Record Low Manufacturing Pushes Pound Down

The pound was once again hit by negative domestic data which forced the British currency down versus the euro, Swiss franc as manufacturing in the country declined to the lowest level in more than a decade, raising concerns about the British economic future.

Australain Dollar Reaches 8-Week High vs. Yen

The Aussie rose to its mid-August highs against the Japanese yen today as the traders listened to the analysts’ speculations that the central bank has opened a carry trade opportunity with the interest rate hike.

Fundamental Analysis: Study Economics, Trade the markets

Let's begin our brief examination of fundamental analysis by observing that up until a century ago there was only one school of analysis, and there were still a large number of self-made trading millionaires. That one school of analysis, of course, was fundamental analysis. Technical analysis has been with us as an organized discipline since the end of the 19th century, but fundamental analysis has been here since the beginning of economics in the days of Lydians and Persians, at the very least. Those new to online Forex trading can benefit from this little detail as they make their decisions about the merits of the two schools of analysis.
Fundamental analysis aims to predict future market action on the basis of economic data and news. While technical analysis focuses strictly on the price, fundamental analysis studies the economic, political, and social dynamics in an economy in order to reach conclusions about an asset, which is a currency pair in Forex of course. As fundamental analysts are aim is to identify the most powerful forces driving the price action, and then to formulate our strategies on that basis. At different times different factors will acquire greater significance in fundamental analysis. For example, in the first half of 2008 the ruble would be expected to appreciate by fundamental analysts as oil became more expensive, and commodity prices were the most important dynamic behind the prices. In August 2008, however, as war between Georgia and Russia broke out, traders would disregard economic factors and sell off the ruble as political factors (in our case, a war) became the dominant mover of the currency prices.

How To Loose Everything — The Worst Forex Trading Strategy Ever That You Might Be Using

You may be wondering, `Why would David Jenyns write about the worst Forex trading strategy around?`
There are a couple of reasons:
First, to warn you about the worst Forex trading strategy, because you really don`t want to end up using this system.
Second, because once you know the worst possible Forex trading strategy, the one that is designed to maximize your losses over the long run, then you can reverse it to craft a strategy which does the exact opposite.
With what you learn from the worst Forex trading strategy, you will be able to create a system that will produce some tremendous long-term gains. The worst Forex trading strategy I`m referring to, which is simply the worst Forex trading strategy I have ever encountered, is known as averaging down. This horrifying Forex trading strategy is the process of buying more shares that you had previously acquired, as the price drops.
Traders often purchase shares this way in an effort to reduce their initial entry price.

The Sneaky Way To Managing Losses In Your Forex Trading

One of the cardinal rules of Forex trading is to keep your losses small. With small Forex trading losses, you can outlast those times the market moves against you, and be well positioned for when the trend turns around. The proven method to keeping your losses small is to set your maximum loss before you even open a Forex trading position. The maximum loss is the greatest amount of capital that you are comfortable losing on any one trade. With your maximum loss set as a small percentage of your Forex trading float, a string of losses won`t stop you from trading. Unlike the 95% of Forex traders out there who lose money because they haven`t applied good money management rules to their Forex trading system, you will be far down the road to success with this money management rule.
What happens if you don`t set a maximum loss? Let`s look at an example. If I had a Forex trading float of $1000, and I began trading with $100 a trade, it would be reasonable to experience three losses in a row. This would reduce my Forex trading capital to $700. What do you think those 95% of traders say at this time? They would reason, "Well, I`ve already had three losses in a row. So I`m really due for a win now."

Real Forex Traders Learn to Like Losses

As a forex trader you have to learn how to take losses. Period. Don't be a crybaby. Learn how to take losses.
Learning how to take losses is one of the most important lessons you must learn if you want to survive as a trader. Nobody is 100% right all the time.
Losses are inevitable. Even Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods lose sometimes and they're considered the best in their field.
There will be trading streaks where you'll have a number of successful consecutive trades, but that will eventually come to an end you will take a loss.
As that point it's very important not to lose your head, you must remain in control of yourself. Don't have a cow man.
Take a break. Calm down and relax. Take a chill pill dude.
Until you've regained a clear mind and an ability to think logically again, stay out of the market.

Investing in Forex by Joe Clinton

Investing in foreign currencies is a relatively new avenue of investing. There are considerably fewer people are aware of this market than there are people aware of several other avenues of investing. Trading foreign currency, also known as forex, is the most lucrative investment market that exists. There are several factors that make this true among which, successful forex traders earn realistic profits of one hundred plus percent each month. Compared to some of the better known investment markets such as corporate stocks, this is an unheard of return on investment. It's very necessary to mention here that a person who invests in forex must, without exception, make it a point to learn the detailed, but simple strategies and information surrounding the market. This very fact is what makes the difference between successful forex traders and other traders.
A few additional points, which create such powerful leverage for investors within the forex market are: The amount of capital required to begin investing in the market is only three hundred dollars. For the most part, any other investment market is going to demand thousands of dollars of the investor in the beginning. Also, the market offers opportunities to profit regardless what the direction of the market may be; In most commonly known markets investors sit and wait for the market to begin an up trend before entering a trade. Even then, investors, as a rule must sit and wait some more to be able to exit the trade with a nice profit. Given that the forex market produces several up, down, and sideways trends in a single day, it can easily be seen that forex stands head and shoulders above other markets. Additionally there are trading strategies, which are taught that provide for compounded profits; these are profits on top of profits. In addition, free demo accounts are available within the industry of forex trading, which facilitate the sharpening of skills without the risk losing any capital. And the advantage regarding the time factor in trading foreign currency is a very attractive point for any investor. Compared to one of the most sought after avenues of investing, which often requires forty or more hours each week, namely in the real-estate market, the forex market requires a much smaller demand on the investor's time. Forex trading requires approximately ten to fifteen hours each week to earn a full time income. It's easy to see that the advantages and great leverage that exist in the forex market, make it among the most lucrative, time liberating, and easy to enter by far.

Advantages of the Forex Market

When thinking about various investments, there is one investment vehicle that comes to mind. The Forex or Foreign Currency Market has many advantages over other types of investments. The Forex market is open 24 hrs a day, unlike the regular stock markets. Most investments require a substantial amount of capital before you can take advantage of an investment opportunity. To trade Forex, you only need a small amount of capital. Anyone can enter the market with as little as $300 USD to trade a "mini account", which allows you to trade lots of 10,000 units. One lot of 10,000 units of currency is equal to 1 contract. Each "pip" or move up or down in the currency pair is worth a $1 gain or loss, depending on which side of the market you are on. A standard account gives you control over 100,000 units of currency and a pip is worth $10.

The Forex market is also very liquid. When trading Forex you have full control of your capital.

Many other types of investments require holding your money up for long periods of time. This is a disadvantage because if you need to use the capital it can be difficult to access to it without taking a huge loss. Also, with a small amount of money, you can control

Forex traders can be profitable in bullish or bearish market conditions. Stock market traders need stock prices to rise in order to take a profit. Forex traders can make a profit during up trends and downtrends. Forex Trading can be risky, but with having the ability to have a good system to follow, good money management skills, and possessing self discipline, Forex trading can be a relatively low risk investment.

The Forex market can be traded anytime, anywhere. As long as you have access to a computer, you have the ability to trade the Forex market. An important thing to remember is before jumping into trading currencies, is it wise to practice with "paper money", or "fake money." Most brokers have demo accounts where you can download their trading station and practice real time with fake money. While this is no guarantee of your performance with real money, practicing can give you a huge advantage to become better prepared when you trade with your real, hard earned money. There are also many Forex courses on the internet, just be careful when choosing which ones to purchase.

by Heather Redmond

Posted by Ovais at 10:58 AM

Forex Signal Providers, Who Really Need Them?

Forex Signal provider is a professional trader who is dedicated to monitoring the market closely and is able to read the price action and can predict its future move. Based on this prediction, he can confidently generates entry signals and send it to his subscribers.

He apply his technical analysis experience in analyzing the price action on the charts to determine the proper entry price, stop loss price and the take profit price, in order to generate a winning trade with high probability.

FOREX: Starting your own trading

The presented article is intended for those who just turned their eyes toward

Forex. Beginning traders who are still learning the basics of the foreign exchange market may also find something of interest here. While experienced traders won't gain anything worth their time reading this article.
Basically there are 4 steps which can be defined as "must do" for those who wish to start trading Forex. Though, their order is not particularly important, the more important part is their content, to which the great attention and responsibility must be paid.
First step is finding a right Forex broker which will be your main tool in trading. You can have a great strategy, good technical analysis skills or an outstanding intuition but you will eventually fail if you choose a bad broker. A good Forex broker is one that will not still your money, will be doing real trading with your positions, supports your preferred deposit/withdraw methods and has fast and helpful user support service. It is nice if a broker is registered with some sort of governmental financial commission. One of the most important aspects of the broker is it's trading platform — but for a new trader this part is not so important as for expert traders. Still you'll probably want to trade with some powerful and informative platform as a MetaTrader or its analogs. For new traders the more important is a demo account which can be used to trade virtual money while you are training your Forex skills. If you are new trader, start only with the demo account! Don't lose your money on your first mistakes!
Second step is learning the basics of Forex trading. If you already found your Forex broker, you will easily get all information from its website or user support. There are many articles and websites dedicated to Forex basics in the World Wide Web. All you need to do is just google for "forex trading basics" and you'll find everything you wanted and even more. This step shouldn't be underestimated, because trying to trade without even understanding how the market works is not only very risky, it will also become boring very soon.

Make Money with Currency Trading

For those unfamiliar with the term, Forex (Foreign Exchange market), refers to an international exchange market where currencies are bought and sold. The Foreign Exchange Market that we see today began in the 1970's, when free exchange rates and floating currencies were introduced. In such an environment only participants in the market determine the price of one currency against another, based upon supply and demand for that currency.
Forex is a somewhat unique market for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few markets in which it can be said with very few qualifications that it is free of external controls and that it cannot be manipulated. It is also the largest liquid financial market, with trade reaching between 1 and 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. With this much money moving this fast, it is clear why a single investor would find it near impossible to significantly affect the price of a major currency. Furthermore, the liquidity of the market means that unlike some rarely traded stock, traders are able to open and close positions within a few seconds as there are always willing buyers and sellers.
Another somewhat unique characteristic of the Forex money market is the variance of its participants. Investors find a number of reasons for entering the market, some as longer term hedge investors, while others utilize massive credit lines to seek large short term gains. Interestingly, unlike blue-chip stocks, which are usually most attractive only to the long term investor, the combination of rather constant but small daily fluctuations in currency prices, create an environment which attracts investors with a broad range of strategies.
How Forex Works

Forex Technical Analysis - A Secret to Profitable Forex Trading

Forex Technical Analysis or chart analysis is a process of forecasting price movements by analyzing market data like, historical price trends, volumes, open interest, and so on. Forex Technical analysis is based on the principal of 'history repeats itself'; however, it does not result in absolute predictions about the future.
Instead, observations made through Forex chart analysis will help Forex traders and investors predict and anticipate what is likely to happen to prices over a period of time.
Before this jargon makes you nervous and you develop cold feet, let me assure you that anybody can learn how to day trade in Forex. You would be quite surprised to see the kind of people who make a living, forex trading the market. I am the biggest example I know.
Till about 7 or 8 years back I had no clue about Forex. But over time I learnt the skill and now can confidently say that I am making a better than decent living as a forex trader and enjoy the challenges and comforts of forex Forex trading immensely. I trade in the cafes, on holidays, on the mountains and absolutely whenever and wherever inspiration strikes!

Forex The Future Investment

Posted by FOREX NEWS

There are many many advantages over the various other ways of investing. First of all it is a 24 hr market, except for weekends of course. You have the US market then the european and then the Asian. One of the great times to trade is during the over lapping periods. The USA and european overlap between 5am & 9am eastern and the Euro & Asian between 11pm & 1am eastern. Usually the busiest time and best to trade.
The is also the risk factor for the accounts. With futures and options you can get margin calls that can wipe you out. If you get caught in a bad trade not only do you lose the money in the account but you may have to come up with alot more from your pocket. It can be very risking. But not in Forex. Worst case senerio you could lose whats in you account. But you would have to do something really stupid. Like making a big trade on a Fundamental day and leave it alone. If market takes a bad move and you weren't there. OOOPS. But That wouldn't happen with a smarth trader.

8 FOREX TRADING MISTAKES THAT COULD RESULT TO MARGIN CALL

1 IGNORANT OF NEWS EVENTS
Most ignorant technical traders often have there trading account badly damaged if not wiped out during news event releases. I therefore recommend that you get familiar with economic calendars even if you do not like trading them.

2 OVER TRADING.
Most ignorant traders often over trade in any of the following ways: opening more positions than they should, not knowing when they have exceeded there trading limits. I recommend trading only one position at a time as a beginner.


3 NO TRADING SYSTEM
One of the worst things that can happen to a trader is to chase after pips or dollars without a proven system. To succeed in trading you need a proven and tested decent trading system.

4 NO TRADING PLAN
A plan gives you the road map to your destination. When you have no plan, you will surely not know when you miss the way.

5 NOT KNOWING WHERE TO PLACE STOP LOSS ORDER And have high probability for profits
It is one thing to place stop loss orders, it is another thing to know where to place them in order to avoid being stopped out before price resumes in your analyzed irend and entry direction.

6 NOT KNOWING HOW TO MONITOR MARGIN ACCOUNT.
If you do not know when your account is running into margin call, certainly you will not know when to cut your losses..

7 NOT KNOWING HOW TO IDENTIFY A TREND AND RIDE WITH IT.
You trading system should be able to identify new market trends and , trend corrections and trend reversal.

8 ALLOWING MAXIMUM DRAW DOWN ON AN ACCOUNT
When your account is drawn down by say 50% in one trade, you should know that it will not take you a profit of 50% to return to your previous balance. It will rather take you 100% profit in your remaining balance before the account was drawn down.
The above 8 mistakes put together can result in a margin cal.

Intro To Forex Options

Forex options trading can be a great alternative to trading in the spot fx market. It is often used to head physical currency positions. We have created a comprehensive guide to forex options in addition to the basic information listed below.

Types of Forex Options

1. Traditional American Option: It can be used at any point until the expiration date
2. Traditional European Option: It can only be used at the point of expiration
3. Forex Spot Option: SPOT options are very similar to traditional options. The main difference is that the forex trader will first give a scenario (UER/USD will break 1.4000 in 2 weeks). The trader pays a premium, and then receives cash if his scenario occurs. SPOT trading also converts the option to cash automatically if your trade is successful.

Determining an Options Price

An option premium is determined by several factors including:

1. Time Value: In general, the longer the time period of the option, the higher the price you have to pay as time value shows the uncertainty of market movements
2. Interest Rate Differential: A change in the interest rates has an impact on the relationship between the strike price and the current market value.
3. Volatility: High volatility increases the probability that the market price will hit the strike price in a certain timeframe. Usually, the more volatile the currency, the higher the premium will be.

For more details about forex options, please visit our comprehensive guide. And remember, trading currency options offers a great alternative to or addition to trading currency in the spot market

Forex Fundamental Analysis

The two primary approaches of analyzing Forex markets are technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Fundamental analysis comprises the examination of economic indicators, asset markets and political considerations when evaluating a nation’s currency in terms of another. The focus of fundamental analysis lies on the economic, social and political forces that drive supply and demand. There is no single set of beliefs that guide forex fundamental analysis, yet most fundamental analysts look at various macroeconomic indicators such as economic growth rates, interest rates, inflation, and unemployment

Forex Software - Choosing the Best

When it comes to forex trading the forex software you choose is essential. There are so many forex trading companies all competing for your business that choosing the right forex software can be quite a difficult task. Most of the forex software products available offers live online forex trading platforms but what other components are vital when it comes to your forex software.

Forex Technical Analysis

The difference between forex technical and forex fundamental analysis is that forex technical analysis ignores fundamental factors and is applied only to the price action of the market. Forex technical analysis primarily consists of a variety of forex technical studies, each of which can be interpreted to predict market direction or to generate buy and sell signals. The technical analysis works by correlating the results and moves of current markets to create a short-term outlook for currencies. The rolling data that is produced throughout the trading day creates the interest in the markets and informs traders of the strong markets to back.

Stock Market Leadership

Stocks that act well while the Market is selling off may give you a clue to new Leadership

Over the past few years many investors have given up on the market especially when another round of selling has occurred. However this is exactly the wrong time to give up on the market because when the market reverses to the upside those stocks which had been acting well during the sell off may become the next big winners.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about. Let us compare the charts of HITK and USNA with the chart of the S&P 500 this past Summer and Fall when the market was selling off.

Looking at HITK first shows that this past Summer and Fall while the S&P 500 was dropping (points A to B) HITK was actually rising (points C to D) while completing the right side of a 1 1/2 year Cup. HITK then traded sideways for 4 weeks while developing a Handle (point E) and then broke out in late October. After breaking out HITK nearly doubled in price over the next few months before topping out in early January.

Now let us compare USNA with the S&P 500. USNA formed a 2 1/2 year Cup from the early part of 2000 until June of 2002. When the S&P 500 began to sell off last Summer and Fall USNA basically traded sideways during that period of time while developing a 4 month Handle from July through September. Then when the market made a bottom in early October and began to rally USNA broke out of its Handle on huge volume (point F). After breaking out in early October USNA then doubled in price over the next three months.

When Investors should Short a Stock

Shorting a stock is the exact opposite of buying a stock. When you short a stock you are hedging your bets that the stock will go down in price unlike when you buy a stock and believe the price will go up.

Many investors try and short a stock way to early as they believe the stock price is way overvalued. However many times a stock that is overvalued in price may become even more overvalued especially when the stock market is in an extended upward move. The proper time to short a stock is after it has encountered its first major sell off and bounced which sets the stage for a second stronger move to the downside.

Let’s look a specific example form the Spring of 2003. COKE made a strong run from July of 2002 until January of 2003 and gained nearly 75% over a 6 month period.

After peaking in January COKE then sold off but found support near its 38.2% Fibonacci Retracement Level near $59 (point A) and then preceded to rally over the next few weeks on low volume (point B).

Industry Group Relative Strength

The Importance of Industry Group Relative Strength

Knowing which Industry Groups the Institutional Money is flowing into and out of is very important to recognize. If your invested in Stocks that reside in low Relative Strength Industry Groups then they may remain poor performers until that Industry Group shows signs of increasing Relative Strength. Sometimes it can take many months or even a few years before an Industry Group will finally begin to show signs of life.

Lets look at a couple of Industry Groups over the past few years and see how they compare based on Relative Strength and Price Performance. The Gold and Silver Sector has been very strong since the first of the year which has been reflected in its Industry Group Relative Strength and Year to Date price Performance.

Notice how this Industry Group was strong in the Fall of 2001 but gradually became out of favor in November and December of 2001 as the Groups Relative Strength dropped to 8 (highlighted in blue). However things began to change by January as the Group’s Relative Strength began to increase and has been very strong since February with values consistently in the 90’s (highlighted in red).