Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Cornel West on Craig Ferguson talking about black history and humanity

I know this has nothing to do with forex. But I find the conversation between Dr. Cornel West from Princeton University and my favorite late show host Craig Ferguson to be very inspiring and interesting.  Another Peabody Award for Craig anyone? Please watch the videos.





Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Forex Technical Analysis and Its Importance in FX Trading

Article sourced from: THEFREELIBRARY.COM

Like the stock market, Fx trading market also passes through various stages and many ups and downs at different periods of time. Diverse price movements of the currencies in the past help the forex brokers in analyzing the future trends.
Like the stock market, Fx trading market also passes through various stages and many ups and downs at different periods of time. Diverse price movements of the currencies in the past help the forex brokers in analyzing the future trends. There are a lot of forex trading technical analysis tools that are used to analyze future fx trading situation, such as indicators, softwares, market trends and charts.

Those who are into foreign exchange training must have an idea about forex technical analysis.
A lot of traders in fx trading lose a lot more than they usually profit, the reason behind that is the lack of proper knowledge about the forex technical analysis. Forex technical analysis is very important tool in FX trading which can help forex brokers to predict the future price movement of the currency they are trading in, on the basis of the past data that is well compiled and stored.

The primary thing to be aware of about forex trading is that it is the combination of both fundamental and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis determines the existing price of any currency through diverse factors such as: demand, supply, economic conditions, fundamentals, political condition of a country, market sentiments etc.

While forex technical analysis method is used to predict the changes in foreign currencies with the help of various samples, charts and indicators. It generally forecasts the direction of the market and provides precise information about currencies. Forex charts show the existing trading state in the forex trading market while forex technical indicators are used for allocating diverse goals to establish the forex trends. However, most beginners in the forex exchange trading are not able to make use of forex technical analysis because of the use of mathematics and statistics in it.

It is seen that the trends that were seen in the past usually occur in future too with hardly any difference and that is when the forex technical analysis comes into limelight. In short, forex technical analysis can be a great support in the forex exchange trading and maximizes the profits if used intelligently and with complete knowledge!Kingdom Forex is the fastest growing forex broker among Asset Managers and Introducing Brokers. As a regulated STP/ECN they provide spreads as low as 0.3 with 99% execution for forex trading with leverage up to 500:1 and full hedging capability.

Types of Forex Systems

Types of Forex Trading System
  1. Forex Profit System
  2. ‘Scalp’ Trading the 1min Charts System
  3. Moving Average Intraday System
  4. The Day Trade Forex System
  5. “Micro Trading” the 1 Minute Chart System 
  6. Tom Demark FX System 
  7. The Forex News Trading System 
  8. The CI System 
  9. Forex Intraday Pivots Trading System
Building blocks that I believe to be foundations to the Forex Profit System

Foundation #1 : I highly recommend that you follow 1 or maybe 2 major currency pairs. It gets far too complicated to keep tabs on all four. I also recommend that traders choose one of the majors because the spread is the best and they are the most liquid. I personally follow only USD/CHF because it moves the most every day.

Foundation #2: Follow and understand the daily Forex News and Analysis of the professional currency analysts. Even though this system is based solely on technical analysis of charts, it is important to get a birds-eye view of the currency markets and the news that affects the prices. It is also important that you know and understand what the key technical ‘support’ and ‘resistance’ levels are in the currency pair that you want to trade. Support is a predicted level to buy (where currency pair should move up on the charts), resistance is a predicted level to sell (where the currency pair should move down on the charts).

Fortunately, all the best Forex news and analysis is offered free on the Internet. Here is what you should do first:
*While you are reading the daily news and technical analysis, write down on a piece of paper what direction the analysts are saying about the major currency pair you are following and the key support and resistance levels for the day.
  1. Go to forexnews.com and you will find 24hr news and analysis on the spot FX markets. The site will give you the big picture of how the economic calendar and central banks affect the currency markets. A great resource.
  2. Then go to fxstreet.com and click on the ‘Top Forex Reports’. Here there is a wonderful listing of all the major daily currency analysis and forecasts with support and resistance and direction forecasts.
  3. Click on currencypro.com and go to ‘Today’s Market Research’ and there you will find more excellent analysis on the Major Currency pairs. Another great Forex Portal.
  4. www.moneytec.com 
  5. Free Forex trading forum: www.forexdirectory.net 
  6. Comprehensive listing of everything, related to the Forex Markets: www.mgforex.com/resource/glossary.asp
Foundation #3: Only get into a trade when the FPS technical indicators say when. Always trade with stop losses! It is important when you are trading Forex, to be disciplined and to stick to a plan. Don’t just trade your ‘gut’ feeling. Use the technical indicators outlined and always enter in stop losses on every trade.

Foundation #4: Practice makes perfect. As they say, there is no substitute for hard work and diligence. Practice this system on a demo account and pretend the virtual money is your own real money. Do not open a live trading account until you are profitable trading on a demo account. Stick to the plan and you can be successful.

Foundation #5: Trade with a DISCIPLINED Plan:
The problem with many traders is that they take shopping more seriously than trading. The average shopper would not spend $400 without serious research and examination of the product he is about to purchase, yet the average trader would make a trade that could easily cost him $400 based on little more than a “feeling” or “hunch.” Be sure that you have a plan in place BEFORE you start to trade. The plan must include stop and limit levels for the trade, as your analysis should encompass the expected downside as well as the expected upside.

Foundation #6: Cut your losses early and Let your Profits Run:
This simple concept is one of the most difficult to implement and is the cause of most traders demise. Most traders violate their predetermined plan and take their profits before reaching their profit target because they feel uncomfortable sitting on a profitable position. These same people will easily sit on losing positions, allowing the market to move against them for hundreds of points in hopes that the market will come back. In addition, traders who have had their stops hit a few times only to see the market go back in their favor once they are out, are quick to remove stops from their trading on the belief that this will always be the case. Stops
are there to be hit, and to stop you from losing more then a predetermined amount! The mistaken belief is that every trade should be profitable. If you can get 3 out of 6 trades to be profitable then you are doing well. How then do you make money with only half of your trades being winners? You simply allow your profits on the winners to run and make sure that your losses are minimal.

Foundation #7: Do not marry your trades
The reason trading with a plan is the #1 tip is because most objective analysis is done before the trade is executed. Once a trader is in a position he/she tends to analyze the market differently in the “hopes” that the market will move in a favorable direction rather than objectively looking at the changing factors that may have turned against your original analysis. This is especially true of losses. Traders with a losing position tend to marry their position, which causes them to disregard the fact that all signs point towards continued losses.

Foundation #8: Do not bet the farm
Do not over trade. One of the most common mistakes that traders make is leveraging their account too high by trading much larger sizes than their account should prudently trade. Leverage is a double-edged sword. Just because one lot (100,000 units) of currency only requires $1000 as a minimum margin deposit, it does not mean that a trader with $5000 in his account should be able to trade 5 lots. One lot is $100,000 and should be treated as a $100,000 investment and not the $1000 put up as margin. Most traders analyze the charts correctly and place sensible trades, yet they tend to over leverage themselves. As a consequence of this, they are often forced to exit a position at the wrong time. A good rule of thumb is to never use more than 10% of your account at any given time.

Trading Strategy: TRENDS


Trend is simply the overall direction prices are moving -- UP, DOWN, OR FLAT.
The direction of the trend is absolutely essential to trading and analyzing the market. In the Foreign Exchange (FX) Market, it is possible to profit from UP and Down movements, because of the buying and selling of one currency and against the other currency e.g. Buy US Dollar Sell Japanese Yen ex. Up Trend chart.




































SUPPORT
Price supports are price areas where traders find that it is difficult for market prices to penetrate lower. Buying interest in the dollar is strong enough to overcome. Selling interest in the dollar keeping prices at a sustained level.

























RESISTANCE
Resistance is the opposite of support and represents a price level where Selling Interest overcomes Buying interest and advancing prices are turning back.

























RETRACEMENTS
50% Retracement.





















There are also 33% and 66% Retracements.