Trading education » Money

Emini Trading – Basic Introduction to Day Trading Emini Futures

admin — Fri, 21 May 2010 20:31:42 +0000

Have you ever thought about day trading for a living? I am sure you must have at least heard about it, right? Yes, there are people doing it for a living, some making big bucks in the process, others losing their shirts, trophy wives, and mortgages. Not necessarily in this order. And I am quite positive that you would rather be in the former category.

I have been contacted by more than just a few folks who wanted to know what it was like to be a day trader once they had somehow found out through my relatives or friends that that’s what I had been doing for a living for a few good years. I don’t blame them for this curiosity. Everyone once in a while wants to improve his or her life and day trading can be a very alluring way to do it. And quite lucrative too, if you know how to make it work for you, which is not always so easy as most people actually never succeed at this business. But then again, most businesses fail routinely, and most people never succeed at anything big, so these challenging circumstances should not necessarily discourage you from giving it a try.

Now, when thinking about day trading, most people think this has something to do with the stock market. Yes, that is correct, but that’s not the only way to approach it. In fact, this could be put day trading out of the reach of the majority of folks, for to embark on day trading stocks you would need to come up with at least 25,000 US dollars to be deposited with your broker.

It turns out that there is an easier way to do this. And a simpler one, too, for you don’t have to be interested in the whole universe of stocks, but just in a single trading instrument. It has to do with trading emini futures rather than stocks and to do this no more than $3,000 is necessary if you are just starting. In fact, with some brokers, you may never need to deposit more and still be able to make $100 to $200 a day, if you are really good at it. More money is better though, making it safer to start and keep trading and easier to make more money as you simply have more to trade with.

Emini futures, or eminis for short, are traded in contracts. One contract is just like one share when it comes to trading stocks, that is, it is the smallest unit you can trade. There are many eminis currently available for trading, literally dozen or more, but some are more popular than others. The most popular is the S&P 500 emini contract, known under its symbol, or ticker, as ES. Another one is YM, the the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) emini futures contract.

In what follows, I will focus on this contract as it is more suitable for beginners, in my opinion.

The moves in this contract mirror the moves in the DJIA index, sometimes being ahead of it, sometimes being behind it. One point is the smallest amount the Dow emini futures can move and this move can make you 5 dollars. Usually, one targets more than 1 point, 5-10 pt targets being among the most popular targets for quick scalps. If you happen to make a 10 pt trade, you profit 50 dollars minus the commission that can be as low as $5 or even less for a round turn with many a broker out there, although some may charge more than that. I would avoid them, though.

Now, imagine that you are lucky enough to make only 5 trades like that. That would give you about $225 after commissions, which would amount to a nice monthly paycheck if you were good enough to keep repeating this day after day.

Yes, it is possible to do this. How? Well, that would be the subject of another article.

By: Waldemar Puszkarz

Emini Trading – Is Trading Emini Futures For You?

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:18:32 +0000

No, it’s not.

Now, that would be a short answer and as you see I can be quite succinct. And even though I meant this half in jest, it is the correct answer for most people out there. Simply because most people will not succeed at trading emini futures. Or even stocks, for that matter.

The reason is rather simple too: this is a very competitive business and only the most competitive will succeed. Which rules out about 90% of the human population. Yes, let’s be painfully honest here: some people are not even computer savvy enough to start this business. You don’t have to know how to program in C++ or C# or any other higher programming language, although this may prove very useful indeed, to be able to launch a successful trading career, but since your tool is a computer, you need to be able to use it well. Computer dummies should not apply.

But let’s assume that you are no stranger to computers and so this should not be a problem. So far so good then. But that was actually the smallest obstacle to overcome on your way to become a successful emini trader. There are much bigger ahead.

Do you have the mental aptitude to succeed in this business? The market is merciful and there is no room for any office politics to work things out. You are either right or wrong. There is no other way. No amount of persuasion will convince Mr. Market to give you back what you just lost. You have to fight constantly and be prepared to lose and be humiliated more often than other mortals. If you can take it, and most cannot, you are one step closer to your success as an emini trader.

Now you only need a good strategy. One that could make money and that would suit your trading personality. Finding such a strategy can be an elaborate process. Once this step is completed, though, you still need to see if it makes money in real trading. Sometimes, and probably more often than not, many wannabe traders end their careers right here. So close to the success. Practically one step away from it. This is so because they do not find their strategy good enough. And that’s how the trek to the Holy Grail starts. The journey to the land where only perfect strategies live.

The legend about this land is not unlike the legend about the Atlantis. Mesmerizing, but still only a legend. Such a land does not exist, but the belief in it is so strong that many a wannabe trader ends up searching for it forever instead of trading. There are no perfect strategies. And the sooner one realizes this, the better. Stick to what is good enough. Stick to what works even if it is far from what you would like to be using. Simply master it as well as possible and you will be on your way to solid profits.

Yet, despite all these obstacles, I do strongly believe that everyone can succeed at trading eminis. Everyone who really wants to, that is. Which still excludes 90 % of humans, but it can include you. As long as you really want it badly enough.

By: Waldemar Puszkarz

Auto Forex Trading – Why You’re Not Doing It

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 09:31:20 +0000

Traders who are not auto forex trading yet typically fall into one of two categories. They’ve either heard negative things or they’ve never heard of it, period. The negative things can be explained by a number of faulty products in the market which help to give it a bad name. If you’ve never heard of it, auto forex trading refers to using automated forex trading software to automatically trade for you without you having to invest too much time or effort into it. It is remarkably sophisticated and always trades on your behalf to best benefit and profit you by constantly reading the market and reacting accordingly.

Auto forex trading is also notorious for giving the most precise tips via its signal trading software. This is software which uses programmed mathematical algorithms to take in the data, that is the trends and shifts, that the market provides, and calculates exactly where the market will go next based on this information. The best of these programs are remarkably accurate and when you act on it early enough you can make a lot of money. Many traders swear by the tips they receive from their signal trading software because if you want the most precise tips to trade by, there is no substitute.

There are a number of auto forex trading programs out there which have been sloppily thrown together by their publishers just so they can compete in this growing market. These programs have helped to give the auto forex trading market a bad reputation in some circles. But there are some gems of programs in there which have remarkably accurate signal trading software included with them and are making some people a lot of money.

By: Max Branner

Forex Education – Identifying The 4 Human Weaknesses

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:12:36 +0000

The 4 basic human weaknesses in trading: Greed, fear, impatience and pride. How do these emotions cause so many Forex traders to lose money? Let’s examine the ways.

Greed

Greed causes poor traders to increase the size of their trading positions the moment they’re “in the money” (in a winning trade). This often results in these traders having the largest position size trade just before the market turns in the opposite direction. As a result, this causes them to suffer large losses.

Fear

Fear makes people avoid entering into good trades because they don’t know what they’re doing. Heard of the phrase “buy low, sell high”? Unfortunately, many traders think that this is true. The profitable traders however, know that a more accurate phrase would be: “buy high, sell higher”.

Fear is often the result of not knowing what one is doing. If you have a proper, reliable trading system, fear shouldn’t be in your trading vocabulary.

Impatience

The opposite of fear, impatience leads people to enter into trades when there are no clear trading signals. Needless to say, most of these impatient trades usually turn out to be unprofitable.

Pride

This is very possibly the worst trading weakness of all! Pride makes a trader hold on to losing positions with the false hope that the position will turn around in his favour. Winning traders are humble, and aren’t afraid to admit that they’ve made a mistake when they lose money. After all, no one can be right all the time!

Unfortunately, many losing traders refuse to admit that they’re wrong, and often lose money to pay for their pride.

Summary

Understanding the effects of these emotions is crucial before one can be a consistently profitable trader. Use this knowledge as a tool to make money from ignorant traders, and don’t fall into these traps yourself!

By: Harold Hsu

Forex Trading Made Easy – How to Win and Make a Triple Digit Income When Most Traders Lose!

admin — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:56:47 +0000

Most traders lose money and that’s a fact so it Forex trading made easy possible? Yes it is because, if you avoid the myths and get the right education and mindset, it’s a proven fact that you can win.

Forex trading made is easy is possible but being easy does not mean you can get away without learning the basics of trading and doing some work! While this should be obvious to anyone, it isn’t to the vast amount of traders who buy junk, software packages and think there on the road to financial freedom for around a hundred dollars. These traders all get taught some respect by the market, in the form of an equity wipe out. Avoid any of these get rich quick systems or you will join the majority of losers.

As we just said you do need to make some effort and learn the basics but you don’t need to work hard because Forex trading is simple and you only need a simple strategy as it will be more robust than a complex one, with fewer elements to break in the brutal world of trading. You can learn all you need to in around a week or two and then you can start to trade.

Before you start to trade you need to get rid of your ego because Forex trading success is all to do with how you handle your losses. Let them get out of control and you will lose, of course most traders do this, they can’t admit their wrong and hope the position turns around but if you want to rely on hope, you will lose. You need to take losses and hold onto your money for when profits come around again and when they do, you need the courage to milk these trades for all their worth.

Getting the right mindset involves a good education and accepting you cannot fight the market, it will give you losses and you need to take them and don’t worry it will reward you with some great trends, you can follow cover your losses and make some triple digit profits.

So Forex trading can be made easy, just learn the right info adopt the right mindset and you will be on the road to a great second income in around 30 minutes a day.

By: Kelly Price

Stock Trading Tips

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 00:07:59 +0000

On a constant basis, we are constantly bombarded by “stock trading tips”, in emails, by regular mail, and in many other forms of print. We’ve all seen those nice glossy newsletters in our mailbox proclaiming the next hot stock that is “Going to Quadruple Your Money in Only Six Weeks”, and other similar ridiculous claims. Most of these stock trading tips are worthless and will only end up causing you to lose money or break even at best. But, how do you determine if these stock market trading tips that are being freely given have any real value or not?

Luckily, there are a few basic guidelines you can follow that will help you to determine if these tips are going to have a likely chance of improving the value of your stock trading portfolio. Follow these few simple guidelines listed here and you’ll be able to eliminate most, if not all of the “stock trading tips” you receive.

Guidelines to Determine Whether Stock Trading Tips Have Real Value

1) Who is paying to have these tips delivered? A lot of what you receive are simply paid advertisements. Look closely at the bottom of the last page. By law, if a company has been paid to promote a stock, they must state this fact. And usually it is in small print at the bottom or end of the document. If it says they were paid to promote the endorsed company, you can usually bet that you will NOT “get paid” by investing in it.

2) Check the recent volume of the underlying stock tip. If there was significantly higher recent volume surges before the stock tip was sent out, you can usually rest assured that someone (the people providing the stock tip) have already purchased this stock and hope to make a profit when those that receive their “tips” purchase this same stock from them at an elevated price due to the frenzied buying of their duped targets (you).

3) Search for recent information and news on the recommended tip. If you can’t find out anything about the “great” company they are recommending, then you should strongly consider staying far away from it.

4) Do the providers of these stock trading tips make statements like “largest off-shore oil find ever” or “so profitable they don’t know what to do with all the extra cash”? If so, you should be able to research these stocks and find at least something that backs up these outlandish claims. If not, well, then once again it is probable that you are being misled.

So next time you receive yet another hot stock tip, simply follow the above guidelines to help determine the validity of the investment. You will find that a large proportion of all the free stock tips you receive will meet one of the guidelines above.

Remember, these stock market tips are being given to you for “free”, and more than likely you’re getting what you paid for.

Buyer beware!

By: Frank Soler

Forex Education – If You Can’t Answer This Question Correctly You Will Lose!

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:49:26 +0000

If you can’t answer the question I am going to pose in this article you will probably lose all your money when you trade. The question though is one that very few novice traders consider or think about so here it is:

What is your trading edge?

THIS MEANS:

Why will you win when 95% of traders lose all their money quickly?

What separates you out from the majority of losers and means you are going to succeed?

If the answer is – I have bought a system for a couple of hundred bucks, or I like to trade off the news or on recommendations of others – kiss goodbye to your equity.

The fact is most traders in forex do not get decent Forex education!

They think it’s easy to win and believe the hype they read, or treat it as gambling and the market takes their equity.

A trading edge is the edge you have over the losing majority – for example, if I was to describe my trading edge it would be:

My use of sentiment and momentum indicators, to isolate high probability contrary trades and the ability to load these trades and remain disciplined.

I know I am good at hitting these trades and have a track record of doing it over 15 years. This is not meant to sound arrogant, it’s what makes me a good trader and I know it and you must get one to, if you want to win.

Know Your Edge and Know Yourself

Now your edge might be something different but that’s not the important point – the most important thing is you have an edge you have worked on and you know it gives you a head start on the majority.

An edge is something that comes from within and is a combination of method and the mindset, to make it work with discipline in the markets.

NO FREE LUNCH TODAY

Or any day in the Forex markets – it’s a brutal world where only the strong survive and you can only rely on yourself no one else can help you – you’re all on your own.

If you don’t like the above and like to blame everyone else for your losses – from your system, to your broker, do yourself a favour and don’t trade Forex – it’s not for you.

If you are ready to stand alone apply yourself and get the right knowledge, you can acquire the correct Forex education, get an edge and win.

By: Monica Hendrix

Forex Education – These Character Traits Are Admired But If You Have Them in Forex You Will Lose!

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:04:18 +0000

Here I am going to outlines some character traits which are admired in society as a whole but in forex trading will ensure you lose. Most traders simply cannot adapt from the traits needed in everyday life to succeed, to the unique traits you need in forex. If you don’t want to join the 95% of losers read on…

1. Consulting an Expert

If your computer breaks down or your car, you consult an expert. After all, you cant do everything – but in the forex market this leads to disaster. There are many experts and forex robot vendors, telling you to follow them but they will all see you lose.

The reason is forex trading stress comes from within and is based on knowledge, which gives confidence which leads to discipline. All successful traders know they are on their own and only they can give themselves success – but for the effort they have to put in the rewards can be life changing.

2. Trying to Be to Clever

You get many people who are clever and think because they are they deserve success but being clever wont help you, as forex trading is essentially simple and you don’t need to be.

This is proven by the fact that despite all the advances in news, forecasting, the power of software and PC’s the ratio of winners to losers remains the same as 50 years ago.

If you try and be too clever your trading system will have too many elements to break. Keep it simple, is a phrase which is very apt in forex trading.

3. Hard Work is What’s Needed

This is absolute rubbish.

There is no correlation between hard work and success in forex trading.

Sure in normal life you may get paid by the hour and the more hours you work, the more money you make but not in forex trading.

In trading you are judged on how good your marketing timing is with your trading signal and that’s it. It can take you all day or 10 minutes, it’s the end result in terms of profit on which you are judged.

You can put together a robust simple system in about two weeks and then spend less than 30 minutes a day on your trading and enjoy success.

In forex trading its all about working smart in the right areas rather than hard.

4. Being to Sociable

Since man first walked the earth he has sought the safety of groups and this has helped him survive and prosper over the centuries. Most people like to agree with the majority and not be on their own, it’s our nature.

Of course in forex trading the bulk of traders lose (95%) so you need to isolate yourself and be on your own. Most people can’t do this and fall victim to their emotions and want to agree with the news and other traders.

Most successful traders don’t care about being on their own, as they know if they want to make money it’s the best place to be.

A Different Mindset for Success

When you start trading forex you need a completely different mindset than you do in normal life and people fail to get to grips with the 4 points made above – but to win you must understand there significance.

If you understand the above, you will know what’s needed to succeed and can enjoy currency trading success.

By: Kelly Price

Learn Forex Trading – Become a FX Trader From Home in 3 Simple Steps

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:00:22 +0000

Anyone can become an FX trader from home and make a great second income, its a totally learned skill yet, 95% of traders fail to win. The reason these traders fail to win is they simply have the wrong education or don’t adopt the right mindset, in this article we will give you 3 simple steps to Forex trading success.

Lets start with the most common error most novice traders make which comes from greed and pure naivety.

1. Avoid – Forex Robots and Other Sure Fire Systems

Does anyone really think for a hundred dollars or so, they are going to get an income for life with no effort? Yes, a huge amount of traders believe this and they all lose. These systems are obviously to good to be true because if you could make a huge income with no effort, everyone would give up work and trade! The fact is, these systems are so cheap because they don’t make money and use them and you will lose.

If you want to win, you need to forget about anyone else giving you success, with you making no effort and get some good Forex education but the really great news is in the next Point

2. Don’t Over Complicate Your Strategy Forex Trading is Simple

Simple systems work best, because if you try and make one to clever or complex, it will simply have to
many elements to break. Keep your strategy nice and simple and if you do you will have one which can make you gains long term. Next you need to pay attention to the key point which will lead you to success and if you fail to learn it, even a good system won’t help you, here it is…

3. Remember Discipline is the Key to Forex trading Success

If you can’t execute a system with discipline you don’t have one and it’s a fact most traders can’t, because they cannot accept losses and if you can’t you will lose. You will have periods of losses and in these periods, you need to keep executing your strategy with discipline, do what most traders do which is to run losses and hope they turn around or deviate from the system rules and you will get wiped out.

You can win, because big trends will always come back which you can run to recover your losses but decide now, do you want to be right all the time or make money? Because the Forex market won’t allow you to do both!

You can Win Anyone Can

Discipline is the key to success and you can become disciplined if you want to, just accept your losses cheerfully and have confidence in what your doing which comes from a good eduction and Forex trading success can be yours.

By: Kelly Price

A Currency Trading Education – Make Sure to Keep it Simple

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 15:30:18 +0000

For those traders that looking for a currency trading education, the best thing I can tell you is to KEEP IT SIMPLE. You can being by clearing out your charts. When I use the word “clear; I mean that you try to aspire to see the market the way it was intended to be seen. This can only be accomplished by not using indicators.

Obviously, if you are really used to using indicators, it can be real tricky. But that is all part of changing your mindset. This is what the professional traders understand.

I had this problem when I begun to trade the forex market. I was a full blown indicator junkie when I first began. If I could find an indicator, it was going on my charts. The funny thing was that I didn’t know what the vast majority of them actually did.

But once I started taking loss after loss, it quickly became obvious that I wasn’t trading the market correctly. It’s funny how losing money will have that kind of effect on you. When I finally got rid of my indicators, I finally became a real trader.

It was quite freeing. I finally started to notice that the market gives you clues as to how you can trade it. It does this price action patterns. The great thing about them is that they are repeated at a constant basis. It was startling to me that all this time, I could have been seeing this if I didn’t blast my charts with indicators. It’s amazing that I didn’t notice it before. All it takes to do this, is to just focus on the ACTUAL PRICE!

By: John Templeton