Wednesday 11 July 2007

Can One Blog Really Earn You $3,947 per month?

Can One Blog Really Earn You $3,947 per month? It sounds impossible, but Rob Benwell has done it again and again and now he is sharing his secret with the world in his new book “Blogging to the Bank 2.0”. Blogging is an excellent way to earn extra income since you are able to start your own blog for FREE. No hosting costs or other hidden fees to eat away any profits. This short eBook is wonderful. Being short you can quickly work through it and start implementing the info almost immediately. Even if you are not able to duplicate Bob’s impressive results, it is not bad earning some extra money. I earned over $100 on my own blog during last week. The week before that I earned $34, and before that I earned $312 for the week. During the last two months my blog has earned me over $1205 in profit, and this weeks results are not included yet. Not close to Bob’s earnings, but good enough for me. Buy this eBook now, exercise his advice and you will not be sorry. Click this link now and learn about this unbelievable opportunity that even you can profit from... Blogging to the Bank


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Monday 11 June 2007

A nice site to visit if you are looking for money making opportunities

Hi guys,
I found this site that is quite nice: Online Money Portal. I you are looking for various money making opportunities, visit this site today. It is literally crammed with a wide range of opportunities. The layout is maybe not the best, but it is easy to navigate. Some are free, while others do ask a sign-up fee (which is not a big problem since all offer a 100% money back guarantee). Visit this site today, and who knows how wealthy your future may be. Online Money Portal

Saturday 2 June 2007

Not Trading Forex for some personal reason

I haven't posted the last few weeks for some personal reasons. It has been a hectic period and even my Forex Trading has come to an end for this period. I closed all my open positions and stood outside the market for quite some time. How strange this was for me. Part of my existence centered around the market open and close for a few years. Suddenly I was not there when the market closed...

But at least I am back, but I still have no open positions yet. Still watching the market, trying to get a feel for the market.

I will finish my articles about creating your own mechanical system a soon as possible.
I truly hope that your Forex Trading has been very successful.
Till later.

Thursday 17 May 2007

Developing my own trading strategy – Part 1

When I just started trading the Forex Market I made the mistake of thinking that an indicator, like RSI, Stochastic or MACD, is equal to having a trading system. I poured over charts in the beginning seeing how “easy” it was to spot market turns with these indicators. Buying or selling when the indicator was at certain levels looked so easy when looking at the historical chart. Hindsight is a perfect science, and the problem is that trading is done forward and not backwards. The market can not be predicted with any degree of accuracy. There is a lot of uncertainty in trading the trading the forex market successfully.
As I stated in a previous post, you must really know yourself and how you will function under stress in terms of greed and fear (see below - 7 May 2007) to be able to master your emotions while trading. It took me quite some time just to realize that I am not very effective in controlling my own emotional experiences while trading. Your personality can be both an asset and a liability when trading the forex market. For this reason I am shying away from discretionary systems (where your discretion dictates your trading) to searching for a more mechanical method. Mechanical systems have proven to be more agreeable to my personality than discretionary methods. The system dictates when and how I will trade and it leaves my emotional experience on the sideline. But this differs from person to person.
To trade successfully you need a system that is in accord with who you are and what you wish to get out of your trading. In this respect I believe that developing a trading system needs to take some time en experimenting. In the next post I will begin to tell you how I started to create my own mechanical trading system.
Till next time – May you trade the Forex Market successfully

Tuesday 15 May 2007

Apply "the Secret" To Forex Trading Success

Apply "the Secret" To Forex Trading Success (Ezine Ready)



Author: Kent Douglas


The Forex market is the largest trading network in the world with $1.8 trillion dollars being exchanged every day. There are dozens of different currencies traded but the big players to focus on are all traded with the US dollar and include: EUR (Euro), GBP (British pound), JPY (Japanese yen), CHF (Swiss franc), AUD (Australian dollar), NZD (New Zealand dollar), and the CAN (Canadian dollar). Each of these currencies is exchanged with the currency of other nations at different exchange rates-which are always in a state of flux because the market trades around the clock (Sunday through Friday). The volatility and sheer size of the market means that there is ample fluctuation to produce big profits-and losses. The challenge for the investor, as always, is to predict which direction the rates of currency pairs will fluctuate.



The beginning point in any investment strategy is determining what type of analysis will be used to help guide enter and exit decisions. Investors who use fundamental analysis look at a nation's interest rates and other economic indicators when deciding to enter or exit a position. Fundamental investors tend to trade based upon news releases and economic data from the nations involved in the currency pair.



Briefly, technical analysis involves the interpretation of price performance and chart patterns-all historical data. Some technical indicators used in this type of analysis include:



• Moving averages including Simple & Exponential

• Breakout Points

• Lines of Support & Resistance



Technical traders do not believe that the past necessarily predicts the future-but that long and short term trends can be identified and exploited to help guide current decisions on entry and exit points on positions. Technical traders try to identify current trends in the Forex market to determine entry and exit points. If they are correct, they can ride a trend (in either direction) for a profit until an exit point is reached (when the trend is ending).



The most successful traders on the Forex tend to look for long-term trends and favor technical analysis. Fundamental traders have to enter and exit positions very quickly in order to capitalize in price fluctuations caused by news events (interest rate changes, release of economic data, etc.) and are therefore more vulnerable due to excessive trading. If there truly was "a secret" to trading success on the Forex, the top investors all tend to agree on the following:



1. Choose currency pairs involving U.S. dollar (has volume to produce the price fluctuations necessary for big profits and the liquidity to enter/exit positions at will)

2. Find currency pair through backtesting that has most profit potential (pip movement) and least volatility through use of technical analysis

3. After determining trends, set stops and exit points for both protection and maximum profitability

4. Review charts once per day (overtrading and day trading can hurt your portfolio)

5. Remain patient and exit positions once technical decision point has been reached



If there really is a secret to trading success on the Forex it has to be patience. Trading strategies are never perfect because the market will never be predictable 100% of the time. There will be times when any strategy fails and stop points are reached before profits are realized. Continuous back testing, remaining patient, and setting stops are the true secrets of Forex success.



Source: Submit Articles at ArticlesBase.com



About the Author:

Article by Kent Douglas, author of "The Simple Forex Solution: The Easiest Currency Trading System Anywhere."

Friday 11 May 2007

Online Forex Trading – 3 Common Errors That Will Make you Lose

Author: Sacha Tarkovsky

Trading was seen as the way for the little guy to compete with the big professional traders but guess what?

The ratio of losers remains them same as it was before the rise of online FOREX trading.

How can this be so surely they should do better? The answer is no because traders make these common errors.


Peter Bain Forex Trading Video Course


1. Blinded by technology

This happens to many novice traders they see the vast amount of news and indicators at their disposal and think they have technology on their side and will win.

Most over complicate their trading and lose.

Simplicity is the key to trading and this was so before the rise of online trading and is still true today.

There is no correlation between how complicated a system is and how much money it makes.

In fact, simple systems are best as they more robust in the face of brutal market conditions.


trading the dollar is easy


2. Day trading and over trading

The rise of online forex trading has seen the bulk of new traders try and make money day trading.

This is a huge mistake.

Day trading doesn’t work, as the logic it’s based upon is nonsense.

Day traders have no reliable data to work with.

It's obvious that daily moves are random as daily volatility is random!

Day traders argue that trading short term is possible with online forex trading but this is not true you cant win if you cant calculate the odds.

Don’t believe me?

Ask any day trader for a real time track record of profits, they have made over the longer term and you wont get one – because it doesn’t work – PERIOD


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3. Money management

The speed of the Internet in delivering information has increased volatility.

This means that traders have to be far more careful with money management than before.

Most traders in online forex trading are trying to restrict risk so much that they almost guarantee they will be stopped out and lose.

If you want to make money in forex trading your stops cannot be to tight or volatility will simply stop you out.

You need to take risks to make profits and this is as true as it’s ever been.

Placing stops close to entry may keep your losses small, but what’s the point of that if you are almost guaranteeing yourself that you will are stopped out?

To make money you need to risk it – It’s as simple as that.

The tools need to be applied correctly!

Online forex trading is seen as a way for the little man to compete on an equal footing with the big players but nothing could be further from the truth.

Online forex trading has lured many traders into a false sense of security where they think because they have all the tools they can win (but they don’t learn how to apply them)

Additionally, they think they can now catch short term moves and engage in the best way to lose money in forex – day trading.

Finally, they think they don’t need to take big risks to make big gains and end up eroding their accounts with consistent losses - all small but they add up.

Online forex trading has not seen any increase in small speculators winning and the three reasons above are the major ones why

Forex Trading - Diversify for Lower Risk and Greater Reward

Author: Sacha Tarkovsky

Most forex traders like to trade the majors only but in my view you can get some great opportunities in some of the minor currencies. You can diversify and get more profit opportunities

Lets look at two that can add some diversification and have some great trends you can take advantage of.

Two good currencies to trade alongside the majors are the Canadian and Australian Dollar.

While not as liquid as the majors, they offer some great trading opportunities for traders with a longer-term outlook.

Lets look at opportunities in these currencies.

We will use the free chart service futuresource.com and look at the IMM futures contract, although same logic of course applies to the cash.

The Australian Dollar

If you look at the chart you will see that this currency has been trading in a range since December.

The same system we have used to range trade the majors works here as well.

You can simply use stochastic crossovers to trade against support and resistance until a major break appears.

At present the Australian dollar looks set to test the top of the range, if it breaks through the mid point of the Bollinger band.

The Canadian Dollar

The Canada is trending down against the dollar and has had a rally - this should end shortly.

The key to look for is a cross in stochastic momentum with bearish divergence to indicate the downtrend will resume.

Like the Yen the Canada is bearish and rallies are selling opportunities.

These currencies add some diversification to any forex trading portfolio and the Canadian Dollar in particular offers a great strong trend to the downside where you can sell rallies.

Don’t fall in love with one currency simply trade the ones that have the best opportunities and risk to reward.

At the present we would in terms of trend following have the Canadian dollar with the yen as the strongest trend to trade.

In the Canadian dollar a great short opportunity is presenting itself as it corrects oversold status.

Wait for the price momentum to turn south with the stochastic showing bearish divergence and when this occurs a test of the lows should occur.

As with any currency wait for the stochastic to give you the signal - don’t anticipate wait for confirmation.

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Thursday 10 May 2007

Learn to Trade Foreign Exchange Currencies

Learn to trade foreign currencies like the professionals with Peter Bain’s Video ForEx Trading Program.


Currency Trading has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years as many investors are looking for ways to profit from the currency trading marketplace. Author, professional trader Peter Bain is an authority in Currency Trading education. His Forex Course teaches the same system used by banks, financial institutions and professional Forex traders alike to trade currencies on the foreign exchange. For the first time, Peter's making his "Commercial Forex Trading" system available to the public in the form of a video currency trading course.


The Peter Bain Video Forex Course is video course is a complete trading solution and is packed with 6 hours of live instructions on DVDs from Peter himself. In addition, there are an additional 6 hours of instruction on CDs, a 150 page “Trade Currencies the Way the Big Dogs Do” User’s Manual and 1 year access to the Forexmentor Membership website. Learn to trade the lucrative 1.5 trillion Forex Market everyday with Peter Bain's Video Forex Course. A Forex currency trader doesn’t have to worry about 7,800 stocks, or 72 commodities, and all the underlying trading rules that accompany those markets. With the Forex, a currency trader only has to think about the 4 major currency pairs – and pure technical analysis. The average daily range of 104 pips for all four pairs far surpasses that of any other stock trading market. Peter will show you the techniques and secrets used by the commercial institutions and banks.

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Pivot Points in Forex: Mapping your Time Frame by: Raul Lopez

I have found this very interesting article about Pivot Points. They are quite useful for determining support and resistance in Forex Markets, or any other market for that matter. Enjoy.


Pivot Points in Forex: Mapping your Time Frame by: Raul Lopez
It is useful to have a map and be able to see where the price is relative to previous market action. This way we can see how is the sentiment of traders and investors at any given moment, it also gives us a general idea of where the market is heading during the day. This information can help us decide which way to trade.

Pivot points, a technique developed by floor traders, help us see where the price is relative to previous market action.

As a definition, a pivot point is a turning point or condition. The same applies to the Forex market, the pivot point is a level in which the sentiment of the market changes from “bull” to “bear” or vice versa. If the market breaks this level up, then the sentiment is said to be a bull market and it is likely to continue its way up, on the other hand, if the market breaks this level down, then the sentiment is bear, and it is expected to continue its way down. Also at this level, the market is expected to have some kind of support/resistance, and if price can’t break the pivot point, a possible bounce from it is plausible.

Pivot points work best on highly liquid markets, like the spot currency market, but they can also be used in other markets as well.

Pivot Points

In a few words, pivot point is a level in which the sentiment of traders and investors changes from bull to bear or vice versa.

Why PP work?

They work simply because many individual traders and investors use and trust them, as well as bank and institutional traders. It is known to every trader that the pivot point is an important measure of strength and weakness of any market.

Calculating pivot points

There are several ways to arrive to the Pivot point. The method we found to have the most accurate results is calculated by taking the average of the high, low and close of a previous period (or session).

Pivot point (PP) = (High + Low + Close) / 3

Take for instance the following EUR/USD information from the previous session:

Open: 1.2386
High: 1.2474
Low: 1.2376
Close: 1.2458

The PP would be,
PP = (1.2474 + 1.2376 + 1.2458) / 3 = 1.2439

What does this number tell us?

It simply tells us that if the market is trading above 1.2439, Bulls are winning the battle pushing the prices higher. And if the market is trading below this 1.2439 the bears are winning the battle pulling prices lower. On both cases this condition is likely to sustain until the next session.

Since the Forex market is a 24hr market (no close or open from day to day) there is a eternal battle on deciding at white time we should take the open, close, high and low from each session. From our point of view, the times that produce more accurate predictions is taking the open at 00:00 GMT and the close at 23:59 GMT.

Besides the calculation of the PP, there are other support and resistance levels that are calculated taking the PP as a reference.

Support 1 (S1) = (PP * 2) – H
Resistance 1 (R1) = (PP * 2) - L
Support 2 (S2) = PP – (R1 – S1)
Resistance 2 (R2) = PP + (R1 – S1)

Where, H is the High of the previous period and L is the low of the previous period

Continuing with the example above, PP = 1.2439

S1 = (1.2439 * 2) - 1.2474 = 1.2404
R1 = (1.2439 * 2) – 1.2376 = 1.2502
R2 = 1.2439 + (1.2636 – 1.2537) = 1.2537
S2 = 1.2439 – (1.2636 – 1.2537) = 1.2537

These levels are supposed to mark support and resistance levels for the current session.

On the example above, the PP was calculated using information of the previous session (previous day.) This way we could see possible intraday resistance and support levels. But it can also be calculated using the previous weekly or monthly data to determine such levels. By doing so we are able to see the sentiment over longer periods of time. Also we can see possible levels that might offer support and resistance throughout the week or month. Calculating the Pivot point in a weekly or monthly basis is mostly used by long term traders, but it can also be used by short time traders, it gives us a good idea about the longer term trend.

S1, S2, R1 AND R2...? An Objective Alternative

As already stated, the pivot point zone is a well-known technique and it works simply because many traders and investors use and trust it. But what about the other support and resistance zones (S1, S2, R1 and R2,) to forecast a support or resistance level with some mathematical formula is somehow subjective. It is hard to rely on them blindly just because the formula popped out that level. For this reason, we have created an alternative way to map our time frame, simpler but more objective and effective.

We calculate the pivot point as showed before. But our support and resistance levels are drawn in a different way. We take the previous session high and low, and draw those levels on today’s chart. The same is done with the session before the previous session. So, we will have our PP and four more important levels drawn in our chart.

LOPS1, low of the previous session.
HOPS1, high of the previous session.
LOPS2, low of the session before the previous session.
HOPS2, high of the session before the previous session.
PP, pivot point.

These levels will tell us the strength of the market at any given moment. If the market is trading above the PP, then the market is considered in a possible uptrend. If the market is trading above HOPS1 or HOPS2, then the market is in an uptrend, and we only take long positions. If the market is trading below the PP then the market is considered in a possible downtrend. If the market is trading below LOPS1 or LOPS2, then the market is in a downtrend, and we should only consider short trades.

The psychology behind this approach is simple. We know that for some reason the market stopped there from going higher/lower the previous session, or the session before that. We don’t know the reason, and we don’t need to know it. We only know the fact: the market reversed at that level. We also know that traders and investors have memories, they do remember that the price stopped there before, and the odds are that the market reverses from there again (maybe because the same reason, and maybe not) or at least find some support or resistance at these levels.

What is important about his approach is that support and resistance levels are measured objectively; they aren’t just a level derived from a mathematical formula, the price reversed there before so these levels have a higher probability of being effective.

Our mapping method works on both market conditions, when trending and on sideways conditions. In a trending market, it helps us determine the strength of the trend and trade off important levels. On sideways markets it shows us possible reversal levels.

Wednesday 9 May 2007

Forex Trading – a Simple System That's Very Profitable

Author: Sacha Tarkovsky

I have been giving some live trades to show how a simple system can make big profits. We have done 2 live trades and made two great profits.

We did the same last year we did 5 trades live and won on all of them!

Now that does not make me a genius, but I want to share something with you that I have learned over 25 years as a trader.

The Best Methods are SIMPLE

I have tried just about every way of trading from using artificial intelligence to neural networks and some methods overloaded with indicators and I can tell you the best methods are simple.

The method I use is simply this:

1. Look for significant levels of support and resistance

2. Use a breakout methodology

3. Use stochastics to time entry

4. Use Bollinger Bands for targets and RSI as contrary trading indicator

That’s it.

People think the harder they try or work on a method the better it will work but this is not true.

You get nothing extra for effort in the FOREX markets.

There are many smart traders out there who build incredibly complex systems and are dismayed when they collapse in the brutal world of trading.

The problem with complex systems is there are to many elements to break.

My system above works on any market not just currencies and its logic is sound.

It works makes money and only takes 30 minutes or so a day to execute and there is also no intra day monitoring as it works off daily closes..

It Does However Need:

The trader to spot and filter the set ups. This means YOU pull the trigger not a computer.

Many traders don’t like doing this but the fact is:

We can think computers cant and I personally like the responsibility of making the trade. If you want to delegate totally to a computer then this system may not be for you but I am always more comfortable pulling the trigger myself.

So there you have it a simple system that makes money and I have given you the logic and components for free.

I hope you like it and its of as much use to you as it is to me - after 25 Years I am still using it and it is still making money which is what forex trading is all about.

Just Who Trades Forex Currencies?

Author: Kent Douglas

Fifteen years ago, you would not hear about people trading on the Forex market-at least not real people. Until that time, only central banks, large hedge funds, and other financial giants like Warren Buffet could afford to dabble in the currencies markets. Today, however, the Forex is the most fluid market in the world with nearly 2 trillion dollars trading hands from Sunday through Friday afternoon-24 hours a day. Investors from all over the world are drawn to the Forex for the following reasons:

·Trading occurs 24 hours per day, 5 days a week so investors always have access to brokers and the ability to trade and make profit

·Online trading platform makes trading easy and most can be personalized to suit your particular trading style and needs

·Very large and liquid market making it easy to enter and exit positions

·Volatile market that is prone to rapid price fluctuations-and the potential to make big profits-or take a big loss!

·Trading is leveraged but brokers tend to offer very low margins (as little as 1% of the transaction total can be used as capital)

·No commission for trading-brokers make their money on the spread, or the difference between the ask and bid price

·Ability to set stop/loss points and limit potential loss while pursuing maximum profit

Basically, the Forex offers the thrill and chase you might find in Vegas along with the technical analysis and detective work people associate with Wall Street. As far as who actually trades on the Forex market, there are two basic groups emerging as the majority players:

1.29-39 yr. old, computer savvy professionals looking for an additional revenue stream with unlimited potential, a convenient and dynamic investment interface, and the ability to limit loss while maximizing opportunities. This group of investors tend to either have a degree or have taken some college courses. While many are putting some of the profits away for retirement, most investors in this demographic are looking for additional income to help pay bills, finance lifestyles, and perhaps pay off mortgages early.

2.Baby Boomers: That's right, there are nearly 80 million official members of the baby boomer generation nearing 60 and thoughts of retirement. Only 25% report having $50,000 or more set aside for savings aside from their primary residence-and many are looking for a safe, secure way to boost retirement funds. The convenience of the Internet combined with the large potential for profit and limited risk make the Forex an increasingly attractive investment option for baby boomers hoping to add some real money to their retirement account in short order. Baby boomers especially love brokers who offer free demo accounts for the investor to learn the ins and outs of the Forex market before actually risking any money.

Like any investment tool, the Forex market presents risk for any potential investor. It is the risk that creates the opportunity for both profit and loss. And, like most investments, taking the time to do the homework and identify trends helps make more informed and guided decisions. For anyone looking to make a real boost in their income or retirement account, the Forex offers an opportunity to earn unlimited profits-but the losses can mount too so be sure to place stop/loss orders with any position to limit exposure.

The Forex Trading Machine (Price Driven Forex Trading)

"Forex, or Foreign Exchange, trading is one of today's hottest trading opportunities. Regular people are consistently making $500, $600 and more per day from the comfort of their home trading forex. Many do not know this, but the forex market is by far the largest market in the world. It is estimated that around $1.5 TRILLION is traded every single day. By far more then all the stock, bond and futures markets of all the world combined!

What are the main benefits of day trading forex? Incredible volatility (allowing traders to catch sometimes 5-6 price swings per day), 5-7 currency pairs to monitor (instead of over 10,000 stocks!), no commission trading, guaranteed fills for stop losses and limit orders, impressive leverage, 24 hour market (never stops), traders can open an account with online brokers with as little as $300, and much more!

Created by Avi Frister, a veteran Forex Trader, The Forex Trading Machine is a revolutionary product within the forex industry. This is a must read for anyone wanting to take advantage day after day of the impressive profits the forex market offers.

You will learn to trade two daytrading systems and one swing trading system. And the interesting part of all of this is that none of these systems use ANY type of indicators!

The Cash Cow strategy is aimed at capturing large price swings and literally takes no more than 1 minute per week to implement (perfect for people who cannot monitor the market).
The two daytrading strategies, "Forex Runner" and "Forex Flip & Go", aim to capture an average of 40 pips per trade and are also 100% mechanical (totally rule based: no interpretation, judgment or discretion).

Remember, the course has been written by an 11 year veteran and fits the needs of ANY type of trader (even if you know nothing about the forex market).


Click the link now, and find out just how good the The Forex Trading Machine really is.

Tuesday 8 May 2007

Forex Trading learned me about my own weaknesses

One of the hardest things to experience is realizing that you are not always as good as you thought your were. Always thinking that I was extremely good at working under pressure, my experiences taught me precisely the opposite. When it comes to money I suck under pressure. I am not able to keep my cool when watching the forex market dance all over the place... going from loss to profit, back to loss, and back into profit in a matter of minutes. Holding on... seeing the trade moving into a profit... and then praying that it just keep going. Fearing a loss if you do not take the profit immediately... but also lusting after more profit. Wondering, what if it moves up just 50 more points?

How will you ever know when is the perfect time to close a position? I wish I knew, but at least I am not alone in this, as almost any forex trader will tell you. The struggle between hope and disappointment can be intense... but also part of the allure of trading in the forex market. It is a emotional ride that leaves you breathless... sometimes in elation of a trade going right... but mostly in a depressing state when a trade goes wrong.

And then to realize that you are not as good as you thought... not as cool as you hoped. But out of the ashes of despair a phoenix arise and you learn to live with your shortcomings... learn to turn your weakness into something manageable... and then you realize... the Forex Market helped me to grow...

Monday 7 May 2007

Understanding Yourself when trading Forex

Each person has certain personality traits that make us unique. These traits help, or limit, our progress in life, and especially when trading the forex market. To live a happy and fulfilled life is easier when you know your own personality traits. Trying to understand what makes you tick can be of great help when you know how you will probably react in certain situations and why. Investing on the forex market is one area where knowledge of your different traits can be advantageous. Money makes most people emotional at some stages and knowing beforehand how you probably would react to suddenly losing, or making, a lot of money would help you stay afloat. Money has tremendous influence in the lives of people and the lack of money, or the possibility of increasing your money pushes the buttons of your emotions.

That is why being too emotionally involved is so dangerous when investing. Emotions are what make us human. Emotions help, or limit, our progress through life, but it can be detrimental to your investing success. There are probably many emotions an investor can experience, but the two most common are fear and greed. Fear can make you so cautious that you miss a lot of good investment opportunities, or let you get out of a trade too soon, missing the bigger and more profitable move. Being unsure whether the market will react in the way you hope after interpreting the charts can also make you afraid, because what if the market moves the other way? The flip side of fear is greed. And in my mind it is more dangerous than fear. Fear sometimes keeps you out of the market, but greed pushes you into the market as much as possible. Greed affects most people and lets you ignore the warnings. Greed can make you over-optimistic. Believing that the next move will make you rich, increasing the amount of money invested. Greed let you live in a dream world that could make you impatient when profits do not come quickly enough, and this could quickly turn into a nightmare.

Personality traits differ from person to person and for this reason each investor must learn to understand him self or her self. Some people struggling more with making final decisions than others. Struggling with making a decision can cause you to lose a lot of money. The market is always dynamic, always moving, so while the investor is struggling with making decisions the market situation could have changed. The danger of this trait is that this is a way of life for people struggling with it. Struggling to make fast decision affects the whole life of this person. This makes it more difficult when investing since emotions and money are included in the equation. Wondering when to enter or exit the forex market can cause missing opportunities and these mistakes can intensify other emotions like fear or regret.

Some people or very conscientious are being defined as a person who is very meticulous and painstakingly accurate. These persons could be the opposite of the above. Being very sure of there decision since they research it so thoroughly. They would give extraordinary attention to certain details and sometimes checking and rechecking their findings just to make sure. In some areas of life this trait could be beneficial, but when investing it could hamper your success. By the time the investor has checked all his findings the forex market could have moved on, leaving him without the opportunity to enter, or exit the trade at a decent level. The forex market cannot be predicted. Technical and fundamental analysis could only give an indication of the possible direction the market could take in the near future, but there is no guarantee. Spending too much time on research trying to be “absolutely correct” could cause you to react far to late.

Some people are more Open than others. I like to define openness as being able to absorbed changing situations and make corrections in your reactions based on the new information. This could be one of the more positive traits for an investor to acquire. History does repeat itself, but not always in the same manner or under the same situations. Being able to change your outlook when situations change drastically could be advantageous to investing. This does not mean that you alter your investment strategy completely every few months. It rather means that you always make small adjustments when it becomes apparent that there could be some flaws in you investment strategy in regard to the current market situations. Some strategies work better in certain market situations than others. Being open could help you to notice this and make adjustments in time. Openness can also help you to absorb all the viewpoints regarding a share or its possible future and selecting the facts from the fiction, sometimes causing you to avoid a possible investment that appeared good after some warning regarding the company.

Self-discipline is also a trait that could be positive when investing on the market. Investing is something that could be learned, but like all learned behavior it takes time and practice to reach a level of success. Learning something new means getting to grips with failing. Most people do not have a natural tendency to mastering a new concept, like learning to invest on the stock market. It takes time and it means making mistakes. Self-discipline can help you to stick to learning when it appears as if it is not working. Also, discipline is extremely good at helping to curb the effect of emotions. Being disciplined helps you to avoid making irrational decision based on your current emotional state. Self-discipline also helps you to stay patient. I read somewhere that patient money makes money.

So, understanding yourself; knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you when investing, but what can you do to limit the negatives of your weakness and enhancing the strengths? I believe by designing a good and robust system. If you are someone who is open and willing to integrate new ideas, then designing a robust system could be easier that someone being very set in his ways. A robust system is one that helps you to identify good entry and exit points, which is determined by a balanced blend of technical and fundamental analysis and combined with effective money management techniques.

Finding a good system that complements your personality and sticking to it can advance your success on the market. A good system you trust helps curb the effects of emotions and indecision. Following the system removes some uncertainty. Knowing that most systems are incorrect about 40%-60% of the time helps you to understand that losses are part of the game. Having self-discipline will help in following your system through these inevitable losses. Having good money management, reducing the amount of money to risk and using a good stop-loss system, could help you weather these losses while waiting for the bigger profits. Being disciplined helps to reduce the possibility of greed or fear causing you to be irrational. Knowing yourself, knowing your system and trusting in the positives of both could help you reaching your goal.

Fear and Greed in Forex Trading

Hi, I am busy writing a piece on my experiences with Fear and Greed. Trading the Forex Market can by extremely lucrative, or so they all say. I believe this is true, but I still have not made it big... yet. One of my biggest battles have been with some of the strongest emotions I have ever encountered: the FEAR of losing Money, and GREED of wanting more. When I am finished I will post my experiences with these two emotions. Have I won over them? Nope... but if you know them it is easier to control them.

Until next time.

Saturday 5 May 2007

Trading Forex means learning to take a loss

Friday I had a huge loss. It was quite disappointing especially after making a few good profits. This is part of the process and the faster you learn to accept that certain losses will be part of your forex trading career, the better.

How I ended up with my own mechanical system

Those who have read my posts so far will know that I am telling about my journey in mastering the art of trading the forex market. I believe that I still have a long way to go, but I hope that anybody who reads my posts, and who are also interested in trading the forex market, will find some use in my ramblings.

Trading is quite emotional, making money is an extremely elating experience, but man, losing money is one of the most depressing experiences. Especially when you see all your recent profits (or worse all your money) slowly going down the drain with each losing trade. For this reason I have found that discretionary trading systems do not work for me. Maybe I am too emotional to be effective in trading discretionary systems.

The one system that helped me out of the rut of losing was the course of Avi Frister.The Forex Trading Maching (Price Driven Forex Trading . It is quite an interesting mechanical system for trading the Forex Market. I traded this system for some time, and then I start seeing some potential of developing my own system out of this. It took a great deal of trial and error, but I do feel that I have developed my own robust system for trading.

I think that one of the most important lessons I learned was that there is no holy grail for trading. Every trader has his or her own personal preferences, risk profile and equity. A system like the Cash cow from the The Forex Trading Maching (Price Driven Forex Trading , are very effective ways of developing your own mechanical system.

But what is a mechanical system? It is a system that determine when, where and how to enter and exit the market. In my own personal profile it works much better for me than a discretionary system. Maybe it will work for you too. Each person is different and it can be very rewarding to determine which you are. Until next time.

Friday 4 May 2007

My Journey To Improve My Forex Trading

If you read the heading of this blog, you already know that I went fell from an extreme high to a huge low in a very short time. Making that amount of money with so little capital in such a short time is indescribable. I felt untouchable... every time I entered a trade I made a profit. I went wild... making reckless trades. But my blind luck held and soon I was on top of the world. Looking back I saw that I was simply blind luck. I traded in a bull phase of the market. I simply could not go wrong. But my luck changed and without a good plan for trading Forex I simply lost almost all of my money. I knew nothing about money management etc. so I lost almost all my capital in just 4 trades... In this blog you will learn about my journey, and also see how I finally created a trading plan with which I am comfortable, and slowly I am making money again.

Part of my journey was learning that I need a plan to trade effectively. Luckily I stumbled upon the following books that helped me a lot. The first was Surefire Forex Trading by Mark McRae , the second was The Way To Trade by John Piper
and lastly I was really helped by The Forex Trading Maching (Price Driven Forex Trading by Avi Frister. The Forex Trading Maching (Price Driven Forex Trading was probably the one that helped me the most to start making some money. It has an excellent mechanical systems called the Cash Cow If you really want to kickstart your trading, take a look at these books... it is really worth it.

The most important lesson I learned was probably to learn to trust myself while developing my own trading rhythm. I learned a good lot from the books I read and I used the knowledge I gained from these experienced Forex traders to develop my own trading methodology. Have I made it? I have had some great trades so I think that I am getting there. I will post the last few weeks trades... but this is a work in progress, but for the first time in more than a year I am enjoying my trading... hope my journey can help you...