Trading education » Trades

Price Action Trading – Waiting For Confirmation

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:19:34 +0000

Many aspiring Forex traders jump into the market before their entry signal has fully completed or fail to even develop a defined trading plan. It is crucial to a trader’s long-term success that they wait until all their pre-defined parameters are met before jumping into the market. In order to define a trading strategy you must define its entry and exit method. A highly effective and highly adaptable method is absolutely necessary to enable definition of entry and exit and allow for vivid confirmation of signals.

Once traders start jumping in and entering trades before the completion of their specific setup they are essentially negating their entire trading plan. The main point of developing a written out trading strategy is that it is done when you are in an objective state of mind set and are not reacting emotionally to the market. When a trader enters a trade that doesn’t fully meet his or her pre-defined criteria they are acting on emotion, these types of behaviors are what get most traders started down the slippery slope of emotional trading.

Employing an easily definable and effective trading method such as price action analysis will allow you to stay calm and wait patiently as your price setup forms and then strike with cat-like precision when the setup is complete.

The problem with many methods that traders use to trade Forex is that they have large gray areas, or entry and exit parameters that may change depending on what time frame you are looking at. The beauty of price action setups is that they show you exactly what price is doing and give you a unique perspective to analyze the Forex market on any time frame while still remaining relevant. For example, if a price action trader sees a possible pin/reversal bar form on a daily chart the signal will be noticeable on all lower time frames as well. It may be in the form of a 2 or multiple bar reversal on the 4 hour or a head and shoulders on the 1 hour.

The great thing about price action setups is that they generally confirm themselves across all time frames and leave very little to the trader’s discretion. Price action signals like any other are stronger on higher time frames and generally will be visually evident on lower time frames as well.

When you trade Forex using price action setups you can more readily attain the necessary objective mindset that is required to be consistently successful as a trader. Having a method that is easily definable and inherently reflects the very nature of the market is great tool for any trader. Waiting for a price action setup to confirm itself via subsequent price movement is the best way to be sure you are on the right side of the trade. Many traders rely on indicators which often cover up the underlying price movement and provide them with a false sense of clarity. Take the indicators off your charts and learn a few good price setups and you will see the Forex market from a whole new perspective. Patiently waiting for your pre-defined price action setup to confirm itself in the flow of price movement is paramount to any Forex trader’s long – term financial success.

By: Nial Fuller

12-Steps to Good Trading – Step 3 – Ego, Risk-Tolerance and Confidence – The Psycho-Enchilada

admin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 10:34:25 +0000

This step in the 12-steps to good trading will be the most challenging and will take the longest for most people to overcome. It will require the most maintenance over the life of your trading career and it will also be nearly impossible to learn from a short article like this but hopefully I can get you on the right track and help identify some resources and exercises to help.

Ego is really a tough thing for me to write about. I don’t fully understand it and apart from my Christian viewpoint it wouldn’t make any sense at all to me. Ego is that part of you that you refer to when you say “I.” Its part of your soul as opposed to your spirit. Both reside in your body. Its everything you think you are. Your self-concept. It says “I am hungry…I am a winner…I am a loser…I am a Californian…I am a Republican…I am nice…I am clever…I don’t believe that…I believe that more than anything…blah blah blah..” It’s the inner part of you that is most influenced by the outside world and I believe outside forces as well but I wont get into that unless you ask.

Ego is the part of you that has been shaped over the years or the last five minutes along with your concepts of who you are and how you see yourself in the future. It is the part of you that you display and defend and its also the part of you that keeps you from living in the very now moment.

In step one of this series I emphasized how there are no destructive trading emotions in the very now moment. In the now moment fear cant reside because it is based on images of the future and past. Greed cant reside there either. Well, the thing that blocks easy access to that place is the ego. It always wants center stage. In trading rooms and in sports and everywhere in performance based art, the ego stands out. In trading rooms it presents itself in bottom and top pickers and calling trades from the past and announcing one-sided results. Said plainly, it usually shows up as boasting. The trader who boasts not only doesn’t likely think he or she has an ego issue, but they certainly don’t recognize that they are led by it. The danger to them in these cases is that they are not market focused but are running their trading business from the part of the self that is most subject to the winds of the world and are linked arm and arm with the most destructive trading emotions they can face (fear, greed & denial). It effects everything from their risk tolerance to their confidence which are the other two pieces of this enchilada so I will move on and tie them together and help you develop a plan to make sure your ego is in check.

The number one issue I see people have when working with them on their trading is not accepting risk. Its normal for us to want to avoid risk and that shows up as the normal thing to do when we come to trade. The trouble is that being normal in trading is being a losing trader and washing out.

Never makes it in trading. We have to be abnormal and take risks. Calculated risks of course and that is where having a system or method comes into play but it goes beyond that. Lets just assume you will have a method of approaching the market that will put the odds in your favor and that you will work at it and know how to use it. We also have to have very clear and realistic concepts about what trading is and align our expectations with reality. It is not something you can realistically try and squeeze in to your summer vacation and learn in a few weeks so you don’t have to go back to work. Some of you are saying “yeah, of course not. Who would think that.” Well unfortunately, and also understandably so, as the marketing in the trading education space paints a really rosy picture and more people think that way than you could imagine. Plan on a long learning curve and doing a lot of hard work. Plan on training your focus on learning to trade and not on money or exotic calculations of what-ifs as far as how much you could earn in a year or whatever “normally” comes to your mind. Prepare to be abnormal. We don’t think about money much outside the development of our trading plan. If you do think about money then as quick as you earn it in your head you had better give it away in your head or you will be the one giving it away instead of earning it in reality. Again we think abnormally.

Would you want to go to a heart surgeon and have him chopping into you and at the same time thinking about the boat you are buying him on his lake? Or would you rather him keep his now moment eyes on your aorta? For that matter, would you want that same doctor to have had a speedy summer Internet Heart Surgeon degree program or put his time in learning the hard way (at John’s Hopkins no less). I know that’s not realistic, or at least I sure hope not, but it’s the same idea as someone thinking they can speed through the process of learning to trade. After all, the heart is pretty much going to be in the same place give or take a few inches for all of us but the market can and will change daily or even quicker (yes, it at least follows the same structure most of the time).

What does this have to do with risk-tolerance you ask? Well if you choose to trade I just want to make it clear you are taking a big risk. Most wont make it but if you really get these first few steps down and make building a better you a priority along side your chart studies then you have a great chance. Most wont do that though. You are risking the time and chances to do something else more normal and you have to know that.

Now here is the kicker. Most people wont or cant accept risk because they are under capitalized. They can too clearly see the end of the road. You can learn on as little as you want, but it will effect your thinking. Fear and greed will get all over your face or try to anyhow and your ego will get invaded with denial and if you don’t take those early steps I have already covered and stay in the now it will be very, very, normal. If however you do train yourself to stay in the now then the capital wont matter as much. I suggest you have at least ten times your margin amount if you want to help quiet fear and greed and be able to accept the risk. Some people need a lot more than that. Whatever amount it would take where you can look at your per-trade maximum loss and think of it about the same as if you misplaced a dollar or bought a raffle ticket from some kid. This is important to understand so if you don’t please start a dialogue with me via email so we can go over this more.

Moving on to confidence now, and really each of these could be their own series. I just want you to be introduced to them and make it known that you will have to contend with these things. At the end I will give you some practical ideas for dealing with some of them. Confidence in your trading is important. Both in your system and your ability to operate it. You need confidence that the odds are in your favor if you do what you are supposed to do so that you can accept the risk and put a trade on and let it play out without gripping that poor mouse until it has no life in it. You need this confidence because without it your fear will block you from doing your breathing and getting to the now moment. I hope you can see how these three topics tie together here.

How do we get that confidence? Lots and lots of work. It requires many hours of screen time and replays. Technology now makes it really easy to get the operational side of your system down when there is nothing at risk. That is good even though it doesn’t train you much on the more challenging part of trading, which is controlling yourself when it really matters. But replays and simulation are great for just drilling into your head the steps you take when you trade. Its vital that those things are automatic when you do get into live trading. You need the confidence that comes from doing the exact same thing hundreds or thousands of times. This is the same concept that US Marine Corps or other armed forces go through when they drill or train. All of their training is done in conditions that largely not life threatening. I am not sure spy-rigging counts because that just looks downright crazy. But nobody is actually shooting at Marines in training with hostile intent or rather, capability. Those in charge of the training know this and don’t belittle it as being “not-real.” They make it as real as they can and that’s what we need to do in when we simulate trading. When those Marines hit the ground in actual war zones they act automatically. Not because they know the actual beach or woods or desert or towns but because they know how to move together towards an objective as they have done countless times in training.

I grew up around people just like that and have seen the payoffs and that is why it is so important to me to train thoroughly in my trading and also important that you do the same. Confidence comes from that and from the translation of that training into real live success in the markets. Plan on being abnormal here as well. Most wont do this.

Ok, now to the battle. The best way to keep your ego in check is to keep quiet until you do have it in check. Its not about you. Concentrate on becoming a listener. The next time you are in a conversation with your wife or husband or whoever, try and just listen. If you are jumping out of you skin because you need to talk then this is an area of struggle for you. If you don’t even catch it until later that you went on and on about ” I, I, I, me, me, me” then it is a dominant area in your life that needs to be addressed before successful trading will occur. Part of what the ego does is express emotions in packages. If you focus on the breathing and self-awareness techniques of steps 1 & 2 you will get better at getting in the now moment. The thing that deflates the destructiveness of all emotions and the ego is identifying the emotion from the now moment and calling it by its name. So if you feel fear or you feel the ego rising in your own unique pattern then what you do is say it. Say “fear, I see you and you have no power over me.” If you are Christian, and I pray that you are, then really let the emotions have it in the name of Jesus. When you operate in the now moment and identify your feelings like that it deflates them. In other words it keeps you in self-control and in the moment and not subject to them. This like anything is a learned skill and will require you to be a good listener to not only others but yourself and what is coming up from inside you. The great thing is that while it deflates negative emotions, staying in control and recognizing positive emotions perpetuates the benefits. Understand me clearly here. I am not talking about visualizing the outcomes of fearful things. I don’t want you to mediate on the negative stuff. Just call it by its name and tell it to leave because it has no authority over you. If you make this a habit your life will change like you cant imagine.

Now as far as risk-tolerance goes, you have to raise capital and stay in the now moment along the way. The less money you have the less you can do. Trading something like FOREX at Oanda is probably the best option for you if you are starting with very limited funds because you can trade fractional pips and stay in the game on little for a long time while you learn, but at some point you will have to add capital. Do not set yourself up thinking you will trade your way from $1,000 to millions. If you don’t treat your opponents and your business with the proper respect it just wont likely happen for you. You may have a good hobby and learn a lot and that may be great in itself, but until you treat your trading as a start-up business with real capital needs it wont likely prosper. I pray that some of you prove me wrong, and I have seen it done, but they were really abnormal. If you try and do the same I would be as abnormal as you can in the places you can afford to in order to compensate for the very normal idea of starting with nothing or close to it.

Lastly, for confidence, plan on working and building a life of balanced confidence and keeping confidence in check and based on real training. If you find yourself down the road trading and needing layers and layers of confirmation before you take a trade then you drifted away from confidence to some blend of being unconfident and being overconfident. Being unconfident in your system and over confident in your ability to handle it on your own. Needing excess confirmation is like a farmer who says he will plant corn seed just as soon as he sees some tassels. It just wont work that way. He has to plan his crop (develop a business plan), buy his seed (raise his capital), plant it (release some capital), and then let the earth do its thing in its due course so he can harvest (evaluate the results and learn from them). Try and blend some of your personal traits that are strong outside of trading with your trading. If you are a mother or father and somehow are very patient with our kids then have confidence that you can use those same abilities in the market if you stay in the now. If you think about it, that is exactly what you do with your kids if you are one of those people. They make a big mess or if older kids, wreck the car or whatever, and you take a deep breath and just release in an instant all those destructive emotions so that we don’t kill them. The same thing we do when we prepare to trade.

Anyhow, I covered a lot. Probably too much for one article but a couple of you probably made it this far. If we end up working together or if we already are then chances are we are already deeper into some of these areas and techniques. We will get to some chart stuff in the next article. Spend the majority of your time in these first three steps though and pick my brain or do whatever it is you need to do to get yourself in a position where you can operate from self-control rather then being dragged through life. There is so much more to say on these mental topics and more so I will write more later. Thanks for listening.

God Bless ~

Ryan

By: Ryan Watts

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

Swing Trading Method – An Easy Swing Trading Method For Anyone

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:04:58 +0000

The best swing trading method is easy and can be used by anyone. Swing traders profit from trading by taking chunks out of the market as price swings or trends over several days. This method of trading is perhaps the best because it reduces the amount of risk a trader exposes themselves to along with offering the highest possible returns with lowest risk. Any good swing trading method addresses the following.

First, the method should primarily be used to trade only with the trend. The trend is your friend. This is something you have probably heard many times over and there is a reason. Trading with the trend means you are trading with the smart money. This alone greatly increases your chances of entering into a profitable trade. Any trading method should primarily be used to trade with the trend, especially for beginners.

The second point is that swing traders need to know where value is. Value means that the stock or currency’s price has dropped down to a point where you can get in at a cheap price before it continues on with the trend. This allows you to get a bargain price while everyone else has been paying top dollar and have paid too much. Getting in at value makes your trades even more profitable.

The most simple and easy swing trading method is one that allows you to trade with the trend and helps you get into the market at possible areas of good value. This will increase your chances of becoming a profitable long term swing trader in any market.

By: Jolon Warren

Trading Stocks Online – The Value of a Trading Plan

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 22:05:00 +0000

I started trading stocks online about 10 years ago and then in 2004 took some classes on trading options and moved into trading options online fulltime 2005. It was during this period that I learned the value of a trading plan. Most of you probably already have a mental plan but how many of you have actually written down? If you have a plan, how many of you are actually following it?

What Is A Trading Plan?

This is a document describing the methods you will develop and use to become a successful trader. It describes in detail how you will proceed to successfully execute your plan. Once your plan has been developed, trade according to the plan you developed. Create a Plan, Plan to Trade, Trade to the Plan.

Why Do I Need A Trading Plan?

“Every successful Professional Trader has a successful trading plan. Without one, you will lose before you even get started. You’ve heard the horror stories of beginning traders getting wiped out soon after making the move to trade professionally. In fact, only about 10% of those who start day trading the stock market are still around after three months.” Taken from “Trading Every Day with the right focus”

What Do I Include In A Trading Plan?

Here is the information that I put in my plans:

• Mission statement
• Goals that I want to reach (needs updated periodically)
• Rewards — How am I going to reward myself when the goals have been reached
• My trading styles
• My trading strategies
• My risk tolerance — How much am I going to place on a place? How much of my portfolio am I going to risk with all my trades?
• Emergency contacts — You should have at least have your brokers phone numbers here
• Anything else that you deem important

Where Can I Get Examples Of A Trading Plan

There are many examples of these plans on the web. Just search for them. There are also some trading planners for sale. Here you enter your plan information and they prepare the plan for you. I have looked at some of them, but not purchased. From appearances they looked OK but I felt I could just create my own using Word.

If you don’t have a plan you should start preparing one as it will help you in organizing your trading habits. One of the key ingredients of a trading plan is discipline. To make a plan work for you, you must have the discipline to follow it.

By: Chuck Ainsworth

Trading Strategy – Knowing What The Insiders’ Are Doing Is An Integral Part of Any Trading Strategy

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:48:31 +0000

When it comes to leading the field of trading knowledge, we must look to the decision makers, the movers and shakers of any company you are looking to trade or invest in. It is common knowledge that directors, officers and high level personnel are the first to know about any positive or negative changes in a companies direction.

While there are restrictions in how an insider may trade their companies stock, insiders are allowed to buy and sell shares of that stock. Insiders’ trading is quite different from “insider trading”. Insiders’ trading is the legal buying and selling of stock of the companies that employ them. On the other hand, “insider trading” is the illegal buying and selling of securities based on information that has not been released to the general public.

When it comes to your trading strategy, there are two situations that can be of significance when the trades of insiders are concerned.

A sudden increase of insider purchases can be an insight into expected earnings or growth potential, expected positive changes in the company’s sector, seasonal expectations or a number of other positive expectations. A good rule of thumb to remember is this: Insiders sell stock for as many reasons as there are reasons but they only buy for one; to make money.

Another important situation to pay attention to is this: If the insiders’ trading has been significant enough to be discussed in the news, it shouts… “pay attention to me”.

The most important clue to look for is “clusters” of insider buying. A cluster of insider buying is when you see three or more insiders buying stock at the same time on the open market. This is a powerful indication that “positive expectations” are on the rise.

If becoming an elite trader, so that you can quickly, easily and intuitively determine what to do when insiders begin to buy their own stock, is something that naturally appeals to you; then we would like to invite you to visit http://www.dartthrowtrader.com and enroll in our free – DartThrowTrader.com weekly newsletter.

By: Jimmy Slagle

Forex Profit Code Review

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:57:00 +0000

Have you ever heard of Forex Profit Code? I bet, you are here because you are looking for the most accurate review of this new trading system, right? If you are serious about making extra income online, one of the best way to start is through forex trading. There are many people put their hard earned money from forex because they believed that this is the most profitable business online. Now, to ensure your trading success, you are given an option to how to handle and put all your trades. Recently, there are three options that you can choose from.

You can put your trade manually. This kind of trading strategies usually consume so much of your time. You can ask a broker to trade for you. A person who can handles and put all the works for you. In this strategy you to monitor your money because there are huge possibility of losing it. You can get an automated forex trading system that you can use to do all the works for you. And this is actually what Forex Profit Code will going to provide you.What is Forex Profit Code and what does it actually gives you?

Forex Profit Code is 100% mechanical forex system that can actually do all the hard work that usually involves when you trade the forex. This system looks for profitable opportunity and when that opportunity arrives it actually do all the necessary things to do in order to gain huge profits. This system make money everyday. The system was created by Robert Meyer, a forex expert. The system was based on many years of researching and testing. This is proven to give trader massive income regardless of their own trading background.

Why do you have to choose Forex Profit Code from the many automated forex trading system online?

Forex Profit Code is not the usual forex trading system that you actually tried of. This system was designed and depends entirely on the use of purely scientific criteria to select winning trades, one that uses logic. This is a no-guess work system. A system that has proven to give you not just profit but consistent profits that you can depend on for the rest of your life. The system had been attested and the results were verified by an attorney of law. In this case, you can be assured of that this is really the ultimate automated forex trading system to date!

Who can use Forex Profit Code?

Anyone can use Forex Profit Code. Even if you are 9-5ers who are willing to spend 5 minutes everyday in front of your computer, beginners, novice or even an expert trader who wish to increase their own trading profits. This system has been trusted by many, no trading background needed and no huge trading capital involved. You don’t have to risk so much of your money because you can actually start using their own virtual account. Absolutely no risk with high gains.

For our conclusion, Forex Profit Code is really not a scam. It has proven its own profitability for so many years now. Up to this moment, the system still gives anyone opportunity to easily create their own trading wealth. The system is simple, proven, tested, unique and a very powerful one. There are no reason for you to pass this opportunity. So, if you are serious about making huge profits from forex trading, this is the right time. I hope some how, you had already found in this Forex Profit Code Review the system that you really looking for. Good Luck!

By: Mandy Clover

Learn Currency Trading – 3 Simple Tips Anyone Can Apply to Make Triple Digit Gains

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:18:21 +0000

If you want to learn currency trading then most of the information online will not help you win, as the majority loses. The information in this article is not commonly accepted wisdom and that’s why it works…

Let’s look at how to make more money from currency trading

Tip 1 Cut Trading Frequency

How many traders try forex scalping and day trading – a huge amount and how many win long term – none. Why? Because they are trading random moves and cant get the odds on their side and lose.

The first tip is all about trading less and making more – because you are focusing on the high odds trades.

I know traders who only trade a few times a month but make huge gains, because they understand that they should only hit the best opportunities and you should do this to.

Forget day trading and focus on the big longer term trends that make the big profits, these trends last for weeks months or years and you only need to catch a few each year to turbo charge your gains.

Tip 2 Risk More Per Trade

This isn’t being rash this is common sense.

Read most so called experts online and they say risk up to 5% only! Well that’s fine, if you are trading 100,000 – but most traders are not, there trading an average $1,000 so 5% risk = $50.00, well you are going to get stopped out by random volatility.

These traders, really ought to brush up on an essential bit of forex trading education which is – standard deviation of price and they will see why it doesn’t work.

If you are trading a high odds trade – risk more – Up to 20%.

Keep in mind that most traders risk so little, their guaranteed to be stopped out. They try and avoid risk so much, they actually create it.

If you don’t want to risk a meaningful amount, you won’t make a decent profit.

Tip 3 Trail Stops Slowly

This is really related to the above point – don’t trail your stop to close, give the market room to breathe so you stay in the big trends as long as possible. You have to do this and it takes discipline and it’s not easy to take open equity dips but have the discipline to do it and you can make huge gains.

The above is really common sense and seeing currency markets for what they are – a risk market where you need to take meaningful risks at the right time to win.

If you try and restrict risk to much you will lose.

Learn to Love Risk!

See risk as opportunity, have the courage of your conviction, trade high odds trades only have the courage of your conviction, trade with discipline and you will be well rewarded and enjoy currency trading success.

By: Kelly Price

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 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