Trading education » Pip

The Real Secret to Day Trading Forex Currency

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 07:48:45 +0000

You want to know the real secret to day trading forex currency? Well, here it is: Confidence and understanding of the market. There you go. There’s your real holy grail. If you can accomplish these two feats then you can write your own paycheck. Happy? Ok, so you probably need a little more information. Fine. Here it is:

Confidence! I cannot begin to tell you how many forex traders in the world are having anxiety attacks watching their trades just as I am typing. If you can’t handle a trade or trading or in general, then don’t do it. You’ll never have success day trading forex currency if you are watching every pip move like it’s life or death. Emotions can destroy a trader. A trader’s fear can cause him/her to hold a trade even though the obvious trend is going against them. It could also have the adverse effect in which a trader closes a trade WAY too early because he’s afraid to hold it, even though all the signs are pointing in the right direction.

I could give you the greatest trading system in the world, but it won’t do you much good if you don’t have any confidence in trading it.

The understanding of the market goes hand in hand with the confidence. When I say understand, I mean just that: Understand what you are looking at. Don’t be like everybody else who has to use indicators to tell them what the market is doing. Does anybody understand what these indicators even mean? Can you honestly tell me what using an MACD Divergence does? It’s colorful and its pretty on a chart, but what does that have to do with the tea in China? Take the time to understand the underlying causes of price and market movement.

Take off the indicators on your charts and see if you notice some repeated patterns. If you can start to see them then you can be ahead of the other 95% of forex traders who end up losing money on the markets. After all how can you have confidence day trading forex currency if you have no idea what you are looking at.

By: Jim Buhs

Learn to Trade the Forex

admin — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:00:48 +0000

What are the rewards of Forex investing over any other types of investments? When thinking about a variety of investments, there is one investment opportunity that really stands out and that is The Forex or Foreign Currency Market. The advantages of forex trading are as follows:

1.The Forex market is open 24 hours, 7 days a week around the clock. This is the opposite of stock markets.

2. Investments usually require a lot of upfront money, with forex trading you only need a very minute amount. Learn to trade the forex will cost you less than $300.00. For $300 dollars you can create small account that will let you trade numerous amounts of 10,000 units. 10,000 units equal 1 contract and each pip which is a move up or down in the currency pair is worth a $1 no matter if it’s a gain or loss. A standard account gives you control over 100,000 units of currency and a pip is worth $10.

3. The Forex market is also very liquid which is why the forex system is amazing. Forex trading education will suite you well in this situation.

4. Many other types of investments require investing your hard earned money for a long long time. This is extremely ghastly because if you need to use any of your money you will pay a huge penalty.on your money for long periods of time.

5. Forex traders can be profitable in any conditions and unlike stock markets because you do not need stock prices to rise in order to take a profit. Forex traders can make a profit at any point in time no matter how the economy is doing. Forex Trading can be uncertain, but with having the ability to have a high-quality system to follow, good quality money supervision skills, and having self discipline, learn to trade the forexc an be a fairly low risk venture.

6. The Forex market can be traded at any time and from anywhere. All you need is access to the internet and a computer, nowadays you can trade over your cell phone! It is so simple and so worth any investment. There are many forex online trading systems and forex ebooks out there on the internet which some will give you a free coarse and a “mock” trading system which will be almost like the real thing but for play money just so you can get a feel on how currency trading works exactly. Don’t be shy, the internet has so many courses to learn at such as the forex trading robot, you just need to be carefuel when you choose one to purchase for real hard earned money. Once you learn the forex trading system the sky is the absolute limit. There is no telling how much money you could make and how soon you could be doing this for a permanent living. You wanted to work from home right? Oh with forex trading you do not need to travel 2 hours a day and work a 9-5 dead end job your whole life. In whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck!

By: John Callingham

Forex Trader Training – 2 Misunderstood Aspects Forex Trading

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:58:02 +0000

Many people who try their hand at Forex trading often have misconceptions about the currency market. In this article, I will reveal to you four of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of Forex trading, and what it means to retail traders like you and me.

Misunderstood Aspect #1: There are no commission fees in Forex trading

This is technically true because most Forex brokers don’t take a cut from your winnings. Commissions are fees paid to brokers whenever anyone makes money, and it is usually a percentage of how much you win.

But while there are no such ‘commissions’ paid out to brokers, many people think that this means the brokers don’t charge them anything at all. Actually, the brokers DO charge you a certain fee – it’s just not based on a percentage of your winnings, that’s all.

Instead, most Forex borkers charge a transaction fee known as a ’spread’. Essentially they charge you a small fixed amount whenever you buy a currency pair, based on the size of your trading lot. The spread usually costs you about 2-5 pips, depending on the currency pair you’re looking at. If you’re trading buying one standard lot of the EUR/USD currency pair for example, and the spread is 2 pips, the transaction fee is $20 (1 pip in the EUR/USD = $10).

So now you know that you’re being charged every time you make a trade. How will this affect your trading strategy? Scalpers should all be aware about the exact pip spread their brokers charge because they will enter into numerous trades in each trading day… a 1 pip spread difference can save them as much as $100 every day.

Misunderstood Aspect #2: Anyone can make money at all times of the day

This is misunderstood aspect is mainly due to the fact the currency market operates 24 hours a day. When the market is open at all times, it’s natural to assume that there are people making money every single minute.

However, this is quite far from the truth. Why?

As you should know by now, there is only profit potential when the market is moving. One cannot make money trading in a flat market. You’ll either need an upward or downward market movement to make money.

And if you look at the trading charts, you’ll notice particular periods of each trading day when volatility is relatively low – these are typically the non-U.S. and non-London market trading times when the American and European institutional traders are not active (it’s after-office hours for them).

But that’s not to say that no one can make any money during periods of low volatility; it’s just that the period of time when the most money is made is during the U.S. and London market trading hours when volatility and liquidity is high.

By: Harold Hsu

Important Forex Trading Terminology

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:54:49 +0000

For somebody who is new in the forex business, it is a must that he or she should be knowledgeable in the differing terminologies that are used in this kind of trading business. Forex trading terminology is a must learn for those who plans to involve themselves in this undertaking. Otherwise, they would subject themselves to greater risk of losing their investments if they do not fully well know the meaning of basic forex terms. Hereunder are the different basic terminology and their meanings that you will be well advised to take note of if you have plans to invest in forex trading.

Base Currency: The value of a particular currency in relation to another currency as denoted by a currency quotation represented in this expression as USD/CAD whereby the first currency is always the base currency. This example shows USD as the first currency, which makes it as the base currency.

Quote Currency: This will be the second currency in a currency quotation expression. The above currency quotation indicates CAD as the second currency in the expression thus, it is the quote currency.

Long Buy: In forex trading, you are considered in a long position if you buy base currency and sell quote currency.

Short Buy: The opposite of long buy. Your position is considered short if you sell base currency and buy quote currency.

Ask: This is a forex trading terminology whereby the dealer has come to a decision to call on a currency quotation whereby he will be selling on an ask price a base currency in exchange of quote currency.

Bid: When the dealer has decided to call a currency quotation whereby he will be buying on a bid price a base currency in exchange of a given quote currency.

Pips: Pip is a shortcut for price interest points which would be indicative of profits for forex traders. One pip is equivalent to one hundredth of one percent of a currency contract price.

Leverage: This is one attraction given to forex investors by forex brokers. You deposit 100 dollars with your forex broker and he will lend you 1,000 dollars from his own account for you to trade in the forex market. This will give you a good leverage in your trading but the moment your broker is not satisfied with your trading, he can cut you off depending on their policy on leverage.

Slippage: This situation would usually result to the disadvantage of traders due to lost opportunity in gaining pips because of the broker’s inability in correctly handling and fulfilling the order at the requested price. This situation does not happen often, however.

Spike: These are sudden fluctuations in currency rates brought about by global breaking news that can impact heavily on a currency traded pairs. These fluctuations can either swing wildly for or against a pair of traded currency depending on the nature of the global breaking news.

Retracement: The peaking out of a sudden and wild swing of a rise or fall of a particular currency in a currency pair caused by an international breaking news that would impact on subject currency. Once this sudden rise or fall of a currency reaches its peak or bottom and starts to normalize, we call this process as retracement.

Stop Loss: A forex trading terminology that denotes a mechanism used by traders to limit losses. A particular amount estimated by the trader will be set up by him as his stop loss mechanism whereby once this amount of trading losses will be reached; trading for this trader will automatically be cut off.

By: Peter Flemming

Forex Trading Education – Risk Management 101

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:58:41 +0000

Many retail traders focus so much on trying to make money off the market that they often neglect to protect their capital. This causes them to ultimately wipe out their trading accounts no matter how good their ‘money-making’ strategy is.

You see, there are two aspects to profitable trading: increasing your gains, and reducing your losses. Unfortunately the former is the only thing most traders pay attention to. Protecting one’s losses is not as sexy or exciting as making money; and so many amateur traders make the crucial mistake of having a weak money management system in place.

How Much To Risk

When planning out your money management strategy, the first thing you’ll need to decide is how much of your capital you are willing to risk per trade. Experts generally recommend that you risk no more than 2% of your total equity.

An Example

When trading with standard lots, each pip is worth approximately $10.

So let’s say you start trading with $10,000. 2% of $10,000 is $200. That means that you should risk no more than $200 (or 2% of your capital) per trade. And since each pip is worth $10, you can risk a maximum of 20 pips ($200/$10) for each trade that you take. Essentially, this means that you should have a stop-loss of no more than 20 pips away from your entry price.

Does this make sense?

Adjustments Needed

Of course, a 20 pip stop-loss level might be considered too tight for many traders. In reality, it’s up to you to play around with the variables of your money management system. For scalpers for example, a 20 pip stop-loss level might even be too high!

It all boils down to your overall trading strategy… a swing trader will definitely want to use a higher stop-loss allowance, and he can do so by either increasing his equity capital, or by trading using mini lots instead.

The bottom line however, is to never violate the 2%-capital-risk-per-trade rule.

By: Harold Hsu

Forex Trading Education – What Is A Trailing Stop Loss?

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 01:51:10 +0000

Trailing stop losses are a very popular topic among new traders. It seems like trailing stop losses have the best of both worlds: you can protect yourself from losing too much, and also lock in more and more profits at the same time.

What Is A Trailing Stop Loss?

Basically, a trailing stop loss involves the moving of your stop loss level as your trade progresses in your favour.

For example, when you buy a currency pair and the price moves up 30 pips, your stop loss level (which was initially 30 pips below your entry price) is then moved to your entry price, ensuring that you won’t lose any money.

When the market rice moves a further 30 pips higher (a total of 60 pips above your entry price), your stop loss level will be positioned at 30 pips higher than your entry level.

However, when prices start moving against your favour, the trailing stop loss does not shift.

2 Types Of Trailing Stop Loss

Trailing stop losses can either be placed manually by the trader, or automatically placed by a trading platform.

Manual trailing stop losses are typically placed at prominent support/resistance levels, especially below previous swing lows or above previous swing highs. It is up to the individual trader to determine where to place the trailing stop loss.

A more popular way of using stop losses however, is to set a fixed pip amount to trail the market price. This can be done in most trading platforms.

In the above example, the trailing stop loss is set to trail the market by 30 pips. It is initially placed below the entry price by 30 pips, and as the market price moves up by 30 pips, the stop loss is shifted to the entry price (which is 30 pips below the new market price).

By: Harold Hsu

Forex Trading Education – How To Trade Price Consolidations

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:57:52 +0000

Trading on price consolidation breakouts is a popular choice among Forex traders. In this article, I will present to you one of the most effective and simplest ways to trade consolidations.

What Is A Price Consolidation?

Price consolidation occurs when there is no obvious uptrend or downtrend in short-term time frames. Ranging markets are not considered to be consolidating because prices are still fluctuating up and down. In a true consolidation, market prices don’t fluctuate and typically stay within a 10 to 15 pip range.

What Time Frames Should I Trade?

Consolidating prices don’t usually last very long. That’s why you’ll usually trade using intraday time frames (i.e. hourly charts or minute charts). Occasionally, daily charts may show flat prices as well… but these are more the exception rather than the norm.

How Do I Trade It?

Most people enter into a trade when prices break out of the highest price (or lowest price) of the consolidation. If prices break upwards, they buy. If prices break downwards, they sell. The decision to trade on breakouts is based on the assumption that the momentum of the break will be strong enough to push price further in the same direction.

How Effective Is It To Trade Breakouts?

In my experience, breakout trading can yield rather consistent profits. This is because they usually follow through. The hard part is deciding when to exit your trade once it’s in-the-money, because breakouts sometimes reverse directions quite quickly.

What Should Be My Profit Target?

Usually, a profit target of 30 pips is good enough. Sometimes, you may want to try for 50 pips. I don’t usually hold breakout trade positions after I’m in-the-money for 50 pips because then the price action will usually turn erratic.

By: Harold Hsu

Forex Trading Methods – Scalping Vs Day Trading

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:27:50 +0000

It’s best to go over some short definitions and descriptions of each of these two forex trading methods.

Scalping

Scalping is basically short period trading. These periods where a trader holds a position can vary from seconds to minutes. Scalping is effectively trading the minutest moves in the market for usually a small profit.

To give an example a leveraged trading account with 100,000 EUR/USD position will earn/lose $10 per pip movement. That means a small 3 pip movement either way will add $30 to or lose $30 of the traders deposit.

Even though effective scalping involves highly leveraged positions the exposure to risk is lessened to some degree by the amount of ‘time’ that a trader holds his/her position so large movements are rarer (but beware can occur).

Scalping is a popular method of trading practiced by ‘newbies’ thrilled with the cat and mouse game of the market and some traders make a good living out of it but most traders, in fact close to 90% either break even or lose their deposits.

An added factor to consider is that brokerage houses do not like scalpers. Why? The reason is simple. When a position is taken by a trader the broker has the opposite position and needs to cover that position especially if the broker feels that the traders position is the right one for market conditions. If the broker then covers that position and a few seconds/minutes later the position is squared then the broker has a currency exposure and brokers are companies that generally don’t like exposure. Most make their money on spreads and trading against their clients positions. Those scalpers that make money consistently find that most brokerage houses terminate their accounts. That doesn’t mean to say that it will happen immediately but when a trading pattern does arise of scalping don’t be surprised if your broker ‘divorces’ you!

Day Trading

Day trading is not really referring to the holding of positions by traders for a day but is more descriptive of the type of forex trader that prefers to hold on to a position for a longer period of time than a few minutes at most. These positions usually last for more than an hour, few hours and in some cases days.

A day trader is a ‘different animal’ to the scalper in that he/she is more comfortable with exposure to the risk of larger currency fluctuations. It’s not because they have fatter wallets it’s usually down to having more experience and a different trading temperament.

The profit motive for a day trader is also different. A day trader will look for larger moves within a single trade and be aware of and use for example greater technical analysis to calculate the best entry and exit levels.

Brokers tend to prefer these traders as they can do two things, firstly trade against their client by covering their exposure and go the other way if they have an opposing view or square (net out) the position.

Again there are a lot of losers in the day trade market due primarily to inexperience and a ‘gambling’ mentality that many participants in the forex market have.

The people who consistently make profits understand the market through experience of trading and knowledge acquired and are persistent and understand forex trading methods that are available and in what situations to use them.

By: Peter Burke

Forex Trading EA – A Look Into Automatic Forex Trading Systems

admin — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:56:28 +0000

If you want to make real good profits in the foreign exchange (or forex) trading game, then you would need to own every single pip that you can get. Unfortunately, the learning curve sometimes was not really in my favor. I needed to come up with an alternative to the hours of technical analysis and research on news and historical data.

The only way to improve my chances is to find a way to make efficient trades without being bogged down by technical analysis or research. So I experimented on using EMA crosses, news trading, and other techniques, only to find myself losing more money and sleep over them.

Then I came across the Expert Advisors, or forex trading EA. A forex trading EA is an automatic forex trading system that operates under a Metatrader 4’s trading platform. The dealbreaker here, is that you need an account with a forex broker, which supports Metatrader 4. However, that is no longer an issue today as Metatrader is already supported by a lot of forex brokers today so all you need to do is to look for one that is inline with your expectations.

So why is it a big deal to have these so called forex trading EA?

1. Unlike human forex brokers, forex trading EA does not need to rest or sleep. They are automatic trading programs that function 24 hours in a day.

2. They never need a salary, bathroom breaks, sleep, food, benefits, or anything else that a human trader would need.

3. Forex trading EA are very easy to acquire and use. As soon as you purchase one, all you need to do is download it, install it into Metatrader 4, set your preferences and run the program. The entire process will not take you more than 30 minutes.

4. There is almost always a money back guarantee offer for these forex trading EA. You can test them for 60 days! See if it is for you. If for any reason you are not satisfied with it, you can always get your money back.

5. Now you can have a life and be with family and friends. The forex trading EA will do all the monitoring for you.Sounds like a scam? Yes it does! But reality is, there are a lot that make forex trading EA work to provide them sustainable income. You just have to grasp the fundamentals and stick to your trading plans to make it work.

From the different forex trading robots I’ve tried, the Forex Tracer tops my list. This automatic forex trading system has provided me enough funds to be able to splurge on my expensive hobbies. A system that has made $600,000 in four years time, and $150,000 in one years time.

By: Jason R. Lewis