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Good Traders Get Educated

Saturday, December 23, 2006

For anyone interested in Forex Trading, training is essential. There are numerous online Forex courses, Including Seminars,Webinars, Home Study , e Books and DVD's to name a few. In truth, with all the information needed to trade forex, it would be silly to initiate trading without first getting educated to some degree.

Choosing education can be tricky as many people are willing to take your hard earned money for minimum amount of basic Trading advise, which can normally found for free on many sites. However there a few sites that will actually take a novice and show him how to trade forex up to a professional level.

Forex Trading courses will usually teach a little Fundamental but concentrate mainly on technical analysis, teaching investors on how to read charts, and understand indicators to placing trades and understanding the importance of money management .

With the introduction of the Internet, Trading Currencies is getting very popular, online brokers are offering clients Charting packages, Demo accounts and tools to entice them to set up an Account and start trading with them.

These online Brokers also incorporate free charts with live streaming information normally for free, in hope that when the customer starts trading for real they will upgrade the account with them. If used properly these demo accounts are also a good educating tool, mistakes can be expensive in Trading, a wiped out demo account can be a bit of an embarrassment but less painful in the pocket if the account being used only contains virtual money.

Trade a Demo account properly with the right education and a novice trader should see their account get bigger and bigger which will give them the confidence to start trading for real.

A large amount of traders who dont use demo accounts will wipe out their real account in the first few months, many never to be seen again. A trader spending a little on education first, will no doubt save money and stay in the game longer.

Military Tactics and Trading

Grant and Napoleon had an ability that separated them from other generals, the ability to manoeuvre troops and supplies to their most effective placements under rapidly changing circumstances. Traders should learn how to manage their funds, rework stop placements, and change their position size with changing market conditions. Conducting warfare and commodity trading have many common factors. All modern warfare is derived from the spear and shield, attack and defend, offence and defence. For trading markets, offence is trade entry and defence is the protective stop. Day trading is like guerrilla warfare, which was first used in Europe during the early 1800's when Napoleon placed his brother on the throne of Spain. Attack rapidly then retreat.

Value of Persistence: In the Battle of the Wilderness, Grant let the Southerners know he would never give up and would fight them under the harshest of conditions. After the battle was over, instead of retreating back to Washington to rest, as some past cowardly Northern generals had done, Grant moved south and stopped Lee from sending reinforcements to Atlanta, which fell to Sherman. The Civil War was won from the Battle of the Wilderness, which Grant is still incorrectly thought to have lost. Grant broke the South psychologically after the Battle of the Wilderness. The trader is a successful human being for the courageous act of trying to become a success regardless of his equity statement. Churchill said, "Never give up. Never, never, never give up." That statement defines persistence and commitment. There are many systems that are profitable, yet there is only one way to correctly analyze price action. Those lessons are contained by regular practice reading charts and working out what you see there. Don't give up and you will find them on the charts.

Joe Ross

Joe Ross has been trading for more than 47 years, and is a well known Master Trader. He has survived all the up and downs of the markets because of his adaptable trading style, using a low-risk approach that produces consistent profits.

Joe is the creator of the Ross hook, and has set new standards for low-risk trading with his concept of "The Law of Charts™." Joe was a private trader for most of his life. In the mid 80's he shift his focus and decided to share his knowledge. After his recovery, he founded Trading Educators in 1988 to teach aspiring traders how to make profits using his trading approach. He has written 12 major books on trading. All of them have become classics and have been translated into many different languages.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles. He did his Masters work in Computer Sciences at the George Washington University extension in Norfolk, VA. Joe still tutors, teaches, writes, and trades regularly. Joe is still an active and integral part of Trading Educators.

Technical Analysis Of Foreign Exchange Charts Is Only A Guide, Not A Crystal Ball

Friday, December 22, 2006

Technical analysis of forex charts is the using of previous technical data to make decisions on what might happen in the foreign exchange market. It is understanding the various forex signals, such as moving averages, stochastic, and MAC-D indicators. As well, the trends of past flow of the foreign exchange charts are used to predict the future.

The technical analysis is based on numbers, past prices, but you can use indicators that represent the calculations of these numbers, without doing the math yourself.

We are looking at what forex prices were to anticipate what prices will be. Forex charts come in many configurations. You get to determine which forex signals you view at any given time. Whether you use candlesticks or not, it is what you can ‘see’ making patterns that can be anticipated. Generally the forex signals are produced by a formula which can calculate the likelihood of an event.

All technical analysis and forex charts are about history. They relate only to what has happened. Their forecasts of future foreign exchange prices must be taken as a guide only. They serve to explain what has happened in the past, they do not explain the future.

Another aspect of the technical analysis of foreign exchange charts and forex signals is the scale of time over which you focus. Many people like long-term trends, whereas some are more like day traders and get their forex charts for short periods of time. You can get forex charts by the hour day, week, month or year. The activity that was so significant to you yesterday, may just be a blip in a long-term foreign exchange chart. All these forex signals need to be understood in relationship with each other.

For more effective technical analysis you need to understand the patterns of the foreign exchange charts. And whether they indicate the price is in a trending pattern or a trading pattern. Prices do tend to flow, they have trends, even cycles. This is even more apparent in the longer time line forex charts.

Analysis is a very common process. You should be cautious in the intrinsic value of the information. It is history, it is not the future.

Working With Sports Arbitrage Trading

Hello,

Did you ever here of sports arbitrage trading? Did you know it could make you between $500 to $1,000 or more a week? Well I am going to tell you exactly how you can use sports arbitrage trading to work from your home or office, and start making a second income.

Sports arbitrage trading is unknown to many people. Very few know little or no information about arbitrage trading. Most have no clue that it can make them a very nice amount of money working very few hours from the comfort of there homes or office. Sports arbitrage trading is a technique used but millions of people around the world each day. Arbitrage trading is very popular over in the UK, and that is why you probably have not herd too much about it. Just in the pass few years it has started spreading across the globe like a virus! Millions of people are now cashing in with sports arbitrage trading.

So how can you join them? Well arbitrage trading is very hard to do or even understand with out any help or guides. If you do a little research on the Internet you fill find programs, guides, and books etc. to help you understand how you can start making money with arbitrage trading.

Arbitrage trading works when you have two different bookmakers that disagree on the same sporting event. When this happens and ARB is then created. ARBS range anywhere from 1% to 15%. So if you where to place money down on and ARB you would gain 1% to 15% on your money from one trade!

Now if you sat down and tried to find these ARBS yourself you would spend countless hours trying to do all the work to find just a few ARBS. That is why you should buy a program that does this for you. There are many programs that can do this offered all over the Internet. Just do you research on them and choose the better one.

Once you have found the ARB that has been created by the 2 bookmakers you can no trade on this ARB. Placing a trade on this ARB is guaranteeing you self a WIN! When you trade on the ARB you win the money know matter which team wins the sporting event. Yes sounds to go to be true, but it isn’t! This is perfectly legal anywhere in the world.

Facts of Day Trading

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Are you thinking of entering the fast-paced world of day trading? Arm yourselves with the information from this fact sheet on day trading.

What is day trading?

Day trading is an investment tactic that does online daily stock trading with a relatively short investment. Those who do day trading usually buy and sell securities during the same market day and, as a general rule, do not hold stocks overnight. Many day traders make dozens of trades every market day hoping to capture profits that arise from small intraday price fluctuations.

How is day trading different from swing trading?

Day trading relatively holds the stock for only the day. After the stock market closes, a day trader has no stock in his hands. Swing trading holds a stock for at least a few days, waiting out for the best price before dumping it back to the market. Day trading is much more stressful and requires guts and a keen business sense. Once you get good at day trading, you can earn up to $50,000 from your initial investment.

How much capital would you need for day trading?

You need an investment equivalent to buy 1000 stocks. That is roughly around $20,000. Because the chances are small that you will find a marketable stock with a price of under $20, this is enough to get your day trading underway. However, you must remember that this is a 100% risk capital so do not worry too much if you lose this amount very early.

What are the general rules for day trading?

  • Always trade with the trend.
  • Cut losses short
  • Never get emotionally involved in your trades.

What are the most suitable stocks to trade for day trading?

It is advisable to trade high volume stocks. Go with the trend with the popular stocks available. It'll be easier for you to sell those stocks at the end of the day trading.

How does a usual day trading transaction occur?

For example, at 10:00 AM a day trader might buy 1000 shares of stock XYZ just as the price begins to rise on good news, then sell it at 10:04 AM when it's up by 1/2 ($0.50). The day trader makes $500, minus commission. With today's cheap commissions of $29.95 or less per trade, that's a quick $440.10 or better, excluding taxes.

Most people who deal with day trading spend all of their time in front of the computer, watching the slightest change in the stock price. As the prices go up and down, the day trader must be alert as to when to sell his stock or wait for the moment to hold on it. This can be a very stressful lifestyle as a mere second could mean an increase of half the stock price and missing that moment for any person engaging in day trading could mean a loss on his investment.

Friend or Foe? Finding Your Trading Personality

Every trader has made the same fundamental error at some time in their career. Actually, most businessmen and entrepreneurs make this same mistake.

Let me tell you a story: While at graduate school, I was crazy about windsurfing. Whenever it was windy, I was sailing. Nothing else mattered. Classes, assignments, term papers, labs and everything else took a back seat. If it weren't for my marks, I would have been kicked out for sure.

Ask yourself "How can anyone get decent marks with that kind of focus?” And focusing on the task at hand, trading or otherwise, is what I want to talk about.

When it wasn't windy, I was concentrating 110% on my studies. And when it was windy, I only cared about sailing. I knew exactly when and where the conditions where sailing conditions were perfect because I kept a detailed journal of my sailing experiences. In other words, my journal told me exactly what I should be focusing on: studying or sailing.

The biggest mistake people make is not keeping an accurate account of what they are passionate about. When it comes to trading, a journal can mean the difference between success and failure. Not having one is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.

It's simple: when you start keeping a journal of your trading activities, those records will eventually tell you why and how you succeed or fail.

No matter what you trade or how you trade, you are your own worst enemy. Conquer your own inner-self and anything you can imagine can be achieved. As every floor trader can tell you, know thy enemy. Thy enemy, my friend, is you!

By keeping detailed records of your trades, and periodically reviewing those records you will begin to see patterns that lead to either success or failure. By detailed, I mean time of day, weather, your moods, your thoughts or how you were feeling physically. Write down as much as possible as clearly as possible.

By reviewing my own trading journal, I learned not to trade on windy days no matter what! I learned not to trade before programming deadlines, that my most profitable trades where made mid-week and my poorest trades were nearly always made on Fridays.

I learned that the best research I did was on sunny days. That family time and trading were poor bed fellows and that day-trading on an empty stomach was always a poor decision.

Most importantly, I learned to maximize my chances of success by knowing something about my trading personality. When I realized this, I conducted a survey of my trading clients and business associates and guess what? Those that kept a journal did far better than those that did not.

FOREX Trading Philosophy

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Keen on starting FOREX trading? Why would you not be… Many beginning FOREX traders are captivated by the allure of easy money. FOREX websites offer 'risk-free' trading, 'high returns' and 'low investment' – these claims have a grain of truth in them, but the reality of FOREX is a bit more complex. As with anything in life, what you put in will determine what you get out.

There are two common mistakes that many beginner traders make – trading without a strategy and letting emotions rule their decisions. After opening a FOREX account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by if you don't enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover.

This kind of undisciplined approach to FOREX is guaranteed to lose you money, and have you waste your time. FOREX traders need to have a rational trading strategy and not allow emotions to rule their trading decisions.

The two emotions prevalent in the above example is greed (entering the market immediately) and fear (selling when the market temporarily moves against you). Investing and these two emotions do not gel at all. Keep them out of your trading and you will see results.

To make rational trading decisions the FOREX trader must be well-educated in market movements. He must be able to apply technical studies to charts and plot out entry and exit points. He must take advantage of the various types of orders to minimize his risk and maximize his profit.

The first step in becoming a successful FOREX trader is to understand the market and the forces behind it. Who trades FOREX and why? Who is successful and why are they successful? This knowledge will allow you to identify successful trading strategies and use them as models for your own.

There are 5 major groups of investors who participate in FOREX – Governments, Banks, Corporations, Investment Funds, and traders. Each group has varying objectives, but the one thing that all the groups (except traders) have in common is external control. Every organization has rules and guidelines for trading currencies and can be held accountable for their trading decisions. Individual traders, on the other hand, are accountable only to themselves.

If you do not keep yourself in check, nobody else will. Why should they worry if you aimlessly waste your money?

This means that the trader who lacks rules and guidelines is playing a losing game. Large organizations and educated traders approach the FOREX with strategies, and if you hope to succeed as a FOREX trader you must play by the same rules. That is studying these strategies and rules before starting to trade is so important.

FOREX Trading Philosophy - Money Management

Money management is part and parcel of any trading strategy. Besides knowing which currencies to trade and recognizing entry and exit signals, the successful trader has to manage his resources and integrate money management into his trading plan. Position size, margin, recent profits and losses, and contingency plans all need to be considered before entering the market.

This may sound like Greek now! If it does, you have more reason to get to know these terms. Knowledge will empower you on any investment market, including FOREX.

There are various strategies for approaching money management. Many of them rely on the calculation of core equity. Core equity is your starting balance minus the money used in open positions. If the starting balance is $10,000 and you have $1000 in open positions your core equity is $9000.

When entering a position try to limit risk to 1% to 3% of each trade. This means that if you are trading a standard FOREX lot of $100,000 you should limit your risk to $1000 to $3000 – preferably $1000. You do this by placing a stop loss order 100 pips (when 1 pip = $10) above or below your entry position.

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading

The foreign exchange market (FOREX) offers many advantages to investors. But you need to know where to begin.

This short guide will give you the FOREX basics, so you can quickly start participating in this fast growing market.

In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980's the rules were changed to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why FOREX trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.

A Learning Curve

FOREX is not simple, though, so you’ll need some knowledge to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the FOREX, there are risks involved.

Your first move as a beginner should be to find out as much as possible about the market before risking a dime.

Find A Broker

FOREX traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Open an Account

Opening a FOREX account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary identification. The form includes a margin agreement which states that the broker may interfere with any trade deemed to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker, since most trades are done using the broker's money.

Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.

Many brokers offer a variety of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in FOREX trading for as little as $250. Standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500, depending on the broker. The amount of leverage (how much borrowed money you can use) varies with account type. High leverage accounts give you more money to trade for a given investment.

Trades are commission-free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the 'spread': the difference between bid and ask prices.

Paper Trading

Beginning traders are strongly advised get accustomed to FOREX by doing "paper trades" for a period of time. Paper trades are practice transactions that don't involve real capital. They allow you to see how the system works while learning how to use the various software tools provided by most FOREX brokers.

Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new FOREX investor should use these demo accounts at least until they are consistently showing profits.

FOREX Software

Each broker has its own set of software tools for making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all FOREX brokers. Real-time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit-and-loss analyses are some of the features you can expect to see on most online brokers' web sites.

Almost every broker operates on the Internet. To access a broker's online services you'll need a reasonably modern computer, a fast Internet connection, and an up-to-date operating system. Once your account is set up, you can access it from any computer just by entering your account name and password. If for some reason you are unable get to a computer, most brokers will allow you to make trades over the phone.

There are lots of ways to make money. FOREX trading is just one more potential stream of income -- if you are prepared to learn and practice.

Managing The Forex Accounts For You

Managed forex accounts are a boon for those who don't have the time to devote to the foreign exchange dealing. It's also for those who don't have the expertise to deal in the foreign exchange markets. Professionals are there for managing forex accounts. Management of these forex accounts is a very serious and a competitive business. Many investors like to allocate a portion their funds to forex accounts managed professionally. It helps them to diversify their risks and also mitigate any losses that may arise from other portfolios such as stock and bond market. Since forex transactions is a ball game separate from that of the stock markets, their profits and losses are also separate.

Therefore these currency-trading accounts can enhance one's portfolios in a great way. The forex exchange accounts that are managed professionally must be able to provide the following, irrespective of which forex trading manager or account that you choose

A currency trading account not tied to the stock market operations

The forex managed account should be able to provide a better return than the treasury bonds and other such money market instruments

Professional expertise is a must. The firm should have good standing in the market and have professionals who have experience in dealing in foreign exchange accounts. Most foreign banks and transnational firms employ the best and have constantly out performed others. It's not necessary that your forex account manager should be a Harvard Grad but in most cases it, they are better trained.

The firms that professionally handle forex accounts and forex trading must be able to leverage to give maximum profits.

The forex trading manager must be able to book profits in both the falling and rising currency markets.

Should provide for monthly / weekly reporting of the forex transactions as well as real time reporting if need be.

The forex accounts should be such that they are liquid in nature. They should give ease of withdrawal (of money) to the investors at particular time intervals and in cases of emergency too.

Depending on the firms that one chooses, there are various kinds of currency trading accounts that one can invest under. They may be called by several names such as Global forex accounts, aggressive forex accounts, and high value forex accounts etc.

For example the Global forex accounts might deal in many foreign currencies, many of which may not be the liquid currencies such as the Soviet Rouble or The Indian Rupee. Other accounts such as the aggressive forex accounts may deal in the most liquid of the accounts such as the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.

The forex trading accounts also differ on another account, that of the initial investment that is required. Some forex trading accounts may need an initial investment of US$ 10,000, others US$ 50,000, still others might require an initial investment of US $100,000.

Charts Can Teach You about Forex

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

In order to make big profits from currency trading, you need the skill on how to read the charts. While a text conveys the fine detail, a forex chart can swiftly bring the viewer up to speed with the big picture. In this fast-moving world, time is money especially in forex trading. This can make a big difference when it comes to your profits and frequently a graphic representation of the facts makes for easier interpretation.

There are several different ways to observe the price movements used in Forex trading such as bars, lines, point and figure, and Japanese candle sticks chart. Among of them, Bar Chart and the Candlestick chart are the most popular for Forex charts.

Bar Chart is a type of chart used in Technical Analysis. They have reached their popularity because they are useful and easy to understand. The activities of the hour/day/week/month are seen as a vertical bar in the chart. Horizontal marks account for opening and closing prices. A trend line is drawn in the bar chart to indicate the price of online Forex trends. An ascending trend line connects between the daily highs of the market. A descending trend line connects the day's low prices. If the downward trend line crosses the most recent prices - a buy signal is generated. If an ascending trend line crosses through the most recent prices, a sell option s generated.

Forex charts are easy to interpret, especially for someone that has invested in or day traded stocks before. Charts, as mentioned earlier, are the building blocks of technical analysis which is now probably the most popular and successful ways of scrutinizing the forex market. Technical analysis concentrates on the price action of the market and applies a number of ‘pure’ factors to predict market direction.

Currency charts are really no different than stock charts. One of the advantages of trading currencies over stocks is that you only have a few mayor currencies to trade rather than ten thousands of stocks. Thus, it is a lot simpler.

Japanese candle sticks are the most animated way to observe price movement. It records the price movement on Forex charts in effect drawing a clear picture for traders to study. Japanese candle sticks also known as sign language of the Forex market. In candlestick charts, as in many other charts, you get the open, close, high and low of the online Forex prices.

One of the biggest advantages of candlestick charts is when you only take a glance, you can observe a lot of information about the online Forex currency movement. Most importantly, you can notice the difference between the open and close prices of the online Forex. If you notice a red candlestick, it can serve as a warning about the direction of the currency price. The fat red section is the body of that candlestick. The lines protruding from the top and bottom are the upper and lower wicks. The very top of a candles wick is the highest price for that candle while the bottom of the wick is the lowest price for the candle.

Energies Update – We Made BIG Gains Using This Indicator - You Could Too

We piled up huge gains this week in unleaded gas and crude and want to share with you our favourite timing indicator.

If you have read our recent reports you will know we are great admirers of the stochastic indicator.

It’s the best indicator for timing trades. Use it correctly and not only will it make you money, it can also help you stay out of trades that can lose you money.

Stochastics allow pinpoint market timing

Our unleaded gas and crude positions have piled up big profits this week and it’s the stochastic indicator that allowed us to get in for huge gains.

The stochastic keeps you out when the odds are not in your favour.

The stochastic is a great indicator, as it always helps you buy strength NOT weakness. One of the biggest errors made by traders is to buy weakness - they want to predict where the market will find a bottom and they then quickly lose their equity.

NEVER try and predict where a market bottom will form wait for CONFIRMATION of strength from support before buying.

Here is a quick update of the trades we showed you to pile up a huge profit quickly and the one we didnt take, becuase there was no strength, the net affect of this was we made money on a great trade and saved a loss on another.

We love Natural gas!

The long term fundamentals could not be more bullish, but getting in on the action means waiting for strength.

A support level appeared the other day and it was tempting to buy into it, but the stochastic indicator remained down, so we stayed out and good job we did! Prices fell.

Another level of support is being targeted, we will look for this to hold and look for a stochastic crossover with bullish divergence, to get into the market.

A full description of this fantastic indicator

We will cover how to use this fantastic indicator in an article in the next few days.

Use it and you will find it will help you get in the market when the time is right and keep you out the market when the odds are not in your favour.

Energies Where Next?

Natural Gas

Is our favourite long term commodity and we expect a major buy signal next week.

We will keep you posted.

Unleaded & Crude Oil

All trends remain up and test of the highs is on.

Traders tend to bid these markets up at the weekend and with the gains over the last three days we have banked partial profits – its big trend in three days so some is now in the bank!

We expect a break of the highs and will if this occurs be looking to get long and you guessed watching the stochastic indicator to time our trades!

Online FOREX Trading – To Be A Success Don't Pay Attention To The News!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Can studying the news help you make profits in online FOREX trading? The answer for most traders is a no.

In fact, paying attention to the news in online FOREX Trading will lose money. Why? Read on and let’s find out.

How and why prices move

In online FOREX trading (and any financial market for that matter) prices move based upon the following equation

Supply & demand fundamentals + Trader psychology = Market price

Which is most important? In today’s markets definitely the latter – Why?

Quite simply, markets discount fundamentals quickly and with the internet its done in seconds.

In all corners of the globe the internet delivers information quickly and it’s immediately discounted in the market price.

This means traders make opinions on what will happen in the FUTURE and it is their psychology that is the key to future price direction.

Sure, the papers and news wires are great at telling you why things DID happened and their normally wrong about WHAT will happen.

Traders get deluded by the experts in online FOREX trading and fail to see their wrong most of the time.

Will Rogers once said:

“I only believe what I read in the papers”

Now, he was joking, but most traders take news services as gospel.

Reuters and Bloomberg stories agree with them, so they must be right, is the view of most online FOREX traders. Don’t think so, in fact we know so, based upon the facts and the so called experts past performance.

It’s easy to be wise in hindsight, but looking into the future is much more difficult!

They write stories for a living they DONT trade, traders that are interested in making profits should not be following news stories or media hype.

It’s a fact: Most important market tops and bottoms and formed when the news is most bullish or bearish. When the trends change of course, news wires have an explanation but that does not help you trade!

In the 1987 crash they were bullish in the tech stock boom they were bullish and these are just tow examples of media experts being wrong and there are many others.

Understand the past and look to the future

This is the key to successful online FOREX trading. Quite simply the fundamentals are digested in seconds and reflected in the price.

Its trader psychology that’s important as they look at the future and how they determine the supply and demand situation is reflected in price changes.

Human psychology has remained constant over time and thats why many price patterns are so reliable and point to important market tops and bottoms when the market is either very bullish or bearish.

Of course, prices then go the other way! confounding the so called media experts.

Technical analysis of markets

The only way you can win in online FOREX Trading is to use a technical analysis system that focuses on price.

Why use a technical system in online FOREX trading?

There are two main reasons

1. You will not be distracted by media stories and news hype and will keep your emotions in check.

2. If you are involved in online FOREX trading you can look at charts and see long term trends that last for months or years and many of them (in fact most of them!) run against what the papers and the so called experts say!

To be a success in online FOREX trading all you need to do is focus on these trends and forget the news and media, media experts don’t get paid to trade, they get paid to write stories.

A Brief Look at Forex Trading

Forex is the currency trading market which is the biggest and most quickly evolving markets in the world. Currently it has a daily turn over of of 2.5 trillion dollars which is actually one hundred times larger then the NASDAQ. Different markets are great ways to diversify your investments and trade different goods and services. The same is true with the Forex market in which the “goods” are actually currencies from around the world. Here you can buy Euros with American Dollars and sell Japanese yen for Swiss Francs. The profit is make in the difference between currencies values.

To make a profit on the Forex market investors only need one rule – buy cheap and sell high. The profit comes from the fluctuations within the exchange market for currency. The great thing about the Forex market is that it has regular daily changes and a fluctuations of 1% is actually multiplied by 100. For example if the exchange rate of your pair of currencies increases by 0.7% in 5 hours, the profit you make will be 70% of your initial investment. This can happen within a single day or a single hour. Trading the Forex market is extremely secure because you can never lose more than your initial investment. This is low risk when compared to the unlimited profit you could potentially gain.

You can choose your pair of currencies and your volume whether the market is moving up or moving down – and still make a profit. You can decide to buy Euro and sell dollar or buy dollar and sell Euro. Additionally you do not have to physically have the currency you choose to buy and sell. The easiest way to get started in the Fored market is to find a Forex market site, open an account, deposit your money, and begin trading. Most companies provide you with training, support, and advice.

Once you have all the necessary research in hand you are ready to make your first trade. You need to first select the pair of currencies that you wish to trade. Then you select the volume or the amount of money you want trade. Then you must deposition the collateral needed for the whole deal, usually about 1%. Most companies allow for a brief freeze period in which the consumer can adjust or cancel their deal. While the deal is running you can monitor the status and check for additional trading tips online. You still have the ability to change the terms, or cash out the profit to minimize loss. Forex trading companies allow an automatic take profit option which allows the investor to preset the rate at which you want to see and it will do it for you. That way you do not have to stay constantly online to monitors your trade.

Forex is a great trading market for new investors. The specifics of the currency trade are fairly straight forward and easily accessible to the general public. There is a low initial investment that way new investors can begin small and as they feel comfortable and work their way up to larger trades.

Currency Trading – Big Profit Opportunities For The Week Ahead

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Please find below currency trading opportunities for next week based upon the same style of analysis we recently published to catch the big moves in energies.

There look to be some great opportunities in the currencies this week, so let’s look at some of the major currencies and the best ones to focus on for Monday.

Dollar getting short - With good risk reward

The dollar primary trend is down against the majors with the exception of the Yen.

While the primary trend is down, we have had a good bounce but it looks like it could run out of steam and this will be a good time to enter new dollar shorts.

As per usual were using charts and three indicators the stochastic, the Bollinger band and RSI and you can get some great free charts at futuresource.com

Get confirmation before trading

Don not try and predict the moves, always wait or confirmation of short term momentum shifting to the upside by using the stochastic indicator to time market entry.

Currency trading opportunities

The Euro

The primary trend is up and the sort term trend is down

We favour the long side and would look to key off the 1.24 level

Watch for stochastic momentum to turn up with bullish divergence above or at this level to initiate longs into the market.

If prices can steady resistance is at the mid bollinger band, if this and the recent double top gives way look for an advance to the highs.

RSI 44

The Dollar Index

The primary trend is down and short term trend is up

Resistance is at the 88.00 level. Look for a selling opportunity into this level.

Stochastic momentum is up, but is overbought look for selling opportunity into this level and sell on stochastic crossing to the downside with bearish divergence. Dont jump to soon, wait for confirmation.

RSI 58

Comment: This is a trade we like and we will be looking to get short as soon as short term mometum falls.

The Yen

The primary and short term trends are down and prices are looking to test the critical 86 level.

A test of these lows looks imminent and traders should go with market action by selling a break of the lows.

If prices, however steady at these levels and hammer out support take a stochastic crossover as a signal to go long for a quick pop to the upside.

Hot Commodities – Buy Copper For Huge Long Term Gains!

Buying copper as long term investment is one of the best ways of taking advantage of global economic growth.

Forget about the situation in individual countries, global demand is strong and this commodity is “hot” and long term gains are expected of 100% or more!

Triple digit gains per annum

100% annual gains are a strong possibility based upon past performance, in fact prices of copper have increased in price more than six-fold since late 2001.

This price rise has been driven by strong demand from China and India, general world economic growth, tight supply and fund buying.

The recent dip is NOT a trend change

Copper is a barometer for global industrial demand, but it lost ground last week on concerns that rising inflation could trigger higher interest rates and dampen economic growth.

The long term trend is still up!

Copper is still up about 54% since the end of last year, supported by historically low inventory levels and a series of threats to supply and firm demand.

This will continue as we have said forget individual countries global economic expansion is broad based and set to continue with China and India leading the way.

The technical view.

If we look at the technical picture, we can get a clear detached view of the trend.

The weekly chart

Here we can see the long term trend and it’s clearly up.

Prices have dropped to the centre of the Bollinger band ( which is an area of fair value ) but stochastic momentum has yet to provide short term momentum.

The daily chart

As you can see from a short term perspective prices have hammered out support at last weeks double bottom and the week before provides another triple bottom layer of support. These are the areas to key off for long positions.

Stochastic momentum has already turned up on the daily chart with bullish divergence and higher prices are expected.

On a strong open on Monday (with the stochastic indicator still firm) enter the market with stops below the triple bottom.

Keep in mind

All bull markets have dips and this is exactly what this is nothing more, just a normal correction in a bull market.

The dip now can provide you with an entry point to target 100% + profit potential annually!

You can trade the market in two ways

1. Use options that give you unlimited profit potential and limited risk. Keep in mind that you need to buy at, near, or in the money options with lots of time value. This will help you ride out short term volatility

2. Use intra market spreads. This simply involves using two contracts in the same commodity. Buy the nearby and sell a deferred ( check the spread strength first though) spreads are great giving you the advantage of lower margins and staying power.