Friday, November 2, 2007

The 5 Laws of Highly Successful Traders


By: Aaron Stokes

When we follow the laws of the road and decide to drive within the speed limit we stand a better chance at avoiding mortal danger; effectively you are increasing the odds of an increased longevity. Similarly, there are beneficial laws in the world of trading. Few would argue following the laws of a successful trader is a bother when the end result may directly effect the balance in your account. I invite you to take a look at what these laws are, and how they might make a positive impact in your life as a trader.

Law #1: Know Yourself

To understand your strengths and weaknesses, taking a chance each day to look at yourself with complete honesty. To know yourself is to take a step away from the vast world of inner turmoil so many traders both expert and novice experience. To know practice knowing yourself will bring realization that regardless of what happens in the markets, you are still the same person. Often times one will experience confidence when winning, and a deflated sense of self worth when losing. This is the general result of not knowing ones self. When you know yourself you will be well aware that the person you are remains the same regardless of the wins and losses you may experience on a daily basis. To know yourself is to be free from the emotional turmoil often associated with day trading.

Law #2: Don't Rush In

If you've ever been in a rush you'll notice in hindsight that your powers of observation decrease. Without a moments notice the world goes passing by you. Most times when trading you may find that you're in a rush to catch the next big trade. More often then not rushing into a trade is the wrong course of action, for many reasons. The need to rush is an indicator that you are not well prepared, your disposition when trading should be like that of a Tiger laying in wait for its pray. However many people emulate the nature of a Rat scrambling desperately to capture its fair share of the cheese. When you feel comfortable and confident that you're strategy is well prepared then you may lay in wait. Opportunity will always come your way, but when you rush in there is a greater chance it will pass you by without a moments notice.

Law #3: Know The Future

Are we expecting too much of ourselves by demanding that we know the future? Some may say yes, however as a trader this should be one of your aspirations। Our goal is to bring future events to fruition. When we take on the task of knowing the future, as contrary as it may seem it's easiest to think big. For instance, setting a goal 1 year into the future and making it your prime objective to bring this goal to realization would be a good start. Making this goal reasonably difficult yet not necessarily an unrealistic task would be an even better start. Dedicate your efforts to achieving this one goal and put aside the trivial day to day goals that often distract so many traders from their primary objective. Accomplishing in the evening that which you've set out to do in the morning is knowing the present; accomplishing in 1-year that which you've set out to do today, is knowing the future.
Law #4: Find a Mentor

Be aware that you are not the only student of these laws, that there are others who may have already achieved excellence in the laws which you are presently attempting to master. Being aware of these individuals will afford you the opportunity to receive invaluable tips. The principles of these laws are exercised in many fields outside of trading, become a student of those who have come before you may cut a substantial lot of time from the learning curve of your professional career as a trader.

Law #5: The Market Is Your Friend

To imagining that you are waging war with the market day in and day out in order to achieve some level of financial gain may leave you feeling torn and tattered on certain days. The metaphor of war with the markets leaves you in a zone where you are surrounded by enemies with superior intelligence in a battle-field where the odds are always stacked against you. If you can learn to befriend the market then you'll find you've gained a valued friend and a great teacher. When you free yourself from the concept so many have of "war with the markets" you simultaneously free yourself from the feeling of "Winning" days and "Losing" days. In effect, you gain immunity from the feeling of being a loser. In it's place you've gained a friend that will always tell you where there might be room for improvement.

These 5 Laws should rather be labeled suggestions। Remember that success is an option, it is not a requirement. The most useful of tips will often be applicable to multiple areas of your life, it's popular often days to look at the markets as a reflection of the world we live in. Achieving proficiency as a trader will issue forth a ripple effect often effecting other areas of your life. My hope is that you enjoy these tips and the benefits they will render within and around your professional life.

Ranked in the Top 10 by Google as an International Forex Money Manager Aaron Stokes is a professional in the field of managed Forex accounts with an average of 10% growth per month on managed accounts. For details visit: http://www.forex-cipher.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Critical To Your Success In Forex Currency Trading


By: Angus O'shea

Regardless of the endeavor your pursue, isn't it critical to your success that you avoid costly mistakes?

Of course it is. Especially those mistakes that you could foresee.

It happens all too often in business and in trading, that people will make huge mistakes that have been made by others before them and they just didn't bother to discover them or to take steps to avoid them.

They simply let them happen and then wonder why they're not achieving the success that they dreamed of.

Now sometimes it's the case that a high failure rate exists for a long time not because people don't do their best.

Sometimes it's because the real reason hasn't yet been discovered and made known to everyone.

That's why the statistic of 90% of all traders losing their money has been true for decades and is still true today, even with all of the proven trading systems and technological advances.

For decades, there have been people like myself who have done everything we can think of to help new traders succeed in trading, but still the high "financial death rate" continues.

I recently came across a course called "The Subtle Trap of Trading" that I feel truly reveals the core reason why so many smart and successful people seem to have such a difficult time finding success in trading.

In "The Subtle Trap of Trading", Brian McAboy explains in detail what happens to traders that causes them to do things in their trading that they wouldn't do anywhere else, that keeps them from finding the success in trading that they've already known in their lives.

It's not because traders lack intelligence or the right characteristics before they got into trading, it's because of certain events that happen and circumstances that occur that puts the odds severely against new traders.

The course also offers a clear explanation as to why it takes most traders many years before they find consistent profits in their trading - because the traders are having to "undo" the effects of the trap and unlearn wrong habits and practices.

Doesn't this make perfect sense? If you take a person who has above-average intelligence and who has already found success in their life, shouldn't they be able to find success in a new endeavor in a fairly short period of time?

Not 10 years, but much quicker than that? Unless of course something happens along the way that disrupts this person's already established success-pattern! That's what the Subtle Trap is all about!

If you find that you too have been giving it your best, but are still struggling to find the success that you know you're capable of, this may just be the answer you've been looking for.

The course shows what went wrong along the way and walks you step by step through the process to get on the right track with your trading.

In terms of wise investments, those made in yourself have the highest rate of return, plus you benefit for the rest of your life. The Subtle Trap of Trading is a course that comes highly recommended by brokers, trading veterans and individuals.

Angus O'Shea is an individual trader and enthusiast of trading.

If you trade but are losing money and feel that perhaps you've been caught in this mental and emotional trap, check out The Subtle Trap of Trading at http://www.subtletrap.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Fibonacci Forex Trading – An Introduction


By: Monica Hendrix

Leonardo Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician, who lived in the 13th century and known for his world famous Fibonacci sequence, which many trader use to try and predict currency prices with greater accuracy. Let’s look at the Fibonacci number sequence and Forex trading.

The Fibonacci sequence was printed in the Liber Abaci, written by Leonardo Fibonacci in 1202. It introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals to replace Roman ones. The Fibonacci number sequence was devised to solve the following problem:

How many pairs of rabbits can be produced from one single pair, if each month each pair produces a new pair, which, from the second month, starts producing more rabbits?

The definition of the sequence is that it’s formed by a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers; 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13...

In forex trading what is important is - the Fibonacci ratios derived from this sequence of numbers, i.e. .236, .50, .382, .618, etc. These Fibonacci retracements many forex traders believe are tradable for profit.

The two Fibonacci percentage retracement levels considered the most critical are: 38.2% and 62.8%. Other important retracement ones are: 75%, 50%, and 33%.

So can the Fibonacci number sequence help you trade more successfully?

The answer is no.

In fact, its amazing that such a dumb theory is believed by so many traders, this is no disrespect to Leonardo Fibonacci who was a brilliant thinker, its just these levels have nothing to do with trading and the great man himself (were he alive today) would probably be bemused at the way his thinking has been hijacked by the far out investment community.

Many traders believe that Fibonacci levels are a natural law that re-occurs as human psychology is constant – but if you think about it, human nature is not predictable and NOT scientific.

Trading is an odds game.

Fibonacci traders are like the followers of Gann or Elliot, they all believe the market is scientific but if they were, we would all know the price in advance and there would be no market!

This is common sense to most people but not some traders, who constantly say it works when it doesn’t.

Sure, you can see the levels hold sometimes but pick any number you like and you will see that hold to sometimes!

If it’s scientific it should hold ALL the time, otherwise it’s NOT a scientific theory by definition – period.

Fibonacci numbers are a great story and vendors realize this and sell ridiculous systems based upon it, that don’t work. If you see one ask for the real time track record to prove this, you won’t get one.

You will get a simulated one done in hindsight but we can all do that – the problem with forex trading is you have to trade going forward not knowing the closing prices.

If you want to win at forex trading remember this:

There is no science involved and if anyone had found the secret of market movement they wouldn’t reveal it to you. OF COURSE Fibonacci numbers are available to all so why are the traders who use them not rich?

Well you already know the answer to that!

Forex trading is a game of odds, NOT certainties and there is no scientific formula or hocus pocus that makes them move on their own. They move due to what people do and how they see facts and humans are not predictable with scientific accuracy.

So leave the Fibonacci numbers to the dreamers and far out crowd and concentrate on a system that trades the odds.

Sure, you won’t win all the time, but if you know how to trade the odds you can make a lot of money.

BECOME A PROFESSIONAL TRADER On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including: Free critical trader PDFS, and more FREE Forex Education visit our website at: http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com/index.html

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Currency Swing Trading - The Perfect Method for Beginners

By: Monica Hendrix

Currency swing trading is a great way to make forex profits. Its easy to understand easy to apply and is a great way to make big profits. It's also a good method for novice traders to start with as it also requires less discipline than long term trend following - lets look at currency swing trading in more detail.

The problem for novice traders

Is they mostly lack discipline and getting discipline is hard especially if you want to follow long term trends, it takes a lot to follow a long term trend as open profits dip by sometimes thousands a day, sure you can hang on and win in the end - but getting the mindset right to do this is hard as you are always tempted to bank early.

Currency swing trading is the only short term method of trading that works and you are looking to catch trends of a few days to a few weeks maximum.

Swing trading is far better than forex day trading that simply doesn't work.

All short term daily fluctuations are random, support and resistance levels are meaningless, as volatility can and does take prices anywhere in a day session.

Swing trading on the other hand, takes advantage of over bought and over sold scenarios in the longer term trends and does work.

Currency swing trading is great for novices who want to be in on the action - trades come around frequently and profits and losses are banked quickly.

There are five golden rules for currency swing trading you must follow to be successful.

1. Trade Valid Support and Resistance

Generally 3 tests is the minimum, in two different time frames and the wider apart the tests take place in, the more valid the level is likely to be.

2. Confirm - Confirm - Confirm!

You don't just trade into support and resistance and hope the levels hold - you wait for confirmation. For this, you need to learn about momentum and use price momentum indicators.

If you don't know what they are or how they work, now is a good time to start.

A great indicator is the stochastic - there are many others just pick and choose 1 or 2 you like.

By using momentum, you are ensuring you are always trading with price momentum on your side - you are acting on the reality of price change and will have the odds on your side, rather than predicting or guessing which won't make you money in any venture.

3. Keep It Simple

Just support and resistance and a couple of confirming indicators are all you need. Simple systems are easy to understand, easy to apply and will be more robust in the face of ever changing brutal market conditions.

You can put together a simple currency trading system to swing trade in a couple of days - but that doesn't mean it won't be profitable - it will.

All the best forex trading systems are simple and yours should be to.

4. Take profits early

Have a target and get out early the closer the price moves to the next support and resistance, the more chance there is of a recoil against you which can eat into your open equity profit.

5. Liquidity

You should only trade volatile liquid currencies as spreads are tighter in these and the cost of doing business is less - so shop rates all forex brokers are not equal in this respect.

Currency swing trading is simple and it can be highly profitable in any forex trading strategy so try it.

Swing trading for beginners is ideal - its easy to learn, easy to apply and if you have a simple robust system, you can and will, make you big longer term capital gains.

Try currency swing trading and see for yourself how profitable it can be and you maybe glad you did.

NEW! PROFESSIONAL FOREX COURSE AND FREE TRADING PDF's For free trading guides and more on currency swing trading Course visit our website at: http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com/index.html

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Forex Trading Success – Learn to Deal with Volatility or Lose Your Money


By: Kelly Price

If you want to enjoy forex trading success then you need to know how to deal with volatility and that means knowing and understanding standard deviation, - if you don’t know what it is you should it’s a key part of forex education and vital to achieve Forex trading success.

The Problem

Most forex Traders can spot long term trends but they cant profit from them because they get stopped out by volatile counter moves which clip their stop and give them a loss – then they see the currency go the way they thought and pile up huge gains.

If you want to win at forex trading then you need to deal with volatility. Let’s look at standard deviation and what is and how we can use it to help us deal with volatility.

Standard deviation is a statistical term that refers to and shows the volatility of price in any currency or financial instrument. Standard deviation measures how widely values are dispersed from the mean or average.

Dispersion is defined as the difference between the actual closing value price and the average value, or mean closing price.

The larger the difference between the closing prices from the average price, the higher the standard deviation and volatility will be. On the other hand, the closer the closing prices are to the average mean price, the lower the standard deviation, or volatility of the currency is.

Technical Calculation

Standard deviation the square root of the variance, and the average of the squared deviations from the mean.

High Standard Deviation is present when the price of the currency studied is changing volatile and has large daily ranges in reverse low Standard Deviation values take place in periods of consolidation i.e. when prices are more stable and range bound.

Keep This in Mind

Prices spike away from the average as the participants react to the emotions of greed and fear and then return to the average mean, when prices have moved to far to quickly.

A great tool for helping you understand standard deviation and picking areas to enter your trades with good risk / reward is the Bollinger Band.

Dealing With Volatility.

Key points to keep in mind are:

That strong trending moves will break back to the mid Bollinger band and this provides you with an area to target to get in on the trend. When the bands expand and volatility is high, prices will normally recoil back and you can take a contrary trade in the opposite direction, as prices return back to the mean.

Consider this equation:

Fundamentals (Long term average mean) + Investor perception (High volatility to Inner and outer bands) = price.

The price of anything tends to dip back to the mean or average - but investors will spike prices to far up or down along the way. This is a simplified version but its obvious how to trade this equation, as we have suggested above.

Always keep in mind that huge price spikes don’t last and the average in a strong trend is a value area.

Target these areas and use your technical tools on your forex charts to define entry.

Using Standard Deviation for Greater Profits

Standard deviation tells you how volatile prices are and a Bollinger band reflects this – it is not however on its own a signal to trade. By understanding volatility and how it occurs through standard deviation you will be able deal with volatility better and pick low risk / high reward exit and entry points.

If you don’t understand standard deviation and its impact day to day you won’t make money trading currencies so make it an essential part of your forex education. If you do it will help you on the road to currency trading success.

NEW! FREE TRADING PDF's PRO FX TRADING COURSE For free trading guides and an exclusive Forex Trading Course visit our website at: http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com/index.html

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Tuesday, October 9, 2007

How to take a loss

Brett N. Steenbarger, Ph.D.

There are quite a few books written on how to make money in the market. Some of them are even written by people who have made money as traders! What you don't see often, however, are books or articles written on how to lose money. “Cut your losers and let your winners run” is commonsensical advice, but how do you determine when a position is a loser? Interestingly, most traders I have seen don't formulate an answer to this question when they put on a position. They focus on the entry, but then don't have a clear sense of exit—especially if that exit is going to put them into the red.

One of the real culprits, I have to believe, is in the difficulty traders have in separating the reality of a losing trade from the psychological sense of feeling like a loser. At some level, many traders equate losing with being a loser. This frustrates them, depresses them, makes them anxious—in short, it interferes with their future decision-making, because their P & L is a blank check written against their self-esteem. Once a trader is self-focused and not market focused, distortions in decision-making are inevitable.

A particularly valuable section of the classic book Reminiscences of a Stock Operator describes Livermore 's approach to buying stock. He would sell a quantity and see how the stock responded. Then he would do that again and again, testing the underlying demand for the issue. When his sales could not push the market down, then he would move aggressively to the buy side and make his money.

What I loved about this methodology is that Livermore's losses were part of a grander plan. He wasn't just losing money; he was paying for information. If my maximum position size is ten contracts in the ES and I buy the highs of a range with a one-lot, expecting a breakout, I am testing the waters. While I am not potentially moving the market in the way that Livermore might have, I still have begun a test of my breakout hypothesis. I then watch carefully. How are the other averages behaving at the top ends of their range? How is the market absorbing the activity of sellers? Like any good scientist, I am gathering data to determine whether or not my hypothesis is supported.

Suppose the breakout does not materialize and the initial move above the range falls back into the range on some increased selling pressure. I take the loss on my one-lot, but then what happens from there?

The unsuccessful trader will respond with frustration: “Why do I always get caught buying the highs? I can't believe “they” ran the market against me! This market is impossible to trade.” Because of that frustration—and the associated self-focus—the unsuccessful trader does not take any information away from that trade.

In the Livermore mode, however, the successful trader will see the losing one-lot as part of a greater plan. Had the market broken nicely to the upside, he would have scaled into the long trade and likely made money. If the one-lot was a loser, he paid for the information that this is, at the very least, a range-bound market, and he might try to find a spot to reverse and go short in order to capitalize on a return to the bottom end of that range.

Look at it this way: If you put on a high probability trade and the trade fails to make you money, you have just paid for an important piece of information: The market is not behaving as it normally, historically does. If a robust piece of economic news that normally sends the dollar screaming higher fails to budge the currency and thwarts your purchase, you have just acquired a useful bit of information: There is an underlying lack of demand for dollars. That information might hold far more profit potential than the money lost in the initial trade.

I recently received a copy of an article from Futures Magazine on the retired trader Everett Klipp, who was dubbed the “Babe Ruth of the CBOT”. Klipp distinguished himself not only by his fifty-year track record of trading success on the floor, but also by his mentorship of over 100 traders. Speaking of his system of short-term trading, Klipp observed, “You have to love to lose money and hate to make money to be successful…It's against human nature what I teach and practice. You have to overcome your humanness.”

Klipp's system was quick to take profits (hence the idea of hating to make money), but even quicker to take losses (loving to lose money). Instead of viewing losses as a threat, Klipp treated them as an essential part of trading. Taking a small loss reinforces a trader's sense of discipline and control, he believed. Losses are not failures.

So here's a question I propose to all those who enter a high-probability trade: “What will tell me that my trade is wrong, and how could I use that information to subsequently profit?” If you're trading well, there are no losing trades: only trades that make money and trades that give you the information to make money later.


Brett N. Steenbarger, Ph.D. is Director of Trader Development for Kingstree Trading, LLC in Chicago and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. He is also an active trader and writes occasional feature articles on market psychology for a variety of publications. The author of The Psychology of Trading (Wiley; January, 2003), Dr. Steenbarger has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on short-term approaches to behavioral change. His new, co-edited book The Art and Science of Brief Therapy is a core curricular text in psychiatry training programs. Many of Dr. Steenbarger's articles and trading strategies are archived on his website, www.brettsteenbarger.com

http://www.straightforex.com/howtotakealoss.html

Incorporating Price Action into a Forex Trading System

Trading the Forex market has become very popular in the last few years. But how difficult is it to achieve success in the Forex trading arena? Or let me rephrase this question, how many traders achieve consistent profitable results trading the Forex market? Unfortunately very few, only 5% of traders achieve this goal. One of the main reasons of this is because Forex traders focus in the wrong information to make their trading decisions and totally forget about the most important factor: Price behavior.

Most Forex trading systems are made off technical indicators (a moving average (MA) crossover, overbought/oversold conditions in an oscillator, etc.) But what are technical indicators? They are just a series of data points plotted in a chart; these points are derived from a mathematical formula applied to the price of any given currency pair. In other words, it is a chart of price plotted in a different way that helps us see other aspects of price.

There is an important implication on this definition of technical indicators. The fact that the readings obtained from them are based on price action. Take for instance a long MA crossover signal, the price has gone up enough to make the short period MA crossover the long period MA generating a long signal. Most traders see it as “the MA crossover made the price go up,” but it happened the other way around, the MA crossover signal occurred because the price went up. Where I'm trying to get here is that at the end, price behavior dictates how an indicator will act, and this should be taken into consideration on any trading decision made.

Trading decisions based on technical indicators without taking price action into consideration will give us less accurate results. For example, again a long signal generated by a MA crossover as the market approaches an important resistance level. If the price suddenly starts to bounce back off that important level there is no point on taking this signal, price action is telling us the market doesn't want to go up. Most of the time, under this circumstances, the market will continue to fall down, disregarding the MA crossover.

Don't get us wrong here, technical indicators are a very important aspect of trading. They help us see certain conditions that are otherwise difficult to see by watching pure price action. But when it comes to pull the trigger, price action incorporation into our Forex trading system will definitely put the odds in our favor, it will generate higher probability trades.

So, how to create a perfect Forex trading system?

First of all, you need to make sure your trading system fits your trading personality; otherwise you will find it hard to follow it. Every trader has different needs and goals, thus there is no system that perfectly fits all traders. You need to make your own research on various trading styles and technical indicators until you find a concept that perfectly works for you. Make sure you know the nature of whatever technical indicator used.

Secondly, incorporate price action into your system. So you only take long signals if the price behavior tells you the market wants to go up, and short signals if the market gives you indication that it will go down.

Third, and most importantly, you need to have the discipline to follow your Forex trading system rigorously. Try it first on a demo account, then move on to a small account and finally when feeling comfortably and being consistent profitable apply your system in a regular account.

http://www.straightforex.com/perfect.html

Brief Description: Basics of Online Share Trading

Author: john

Online Trading?
A stock broker is a qualified and regulated professional who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers on behalf of investors.
The increasingly popular activity of buying and selling securities over the internet, or to a lesser extent, through a broker’s proprietary software.

Stock Exchange
A stock exchange, share market or bourse is a corporation or mutual organization which provides facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade company stocks and other securities, Shares, equity are traded in stock exchange. India has two big stock exchanges ,Bombay Stock Exchange - BSE and National Stock Exchange - NSE and few small exchanges like Jaipur Stock Exchange etc.

Stock Trading
Stock trading is done at a stock exchanges, which are places where buyers and sellers meet and decide on a price. raditionally stock trading is done through stock brokers, personally or through telephones. Stock trading is affected by supply and demand. Online stock trading is considered one of the best ways for almost anyone to get in on the market. One of the best resources out there on the internet today for the investor looking to educate him or her self about online stock trading is http://dowtrend.com and http://tradelikethepros.com. Online stock trading is all about selecting the best stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals.Investor can trade shares through a website without any manual intervention from Stock Broker.

Stock Broker
A stock broker is a qualified and regulated professional who buys and sells shares and other securities through market makers on behalf of investors.
Only stock brokers can directly buy and sell shares in Stock Market. An investor must contact a stock broker to trade stocks. Broker charge commissions (brokerages) for their service. Brokerage is usually a percent of total amount of trade and varies from broker to broker.

Online trading has many pros. There are several wonderful reasons to invest online and consider online trading.

Benefits of Online Trading:

1. One can trade live on stock exchange irrespective of location.

2. Money saving opportunities
The amount of money you save depends primarily on the online brokerage firm that you choose. No two firms are the same. There may be different regulations, similar to bank regulations. There are minimum deposits required that must be maintained.

3. Instant online access
Orders directly send to stock exchanges rather then stock broker. This makes order execution very fast.

4. Enter online trades at anytime
You can enter online trades at anytime and from anywhere. This is very convenient if you live in a different time zone than the country you are trading in. Not to mention, it is especially fit for investors with busy schedules.

5. You are in control of your investments. No sales pitches and no hassle. You decide where to invest your money.

6. It provides almost each and every information which is required to a trader on a single screen including stock market charts, live data, alerts, stock market news etc.

Article Publish by: www.investmentbankingcentral.com

Article Tags: Ipo, Money And Banking, Infinite Banking, Free Insurance Quote, Insurance Ratings, What Is Investment Banking Technique, Affordable Individual Health Insurance, Corporate Finance Articles Resources, Brokerage Firms Insurance Brokerage, Banking Investments

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About the Author:

John Parker working on this site www.investmentbankingcentral.com. My job is to provide latest information, news regarding what is investment banking technique, affordable individual health insurance, corporate finance articles resources, brokerage firms insurance brokerage, banking investments, money and banking, infinite banking, free insurance quote, insurance ratings, ipo india, Investment Banking Salaries, investment firms, top investment banking firms, Venture Capital India, venture capital firms, Venture Capital Companies, Corporate banking, Venture Capital Funds, venture capital india by
publishing the articles.

Forex Scalping – Day Trading the Smaller Moves for Big Gains

Author: Kelly Price

The forex scalper who day traders does not look to make big profits per trade he seeks a lot of small profits over time that mount up and yield huge FX Profits overtime. Let’s look at forex scalping in more detail.

More novice traders try forex scalping than any other method and there is a huge industry on the net, which sells courses and forex day trading systems, to help them achieve their dreams.

Unfortunately, that’s all they are dreams - because Forex scalping simply has never worked and cannot work.

It simply guarantees you will get wiped out.

Why?

Its obvious and common sense. Millions of traders each day, trade trillions of dollars and to say that you can work out what this huge mass of traders will do in just a few hours, is laughable.

ALL Short term price moves are random.

Volatility can and does take prices anywhere in daily time frames and support and resistance levels are not valid - you can’t get the odds on your side and you will lose.

So Why Do So Many People Do it?

Well it’s a good story and the majority of forex scalping systems are sold with one aim in mind:

To make money the vendor is much to sensible to trade it himself – he makes his money appealing to greed and selling it to a naive buyer, who then losses.

The vendor pockets the profit and the buyer gets a hard lesson in the market he wont forget.

But I Have seen track records that make money!

Sure, you have – but check the disclaimer and you will see the words - "hypothetical" and "simulated".

Now this means that the track record was done in hindsight and simulated - KNOWING the closing prices!

How hard is that? A child, or anyone who can read and write can do that!

The problem with forex scalping comes when you have to trade it not knowing the closing prices, then the reality hits – a swift wipe-out of equity.

If you really want to prove this for yourself ask a vendor this simple question:

Can I please see YOUR track record of real time profits over 2 years or more?

Go ahead and try it and see what they say.

You won’t get one, or if you do, let me know - I have been asking this question for 25 years and never got one.

Forex day trading is a good story like little Harry Potter, the one the thing they have in common is their both made up.

So if you want to win and make money at forex trading, forget forex day trading and forex scalping and get the odds on your side.

This means, trading valid data and getting the odds on your side.

Try forex swing trading or long term trend following – both can work and you will be trading with the odds.

If you want to win at forex trading, then you need to do your homework and at least try methods that trade the odds, with forex scalping you could flip a coin and have as much chance of success.

Finally, maybe I am being a bit hard on scalpers and day traders if you find the elusive track record that makes money longer term, send it to me wonder what the odds are of that not happening?

Article Tags: Forex Trading, Currency Trading, Forex Day Trading, Forex Scalping, Forex Scalping For Beginners

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/forex-scalping-day-trading-the-smaller-moves-for-big-gains-229607.html

About the Author:

NEW! FREE 2 x CRITICAL TRADER PDFS - NEWSLETTERS - TRADING ALERTS + MORE

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Managing Money Online

Author: andy tao

You’re bank will more than likely have internet banking, this is a great tool which will allow you to sort and manage all of your finances out from a computer connected to the internet. Make sure you sign up as soon as possible to have the ease of paying all your bills from the comfort of your own home, you will never need to wait in those nasty bank cues waiting to see an advisor again as we all know how annoying they can be.

Having access to your bank online will give you many great benefits such as being able to check your bank balance without leaving your house, not only that but you can search previous statements and print them off so that you have a hard copy. It gives you full control of funds leaving your bank as you can set up or manage any direct debits you have set up on your account. It will display how much they are for and when the last and next date they are due to come out.

All you need to get started is a bank account with a company that support internet banking, go to their website and sign up for it if you haven’t got a username and password. Once you have filled in your details you will be given a username and a password, you often have to set a secret question to ensure maximum safety. Not many people trust online banking but the banking website has up to date firewalls and other security measures to keep your details private and out of the hands of other people.

If you forget your login, you often can find it out by filling in your sort code, account number, date of birth and certain digits from your security number which you set up with the bank when you originally set the account up. This will then give you access to your online banking interface. Make sure that you never leave any sensitive details lying around giving people the chance to access your account as they could withdraw your money or make payments from the interface and you would not be able to claim any of it back unless you can prove it wasn’t you that spent the money.

As long as you careful with your details you will be fine, you can always apply for online statements only which will reduce the chance of someone getting hold of your details.

Article Tags: Finance, Money, Banking, Firewall, Bank Account, Online Banking, Hostgator, Direct Debit, Security Number

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/managing-money-online-228367.html

About the Author:

Andy Tao
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AI: Alpha and Index Funds

Author: Bill Byrnes

A current theme among Wall Street wealth managers is for individual investors to have index funds as their core holdings and to focus the remainder of their assets in high alpha investments, which will produce returns not correlated with the market.

A quick digression for those of you who aren't familiar with alpha and beta. In traditional finance, return not correlated with a broad market index, such as the S& P 500, is referred to as alpha.

The return which is correlated to the market is beta. An index fund should have the same return (positive or negative) as the index it mimics. (One of the controversies surrounding some ETFs is their performance has not tracked their underlying index.)

The theory behind Alpha and Index Funds is multi fold: 1. the major indices are a good place for an investor to be, both from a risk and return perspective; 2. you can't outperform the major indices, so don't waste your time; 3. find those investment niches with high alphas to increase your return and reduce the overall risk in your portfolio.

Even if you don't subscribe to this theory, you might find it an interesting exercise to review the alphas -- every investment has one -- of your current holdings. They will tell you something about the correlation and diversification of your portfolio.

Where to focus your alpha energy? Investments in real estate, commodities, and energy are less correlated with the stock market (although I've never thought commodities were suitable for individual investors).

The Wall Street pros also recommend stock fund mangers who have unique strategies and can demonstrate a high alpha relative to the market (and, of course, positive relative performance).

Ask your investment adviser for suggestions. The alphas for individual mutual funds (and individual stocks) are available from some brokers and online premium services.

Alpha and index fund investing makes a great deal of sense. You know what to expect in terms of risk and return when you invest in an index fund.

Having a portion of your portfolio in index funds leaves you free to concentrate your investment time and energy (think alpha waves) on those investments which can make a difference.

Picking high alpha investments, which by their nature are less correlated with the stock market, should reduce the risk/volatility of your portfolio and, depending upon the investment, provide above market returns.

Article Tags: Stock Market, Mutual Fund, Index Fund Investing, Alpha Investment

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/ai-alpha-and-index-funds-229421.html

About the Author:

Bill Byrnes is co-founder of MUTUALdecision, top mutual fundsa, providing investors with data on the top mutual funds, and author of the MUTUALdecision Blog. He's been CEO, chairman and served on the board of directors of several public and private companies. He holds MBA and JD degrees and is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over 30 years experience in the investment industry.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Forex Leverage: A Double-Edged Sword

One of the reasons why so many people are attracted to trading forex compared to other financial instruments is that with forex, you can usually get much higher leverage than you would with stocks. While many traders have heard of the word leverage, few have a clue about what leverage is, how leverage works, and how leverage can directly impact their bottom line. (To learn more, see How does leverage work in the forex market?)

What is leverage?
Leverage involves borrowing a certain amount of the money needed to invest in something. In the case of forex, that money is usually borrowed from a broker. Forex trading does offer high leverage in the sense that for an initial margin requirement, a trader can build up - and control - a huge amount of money.

To calculate margin-based leverage, divide the total transaction value by the amount of margin you are required to put up. (For more insight, check out Margin Trading.)

Margin-Based Leverage =
Total Value of Transaction
Margin Required

For example, if you are required to deposit 1% of the total transaction value as margin and you intend to trade one standard lot of USD/CHF which is equivalent to US$100,000, the margin required would be US$1,000. Thus, your margin-based leverage will be 100:1 (100,000/1,000). For a margin requirement of just 0.25%, the margin-based leverage will be 400:1, using the same formula.

Margin-Based Leverage Expressed as Ratio Margin Required of Total Transaction Value
400:1 0.25%
200:1 0.50%
100:1 1.00%
50:1 2.00%

However, margin-based leverage does not necessarily affect one's risks. Whether a trader is required to put up 1% or 2% of the transaction value as margin may not influence his or her profits or losses. This is because investor can always attribute more than the required margin for any position. What you need to look at is the real leverage, not margin-based leverage.

To calculate the real leverage you are currently using, simply divide the total face value of your open positions by your trading capital.


Real Leverage =
Total Value of Transaction
Total Trading Capital

For example, if you have $10,000 in your account, and you open a $100,000 position (which is equivalent to one standard lot), you will be trading with a 10 times leverage on your account (100,000/10,000). If you trade two standard lots, which is worth $200,000 in face value with $10,000 in your account, then your leverage on the account is 20 times (200,000/10,000).

This also means that the margin-based leverage is equal to the maximum real leverage a trader can use. And since most traders do not use their entire accounts as margin for each of their trades, their real leverage tends to differ from their margin-based leverage.

Leverage in Forex Trading
In trading, we monitor the currency movements in pips, which is the smallest change in currency price, and that could be in the second or fourth decimal place of a price, depending on the currency pair. However, these movements are really just fractions of a cent. For example, when a currency pair like the GBP/USD moves 100 pips from 1.9500 to 1.9600, that is just a $0.01 move of the exchange rate.

This is why currency transactions must be carried out in big amounts, allowing these minute price movements to be translated into decent profits when magnified through the use of leverage. When you deal with a large amount like $100,000, small changes in the price of the currency can result in significant profits or losses.

When trading forex, you are given the freedom and the flexibility to select your real leverage amount based on your trading style, personality and money management preferences.

Risk of Excessive Real Leverage
Real leverage has the potential to enlarge your profits or losses by the same magnitude. The greater the amount of leverage on capital you apply, the higher the risk that you will assume. Note that this risk is not necessarily related to margin-based leverage although it can influence if a trader is not careful.

Let's illustrate this point with an example (See Figure 1).

Both Trader A and Trader B have a trading capital of US$10,000, and they trade with a broker that requires a 1% margin deposit. After doing some analysis, both of them agree that USD/JPY is hitting a top and should fall in value. Therefore, both of them short the USD/JPY at 120.

Trader A chooses to apply 50 times real leverage on this trade by shorting US$500,000 worth of USD/JPY (50 x $10,000) based on his $10,000 trading capital. Because USD/JPY stands at 120, one pip of USD/JPY for one standard lot is worth approximately US$8.30, so one pip of USD/JPY for five standard lots is worth approximately US$41.50. If USD/JPY rises to 121, Trader A will lose 100 pips on this trade, which is equivalent to a loss of US$4,150. This single loss will represent a whopping 41.5% of his total trading capital.


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Trader B is a more careful trader and decides to apply five times real leverage on this trade by shorting US$50,000 worth of USD/JPY (5 x $10,000) based on his $10,000 trading capital. That $50,000 worth of USD/JPY equals to just one-half of 1 standard lot. If USD/JPY rises to 121, Trader B will lose 100 pips on this trade, which is equivalent to a loss of $415. This single loss represents 4.15% of his total trading capital.

Refer to the chart below to see how the trading accounts of these two traders compare after the 100-pip loss.

- Trader A Trader B
Trading Capital $10,000 $10,000
Real Leverage Used 50 times 5 times
Total Value of Transaction $500,000 $50,000
In the Case of a 100-Pip Loss -$4,150 -$415
% Loss of Trading Capital 41.5% 4.15%
% of Trading Capital Remaining 58.5% 95.8%
Figure 1: All figures in U.S. dollars

Excessive Leverage Can Kill
With a smaller amount of real leverage applied on each trade, you can afford to give your trade more breathing space by setting a wider but reasonable stop and avoiding risking too much of your money. A highly leveraged trade can quickly deplete your trading account if it goes against you as you will rack up greater losses due to bigger lot sizes. Keep in mind that leverage is totally flexible and customizable to each trader's needs. Having an aim of trading profitably is not about making your millions by the end of this month or this year.

For more on trading this market, see the Forex Market tutorial.
By Grace Cheng, See Grace's Forex blog at www.gracecheng.com,
Access Investopedia's Forex Advisor FREE Report - The 5 Things That Move The Currency Market

Grace Cheng is a forex trader, creator of the PowerFX Course and author of "7 Winning Strategies for Trading Forex" (2007, Harriman House). This revealing book explains how traders can use various market conditions to their advantage by tailoring a strategy to suit each one. The book is a perfect complement to the PowerFX Course. The PowerFX Course, designed for both new and current traders, teaches tools and trading approaches that combine technicals, fundamentals and the psychology of trading forex. It also includes Grace's proprietary tips and tricks. Grace's works have been published in The Trader's Journal, Technical Analysis of Stocks & Commodities, Smart Investor and other leading trading/investment publications.

Visit her popular forex blog at www.GraceCheng.com.

Win at Forex Trading – the Major Problem you Must Confront to Enjoy Success

Author: Kelly Price

There is one problem that most forex traders fail to come to terms with and lose and its operating in an unstructured environment – this is the major underlying reason traders lose, so lets it explain it and its significance in more detail.

In normal society we confirm to rules and laws they govern our lives and those of our fellow citizens, were used to them and we conform to them.

When a forex trader trades, he has to operate in an unstructured environment and create his own rules to live and survive by.

This sounds easy enough to achieve, however nothing could be further from the truth – it’s very hard and most traders simply can’t achieve it.

Let’s take a closer look at the problems associated with operating in an unstructured environment.

1. Taking Responsibility For Your Actions.

This means taking charge of your destiny and most people simply cannot accept this responsibility.

They want the comfort of having someone to hold their hand and blame if thinks go wrong.

Problem is if you don’t accept responsibility, you won’t win - no one else will make you rich in Forex trading, you’re all on your own.

2. You Have To Create a Set of Rules to Survive

The market which you confront is all powerful, it moves as and when it wants – it’s always right and you can only be wrong .

Again, this causes major psychological problems for traders – we all hate being wrong, but in this instance you have to accept the market is right ALL the time, if you don’t you will run loses and the market will destroy you.

Most traders get frustrated and break their rules, or create a new set as they lose and end up chasing their tail. If you create rules you must have the discipline to apply them and most traders simply lack the mindset to do this.

3. The Work Ethic Does Not Apply

Most people try and overcome losses with a higher work rate.

After all the more you put in the more you get out. They assume if they acquire more knowledge or trade more often, their profitability will increase but the markets won’t reward effort.

You get your reward for being RIGHT and that’s it in forex trading, not the effort you put in.

4. Forex Traders Need To Be Anti Social!

We don’t mean you have to be rude to anyone - but you need to keep yourself to yourself and stay away from the pack and its opinions when trading forex.

Remember 95% of forex traders lose!

We find this uncomfortable.

After all, were pack animals and since stone age times we have sought comfort and belonging with others of our species. When we go against the majority opinion, we feel uncomfortable, as were simply not used to it.

Operating in the forex markets is far harder than many people think and most traders are simply unprepared for the mental problems that it confronts them with.

You will hear often that it is mindset more than method that contributes to success in the markets and its true.

If you have ever wondered why traders find it so hard to trade with discipline, this article may have helped you see why and given you an insight into what you need to do to achieve currency trading success।


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/win-at-forex-trading-the-major-problem-you-must-confront-to-enjoy-success-226574.html
About the Author:

NEW! FREE 2 x CRITICAL TRADER PDFS - NEWSLETTERS - TRADING ALERTS + MORE

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http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com/index.html

Forecasting Forex With Fundamental Analysis an Introduction

Author: Monica Hendrix

If you are forecasting forex with fundamental analysis you are effectively looking at the supply and demand situation and trying to judge which way prices go. Forex prices respond to the long term fundamentals but you need to avoid the errors most traders make to succeed.

What is Forex Fundamental analysis?

Studies all the facts in relation to the supply and demand situation of the currency and these are numerous and include:

Political factors

Interest rate outlook

Economic health of the economy

Government economic policy

And more make up the supply and demand picture

These are the facts and all traders see them but they draw different conclusions from what they see - this is the problem for any Forex trader and a problem for the trader following fundamentals.

A simple equation for market movement is:

Economic Fundamentals + Human perception = market movement

It is a fact that the markets do reflect the forex fundamentals but traders are emotional so they will push prices to far either up or down.

It’s a fact that markets tend to collapse when the fundamentals are most bullish and rally when they are most bearish. So you really need to follow investor psychology as well if you want to succeed.

News Is Discounted Instantly

Today we live in a world where the supply and demand fundamentals are available to all at the click of a mouse and they immediately show up in price action, so if you try and trade a news story, its been discounted and your playing catch up.

The news also relfects the greed and fear of the participants and can be misleading. Will Rodgers once said:

" I only believe what I read in the papers"

He was joking but the maount of people who take what the news says witout questioning its logic is huge.

For most traders trying to trade the fundamentals is impossible, as prices move too quickly and investor psychology constantly wrong foots them, as prices move opposite to the fundamentals, because investor psychology is emotionally driven.

Save Time and See the Whole Picture

The easiest way to trade is via technical analysis and forex charts.

You have the forex fundamentals covered as forex technical analysis simply assumes they show up in price action straightway and in today’s world of lightening fast communications, this is truer than ever before.

Furthermore, you get to see graphically how investors perceive them – this is very important and gives the overall picture.

A trader using forex charts does not try and work out where prices may go, he sees where they are and acts on the reality as he sees it.

This method is less time consuming, keeps your emotions out of trading and lets you trade on the reality of price.

A Surprising Forex Fact

Forex fundamental analysis is hard for most traders and although news is faster, better and more numerous than ever before a simple fact will illustrate why it won’t help you:

The ratio of winning traders is still 5% and it was at this level 50 years ago - despite all the advances in fundamental forecasting.

A Better Way to Win

It won’t make you a better trader or help you make money it will simply consume your time and see you lose. Trade via forex charts and you will see the whole picture and be able to spot profitable trading opportunities and act upon them and enjoy currency trading success.

Forex fundamental analysis is hard and technical analysis for most traders is the better option।

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/forecasting-forex-with-fundamental-analysis-an-introduction-226577.html
About the Author:

NEW! FREE 2 x CRITICAL TRADER PDFS - NEWSLETTERS - TRADING ALERTS + MORE

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including: Free critical trader PDFS, and more FREE Forex Education visit our website at:
http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com/index.html

Friday, October 5, 2007

How to Get Affordable Life Insurance That Will Meet your Needs

Author: Joe Stewart

Life insurance is one of those monthly expenses where you somtimes scratch your head and ask yourself "is this really necessary"? Well, the best way to get an answer to that question is to not ask yourself, ask your wife and kids or whatever loved ones that you are responsible for or care about. The reason that I say this is because these are the people that are going to be affected by whether you are insured or not. To suddenly have the breadwinner of the home gone with or without notice can instantly change everyone's lives and, in some cases, instantly place them into poverty. Don't you think that your loved ones would have a hard enough time coping with your loss without having to deal with financial stress, not to mention your burial expenses?

If you don't already have life insurance you need to get a policy immediately. The most affordable life insurance that you can buy is called "Term Life Insurance". You can buy a policy for a specific period of time, such as ten or twenty years or whatever your needs may be.

Before you buy your life insurance you need to determine approximately how much your loved ones will need to survive in your absence. You don't want to change their lives any more than you absolutely have to. If you have children you'll need to provide enough coverage for them until the youngest child is through college. This is something that you'd be better served by sitting down with an insurance agent in order to determine exactly how मुच
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/how-to-get-affordable-life-insurance-that-will-meet-your-needs-227517.html

About the Author:
Stop! Learn More About Cheap Life Insurance Options And Even Get Free Term Life Insurance Quotes Right Now At TheLifeInsuranceGuys.com or by clicking on Affordable Life Insurance

Joe Stewart Is A Former Life & Health Agent That Now Works Independently.

Investing In Gold Bullion Is Easy Now


Author: Dave Jackson

Right now you're probably thinking that gold bullion investing is something best left to the pros. Yes, the majority of traders making noise are professional investors. But there are some easy ways to get into the bullion market, and gold could be a good investment for you.

Of all things to invest in, gold is probably one of the most liquid investments. And much unlike many of the other commodities, it is literally traded 24 hours a day everywhere in the world. This means you can buy and sell gold in about any country.

Mom always said to not put all your eggs in one basket, and this is why gold should form the foundation in your overall investment portfolio. If you have only paper in your portfolio, know that gold tends to move in the opposite direction of paper investments.

It really stands out as a diversifier. With your stocks, bonds and cash, gold can help offset fluctuations in the market. There are a lot of financial advisers that recommend having 5 to 10 percent of gold in their portfolio.

A real good way to get into the gold bullion market is by investing in the American Eagle. This coin is the only bullion coin whose weight, content, and purity are backed by the United States government. Think of the confidence you can have buying them.

American Eagle gold coins require no assaying and they can be converted to cash at any moment. Simple to keep track of, American Eagles are tied to the spot gold price, plus a small premium to cover mintage and distribution.

Many have used American Eagle gold bullion coin in their Individual Retirement Accounts or other tax-advantaged plans। It just makes good sense to at least consider looking into the American Eagle. If you thought that investing in gold was too hard or too tricky, read our reports to see why now is the very best time to invest.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/investing-in-gold-bullion-is-easy-now-227392.html

About the Author:
Dave Jackson details gold investing at his site Investing in Gold. His tips regarding 24k gold jewelry are timely in today's market.