FOREX FORECAST FOR 2011

This big-picture perspective is from the Easy Forex dealing room on how we see foreign exchange currency markets developing over the coming 12 months. Please remember it is one perspective only and should be read in the context of the disclaimer at the end of the commentary.  
                                                                                                                             
As we roll into the fresh year we expect a continuation of positive fundamental data from the US, indicating a stable and sustainable US economic recovery. We believe the US dollar will strengthen tremendously on safe haven demand as the euro zone battles with sovereign default risks, aggressive austerity measures and uncertain European solidarity. Risk aversion spurred by euro zone problems will feed into the price of gold, the US dollar (USD) and the Swiss franc (CHF).

We estimate that gold will trade by the end of  in a range of $1550 – $1650 as global risk aversion remains elevated and the dollar/yen (USD/JPY) will trade around a 93 – 97 range.  Although the Japanese yen is traditionally expected to strengthen during global risk aversion we expect the Bank of Japan to openly intervene at the 80 levels and that the size of the Japanese deficit will cost a shadow on the yen’s safe haven status.

Our Euro/dollar (EUR/USD) expectation by the end of is to trade between 1.20 – 1.25. The Swiss franc strength will mostly be expressed through short EUR/CHF trades and we expect the pair to trade to new all-time lows between 1.23 – 1.28.

In 2011 we believe that China’s economy will overheat and result in aggressive interest and reserve ratio tightening cycles. This will eventually lead to a Chinese revaluation of the yuan, which should improve China’s relationship with the US, help rebalance global trade and combat local Chinese inflation.
We believe that Japan will benefit if China revalues as global rebalancing will allow Japanese exports to become more competitive. Higher Japanese corporate profit margins and large unsustainable budget deficits will result in Japanese corporations looking for higher returns in US higher-yielding assets. The US dollar is also likely to strengthen on the back of Chinese yuan revaluation as the global rebalancing trends start to materialize.

In Europe we believe the focus on the sovereign debt markets will intensify. The fundamental structure of the European Union and the common currency will be questioned as European leaders are unlikely to act unilaterally. We believe that the Euro zone will continue with its piecemeal approach to solving individual country issues. This will pressurize the Euro as investors will continue to worry about potential defaults by member countries in the future. We feel that such an approach will heighten the risk of an EU breakup as leaders fail to meet eye to eye and economic policies diverge. Further more we expect that Greece, Spain and Portugal will not meet their deficit reduction targets. This may result in a vicious debt spiral for peripheral Europe where any savings made from austerity measures will be paid in higher interest rates demanded by the bond markets. Europe will be faced with high unemployment and weak economic growth which should persist well into the year end.

The Australian economy was one of the few major economies that narrowly missed a recession during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.  It was also one of the first countries to start creating jobs following the crisis and the first major economy to aggressively hike interest rates to 4.75% following the crisis so as to prevent price pressures.

Australia is a major commodities exporter and has benefited greatly from China’s double digit growth and demand for recourses. We expect Australia will continue to benefit from China’s huge appetite for commodities and drive growth to 3-4% in 2011. We believe that there is a large possibility of a Chinese yuan revaluation which we feel will slightly dampen the demand for Australian commodities. Australia is also embarking on a self prescribed fiscal consolidation plan over the next few years.

Given both these factors we feel that the current level of interest rates in Australia will remain on hold for 2011. We believe the Australian dollar/US dollar (AUD/USD) is actually trading at its high and will consolidate in a trading range between 1.01 – 0.91 into 2011.

TRADING EXPECTATION RANGE 2011

	End of 2nd Quarter (2011)	End of 4th Quarter (2011)
EURUSD	1.2000 – 1.2500	1.0000 – 1.0500
USDJPY	93.00 – 97.00	100.00 – 105.00
EURCHF	1.2300 – 1.2800	1.0500 – 1.1000
XAUUSD	$1550 – $1652	$1800 – $1902
AUDUSD	1.0100 – 0.9100	1.0100 – 0.9100
USDZAR	6.2000 – 6.4000	6.9000 – 7.1000
EURZAR	8.6000 – 8.7000	8.0000 – 8.2000
GBPUSD	1.4200 – 1.3700	1.3500 – 1.3000
GBPZAR	10.0000 – 9.5000	8.5000 – 8.0000
AUDZAR	6.4000 – 6.3500	6.10000 – 6.0500

The World's Largest Market - Forex Trading

For a beginner, any information on Forex trading is useful. This market is the biggest in terms of international currency trading that works round the clock on business days. The best people in this trade are people who deal with currency exchanges all the time such as bankers and stock brokers.

The main concept of Forex trading is simple. It has a buyer and a seller. The buyer purchases the currency they need for their own business whereas the seller exchanges their currency for one that is more valuable. This simple concept is one of the biggest contributing factors in regular trading and it is therefore a tricky trade.

 The main thing in this business is that the valuation of a currency is forever dynamic. Since they work in pairs, one has to constantly look out for changes in that area. These changes are largely impacted by the debt around the world hence a birds eye view on what is going on around the world is imperative in this trade. The benefits of Forex trading are vast because one can exchange any currency for any other currency, with anyone in the world at any point of time. Hence the number of buyers and sellers is guaranteed to be over a million, any time that you need to carry out a transaction.

For the business man there are advantages galore. The volatile nature of the market makes it possible to reap benefits at any time and time tested strategies can be employed to mitigate risks. Unlike the stock market, here one can make a profit, irrespective of whether the market is on the rise or on the fall. However, just like all other businesses, Forex trading too has its fair share of risks and so long as you have set limits and margins for loss, your recovery time during bad phases will be fast.

The Forex market trades international currency and is one of the most active and largest markets in the world averaging over one trillion dollars per day. This investing medium is a way for businesses, individuals and others to make a profit using various currency prices. Investors determine which currency has the potential to increase in value and which currency decreases in value then trade in pairs to accomplish their investing goals.

Investing in market forex provides major benefits to the small and large investors. Forex investing involve investing in nations versus investing in the market, which deals with businesses. Forex offers its investors 24 hour access. Since it deals with different countries, it is not affected by holidays. Thus, if one market closes another one is opened, the market on the other hand does not provide 24 hours access and closes on major holidays.

When someone chooses Forex as their investing venue, the investor should take the time to study the country they are interested in investing. This is to make sure they make a consensus decision. A stock market investor should research the company as well. The drawback to investing in the Forex market unlike the stock market, it is not widely known like the markets.

Investing in the stock market and Forex makes a great investment portfolio. The stock market has the potential of creating size-able profit, but it is not without risk. However, the market when use as long term investing tool is one of the best ways to develop wealth. Its history has shown double digits gain when users invest long term versus short term.

Another difference between Forex investing and stock market investing Forex market allows its investors to liquidate their funds into cash. This is accomplished without any difficulty regardless to the country currency. This is a great benefit when you need your money immediately.

Regardless to what investing venue you choose, it is imperative to take the time to research and familiarize yourself with the pros and cons of using either the stock market or Forex. Since, this will ensure that you will have a successful investing portfolio.

Forex Market Hours

Why Forex trading market is open for 24 hours?

Now as you know that Forex trading market is open for 24 hours then you must be trying to find the reasons of this fact. This global market involves participation of the traders from all countries. Opening and closing time in different countries are different because of difference in time zone so when opening time and closing time of all the countries are joined, then the result obtained is the 24 hours trading market.

Major Time Sessions

Forex trading market has the four important time sessions. These time sessions are US session, Singapore session, London session and the Tokyo session.

Overlapping Market Hours

The trading sessions in different countries are different and so the opening and closing time of these sessions are also different. So it happens that when one trading session of one country is open, the trading session of another country also begins at the same time and this causes interaction of trading hours. When the trading hours of different trading sessions interact, then these hours are also called Overlapping Forex market hours.

Best and worst trading time

Order sizes increase during the overlapping Forex market hours and this results in the increasing of volatility. Many traders want to trade when the volatility increases because the hours when volatility increases are profit earning hours for any Forex trader. So the best time of Forex market trading is when the volatility is high and the chances of loss are less. The major Forex market overlapping is between the Europe and Asia and between the North America and the Europe.

A Look at Forex Market Makers

The investor in the currency market takes for granted that a pair of currencies can be bought or sold at a moment's notice. Once an order is placed with a broker, the trade is executed within seconds. It is, of course, not as easy as that.

Whenever a pair of currencies is bought or sold, there must be someone at the other end of the transaction. It is very unlikely that the investor will always find someone who is interested in buying and selling the same two currencies at the same amount, and at the same time. Hence, the question remains, "How is it possible that the forex investor can buy or sell at any time?" This is where the forex market makers come in.

The forex market maker is a bank or brokerage company that stands ready, every second of the trading day with a firm bid and ask price. This is good for the investor because when the investor chooses to buy and sell a pair of currencies, the market maker will purchase from and sell to the investor, even if they do not have a buyer and seller lined up. In doing so, they are literally "making a market" for the currencies.

Forex market makers ensure that the market is always functional and that the currencies in it will always fetch the market rate. Forex market makers do so by updating their prices at intervals of at least 30 seconds and undertaking to trade if this is requested. Forex market makers must fulfill their obligations irrespective of whether the economic situation is favorable or unfavorable, or whether they lose or profit by doing so.

Typical forex market makers include Gain Capital, CMS Forex, Forex Capital Markets (FXCM), and Global Forex Trading, all of which are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of the USA. Another prominent forex market maker is Saxo Bank, which is regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of Denmark.

Until recently, central banks, commercial banks and investment banks dominated the forex market. Due to the entry of forex market makers, other market players like international money brokers, large multinational companies, registered dealers, global money managers, and private speculators have entered the market in large numbers.

Pre Market Trading

What is pre market trading? When you hear people talking about pre market stock trading, they are discussing futures trading on the stock market. This is usually speculating on how the market will react upon opening and continue to react throughout the day. This type of trading is also known as day trading in which the investor is looking for a short term payoff rather than a long term investment when buying and selling stocks. It can be one of the most lucrative and easy ways to make money, if you take the time to learn the secrets.

How is stock market trading profitable? Many of the wealthiest people across the globe are those who have made their fortune speculating in the stock market and embarked in pre market trading. There have also been people who have lost a great deal of money because they thought they could easily emulate these people without really understanding much about the market. While you can make money in pre market trading, you need to have some sort of strategy in order to succeed. Just blindly going into the stock market and buying stock, hoping it will rise when the market opens based on a tip can be a recipe for disaster.

Who is successful at stock market trading? Those who are successful at stock market trading have developed a system that ends up helping them gain over loose. When you are day trading - whether it is on the stock market, trading options or on the foreign exchange market, you are going to end up losing some of the time and gaining at others. The secret is to gain more than you lose so that at the end of the day you can get a profit. In order to make sure that you continue to gain, you should have set strategy in place. One way to do this is to use point figure charting software.

Have computers changed things? Computers have changed the way that people now trade stocks and have made it easier for even the novice to embark in market trading. It is now easy for someone to open up a broker account right online and also trade from their computer, using software that will enable them to learn the inside secrets to making money when it comes to stock market trading.

There are also seminars as well as this Best Online Trading Site [http://www.trading-code-revealed.com] that you can connect with that will help keep you up to date in the latest news regarding the market as well as help you improve your pre market trading skills. Before you take the leap into premarket trading in the stock market, you should learn as much as you can about it and also review point figure charting software that will help you with these efforts.

My Experiences Trading Sugar Commodity

Sugar trading is romantic! Here's some valuable hints and kinks taken from actual trading experiences.

Sugar is a great market for beginning commodity traders. Sugar futures contracts require a small margin and rarely make extreme moves. Currently, an account margin of $1200 will control about $13,000 worth of sugar. (112,000 lbs at 12 cents per pound) A one cent move in sugar equates to $1120.

Brazil is now energy independent from its use of ethanol in the form of alcohol. Ethanol is derived from sugar. This has brought a great increase in the number of speculators and commercial hedgers trading in sugar futures and options. The volatility and liquidity generated is a positive by-product.

Sugar trades for only three hours a day, from 9am-12pm. What a great life to be an expert sugar trader! It's a fifteen hour work week.

Sugar has made several extreme moves over the last thirty-five years. The last big move to 18 cents a pound was last year. In the early 1980's sugar hit 44 cents a pound. In the early 1970's sugar hit 66 cents!

On the other side, sugar once got as low as 2.5 cents a pound. The whole 112,000 pound contract was worth only $2800! You could have taken delivery and warehoused it for a few years and sold it for 15 cents a pound or $16,800. (Or just kept rolling the contracts forward with no delivery) That's not a bad profit if you believed sugar was not going to be free. Multiply this times ten contracts and you are looking at over $160,000 on a $30,000 investment. There certainly is opportunity if one is willing to take on the risk.

During normal or quiet markets, options on sugar futures are usually cheap and you can buy a lot of time. Strategies are abundant for spreads, straddles, and strangles. Sugar makes lots of long-term patterns and formations. Wave analysis and swing trading works well for sugar when it's trending.

Some traders look for the possibility of "pyramiding" contracts when sugar is active. This is a risky technique used when the market is in an extended trend. A trader tries to keep adding futures positions using previous profits. Don't ever forget this is a double edge sword. If you add to positions, make sure to adjust catastrophic stops so that your losses are not out of control if the market reverses. If the market stops you out and moves in the other direction, don't be afraid to get back in if the trend is still intact. Sugar trends can last a lot longer then most expect.

Look to exit positions after big moves during the morning opening or near the close. Sugar futures tend to reverse after very large moves by gapping open the following day. Try not to keep big profits over the weekend thinking Monday morning will have a big follow through. You may want to lighten up on Friday right before the close.

If you feel nervous about holding onto big profits, my best advice and rule of thumb is to keep one-half of your position and sell one-half. This way you can never be more than one-half wrong, and one-half right. This is a form of "scaling out", which is a favorite technique of mine. Besides, after a climatic move the option prices are usually very inflated. The option premiums may actually decline on a flat opening Monday because the previous panic reaction wasn't justified.

Hurricane seasons are a time when the sugar market gets a lot of attention. There is always the possibility that the crop in some of the sugar growing areas could get blown away and damaged beyond recovery. This could happen, but is rare. Many traders buy options to cover this vulnerable period of time, looking to profit. Though over the long haul, more precise timing is required to cover the option premium expenses.

A great strategy for sugar is buying a call and selling another call at a higher strike price to cover some of the premium expenses. (spread) Also, you could buy a futures contract and buy a cheap put as protection. And finally, sell options in a trading range after a big move. This is a strategy used to capture inflated premiums for profitable erosion.

Sugar has long term "kick-in-the-pants" cycles that produce massive moves every eleven years or so. Keep an eye out for the next one.

Here's how I look for opportunities in the sugar markets: First I generate a TimeLine forecast that shows a strong move up or down in sugar. The TimeLine is based on time cycles and other preprogrammed patterns. I then determine if the move is expected to be choppy, trending, and for how long. This helps us focus on possible directional futures/option positions or writing options in a range, or even writing options with the trend.

Next I use automated option software to search for the best of 1600 strategies based on the expected market move. I compare these option to option combinations against futures to options combinations. At some point I will find a compromise between risk, profit and simplicity in one or two strategies. In hindsight there's always a best strategy we could have used. Keep this is mind when narrowing down the choices. When finished, we want to have one or two potential trades to work with. We call the selected few, "high probability, low risk trades."

Remember there is more to planning a trade than just coming up with a forecast. The market may move as predicted but we can still lose by choosing the wrong trading vehicles. Pick the right vehicles and strategies that will allow us to stay in the market without excessive fear, but still carrying calculated risk.

We NEED to take on calculated risk or the market will not pay us for our services. In addition, the vehicle has to move far enough to make a profit without letting the expense of protection eat us up. Excessive protection (risk avoidance) can come in the form of option premiums, too close-in stop loss orders - and overdone, complex spread strategies. Matching a forecast to a strategy is an important skill to succeed in commodity trading.

How to Understand Currency Trading

One of the aspects that you need to learn in Forex trading is understand the importance of currency trading charts. The main purpose of Forex charts is to help making assumptions that will lead to better decision. But before you can make good one, you first must learn to know how to use them.

Currency trading charts have in them very valuable information. Not knowing what they mean can be very fatal to a trader. Charts contain trends from both past and current transactions. Having access to this information can help you strategize on your plans in making wise decisions.

Learning a currency trading charts can help you forecast price movements. Some individuals use software to be able to produce the visual representation of data. Do take note that there a lot of factors that affect the currency fluctuation. That is why having a good understanding of the foreign exchange market is a must.

The currency fluctuation maybe affected by several items that happen in a particular country. There are different kinds of currency trading charts that you can use. One of them is the Line Chart. The Line chart is the most basic of all. What is does is connect a series of points together forming a line.

A candle stick is one of the currency trading charts used as well. It has both a line and a bar chart. It is used to describe price movement. Just like a bar chart it includes the open, high, low and close price. Some of the patterns would be bullish patterns and the bearish patterns.

Another one would be the bar chart, which also provides the open, highs, lows and closing prices. Point and figure charts are based on price without time. You will see a lot Xs and Os using this particular chart.

There are still a lot of currency trading charts but make sure that the one you choose is the one that works best with your system. Be reminded that charts are there to guide you. It is not a crystal ball that predicts your future. But rather it is what you use to analyze data.

There are two indicators in currency trading charts that you know and study well. The first one is the Stochastic and the other one is Bollinger band. You will find a lot of information about this indicators and how they can benefit you once you learn them well.

Technical and fundamental analysis has charts. The first one is used to analyze macro movements while the other identifies correlation between trends. Reviewing charts can be confusing on its initial stages. But technology enables us to make this just a bit easier. As mentioned earlier you can have a lot currency trading charts, but not knowing how to utilize them is basically useless.

What is High-Frequency Trading?

Moving with a shake of the collective head to our topic this week, what is this thing called "high frequency trading," IROs and execs?

Well, it would be a good name for a rock band, but high frequency trading is an indication of the behavior of money and a measure of market risk. It is responsible for 20-30% or more of volume currently. Practically speaking, it's continual, tick-by-tick, high-turnover buying and selling with real-time data to control risk while generating returns from minute change. It's coming from all sorts of capital sources, but don't blame hedge funds alone. All investment advisors must put money to work...and if they can't invest it, they're going to deploy it in other ways. This is the best way right now. (NOTE: Speaking of which, look for money to leave equities in pursuit of the Treasury Department's ridiculous lending facility for high-risk credit assets as options expire next week. This will not be good for equity prices.)

Both Nasdaq OMX and NYSE Euronext announced recent fee changes designed to draw "high frequency traders." If they're trying to attract it, it's because there's a lot of it going on, except it's happening elsewhere. Here's the telling feature: both these exchanges made changes to the cost of CONSUMING liquidity, or buying, while keeping "rebates," or incentives to provide liquidity (another way to say 'offering shares for sale, which attracts buyers') high.

This means there are changes at work in the broad markets. Where "rebate" trading, or furnishing liquidity, is necessary to helping conventional institutional investors like pension funds efficiently buy and sell large quantities of shares, high frequency trading depends on nearly equal and offsetting buying and selling in very small increments. That's the kind of activity currently dominating volumes (and why volumes are on the whole down, too).

What does this mean for investor relations? We've always had a rather arcane profession populated with terms like guidance, and Reg FD and earnings call. Our ability to grasp concepts that often make other peoples' eyes glaze over is a defining mark of the investor-relations professional. Well, guess what? It's happening again.

All this high-frequency trading means that much of the money moving your price and volume sees high equity risk and studies equity-markets behavior, not business fundamentals. This has been going on for some time but it's getting worse and worse, and it's not going to get better anytime soon. Therefore, IR folks, it's time to add this knowledge to your repertoire. After all, somebody's gotta know what's going on out there - since the SEC apparently doesn't - and it might as well be us.

Look, we're purposely aiming to make you chuckle here. But I hope you'll remember this: well more than 80% of American companies (and roughly an equal number of European firms) hold earnings calls. Yet fundamental investment is accounting for about 15% of volume at best. Hadn't we better understand the rest? We think knowing market structure is as crucial to IR now as earnings calls.

And it shouldn't cost you much more than your earnings calls, either. If it is, you're paying too much. IR departments don't need expensive, outdated tools that don't work in modern markets.

Basics of Currency Trading Made Easy

The basics of currency trading isn't hard to learn. This information will be helpful for you learn the forex market as you begin your career in trading. Forex or foreign exchange means the buying and selling of currency. The individual who buys and sells currencies is called a forex trader.

Another item that you should know in basics currency trading is the foreign exchange market. It is the largest market in the world. Trading happens here day in and day out. It functions 24 hours a day 5 days a week, except on holidays and weekends. The week starts at five in the afternoon Sunday Eastern Standard time until four in the afternoon Eastern Standard Time Friday.

Basics currency trading is really simple. The aim of the trader is to purchase something that is about to increase in value, then sells it at a higher price later to earn profit. Another way is to sell at a high price or rate now and buy it lower at later day. The two currencies that make up an exchange rate are referred to as currency pair. Here is a list of the currency codes used in the foreign exchange market:

USD = US Dollar

EUR = Euro

JPY = Japanese Yen

GBP = British Pound

CHF = Swiss Franc

CAD = Canadian Dollar

AUD = Australian Dollar

NZD = New Zealand Dollar

Most traded currency pair

EUR/USD = "Euro"

USD/JPY = "Dollar Yen"

GBP/USD = "Cable" or "Sterling"

USD/CHF = "Swiss"

USD/CAD = "Dollar Canada"

AUD/USD = "Aussie Dollar"

NZD/USD = "Kiwi"

The Importance of News to the Forex

Anyone who has even a cursory interest in the Forex will know that they should rely on any and all news in order to make sense of what is happening in the market. It's something essential and necessary, rather as much as breathing is to anyone. The only reason any trader would have to invest in a certain currency would be because they know what is going on in that country. It would only be a crazy person that would plunk down their money on hearsay alone!

It's wise for the beginning trader to remember that it's not only the financial news of a probable new market that must be studied. Everything is inter-related, so the social and political news, apart from the editorial opinions must be absorbed as well. It's a well-known fact that what is made known in the international scene is a highly watered-down version of what is happening inside the country, sometimes even downright wrong. The only way to gauge whether a currency is worth trading in would be to read up on the "local" news itself.

A gift that a good Forex trader has is the ability to filter and sift through the dirt and find those golden nuggets of information that would help him make a good decision. These help him read the trends which are then confirmed in the financial news section.

It's a scary thought that a single wrong decision can literally bankrupt a trader or even a brokerage firm in the blink of an eye. That's why seasoned traders don't simply pay attention to the current exchange rate (which fluctuates wildly throughout the day) but also on other seemingly unrelated activities in the stock market and the going rates of bonds and treasury bills. Put together, it would make a likely prediction on how the currency itself would react over a period of a few trading days.

If trade is not done in the local currency, one good source of information would be expert or professional commentary which would be broadcast on international financial channels. Although not gospel truth, these are the people who know the local markets inside and out so it would be wise to consider their opinions while a decision is being reached. Remember, what is happening in the local scene would definitely influence the currency more than what is happening worldwide.

Other factors that would affect the stability of the currency would be the market's reactions to financial derivatives, to securities, to the futures, and to options which are being offered at the moment. Apart from those, the breaking news is something that must be studied with frequent regularity. This is the reason why there are constant updates on the trading floor, not just the requisite first thing in the morning and review after the trading day is over.

But all those opinions will have no bearing on the fact that if the trader has absolutely no experience on the floor, the news will mean nothing more than gibberish to him. There is no better teacher than practical and actual experience.

Forex Trading Tips

Why do hundreds of thousands online traders and investors trade the forex market every day, and how do they make money doing it?

This two-part report clearly and simply details essential tips on how to avoid typical pitfalls and start making more money in your forex trading. 

1. Trade pairs, not currencies - Like any relationship, you have to know both sides. Success or failure in forex trading depends upon being right about both currencies and how they impact one another, not just one.
   
2. Knowledge is Power - When starting out trading forex online, it is essential that you understand the basics of this market if you want to make the most of your investments.
   The main forex influencer is global news and events. For example, say an ECB statement is released on European interest rates which typically will cause a flurry of activity. Most newcomers react violently to news like this and close their positions and subsequently miss out on some of the best trading opportunities by waiting until the market calms down. The potential in the forex market is in the volatility, not in its tranquility.
3. Unambitious trading - Many new traders will place very tight orders in order to take very small profits. This is not a sustainable approach because although you may be profitable in the short run (if you are lucky), you risk losing in the longer term as you have to recover the difference between the bid and the ask price before you can make any profit and this is much more difficult when you make small trades than when you make larger ones. 
4. Over-cautious trading - Like the trader who tries to take small incremental profits all the time, the trader who places tight stop losses with a retail forex broker is doomed. As we stated above, you have to give your position a fair chance to demonstrate its ability to produce. If you don't place reasonable stop losses that allow your trade to do so, you will always end up undercutting yourself and losing a small piece of your deposit with every trade.
5. Independence - If you are new to forex, you will either decide to trade your own money or to have a broker trade it for you. So far, so good. But your risk of losing increases exponentially if you either of these two things:
   Interfere with what your broker is doing on your behalf (as his strategy might require a long gestation period);
   Seek advice from too many sources - multiple input will only result in multiple losses. Take a position, ride with it and then analyse the outcome - by yourself, for yourself. 
6. Tiny margins - Margin trading is one of the biggest advantages in trading forex as it allows you to trade amounts far larger than the total of your deposits. However, it can also be dangerous to novice traders as it can appeal to the greed factor that destroys many forex traders. The best guideline is to increase your leverage in line with your experience and success. 
7. No strategy - The aim of making money is not a trading strategy. A strategy is your map for how you plan to make money. Your strategy details the approach you are going to take, which currencies you are going to trade and how you will manage your risk. Without a strategy, you may become one of the 90% of new traders that lose their money.
8. Trading Off-Peak Hours - Professional FX traders, option traders, and hedge funds posses a huge advantage over small retail traders during off-peak hours (between 2200 CET and 1000 CET) as they can hedge their positions and move them around when there is far small trade volume is going through (meaning their risk is smaller). The best advice for trading during off peak hours is simple - don't.
9. The only way is up/down - When the market is on its way up, the market is on its way up. When the market is going down, the market is going down. That's it. There are many systems which analyse past trends, but none that can accurately predict the future. But if you acknowledge to yourself that all that is happening at any time is that the market is simply moving, you'll be amazed at how hard it is to blame anyone else. 
10. Trade on the news - Most of the really big market moves occur around news time. Trading volume is high and the moves are significant; this means there is no better time to trade than when news is released. This is when the big players adjust their positions and prices change resulting in a serious currency flow.
11. Exiting Trades - If you place a trade and it's not working out for you, get out. Don't compound your mistake by staying in and hoping for a reversal. If you're in a winning trade, don't talk yourself out of the position because you're bored or want to relieve stress; stress is a natural part of trading; get used to it.
12. Don't trade too short-term - If you are aiming to make less than 20 points profit, don't undertake the trade. The spread you are trading on will make the odds against you far too high.
13. Don't be smart - The most successful traders I know keep their trading simple. They don't analyse all day or research historical trends and track web logs and their results are excellent.
14. Tops and Bottoms - There are no real "bargains" in trading foreign exchange. Trade in the direction the price is going in and you're results will be almost guaranteed to improve.
15. Ignoring the technicals- Understanding whether the market is over-extended long or short is a key indicator of price action. Spikes occur in the market when it is moving all one way.
16. Emotional Trading - Without that all-important strategy, you're trades essentially are thoughts only and thoughts are emotions and a very poor foundation for trading. When most of us are upset and emotional, we don't tend to make the wisest decisions. Don't let your emotions sway you.
17. Confidence - Confidence comes from successful trading. If you lose money early in your trading career it's very difficult to regain it; the trick is not to go off half-cocked; learn the business before you trade. Remember, knowledge is power.

Ordering Softball and Baseball Trading Pins

Custom trading pins have been a treasure for the little league softball and base ball for a number of years. Coaches and parents who are new to the game normally order for the pins every year. Some of the tips you can follow to get the pins faster are:

• Order early- This is the most important rule to follow if you want to get the pins fast. Companies that manufacture the pins guarantee less than two weeks delivery period. Do not wait for the season to begin as everyone orders their pins at the time and the companies are normally too busy. The delivery period at this time is normally waivered to deal with the huge demand. Ordering the pins early gives you piece of mind as you can sit down, relax and wait for them without much worry.

• Section process- When you are selecting the designs for the trading pins, you should not involve many people. This is because you might end up wasting too much time, as you cannot make everyone happy. Only one parent and the coach should decide the design that will be used.

• Designing the pins- Always think out of the box when you are designing the trading pins. Most tournaments like to use big pins. Ensure you order enough for everyone in the team. The players need around 50 pins to have a great experience. You can order extra for the player's friends, family and other team mates.

For the pins to be more effective, you should include trading power on the pins. This ensures that everyone who attends the tournament will be impressed enough to want to trade with your pins. This can be done by adding spinners, dangles, bobble heads, blinkers or glitter. This will ensure that your pin trades with at least two or more undesirable pins.

Day Trading For a Living?

Is it possible to day trade for a living? Considering the fact that many people have earned well into the millions of dollars from day trading, it would be safe to say that it is definitely possible to earn huge income from day trading. But, it is also important to note that day trading is for the serious investor.

This is not an easy process and it takes a great deal of work to succeed at this. This work entails performing a great deal of research across the entire stock market spectrum. This is a critical point because day trading decisions should rarely be based on looking at a small fraction of the market.

Stock trading involves picking a stock that is currently at a low price per share and then selling it when it increases in value. The time frame for this strategy is essentially completely open. That is, you can purchase the stock and hold it for a few years before selling it. However, with day trading, you would perform your sales in a much more rapid manner. In some instances, you would buy and sell the stock in the same day.

If you invest a great deal of money and earn a small profit on it, the profit will be quantified by the high amount of the initial investment. For example, investing $10,000 in a stock in the morning and selling at the close of the day for $10,300 is a nice profit for one day's work: $300. Of course, the possibility to earn more is there but so is the potential to lose a great deal of money. Again, day trading is a complex and difficult process. That is why a clear understanding of what it is one is investing in is critical.

This is why it is important to have access to an excellen or platform that can help deliver expansive statistics on the market. From this information, one can make a much more well informed decision. This, in turn, will add to the potential to succeed with your trades. Clearly, if you want to engage in day trading for a living you will need to make profits on the bulk of your trades. You simply would not be able to do this for a living if you were losing money on the bulk of your trades. Once again, this is why it is necessary to have a solid software program that can help you make better informed and, hopefully, more successful trades.

A Stock Assault 2.0 would be one of the better programs to work with. Such a program will launch an expansive technical analysis of the market and present that information. No, it does not make prediction or pretend to be a virtual stock market guru. Instead, it is a logical device designed to help promote successful day trading decisions. While this may seem like a simple goal on the surface, it is the primary means in which many day traders are able to be successful in their venture.

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Forex Strategy Secrets

A forex strategy can easily make the difference between you being a profitable trader. The advantages of having a detailed trading system to follow are endless.

It has proven that traders who allow their emotions to get in involved in their trading loss money. A plan in place helps you stick to your system no matter the market conditions.

The markets are known to always trade in one of two phases which are consolidating or trending. Price tends to consolidate or trade sideways most of the time followed by a breakout or trending period.

All the time traders who do not have a system in place to follow seem to make bad mistakes. People who have a trading plan written down tend to follow it much the same way it is proven people who write down their goals also reach them.

To be successful trading forex all you need to do is find a simple method that works and keep following it. The thing is profitable trading can be repetitive, this is something to be thankful for rather then dealing with mixed irrational emotions.

You can use news releases as the basis of your forex strategy. There are some people whose system excludes all news reports.

Knowing how to react to any given event before it happens helps to ensure you stay calm and collected. The worst mistake you can make it taking a trade outside of your system rules.

A solid forex strategy with detailed money management will help you make consistent profits. Take your time developing your trading system before you you begin to trade and you will see it pays dividends.

Forex Day Trading System

Most people who are interested in Forex trading are ordinary folks with no prior training or experience in short-term trading, that unfortunately are being sold a bill of goods. Late night infomercials irresponsibly tote Forex trading itself as the Holy Grail, and show clips of testimonials from a few lucky people who made some atypical trades. "I made $800 this morning before going to work," "I cleared $3,000 my first week, part-time," that kind of junk.

These infomercials employ a two-step process to jam an expensive product of questionable worth down your throat. Usually it's a piece of software that has arrows which light up red or green, and when all four of them light up green you enter your position. Simple, huh? The software costs about $3,000. But they don't tell you that up front - the television bit just invites you to a free seminar full of happy, excited people. At the seminar they fill your head full of dreams and make the price tag seem like a fraction of your first month's profits. You feel like you are really missing out if you don't join the crowd and get in line to buy.

While there is some merit to the four arrows all lighting green, which indicates that the price trend is all in one direction over several different time-frames, blindly following it is a horrible system. You cannot rightly call yourself a trader if this is your approach. You are just a monkey pushing buttons. Don't plan on making any long-run profits as a monkey - maybe a banana here and there, but you WILL slip on the peels. Think about it - if this software could really make money like they claim (virtually on autopilot), no way do they sell it. They would get much richer simply using it themselves trading large positions.

I'm not saying that daytrading Forex cannot be beaten. Much to the contrary, I trade the EUR/USD successfully intraday. You probably can too. But avoid purchasing an expensive system. In fact, I recommend avoiding mechanical systems altogether. All you need is some basic trader training in the way of technical analysis, some idea of a solid approach, and a little experience watching the markets to get a feel for them.

It's probably best to concentrate on one pair. That's what I do, just the EUR/USD. Sometimes if it really starts moving I will cross check other currencies to try and figure out what is happening, but I don't trade them. By only watching one pair at regular hours you develop a feel for the trading action and can tell when conditions are strange.

There are really only two ways to day trade: Continuation or Reversal. Continuation includes breakouts and trends, while Reversal concentrates on trading ranges at the edges, betting against a breakout. Which hours you trade should dictate which style is best suited for you. If you want to trade during the most active hours you probably want to look for breakouts and try to ride trends. If you are working the quieter hours then fading the edge of the range is a higher-probability setup. Either way, success comes from employing proper risk vs. reward analysis, which means setting your stops and profit targets in the right places.

Personally I trade the after-hours EUR/USD market. It's what I like. Also, it's what's practical for me because I live on the west coast of the USA. So I am only watching the market during the Asia trading period, no other markets are open. And I am looking for trading ranges, particularly double-tops and double-bottoms at prior support and resistance levels. I usually get off 5 good trades per week and win 3 of them, with a win of about 1.5 times my average loss. So it's a good methodology because 1.5+1.5+1.5-1-1 = 2.5. That's a positive number and it's a good one.

Now, if I wanted to play breakouts and trend continuations I would only trade during the New York / London overlap period, which is between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon EST (or very early my time; I would rather not miss out on those early morning dreams). This is the time where those types of trades have the best odds of working out for this pair.

The most important part of any trading system is to have a methodology, stick to it, get good at it, and make it work for you. If you aren't disciplined enough to stick to your trading ideals, then you would be better off being a monkey pushing buttons when the lights all turn green, as your losses will probably be smaller.

To get set up daytrading Forex with as little as $25 right now please visit.That page will not only have you trading a real money account on a great platform within a few minutes time, but it will also show you a terrific software that can give you reliable signals for trading breakouts and trends in the major currency pairs.

FREE Forex Robot

The free forex robot we are going to look at is free and makes money, yet most traders never consider it. Lets look at how and why it works but despite this most traders wont use it...

Automated Forex trading systems are big business online - but the vast majority don't make money. They simply promote paper track records which fail in real time trading and destroy the traders equity.

The one we are going to look at here has worked in real time and many of the top traders have used it in their forex trading strategies, to make big profits.

This is a simple system it only has one rule to follow. The system was devised in the seventies by one of the great traders Richard Donchian, who used it to trade commodities markets.

It doesn't just work on commodities it works on any trending market and currency markets are therefore ideal, as they offer excellent trends.

Let's take a look at the rule of the system which is called the 4 Week Rule.

Buy a new 4 week calendar high - stop and reverse the position, on a break of a new 4 week calendar low and then look to stop and reverse again on a new 4 week calendar high and continue to do this always keeping an open position in the currency.

That's it and while incredibly simple, it works for the following reasons.

It's based on breakout methodology

It's a fact that most big trends, start and continue from new market highs or lows, so this forex robot will make sure you are in on all the big trends and profits.

Long Term Trend Following

It's based on catching and holding the long term trends.

A look at any forex chart will reveal trends that continue for many months or years and this trading system will keep you in them without getting bumped out by short term volatility.

It's Totally Objective and Disciplined

You don't have to think or make subjective judgments; you get a clear cut signal which you simply execute in the market.

It's Time Efficient

It will take you around 15 - 30 minutes a day to operate and that's it, you can go and do something else.

Like any forex trading system it will have a weakness and this one will generate losses, when markets don't trend or are in periods of consolidation, so you can consider adding another exit rule:

Place a stop at a one or two week high or low and then go flat and wait for the next signal.

This can help combat a non trending market but whichever way you choose this free forex robot will make big long term gains.

Most traders don't even consider this system, even when they know it works!

Why?

Quite simply because they think it's too simple (even though all the top trading systems are), also it's not a system that goes for pinpoint market timing and many traders want to predict highs and lows, even though its obvious this is not possible.

Finally, it just isn't packaged nicely - you get no flashy box, or name that indicates it's vicious animal, or a load of garbage sales patter.

For some reason traders will buy forex robots that have never been traded but one that can make them money - they ignore it!

If you want to make money in forex trading, this free forex robot will help you and you should try it. The system doesn't cost you anything and has been used for over 20 years by numerous traders, to improve their forex profits and it can help you achieve forex trading success too.

The Great Benefits of Automated Forex Trading

Forex traders have grasped onto the concept of automated forex trading. You can trade in this market in four manners. These are automated trading, managed accounts, trade signals and self directed trading. The best part of the automated version is that it has no down side and incorporates all the benefits of the other kinds of trading.

There are two major pitfalls associated with being involved in self directed trading these are poor money management and the emotional factor. The emotions are that are fatal to the success of this are greed and fear. They stay in the trade too long as they either are greedy or the get out of it as they are scared.

The automated system takes this out of the equation. Trades are carried out with the assistance of exit and enter points that have been set up within the program. A third negative to non-automated dealing is time. Automation takes care of this quite nicely. For people who wish to trade in countries that have different business hours, this is also ideal.

This form of dealing is for buying and selling on the forex markets twenty four seven. This is passive income at its best as you can spend your time elsewhere while money is being generated passively.

Behind the scenes, expert advisers are working on your behalf and in line with the instructions you have given. You will be able to preset the boundaries and the system will operate in line with that. This permits the system to enter and exit precisely when you want it to.

You are able to set numerous parameters within the automated forex trading system. These include your rules for trading, price level proximity, technical indicators, averages, price points, price patterns and market trends. All of this gets you extra income and more time to enjoy things you like most.

FOREX 101: 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

Transactions in foreign currencies are not centralized on an exchange, unlike say the NYSE, and thus take place all over the world via telecommunications. Trade is open 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon (00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday). In almost every time zone around the world, there are dealers who will quote all major currencies. After deciding what currency the investor would like to purchase, he or she does so via one of these dealers (some of which can be found online). It is quite common practice for investors to speculate on currency prices by getting a credit line (which are available to those with capital as small as $500), and vastly increase their potential gains and losses. This is called marginal trading.

Marginal Trading

Marginal trading is simply the term used for trading with borrowed capital. It is appealing because of the fact that in FOREX investments can be made without a real money supply. This allows investors to invest much more money with fewer money transfer costs, and open bigger positions with a much smaller amount of actual capital. Thus, one can conduct relatively large transactions, very quickly and cheaply, with a small amount of initial capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market is quantified in lots. The term "lot" refers to approximately $100,000, an amount which can be obtained by putting up as little as 0.5% or $500.

EXAMPLE: You believe that signals in the market are indicating that the British Pound will go up against the US Dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the Pound with a 1% margin at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to climb. At some point in the future, your predictions come true and you decide to sell. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips or about $405. Thus, on an initial capital investment of $1,000, you have made over 40% in profits. (Just as an example of how exchange rates change in the course of a day, an average daily change of the Euro (in Dollars) is about 70 to 100 pips.)

When you decide to close a position, the deposit sum that you originally made is returned to you and a calculation of your profits or losses is done. This profit or loss is then credited to your account.

Investment Strategies: Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis

The two fundamental strategies in investing in FOREX are Technical Analysis or Fundamental Analysis. Most small and medium sized investors in financial markets use Technical Analysis. This technique stems from the assumption that all information about the market and a particular currency's future fluctuations is found in the price chain. That is to say, that all factors which have an effect on the price have already been considered by the market and are thus reflected in the price. Essentially then, what this type of investor does is base his/her investments upon three fundamental suppositions. These are: that the movement of the market considers all factors, that the movement of prices is purposeful and directly tied to these events, and that history repeats itself. Someone utilizing technical analysis looks at the highest and lowest prices of a currency, the prices of opening and closing, and the volume of transactions. This investor does not try to outsmart the market, or even predict major long term trends, but simply looks at what has happened to that currency in the recent past, and predicts that the small fluctuations will generally continue just as they have before.

A Fundamental Analysis is one which analyzes the current situations in the country of the currency, including such things as its economy, its political situation, and other related rumors. By the numbers, a country's economy depends on a number of quantifiable measurements such as its Central Bank's interest rate, the national unemployment level, tax policy and the rate of inflation. An investor can also anticipate that less quantifiable occurrences, such as political unrest or transition will also have an effect on the market. Before basing all predictions on the factors alone, however, it is important to remember that investors must also keep in mind the expectations and anticipations of market participants. For just as in any stock market, the value of a currency is also based in large part on perceptions of and anticipations about that currency, not solely on its reality.

Make Money with Currency Trading on FOREX

FOREX investing is one of the most potentially rewarding types of investments available. While certainly the risk is great, the ability to conduct marginal trading on FOREX means that potential profits are enormous relative to initial capital investments. Another benefit of FOREX is that its size prevents almost all attempts by others to influence the market for their own gain. So that when investing in foreign currency markets one can feel quite confident that the investment he or she is making has the same opportunity for profit as other investors throughout the world. While investing in FOREX short term requires a certain degree of diligence, investors who utilize a technical analysis can feel relatively confident that their own ability to read the daily fluctuations of the currency market are sufficiently adequate to give them the knowledge necessary to make informed investments.

Forex Bullet Proof Review

Forex Bullet Proof is a forex robot being released to the public on August 31, 2010. The robot has 6 years of live results with very impressive results. Over this time the robot did not have a losing month.

We were given an early version of the robot to test ourselves. In the back testing we did the robot produces a steady increase in the account size. And the accounts avoided large ups and downs which many robots seem to experience.

The Forex Bullet Proof collection consists of a basic robot, an add on for the robot, and the best manual trading systems which won in a recent competition. The combination included in the package insures that it will meet the desires of all forex traders.

The Forex Bullet Proof basic robot is designed to grow an account without a lot of risk. The basics of any trader should be to make money consistently and that is what this basic robot is designed to do. With a steady stream of short term and long term winning trades this robot shows some good potential. This is a good robot for beginners as well as seasoned traders.

The Forex Bullet Proof High Voltage add on is a high risk - high reward addition to the basic robot. This add on can double an account in a short period of time and has a 72% success rate of doing so, it can also empty an account. You must have a second account which you use to tuck away your winnings while replenishing your trading account when necessary. This robot is only for those traders who can handle huge swings in their account balance and who will actively monitor their accounts.

The Forex Bullet Proof Market Dominator is a series of manual trading strategies that won a recent competition. This collection of trading strategies are sure to provide a great resource for any trader that does manual trading.

The designers and marketers behind the Forex Bullet Proof robot have brought several very good robots to the market. They have also learned the necessity of providing good customer support. This dedication to customer service should continue with their latest release.

Caution Required in the Forex Market

Caution is the watchword for the forex markets. Major directional moves appear to occur at the drop of a hat. Whilst those day trading love the volatility, the longer term players certainly do not. At the moment, dealers seem unhappy about putting too much into any individual positions.

Looking at the key Euro/Dollar cross rate, the Euro has gained heavily from US weakness in the last month or so. Market pull backs are just being seen as better buying opportunities. Overall, the forex  market is still heavily short of the Euro and this is forming a natural support as each rally is seeing its own mini short-position-squeeze.

The markets have temporarily ignored the obvious debt risk around Europe and have been concentrating on the poor data emerging from America. The US Dollar has continued to weaken and it looks like the Euro has managed to get a foothold above $1.26 level for the first time since early May 2010. However, it is only a foothold and could easily give way in the current climate.

Although the forex markets remain Dollar negative it does look like Sterling is struggling to maintain the bullish trend. Unlike the Yen and the Euro, the Pound has gained no new impetus from all of the poor data coming out on the other site of the Atlantic. Traders should beware of any nervousness creeping into the Sterling/Dollar pair.

The Pound remains something of a mystery as much of the recent strength is built on the new UK governments tough talking, the Conservative/Liberal coalition holding firm and, above all, the emergency budget. When the going starts to get tough later this year, and through 2011/12, the Liberal Party may fear that they will be destroyed on the back of policies they do not believe in and were certainly not voted in on. At this point the coalition government may well start to unravel. Yes, that is a problem for the future but a problem nevertheless.

Looking in more detail at the Sterling/Dollar pair, according to Simon Denham of  "$1.52 seems to have had an irresistible attraction for the markets over the last 18 months or so. No matter how far the exchange rate falls or rallies we seem to eventually get back the $1.52 mark.

"We are also close to a crucial trend level as well with the two year bear-trend line at $1.5350 and the bulls will be aiming for this. If the news remains UK-positive, a break here may well give the Pound a sharp kick higher".

Unfortunately there is always the other side of the coin and the UK economy is in a poor state to say the least. This is especially true as most of the solutions are still in the future. On top of this, UK growth is fragile and unlikely to be helped much by the Eurozone in the medium term. Once we take into account that the markets are easily spooked at the moment, and that there will be some weak data coming out of the UK, any upward trend is likely to be of the stop-start variety. It looks like caution will remain the watchword for some time yet.