Learn How to Trade in Forex Market from the Basics

Forex trading is well known as a lucrative way to make money online. It has become an essential part for investor’s portfolio as you can gain thousands in minutes by trading currencies. For those who are new to the forex trading, Forex means Foreign Exchange Market where it involves buying and selling the different currencies of the world. Profits are made through the difference of selling and buying price - you earn when you buy-low and sell-high.

Forex market is a 24-hour market. The trade begins each day in Sydney, and moves around the globe to Tokyo, London, and then New York. Unlike any other financial market, investors can respond to money-value fluctuations caused by economic, social and political events at the time they occur - day or night. Major currencies traded nowadays are U.S. dollars, Australian Dollars, Japanese Yens, British Pounds, Swiss Francs, Canadian Dollars, and the Euro Dollars.

In the past, small speculators are not allowed to trade Forex freely as it is now. The minimum required business sizes are large and the financial requirements for trading foreign currencies are strict. Only huge multi-national cooperation and banks are able to fit into the business. In fact, large international banks are still the main players in currency exchange market. Deutsche Bank is one of the top currency traders; along with other major banks like UBS, Citi Group, HSBC, Barclays, J. P. Morgan Chase, Coldman Sachs, ABN Amro, Morgan Stanley, and Merril Lynch; these banks are said to be responsible for more than 70% trades in currency market. Forex trade is not open to the publics until year 1998, where big sized inter-bank units are sliced into smaller pieces and offered to individual traders.

It is simple to get started in Forex trading, an funded Forex account and a computer connected to the Internet is more than enough to get started. However, to start trading and become a successful Forex trader are totally different. Trading Forex is a high risks game and traders should always follow certain principals, listed below are a few of must-do’s when trading in Forex market.

1. Educate yourself before trading in Forex market

As in any trading markets, building up your trading skills and knowledge is the very first step that you must take. To further your learning in Forex trading, seminars, workshops, video tutorials, online learning, or even books are handful to help us learn from the professional.

2. Having a trading plans

A good trading plan is needed no matter you are a beginner or an expert in Forex trading. The Forex market itself is just a vehicle, to go to your desired destination, which is to gain profit and achieve financial freedom in our case, you have to drive your vehicle with maps and navigations. How much do you want to earn from the trades? How much you can afford to lose if things go wrong? What is the amount of capital you are putting in? Answer the questions to yourself when you are setting your trading plan. If you fail to plan, you are indeed plan to fail.

3. Mature mindsets and discipline trading

Trading Forex with discipline is very important. Success in Forex trading could not be achieved by only plotting out the best trading plan. It is also depends on implementing the trading plan. Be disciplined, trade according to your plan and never trade with your emotion. Greed will stop you from taking profit at predetermined level; while fear will stop you from making the nice kill in the market.

Without a doubt, Forex is getting more and more popular. There are less restrictions in FOREX market. No limited market access, no liquidity issues-after market hours, zero commission fees, low capital requirements, and no restrictions on short selling. However, the risks in Forex trading should not be taken for granted. As you can always trade in margin, you might lose a lot more than you can afford if you don’t plan your investment wisely. Seminars, e-Books, Internet, papers, plus video courses are all you need first before getting involved in the market.

Money Management

We get a lot of questions about various complex money management (MM) formulas and our preferences. We don’t comment on this subject very often because money management is such a personal issue that it would be impossible to give any universal advice that would be specific enough to have value. Everyone seems to have different goals and tolerances for risk, not to mention varying amounts of capital for trading.

However we do have some basic thoughts and opinions that might be helpful in picking a suitable MM strategy that will help you to become a winner.

Be careful about trying to use formulas that are designed to optimize the returns. In my experience I have found that the most successful traders, over the long run, are not seeking to maximize their returns. The best traders are always seeking to carefully control their risks and to achieve as much consistency as possible. They look for methods to achieve consistent returns with low drawdowns and they are willing to accept smaller returns in the process. My policy has always been to worry about the risk and the consistency first and then to accept whatever returns that prudent approach will allow. I’m sure I will never win any trading contests and I have never bothered to enter one. In my opinion, no one should ever trade like the winner of a trading contest. I apologize for getting off on a different subject here. Lets get back on track and talk about trading in the only contest that matters - the trading that you do every day.

In recent years the strategy of risking a small percentage of capital on each trade has become quite popular and deservedly so. This MM strategy, often referred to as fixed fractional trading, reduces our dollar amount of risk as we experience losses and increases our risk level as we earn profits. The possibility of ever going to zero with such a strategy is virtually nonexistent. However this strategy has an inherent weakness that tends to constantly work against us. If we assume an equal number of winners or losers in a sequence this popular strategy produces net losses if the winners are not larger than the losers. To keep things very simple lets just look at a series of five wins followed by five losses with the wins being equal to the amount we risk. Lets also keep the math really simple and begin with starting capital of 100 and risk 5% of our current capital on each trade. I think that most traders would assume that if they had five losers followed by five winners they would be even. Unfortunately that is not the case.

Here are the numbers: Risk is always 5% of current capital. (I’m going to round the numbers to two decimals.)

Capital $ Risk W/L Account balance
100.0 5.00 L 95.00
95.00 4.75 L 90.25
90.25 4.51 L 85.74
85.74 4.29 L 81.45
81.45 4.07 L 77.38

OK we are already tired of losing. Let’s have five winners in a row and see if we can get our money back.

Capital $ Risk W/L Account balance
77.38 3.87 W 81.25
81.25 4.06 W 85.31
85.31 4.27 W 89.58
89.58 4.48 W 94.06
94.06 4.70 W 98.76

As you can see we had an equal number of winners and losers yet somehow we lost money. Perhaps it is because we had bad luck and got started in the wrong direction. Lets reverse the sequence of trades so that we start out on a winning streak instead of losing. Maybe that will help.

Capital $ Risk W/L Account balance
100.00 5.00 W 105.00
105.00 5.25 W 110.25
110.25 5.51 W 115.76
115.76 5.79 W 121.55
121.55 6.08 W 127.63

Looks good so far. Starting off with winners looks much better than starting with losses. But now we have five losers coming up.

Capital $ Risk W/L Account balance
127.63 6.38 L 121.25
121.25 6.06 L 115.19
115.19 5.76 L 109.43
109.43 5.47 L 103.96
103.96 5.20 L 98.76

Hmmm. It doesn’t seem to matter if we start out with a string of winners or a string of losses. Somehow we wound up losing the same amount of money either way.

Obviously we don’t have a very good system at work here but it is not a losing system. With the proper MM strategy we should break even. Our winning trades are only equal to our risk and to have a winning system the winners need to be bigger than the losers. We are winning on only half of our trades and we would be profitable if we could win on more than half. Even though our system is not a good one you would think that it would at least be a breakeven proposition (we haven’t included any costs) because the winners are always equal to the amount at risk and we win 50% of the time. That sounds like a breakeven system, doesn’t it? But if we employ the popular money management strategy of risking a fixed percentage of our current capital we manage to turn the system into a loser. However, if we risked a fixed dollar amount on each trade the system results would improve and we would break even.

The fixed percentage of risk approach to MM is a good one because it keeps us from going broke and it compounds our profits rapidly. Both of those are desirable characteristics but we need to be aware that they come at a price. We should realize that our recovery from drawdowns might not be as fast as we would like and that we can give back profits even faster than we made them.

One strategy that can help solve the problem of giving back the profits too rapidly is to periodically sweep some of the profits out of the account and place them in some other place where they are adding to our diversification and reducing our risk. Now and then we should take some of the profits out and spend them on something that improves our quality of life. This important step gives the dollars at stake a new meaning and boosts our morale tremendously. What is the point of winning and losing and accumulating profits only to give them back at some later date? If we make it a practice to routinely sweep some of the profits our account will continue to grow but it will be compounding at a slower rate than if we left our profits at risk. However if we stumble into a losing streak we will be glad that we took out some of the profits and reduced our bet size.

If we are good traders and we make it a practice to withdraw some of our profits on a regular basis we will eventually reach the point where we have taken out more than we started with. There are very few traders, particularly in futures, who can claim that they have truly beaten the market. Until you have taken out more than you started with the market can still beat you. Trading futures is a zero sum game and winners are few and far between. Taking out profits now and then rather than getting carried away trying to optimize the gains to infinity is contrary to what is being taught these days. Everyone is obsessed with finding formulas to optimize the returns. We need to remember that the trader who has the optimum gains today could easily be tomorrow’s biggest loser. That is a game we don’t need to play.

I think we all need to take a step or two back and look at the big picture. Trading is not really just a game. The money is real. Lets make sure that we are true winners and not just habitual players. Take some profits now and then and put them out of harms way. When we have done this I can assure you that the game is a lot more fun and our trading will improve. Nothing builds confidence like knowing for sure that you are indeed a winner.

Risk Arbitrage

In economics, arbitrage is the practice of taking advantage of a state of imbalance between two (or possibly more) markets: a combination of matching deals are struck that exploit the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices. A person who engages in arbitrage is called an arbitrageur.

For example, if you can buy items at one price at a factory outlet and sell them for a higher price on an internet auction website such as eBay, you can exploit the imbalance between those two markets for those items. The term "arbitrage", however, is usually applied only to trading in money and investment instruments (such as stocks, bonds, and other securities), not to goods, and the difference in prices is usually referred to as "the spread", so arbitrage is often defined as "playing the spread" in the money market.

Arbitrage has the effect of causing prices in different markets to converge. As a result of arbitrage, the currency exchange rates, the price of commodities, and the price of securities in different markets all tend to converge to a fixed price. The speed at which the prices converge is one measure of the efficiency of a market. Arbitrage tends to reduce price discrimination by encouraging people to buy an item where the price is low and resell where the price is high. Sellers of goods and services often attempt to prohibit or discourage arbitrage.

Traditionally, arbitrage transactions in the securities markets involve high speed and low risk. At some moment a price difference exists, and the problem is to execute two or three balancing transactions while the difference persists (that is, before the other arbitrageurs act).

In the 1980s a practice with the oxymoronic name of "risk arbitrage" became common. In this form of speculation, one trades a security that is clearly undervalued or overvalued, when it is seen that the wrong valuation is about to be corrected by events. The standard example is the stock of a company, undervalued in the stock market, which is about to be the object of a takeover bid; the price of the takeover will more truly reflect the value of the company, giving a large profit to those who bought at the current price—if the merger goes through as predicted.

The transaction involves a delay of weeks or months and may entail considerable risk if borrowed money is used to magnify the reward through leverage. One way of reducing the risk is through the illegal use of inside information is obvious, and in fact risk arbitrage with regard to leveraged buyouts was associated with some of the famous financial scandals of the 1980s such as those involving Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky.

Examples
Here’s a theoretical example: Suppose that the exchange rates (after taking out the fees for making the exchange) in London are £5 = $10 = ¥1000 and the exchange rates in Tokyo are ¥1000 = £6 = $10. Converting $10 to £6 in Tokyo and converting that £6 into $12 in London, for a profit of $2, would be arbitrage.

One real-life example of arbitrage involves the stock market in New York and the futures market in Chicago. When the price of a stock in New York and its corresponding future in Chicago are out of sync, one can buy the less expensive one and sell the more expensive. Because the differences between the prices are likely to be small (and not to last very long), this can only be done profitably with computers examining a large number of prices and automatically exercising a trade when the prices are far enough out of balance. The activity of other arbitrageurs can make this risky. Those with the fastest computers and the smartest mathematicians take advantage of series of small differentials that would not be profitable if taken individually.

Risks
Arbitrage transactions in modern securities markets involve fairly low risks. Generally it is impossible to close two or three transactions at the same instant; therefore, there is the possibility that when one part of the deal is closed, a quick shift in prices makes it impossible to close the other at a profitable price. There is also counter-party risk, that the other party to one of the deals fails to deliver as agreed; though unlikely, this hazard is serious because of the large quantities one must trade in order to make a profit on small price differences. These risks become magnified when leverage or borrowed money is used.
Another risk occurs if the items being bought and sold are not identical and the arbitrage is conducted under the assumption that the prices of the items are correlated or predictable. In the extreme case this is risk arbitrage, described earlier. In comparison to the classical quick arbitrage transaction, such an operation can produce disastrous losses.

Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM) lost $100 billion mis-managing this concept in September 1998. LTCM had attempted to make money on the difference between different bond instruments. For example, it would buy U.S treasury bonds and sell Italian bond futures. The concept was that because Italian bond futures had a less liquid market, in the short term Italian bond futures would have a higher return than U.S. bonds, but in the long term, the prices would converge. Because the difference was small, large amount of money had to be borrowed to make the buying and selling profitable.

The downfall in this system began on August 17, 1998, when Russia defaulted on its rouble debt and domestic dollar debt. Since the markets were already nervous due to the Asian crisis, investors began selling non-U.S. treasury debt and buying U.S. treasuries, which were considered a safe investment. As a result the return on U.S. treasuries began decreasing because there were many buyers, and the return on other bonds began to increase because there were many sellers. This caused the difference between the returns of U.S. treasuries and other bonds to increase, rather than to decrease as LTCM was expecting. Eventually this caused LTCM to fold, and a bailout had to be arranged to prevent a collapse in confidence in the economic system.

An ironic footnote is that they were right long-term (the LT in LTCM), and a few months after they folded their portfolio became very profitable. However the long-term does not matter if you cannot survive the short-term, and that they failed to do.

Some Advice before Entering Forex Trading

There is an ideal mindset, character, and mental attitude that traders need to acquire. I say “acquire” because few people have the innate personality that makes this mindset “natural” With respect to your trading, this involves being free of anxiety, fear, despair or regret. It also involves being able to remain calm, confident, focused and disciplined in the face of adverse trading outcomes.

Trade with a Disciplined Plan

The problem with many traders is that they take shopping more seriously than trading. The average shopper would not spend $500 without serious research and examination of the product he/she is about to purchase, yet the average trader would make a trade that could easily cost him/her $500 based on little more than a feeling or hunch. The plan must include stop and limit levels for the trade, as your analysis should encompass the expected downside as well as the expected upside. Be sure that you have a plan in place before you start to trade.

Good Execution Good Anticipation

Everybody knows that trading is a number game. I mean, our success is not depend on the outcome of the next trade, our success is depend on the overall profitability of many trades. So, while we are trading, whether the last trade we did was profitable or not is definitely not important. There is no point drawing conclusions on the outcome of just one –or even a few-trades. We can only access our anticipation skills when we have made a reasonable number of trades and see the longer-term result of our action. It is so important that when we are trading, our goal should be focus on executing our trades with ruthless efficiency and to judge only that. If you consider the ways that you lose money trading, you will find that it is down to poor execution, rather than poor anticipation.

Cut Your Losses Early and Let Your Profits Run

This simple concept is one of the most difficult to implement and is the cause of most traders demise. Most traders violate their predetermined plan and take their profits before reaching their profit target because they feel uncomfortable sitting on a profitable position. These same people will easily sit on losing positions, allowing the market to move against them for hundreds of points in hopes that the market will come back. In addition, traders who have had their stops hit a few times only to see the market go back in their favor once they are out, are quick to remove stops from their trading on the belief that this will always be the case. Stops are there to be hit, and to stop you from losing more then a predetermined amount. You simply allow your profits on the winners to run and make sure that your losses are minimal. What is it about cutting a loss that is so hard?

Do Not Over Trade

Do not bet on the farm. One of the most common mistakes that traders make is leveraging their account too high by trading much larger sizes than their account should prudently trade. Leverage is a double-edged sword. Just because one lot of currency only requires $1000 as a minimum margin deposit, it does not mean that a trader with $5000 in his account should be able to trade 5 lots. One lot is $100,000 and should be treated as a $100,000 investment and not the $1000 put up as margin. Most traders analyze the charts correctly and place sensible trades, yet they tend to over leverage themselves. As a consequence of this, they are often forced to exit a position at the wrong time. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than 10% of your account at any given time.

Do Not Marry Your Trades

The reason trading with a plan is the #1 tip is because most objective analysis is done before the trade is executed. Once a trader is in a position he/she tends to analyze the market differently in the hopes that the market will move in a favorable direction rather than objectively looking at the changing factors that may have turned against your original analysis. This is especially true of losses. Traders with a losing position tend to marry their position, which causes them to disregard the fact that all signs point towards continued losses.

So should you before you trade. In order to start the trading day in the optimum state of mind you should take 15 to 20 minutes to prepare. Treat each day like an elite athlete prepares for a competition. Here is how to do this:

1. Get yourself in a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes

2. Breathe in and out slowly, pushing your stomach out each time you breathe in

3. Consciously relax all your muscles

4. Focus your entire attention on your breathing

5. When your mind starts to wander (as it will) re-focus on your breathing so that you eliminate from your consciousness whatever your mind had started to think about -including bodily sensations

6. Become aware of being exclusively -in the present moment. Exclude memories or thoughts about past events, and worries or anticipation or planning about the future

7. Do this past the point of boredom, until your restless mind settles down and you enter a peaceful, relaxed state. This usually takes 15 to 20 minutes, but it can be longer for some people

Anybody interested in some more information about forex trading should check out high-quality course like Peter Bain at Forex Mentor. His course provide clear guidelines about when to enter a trade, what to expect in terms of market movement, when to exit a trade, how much loss can be accepted in case the deal moves against the trader, and some secret techniques that can be easily implemented. Following his simple guidelines can help you become a successful forex trader. Learn to make daily profits in the forex market. You would not believe how straightforward and helpful it is to a Forex beginner.

The FOREX Market- Trade with your head not your heart!

Sounds simple…right? In actuality, this is the number one reason why day traders lose their shirts. They let their emotions get the best of them and end up doing something real stupid. Trust me I’ve done it.

When trading currency, you need to take yourself away from the platform and look at your trades in actual bills not numerical values on a computer screen. For example, let’s say you short the USD/JPY for a 50 mini-lot right before a data release and it tanks. The USD/JPY goes down about 50 some odd pips and now you’re up $2500 in about thirty seconds.

Now, if you were smart, you would close the position and take your profit, but you’re not and you decide to let it ride. The market goes down about another 10 pips. So, now you’re up $3000 and you still won’t close it. You think that it’s going to keep tanking and that you could make 5-6k on this one trade…wishful thinking.

All of sudden the market retraces and shoots back up 20 pips, your still up about $2000, but now you tell yourself, I’ll wait until it goes back down a few pips and then close it. Too late, the market ignites and now you’re break-even and then you’re negative. In the end you take a $500 loser, which isn’t too bad, but considering you were up $3000 it’s like you lost $3500.

Now, let’s pretend you did this same trade with actual, physical dollar bills. Now or days most people trade from a three wide spread, so let’s say that you gave a trade booker $150 cash to place a short USD/JPY 50 lot. The data is released and this man keeps giving you $50 bills and before you know it you have $3000 in your hands. In order to keep this money all you have to say is close.

You decide to press your luck and wait and the market continues to trend down and now you have $3500 cash. All of sudden, the market begins to retrace and this nice young man starts taking $50 from you each pip it retraces. How many pips does the market have to retrace before you say close? Maybe, ten pips? Once you saw actual dollar bills being taken away from you, you would throw in the towel. So, how does one improve their money management skills?

First of all, realize that you are trading real money. I’m sure you realize that the money you are trading is real money, but do you conceptualize it? When you make a few hundred or a few thousand dollars trading, do you feel like someone just handed you cash? Of course not! Every time you’re trading, no matter if you are profitable or not profitable visualize and grasp the outcome. Don’t just watch your balance and equity fluctuate; you need to relate your loss and gains to every day life.

For example, let’s say you have a 10k account and in the first week you doubled that to 20k. You need to step back and understand what you just accomplished; you just made 10k in one week by sitting in front of your computer and trading currency. Now, let’s take that money and put it to everyday use. If you were handed a free 10k, what would you do with the money?

Would you pay of some debt, by a car, put money down on a home, go on a vacation, put it towards school, I think you get the gist. All I’m saying is that 10k is yours, you own it and there is no reason you have to keep in the FOREX. You are that 10% that succeeded this week, but the law of averages states that you are most likely to be the 90% next week. If not next week then the week after and if not then, eventually you will.

If you invest 10k and your account doubles to 20k, why would you pull out 15k leave in 5k and go for the gusto? If you lose your remaining 5k who cares you still made 5k in a week at your computer. Tell me another investment where I can make 50% on a 10k investment in one week. Turn around the following week pull my initial investment and my profit and still have 5k to play with. If I hadn’t experienced this first hand then I would have never believed it. DO NOT GIVE YOUR WINNINGS BACK TO THE MARKET! It’s not worth it.

Thoughts on Managing Money

We often hear from students by letter, telephone, and in person at seminars, that they greatly desire to trade managed money.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, we also hear from students who want money managed for them. In either case, the experience can be gut wrenching.

This chapter should serve as a warning and a caution to both. Since your author has at one time or another engaged in managing money for others, I base what I have to say here on my own experiences and, if it please the reader, this may be entitled "Confessions of a Trader."

The psychological basis for successful trading is indeed a delicate subject. No one we have ever heard of has been able to pinpoint exactly what it is that gives one trader success while another trader fails. Although some claim to have done this, coming up with an attribute profile of the "average" winner, no one we know of has identified a set of common denominators among professional winning traders. Besides, which of us is "average?" Is it you?

Winning in the markets seems to involve a fine balance of traits that differ among winning traders. To make the identification of winning traders even more complicated, there seems to be a distinction between those traders who can successfully trade their own money and those traders who can successfully trade the money of others. I have met both.

Two of the most successful money managers I know personally began by trading managed money. They began trading other people’s money for lack of sufficient money of their own with which to trade. Later in their careers, when they did have sufficient money with which to trade their own account, they found that they failed miserably. They were not able to trade their own money with any degree of success. More than that, when they traded their own money simultaneously with trading managed money, they failed at both.

Upon further investigation, and after speaking with a number of traders who have tried both, I discovered that there are many traders who are successful at trading managed money, but who can’t trade their way out of their hat when trying to trade their own money. Invariably, upon further probing, some admitted that they were much more daring and courageous with other people’s money than they were when the money was their own.

Also in this group of those who trade better for others than themselves, I have been able to identify traders who said they were much more careful and conservative with the money of others than they were with money of their own.

So within this group of traders, all of them students of ours who can successfully trade managed money, some are successful because they are more daring with other people’s money, and some are successful because they are more careful with money not their own.

Next, we come to those traders who successfully manage their own money and who have attempted to manage money for others, but failed.

I have heard from quite a few traders who attempted to manage money for others. In this group I include those who have failed miserably. I have spoken with a number of students who have had the experience of losing at least half of the money under their management prior to returning the balance to those who invested with them. Amazingly, the answers are the same as with the group who successfully manage money. Managed money seems to be a "monkey" on their backs. They find that they trade too carefully, too conservatively when the money is not their own. Worse than that, when things go wrong with a trade, they do not act rationally and with the same cool determination as with their own money. When they trade their own account, they do not think of it as money. When they trade someone else’s account, all they can think of is that it is money. And, because it is not their own, they try their hardest not to lose it. Unfortunately, experience shows that what they fear the most happens - they do lose the money.

I have spoken with students who successfully manage their own money because they are more careful with their own than with the money of others. They, too, have failed with managed money, and have resigned themselves to trading only their own accounts.

Among the students and acquaintances, I have identified at least four categories of traders who attempt to manage money. I’m sure there are other categories, but these are the ones I’ve found:

1. Those who successfully manage money for others but cannot manage their own account with any great degree of success because they are too careful with their own money, while they are more daring with the money of others.

2. Those who successfully manage money for others but cannot manage their own account with any great degree of success because they are too daring with their own money, while they are more careful with the money of others.

3. Those who successfully manage their own money but fail with managed money because they are too careful when managing money for others.

4. Those who successfully manage their own money but fail with managed money because they are too daring when managing money for others.

Conclusions:

Among these students I found none who successfully traded both managed accounts and their own accounts. The size of the population for this study was too small to come up with any meaningful statistics, but there are some warnings and cautions that can be concluded.

To those of you who want to have your money managed, be aware that the individual success of any trader trading his/her own money is no guarantee that that person can successfully manage the money of others. It would seem to bear out the reality of placing managed money with a proven successful trader of managed money.

To those of you who want to manage money for others, be aware that successfully trading your own account is no guarantee that you will be able to successfully trade the account of other persons.

Failure in either of these situations is painful for all concerned! In fact, the pain can be so great as to prematurely end the trading hopes of either party.

Be very careful, because in both of these situations the result can be great personal pain. The pain may be both physical and mental, and can cause you to abort your trading career. I feel it is my duty to caution you about getting involved with managed money, whether you try to manage the money of others, or whether you want someone else to manage yours. The costs can be horrendous.

The responsibility of trading managed money can really wear you down. You may have to go for years without a vacation. You find yourself working late into the night, and working a significant portion of the weekends.

All work and no play is not a good thing for your trading career.

Interestingly, most of my students come to me relating that the reason they want to learn how to trade is so they can become independent and not have to work at a regular job. However, trading managed money is one of the most grueling jobs you can ever undertake.

Trading with Strategy

Trading successfully is by no means a simple matter. It requires time, market knowledge and market understanding and a large amount of self restraint. ACM does not manage accounts, nor does it give market advice, that is the job of money managers and introducing brokers. As market professionals, we can however point the novice in the right direction and indicate what are correct trading tactics and considerations and what is total nonsense.

Anyone who says you can consistently make money in foreign exchange markets is being untruthful. Foreign exchange by nature, is a volatile market. The practice of trading it by way of margin increases that volatility exponentially. We are therefore talking about a very ’fast market’ which is naturally inconsistent. Following that precept, it is logical to say that in order to make a successful trade, a trader has to take into account technical and fundamental data and make an informed decision based on his perception of market sentiment and market expectation. Timing a trade correctly is probably the most important variable in trading successfully but invariably there will be times where a traders’ timing will be off. Don’t expect to generate returns on every trade.

Let’s enumerate what a trader needs to do in order to put the best chances for profitable trades on his side:

Trade with money you can afford to lose:

Trading fx markets is speculative and can result in loss, it is also exciting, exhilarating and can be addictive. The more you are ’involved with your money’ the harder it is to make a clear-headed decision. Money you have earned is precious, but money you need to survive should never be traded.

Identify the state of the market:

What is the market doing? Is it trending upwards, downwards, is it in a trading range. Is the trend strong or weak, did it begin long ago or does it look like a new trend that’s forming. Getting a clear picture of the market situation is laying the groundwork for a successful trade.

Determine what time frame you’re trading on:

Many traders get in the market without thinking when they would like to get out, after all the goal is to make money. This is true but when trading, one must extrapolate in his mind’s eye the movement that one expects to happen. Within this extrapolation, resides a price evolution during a certain period of time. Attached to this is the idea of exit price. The importance of this is to mentally put your trade in perspective and although it is clearly impossible to know exactly when you will exit the market, it is important to define from the outset if you’ll be ’scalping’ (trying to get a few points off the market) trading intra-day, or going longer term. This will also determine what chart period you’re looking at. If you trade many times a day, there’s no point basing your technical analysis on a daily graph, you’ll probably want to analyse 30 minute or hour graphs. Additionally it is important to know the different time periods when various financial centers enter and exit the market as this creates more or less volatility and liquidity and can influence market movements.

Time your trade:

You can be right about a potential market movement but be too early or too late when you enter the trade. Timing considerations are twofold, an expected market figure like CPI, retail sales or a federal reserve decision can consolidate a movement that’s already underway. Timing your move means knowing what’s expected and taking into account all considerations before trading. Technical analysis can help you identify when and at what price a move may occur. We will look at technical analysis in more detail later.

If in doubt, stay out:

If you’re unsure about a trade and find you’re hesitating, stay on the sidelines.

Trade logical transaction sizes:

Margin trading allows the fx trader a very large amount of leverage, trading at full margin capacity (in ACM’s case 1% or 0.5%) can make for some very large profits or losses on an account. Scaling your trades so that you may re-enter the market or make transactions on other currencies is generally wiser. In short, don’t trade amounts that can potentially wipe you out and don’t put all your eggs in one basket. ACM offers the same rates regardless of transaction sizes so a customer has nothing to lose by starting small.

Gauge market sentiment:

Market sentiment is what most of the market is perceived to be feeling about the market and therefore what it is doing or will do. This is basically about trend. You may have heard the term ’the trend is your friend’, this basically means that if you’re in the right direction with a strong trend you will make successful trades. This of course is very simplistic, a trend is capable of reversal at any time. Technical and fundamental data can indicate however if the trend has begun long ago and if it is strong or weak.

Market expectation:

Market expectation relates to what most people are expecting as far as upcoming news is concerned. If people are expecting an interest rate to rise and it does, then there usually will not be much of a movement because the information will already have been ’discounted’ by the market, alternatively if the adverse happens, markets will usually react violently.

Use what other traders use:

In a perfect world, every trader would be looking at a 14 day RSI and making trading decisions based on that. If that was the case, when RSI would go under the 30 level, everyone would buy and by consequence the price would rise. Needless to say, the world is not perfect and not all market participants follow the same technical indicators, draw the same trendlines and identify the same support & resistance levels. The great diversity of opinions and techniques used translates directly into price diversity. Traders however have a tendency to use a limited variety of technical tools. The most common are 9 and 14 day RSI, obvious trendlines and support levels, fibonnacci retracement, MACD and 9, 20 & 40 day exponential moving averages. The closer you get to what most traders are looking at, the more precise your estimations will be. The reason for this is simple arithmetic, larger numbers of buyers than sellers at a certain price will move the market up from that price and vice-versa.

Understanding the Basics of Currency Trading

Investors and traders around the world are looking to the Forex market as a new speculation opportunity. But, how are transactions conducted in the Forex market? Or, what are the basics of Forex Trading? Before adventuring in the Forex market we need to make sure we understand the it, otherwise we will find ourselves lost where we less expected. This is what this article is aimed to, to understand the basics of currency trading.

What is traded in the Forex market?

The instrument traded by Forex traders and investors are currency pairs. A currency pair is the exchange rate of one currency over another. The most traded currency pairs are:

USD/CHF: Swiss franc

GBP/USD: Pound

USD/CAD: Canadian dollar

USD/JPY: Yen

EUR/USD: Euro

AUD/USD: Aussie

These six currency pairs generate up to 85% of the overall volume in the Forex market. So, for instance, if a trader goes long on the Euro, she or he is simultaneously buying the EUR and selling the USD. If the same trader goes short or sells the Aussie, she or he is simultaneously selling the AUD and buying the USD.

The first currency of each currency pair is referred as the base currency, while second currency is referred as the counter or quote currency. Each currency pair is expressed in units of the counter currency needed to get one unit of the base currency. If the price or quote of the EUR/USD is 1.2545, it means that 1.2545 US dollars are needed to get one EUR.

Bid/Ask Spread

All currency pairs are commonly quoted with a bid and ask price. The bid (always lower than the ask) is the price your broker is willing to buy at, thus the trader should sell at this price. The ask is the price your broker is willing to sell at, thus the trader should buy at this price.

EUR/USD 1.2645/48 or 1.2645/8

The bid price is 1.2645

The ask price is 1.2648

A Pip

A pip is the minimum incremental move a currency pair can make. A pip stands for price interest point. A move in the EUR/USD from 1.2545 to 1.2560 equals 15 pips. And a move in the USD/JPY from 112.35 to 113.40 equals 105 pips.

Margin Trading (leverage)

In contrast with other financial markets where you require the full deposit of the amount traded, in the Forex market you require only a margin deposit. The rest will be granted by your broker.

The leverage provided by some brokers goes up to 400:1. This means that you require only 1/400 or .25% in balance to open a position (plus the floating gains/losses.) Most brokers offer 100:1, where every trader requires 1% in balance to open a position.

The standard lot size in the Forex market is $100,000 USD.

For instance, a trader wants to get long one lot in EUR/USD and he or she is using 100:1 leverage.

To open such position, he or she requires 1% in balance or $1,000 USD.

Of course it is not advisable to open a position with such limited funds in our trading balance. If the trade goes against our trader, the position is to be closed by the broker. This takes us to our next important term.

Margin Call

A margin call occurs when the balance of the trading account falls below the maintenance margin (capital required to open one position, 1% when the leverage used is 100:1, 2% when leverage used is 50:1, and so on.) At this moment, the broker sells off (or buys back in the case of short positions) all your trades, leaving the trader "theoretically" with the maintenance margin.

Most of the time margin calls occur when money management is not properly applied.

How are the mechanics of a Forex trade?

The trader, after an extensive analysis, decides there is a higher probability of the British pound to go up. He or she decides to go long risking 30 pips and having a target (reward) of 60 pips. If the market goes against our trader he/she will lose 30 pips, on the other hand, if the market goes in the intended way, he or she will gain 60 pips. The actual quote for the pound is 1.8524/27, 4 pips spread. Our trader gets long at 1.8530 (ask). By the time the market gets to either our target (called take profit order) or our risk point (called stop loss level) we will have to sell it at the bid price (the price our broker is willing to buy our position back.) In order to make 40 pips, our take profit level should be placed at 1.8590 (bid price.) If our target gets hit, the market ran 64 pips (60 pips plus the 4 pip spread.) If our stop loss level is hit, the market ran 30 pips against us.

It’s very important to understand every aspect of forex trading. Start first from the very basic concepts, then move on to more complex issues such as Forex trading systems, trading psychology, trade and risk management, and so on. And make sure you master every single aspect before adventuring in a live trading account.

W.D. Gann Trading Methods - Genius Trader or Overrated Guru

W.D. Gann is one of the most famous traders of all time, and has a huge devoted following - however the fact is, Gann never made the huge profits many of his disciples claim.

He did not have a success rate of 90%, as is often claimed - the logic his methods are based upon are unsound, and his predictive methods don’t predict - they leave everything to subjective opinion!

Let’s examine his theories of investment in more detail and see.

Let’s look at some common myths about how great a trader Gann actually was:

Many sources quote Gann’s trading profits at $50 million dollars, however this is not true.

An interview that Alexander Elder had with his son tells the truth.

Firstly, his son confirmed that when his father died in the 1950s his estate was valued at just $100,000 - and that included his house.

Secondly, his son confirmed that Gann was unable to make enough money from trading, and therefore supplemented his income by writing and selling courses.

W.D. Gann’s Predictions

Many sources quote he had a success rate in all his trades of over 90% - again not true. We can easily deduce this from the value of his estate.

If he could make money trading and had a 90% success rate, he would have made hundreds of millions in his trading career - and he clearly did not - that’s why he had to sell books and courses.

The only evidence of a 90% success rate came from a small number of trades - and was not representative of them all.

Gann’s Methods are Predictive

Gann came to the conclusion that all natural phenomena are cyclical - including financial markets. This is true, but this is an obvious statement - we all know we’re going to die but when exactly?

A predictive theory is not a predictive theory if it can’t predict.

If Gann’s theory really is predictive, then there would be no market - as we would all know the price in advance!

Gann’s theory is subjective - and he really had no way of predicting the future with accuracy. It’s all subjective analysis and this is NOT a predictive theory.

Gann’s Logic

The basis of Gann’s theory is the principle that price and time must balance.

His methods are based on the squaring of price with time - this occurs when a unit of price equals a unit of time.

Gann for example would take a prominent high in the market, convert that dollar unit into a specified period of time and project it forward. When that time is reached, price and time are squared - and a market turn is due.

What? - How can one unit of price equal one unit of time? If you think about and answer this question for yourself, you will see how absurd the connection is.

This isn’t the only inconsistency used in his analysis - we also have the legendary Fibonacci numbers which are supposed to work with stunning accuracy - but they don’t, and neither do all sorts of astrology and geometry, that appeals to the far out investment crowd.

As we have seen, Gann was a trader who had modest success, and claimed to have discovered a predictive theory - which predicts nothing with accuracy.

Finally, we have so many subjective indicators cobbled together, that the theory can prove anything in hindsight, but if you want a tool to trade the markets look elsewhere.

For those of you still not convinced - I recently saw on the Internet, Gann’s trading methods selling for under $1,000!

Sounds like a bargain to get trades with 90% accuracy - I wonder how many serious money managers have it on their bookshelf.

What are Your Options Regarding Forex Options Brokers?

Forex option brokers can generally be divided into two separate categories: forex brokers who offer online forex option trading platforms and forex brokers who only broker forex option trading via telephone trades placed through a dealing/brokerage desk. A few forex option brokers offer both online forex option trading as well a dealing/brokerage desk for investors who prefer to place orders through a live forex option broker.

The trading account minimums required by different forex option brokers vary from a few thousand dollars to over fifty thousand dollars. Also, forex option brokers may require investors to trade forex options contracts having minimum notional values (contract sizes) up to $500,000. Last, but not least, certain types of forex option contracts can be entered into and exited at any time while other types of forex option contracts lock you in until expiration or settlement. Depending on the type of forex option contract you enter into, you might get stuck the wrong way with an option contract that you can not trade out of. Before trading, investors should inquire with their forex option brokers about initial trading account minimums, required contract size minimums and contract liquidity.

There are a number of different forex option trading products offered to investors by forex option brokers. We believe it is extremely important for investors to understand the distinctly different risk characteristics of each of the forex option trading products mentioned below that are offered by firms that broker forex options.

Plain Vanilla Forex Options Broker - Plain vanilla options generally refer to standard put and call option contracts traded through an exchange (however, in the case of forex option trading, plain vanilla options would refer to the standard, generic option contracts that are traded through an over-the-counter (OTC) forex dealer or clearinghouse). In simplest terms, vanilla forex options would be defined as the buying or selling of a standard forex call option contract or forex put option contract.

There are only a few forex option broker/dealers who offer plain vanilla forex options online with real-time streaming quotes 24 hours a day. Most forex option brokers and banks only broker forex options via telephone. Vanilla forex options for major currencies have good liquidity and you can easily enter the market long or short, or exit the market any time day or night.

Vanilla forex option contracts can be used in combination with each other and/or with spot forex contracts to form a basic strategy such as writing a covered call, or much more complex forex trading strategies such as butterflies, strangles, ratio spreads, synthetics, etc. Also, plain vanilla options are often the basis of forex option trading strategies known as exotic options.

Exotic Forex Options Broker - First, it is important to note that there a couple of different forex definitions for "exotic" and we don’t want anyone getting confused. The first definition of a forex "exotic" refers to any individual currency that is less broadly traded than the major currencies. The second forex definition for "exotic" is the one we refer to on this website - a forex option contract (trading strategy) that is a derivative of a standard vanilla forex option contract.

To understand what makes an exotic forex option "exotic," you must first understand what makes a forex option "non-vanilla." Plain vanilla forex options have a definitive expiration structure, payout structure and payout amount. Exotic forex option contracts may have a change in one or all of the above features of a vanilla forex option. It is important to note that exotic options, since they are often tailored to a specific’s investor’s needs by an exotic forex options broker, are generally not very liquid, if at all.

Exotic forex options are generally traded by commercial and institutional investors rather than retail forex traders, so we won’t spend too much time covering exotic forex options brokers. Examples of exotic forex options would include Asian options (average price options or "APO’s"), barrier options (payout depends on whether or not the underlying reaches a certain price level or not), baskets (payout depends on more than one currency or a "basket" of currencies), binary options (the payout is cash-or-nothing if underlying does not reach strike price), lookback options (payout is based on maximum or minimum price reached during life of the contract), compound options (options on options with multiple strikes and exercise dates), spread options, chooser options, packages and so on. Exotic options can be tailored to a specific trader’s needs, therefore, exotic options contract types change and evolve over time to suit those ever-changing needs.

Since exotic forex options contracts are usually specifically tailored to an individual investor, most of the exotic options business in transacted over the telephone through forex option brokers. There are, however, a handful of forex option brokers who offer "if touched" forex options or "single payment" forex options contracts online whereby an investor can specify an amount he or she is willing to risk in exchange for a specified payout amount if the underlying price reaches a certain strike price (price level). These transactions offered by legitimate online forex brokers can be considered a type of "exotic" option. However, we have noticed that the premiums charged for these types of contracts can be higher than plain vanilla option contracts with similar strike prices and you can not sell out of the option position once you have purchased this type of option - you can only attempt to offset the position with a separate risk management strategy. As a trade-off for getting to choose the dollar amount you want to risk and the payout you wish to receive, you pay a premium and sacrifice liquidity. We would encourage investors to compare premiums before investing in these kinds of options and also make sure the brokerage firm is reputable.

Again, it is fairly easy and liquid to enter into an exotic forex option contract but it is important to note that depending on the type of exotic option contract, there may be little to no liquidity at all if you wanted to exit the position.

Firms Offering Forex Option "Betting" - A number of new firms have popped up over the last year offering forex "betting." Though some may be legitimate, a number of these firms are either off-shore entities or located in some other remote location. We generally do not consider these to be forex brokerage firms. Many do not appear to be regulated by any government agency and we strongly suggest investors perform due diligence before investing with any forex betting firms. Invest at your own risk with these firms.

What is Forex Trading

Foreign Exchange Market, or Forex as it is commonly called, is an international exchange market to buy and sell different currencies from around the world. An investor has the ability to buy and sell these currencies in order to create gains from small movements in the value of one currency over another. The forex market is open from Monday at 0:00 GMT until Friday at 10:00 GMT. For this reason Forex traders are not limited to the general time constraints of the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.

This versatility attracts many investors to become Forex traders. The liquidity of the Foreign Exchange Market is also very attractive for the Forex investor as trades range from 1 to 1.5 trillion dollars on a daily basis. These massive amounts of trades make it extremely difficult for any one trader to affect the market.

Foreign Exchange Trading is simply the purchase and sales of currency based on the strength of the currency and the fluctuation in the value of that currency. For example, if one were to invest $1,000 against the British pound at 1.7999 with a 1% margin and anticipate the exchange rate to climb. If that occurs and you close the exchange rate at 1.8050 you would earn roughly $400. Forex is giving you a 40% return on your investment.

Forex offers the possibility of huge profits in relatively short periods of time. The stock exchange is very different in that positions are generally maintained over a longer period of time. Although there are day traders, Forex traders have much shorter hold times on positions. Similar to the stock market marginal accounts can be obtained in the Foreign Exchange Market as well.

Forex marginal accounts are very engaging as they allow Forex traders to take large positions without having to make a large deposit. In many circumstances one can fund a marginal account with .05% the necessary funds. In other words, $500 would allow a $100,000 position. In order to trade Forex effectively and profitably, one must have some type of method to follow. There are two methods used in determining what Foreign Exchange trades one should make. There are two methods, fundamental Forex analysis, and technical Forex analysis.

Technical analysis is the most commonly used practice and uses the assumption that the changes that occur in the Foreign Exchange Market happened for a reason and are accurate. The belief is that if a currency has been trading towards a high then that currency will mostly continue towards that high with the adverse being true as well. The technical Forex view does not try to make long term predictions about the market but instead simply tries to take advantage of what has already been seen in the past.

The fundamental Forex method takes into account all aspects of the country in which the currency is traded. Things such as the economy, the countries prime interest rates, war, poverty level, and other factors are taken into account. If there is a sharp rise in the prime interest rate a Forex trader may take a position based on that information.

Online Forex trading has the potential of being extremely lucrative. One can learn to trade by creating an online Forex Account and begin by using a learning account without real funds. This will help you to understand the Forex trading process and how currencies are affected by different things that are happening on a global scale.

Why do Forex Trading?

So.. you want to make lots of money in forex trading? Well, before you get your feet wet....let me refresh your mind why forex trading is such a hot money maker...

The cash/spot FOREX markets have certain unique attributes that offer an unmatched potential for profitable trading in any market condition or any stage of the business cycle. It leaves one to wonder why bother in the first place?

Forex trading offers people who trade:

A 24-hour market: A forex trader has the chance to take advantage of all of the profitable market conditions at any time; which means that there is no waiting for the start like the New York Stock exchange.

Highest liquidity Possible: The FOREX market is the most liquid market in the world. That means that a trader can enter or exit the market whenever they want during almost any market condition minimal execution barriers or risk and no daily trading limit.

High leverage ratio: It has a leverage ratio of up to 400 is normal when compared to a leverage ratio of 2 in the equity markets. Of course, this makes trading in the cash/spot forex market awkward a swell because it makes the risk of the down side loss much higher in the same way that it makes the profit potential on the upside much prettier.

Low cost per transaction: The retail transaction cost is actually less than 0.1% under the normal market conditions. At larger dealers, the spread could be less than 5 pips, and may expand a great deal in fast moving markets.

Always a good market: A trade in the FOREX market means selling or buying one currency against another. In essence, a bull market or a bear market for a currency is defined in terms of the outlook for value against other currencies. If the outlook is positive, you get a bull market where a trader profits by buying the currency against other currencies.

Inter-bank market: The foundation of the FOREX market consists of a global network of dealers that communicate and trade with their clients through electronic networks and telephones. There are no organized exchanges like in futures that are there to serve as a central location to facilitate transactions the way the New York Stock Exchange serves the equity markets.

No one can corner the market: The FOREX market is so large and has so many participants that no single trader, even a central bank, can control the market price for an extended period of time.

It is not completely Unregulated: The FOREX market is seen as an unregulated market although the operations of major dealers like commercial banks in money centers are regulated under the banking laws.

For the average person who is willing to get into forex trading, this market is just a better bet. With it being so wide open like it is, you have a higher gross potential than with any other trade type.

Why you need to develop your own forex trading system

There are many forex trading systems and trading strategies out there. There are many free ones printed in forex trading articles, journals, books and on trading-related websites. You can buy them as software or you can subscribe to them periodically.

Novice traders say they do not have the time, the aptitude, the talent nor the brains to work out how to trade properly. They would rather purchase a program or subscribe to a forex trading system for hundreds - or in some cases - thousands of dollars. They say they do not have to do anything except be told what to buy, when to buy and how much of it you need to buy. Some ask me if this strategy or approach is advisable for trading the forex markets. To answer this question, I am then forced to consider the advantages and disadvantages of using such an approach to trading.

There are reasons why a trader would use a forex trading system or forex trading strategy that someone else developed and tested:

1. It is easy. A novice trader does not need to study how the forex market works and how he interacts with that market. He does not need to educate himself: he does not need to bother with books and seminars. He does not need to test the trading system, since the seller has already done that for him and reported promising hypothetical or actual results.

2. A novice trader hopes to get a forex trading system at a ’bargain’ price... sometimes even for free.

Hazards of trading a forex system or strategy developed and tested by someone else are the following:

1. Faulty Trading Systems

   There are many faulty forex systems out there. They may be faulty because their assumptions and their mechanisms may no longer be true, accurate or valid. As a novice trader, how can you distinguish between the good systems and the bad systems if you don’t know how trading systems are built?

2. Discipline and confidence

   All systems have drawdown periods. Some good forex trading systems may not make money for six months or an entire year. Even if it was a good system, can you continue to follow it even if it gives you a loss after a loss after a loss? How can you follow it if you do not have confidence in it? How can you be confident if you do not know the ins and outs of the system and if you have not tested it yourself?

I do not believe that people would blindly follow a system even if they were told that it would bring them riches. I can give someone a forex trading system, I can supply him with exceptional hypothetical or actual results and still, he would not be able to follow it.

I remember giving my dad a fully-mechanical forex trading system I developed. I told him a few simple rules and I told him not to question them. All he had to do was to follow them. We both traded it for two months, I grew my small account by roughly 50% (it happened to be a good two months), but he was losing. He wondered why. I asked to see his trading records. When I looked at his trading records, I found that he kept disobeying the rules. When I asked him why he disobeyed them, he wanted to improve the results after it had a couple of losing trades. He was trying to improve the results. According to him, the system asked him to do what he thought was not right during certain market conditions, so he did not follow it.

To overcome the hazards above, I see no way except for a trader to learn how to develop his own trading system. This is the only way a trader can know if a particular trading system or strategy is good or not.

Once a trader learns how to develop forex trading systems and strategies, he can then be better equipped to test them as well. By this point he might even find that he is better off using the system he created, because it becomes increasingly difficult to find another system more suited to his profit objectives while operating within his risk tolerance levels. It is likely that once he develops this level of competence, he will simply acquire other systems only to dissect them, grab the parts he likes and add them to his own system. To me, the irony is that for a trader to know which system to purchase, he must first learn how to create a system. And after knowing how to create a trading system, he will no longer have the need to buy one.

In conclusion then, I would have to say that if you are not inclined to learn how to develop your own trading methodology, then perhaps you should consider giving your money for someone else to invest. Give it to someone who is trading a system that he developed and tested himself because he is more likely to have the confidence and courage to follow his own set of rules.

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading

The foreign exchange market (FOREX) offers many advantages to investors. But you need to know where to begin. This short guide will give you the FOREX basics, so you can quickly start participating in this fast growing market.

In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980’s the rules were changed to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why FOREX trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.

A Learning Curve

FOREX is not simple, though, so you’ll need some knowledge to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the FOREX, there are risks involved. Your first move as a beginner should be to find out as much as possible about the forex market before risking a dime.

Find A Forex Broker

FOREX traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Open an Account with a forex borker

Opening a FOREX account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary identification. The form includes a margin agreement which states that the broker may interfere with any trade deemed to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker, since most trades are done using the broker’s money.

Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.

Many brokers offer a variety of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in FOREX trading for as little as $250. Standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500, depending on the broker. The amount of leverage (how much borrowed money you can use) varies with account type. High leverage accounts give you more money to trade for a given investment.

Trades are commission-free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the ’spread’: the difference between bid and ask prices.

Paper Trading Forex Market

Beginning traders are strongly advised get accustomed to FOREX by doing "paper trades" for a period of time. Paper trades are practice transactions that don’t involve real capital. They allow you to see how the system works while learning how to use the various software tools provided by most FOREX brokers.

Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new FOREX investor should use these demo accounts at least until they are consistently showing profits.

FOREX Software

Each forex broker has its own set of software tools for making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all FOREX brokers. Real-time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit-and-loss analyses are some of the features you can expect to see on most online brokers’ web sites.

Almost every broker operates on the Internet. To access a broker’s online services you’ll need a reasonably modern computer, a fast Internet connection, and an up-to-date operating system. Once your account is set up, you can access it from any computer just by entering your account name and password. If for some reason you are unable get to a computer, most brokers will allow you to make trades over the phone.

There are lots of ways to make money. FOREX trading is just one more potential stream of income — if you are prepared to learn and practice.

Learn Forex

How do I begin? Please give it to me SIMPLY.

1. The best advice on how to learn to trade profitably is to learn from experts with proven track records. Many learning styles are available to beginners at all levels: books, CDs, online courses, group seminars, even one-on-one mentors who will come right your home for a few days. We outline our Forex-Trader picks in Learning Forex Trading. Learning to trade from experts is worth every penny and has saved us untold thousands in mistakes.We would not recommend starting forex trading without any training. It is not hard to learn, nor difficult to trade successfully, but you must first provide yourself with a basic functioning knowledge of ’the game you’re in’.

2. While you are learning you will need charting software to practice reading the Market. Charting is an indispensable tool that shows you in real-time data what the market is doing moment by moment and also what the market has done in the past. As you learn to analyze these charts you can determine what trades to enter and exit, where to set your stop losses, limits etc. There are several good charting software services that you can subscribe to online monthly. See our Forex-Trader tested Charting Software picks in Tools of The Trade.

3. Then, to perform your actual trades online you need a real-time ’trading platform’ to execute your ’buys’ and ’sells’ directly in the Foreign Currency Market. You obtain a trading platform from a Forex Clearinghouse that is connected real-time to the interbank market. There are many good Clearinghouses (also confusingly called Brokerage Firms, Market Makers, etc.) that provide you with the trading platform to trade the funds in the account you have opened with them. Before you begin trading your ’real’ money, while you are learning, you will practice on your own ’demo account’ with play-money in it, which will be provided to you by the clearinghouse you plan to trade through. The contractual relationship you enter into with your Clearinghouse is a very important one because the Clearinghouse you choose determines many trading features and financial advantages to you both as a trader and as an investor. Forex-Trader tested Clearinghouses are reviewed in Tools of The Trade.

We have outlined a Getting Started path with uncomplicated steps. This is the path that we would take if we were beginning trading over again today with ’what we know now’. The products and services we mention in these steps are all ones that we have personally used for some time with consistent success. As always you are free to forge your own path, and if you do, happy hiking. There is a mountain of products and services try out, and if you find ones you like better we would love to compare notes with you.

Explain More About Charting Services

To trade successfully you also must have good charting software and instantaneous data feeds critical to helping you analysis and interpret the movement of currencies moment to moment so you know when/why to buy or sell — this you subscribe to monthly. You can get a 2 week or more demo to familiarize yourself with one that has the features you like. The costs also vary, and some companies require a year commitment. There are some free charting services offered through the clearinghouses, but they tend to lack the tools to be truly useful. There are also some costly proprietary Specialty Software charting ’hybrids’ which are market forecasters tools that look more like video games than charts.

Explain More About How Clearinghouses Work

A good clearinghouse (i.e.. your computer access/link to the live Forex Exchange Market) is the partner with which you trade the money you have deposited with them in your trading account. After trying and demo-ing many we have found a small handful that are truly excellent for the beginner (and continue to be excellent as you grow) — meaning user friendly, legally accountable to regulatory bodies, and offering fair costs (spreads) for their services/trading software platforms. There still are many worrisome ones practicing in this closing era of unregulated forex trading (new Commodities laws are imminent).

The topic of matching the right clearinghouse for your needs is discussed more in Tools of the Trade, because it depends on a number of factors — how much you can open an account with, how much the clearinghouse profit spread, what your liquidity needs are, your minimum/maximum stop loss and margin requirements, even where you live and how much time you have to give to trading in a 24 hr. day.

How Much Does it Cost to Begin to Trade?

Learning to trade will entail the cost of books and whatever traiining method you choose. It will also include a reliable computer with a minimum 128 Mb of memory to run the charting software and trading platform. Ongoing ’costs of operation’ include the monthly costs of high-speed internet, charting software, the email forecasting subscriptions — plan on spending $150./mo. up for ongoing costs.

What about Pooled Clearinghouse Accounts to Trade with More Leverage?

We strongly do not recommend pooled accounts in any circumstance. Perhaps you are considering self-trading a pooled- together family account because it would give you a perceived advantage of more leveraged funds to trade (50:1 up to 100:1 leverage) — any risks of loss represent a potential risk to family relationships, and for this reason alone we do not recommend aggregating with family or friends.

However much worse are the too-numerous negative experiences of people allowing their investment funds to leave their control to become part of a ’managed’ pooled account. Not only is it a very risky investment idea, it is illegal for anyone to ’pool’ accounts without compliance with SEC (a USA Securities Exchange Commission) or international equivalent license. Never relinquish direct control over your money/trading account to anyone (i.e.. the ability to make withdrawals, deposits etc. directly by your own authority into your own account).

A good fund manager, if you do choose to go the (legitimate) Managed Account route rather than the Self-Trader route, will make certain you have your own ’segregated account’ in your own name in a bank or brokerage firm. These individual segregated accounts can still be traded together as though they were in a single account by a designated trader as long as the clearing house uses a trading platform that allows it. You, as the investor/account holder, have direct access online to your account activity at all times, and direct control over your own account in your own name (just like a bank account). The importance of this, for the safety of your funds, cannot be over emphasized.

Essential Elements of a Successful Trader

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.

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.

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.

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.

Essential Elements of a Successful Trader

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.

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.

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.

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.

Forex FAQ

What is Foreign Exchange?

The Foreign Exchange market, also referred to as the "Forex" or "FX" market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average turnover of approximately US$1.5 trillion. Foreign Exchange is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. The world’s currencies are on a floating exchange rate and are always traded in pairs, for example Euro/Dollar or Dollar/Yen.

Where is the central location of the FX Market?

FX Trading is not centralized on an exchange, as with the stock and futures markets. The FX market is considered an Over the Counter (OTC) or ’Interbank’ market, due to the fact that transactions are conducted between two counterparts over the telephone or via an electronic network.

Who are the participants in the FX Market?

The Forex market is called an ’Interbank’ market due to the fact that historically it has been dominated by banks, including central banks, commercial banks, and investment banks. However, the percentage of other market participants is rapidly growing, and now includes large multinational corporations, global money managers, registered dealers, international money brokers, futures and options traders, and private speculators.

When is the FX market open for trading?

A true 24-hour market, Forex trading begins each day in Sydney, and moves around the globe as the business day begins in each financial center, first to Tokyo, then London, and New York. Unlike any other financial market, investors can respond to currency fluctuations caused by economic, social and political events at the time they occur - day or night.

What are the most commonly traded currencies in the FX markets?

The most often traded or ’liquid’ currencies are those of countries with stable governments, respected central banks, and low inflation. Today, over 85% of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies, which include the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and the Australian Dollar.

Is Forex trading capital intensive?

No. FXA requires a minimum deposit of $250. FXA allows customers to execute margin trades at up to 200:1 leverage. This means that investors can execute trades of $10,000 with an initial margin requirement of $50. However, it is important to remember that while this type of leverage allows investors to maximize their profit potential, the potential for loss is equally great. A more pragmatic margin trade for someone new to the FX markets would be 20:1 but ultimately depends on the investor’s appetite for risk.

What is Margin?

Margin is essentially collateral for a position. If the market moves against a customer’s position, FXA will request additional funds through a "margin call." If there are insufficient available funds, FXA will immediately close out the customer’s open positions.

What does it mean have a ’long’ or ’short’ position?

In trading parlance, a long position is one in which a trader buys a currency at one price and aims to sell it later at a higher price. In this scenario, the investor benefits from a rising market. A short position is one in which the trader sells a currency in anticipation that it will depreciate. In this scenario, the investor benefits from a declining market. However, it is important to remember that every FX position requires an investor to go long in one currency and short the other.

What about terms like "bid/ask", "spread", and "rollover"?

FXA has an extensive Glossary that provides detailed definitions of all Forex related terms.

What is the difference between an "intraday" and "overnight position"?

Intraday positions are all positions opened anytime during the 24 hour period AFTER the close of FXA’s normal trading hours at 4:30pm EST. Overnight positions are positions that are still on at the end of normal trading hours (4:30pm EST), which are automatically rolled by FXA at competitive rates (based on the currencies interest rate differentials) to the next day’s price.

How are currency prices determined?

Currency prices are affected by a variety of economic and political conditions, most importantly interest rates, inflation and political stability. Moreover, governments sometimes participate in the Forex market to influence the value of their currencies, either by flooding the market with their domestic currency in an attempt to lower the price, or conversely buying in order to raise the price. This is known as Central Bank intervention. Any of these factors, as well as large market orders, can cause high volatility in currency prices. However, the size and volume of the Forex market makes it impossible for any one entity to "drive" the market for any length of time.

How do I manage risk?

The most common risk management tools in FX trading are the limit order and the stop loss order. A limit order places restriction on the maximum price to be paid or the minimum price to be received. A stop loss order ensures a particular position is automatically liquidated at a predetermined price in order to limit potential losses should the market move against an investor’s position. The liquidity of the Forex market ensures that limit order and stop loss orders can be easily executed.

What kind of trading strategy should I use?

Currency traders make decisions using both technical factors and economic fundamentals. Technical traders use charts, trend lines, support and resistance levels, and numerous patterns and mathematical analyses to identify trading opportunities, whereas fundamentalists predict price movements by interpreting a wide variety of economic information, including news, government-issued indicators and reports, and even rumor. The most dramatic price movements however, occur when unexpected events happen. The event can range from a Central Bank raising domestic interest rates to the outcome of a political election or even an act of war. Nonetheless, more often it is the expectation of an event that drives the market rather than the event itself.

How often are trades made?

Market conditions dictate trading activity on any given day. As a reference, the average small to medium trader might trade as often as 10 times a day. Most importantly, by not charging commission, FXA customers can take positions as often as necessary without worrying about excessive transaction costs.

How long are positions maintained?

As a general rule, a position is kept open until one of the following occurs: 1) realization of sufficient profits from a position; 2) the specified stop-loss is triggered; 3) another position that has a better potential appears and you need these funds.

I am interested in foreign exchange trading, but would like some additional information. Any suggestions?

In The Forex Market section we describe the foreign exchange market in some detail. In order to gain a practical understanding of foreign exchange trading, there is no better way than to open a demo account, where you can experience what it’s like to trade the Forex market without risking any capital.