Thursday, January 14, 2010

How To Really Make Money In Forex - PART 2


Since far as I am concern, the real opportunity to make money in Forex trading lies in directional trading. Most often than not, the market moves in a particular direction. A trader should be able to detect and follow the markets direction or trend. This might be a short-term trend or a long-term trend. A careful study of the chart especially higher time-frame chart will reveal the trend. It should be noted that a trend on a lesser time-frame chart could be a mere consolidation on a higher time-frame chart. So, it is advisable to study the market from a holistic point of view.

While much as making the trend your friend is valuable, so is entering and exiting the market. The secret of thriving Forex trading is in entering the market at the optimal point. The optimal point or price is where the trader could trade with the barest least risk while at the same time maximising promising profit. A good trader would not enter the market to make just some pips without taking into the account the risk at stake. A good Forex trader will never play around with his/her resources. He would only trade as the risk level is very low and profit margin high. I would suggest a risk-reward ratio of at least 1:3.

However, it is equally crucial for a trader to know when the party is over and exit the market. A trader should have a definite target in mind as opening a trade and this ought to be set in the trading platform. Many a time, the market may not get to your target; a helpful trader ought to be able to read the charts to envisage this and close the position. I have seen many promising trade go bad at the end of the day. It is needed for a traders to manage their trades by using trailing stop loss to shield some of the gains made. This desire help you to rank in some pips if the market goes critical of your trade. This is why the use of trailing stop loss is inevitable.

Having the exact psychology is dominant in currency trading. You should appreciate the fact that absolute no one can influence the market. So you ought to develop the right mind set that you have done your own part by applying your strategy and the golden rule and it is left for the market to play out. No matter how skilled your trading strategy is, you can never by right every time. There will some bad trades. As a matter of fact, expect it - that is why you cannot trade without stop loss. This will help you to control your emotion. The most valuable thing is to develop a working trading strategy and adopt sound money management. You will positively make a victory trading the foreign exchange market.

In synopsis, the underlying principle of our trading success at forexseed has been revealed in this article. With our trading strategy, we simply trade in the right direction, at the right price with the right stop loss and target coupled with a sound money management plan. If you can apply this principle, you would have joined the 5% of successful Forex trader.

How To Really Make Money In Forex - PART 1

What is Forex? Foreign Exchange popularly renowed as Forex otherwise FX is a market used for the buying and selling of diverse currencies and it is one of the fastest growing avenues to making money online. Transactions on the market are complete through electronic process (Internet and telephone) through an intermediary called the Forex broker. However, major trading 'centers' exists in London, New York, and Tokyo. Other trading 'centers' are: Singapore, Frankfurt, Geneva & Zurich, Paris and Hong Kong. Forex market is made up of various players: individual trader, institutional traders, banks, other financial institutions (investment firms, pension funds and enclosed funds etc), and governments through their Central Banks. An estimated $3.5trillion worth of transactions are being traded daily on the market and it is opened 24/6. Forex market is an unfettered market, making it reachable to everyone and easily exited by its players. This makes it impossible to know the whole number of players in the market at a particular time.

The history of Forex trading may well be traced to the abandonment of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1971, and the US Dollar would no longer be convertible into gold. This led to currencies of foremost industrialised nation becoming more freely, controlled primarily by the forces of supply and demand, which acted in the Foreign Exchange Market. Prices were floated day after day, with volumes, speed and price volatility all increasing during the 1970's, giving increase to new financial instruments, market deregulation and trade liberalisation. In the 1980s, cross-borders capital movements accelerated with the beginning of computers and technology, extending market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones. Turnover on foreign exchange rocketed from about $70 billion a day in the 1980s, to more than $3.5 trillion a day in 2008.

The opportunity to make money on Forex market was shaped since the Bretton Woods Agreement was abandoned in 1971, allowing for changes in prices of currencies as dictated by the forces of demand and supply. Making money in Forex is as plain as buying a currency and holding it for few minutes, hours, days, weeks or months depending on your kind of trading and selling it when it has appreciated in value or vice-versa. This unpretentious act can fetch you more than 100% of your capital in few minutes! But as simple as it sounds, it requires adherence to a golden rule which is our trading principle at forexseed.

The Golden rule of trading Forex successfully is taking place in the right direction, at the right price, with the right stop loss and the right target. Following this golden rule should, however, be with precision. The precision can only be achieved by formulating a profitable equation in which risk is minimised to the barest lowest. Whether or not money will be made in Forex is not the issue because the market is massive and highly liquid; the real issue is how to reduce the risk on your trade since the market is very volatile. You will succeed trading Forex only if you be grateful for this fact and inculcate it in your trading style.

The Forex Trading Basics

Trading is probably as old as mankind itself. It's been there since man learned that he could trade his extra stone knife and five arrow heads for somebody else's nice warm fur blanket. These days we call it bartering, but it's the same process.

And these days we've gotten more sophisticated with our trading. Now we use something called money to stand in for the blankets and the knives, but we're still trading our ability to work and produce something useful in exchange for somebody else's goods that we want.

But now, trading is not only about goods or services, it has grown into something much more than that.

Now we're trading one region's money for another region's money because we've learned that their relative values can vary, sometimes significantly. The first enterprising souls to notice this were the world's first currency traders, taking their profits from the buying and selling of actual banknotes and coins.

But today the whole process has been formalized into what we call the Foreign Exchange (or Forex) market. And it has attracted a lot of action. Up to $3 trillion a day worth of action, in fact.

Forex trading simply involves the buying and/or selling of different foreign currencies in the global market. Many investors today don't consider it enough to have a portfolio stuffed only with bonds, mutual funds and stocks.

One of the strongest appeals of the Forex market is its 24-hour open door. On the world clock, a trading day starts in Sydney, Australia and steps from time zone to time zone around the world until it reaches New York city, the last market to open each day. And it does this five days a week, closing only on the weekend.

Almost every country has its own currency, but on the Forex market, it's mostly the so-called "major" currencies that are traded. These currencies are highly regarded because their issuing countries are politically and economically more stable than most other currencies (most of the time).

The major currencies that are traded in the FX market are the Euro, the British Pound, the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc, as well as the dollars of Canada, Australia and the USA.

Most people, when they first learn of Forex trading, find it all a bit strange. Typically, money is used to buy goods and services, not other types of money. However, it's not really all that hard to understand. Just think of traveling to another country. Once you arrive, you go to a currency exchange or a bank and trade your dollars or Euros to buy ringits or yen. Then when you return home, you do the same in reverse. Sometimes the value has changed between the two exchanges, and you make a small profit or lose a bit.

Well, that's exactly what a Forex trader does, but he does it much more often, and usually with much larger sums of money. Also, he's not doing it because of travel but because he believes he foresees a coming shift in the exchange rate. In other words, he sees an opportunity to make a profit and seizes it. If he knows what he's doing, the profits can be both big and consistent.

So how do you get into the Forex market?

It's surprisingly easy to enter, although it's not quite as easy to rack up steady profits.

You'll need a computer and fast Internet connection. You'll also need seed money to cover your first trades. Minimum deposit requirements vary, but considering the opportunities available, even the higher entry fees are surprisingly low.

You can choose from among many software programs available for logging in to your account and placing your trades. The software also allows you to receive alerts on market conditions, rates, and other important information. The more sophisticated software can recommend when to buy or sell.

Forex trading can be an exciting way to make money, but when done in the wrong way, it can get very expensive. Learning what you're doing before you start trading is crucial. Do your research and your due diligence. Learn what the business is about. Set up a dummy account with a broker and do lots of paper trades so that you fully understand the entire process. Stay with this long enough to become comfortable.

In addition, read comments and advice from other traders... many other traders. It's important to have a strong grasp of the strategies you'll need day-in and day-out. This is a business, and it's important that you treat it with the respect that a sophisticated, highly profitable business deserves.

This mindset of professionalism and responsibility are fundamental to any success you expect to build. Without such a mindset, you're nothing but another gambler and you'll lose more than you win.

Forex trading is more risky than stocks and bonds. But it also holds out the promise of much higher returns. Lightning can strike within seconds or minutes sometimes.

Don't ever forget, ordinary mortals can take part in Forex trading. Just because 98% of all trading is done by huge financial institutions and multinationals, don't think there won't be any "left-overs" for you. People from all walks of life are involved in that other 2% of Forex trading. Consider - just 2% of Forex's daily $3 trillion volume leaves some very large chunks of opportunity up for grabs.

When you go looking for a system or strategy to guide your trades, don't just seize the first one you find. Do your homework. Take advantage of free trial versions of software. Look for customer testimonials. And after carefully considering all the factors involved, you can choose a system for your trading.

Another important factor - check out the brokers and choose one who can effectively help you devise a trading strategy that fits your goals and your personality.

If you truly want to make it big in the Forex market, use all available resources to learn your new business well. The average newcomer to Forex trading is impatient and wants to go straight to the "good stuff." Their impatience assures they'll never get to the good stuff and instead suffer mainly losses and disappointment.

Be determined. Be disciplined. Take the long-term view always. This will instantly set you apart from the losers. Once you have a good, solid knowledge of Forex trading basics, coupled with a well-tested strategy, you have a much better than average chance of making consistent profits in currency trading. After all, isn't that exactly what you're aiming for?

What is Forex?

Present are many benefits and advantages for trading currencies on the Foreign Exchange, better recognized as Forex.

The Forex Exchange was established in 1971. This market grew at a steady rate during the 1970's, but in the 1980's Forex grew from trading $70 billion for every day to over $1.5 trillion every day.

Here are many giant players in Forex, but it is friendly to the individual trader. Every lot traded is worth approximately $100,000. By using leverage, an individual trader is only required to have a $1000 investment in the trade. This is a 100:1 leverage. No other market offers this amount of leverage.

Forex is furthermore an exceptionally liquid market. For the reason that it is so big, you can buy or sell in only seconds where your trade is only a mouse click away. You can furthermore preset an automatic close for your place. This means you don't have to sit and watch your spot, solely place the trade, set an exit point and go what you want.

Forex trades practically 24 hours, 7 days a week. It only closes from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening. This makes it viable to set your own trading hours. If you trade part time and aspire to place your trade at 3am, log into your account and trade. If you are a full time trader, the same applies. No other market lets you pick the hours you trade.

Here are no commissions charged on Forex, only a small transaction fee. This is not doable in any other market, as brokers charge a commission on each trade in all other markets.

Since currencies are traded in pairs, so you are purchasing one currency and selling the other. For instance, if an investor believes the US dollar will advance against the euro, you would purchase the US dollar and sell the euro. It's just that simple.

The possibility for profit is good as there is constantly movement among currencies. Even a small change can outcome in important profits because of the large amount of money involved in the transaction.

Initially and foremost, previous to just opening an account and blindly making a few trades, you need proper training. Study the market, understand the terms used in trading, set up a sample account with a currency broker. Then, and only then, work with real money to trade.