Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Learn Forex - Is Forex Trading The Ultimate Home Business Opportunity?

That's true, you can be a trader at home. Forex, or Foreign Exchange Market is by far the largest financial market in the world. About $2 trillion are traded EVERY DAY. The Forex market is the currency market, where a currency is traded against another. Quick example : you buy a dollar and sell euros. Not that easy to understand. But can we do this from home ? Yes, we can. About ten years ago, you would need millions of dollars to start trading. Now you can start with a few hundreds of dollars.

What you need is your computer and an internet connexion. You can trade from the comfort of your home, without having to deal with any boss or clients. You will only deal with money. Then you can start selling dollars and buying euros and make a profit.

You have to find a broker, where you will open an account and funding it. You will also have the possibility to get a demo account and practice, with fake money but in the real time market. I strongly recommend you practice a few months before thinking of "live" trading.

It is not that easy, it is extremely risky if you don't know anything about trading. First rule : don't invest what you can't afford to lose.

Forex is not a game, there is a lot of parameters to take in account, and human factor is one of the most important in this business.

You may have already understood it, currencies are traded by pairs. The european Euro versus the US Dollar, The US Dollar versus the Japan Yen, etc. When you buy a currency, you want to sell it later at a higher price. When you sell a currency, you want to buy it later at a lower price. This is how you make profit. Think like you were buying a foreign company share. You always want to buy low, and always want to sell high.

What you are looking to when trading currencies is the exchange rate. This will tell you your next move. Buy or sell. Currencies are part of the economy of each countries. When the value of a currency is increasing, this means the economy is going better as before. The exchange rate can be viewed as the country's economy compared to another economy. This is why economic factors can help you to
predict your next move. If you know that a currency will increase, you will buy it and expect to sell it at a higher price, a higher rate.

You can choose the pair you want to trade, but the most people trade the main currencies, Euro, Dollar, British Pound, Japan Yen. And you can only choose to trade one pair only if you want. You are the only person that will make the decision. Hope you are making the good ones, profit can be huge, as well as losses.

Like any business, forex trading has to be taken seriously. Lots of people are trading the forex and some are earning thousands of dollars every day. But it needs a lot of training, education and analysis before reaching such results. It can be the perfect business and actually it is for advanced traders.

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Saturday, May 19, 2007

The Benefits of Online Stock Trading

There are many online stocks available, including penny stocks or high-end ones which can be a couple of hundred dollars each. Most of the stocks online are also available in the real world market but at a higher cost. Buying online stocks means you can start trading without paying high brokerage fees. You have total control over your stocks too.

If you want to trade online, it does mean you have to know certain terms. Here are some of the most common ones:

Penny Stocks – not all 'penny stocks' cost one penny but they are all cheap. Some people have made money this way because when the price goes up, you can sell what you have and make a profit. New companies offering stock at cheaper prices to get them moving might choose to deal in penny stocks and many penny stocks are traded online.

Blue Chips – these are premium stocks. Blue chip companies are big corporations, the names of whom everyone knows. Big airlines and companies producing a certain percentage of the country's steel or timber or cars will probably be blue chip companies. Blue chip stocks tend to be expensive because people have faith in them. Blue chips can grow slowly over time or maintain their price. They also tend to climb back quickly after a fall or recover fast.

Bonds and Futures – bonds, which include municipal offers, can be issued by the companies. Futures are normally farming crops so if the lettuce crop is having a good year, the lettuce futures will do well too. Futures include livestock, wheat and various other farming produce.

You can buy pretty much any type of stock online if you look for it. You just need a willing seller. Stock availability depends on the website and what stocks they have access to at the moment. Just because dealing online is easy, that of course does not mean you can be careless or not research the stocks before purchasing.

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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Forex Online Training: Learning From Mohammed Ali

Forex online training is much more than finding a successful strategy or trading technique that delivers consistent profits over time. In the sports world, the winners may have natural ability and talents, and/or superior strength, but not always!

What Makes The Difference

What often makes the difference? The individual's mind!

In the case of Mohammed Ali, his mental strength and mindset were what set him apart, in addition to his natural talent. Over the years in books and TV interviews he has revealed how he conditioned his mind before a match to give him a very high chance of success once he got in the ring.

Can we apply this to Forex online training? Absolutely. Consider how Mohammed Ali would prepare for a fight.

Mohammed Ali's "Future History" Technique

He once described in a TV interview how he would focus his mind on the actual experience of being there in the ring. He would feel the sensations, see the reactions, feel the punches, be aware of the sweat, the sounds, the sights, the flashes of the cameras.

He would rehearse the fight in his mind as if he were recording each moment. He gave this mental routine a name which life coach experts have since picked up. He called it creating a "Future History."

Once he had gone through the experience graphically in his mind, it was if he had actually lived it. So it was now history even though it was still future in actuality.

Ali also crafted some of his mental rehearsals into rhymes which he repeated often. A famous example – the 1964 Sonny Liston fight: "Now Clay swings with a right - what a beautiful swing - and raises the bear straight out of the ring; Liston is rising and the ref wears a frown, for he can't start counting 'til Liston comes down."

How can this help with Forex online training?

The greatest battle the new Forex trader has to face is learning to control emotions and employ mental discipline.

Time and time again, the trader has a sound strategy, but allows other forces to de-rail the possibility of success.

The setup may be good, high probability, but the newer trader gets nervous when seeing price stall or hesitate which it often does. The newer trader exits the trade early when there was really no need and price went on to fulfill the profit target anyway.

On the other hand, the newer trader is also drawn into trades that are low probability, either through boredom, desperation to trade, or other factors.

Mental Discipline - The Crucial Factor

Mental discipline is the key to successful trading, in addition to a sound strategy.

So in addition to studying charts, patterns and technical indicators, thorough Forex online training must include a considerable amount of time and energy devoted to mind conditioning.

Using Mohammed Ali's experience, the Forex trader can also create a "Future History." In addition to seeing a high probability setup developing on the chart in the mind's eye, the newer trader can also be aware of his or her own physiology.

Play through a successful trade in your mind focusing on your own emotional feelings. See and feel yourself in a calm frame of mind, watching for a setup, identifying one, then almost mechanically entering an order with stops and limits correctly calculated and set.

Then run through your feelings as you see the trade successfully complete. Additionally, run through your feelings when you see a trade fail. In either case, your emotions should be controlled, neither ecstatic or frustrated or upset.

The successful trader knows the strategy works, that there will be wins and losses, and therefore does not react in an extreme way whatever the outcome.

Visualization With A Difference

One important point to note with Mohammed Ali and his "Future History" mental strategy. This is visualization but visualization with a difference.

Many life coach experts tell us to visualize an experience, seeing ourselves in the situation, playing it through.

A "Future History" is not seen from the outside. We do not see ourselves performing the action as if we were a bystander.

A "Future History" is lived. You are there in the experience, seeing, feeling, sensing all the various factors that influence Forex trading.

So if you have been involved with Forex online training and have yet to make consistent profits, pay attention to the mental aspect of Forex trading.

Perform mental rehearsals and develop the winning mindset that will eventually help you realize your financial goals through trading the Forex.

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Monday, May 14, 2007

Forex - A Survey Rating Three Top Retail Brokers

Perhaps you are considering or have already decided to enter into the fascinating and potentially lucrative foreign exchange (FOREX) market. You may now be wondering how you should go about choosing one broker over another. As you might guess, each has advantages and disadvantages. This article will help you to explore some of the aspects of doing business with three of the top retail FOREX brokers in the USA.

This author has test-driven the demo platforms provided by these FOREX brokerages. They are Oanda, FX Solutions and InterbankFX. These brokers were chosen for review due primarily to their popularity among retail traders. Some of the basic findings are incorporated into this article. A more extensive coverage of the areas of comparison is beyond the scope of this article. Depending on the individual trader's preferences, there is, however, enough critical information supplied here to provide a basis for making an intelligent choice from among the several brokers named.

Cost of Entry


A very pertinent area of comparison is the minimum amount required for opening an account at each broker. Opening a trading account at Oanda requires only $1. Risk concerns aside, this theoretically opens up the window of opportunity to virtually anyone, including those well below the poverty line. Of course, a more realistic view for wealth building would require a substantially higher amount. Financial longevity and successful trading is difficult at such a low level of capital investment.

The minimum amount required by both FX Solutions and InterbankFX for opening a live account will set you back $250.00. Although this is substantially higher than what Oanda requires, most investors would probably want to start somewhere near this level, at a minimum. The rationale for needing a higher starting amount has to do with the potential for draw-downs. A draw-down occurs when your trading position is in the negative because the market is trending against the direction of your profit target. Consequently, the lower your capital investment, the quicker it tends to disappear.

Customer Friendliness


As for rating the customer friendliness of each platform, it appears that Oanda's platform may take the top spot. The trading charts are above average and built directly into the platform. Although all of the platforms have quite a few bells and whistles, ease of navigation must be present to win the top spot. For example, if you trade based on the release of certain economic news events, you will undoubtedly find that it takes less time to set up on Oanda than it does on the other two platforms. Time is of the essence in the fast-paced news trading environment. Depending on the type of trader you are—news trader, short-term, long-term, etc.—you may not need most of the features offered on any of the three platforms.

Leverage Allowed


Beyond the basics of low-cost account setup and customer-friendly platform, Oanda seems to take a backseat to the other two brokers. This is particularly true in the area of leverage. Leverage is the privilege most brokers give you of trading more money than you actually have in your account. Higher levels of leverage have the potential of boosting your profits tremendously. Quiet honestly, your losses can also be enhanced greatly, if you end up on the wrong side of a trade. Leverage is a two-edged sword. The maximum leverage allowed by Oanda is 50:1, while InterbankFX and FX Solutions allow a maximum of 200:1 and 400:1, respectively.

Spread


All Forex brokers must be compensated for the service they offer in allowing you to utilize their platform to place your trades. Rather than earning commissions, the brokers are paid a spread, which is the difference between the ask and the bid price for the currency pair you are trading. The higher the spread, the more the broker gets paid. Consequently, investors will prefer a broker with comparatively low spreads, all other things being equal. Other than at or near the time of an economic news release, Oanda tends to have lower spreads than InterbankFX or FX Solutions. This advantages lessens around news trading time when Oanda's spreads tend to increase dramatically, as does those of InterbankFX. The distinction here goes to FX Solutions, whose spreads are constant, even during news time, and only slightly higher during calmer market conditions.

Connectivity


Finally, connectivity issues must be taken into consideration.. It appears that the Oanda platform is the most problematic, time-wise and technologically, when new users are attempting to connect. Some users attempting to go at it alone, without the assistance of tech support, find it difficult, if not impossible, to connect before finally being informed by Oanda's tech support that they needed the latest version of Java to access the platform. Oanda also seemed to have the greatest likelihood of users being disconnected during high-traffic times, such as during major news releases. Of the three, FX Solutions seems to be the most stable, with little or no known instances of major disruption. Past problems with InterbankFX users being disconnected during high traffic conditions seem to have been successfully addressed by the broker.

In the end, the trader must decide which issues are of priority concern and choose accordingly. By the way, there is no law, rule or policy which would prohibit a trader from having accounts at more than one broker. Such an arrangement may allow the trader to take advantage of the various profit opportunities, based on the strengths and weaknesses of each broker.

Oanda, FX Solutions and Interbankfx are trademarks of the companies by the same name and their affiliated companies.

Sandy C. Robinson III, J.D.


Copyright 2007

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Saturday, May 12, 2007

FOREX Trading - Using Economic Reports & News For Profit

The internet has seen a massive growth in both the quantity of news and speed of delivery and many novice traders think this will help them win, however in most cases it simply helps them lose and lose quickly.

If you are looking at economic reports and news you need to consider one important fact first:

50 Years ago, 90% of FX traders lost and today the figure still remains the same – despite the advances in news forecasting and speed of delivery.

Most novices who watch news reports or trade off economic reports and fail miserably in their FOREX trading.

Why?

Firstly, they don't realize that news is discounted by the market immediately and this is more true than ever today with any news available in any corner of the globe in a split second.

Secondly, if they see a so called expert talking about why a currency should fall it may sound convincing but that doesn't mean the market will go the way they say.

Sure, it's a convincing argument but these guys are giving opinions and are NOT traders.

An economist can always tell you why something has happened in hindsight, but is not so clever about telling you why something will happen.

Investors Determine Price Direction!

The fact is the news is not important in itself – it's how investors perceive the news that's important.

Humans make subjective judgements and all their opinions combined move the market price.

A Better Way To Trade

For most novice traders a better way of trading is to simply follow charts and use technical analysis.

As the marketing is a discounting mechanism you can simply assume all fundamentals will show up in the price instantly.

You can then simply follow the reality, rather than trying to second guess where currencies will go.

You will trade on the reality of price rather than predicting it.

Keeping Emotions Out of Trading

When you hear a convincing argument it's easy to let your emotions get involved and trade with the losing majority.

Technical analysis allows you to set back from the market and see things without emotions and get a clearer perspective.

The fact that the news is bullish or bearish for a currency makes no difference on where it will go.

If you take major currency changes the fact is:

They tend to fall heavily when the fundamentals are most bullish and rally when they are at their most bearish.

Will Rodgers famously said:

"I only believe what I read in the papers"

He was joking of course but many FOREX traders do exactly this – believe what they read and hear and then lose.

Trying to trade off news stories for most traders is a complete waste of time and energy and sees them lose – don't make the same mistake.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Trading For A Living - Part 2

In portion 1 of this article I started to look at the financial deductions of giving up the twenty-four hours occupation to instead begin trading full clip for a living. There are more than than than just pecuniary considerations as we will see later, but for now, there are some more costs to ponder.

More Costs!

Let’s move on to equipment. Presumably you already have got a personal computer and internet connexion by virtuousness of the fact you are reading this on the internet. But are these both up to the occupation of trading full time? Again the specs for both hardware and ISP will depend largely on your trading style, but if you’re relying on a 100Mhz Pentium two and a dial up service, you’re scene yourself up for failure. So budget for quality equipment, budget to maintain it up to spec, and budget for some repairs too – expect the unexpected.

Many bargainers do the error of saying “This volition do me whilst I begin out, and I’ll get something better when I make some existent money”. This is quite simply false economy, you are improbable to ever do existent money with a deficient apparatus (and this uses equally to deficient software and information feeds). This is a cut-throat business and 95% fail, you must give yourself every advantage you can. You wouldn’t come in the Indy 500 in a go-kart with the purpose of purchasing a better car when you’ve won a few races, and the same thing uses here.

Earnings

When you’ve added this all together, you have got a pretty good image of how much money you need to generate from your trading in order to live. Bashes your past public presentation suggest you will be able to ran into this target? It’s alluring to state “When Iodine travel full clip I’ll make much more”, but how do you cognize this is the case? Perhaps you can take a couple of hebdomads holiday and seek it out – if you don’t do adequate in that two hebdomads then you’re not ready. A few hebdomads really isn’t adequate clip to cognize if you’re going to win though. An ideal next measure then is to cut your twenty-four hours occupation hours to portion clip and trade maybe two or three years a week. This manner you cognize you have got got some money coming in, you get to merchandise for real, and if it all travels horribly incorrect you are probably better placed to get back into full clip employment than person who discontinue the workings human race completely.

The option of portion clip work is a extravagance many of us don’t have however. So makes it have got to be all or nil – trade or work? Why not maintain the twenty-four hours occupation and trade outside your workings hours as well. If you are trading and end of twenty-four hours strategy, then this is easily achieved by doing your research in the eventide and placing the appropriate combinations of Stop and Limit orders with your broker. For twenty-four hours traders, certainly practising is easier if your intended market is not your home market, for illustration if you desire to merchandise the United States and you dwell in the United Kingdom where you can come up home and paper trade in the evening.

There are other attempt before you purchase options unfastened to the twenty-four hours bargainers who desire to practise trading their home market outside of normal hours though. eSignal allows you to download ticking information for any symbol and drama it back in existent clip or speeded up so you could merchandise the whole twenty-four hours in an hour. Other sellers have got got got similar offerings, and if you have an IB account you can utilize AutoTrader to enter ticking information during the twenty-four hours for playback into a demonstration version of SierraCharts or QuoteTracker for free.

The underside line here is that before you take the plunge, you need to have done everything in your powerfulness to set up yourself for what lies ahead. It will still be harder than you ever thought, but it will be nigh on impossible with no readying whatsoever.

Other Considerations

There are a few non-financial aspects to see before going full clip with your trading. If you have got a family, how will the change impact them? Bash you have got the space to work uninterrupted during the day? It’s of import that the household don’t presume that because you are at home you are automatically available to take the children to school, or walk the dog. Brand certain from the start that everybody cognizes the land regulations and that you can separate your workings clip from your free clip effectively.

Consider also the societal impact of leaving your full clip employer. Again, if you have got a spouse or household are you going to drive each other nuts being in the same house all day? Relationships can be tested to the limit! Or if you dwell alone, are you going to drive yourself nuts being on your ain all day? Trading full clip can give you tremendous amounts of free time, but if you have got got nil to fill up that clip with you can quickly lose the secret plan – I’ve seen it go on and it’s not pretty.

Is It Deserving It?

Nobody can state you if trading for a life is for you, it’s something you have to happen out for yourself. I’ve seen bargainers travel through highs and lows to challenge those of any stock chart, but for most it have proved to be a good move. The long listing of benefits are all there for the taking, as with any change of career or indeed any major life change, as long as you travel into it with your eyes open, and above all prepare, then there is no ground why it cannot work for you.


Monday, May 07, 2007

Dollar-Cost Averaging

The objective of Dollar Cost Averaging is to invest a set amount of money at regular intervals so the average cost of shares tends to even out the market's peaks and troughs. Your dollars purchase fewer shares when the market is up and they buy more when it's down.

You will not achieve the positive results of buying at the market's low point and selling at its high point, neither will you suffer the consequences of doing the opposite. In a generally rising market, you have the opportunity to accumulate wealth over time in a systematic, organized way.

In the long run, it doesn't matter when you start, just that you start. Over a period of years, it makes little difference whether the market was up or down when you began. The market has averaged almost 10% growth since 1929, even when you include the sustained decline of 2000.

Making monthly additions to your account allows you three times as many opportunities to benefit from favorable market swings as investing on a quarterly basis. It also provides you with three times as many chances to buy in a decreasing market. The more frequently you invest and the longer you keep investing, the smoother the average-share-cost line becomes.

A market decline can mean bargain prices. Unless you are selling shares, a fund's price quote in the daily paper is not relevant, so don't panic if it is down. In fact, a downturn provides the opportunity to buy more shares at attractive prices—shares that have the potential to grow in value when the market returns to an upward growth pattern. Remember that in order for dollar-cost averaging to work, you must be prepared to commit the financial resources and have the resolve to make the contributions on each appointed date.

The advantage of dollar cost averaging is since you don’t know what the markets will do in the future, you protect your assets by buying into the market gradually. at regular intervals. Regular investing does not ensure a profit and does not protect against loss in declining markets.

Investors should consider their ability to invest continuously during periods of fluctuating price levels and their tolerance for risk before deciding on an investment strategy. A talk with their financial advisor can help them understand their risk tolerance.


Saturday, May 05, 2007

FOREX Scalping - Day Trading Your Way To a Regular Income

There are many day traders who go in for FOREX scalping trading several times a day and trying to get out with small profits which will add up over time.

This form of hit and run trading is more popular than ever.

Let's look at how it works.

Well firstly, it doesn't work at all and will doom your trading to failure – Any trader who day trades or tries to scalp profits loses – PERIOD.

Here we will explain why.

Data is meaningless.

If you are studying charts you need to get the odds in your favour.

This is of course not possible in day trading as all volatility is random and prices can and do go anywhere.

This is obvious when you have millions of people trading trillions of dollars daily.

If you don't have data that can help you get the odds in your favour then it is pointless applying any technical indicator.

Moving averages, support and resistance and pivot points which are useful tools for longer term trading simply don't work in day trading.

There only good tools if you feed them with the right data! And day trading doesn't do that.

Scalping the market is doomed to failure and it's made even worse by the fact it ignores the fundamental rule of investing:

Run your profits to cover your inevitable losses.

You are going to have losses even the top traders have them, but you must keep them small and day trading or scalping FOREX markets does this and it of course has a lot of them!

FOREX scalping by its very nature doesn't run profits.

So what do you end up with?

A lot of small profits ( and when your lucky enough to have a winner and it is down to luck) then you get a minor profits which can NEVER cover your losses.

FOREX scalping end up not with the trader scalping regular profits but the trader getting scalped for his entire equity.

FOREX scalping is illogical, based on meaningless data and doomed to failure.

If you want to trade avoid day trading unless of course you want to lose all your equity quickly.

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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Honda, Orange County! The Answer To Your Driving Needs is Honda, Orange County!

What makes Honda the answer for your driving needs in Orange County? Simply stated, there is really just one reason to make it Honda, Orange County. This article will describe why the answer to your question of “What kind of car should I get?” is Honda, Orange County.

Honda! Orange County – Reason #1 – Economics

All of us have a certain amount of money to spend on our vehicles. The total purchase price of any car is just the beginning. We must also factor in the insurance costs, the maintenance and upkeep, the gasoline we will buy and the future resell value. All of these ideas are centered around one theme and that is money! The bottom line of why Honda needs to be your next car is because it makes good financial sense.

If purchasing a new or used car, your dollar will go the farthest if you purchase a Honda. This statement is based upon not only the initial value of your purchase, but also the resell value of your car when you are ready to sell it. Hondas are great on both ends. They are reasonably priced and they hold their value well.

The insurance costs for Hondas are on the low side for all cars. In case of an accident where you need to replace body parts or panels, Hondas are everywhere and their replacement parts are still being manufactured.

Maintenance costs for Hondas are also reasonable. They are easy to work on and again, all the replacement parts are still being manufactured. If you have difficulty in finding any parts, there are many after market companies who can provide manufacture replacement parts.

The biggest plus when considering your Honda’s maintenance costs is their reliability. Hondas are known far and wide to just keep going. Many Hondas are still on the freeways today at 200,000 plus miles. This fact also adds to the re-sale value of any Honda

Our final consideration to make when purchasing your Honda is their mileage estimates. As gasoline in many parts of the country is now above $3 per gallon, we must consider how we will spend our gas money. Hondas get great mileage, so your fuel costs will be well spent.

So there you have it. Overall cost, resell value, maintenance costs, insurance and mileage, all add up to a great car for you. Make your next car a Honda Orange County!

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