Forex Trade 24×5

If you’re a trader, I’m sure you’re familiar with fundamental trading, technical trading, trend trading, candlestick trading, swing trading and all the other varieties of trading styles that riddle the markets these days. Each one professes to be “the way,” but in reality, none of them really are.

The only constant I’ve found in trading any of the markets I trade, especially forex, is that strength is the only factor that drives prices especially in the short term. And since I am a short term trader, this is the only time frame I’m interested in. Strength is a direct indicator of supply vs. demand, and is therefore more of a fundamental indicator than a technical indicator.

However, for some bewildering reason, short term traders have chosen technical analysis as their method of choice. You’ve probably noticed that every charting website or charting software package includes a long list of technical indicators free of charge. I believe that the reason they’re free is because you get what you pay for. These indicators are really good for nothing other than predicting the past.

So, what is strength and how do you determine what’s strong and what’s weak in the forex market at any given time? You may think that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a technical indicator that reflects strength. It’s really not though.

By definition, the RSI is an indicator that tells us if a currency pair is overbought or oversold. However, just because a currency pair is oversold doesn’t mean that the price of that pair is going to move up in the near future. Conversely, just because a currency pair is overbought does not mean its price will move downward in the near future.

The price of the currency pair may behave in this manner, but there is no fundamental reason for this to occur and is therefore not a dependable tool to use in making sound, profitable trading decisions. The reason that the price of a currency pair will move (in every instance) is when there is an imbalance in strength between the 2 individual currencies in the pair.

For instance, if the EUR and the USD are both strong with respect to all the other currencies they trade in pairs with, but there is no imbalance of strength between the EUR and the USD, the price of the EUR/USD pair will not tend to move regardless of the RSI reading at the time, and regardless of how overbought or oversold the pair may be.

So, essentially, the most important piece of information needed to successfully trade a currency pair is how strong each individual currency is compared to the other currencies it trades in pairs with. This information will allow us to match a strong currency with a weak currency, and thus select the best currency pair to trade at the time we are trading. There is no free conventional technical indicator I know of that delivers this information.

There is, however, a very unique tool that does deliver this information clearly, on one screen, and in real time. It’s a currency meter that utilizes a real-time data feed to measure the buying and selling activity of each major currency tick-by-tick. A calculation is made using this input and the strength of each currency is displayed graphically on a chart where higher values on the vertical axis indicate strong buying activity for an individual currency, and lower values on the axis indicate strong selling activity.

At one glance, it is easy to match a strong currency with a weak currency using this tool. By looking for a trade in the currency pair identified by this method, you now have an extremely high probability of capturing a near term, predictable price move for a profitable trade. Another benefit of using this tool is that the real-time data feed that it requires is free.

Since I started using this currency meter and making trades based on the imbalance of strength between 2 currencies, both my winning percentage and trading profits have skyrocketed. Trading without this tool is like driving blindfolded and I can no longer trade confidently without it.

If you’d like more information about this unique tool that will enable you to use a unique strength trading approach to trade the forex market, please download and read the free eBook I’ve written.

The eBook will thoroughly explain the strategy and contains screen shots of the meter in action as well as a profitable trading example made using this method.

Please download and read the free eBook using this link:http://www.forex-trend-trading.com/support-files/forexstrengthtrading.pdf

You’ll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file. You can download the reader for free from the Adobe website.

Thanks and best of luck in your forex trading.

The old battlefields of the middle ages are not gone, they have merely changed form. Hundreds of years ago normal men would set out to build their empires by conquering lands through the force of arms. Today, normal men like you and i set out to build our financial empires by conquering markets throught the force of self. The blood soaked battlefields of yesterday have made way for the cash soaked commercial battlefields of today, with the large private armies of Family warlords making way for large pools of  family capital. Just as armies were needed to shape empires of the past, so too is capital needed today in order to put modern commercial plans of conquest into action.

In there, lies the reason as to why many forex traders fail. They go into battle risking too many soldiers (capital) and without the knowledge of tactics needed to win the fight.

Lets look at that again. 1. They risk too much capital, 2. They do not understand Forex markets.

Many traders both successful and miserable have made these mistakes, the main reason for me writing this article is so you can learn this lesson here and do not have to make this mistake and lose money, or at the very least be cautious enough to minimise your losses.

No general will risk a majority of his men in a battle that he has no plan for and where he has no idea about his enemy. So my question to you is, why would you risk your capital in market conditions you know nothing about? Luckily two remedies exist for the forex general who finds himself in this situation.

1. Make it a rule to only risk 1% of your capital in any one trade. This is to minimise your losses.

2. Educate yourself so you can recognise your chance to strike but also recognise when it is neccessary to withdraw. Learn to read the conditions of the forex battlefield. Great generals of the past would spend years learning battlefield tactics, luckily we can achieve this in a couple of months.

So in summary only risk 1% of your capital in any trade, and educate yourself about how forex markets work.

It wasn’t easy but we did it, $1k to $100k on both demo and live accounts. Let’s take a moment to celebrate and then get down to business. There, was that long enough? Ok.

Why did some people make it and other give up or just painfully failed? I have narrowed it down to several reasons. Hopefully you will be able to take these lessons away from this article and impliment them into your own trading.

1. Trading more then 1% a trade.

Seems a little weird that the people who eventually made the $100k only risked a max of 1% of their capital in any given trade? Well thats what everyone who made it did. Trading this amount of capital keeps you in the game if you eventually run into a losing streak on the market. This is a vital piece of information to remember. Even though your profits will be lower then a person who risks, say, 10% a trade, your long term ability to stay in the game is far greater then the 10% trader.

2. Trading more then 3 major currency pairs at a time.

There is no way getting around it, Forex can sometimes be a risky and volitile market. Information saturates the internet about every major currency pair. Keeping track of more then 3 currency pairs will often leave the trader in paralysis of analysis. Personally i only trade 2 majors and keep up to date on those. Being a master of 2 currency pairs is far better then being a jack of all pairs and a master of none.

3. Being lazy and not constantly learning.

People change, and markets based on people change with them. Forex changes all the time, what is a favoured currency, what isn’t favoured can change week to week. My point here is not to only trade the news, my point is that the people who succceeded in making the $100k were always shaprpening their skills. This market can make you filthy rich so why wouldnt you spend the time learning all you can about it? I can never understand new traders who read a few books on Forex and think that their learning is finished. If you want to make money off Forex remember this, the cost of trading forex is Capital and Learning.

4. Only focusing on one time frame.

Last but not least here is something we probably all did as new traders. But the sooner you kick this habit the better off you will be. Let me give you an example. If a daily chart is showing an upward trend reversal, but on a 1 minute chart it is showing a strong start to an upward trend, if you are only focusing on the 1 minute chart you are going to lose a lot of chedder. My point here is simple, keep an eye on the overall picture at all times. Use 2 -3 different time period charts for a big picture and then use 1 to make your trading decision.

Remember the Forex market does not play favorites. Learn to trade smarter and the profits will follow.

What have you put off today? Something important you had to do that you ended up not doing? Well i am sorry to say this but Forex doesn’t like you very much, it won’t actually come out and say this, but it will definatley show you by eating all your money.

Why do lazy people flounder in the forex market?

1. They put off getting a broker too long and then often make a bad choice.

2. They don’t do any research or engage in education and therefore end up gambling.

3. They clutter up informative blogs and forums with their incessant whines about how forex is a scam and can anyone lend them $20 because they are good for it.

4. They are often emotional about trades and will either get too excited after a good trade or try to take revenge on the market after a bad loss.

Does this look like a successful traders mindset to you? Of course it isn’t. Are you guilty of any of these things? If you are get it sorted ASAP, not or my sake, but for your own. It isn’t my money you are gambling away. “But i thought forex is investing not gambling?” Thank you! I don’t gamble in forex, i invest, many other traders i know invest as well. Whats the difference? Education my friend, education. We know what we are doing, and make educated decisions about where we want our money, a forex gambler wakes up in the morning and just decides then and there where he is going to flush away some more money. They don’t research, they don’t even know what a chart looks like, they just go with uneducated gut feelings.

But let’s stop talking about forex gamblers before i have a stroke, what about successful traders?

1. They research brokers and then choose one and stick to it until the broker gives them reason not to.

2. They are always learning. What is a better indicator to use? What have i done wrong in the last week? This is the kind of thing that sharpens their trading sword so sharp it could cut space and time.

3. They don’t post often, they might not ever post on a forum or blog. To them forex is about learning and they would rather listen then speak. Humble eh?

4. They keep their cool. They know that a win can turn into a loss and the other way around within the next 5 minutes. They have the experience and they have already set up their trades to accomodate for a turn in fortune. They are in control. Well mostly.

So the main point of all this text is to realize that if you can’t even bother having a shower when you wake up in the morning, how are you ever going to be successful in something as demanding, but equally as rewarding as forex? You aren’t because forex hates you.

At the best of times Forex currency trading can be a risky business with a huge potential for profit or loss. As a fulltime trader i have seen the best and the worst that the forex market has to offer, the dizzying highs of large wins, and the gut wrenching lows of people going bust.

You might be a forex trader yourself, or maybe you are just curious about how forex markets work, whomever you are, you need to learn how to seperate the legit forex brokers from the scam merchants. The internet has a great deal of genuine forex dealers offering quality services, it is also unfortunately infected with just as many thieves dressed up as companies who will gladly take your money and then dissapear. This fear of being taken advantage of puts a lot of people off the idea of trading forex, this shouldn’t be the case.

Now there are a few key differences between stock markets and forex markets that you are going to have to learn:

1. Forex has no centralised exchange house.

2. Forex trading is 24/7.

3. Forex is a largely unregulated market.

Looking at that list, it kind of seems that the forex market is akin to a wild west town full of outlaws and gunslingers. In this market there is noone to complain to, noone who will hold your hand. So how can you find the genuine dealers amid all the garbage? Do not trust any broker whose reputation cannot be confirmed, and whose company is not tied to the forex market.

The attraction of the forex market can be overwhelming. The scent of huge profits often overpower the common sense of the average person. They enter eagerly, just waiting to invest their life savings.Lying in wait are the scammers with huge promises, they capture the new investors money, and suddenly dissapear.

The good news is, is that many genuine forex brokers do actually exist. Easy-Forex, Oanda, and many more have proven track records that justify their positions in the market. Usually if a company is small, has no affiliation to forex or a financial institution, then stay away. Also a word on looking for reviews about brokers online. You can find honest reviews on forex brokers online, however there seems to be a habit of late of competing forex companies, and/or traders engaging in negative marketing of each other. Dig deeper and you will usually find an honest answer.

So remember:

1. Validate the companies reputation.

2. Make sure they are tied to the forex legitimatly.

3. If the company is small and unheard of, stay away.

4. Finally if the broker has a proven online track record, a legitimate financial institution affiliation, and a few good reviews, give them a try.

My ultimate advice is, if unsure, invest the smallest amount you can, and find out for yourself. This is how i usually used to find brokers, and it worked for me.