Day Trading

I miss my day trading days !

Especially when I am now in Asia and there is a time zone difference. So that means I have to wake up in the middle of the night which is day time in US to monitor the currency market.

Tiring, but if you want to be in forex, there is no choice. Even with the aid of expert advisors running on ur metatrader platforms..... LOL, you cannot help it but want to monitor your trades opened as you are human after all.

Oh well, I hope my short term trading and scalping strategies will pay off during fundamental news annoucements !

Do let me know what else you want me to write about on currency market or on EAs or even hosting.

I advise checking up on forexfactory news event coverage.

Have fun people ! And happy trading ! Make money !

Mid Month Blues

Howdy people !

How's your trading week so far ?

Any good news and income to share with all my readers ?

Wall Street Journal, forexfactory, forex.com even, have been very good sources of information on currency news around the world, in particular US.

US is a main driving force in the world economy and any announcement will rock the entire worldwide market.

Again, there are many good platforms (saxo, etoro etc) out there eager to earn your money. Make the right move and make money off forex too !

Just remember : There is no such thing as instant riches ! So read all the fine print and not be carried away by promises of 6-7 figure income per month on forex trading. Nothing is free in this world. If everyone can make such money, then no one will be working ! So just be patient and learn from scratch. Use a practice trading account first !

Forex News Calendar

For those who are new to forex, and want to trade on forex news, you can always follow fundamental events that will influence currency movements.

You do not have to follow all news. Just concentrate on the major ones like job rates, interest rates etc. Once you are familiar with how the currency markets move vis-a-vis fundamental news events, you can try your hand at forex trading. You might even make money as a short term trader on economic events !

A good place to check out the latest fundamental news release will be at forexfactory.com as well as forexpeacearmy.com

They will be able to provide you with the dates and time of all events that are coming up.

You can either base your judgement on the news and prepare yourself to buy or short, or you can even engage the use of an expert advisor that can operate on metatrader platform to trade based on your instructions.

I hope this helps !

Really Thank You for Coming By

Hey readers,

thanks for coming by !

I have been down with flu, cough, fever, and not be active on blog for 1 plus week.

But I do appreciate your coming by.

Keep the mails coming !

Hopefully I will be better soon and place some stuff which I will collate from forex factory or forex peace army sites.

Do No Go into Forex If You Do Not Have Sufficient Knowledge

I met a friend, Alex over the weekends for coffee and check up on each other's life.

Then he told me that he is venturing into forex trading online. And has started out with a demo account with onanda.com.

So I began to ask him about the basics in forex. And to my shock and horror, he does not even have the slightest basic knowledge at all. All he knows is, he was asked by his colleague at work to sign up for an account and try to make it work in forex for passive income.

I told him, that was very risky as this market is risky and highly volatile. He must at least understand all the terminology as well as what makes the market move. he should follow up diligently on fundamental new releases or at least understand how to do technical analysis before doing this headlong.

Otherwise, he may lose more than what he can chew.

Opening a forex account is easy, making use of it and making the right decision in order to make it profitable, is another thing altogether.

So Want to Trade in Foreign Currency ?

New to forex trading ? Or even thinking of making money online ?

Trying to think of ways to make extra income cool and easy ? Came to my site by chance ?

Well, the hard cold facts. Forex / currency trading is not for the faint hearted.

The forex market is a highly volatile and high risk market. To be able to invest and make money wisely from it, means you need to have a very emotionally stable mindset and be mature to handle or cut losses when the market goes against your favour.

You must also be rational when making forex trading decisions.

Whichever currency pairs (EUR/USD etc) you are looking at, do understand the underlying fundamentals and do some technical analysis for both short term and long term trends to at least get an idea of why the currency pair you are observing is going in this particular fashion.

Trading in forex is definitely not child's play and not for the faint hearted or someone who is fickle-minded in your decisions.

Otherwise, you may end up losing more money in forex trading than gaining from it. Though, the down side is the margin call and you lose the amount you invest.

And do read the disclaimers on any expert advisors (that can be used on metatrader platforms) you come across. If you read them carefully, they will say that they cannot guarantee your earnings. So take all their featured earnings with a pinch of salt as there is no way you can verify if what they claim is real or not. The choice is yours. Expert advisors, are after all, a software and may not be able to change their position or direction based on certain situations as they will just follow the rules you set.

What I want to say is, it is best that you fully understand what the forex market is and the risk involved before hastily jumping into it. Do not be enticed by free bonus money when you sign up with any online broker platform.

Enough said, once you are familiar with everything, and is well acustomed to risk, then you can venture into forex trading !

Forex Currency Trading Online - eToro

An interesting video regarding online currency trading from eToro.

You can invest your money online and even get up to $500 free bonus. Of course, you can always try out a demo forex account before you venture into forex. Unless, you are very well versed in the technicalities as well as fundamental news that move the currency market.

Have fun watching !

PS : Do try out a demo trading account first and not go headlong on into an investment account until you are fully aware of how your online broker functions and how you manage your metatrader platforms. Always remember to try out the expert advisors first before you implement it to a real live account !

Great Start to the Week

Hello everyone !

How's your weekend ? Had a good break ?

So now it is the start of a brand new week. Ready for the week's forex challenge ahead ?

Filled with energy and zest to make some awesome money in forex trades ?

Or simply new to forex trading and the use of expert advisors ?

Read my blog, check out all the articles so that you at least know what it entails when jumping into the forex market and do trading :) No time to trade ? Check out expert advisors on MT4 platform :)

Ok, you have fun !

Forex MetaTrader EA Software

MetaTrader EAs or Expert Advisors are programmable trading strategies which operate within the MetaTrader trading platform. Over the recent years they have become increasingly popular, resulting in more traders choosing to use an automated forex system to trade with.

MetaTrader EA's are popular, because if you have a profitable forex strategy or system, and programme that system into an EA or Expert Advisor, then you can have the EA run 24 hours a day on your PC through your MetaTrader broker's trading platform, and you will do not have to monitor your positions on a constant basis. This is very convenient for the busy professional who does not have the time to be online checking and following after the current forex news.

There are literally thousands of different Expert Advisors to choose from. Many are freely available to download from forex forums such as the Forex Factory, whilst some MetaTrader EAs are commercially available for a fee. Be sure to thoroughly backtest a MetaTrader EA if you just download it for free from a website, as you will not know how profitable or robust it is. The same is true for a lot of commercial EAs aswell, so whatever EA you end up with, backtest it extensively before committing live funds to a trading account.

Always test them out on a free demo account. Each EA runs on different strategies ranging from one direction trading, scalping, and other interesting strategies (Martingale etc) which are based on various market interpretation of the current trend.

If you run several Metatrader EA's simultaneously, you might find that your PC is not quick enough to process all of the trades. What most forex traders will do is run their MetaTrader experts via a forex hosting service, such as Forex VPS or Forex Hoster . This gives the trader additional comfort, knowing that he does not need his laptop or PC on in order for the EA to operate, and will suffer from any power outages or internet connection problems....

Regarding MetaTrader Hosting

To be able to trade currency online, you will need a meta trading platform.

MetaTrader is one of the leading forex hosting service providers on the market today.

MetaTrader Hosting supports Metatrader on all major operating systems, including Linux, Mac and Windows, unlike some hosting companies which only provide support to Window clients. It will also give you real time support, should you encounter any problems on the server side.

MetaTrader Hosting has robust security arrangements at its facility, and provides a secure and remote access to your MetaTrader broker account.

Hosting your Forex VPS with MetaTrader Hosting gives you real time access to your individual trading account. It enables you the ability to view, manage and trade in real time through your broker. It is also possible to host several MetaTrader Expert Advisors without having to worry about your laptop crashing, power outages, or a failed internet connection.

As an additional benefit, MetaTrader Hosting will not only allow you to monitor your trade on your PC, laptop, Mac or Linux operating system, but you can also monitor your trading account remotely, and on the move with your iPhone.

MetaTrader Hosting was originally created for simple and easy management of your MT4 Expert Advisors and custom indicators and scripts, and has grown to become one of the most popular and robust trading platforms on the market. And with MetaTrader Hosting, it takes less time to install an Expert Advisor on MetaTrader, than it is when MT is running on your own desktop.

Extracted from Google search.

How Does Forex Trading Work ?

A video from Youtube giving a brief introduction of forex trading and how it works. And the market value and why it is so popular with so much currency between transacted everyday.

Also, featured is its brief on the use of expert advisors and auto forex trading robot. A simple comparison overview of auto vs manual forex trading. Watch it if you like ! Another video on a forex trading seminar is also embedded in this post :)

A Forex Trading Seminar video

Short Term Currency Trends

Most of the time, markets don't show any visible clear trend - they bounce back and forth between support and resistance levels. This sideways movement is called a trading range.

Below is a strategy that may help you in identifying entry points on short-term trends, whilst protecting your profits with trailing stops.

Trade Set-up

The strategy uses two charts with different time periods (10-minute and hourly), along with two technical indicators: a 200-bar moving average and a 14-bar slow stochastic study.

1st Step : Identify a Trend

Compare the moving averages on both charts. A trend may be developing when price is consistently above or below the moving averages on both charts.

2nd Step : Pinpoint entry

Once you've identified a trend, look for the following two conditions at the same time on the 10-minute chart:

1. Price is no more than 20 pips above (to buy) or 20 pips below (to sell) the MA.

2. The "fast" stochastic (%K) crosses above the "slow" stochastic (%D) below 20 (to buy), or crosses below the "slow" stochastic above 80 (to sell).

3rd Step : Ride the trend

Set a trailing stop after the trade entry.

On a LONG position, the stop order should be 10 pips BELOW the 200-period MA on the 10-minute chart. You'll RAISE the stop as the trade goes in your favor.

On a SHORT position, place the stop 10 pips ABOVE the MA. You'll LOWER the stop as the trade goes in your favor.

I hope this helps ! Test this out on a demo platform like eToro or ibfx practice accounts before you go live !

Choice of Forex Trading Currency Broker

There is a very wide choice of currency broker companies online and when you are starting out in forex trading it can be difficult to find the best. We tend to be attracted by advertising, assuming they are all working in the same way. In fact this is not true. Foreign exchange brokers have very different business models which affect the way that they operate. In some cases, you may be surprised to hear that they could be working against their clients instead of for them.

Of course traditionally a broker carries out his clients' instructions, placing orders for them in the market. Originally brokers worked with telephone orders and simply placed the order for the best price that they could get through their dealing desk. These days, everything is done online so that clients put in their orders for a certain price. However, you do still need a broker who will connect to the market through their software platform.

Many brokers still work in the old way, placing orders for clients as they are instructed. These are often the brokers who run standard forex accounts with minimum investment of $10,000 and upward. But the internet has opened up forex trading to people with much lower investment funds. More recently, companies have come on the scene to cater for these smaller investors and they do not necessarily follow the pattern of traditional brokers. To cut costs, they usually do not have their own dealing desks and they may operate in some very different ways. This can have important consequences for your funds and how they are managed.

So let's take a look at the types of business model that you may come across in your search for a currency broker.

No Dealing Desk (NDD) Currency Brokers

NDD brokers work in a similar way to brokers with dealing desks, but they use a range of liquidity providers to actually match their clients' orders in the market. Competition between liquidity providers keeps the spread low, even though the broker usually increases the spread to cover their own costs and make some money.

Market Makers

Market makers are not brokers in the true sense because instead of placing your order in the market they will match it themselves and then cover themselves against any loss by taking a position in the ECN or market that offsets their commitment to you either partially or fully. Market makers set their own prices, although of course these will be related to market prices. They often do not like clients to use scalping strategies because the very short term nature of these trades makes it hard for them to offset their risk. Some traders are happy to use market makers but others consider that they have a conflict of interest which may work against you as a trader.

Electronic Communications Network (ECN)

Forex brokers who use the ECN can access an online network where trades are filled. Many market makers work this way, as well as some brokers, banks and other large currency traders. Spread is usually low but you may be charged a fee per trade.

Bucket Shops

Forex bucket shops are like bet takers in that they simply match your trade without necessarily taking any position in the market. They may not even have any connection into the real currency market. They win if you lose, so if you are successful they will probably close your account and return your funds. There is really no point in getting involved with a bucket shop unless you just want experience at very low levels of investment, and plan to lose money. They are illegal in some jurisdictions, and do not deserve to be described as a currency broker.

Metatrader EA passive income strategy

By: Douglas Smith

Meta Trader EA works under indicators which inform about the overbought and oversold zones.

It is simple, quick and works like a robot. Meta Trader EA is able to inform the possible movement changes from blue to red lines. MQL4 coding is used as it works for users as Indicators, Libraries, Scripts and Expert Advisors for the platform of Meta Trader.

The benefits of using Meta Trader EA software are only for the online currency trading. It is easy and simple to install. You can start your trading with in one hour’s time after purchase. It provides MTS 4 free of charge. After purchase you can get support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For updates and on new versions, you can get bonuses and discounts. Copy tool software, DDET tool software, MBTrading Bridge and Forex Volumes tools are used in Meta Trader.

You can download the Meta Trader EA by just filling the form instantly. The trading through this program includes commodities, indices and shares. Low spreads and zero commission are offered with trading signals. Meta Trader Expert Advisors known as MT4 and MT5. Meta Trader 4 offers the trader a stretchy trading situation as well as Forex trading automation.

You can download these expert advisors and use them on Meta Trader platform. Currency pairs of GBP/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY and USD/CHF can be used for this program. Meta Trader EA help to trade automatically when you are away form the system. You can have the commissions or spreads automatically. On joining you will have a demo account and one original / live account. First you have to use the demo account for better trading then use the original / live account.

Meta Trader indicators are as under:
- Statistical Metatrader indicators
- Divergence Metatrader Indicators
- Multi-Timeframe Metatrader indicators
- General purpose Indicator


STATISTICAL & DIVERGENCE METATRADER INDICATORS

New Meta Trader Statistical Indicators and Divergence Indicators can be purchased as - StateX can be purchased for $ 96.79, Momentum-DIV, OBV-DIV, Bollinger Bands-DIV, Stochastic-DIV, DACD-DIV, RSI-DIV and PowerRVI-DIV can be purchased for $ 115.96 each.

MULTI-TIMEFRAME METATRADER INDICATORS

Multi-Time frame Meta Trader Indicators can be purchased with different costs like; Trend MultiTF for $95.96, HeikenAshi MultiTF for $75.96, PowerRVI for $ 83.16, PowerSTLM for $99.96, Alt-Pitchfork for $87.96 and StateX for $96.79

GENERAL PURPOSE INDICATOR & EXPER ADVISORS

General purpose indicators can be purchased as PowerRVI for $83.16, PowerSTKM for $99.96 and Alt-Pitchfork for $87.96 only.

The opening positions are different on the four times frames. You can set the time frames of your choice as for 4 Hours – H4, for Daily – D1, for Weekly – W1 and Monthly – NM codes are used.

There are hundreds of trading robots out there, many of which claim to make very large profits on a consistent basis. It can be very difficult to weed through the noise and actually find an expert advisor that will provide you with stability and hopefully positive returns. Throughout this article I will show you a multitude of statistical ways to search for the best performing Metatrader EA.

Article Source: Metatrader EA passive income strategy

What are Ticks and Pips ?

Ticks are the smallest amounts of time that exist between any two currency trades. This time frame can be a short time period of a fraction of a second for major currencies, and can also be a time frame of a few hours for less popular currencies. Ticks do not happen in constant intervals, even though the charts used for technical analysis do use specific time rates such as 4 hours of 15 minutes.

Whereas a pip is the smallest change of price for any Foreign Currency. The currency quotes appear as numbers with either two or four decimal places. This means that if the Foreign Currency moves up or down, the smallest move is called a "pip". When you trade in Forex, you monitor how the pips rise and drop and this is what determines your investment.

Take the following example :

If you buy EUR/USD. This pair is quoted four decimal numbers after the point. A pip here is ten thousandth of a Dollar, or 0.0001 of a dollar. The pip is an abbreviation of "Price Interest Point", and this is why another name used for pips is points.

Even though a pip is only a small amount of money, because your foreign currency trading is usually a leveraged investment, a few pips can mean serious cash fluctuations. Each serious trader needs to know how to calculate the change from pips the actual sums invested, and some online Foreign currency trading agents offer such calculators in their account. You should consider these and other advanced functions when selecting the broker you want to use. Pip value can vary, and is usually $1 in mini accounts or $10 in regular accounts.

An important concept that concerns pips is called The Spread. This is the pip difference between the bid price and the ask price done for the currency trading sum. When you buy Foreign Currency it costs you more than to sell it and this is the spread.

Come on back as I provide more forex trading basics.

Full article source, with thanks : www.forexondemand.com

Forex Trading Recommendations

Traders who want to start FOREX trading should learn to begin with small accounts ($25,000 and under) or with a mini account and always trade with the trend. Many beginners look for trades that flow in any direction, which can be somewhat unreliable.

While FOREX trading easily permits bi-directional trades, you will realize once you start trading FOREX that trading in the direction of the trend will improve your odds over the long run.

Another way to improve your odds is to have at least two accounts, including at least one real account and one demo account. You don’t stop learning when you start trading real dollars. Use your demo account to test any alternative trades you might be considering.

If you have the right amount of money when you start FOREX trading, try trading two lots rather than one. Or even three lots. This is safer than only trading one. When everything is riding on one trade, it’s hard to make good decisions. Having a few positions going is a good way to take the intensity out of a trade. Conversely, you may also want to consider extreme trading, which can be the most conservative trading, when you think about it. Trading at the extremes ­increases the odds that you have chosen the right direction.

Take the time to examine the charts. These exist to help you time your trades. When you are trading at 30- and 15-minute time increments, it can take a great deal of dexterity, and it’s good to have this knowledge at your fingertips.

But don't trade the time frame that is offered. Trade the pattern instead. Reversal patterns, hesitation patterns and breakout patterns show up a lot. Learn to look for these patterns in any time frame. While the patterns are always there if you look for them, leading indicators aren’t there. Don’t spend all your time looking for them there simply aren’t any.

Some firms make a lot of money selling software that predicts the future, but the reality is that if those products really worked, they wouldn't be telling you about it. When you start FOREX trading use the simple Upside Down Rule. If you can turn a chart upside down and it still looks the same, avoid it all together.

You should fully check the Big Five: the dollar/yen, euro/dollar, Swiss franc/dollar, euro/yen and pound/dollar ­ before you decide to take a position in any one of them. There might be something obvious that you’ve missed.

And finally when you first start FOREX trading, don't keep count of your profits in your first 20 trades. Keep track of the percentage of wins instead. Once you know you can pick directions, your profits can be increased with multi-plot trading and by using variations in your stops.

Never assume you know a lot when you begin to make money from forex. The market is highly volatile and forever changing with surprises from fundamental events. Be on your toes with the most up to date financial and economic news affecting the major currencies if you ever want to win in the currency market. Try not to be caught with your pants down !

How to Calculate Profit and Loss in a FX Trade

To be in this market, it is certainly useful for you to understand how to calculate the profit/loss of a trading position, even though trading platforms have this done automatically.

Take the following example :

Let's say that the current bid/ask for EUR/USD is 1.4616/19, meaning you can buy 1 euro for 1.4619 or sell 1 euro for 1.4616.

Suppose you decide that the Euro is undervalued against the US dollar. To execute this strategy, you would buy Euros (simultaneously selling dollars), and then wait for the exchange rate to rise.

So you make the trade: to buy 100,000 Euros you pay 146,190 dollars (100,000 x 1.4619). Remember, at 1% margin, your initial margin deposit would be approximately $1,461 for this trade.

As you expected, Euro strengthens to 1.4623/26. Now, to realize your profits, you sell 100,000 Euros at the current rate of 1.4623, and receive $146,230

You bought 100k Euros at 1.4619, paying $146,190. Then you sold 100k Euros at 1.4623, receiving $146,230. That's a difference of 4 pips, or in dollar terms ($146,190 - 146,230 = $40).

Total profit = US $40.

I hope this simple illustration will help you better understand how a FX trade is calculated !

Trading in Currency

Daily turnover in the world's currencies comes from two sources:

• Foreign trade (5%). Companies buy and sell products in foreign countries, plus convert profits from foreign sales into domestic currency.
• Speculation for profit (95%).

Most traders focus on the biggest, most liquid currency pairs. "The Majors" include US Dollar, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Euro, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.

In fact, more than 85% of daily forex trading happens in the major currency pairs.

Moving Averages

Types of Moving Averages

One of the most widely used indicators - moving averages, help traders verify existing trends, identify emerging trends, and view overextended trends about to reverse. As the name suggests, these are lines overlaid on a chart that "average out" short-term price fluctuations, so you can see the long-term price trend.

A simple moving average weighs each price point over the specified period equally. The trader defines whether the high, low, or close is used, and these price points are added together and averaged, forming a line.

An exponential moving average weighs more recent price data in a different way. An exponential moving average multiplies a percentage of the most recent price by the previous period's average price.

A weighted moving average gives more emphasis to the latest data. It smoothes out a price curve, while making the average more responsive to recent price changes.

It can take a while to find the best combination of moving average and period length for your currency pair. The right combo will make the trend you're looking for clearly visible, as it develops. Finding that optimal fit is called curve fitting.

Usually traders start by comparing a few time frames for their moving averages over a historical chart. Then you can compare how well and how early each timeframe signaled changes in the price data as they developed, then adjust accordingly.

When you've found a moving average that works well for your currency pair, you can consider this as a line of support for long positions or resistance for short positions. If prices cross this line, that often signals a currency is reversing course.

Here's an example of how it works :

Longer-term moving averages define a trend, but shorter-term MAs may signal its shift faster. That's why many traders watch moving averages with different timeframes at once. If a short-term MA crosses your longer-term MA, it can signal your trend is ending - and time to pare back your position.

I hope this helps ! See below video for more info.