• Saturday, July 31st, 2010
Original article by 10K to 1MM Trading Formula
Step 1 when thinking about a currency exchange hedging transaction is to analyze the risk of the original trade. It is doubtful a retail trader would attempt to hedge each trade, but only the ones that involved unusual risk, as an example a position size much greater than normal, or one where the chance modified for some reason since the trade was opened, or a mistake was made when taking out the original position. Once the danger is understood, we would take away our risk toleration, probably the quantity of risk that we are used to dealing with in currency trading. Naturally in some cases, where the trade is in profit, it’s feasible to reduce the risk to zero. Otherwise the difference between risk and tolerance is the quantity of risk that we need to balance out with the hedging trade. Then we can glance at the assorted possible strategies, including closing out part of the trade if in profit, or opening an exchange in derivatives.
After a second position has been opened, it is critical to monitor the markets. The situation will be continually changing and it may be feasible to close one trade, both, or parts of both at a point in time when you can maximise profits beyond the original plan. But if you are making calls on an ad-hoc basis, take care not to permit the chance to increase. Using hedge techniques does need more analysis than general currency trading. Paper trading 1 or 2 hedging positions is endorsed because this is going to help you to grasp the range of possibilities and how they work. Once in the live market, choices need to be taken scrupulously without either rushing or pointlessly wasting time.
• Monday, July 26th, 2010
Most foreign exchange brokers offering accounts to retail traders operate in one of 2 ways. It is unlikely that you’re going to be enrolling with a broker who has their own dealing desk. Rather more likely, you will be looking at either an ECN broker or a market maker. You can often improve costs from an ECN broker but take a detailed look at their fee structure and consider what it might mean to you on a normal deal.
ECN brokers are commonly better for scalpers and will even welcome them because they’re dealing directly with a massive market. They also are usually well regulated.
On the other hand, the variable spread can suggest more uncertainty when setting stop losses and limit orders. ECN brokers also tend to offer fewer charts and may have a less user friendly trading platform because they are not in particular planning to attract amateurs. They tend to say that you know what you are doing and have a paid subscription to do your technical research somewhere else.
• Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Guest article by Xtreme Pip Poacher
Currency trading stories gives some traders the info that they have to make a large amount of cash with day-trading or scalping techiques, but for others it just seems to cause a big wreck. The spikes that may happen in currency values around the time of foreign exchange trading stories announcements look like they should offer great potential for money so what goes pear shaped? Here are three things that may have you besieged in a loss-making trade. Some will mechanically close your currency trades at times of high volatility. Others won’t allow you to open a new trade.
Many brokers will increase the spread at these times and you may not be told by how much. Higher spread can imply that you finish up losing on a trade where you thought you made a profit, so it is very important to take this into account. The higher spread can be anywhere up to five times the ordinary spread for that currency pair.
Slippage occurs when you do not get the price that you saw on your screen. It is commoner with some brokers than others because it is dependent on their enterprize model and whether they need to cover the risk represented by your trade. Around the time of a currency trading news release it is even more likely as the price can change in the split 2nd between you seeing it on screen and clicking a button. The same is applicable to stop and limit orders : you are far less likely to get the price you were expecting at these times.
• Sunday, July 11th, 2010
If you want to be successful with online currency trading, you have got to start slow. This isn’t what most newbs need to hear. They want to leap straight in and start making tons of money tomorrow, or perhaps better, today. But this isn’t how it functions. This is partly down to advertising. It is advertising that trains us to want it all, now. It is down to the brokers, robot developers and others who make money from selling foreign exchange trading services.
What they do not say, or only in the fine print, is this is the tiny minority of traders and they didn’t get there without some sleep-deprived nights, some losses and some difficult work. Most online foreign exchange trading newbies lose money: actually most lose such a lot that they quit, and it’s usually because they attempted to run before they could walk.
• Friday, July 02nd, 2010
Commodity forex trading is a remarkable concept for many beginners. Commodities are not traded on the foreign exchange market, only currency is traded there. So why introduce them into a foreign exchange trading system?
The explanation is that commodity prices can affect currency costs. Although we aren’t trading in the price of raw materials directly, in some cases the cost of a currency pair could be more or less linked directly to the cost of a specfic commodity. This is because the economies of many nations are based around a specific import or export. But where they’re exporting or importing raw materials, also known as commodities, changes in the cost of these things will have an enormous effect on the nations’s commercial situation. Clearly lots of the nations that rely on one of those commodities, are little or developing states whose currency wouldn’t form part of a major pair. These currencies are not going to be useful to most foreign exchange traders.