Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Moving Average Convergence Divergence

The MACD is a great trending indicator that can be used for many daytrading strategies. A bullish market is indicated by the faster-moving average crossing the slower-moving average on the way up. A bearish market is indicated by the faster-moving average crossing the slower-moving average on the way down. On top of that, the MACD has different periods for the fast- and slow-moving averages. The typical default MACD periods are 8, 17, 9 or 12, 26, 9.
The first type of buy and sell signal you get from the MACD is called a breakout. This breakout is signified by the faster-moving average crossing the slower-moving average. If you were to examine a MACD chart, you would see a few places where this is happening. Like we talked about earlier, when the faster-moving average line crosses the slower-moving average line on the way up, you’ve got a bullish signal. Conversely, when the faster-moving average line crosses the slower-moving average line on the way down, you’ve got a bearish signal. That’s a breakout. There are some traders who will enter or exit a trade based when the line crosses, however, keep in mind that by doing so, you could limit potential profits and take on additional losses.

The second type of buy and sell signal we can get from the MACD is to test for support and resistance. When you’re day trading stocks, you might be told to trade on the cross, but here is something you can add to your strategy instead of just blindly trading at the cross. What you can do is check to see if the indicator lines are moving in the same direction and test the indicator line as being a support or resistance line after the cross.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Weekly Trading Update - March 30 - April 3 2009


I thought last week was a hugely profitable week but this one has been even better. There were some fantastic moves on all the major pairs and luckily I managed to trade most of them.

There were four trades in total - two on the GBP/USD pair and one on the USD/JPY pair and FTSE 100. There was also a nice upwards crossover on the EUR/USD pair earlier today but there was no pull-back so I wasn't able to get a good entry point.

Let's start by discussing the two GBP/USD trades. After last week's falls I was half expecting a rebound, particularly as the daily Supertrend is still positive, and this is exactly what happened.

The first crossover, on Tuesday evening, looked like it was going to be a false crossover at the time and I exited for a loss of 45 points, but the subsequent crossover turned out to be a good one.

I entered another long position, this time at 1.4370, and later closed out half the position for 50 points and let the other half run, after moving my stop loss to break-even. I was targeting 1.45 initially but I noticed that a buy signal had just been generated on Marketclub's trade triangles at 1.4376 that same day so I thought this was an excellent sign and therefore decided to hold out for 1.46. Thankfully this target was hit the following day to give me a nice profit of around 230 points for this half of the trade (although I could have got another 200 points if I had held on longer).

Another good set-up took place on Tuesday on the USD/JPY pair. The crossover took place overnight but there was a nice pull-back early that morning and I managed to enter a long position at 98.10. I later closed half the position for 40 points and closed the remaining half as soon as it hit 99.00 because I couldn't see it going much higher as this has proven to be a tough area of resistance in recent weeks.

Another good position presented itself on the FTSE. I was kind of expecting a mini-rally on the world's stock markets anyway going into the G20 summit, so I had full confidence in the trade once the EMAs crossed upwards.

After the crossover took place on the 4 hour chart I used the 2 hour chart to get a good entry point and went long at 3875. I closed half the position for 50 points with the intention of running the other half of the trade up to 4000 but unfortunately after moving my stop loss to break-even, I was stopped out the following day (annoyingly before the big stock market rallies that followed the G20 summit meeting).

Overall though it was a hugely profitable week. I even had two 30 point winners trading the USD/JPY yesterday when it failed to break through the 100 mark, so it couldn't have been much better.

If you would like full details of my 4 hour trading strategy, you can get it for free by filling in the form above and subscribing to my newsletter.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Successful Forex Day Trading Strategies

The majority of Forex Trading Systems that are used by beginner traders are focused towards short term trading strategies, which aim to take small risk and promise to pile up massive profits and regular income. So we will look at how to succeed.

The major challenges that Forex day trader face are the following:

There are millions and millions of individuals will all different views, skills, knowledge, who think very differently so what Forex Trading System can predict reliably what will happen in the next minute, next hour or next day?

Lets be honest not one of them can reliably predict this.

From experience this is simply the silliest way to be trading forex, with all of the differences and variables it is impossible to know what is going to happen in the coming minutes, hours, days, and here is why.

Fact: All volatility in short term time frames is random and you cannot get the odds on your side, you can't win long term it is as simple as that!

Most of the forex day trading strategies, systems that have ever been purchased have ever made any really gains, sometimes random luck will see people profit. Most of them show back tests of the past, this is easy to show positive as you already know the outcome and can adjust the test accordingly.

Most of the systems are just incredibly brilliant sales pitches that work on peoples greed, and create a good story like Mary Poppins.

All is not lost you can win Best Forex Broker, but it is not as simple as turning on computer and putting in a program, it does take some skill and knowledge. You need to get the odds stacked in your favor and one strategy to be able to do this is through swing trading or long term trend following. Remember trend is your friend, so if you follow your system it can mean big profits if you have a great forex system and have the knowledge to be able to do it.

Do not make the mistake of day trading or forex scalping, get the right Forex education and trade long term and you can soon be enjoying currency trading success to get more Free Education feel free to visit the CFD FX REPORT they can provide you with valuable education lessons and help you find the Best Forex Broker in the Market.

Happy Trading

Technical Indicators In Forex Trading - Understanding Their Limitations

Forex traders often look at indicators such as Bollinger Bands, Pivot Points, MACD, Moving Averages and the such to help them determine where to enter or exit trades. Using technical indicators is fine, however many traders overemphasize their importance or just plain misunderstand them.

Many forex traders think that they can simply download an indicator and then mechanically apply it into their trading and do so profitably. This is just a plain illusion. Successful traders realize that there is a lot more to using indicators than just asking them to generate buy/sell signals or pin-point exact entry points. Technical indicators for them represent just one part of their trading strategy.

Letбпs take a look at some of the reasons why you should not put all your faith into those sometimes confusing little indicators.

Take Moving Averages (MAбпs) for example. They are "supposed" to show the direction of the trend. The most common and often used are the simple 200day MA, 100day MA, 50day MA, 35day MA and the 21day MA but they are only valid on daily graphs. Some forex day traders say that a good signal is when the 50day MA is crossed by the 13day MA and that when this occurs you should trade in the direction of the cross.

The problem with this (apart from the fact that it only works on daily graphs) is that these types of б░crossesб▒ do not occur often enough for traders to exploit them. This can often lead to a situation where traders are seeing what they thought was a cross now reverse and uncross. Even worse, it can lead to a situation where day traders are "chasing" and trying to anticipate a cross. If you are doing this, you are distancing yourself from the market which you are trying to trade. Not only are you trying to guess what the price is going to do next but you are guessing what the indicator, based on the prices, is going to do next.

Other problems with technical indicators involve issues with the quotes and prices given to you by your broker. Forex brokers are market makers and as such different brokers will give you different quotes and prices at a specific point in time. Naturally, a different price could lead to a situation where different traders, trading the same market have the same indicators giving them different responses. Thatбпs how arbitrary technical indicators can be.

Finally, a lot of these technical indicators were developed by people trading the stock market. With the growth of computers and software packages that incorporate these indicators, technical analysis has become very popular and spread to other markets such as the forex market. What currency traders should be aware of however, is that as these indicators were developed in a time where real time information did not exist. As such, the limitations of technical analysis becomes even more exaggerated in forex trading иC not only is technical analysis an interpretation of historical events but it becomes even more so in the forex market, a market moved by real time events.

Conclusion:

Successful forex traders understand the limitations of technical indicators and realize that technical analysis should incorporate just one part of their trading strategy. In a recent international Forex market event visited by the major banks and institutions - the main players that influence the foreign currency market иC a survey was done to better understand what analysis they use. The results might be surprising to some tarders. The survey showed that a mere 26% use technical analysis and indicators compared to 41% who said they use fundamental analysis.

Stock Market Money Management Skills

Let's start by saying: You can't be afraid to take a loss. The investors that are the most successful in the stock market are the people who are willing to lose money.

Having a strategy and/or a specific philosophy is an excellent starting point to investing but it won't mean a thing if you can't manage your money. As I have said a million times: without cash, you can't invest.

Most investors spend far too much time trying to figure out the exact pivot point or perfect entry strategy and too little time on money management. The most important aspect to investing is cutting your losses, 90% of the battle is won by protecting your capital, regardless of the strategy.

Most successful money managers only make money 50-55% of time. This means that successful individual investors are going to be wrong about half the time. Since this is the case, you better be ready to accept your losses and cut them while they are small. By cutting losses quickly and allowing your winners to ride the up-trend, you will consistently finish the year with black ink.

Here are some methods that can help you with money management:

Set a predetermined stop loss (you must know where to cut the loss before it happens ¡°this will help control emotions when the time comes)." A 7-10% stop loss insurance policy is best. Tighten the stop loss range in down markets and loosen the range in strong bull markets.

Establish smaller positions if your account has had a recent losing streak (the losses may be telling you important information such as a critical turning point, it may be time to sell and get out).

If you think you are wrong or if the market is moving against you, cut your position in half ¡°this is the best insurance policy on Wall Street."

If you cut your position in half two times, you will be left with only 25% of the original position ¡°the remaining stock is no longer a big deal as your risk is very low."

If you sell out of a trade prematurely based on a minor correction, you can always reestablish the position again.

Initial position sizing plays a big part in money management ¡°don't take on too big of a position relative to your portfolio size. Novice investors should never use their entire account on one trade no matter how small the account

Know when you would like to get out of a position after a considerable profit has been made. Signs of topping could be a climax run, a spinning top or higher highs on lower volume.

Finally, cut any trade that doesn't act the way you originally analyzed it to act.

With these guidelines, you will be well on your way to solid money management skills that will help you profit in Wall Street year in and year out. Always remember, you are going to take-on losing trades at least half of the time. This is a tough concept to accept for most novice investors but it a fact. If you don't cut losses, you won't be investing for very long as you will run out of cash and the desire to continue to invest.

FOREX Fundamental Analysis

Most FOREX traders rely on analysis to make plan their trading strategy. This article will discuss fundamental analysis. The other common form of analysis is technical analysis. After reading this article you should have a better understanding of fundamental analysis and how to use it as part of your FOREX strategy.

Political and economic changes are the basis of fundamental analysis. These can frequently affect currency prices. Traders that take advantage of fundamental analysis will gather their information from a variety of news sources. They are looking for information about unemployment forecasts, political ideologies, economic policies, inflation and growth rates.

Fundamental analysis will provide you with an overview of currency movements and a broad picture of the economic conditions. Most traders then will combine their fundamental analysis with technical analysis to plot actual entrance and exit points as well as confirming the information provided by their fundamental analysis.

Just like most markets the FOREX market is controlled by supply and demand. Many economic factors can affect the supply and demand but the two most critical ones are interest rates and the strength of the economy. The over all strength of the economy is affected by changes in the GDP, trade balances and the amount of foreign investment.

There are many economic indicators released by government and academic sources. These indicators are usually released on a monthly basis but will sometimes be released weekly. These are pretty reliable measures of economic health and are closely followed by all traders.

There are many indicators that are released but some of the most important and commonly followed are : interest rates, international trade, CPI, durable goods orders, PPI, PMI and retail orders.

Interest Rates - can cause a currency to either strengthen or weaken depending on the direction of movement. In some cases high interest rates will attract foreign money, however high interest rates will frequently cause stock market investors to sell of their portfolios. They do this believing that the higher cost of borrowing money will adversely affect many companies. If enough investors sell of their holdings in can cause a downturn in the market and negatively affect the economy.

Which of these two affects will take place depends on many complex factors, but there is usually an agreement among economic observers as to how the current change in interest rates will affect the general economy and the price of the currency.

International Trade - If there is a trade deficit (more items imported than exported) it is usually considered a negative indicator. When there is a trade deficit it means that more money is leaving the country to buy foreign goods than is entering the country and this can have a devaluing effect on the currency. Usually though trade imbalances are already factored into the market consideration. If a country normally operates with a trade deficit then there should not be an affect on the currency price. The currency price will normally only be effected by trade differences when the deficit is greater than the market expected.

The measurement of the cost of living (CPI) and the cost of producing goods (PPI) are a couple of other important indicators. You should also watch the GDP which measures the value of all the goods produced in a country and the M2 Money Supply which measures the total amount of currency for a country.

In the US alone there are 28 major indicators, these can have a strong effect on the financial market and should be closely watched. This information can be found many places on the internet and is provided by many brokers.

Forex Brokers - Make the Right Choice

With the modern times of mobile communication, it is not unusual to find hidden in a home a trader or a broker who is doing their Forex Trading from the comfort of their own home. Today to be a forex trader all that you require is a computer setup to multi screen investing servers, the number of the casual or evens serious home based forex traders has grown a great deal of late and this is because of the internet and the popularity of certain commodity trades.

Today, this article will discuss about the Forex market, and how you can find a great online Forex broker when you do decide to jump on the wagon and become a Forex Trader. Most of the Forex Brokers today offer the ability to be able to trade online, forex trade over the phone, or forex trade from you mobile phone.

With the growth of the virtual Forex Trader, we have seen an explosion of online forex brokerages on the internet in the almost predictable economic elastic demand and supply. Today we are seeing more individuals turning to commodity trading as a viable source of second or even third income, brokerages and financial firms all over the world have responded by extending their services to the modern technology world. Before you choose which firm and which broker to choose, there are few things you need to do.

First step is to find the black list of online Forex brokers and those that have a bad reputation. There are a few collectives that collect a list of names of individuals and companies (including all their aliases and permutations) and place them upon a compiled list for everyone to refer to. If that is not enough, you must also check your local finance and governing body and run a list of potential brokerages and companies you want to join with them - you never know what you might find. Deal with well established companies that have strong regulation. Recently the CFD FX REPORT has researched all the online Forex Brokers and have come up with who they believe to the Best Forex Broker.

Do not be swept off your feet by a long list of credentials if you do not know what they mean or where they even came from in the first place. Be wary of customer testimonials that are written on the website itself, as these can doctored or fabricated.

Use a company that has great references, and has good client testimonials. Check also for longevity, the more years a broker and his company have been around, the more chances that it is a legitimate and viable source of investing advice. Always be careful where you place your money and it is very, very important that you choose a good online broker that is both legitimate and has the needs of your finances at heart. You must feel comfortable with this broker, remember a bad broker can make you BROKER.

The CFD FX REPORT is a real time trading tool that offers clients free trading reports, with trading ideas, stock market and forex market education as well helping them with. Also if you are looking for a Forex Broker, then feel free to visit our broker section as we recently reviewed all the forex brokers and have found the best on the market.

CFD Broker - Make the Choice - Not A Mistake

With the modern times of mobile communication, it is not unusual to find hidden in a home a trader or a broker who is doing their CFD Trading from the comfort of their own home. Today to be a CFD trader all that you require is a computer setup to multi screen investing servers, the number of the casual or evens serious home based CFD traders has grown a great deal of late and this is because of the internet and the popularity of certain commodity trades.

Today, this article will discuss about the CFD market, and how you can find a great online CFD broker when you do decide to jump on the wagon and become a CFD Trader. Most of the CFD Brokers today offer the ability to be able to trade online, CFD trade over the phone, or CFD trade from you mobile phone.

With the growth of the virtual CFD Trader, we have seen an explosion of online CFD brokerages on the internet in the almost predictable economic elastic demand and supply. Today we are seeing more individuals turning to commodity trading as a viable source of second or even third income, brokerages and financial firms all over the world have responded by extending their services to the modern technology world. Before you choose which firm and which broker to choose, there are few things you need to do.

First step is to find the black list of online CFD brokers and those that have a bad reputation. There are a few collectives that collect a list of names of individuals and companies (including all their aliases and permutations) and place them upon a compiled list for everyone to refer to. If that is not enough, you must also check your local finance and governing body and run a list of potential brokerages and companies you want to join with them - you never know what you might find. Deal with well established companies that have strong regulation. Recently the CFD FX REPORT has researched all the online CFD Brokers and have come up with who they believe to the Best CFD Broker.

Do not be swept off your feet by a long list of credentials if you do not know what they mean or where they even came from in the first place. Be wary of customer testimonials that are written on the website itself, as these can doctored or fabricated.

Use a company that has great references, and has good client testimonials. Check also for longevity, the more years a broker and his company have been around, the more chances that it is a legitimate and viable source of investing advice. Always be careful where you place your money and it is very, very important that you choose a good online broker that is both legitimate and has the needs of your finances at heart. You must feel comfortable with this broker, remember a bad broker can make you BROKER.

Will I get rich from Forex? Definitely! Are you ready to learn?

The Foreign Exchange market (also referred to as the Forex or FX market) is the largest financial market in the world, with over $1.5 trillion changing hands every day.

That is larger than all US equity and Treasury markets combined!

Unlike other financial markets that operate at a centralized location (i.e. stock exchange), the worldwide Forex market has no central location. It is a global electronic network of banks, financial institutions and individual traders, all involved in the buying and selling of national currencies. Another major feature of the Forex market is that it operates 24 hours a day, corresponding to the opening and closing of financial centers in countries all across the world, starting each day in Sydney, then Tokyo, London and New York. At any time, in any location, there are buyers and sellers, making the Forex market the most liquid market in the world.

Traditionally, access to the Forex market has been made available only to banks and other large financial institutions. With advances in technology over the years, however, the Forex market is now available to everybody, from banks to money managers to individual traders trading retail accounts. The time to get involved in this exciting, global market has never been better than now. Open an account and become an active player in the largest market on the planet.

The Forex Market is very different than trading currencies on the futures market, and a lot easier, than trading stocks or commodities.


The FOREX plays a vital role in the world economy and there will always be a tremendous need for the exchange of currencies. International trade increases as technology and communication increases. As long as there is international trade, there will be a FOREX market. The FX market has to exist so a country like Germany can sell products in the United States and be able to receive Euros in exchange for US Dollar.

So you know how it is financially rewarding if you traded successfully in the forex market every single day. Whether a bad economy or not, it has made millions taking advantage of the flactuations in the market. And the good thing is that trading is now available to all of us, having internet access and right knowledge creates wealth.

Ok, ok , i got your point, how do I start trading in forex?

Well, forex is like any other investment or business, it has signifitcant amount of loss sometime.But it is better than having a job because you can work for so little time, yet earn so much more. There is a career waiting for people who are willing to exert their effor, time and mind to learning and benefiting from the Currency Market.

It is important for traders to have consistent learning in the market, and not just giving that role of trading to their brokers. The good thing is there are many learning modules out there available through the online universe. But not all guarantees 100% success on trading. Of course no person or product can be dumb enough to guarantee your success. It also demands effort on your part. A factor you should find when purchasing or looking for information is its reputation and quality.

Poor learning = higher risks and losses
Quality learning = happy trader

One highly credited Stock and Forex Investor, Bill Poulos has made some home study courses that has helped made millions of successful traders around the world. And in one of his courses, Forex Profit Accelerator, is not more of a study home course, it is more of a learning system.


Be it new in trading or experienced, constant learning is what makes wealth, at times today, " the more you know, the more money you make". And a learning system like the Forex Profit Accelerator can surely give you all the support you need to be successful in Currency trading.