Forex Tips and Advice

Forex is considered as a financial system on the foreign exchange. It allows the trader to purchase foreign stocks or currencies. The forex trading system is popularly increasing in the internet in leaps and bounds each day. It provides useful information about the companies wherever it is located. The traders stay informed so that they can make a wise decision when purchasing and investing their money. Several forex trading systems are allowing the traders to make withdrawals, online inquiries and purchases so that they can create additional wealth by using their invested money.

Forex trading systems involves money investments from a company which is located overseas. Learning more information regarding the company is helpful because you can obtain the latest available programs and processes. You can also double or triple your invested money within a short period of time. You can avail of the forex trading system that only requires a small amount of investment, as low as 5 dollars, while other forex trading system can require a large sum of money to be invested, as high as 500 dollars. Remember, one forex trading system is different from another forex trading system. Each has its own terms regarding the duration period of your investments.

If you are wondering how long your money will remain invested, then you must carefully read the company’s fine prints where you are investing your money. Some company may require a 48-hour investment while others may require a 30-day turn around time.  Always read the information being provided. It will explain your current money status upon investing it and its future outcome.

Forex trading systems allows the trader to purchase companies, stocks, or other country’s investments. It does not matter where you live since forex trading systems are also located in any parts of the world, as well as the company where you are investing your money. The traders can invest their money in companies located in China, Japan, United States, Russia, Germany, Africa, and other countries which are recipients of the investments on forex trading systems. It does not necessarily mean that you have to be living in the country where you are planning to invest. This is the secret of the forex trading system. Your personal wealth and personal preferences can be enhanced while investing.

This is also the major reason why forex trading systems are well known. It can really make extra money by investing the cash since forex trading is about putting the money on another currency either for a short or long term period in order to earn bigger sum of money. Most forex trading systems are typically based on how stock exchange works. You will find out that forex trading systems can permit currency rate investments, currency change from one country to another, and investment from a foreign company. Hence, forex trading systems are built upon global investors, global companies, and global currencies.

Remember, there is no difference between online and offline forex trading systems with regards to the projected results. However, online forex trading systems can quickly access your money. The traders can move, invest, remove, and trade their money faster compared to offline forex trading systems.

Somehow, it could bring wealth to the investors who are willing to invest and trust the brokers when making additional decisions. But the question is who you are going to trust. It is advisable and helpful in any kind of trading systems or company investments to trust the person whom you are transacting with. It is a wrong company if you cannot reach the representatives on forex trading systems either by fax, email, phone, or even in person. A company which utilizes forex trading systems and offers opportunities to the traders to worldwide investments is good. However, they should communicate with the traders any time during business days.

Moreover, it is advisable to look for a company that uses forex trading system that puts your invested money first and foremost, how you are going to invest it, and listen to the things you wanted to do. If a forex trading company is just calling you at all times and giving you little space for decision making, then avoid doing business with them. Remember, this company should realized that being the end user and consumer of their forex trading systems, they should listen to you and learn about your plans regarding with investing your money before making the investment.

Learning the basic skills in forex, such as how to read forex charts, is really important.

This is because once you have this vital skill under your belt, it will be a lot easier and quicker when the time comes for you to learn and practice an actual forex trading system.

By the time you finish this article, you’ll learn how to read forex charts, as well as know the pitfalls that can occur when reading them, especially if you haven’t traded forex before.

Firstly, let’s revise the basics of a forex trading as this relates directly to how to reade forex charts.

Each currency pair is always quoted in the same way. For example, the EURUSD currency pair is always as EURUSD, with the EUR being the base currency, and the USD being the terms currency, not the other way round with the USD first. Therefore if the chart of the EURUSD shows that the current price is fluctuating around 1.2155, this means that 1 EURO will buy around 1.2155 US dollars.

And your trade size (face value) is the amount of base currency that you’re trading. In this example, if you want to buy 100 000 EURUSD, you’re buying 100 000 EUROs.

Now let’s have a look at the 5 important steps on how to read a forex chart:

1. If you buy the currency pair, that is, you’re long the position, realise that you’re looking for the chart of that currency pair to go up, to make a profit on the trade. That is, you want the base currency to strengthen against the terms currency.

On the other hand if you sell the currency pair to short the position, then you’re looking for the chart of that currency pair to go down, to make a profit. That is, you want the base currency to weaken against the terms currency.

Pretty simple so far.

2. Always check the time frame displayed. Many trading systems will use multiple time frames to determine the entry of a trade. For example, a system may use a 4 hour and a 30 minute chart to determine the overall trend of the currency pair by using indicators such as MACD, momentum, or support and resistance lines, and then a 5 minute chart to look for a rise from a temporary dip to determine the actual entry.

So ensure that the chart you’re looking at has the correct time frame for your analysis. The best way to do this is to set up your charts with the correct time frames and indicators on them for the system you’re trading, and to save and reuse this layout.

3. On most forex charts, it is the BID price rather than the ask price that’s displayed on the chart. Remember that a price is always quoted with a bid and an ask (or offer). For example, the current price of EURUSD may be 1.2055 bid and 1.2058 ask (or offer). When you buy, you buy at the ask, which is the higher of the 2 prices in the spread, and when you sell, you sell at the bid, which is the lower of the two prices.

If you use the chart price to determine an entry or exit, realise that when you place an order to sell when the chart price is say 1.330, then this is the price that you’ll sell at assuming no slippage.

If on the other hand, you place an order to buy when the chart price is the same price, then you’ll actually buy at 1.3333. A forex system will often determine whether your orders will be placed simply according to the chart price or whether you need to add a buffer when buying or selling.

Also note that on many platforms, when you’re placing stop orders (to buy if the price rises above a certain price, or sell when the price falls below a certain price) you can select either “stop if bid” or “stop if offered”.

4. Realise that the times shown on the bottom of forex charts are set to the particular time zone that the forex provider’s charts are set to, be it GMT, New York time, or other time zones.

It’s handy to have a world clock available on your computer desktop in order to convert the different time zones. This is important when you’re trading major economic announcements.

You’ll need to convert the time of an announcement to your local time, and the chart time, so you’ll know when the announcement is going to happen, and therefore when you need to trade.

5. Finally, check whether the times on your forex charts corresponds to when the candle opens or when the candle closes. Your charting software may be different to someone else’s in this way.

The reason I mention this, is that if you need to trade major economic announcements, either by entering a trade based on the movements that happen after the announcement, or to exit a trade before the announcement in avoid getting stopped out during it, then you need to be precise (to the minute!) as these trades are performed according to what happens at the 1 minute immediately after the announcement, not the candle afterwards!

So there you have it.

You now have the 5 essential keys to how to properly read forex charts, which will help you to avoid the common mistakes which many forex beginners make when looking at charts, and which will speed up your progress when you’re looking at forex charting packages, and forex trading systems that you want to trade!

Now that you know this, practice looking at forex charts with each of these 5 points in mind.

So get to it!

When you start to look around, for a viable Forex trading system, you quickly become aware, of so many options out there that you may not be sure where to begin.

In order to pick the right trading system, you will need to establish some basic criteria that you can use to evaluate any possible candidates. Here are some suggestions to help you make your choice.

One of the first things you need to check into is what type of commitment you have to make in order to use the system.

Will you need to commit a minimum amount of resources to the system in order to be able to participate? If so, what is that minimum amount?

Set aside any trading system, which insists that you have to set aside an amount of funds, that you are not comfortable with or are unable to reasonably commit and still maintain your current standard of living.

Next, look into support resources that are available to you as a user of the system.

You want to know that you have access to up to the minute information, as currency exchange rates can and often do change several times a day.

You may also want to look for a comprehensive tutorial that helps you understand the way the system works at each juncture. Another aspect in regard to resources has to do with the ability to communicate with another human being.

Can this be accomplished with emails, direct chats or even by placing a toll free phone call? Pass on any system that seems to leave you hanging out there on your own, even if you consider yourself too savvy to ask for help.

The fact is that you will need assistance at some point and it would be nice to know it is there when that day comes.

You may also want to look closely at what type of claims for success are made for the system in question.

While you do want to get involved with a system that has a proven track record, there is no need to waste your time with any trading system that promises overnight wealth.

While people can and do make impressive livings involved in currency trading, the fact is that they tend to make them over time, not overnight.

Avoid any system that makes what seem to be grandiose claims for success. Focus your attention more on trading systems that will be able to support you for the long term, as you incrementally grow your revenue stream.

Finding a Forex trading system that is reputable, reliable, and will provide you with the support you need can be done.

If you take a little time to evaluate each possibility and make sure the trading system provides everything you need to grow your own success.

It can be helpful to find out what others think of a system before you purchase one.

If you search for Forex forums in search engines, then join a few of these forums, you will soon get an idea of Forex trading systems that have a good reputation, this will help give you confidence before you purchase one.

It should be noted Forex trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors.

In the FOREX market, you can use two distinct types of trading systems. The first type is the mechanical trading system. The mechanical trading system is relatively easy to use because an automated process makes all trade decisions for you. This trading system is based on technical and systematic analysis. Traders call it mechanical trading because they use computers to get trading signals.

At the other side of the spectrum, the discretionary trading system uses gut instincts. It is based on an investor’s experience, knowledge, and intuition. Some investors choose to use mechanical systems to understand current market conditions, and then analyze the details on their own before trading.

Mechanical Trading System
Of course, most FOREX traders use the mechanical trading system, simply because it automates the process and you can set it up with little effort. It is the easiest way to become a FOREX trader because it requires less training and education than discretionary trading. Mechanical trading systems are widely available online and some software is available in stores.

Mechanical trading systems take the human element out of FOREX trading. Through such a system, you have no opportunity to make trading decisions based on greed, gut feel, or bad judgment. Because a wise investor always invests with his head and not with his heart, mechanical trading can help those investors who often base his or her decisions on emotions.

In recent years, the internet has made FOREX trading much easier by providing online trading platforms. The brokerage firm you use will provide one for you. Some brokers have also developed mechanical trading systems that their clients can use to trade. You can buy this separately, or have one provided for you. Your broker may also provide valuable tools like economic calendars, detailed analyses, and current currency charts. If your broker does not provide these to you, you can buy them on your own or find a different brokerage firm to work with.

Discretionary Trading Systems
Even when you opt to use the FOREX mechanical trading system, you should still understand the basics of the FOREX market to become an informed investor. There are various courses and books on becoming a FOREX trader and you should take full advantage of them.

Those with limited knowledge in this area can gain just from testing a broker’s trading software. The trading software can easily teach you terms, how to read charts, and some basic trading theories. Used with a book or online course, you can quickly grasp the principles behind FOREX. An informed trader can therefore use both discretionary and mechanical trading systems to achieve maximum profits.

If you’re interested in entering the FOREX market, carefully consider your choices. It may be best to start off by using mechanical trading systems before deciding of your own. In this way, you can minimize losses and lessen the risk of betting over your head. Once you are familiar and learned, you can start setting up the discretionary system of trading. Stay educated; it will pay off!

There are basically two types of Forex trading systems, mechanical and discretionary systems. The trading signals that come out of mechanical systems are mainly based off technical analysis applied in a systematic way. On the other hand, discretionary systems use experience, intuition or judgment on entries and exits. But which one produces better results? Or more importantly, which one fits better your trading style? These are the answers we will try to answer on this article.

We will first analyze the pros and cons about each system approach.

Mechanical systems

Advantages
This kind of system can be automated and backtested efficiently.
It has very rigid rules. Either, there is a trade or there isn’t.
Mechanical traders are less susceptible to emotions than discretionary traders.

Disadvantages
Most traders backtest Forex trading systems incorrectly. In order to produce accurate results you need tick data.
The Forex market is always changing. The Forex market (and all markets) has a random component. The market conditions may look similar, but they are never the same.
A system that worked successfully the past year doesn’t necessary mean it will work this year.

Discretionary systems

Advantages
Discretionary systems are easily adaptable to new market conditions.
Trading decisions are based on experience. Traders learn to see which trading signals have higher probability of success.

Disadvantages
They cannot be backtested or automated, since there is always a thought decision to be made.
It takes time to develop the experience required to trade successfully and track trades in a discretionary way. At early stages this can be dangerous.

Now, which approach is better for Forex traders? The one that fits better your personality. For instance, if you are a trader that finds it hard to follow your trading signals, then you are better off using a mechanical system, where your judgment won’t play an important role in your system. You only take the trades that your system signals.

If the psychological barriers that affect every trader (fear, greed, anger, etc.) puts you in unwanted scenarios, you are also better off trading mechanical systems, because you only need to follow what your system is telling you, go short, go long, close a trade. No other decision has to be made.

On the other hand, if you are a disciplined trader, then you are better off using a discretionary system, because discretionary systems adapt to the market conditions and you are able to change your trading conditions as the market changes. For instance, you have a target of 60 pips on a long trade. But the market suddenly starts trending up pretty strongly, then you could move your target to say 100 pips.

Does it mean that trading a discretionary system has no rules? This is absolutely incorrect. Trading discretionary systems means that once a trader finds his/her setup, the trader then decides what to do. But every trader still needs certain rules that need to be followed, such as the size of the position, conditions that have to be met before thinking to get in the market, and so on.

I am a discretionary trader. The main reason I chose a discretionary system is that my trades are based on price behavior, and as you already know, the price behaves similar to the past, but it is never identical, therefore the outcome of every trade is unknown. However, I do have rigid rules on my system, certain conditions have to be met before I even think in getting in a trade. This keeps me out of trouble, once my setup is present and in accordance with the rules I have set, then I closely watch the price behavior and finally decide whether it is a good opportunity or not.

Whether you choose to be a discretionary or a mechanical trader there are some important points you should take in consideration:

1.    You need to make sure the Forex trading system you are using totally fits your personality.  Otherwise you will find yourself outguessing your system.
2.    You also need to have some rules and most importantly have the discipline to follow them.
3.    Take your time to build the perfect system for you. It’s not easy and requires time and hard work, but at the end, if done correctly, it will give you consistent profitable results.
4.    Before going live, try it on a demo account or even on a small account (I will go for the second option, since psychological barriers will be present.)

– Your capital is at risk
One rule of thumb that every aspiring entrepreneur should remember is that to make huge profits, you should know how to do it by yourself—and not rely on other’s efforts. Being independent from other people will help you determine what things are best for your business.

Such rule applies on all types of investments, including foreign currency trading, or mostly known as Forex trading. It cannot be denied that Forex is the largest existing market around the world, which is estimated to have an excess of 2 trillion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currencies are traded each day. It is larger than the magnitude of the New York Stock Exchange, which is approximately 50 billion U.S. dollars. Thus, Forex market exceeds all combined equity markets around the world.

With such huge wealth circulating around the Forex market, one of your financial goals is to grab a major slice of that $2 trillion average daily turnover in the market. How you will be able to get a substantial portion of that average turnover if you do not know how you will handle your Forex business? Although you cannot live in the market alone (you need business partners and/or financial advisers to help you along), only you can determine what the best Forex business there is for you.

To get huge profits out of your Forex trading career, you need to build your own profitable system—a trading system that will bring your not just hundreds but thousands of dollars worth of Forex revenues. Such trading system is available on the market, but as previously mentioned, you need to be independent—and you need to have your own Forex trading system that will help you achieve your financial goals.

For new traders, it is difficult for them to device their own trading system since they do not have too much knowledge about the Forex market. However, even a neophyte trader can device a trading system that will fit on his personal preference and needs—in just five easy steps!

Before we discuss the five easy steps towards a profitable Forex trading system, you need to learn first the three main characteristics of a successful Forex trading system. These are as follows:

1. A successful Forex trading system is simple. There is no need for a complicated trading system with too many rules. It is a proven truth that simple systems work better than complicated ones, and they have higher chances of success despite of the “brutal” characteristic of Forex trading.

2. A successful Forex trading system cuts losses and runs profits. Keep in mind that you need a trading system that gets the huge possible profits and eliminates losses quickly, if not instantly.

3. A successful Forex trading system follows long-term trends. You will never cover your losses if you are just generating small profits. Keep in mind that the Forex market is worth $2 trillion U.S. dollars, thus there is no point in trading in exchange for just small profits if you have the opportunity to make trades for larger revenues. Focus on long-term trends and you will be able to see better results.

Now, here are the five easy steps in building a profitable Forex trading system:

1. As previously mentioned, your trading system must be as simple as possible. Integrate few yet essential rules and an extensive investment management system.

2. Always look for long-term trends (preferably on a weekly basis), then shift to daily charts and to time entry. This will help you analyze market trends efficiently.

3. The ideal way of trading foreign currencies is through breakout method.

4. Always watch for any break that you will note on your chart, which is commonly confirmed by stochastic crossed with bearish divergence. This will be your great timing tool whether you will enter a certain deal or not.

5.You must integrate effective time management within your system. Time is gold and is one of your precious resources. Design a trading system that is time efficient—where you can maximize the potential of your time resources to generate huge profits.

Get away with complicated systems; it will just ruin your entire Forex trading career. Build a simpler one and see for yourself how profitable it is.

– Your capital is at risk
The concept of automated Forex trading system is mind-catching.

Before the automation of the Forex market, exchange-traded futures market was the first to switch on automation. Then, the traders on the Interbank spot FX market decided to catch up with the latest trend and moved too to the new system.

Automated Forex trading system enables traders to execute their trade on spot Forex market automatically and anytime of the day, based on existing technical indicators and custom trading rules. There are various features included in the automated trading system, such as:

• Automatic trailing stops especially if the trader is losing in a particular trade position;
• Account equity management;
• Stop and/or limit orders;
• Discretionary market orders; and
• Various technical analysis indicators within your discretion for enabling trend-following systems.

Automated Forex trading systems supports most of the following indicators (the technical support will depend on the technology used as well as the available features of the system):

• WMA (weighted moving average);
• EMA (exponential moving average);
• SMA (simple moving average);
• VMA (variable moving average);
• TMA (triangular moving average);
• TSMA (time series moving average);
• WATR (wilder’s average true range);
• VHF (vertical horizontal filter);
• Standard deviation;
• Trailing stops;
• Mass index;
• Fixed limits and stops, and others.

The success of the automation process to the Forex market is attributed to several factors, such as the following:

• Its ability to perform or execute trades in real time. Because of the automation, a trader can close trades within a few milliseconds. It is impossible in manual systems, as previous trades are normally closed after several hours. In addition, there are also instances wherein a trader incurs several losses in a row that prevents him from making any fresh transactions. Thus, with automated Forex trading system, this problem could be avoided.

• Its ability to greater diversification. With automated trading system now in place, a trader can trade in various local as well as international markets within varying time zones. In other words, you can place trade or close deals with different traders from various markets around the world even at the middle of the night.

• Its ability to analyze short-term data. This feature is not available in manual trading system. Thus, traders using automated system have the bigger advantage since they can predict market trends in less than an hour.

If you will consolidate the features as well as the benefits of automated Forex trading system, it will give you a solid conclusion: with the Forex market on automation, you will be able to place more trades on a single day, thus increasing the average volume trades daily.

To further clarify the conclusion. Let us take the following scenario: If you are trading using the manual system, you will notice that it takes time before a trader confirms if he will accept your deal or not. He will look on the market condition first as well as the exchange rate of the currencies that you are trading with. Thus, if it takes time before a transaction will be finalized; there would be fewer trade volumes.

Now, if you are using the automated Forex trading system, the evaluation of exchange rates and market conditions could be done within a few minutes, since Forex data are now updated in real time. Probably after less than an hour, you will be able to take your position whether you will push through the deal or not.

If a Forex transaction per trader is averaging within an hour, a single trader can place as much as 8 trades within the regular trading hours (if he is following the day trading schedule) and additional trades beyond the regular trading hours. There are thousands of traders in just a single market who can place such average number of trade per day. Combining it with the number of Forex markets around the world, the figure is just huge enough.

In addition, the technology is changing continuously, thus there is a tendency that the average number of trades per day will increase, thus a possibility of increased trade volumes on daily basis. With faster trade execution, that is a certain possibility.

Be thankful, the Forex market is now at the helm of automation. Transactions are now faster, and earning money through Forex trading is now easier.