The Obvious Advantages of Trading Forex over any Other Open Market

The sudden hype around Forex trading is not without good reason. Forex, which is the exchange of currency on the open market, provides a number of benefits that you won’t get from the stock market or other trading venues. Forex is fast, it’s fun and it has the potential to lead to big profits.

The Size of the Market

There is close to 2 trillion dollars being traded on the Forex market every single day. You don’t have that kind of liquidity in any of the other markets. With that much money floating around, there is no worrying about prices changing too much before you are able to enter or exit your trade.

With a market that is this large, it is also nearly impossible for prices to be manipulated by any one single group. This allows for a more accurate read of supply and demand as you analyze the market and your currency pairs.

Small Initial Capital

If you shop around brokers, you are going to find some that allow an initial investment of as low as $50. There is always potential to gain money in the Forex market, even when you are only putting up a small amount of money to start. Continue reading "The Obvious Advantages of Trading Forex over any Other Open Market"

Understanding the Basics of Technical Analysis

Whether you are trading stocks or currency, technical analysis is an advanced tool used to try and predict changes in your market and trade accordingly.

At the base of technical analysis is price history. You are studying the price of a currency, it’s up and downs, and looking for an obvious indicator that will tell you when another up or down is coming up. Think of it like trying to learn to read tea leaves to see the future – except there is real science behind it.

Using Charts For Technical Analysis

The most basic tool for technical analysis is your chart or graph. Whether you are looking at a line graph or candlesticks, the Forex trading chart is giving you a wealth of information. First, you can check the support and resistance. These are the points where it seems that the currency pair won’t cross. Is there a certain range in which the currency is moving? When you see a price making sudden movements in that range you can use the support and resistance to predict when it is going to change its direction again.

Trend lines can be used when there is a definitive pattern that you can follow. You can chart the trend line if it is moving in one direction to predict where the price is going to go using indicators.

For example, let’s say you are studying a candlestick chart -which you should as they give you more indicators in one convenient place. This type of chart can help you to find trends that indicate a major reversal is about to take place. One indicator you can look for is what traders refer to as “three white soldiers” which indicate a bullish reversal is pending. Continue reading "Understanding the Basics of Technical Analysis"

Are You Ready to Become a Full Time Forex Trader?

There is not a part-time trader out there who doesn’t dream of getting to the point where they can throw their day job to the wayside and trade currency from the deck of their pool. This is a legitimate fantasy that few will achieve, and for those that do it will be a hard road to get there.

There will be no chance of success at becoming a full time Forex trader until you honestly evaluate the following factors to see if it is viable in your situation:

Start Up Capital

How much is in your Forex account right now? $1,000? 2 grand? How much more can you add to it? Remember, pips don’t equal much when converted into cash and not even leveraging with that amount of money is going to make you self sufficient any time soon. Brokers don’t leverage more than what you have on hand to lose. Continue reading "Are You Ready to Become a Full Time Forex Trader?"

Are You Standing in Line Next to a Fellow Forex Trader?

Take a ride on a New York subway and you will quickly be able to pick out the stock brokers. These are the Brooks Brothers suits, and probably a briefcase, cell phone in the ear barking orders. Now pick out the Forex traders. That's not nearly as easy to do since they look just like everyone else on the subway.

Sure that Brooks Brothers suit may also be dabbling in currency trade, if he's smart, but so may the guy in sweats sitting next to him. That’s because unlike other markets, Forex has no prejudices.
Trading in the other markets is constrained by time and money. If you don't have the right amount of either, there is no getting in. Forex on the other hand allows for trading around the clock and with very little investment capital. This makes it ideal for anyone who is looking to add to their income.

Who Can Trade Forex?

Admit it, you were always fascinated by the idea of top investors who were making tons of money just by having some. The idea that your own money could be put to work to earn you more has always been fancied, and the reason why banks offer interest earning savings accounts. With the easy availability of Forex, you can expand on that premise and increase your wealth quicker.

Take a teacher for example. You already know they are underpaid, plus they have all these long breaks with nothing to do but read books and watch re-runs. Learning how to trade in the Forex market is ideal for this profession. Not only do they have the spare time before and in between classes to check on their trades they also have months of free time to learn how to get really good at it.

A teacher could find a broker that allows for just a few hundred dollars to get started in trading. With leverage, their investment, and of course return, will be increased allowing them to profit more than what they had in the account would have allowed. So think about it at your next meeting at your son's school. His teacher could be in on Forex trading too.

What about those professions whose hours as not as steady as a teacher's are? Continue reading "Are You Standing in Line Next to a Fellow Forex Trader?"

Forex Currency Pairs: How to Choose the Right One Right From the Start

As many countries there are that have their own currency, there are currency pairs to trade. This does not mean you should start off studying the movements of the Guatemalan Quetzal. New traders need to stick to those currencies whose indicators and movements have been well documented.

The three major currency pairs are the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY. If you didn’t already notice, the US dollar is listed in each one. That’s because this it the most traded currency in the market, and the one that has been studied at length.

There are three very good reasons why you should stick with these three currency pairs:
• All of them are well established currency pairs that are traded widely. This type of liquidity guarantees that you are going to profit from price changes.
• They all have the US dollar, which means that the most amount of activity will be during the New York trading hours. This adds to the liquidity as this is typically when the highest amount of Forex trading is taking place.
• Since they are so popular, a new trader is going to find a wealth of Forex trading systems online that can help them in trading these pairs successfully.

Which Ones Should You Avoid?

Any currency that is considered to be exotic or uncommon should be avoided by new traders. In some instances the financial state of the country is too unstable to be able to read the charts properly. For others, there just is not enough information available to you. A new trader needs to use as many resources as possible before placing a trade. Unless you have some first hand knowledge of Guatemala and its future financial state, you should stay far away from trading the uncommon currencies.

Focus your attention instead on the: Continue reading "Forex Currency Pairs: How to Choose the Right One Right From the Start"