Trading is a skill that takes time to learn. Think of it like Boxing it’s also a skill that takes time to learn. If you get into a professional boxing ring without any training, you’ll get beat up physically! If you get into the Forex ring without any training, you’ll get beat up financially!
The similarities are that both the examples are Skills, and both require psychological preparation. The difference is that one is physical and the other is financial.
We can get over a physical beating usually in a few days or weeks, BUT a financial beating can be devastating and easily affect us for the rest of our lives, not only does it hurt our hip pocket but it can cause problems with our relationships and family. So when we get into the Forex ring we have to be prepared.
The Professional Boxer
When a professional boxer gets in the ring he has already been practicing in a safe environment usually for years, this safe environment is where he can make mistakes without having medical treatment. He can also spar with other opponents that have more skills and experience then he does and he learns from them. He also has someone there to watch him and give advice and guidance. Then when he is ready, he gets into the ring and boxes for real, he’s accepted the risk and KNOWS that he can get hurt, but he’s also studied his opponent and done his home work, so he KNOWS he has a good chance. He can still lose this round but if he wins most of them he will take the money home. BUT! What about the psychological side? Does he fear getting into the ring? Sometimes! But he’s aware of it and he can control how it affects him in a way that is beneficial. Will he be thinking about the money he’ll make? Or will he be thinking about the fight as is happens and planning his next moves during the breaks? He’ll be analyzing the results from the previous rounds and making changes in his strategy for the next round.
The professional Trader
Can you see what’s coming next? If so than, you’ve learnt to analyze what you read and form a projection into the future. (A very valuable skill for the FOREX Trader) A forex trader, like the professional boxer, will not get into the Forex trading ring without being prepared first. He might not spend years practicing in the Demonstration Account, but he will at least have spent a month or two or three, sparing with the Forex Market in a safe environment that he won’t get beat up in. He’ll practice trading forex against all the other traders and learn from them, and he’ll also have someone watching him and giving advice, and guidance. Then when he is ready, he’ll get into the Forex trading ring and trade forex for real, he’s accepted the risk and KNOWS that he can get hurt, but he’s also studied the Forex market and done his home work, so he KNOWS he has a good chance. He can still lose on this trade but if he wins most of the trades he will take the money home. BUT! What about the psychological side? Does he fear getting into the forex trading ring? Sometimes! But he’s aware of this fear, but he can control how it affects him, in a way that is beneficial to his forex trading. Will he be thinking about the money he’ll make? Or will he be thinking about the things that are influencing the market as is happens and planning his next trades while he waits for the results? He’ll be analyzing the results from the previous trades and making changes in his strategy or continuing with the one that’s working, and planning for the next Forex Trade.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
The Pros and Cons, of Trading a Forex Trading Demonstration Account
Forex Trading Pivot Points
Many traders and novices are looking to make money in Forex, however only 5% of Forex traders ever make a dime. The question then becomes what are the 5% that are making money in Forex doing that the other 95% are not.
The truth is anyone can make money in Forex as long as they educate themselves and learn how the market reacts. Trades can use key support and resistance zones for entry and exits within the market, however there is another key component that will help determine price movement and that is pivot points. Pivot points help determine where price is going as well as reversals in trends.
If one knew the range parameters used by floor traders then one may have a handle on significant areas where off floor and position traders may take over the market. Determining key support and resistance zones coupled with pivot points is essential to forecasting price movement in the Forex. Even if you are not a day trader, knowing the key pivot point, support and resistance points can help the short term trader and intermediate positional trader to identify potential entry points and stop loss levels.
Getting into a trade near key support and resistance zones is a double edged sword. Pivot points can be seen as both dangerous and a great opportunity to enter a trade. Stop orders to enter at pivot points are readily whipsawed by the local market and noise, meaning price may bounce up and down around pivot points before heading in one direction. The question then becomes how are pivot points used to determine a good entry and exit point in the market?
Pivot points can be used in two ways. The first way is for determining overall market trend: if the pivot point price is broken in an upward movement, then the market is bullish, and vice versa. Keep in mind, however, that pivot points are short-term trend indicators, useful for only one day until they need to be recalculated. The second method is to use pivot point price levels to enter and exit the markets. For example, a trader might put in a limit order to buy 100 shares if the price breaks a resistance level. Alternatively, a trader might set a stop-loss for his active trade if a support level is broken.
Calculating pivot points is not an easy task. There are some really great training courses online that will train you on how to trade using pivot points as well as calculate them for you and teach you how to use them in a real-time.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Learn Currency Trading - 5 Common Deadly Mistakes
If you want to learn currency trading you need to get the right forex education and avoid the mistakes of the losing majority. The mistakes below are common ones but there easy to avoid and you must do so if you want to enjoy currency trading success.
1. Following a Vendor Blindly
One of the most common errors is to think someone else can give you success - they can't.
Most systems sold are junk - but even if you do find a good one, how can you follow it with discipline if you don't know how it works?
You cant to have discipline to follow a system you must have confidence in it so you need to take the time to develop your own trading system or have total confidence in someone else's logic.
2. Trading News Stories
We have more news at our disposal than ever before and all those stories are very convincing - but that's all they are stories. The news reflects the greed and fear of the crowd and they lose longer term - try and trade news stories and you are guaranteed to lose as well.
The best way for any novice to trade is to simply follow the reality of price action on a forex chart and trade it - your trading the truth not an opinion and that is the only way to win.
3. Day Trading
Simply the dumbest way to trade.
It doesn't work as all short term volatility is random and you can't get the odds in your favour.
Don't believe me?
Try and find a forex day trader with a real ( not simulated ) track record that's made real dollars over the long term. Let me know if you find one I have been searching for 25 years and still not found one!
Avoid day trading at all costs!
4. Trying to Predict Forex Prices
If you try and predict prices in advance you're hoping or guessing and that won't get you anywhere in life and certainly not forex trading.
You must not predict wait for momentum to confirm a turn and you can look up how to do this in our other articles - it is essential to confirm a price turn, rather than simply guess when it might come.
5. Markets are Scientific
It's amazing how many people buy into this myth yet it's obviously not true.
Why?
Because if prices did move to a scientific theory, there would be no market, as we would all know the price beforehand and there would be no market. The reason a market moves is because we all have different opinions of where the price may go.
The far out investment crowd love scientific theories and like to follow the works and methods of gurus such as:
Gann, Elliot and Fibonacci.
Well they made no money with their theories in forex trading and neither will you.
So if you want to learn currency trading correctly avoid the common mistakes enlcosed and work and getting a simple forex trading system which will help you trade the odds, you can understand and can apply with discipline.
If you learn currency trading the correct way ( and 95% of traders don't ), then you can enjoy currency trading success and create a life changing income - good luck!