Forex Tips and Advice

The Forex market has changed through the years, growing in volume and expanding across multiple time zones.

Brokerage houses have changed, too, going online with sophisticated software and powerful servers.

Economic indicators and technical analysis have become more sophisticated, too, until the Forex market of today bears little resemblance to what it used to be.

But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: most traders lose.

Despite all the advances in the Forex marketplace, the ratio of winners to losers remains low. Experts agree that the most hopeful number that can be advanced is a measly 10%, which means that 90% of all traders on any particular day will lose.

Experts also agree that the reason most traders lose is because they allow their emotions to cloud their judgment.

Most people trade on hope and fear, rather than facts. Rather than basing their trades on what the charts and the indicators actually say, these people trade on what they want them to say. They hang onto a losing trade and follow the graph down, hoping the currency pair will turn around. Or they exit a trade too soon, fearing the trend won’t last, and are satisfied with pennies that even the best Forex money management cannot balance against their losses.

Other people lose through greed, by trying to pick the highs and lows too nicely to maximize their profits to the penny. Rather than waiting to place a trade when the indicators confirm the market’s movement, they jump in too soon and are disappointed when the anticipated break-out never occurs.

Remember, there is no magic software or fool-proof trading scheme. If you cannot control your emotions, then you cannot become a winner despite yourself. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of being one of the winners, and the most powerful is to follow these rules of Forex trading:

Prepare a trading plan, using good Forex money management skills and the trading strategy of your choice—then trade your plan. Don’t alter your plan or fudge your criteria if you don’t see a good trade for a few days; wait for the market to fulfill your requirements before risking your money. Remember the law of averages: sooner or later, the market will come around.

Use stops, and trailing stops when possible, to control losses and protect your profits. Remember to set your stops far enough away from the entry price so that you aren’t closed out by normal market jitters.

Paper trade with a demo account until you are efficient and feel comfortable in the market.

When you move on and start trading with real money, it feels different than paper trading! But this is no time to change your plan. To minimize the effects of emotion, set a small, realistic initial goal and trade until you achieve your goal more often than not. Use small sums in micro or mini accounts. Only when you are comfortable risking your cash and sometimes losing it should you attempt to trade with larger sums of money.

Study your trading record and try to figure out what went wrong when you lost. To put it simply, learn from your mistakes. That alone will put you ahead of the crowd!

Trading in financial institutions is one of the best ways to earn money. It is also one of the most promising career choices that people make today. With the opportunity to earn a lot of money, more and more people who are interested in trading in the financial institution have left their jobs to get a piece of the action in the financial market.

Today, the Forex market is the best choice for people who are considering making a career out of trading in the financial market. Besides, who wouldn’t want to trade in the largest and the most liquid market in the planet which involves all the countries in the world?

The Forex market operates 24 hours a day with currency exchanges that can go as high as 2 trillion dollars each trading day. Also, it is the most liquid market in the world which also means that traders can enter the market anytime they want and get their profits easily.

In the past, Forex was limited to large financial institutions and multinational companies. Only banks, central banks and large companies were allowed to participate in the Forex market. However, thanks to modern communications technology and high speed internet and decreased sanctions in the Forex market, ordinary people can now trade and participate in the world’s largest financial market.

Because the Forex market is now open to everyone and because it is a very profitable industry, online Forex brokerage firms began improving their services and accessibility. They now also designed different trading platforms suitable for different Forex traders. Not only has online Forex brokerage firms made their trading platforms accessible, they also began and still continuing to improve their software.

They also allow people to register with a Mini Forex account that can let them trade with a minimum margin of 100 dollars only or even less.

If you are interested in joining the Forex market, you only have to have a few things to get you started.

First, you need a computer with a high-speed internet connection. The high-speed internet connection is very important for an effective trade to work. It will also minimize the risk of slippages that can cause you to lose money. So, if your area doesn’t have any high-speed internet connection available, you should forget about trading in the Forex market online. This will only make you lose a lot of money.

Second, you need to choose which Forex brokerage company you should hire. These companies will provide you with the Forex trading platform that you can easily download and install in your computer. The Forex trading platform is simply a software program that is essential for an online Forex trader.

It is important for you to choose a trading platform that you are comfortable using. You should also make sure that the trading platform you choose provides accurate and up to date real time information, security, and stability.

It is also recommended that the trading platform you choose should provide information on at least 16 currency pairs, execute orders with just a click of the mouse, have charting tools to perform technical analysis, and should also have a recording feature that will store your trading history.

With all these features, you can really improve the way you trade in the Forex market and also minimize the risk of losing money.

Look for a Forex trading platform that is simple to use and easy to understand. If you wish to know more about the Forex trading platform that a Forex trading brokerage firm offers, you can consider opening a dummy or practice account. By doing this, you will never risk real money on trades while learning the ropes.

You will also get hands on experience on the Forex trading platform and really determine if the platform is for you or not.

Risk management is also a very important feature that you should look for. If it takes too long to select a risk management order, you should consider looking for another Forex trading platform.

These are some of the things you should look for in a Forex trading platform. With a little practice in the dummy account, you can be sure that you can get the hang of it in no time at all and start making money through online Forex trading with a reliable Forex trading platform.

To succeed as a Forex trader you will find the use of a dummy account invaluable.

Just like any other investments, you should never start investing in currencies without knowing what you are doing. With a good knowledge of Forex trading, you will be confident that you are on the right road to making some good profits.

As you probably already know, Forex stands for foreign exchange or the simultaneous exchange of a pair of foreign currency to another pair of foreign currency.

Initially you will need to gain knowledge of the Forex market background.
It is important to you find out about the market changes that affect currencies so that you can make the best decisions.

Next you will need to study risk control. It is important that you understand the risks involved in Forex trading. You need not to over invest or be overconfident at the thrill of opportunity of making huge money. Also on this part, you will learn how you will cut potential losses or getting out of a deal before your losses reach and even exceed your limits. It is natural that you will lose money when you start Forex trading. It is the most crucial part of your Forex trading education because it will determine whether you will end up making your way to riches or lose a lot of your money.

One of the best ways to start is to practice Forex transactions using a demo account and virtual money.

Through this way, you will be able to get the grip of your trading account before getting into real trading transactions.

With a Forex demo account, there is no risk involved yet the nature is just as realistic as the real Forex trade. Moreover, your Forex trading education will also let you know whether you are ready to do the real thing or you need more practice. Only then will you be able to start and manage a real Forex trading account.

There are different free sites that allow you to open free Forex demo accounts and download free software to practice your Forex system and trading. There are also free e-books where you can read essential information about the Forex market and its attributes.

It is a good idea to use a dummy account and gain experience from Forex forums until
you are confident that you have a reasonable chance of success.

Technical Analysis is the easiest and most precise way of trading the FOREX market known by the forex traders community. All available information on any particular currency, and its impact on traders, and the market, are already reflected in a currency’s price. The foreign exchange market is mostly composed of trends and is, therefore, a place where technical analysis can be used very effectively. Experience in trading has shown that history repeats itself – over time, certain chart patterns become consistent, predictable and very reliable. The problem is being able of  spoting them. There’s always more than meets the eye at first glance.

Prices move in trends; and the traders who don’t know this fact obviously have no need to implement a trading methodology on technical analysis, they haven’t even realized yet. But, over 100 years of research has shown that those who trade “with the trend”, more often than not, greatly improve their chances of winning in the forex markets (i.e., making a profitable trade).

Many times finding the prevailing trend will help you become aware of the overall market direction and offer you better visibility–especially when shorter-term movements tend to clutter the picture. And many times following the trend will bail you out of an initially less than great entry point.

The main question you may be asking yourself by now  is; how does technical analysis help you to determine what the trend of the market is and how does it help your efforts to trade with the trend and not against the trend?

It is important to mention that no one is claiming technical analysis as the “magic bullet” of trading . And if you ask, which indicators are better in Forex trading? The answer is none – technical indicators should simply be  components of your overall customized / personalized trading system and not systems in and of themselves. They are like tools in a tool kit, not the kit itself!)/

As a Forex Technical Trader, your goals are:

#1) To figure out the price action of the currency pair. Price is the main concern. If the EUR/USD is at 1.3226 and goes to 1.3219, 1.3112, 1.3008 – the market is in a down trend. Despite what every technical indicator might predict, if the trend is down, stay with the trend. Indicators showing where price will go next or what it should be doing are useless. A trader need only be concerned with what the market is doing, not what the market might do. The price tells you what the market is doing.

#2) To always remember that technical indicators are only giving you confirmations based on what the market is telling you. So listen and pay close attention to the market and let it dictate which method you will use and which tool you will pull out of your bag of strategies and techniques. For only by listening to the markets will you ever be able to conquer it successfully and become a profitable trader.

These days everyone is talking about Forex trading and the great opportunity this activity represents for people willing to brake free from the corporate world and start working from home or any where else without losing their current lifestyle and even improving it.

Forex trading has changed dramatically in the last 10 years thanks to the technological advancements of the internet era. With real-time streaming technology and faster and more efficient computer systems, almost anything, from roses to FX trading, is available at the click of a button.

Some of the great reasons why Forex trading is a great way of entering the capital markets is that your trades are all commission-free and it has a low transaction cost. All the best forex brokers have these characteristics and even Mini FX traders (i.e., traders starting with accounts having a capital as low as $250), who are just starting in this field, can buy and sell currencies online always commission-free.

But one thing is to start Forex trading and other very different is becoming a profitable Forex trader. In order to become a profitable trader the new trader will immediately discover the imperative need of having an accurate knowledge of the markets and a good understanding of the forex technical indicators. Concepts as Moving Averages, Fibonacci levels, Bollinger Bands, etc; are the basic knowledge every trader must have.

But having a good knowledge of these concepts is not everything you need. Fear is one of the worst enemies of the Forex trader. In order to become a profitable trader it is essential that the person involved in trading understands that he must leave fear aside and stick to the trading plan he has constructed and arranged before, always understanding that losing trades happen to everyone and they are always part of a profitable trading career. A forex trader must learn how to profitable use his stops without heavily compromising the capital in his trading account, i.e., he must play safe but realizing that a calculated risk must be undertaken in order to maximize profits.

In short knowledge is the key to a successful trading career but it also must go along the proper psychological preparation of the trader in order to be able to tame the markets and become a profitable trader.

– Your capital is at risk

One of the ways forex traders determine when to buy or sell is by a method known as technical analysis.  While some traders use a method called fundamental analysis, which employs factors such as politics, current events, and the state of world economies, technical analysts are concerned solely with prices past and present.  By using formulas and calculating various lines and indicators, these traders are able to project into the future and make an educated guess as to what the price of a given currency will do.  And nearly all of these indicators have certain defining moments that tell one when to act.

With the Moving Average Convergence / Divergence (MACD), a technical analyst plots on a price chart two lines representing closing price moving averages of different lengths, typically 12 and 26 days.  The MACD line is plotted using the difference between these two moving averages, and a second line called a “signal” is formed by taking a nine day moving average of the MACD line.  It is the interaction between these two lines that create triggers telling the trader when to act, and one of these defining moments comes when the lines cross, as it indicates that there will likely be a change in trend.  When the MACD line crosses up through the signal line, this is the trigger to buy, and one should sell when the signal line crosses up through the MACD line.

Another tool that technical analysts use to determine when to buy or sell is the Relative Strength Index (RSI), which indicates price strength.  Fairly easy to calculate, this indicator measures the ratio of up days to down days in a currency.  Since the forex market is open 24 hours, most analysts use the price as it was at the close of the New York Stock Exchange for that day.  To arrive at the RSI, one measures the amount of change up or down each day, and then calculates one exponential moving average each, typically of 14 days, of the up numbers and down numbers.  A fraction is formed by using the up moving average as the numerator and the down moving average as the denominator.  This fraction is then represented as a number from 1 to 100.  Essentially, a high RSI indicates the currency has been bought more than sold lately, and vice-versa.  One defining moment in the RSI line comes when it reaches 70, which is the number that most analysts feel represents an overbought currency and one that should be sold.  Likewise, an RSI of 30 or below indicates a currency that is ripe to buy, as it is oversold.

On a more long-term scale, a Coppock Curve is a tool often used by technical analysts to determine when a bear market has reached its low.  Designed to use on a monthly scale, this line is calculated by adding a 14 month rate of change with a 10 month rate of change, and smoothing it with a weighted moving average.  A signal to buy is generated when this number is below zero, and moves upward from a trough, as this represents the end of a long period of selling.  This tool is psychological in origin, as its creator likened bear markets to period of mourning.  Upon asking members of the Episcopal Church the length of time a typical person mourns, he received an answer of 11 to 14 months, so he used these numbers in his formula.

By following certain trends and acting when triggers are indicated, many technical analysts are finding success in the forex market.  These defining moments are times when it is best to act, whether the signal generated is to sell or buy.