financial gear to trade, but for inexperienced traders high leverage, and, in fact, any Forex leverage can be disastrous. When a trader signs up for a highleverage without knowing how to accurately use it to own advantage, he simply signs up for additional risks that multiply with higher leverage in a tight "friendly" proportion.

Tip 21. Learn to measure trading success by the end of the day, week and then month and year.

Do not judge about your trading success on a single trade. To be successful traders don't need to win every trade, they also don't become rich in one trade — they need to be profitable in a long run.

Tip 22. There is no such thing as a secret approach to understanding the market.

Take the time to develop a solid trading system and find out that the secret to trading success lies in hard work and constant learning.

Gold Investment

2011-08-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Are you buying gold? Then can we suggest reading how the gold markets work?

It will save you money by helping you avoid a purchase of gold costing 10% more than it should.

You needn't make that mistake.

We can show you clearly how to buy the most trusted form of gold in the world, at the best prices, and in the safest, easiestway.

Gold Investment
Review of the Gold Investment Market
Demand from New Gold Investment Markets
Mining Output Fails to Meet Gold Investment Demand
Gold Investment vs. the Falling Dollar
When Inflation Looms, Gold Investment Shines
Gold Investment: The Antidote to Complex Debt Defaults

Gold Investment

If you're still thinking about Gold Investment, and rationalising what can be a difficult decision we recommend "Why Gold?".

Review of the Gold Investment Market

Gold investment worldwide has grown dramatically in the last five years, but compared with the total stock of financial assets, goldbullion investment is still just a tiny proportion.

Several factors are now stimulating gold investment by new pension fund money - as well as by private investors.

Demand from New Gold Investment Markets

Sales of gold jewelry across Asia are surging as the local economies boom and private investment grows. China's gold investment demand grew by 20% in 2007, while Indian consumers bought a record 900 tonnes – well over one-fifth of the total world market.

Gold buyers in Asia tend to think of their jewelry as a form of gold investment. Prevented from owning gold bullion until very recently, they buy gold to protect their savings from inflation and currency shocks.

That's why the most popular form of gold jewelry in Asia – heavy chains and bracelets – is known as "investment jewelry" in the gold industry.

Mining Output Fails to Meet Gold Investment Demand

Gold mining companies worldwide have failed to meet the growing demand from gold jewelry and gold investment buyers, pushing the gold price steadily higher.

The world's No.1 gold mining nation, South Africa, has seen its annual gold output halve since 1998, and new operations in China and Russia - though growing - have failed to pick up the slack.

According to consultants "Virtual Metals" total world mining output has fallen by 4% since 2003. Their gold investment analysts don't forecast an early return to growing output.

Gold Investment vs. the Falling Dollar

As the US Dollar has slumped gold investment has outstripped the gains in all major world currencies.

In the five years to 2008 buying Euros to defend against the Dollar's decline has returned 47%. Gold investment, on the other hand, has returned 131%.

British, Australian, South African and Indian citizens undertaking gold investments in 2007 all enjoyed the gold price reaching record new all-time highs.

When Inflation Looms, Gold Investment Shines

The surge in crude oil prices has closely matched the gains ingold pricessince 2003, but many people now thinking about gold investment will also want to consider the surge in world food prices, the boom in base metals such as copper, and the current all-time highs in the cost of shipping.

Rising demand for better housing and durable goods from Asian consumers is certainly a factor. But many gold investment analysts also point to the huge growth in credit and debt in the West.

The money supply in the United States has doubled in the last seven years. In Europe, growth in the money supply hit a near-30 year record in late 2007, increasing the appeal of gold investment as the value of each Euro in circulation threatens to shrink under the weight of new notes and electronic account balances.

Gold Investment: The Antidote to Complex Debt Defaults

"Financial innovation in the last few years has been extremely strong and powerful," as Gilles Gilcenstein, head of asset management at BNP Paribas, put it in late 2006. We've now seen this bubble in complex and novel investments bite back.

The global credit crunch first bit when the alphabet soup of MBS, CDOs, CDS and ABCP turned sour as the US mortgage market turned down.

These instruments thrive in the opaque, off-balance-sheet environment of modern financial engineering.

But transparency is important. The modern world has audited accounts, and open exchanges, and 'public' companies for a good reason: because previous generations understood that when investment stops being open and transparent, and reverts to cosy secret deals, complex contracts, and big executive bonuses, then it is general investors who get cheated. Transparency helps stop these problems developing.

In stark contrast to the burgeoning complexity of modern securities markets gold investment remains uniquely simple, and - dealt the right way - uniquely transparent.

A solid gold investment sets you free from the risk of credit default or banking failures.

Click here for essential information if you are considering buying gold.

Forex Top Selling Products

2011-08-25T11:14:00.001-07:00

You can now find lots of forex trading systems and automated robots on the internet, so to help you narrow down the choice of which one(s) to buy we have created this website to list the current top-selling forex products.

Of course just because a particular product is selling lots of copies, does not necessarily mean it's a great product, but it's a fairly good indicator because it often means that people are deciding to buy because of good reviews and positive feedback from previous buyers.

This website will be updated every week showing the latest best-sellers and as well as the latest rankings you will also find details of every individual product listed on this website.

Okay so here's the latest rankings according to popularity as of 23 March 2009:

(Products marked like this indicate those that we have tested out ourselves and are happy to recommend).

1. FAP Turbo - automated forex robot - $149.00
2. Forex Maestro - automated forex robot - $197.00
3. Forex Ambush 2.0 - forex trading signals - $195.00
4. Forex Fantasy - automated forex robot - $197.00

5. Forex Autopilot - automated forex robot - $99.50
6. Automated Forex Grail - automated forex robot - $127.00
7. Forex Confidante - forex system - $97.00
8. Forex Profit Farm - forex system - $97.00
9. Forex Killer - automated forex signals - $89.00
10. Forex Vengeance - automated forex robot - $97.00
11. Forex Profit Code - forex software - $49.97
12. Automatic Forex Crusher - forex robot - $97.00
13. 10 Minute Forex Wealth Builder - forex systems - $77.00
14. The Pips Leader - automated forex robot - $77.00
15. FAP Winner - forex membership site - $199.00 - $599.00
16. London Forex Rush - forex system - $97.00
17. Trading From Home - automated forex robot - $197.00
18. Forex Boomerang - automated forex robot - $97.00
19. EZ Forex Host - forex hosting - $69.95*
20. Forex Trading Made E-Z - forex system - $77.00
21. Forex Funnel - automated forex robot - $137.00
22. Forex Terminator - forex system - $97.00
23. Forex Trading Machine - forex system - $97.00
24. Forex Automoney - automated forex signals - $4.95*
25. Forex Candlesticks Made Easy - forex guide - $37.00

The safer way to make money with FOREX

2011-08-25T11:13:00.001-07:00

I have a friend who is a brilliant FOREX trader - on paper. When she goes to make a real trade, she freezes up and the trade flops. But there is a way she can use all her hard-earned FOREX experience while still playing it relatively safe: investing in foreign currency CDs. Everbank is one institution offering this special kind of CD, and they just introduced a unique 3-year BRIC CD (BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China currencies) with an issue date of 10/20/09. Are these countries poised for a big takeoff in the next few years and beyond? If you are one of the people who thinks so, consider this way of putting your toe in the FOREX water without risking going underwater (and losing a lot of real money).

Here's how the BRIC CD works: First, you open an account with US dollars (the minimum at Everbank is currently $1,500 USD). Your money is held in US dollars, but your gains will be measured by how well the dollar performs against the BRIC currencies (equally divided against the Brazil real, Russia ruble, Indian rupee and Chinese renminbi). If the value of BRIC currencies together gains against the dollar by the end of the three years, you'll receive a payment. If the value does not increase or decreases, you get 100% of your principal deposit back. In this scenario, there is no other payment.

You do not risk losing principal with the BRIC CD -- it is considered "market safe" and your account is FDIC-insured -- and it has a good potential upside performance if the underlying currencies go up during the term of the CD. However, this CD is not without significant risk on the downside, and although you will not risk principal, you need to weigh how much you would make in interest in a traditional CD vs. your risk of making no payment at all with a BRIC CD.

Everbank offers other foreign currency CDs and they all work differently, for example, their single currency CD, or WorldCurrency CD, requires a much higher minimum deposit ($10,000 USD) and involves substantial risk in that your principal is not 100% protected; in addition, you are invested in only one currency, not diversified across several.

Incidentally, another site called Zecco, which boasts a new FOREX trading platform, is currently offering a $75 cash bonus for every friend you refer. All your friend has to do is deposit $500 into a new Zecco account (not necessarily a FOREX account) within 60 days. That's a sure 75 bucks without any risk in FOREX at all... stay tuned for bigger and better FOREX promo deals from Zecco as they roll them out.

Foreign currency CDs are one way to manage your risk in the FOREX markets, and to diversify your overall investment portfolio.

Gold Investment 'offering purchasing power protection'

2011-08-25T11:12:00.001-07:00

A prominent fund manager claimed on Saturday (September 26th) that investors are rushing to Buy Gold as they seek a store of wealth, the Daily Mail reports.

The yellow metal has been a popular asset during the financial crisis and subsequent recession, gradually gaining in price as major paper currencies have floundered.

Now Evy Hambro, who manages approximately £1.7 billion in the BlackRock Gold and General investment fund, has explained that the trend looks set to continue.

"First it was fear of recession and now it is fear of inflation and worries over the weakness of the US dollar," he said.

"People are looking for gold as a currency that can preserve their purchasing power over time."

Investors often Buy Gold as a hedge against inflation and this attraction was adhered to last week by David Levenstein, an investment advisor with 29 years' trading experience.

Speaking to Mineweb, he noted that many market observers believe gold prices will increase in the longer term as inflation takes over when economies begin to recover.

"While there is no evidence of inflation at the present moment, there are a number of factors suggesting an inflationary environment for the near future," he told the news provider.

"They include the monetary policies of central banks, major tax cuts, a long-term decline in the dollar, a mammoth trade deficit in the US and America's status as the world's biggest debtor nation. This implies that gold [will] rise over the long term."

This article taken by bullionvault.com.

Online Forex Currency Trading Advantages

2011-08-25T11:11:00.001-07:00

Here are the benefits online forex trading which has "levelled the playing field" for everyone looking for a way to generate a cash flow for themselves.

Do you feel that any (or all) of these appeal to you?

You can trade forex from anywhere

You can do forex trading from anywhere as long as you have a computer, and an internet connection. If you wish to travel to several places a year, or wish to settle in one place, either way, that’s fine. This frees up your time and place, which is what trading is all about!

No commissions

In forex there are no commissions.

This fact alone improves the profitability of any trading system. You won’t have to overcome the commission to gain a profit, you have to just overcome the spread. Note that with most other trading instruments you’ll have to pay a commission to open and close the trade.

Without commissions in forex, it means that your forex trading isscalable. If you want to try out a new forex trading system with small trades, you can do so and be profitable, as long as your forex provider doesn’t charge a fee for small trade sizes (many don’t).

And on the other side of the equation, you can keep compounding your profits, so you can keep increasing the size of your returns over time. This is one of the huge advantages for those who trade forex. And this does not represent a problem in getting in or out of trades because of the high liquidity in forex.

High liquidity

Many traders who now trade forex, used to trade other instruments such as shares, CFDs (contracts for difference), or commodities. With those other instruments, there were often problems with limited liquidity. That is, when the market had limited turnover, you may be getting into and out of stocks or CFDs with significantslippage. As well, you would not be able to take advantage of the effect of compounding to increase your profit sizes as your float increases.

However with forex, because of its very high liquidity, you can.

That is, you can increase your trading sizes in proportion to your float, as your float grows. With a profitable system, your absolute profit sizes will increase over time. As mentioned int he last point also, this feature alone has allowed many traders to replace their income with forex trading, and then to continue scaling up beyond that. The forex turnover is estimated to be 1.9 trillion dollars a day, many times larger than the largest stock markets in the world.

Leverage

There’s up to 100 to 1 leverage in forex trading.

What this means is that even with a modest float, you can make decent profits. This makes forex trading accessible as a trading tool.

For example, if you had a cash float of say $5000, then the value that you can trade with is $500 000, assuming 100 to 1 leverage. But remember, with leverage comes responsibility. You do have to have a good understanding of forex, trade a system that is profitable, and practice with a demo account to gain confidence that you know how to trade the system correctly.

In contrast if you wanted to trade stocks you’d either have to come up with the entire amount, or say 50% if you’re trading on margin, of the value of the stocks. For many people this meant that their profits would be too small as they weren’t able to trade sufficient trade sizes. And the profit they made would’ve been eaten up by the commissions as well.

With the 20 to 1 leverage in CFDs, it was better, but often the lack of liquidity would limit trade sizes, and therefore profits. And yes, there was also the occasional suspended stock or CFD, which would result in the trader unable to exit out of a trade, and the price of the stock or CFD being revalued at close to zero. This is unlikely to happen in the major world currencies.

Automated stop losses

You set automated stop losses with your online forex provider, and so they’re filled automatically when your stop loss price is hit. As mentioned, there is very high liquidity in forex, so that there’s usually currency traded at every price point the currency moves through, with the exception of the less traded “exotic” currencies.

But does slippage ever occur in forex? (Slippage occurs when the price you intend to enter or exit, is different from your actual entry or exit price). There are two situations where gapping and therefore slippage, may occur.

Firstly, after weekends, there may be gapping as the market reopens for trading on Monday. Some traders may exit their open positions on Friday night to re-enter on Monday if appropriate.

Secondly, after a major economic announcement, large moves of 50 to 100 pips may occur over minutes. Again, some traders may exit their open positions prior to a major economic announcement, and re-enter afterwards if appropriate, in order to avoid getting stopped out unnecessarily.

Benefit from rising and falling currency prices

You can go long or short with forex trading with equal ease.

That is, you can benefit from both rising as well as falling currencies. This increases the trading opportunities, and therefore increases the profitability of your forex trading systems. For those of you who have traded stocks, you would’ve realised that only a limited number of stocks can be shorted, which limits the performance of your systems.

24 hour a day market

The forex market does not close except for the weekend. This is because the forex market is worldwide. Somewhere around the world, there is a market open at any one time over the 24 hour period. So as the day starts in the international date line near New Zealand, the different countries trading begins one after another…

However, the times that you’ll see the greatest trading activity and liquidity in the market is when the major countries are open for trading. These are when Tokyo opens at 00.00 GMT, followed by the London open at 09.00 GMT (08.00 in winter), and then the New York open at 13.00 GMT (12.00 in winter). Your trading opportunities may be mainly at these times.

You can get to know the currency pairs well

There are 4 to 6 currency pairs that are the most popularly traded, including the 4 “majors” which are the EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF and USDJPY, and also other currency pairs such as the USDCAD and AUDUSD. Because of this, you can get to know the currency pairs well and get a feel of their general behaviour, which helps when you’re learning a forex trading system.

While we’ve mentioned that there are no commissions in forex, there is a small amount that you may either receive or pay, if you hold forex positions overnight, called the rollover fee. If you buy a currency pair where the base currency has a higher interest rate than the terms currency, then you’ll receive interest, and vice versa. Usually this is a relatively small amount.

Remember, that there’s always risk involved in trading. Trading is about managing risk in order to make money with trading. So if you are properly trading a good forex system, and apply soundmoney management rules, then you will have an edge against the market.

On the other side, the risks in forex trading are:

Leverage

Your results are multiplied with leverage. So if you’re trading a good forex system, your profits will be leveraged. But if you do nottrade with a system, and do not apply money management rules to your trading, you can lose your float.

Assuming your forex provider (many do) kindly exits your positions automatically when the position goes against you far enough to lose the total amount of your float except for the part of the float used as margin for the trade, then you won’t be able to lose more than your float. Leverage is certainly beneficial if you follow a good system, and have money management rules.

Volatility

If the economic or political climate of the world changes, there may be increased volatility in the forex markets, resulting in prices changing more rapidly, and even causing prices to gap, and therefore causeslippage if you’re stopped out. If this occurs, your stop losses may filled at a level beyond what you planned, resulting in a greater loss than expected for that trade.

Currency risk

This is the risk of holding an account in a different currency to the currency you would be spending the money in. For example if you live in Australia, and you hold an account in US dollars, then as the exchange rate changes, this will mean that the value of your account when you convert it to Australian dollars, will be subject to these changes.

Where we are now...

In the past, many traders would in the beginning trade stocks or CFDs, as these were more well known, and then move on to forex trading as they found out about it.

But because the "playing field" has been levelled, anyone with the desire, is able to take advantage of the forex currency trading courses on the internet, and the choice of online forex brokers. You can also now use providers of forex signals, and managed forex, to do the trading for you :)

If you have this desire, are willing to learn new skills, and are willing to persist, then you can do well in online forex trading.

Best Time For Forex Trade.

2011-08-25T11:09:00.001-07:00

One of the biggest myths of forex trading is you need to predict where prices are going to go to win - You don’t and there is a better way to win. Many Traders believe predicting as sound forex trading advice but its not - here’s why…

The reason you cannot predict is because you are simply hoping and guessing and that won’t get you far in life and certainly not in forex trading.

Humans are unpredictable and emotional and trying to work out what millions of them might do is impossible. To win you simply need to react to price change i.e trade the reality - before we focus on this, let’s get rid of all the so called scientific theories that are sold online.

The Fatal Flaws with Scientific Theories

You have seen them and most are based around the theories of Gann, Elliot and Fibonacci. So they work? Of course not.

If forex markets did move to a scientific theory, we would all know the price in advance and there would be no market. Prices move because of uncertainty not certainty!

Also if a system is scientific, by definition it should work all the time and the above systems don’t. By definition a theory is not scientific if it’s not objective as well and the above ones are not.

So how do you win without predicting?

Trading the Truth

Quite simple really - You act on price change and wait for it to occur and one of the best ways to do this is to trade breakouts.

All major moves start from breakouts to new highs or lows and the odds favor a continuation, if the break is valid.

If you trade high odds breakouts, you can make a lot of money and you’re not predicting. You are simply waiting for the move to occur and then trading.

Most traders hate doing this, they think they have missed part of the move and want to get in at a better price and wait for the pullback.

Of course, the pullback doesn’t come and they sit and watch a huge trend develop and there not in.

Most traders simply hate missing a bit of the move and that’s why breakouts are such a great way to trade.

Don’t Look For Perfection Look to Make Money

In forex trading your not after perfection with your trading signal you will never achieve it - your out to make money and keep in mind, if you caught just 50% of every major trend you would be very wealthy!

So forget out predicting and laser accuracy with your market timing and focus on getting the high odds trades from breakouts.

Sure, you won’t buy exact bottoms, or sell exact tops - but that won’t stop you making a lot of money and enjoying currency trading success

In each typical forex trading day, there are 3 sessions that overlap and follow one after another (except in the cases where there’s a holiday for that particular region). And these 3 sessions are most commonly known as the Asian session (this is the first one that kickstarts) followed by the European or U.K or London session and then finally the U.S (American) session.

We’ll take a look at the London session this time round (check out the article on Asian session if you haven’t done so already).

The European or London session starts around 8am GMT since the eastern Europeans and the Prussians would have gotten part of the momentum going already. Every so often, you’ll see one of two patterns that emerge.

The first one would result in the market moving in 1 direction for a little while (1 to 2 hours) only to fake the market and then to do a quick round turn and move strongly in the opposite direction. These fakes are called bull head fakes or bear head fakes.

The second one is much easier to see because the market would generally not have any time to do any fakes and would quickly move in their intended direction very quickly and decisively. Each time you see the second pattern emerging, all you need to do is quickly get into it and ride on it. Never forget your stops though just in case you’re wrong about the whole thing.

Always bear in mind that you should lose little when you’re wrong but you want to make as much as possible when you’re right. That’s how you start getting yourself on the profitable side of things.

Of the 3 sessions we’ve mentioned earlier, I tend to like the European session the best because that’s where most of the trading liquidity and volume is. At the end of the day, trade whichever session you enjoy and profit from the most

Read competent ideas to online forex trading info - welcome to your personal tips store.

Discretionary Style Of Swing Trading

2011-08-25T11:08:00.001-07:00

As a forex swing trader you should be aware of two styles of trading. There are two styles of trading: 1) Discretionary and 2) Mechanical. Discretionary swing traders evaluate potential trades based on their trading plan. A discretionary swing trader may use either fundamental or technical analysis to determine whether each trade meets his/her requirements.Develop your own forex trading system. Learn swing trading. Get free forex signals.

A discretionary trader may pass on or take trade based on experience or gut feeling. A discretionary trader synthesizes all available information, weighs all factors and then makes a trading decision.

It doesn’t mean that the rules for discretionary trading are not written down, it only means that a discretionary trader doesn’t follow a program such as, “If A, then B.” Mechanical swing traders are somewhat different. Most of their trading is done with a computer.

The mechanical system can be based on technical inputs like price, indicators and so on or fundamentals like GDP, inflation, interest rates and so on. The strategies are programmed into a computer software program that tests these strategies on the historical market data.

Mechanical traders develop a strategy, thoroughly test it, back testing and forward testing. Mechanical swing traders analyze those results to determine whether the strategy is worth pursuing and whether it produces more returns. The two approaches are not perfect. Both have merits and demerits. Let’s discuss some of these advantages and disadvantages.

Discretionary has got the ability to pass on trades when external data that might not be easily captured on a computer program indicates decreased chances of success. Discretionary trading allows for a fresh look at each situation.

One disadvantage of discretionary trading is that the discretionary trader makes a decision on each buy or sell. This makes him/her more emotionally attached to that trade and he/she is more prone to falling in love with trades. This may sometimes force a discretionary trader to not follow the trading plan.

Mechanical trading largely takes the human element out of the equation. A computer program is supposed to execute all the steps in the trade. Only input made by the swing trader is the amount of capital devoted to each position, the entry signals and the exit rules. After those factors are taken into account, the mechanical trader can step back and let the computer program do the rest of the trading.

Can a mechanical trading system be designed to take into account all the contingencies and possibilities that may arise. Definitely not! Mechanical trading systems also have disadvantages.

Mechanical trading is computer programmed. When losses occur, mechanical trader has to determine whether this is a temporary setback of the mechanical system or it represents a fundamental failure on part of the mechanical trading system.

Most swing traders feel more in control when they evaluate each trade instead of relying on a computer to execute the trade. Discretionary element in trading cannot be taken out after all no matter how advanced computer programming becomes. After all such things such as recognizing chart patterns can’t be easily programmed into a computer.

Forex Beginners Course in Canada

2011-08-25T11:07:00.001-07:00

How to get the best beginner education in Forex is a question Forex beginners consistently ask. Forex trading can be an extremely daunting task. This article will discuss how to get the best beginner education in Forex trading including special Forex tips used by the professionals plus how you the best beginner education in Forex Trading could be learnt in the comfort and privacy of your own home. Keep reading to get access to a Forex demo account of $100,000.00.

Beginner Forex traders frequently become confused and often disheartened when they get started in Forex currency trading. However, there are some very simple Forex tips that will help you on your path to becoming a successful Forex trader.

One of the most important Forex decisions you will ever make is choosing the right Forex broker. There is a lot of competition between Forex brokers and their service is as varied as are their prices. Here are a few tips to follow when deciding on which Forex broker to use. It is a must that the Forex broker that you choose is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. If they aren’t, and make excuses for why they aren’t, look elsewhere. There is absolutely no excuse for a Forex broker not being registered with the CFTC. It is important to choose a Forex broker that belongs to a reputable company that has been established in the field for a long period of time. If they have some sort of ties to a financial institution like a bank that is even more preferable.

Another important part of your beginner education in Forex Trading is having access to the best and most up to date research tools with real time quotes, charts and reports. Be sure to choose a Forex broker that makes it easy as possible for you to successfully trade as a Forex broker, and also has access to the best and most up to date Forex information at his fingertips. You should also try and choose a Forex broker that has a reasonable spread which is the difference between a Forex buying price and selling price.

Your beginner education in Forex trading is not something that you should skimp on. There are many other ways of cutting costs as a Forex trader but your beginner education in Forex trading will create a solid foundation for you and your Forex trading business. As with many things, you get what you pay for. While there are some Forex trading courses that cost thousands of dollars, it’s possible, with a little research, to find some fantastic, reputable Forex trading system courses for just a few hundreds of dollars. I suggest that you start with that introduction to beginner education in Forex trading while you are getting your feet wet. Of course, your beginner education in Forex trading may be tax deductible so be sure to check that out with your accountant and keep all your receipts.

A beginner education in Forex trading should not put your money at risk. The best beginner education in Forex trading would simple involve study, practice, trading. It’s daunting starting out as a beginner Forex trader so it’s best to start out with a demo Forex account. A demo Forex account has a pretend balance that permits the beginner Forex trader practicing the methods learnt and perfecting them, and building your Forex trading confidence, without taking any risks with your own money. This is the ultimate beginner education in Forex trading. You will have plenty of time to gain the Forex experience and confidence you need to make informed decisions and learning how to make lightning-fast Forex trades when you go out into the Forex market on your own.

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