Archive for September, 2008

Accepting Losses With Grace

September 25th, 2008 by DailyBulls | 7 Comments | Filed in Articles, Forex

The lack of a proper trading plan which includes precise rules for entering and exiting a trade will most certainly guarantee failure over the long term. Beginners usually suffer from the same common ailments. They abandon trading plans purely on impulse because things are not going exactly as how they had envisioned. Repeatedly they use unreliable methods that fail to produce a profit. Many traders hold on to losing positions telling themselves “it is going to turn” when every indicator says otherwise because they cannot bear the thought of a loss.

Why do they torture themselves? Why don’t they just identify what’s going wrong and make a change? For some people recognizing that a trade or even a trading method is not working and making a change is easy, but for others it’s very difficult. They have to look at their limitations admit that they have made a mistake and that’s hard because it hurts our ego. Psychologically it’s risky, it’s often easier to fool ourselves. Just keep going, living in a state of denial until your account is depleted. If you recognize any of these traits in yourself you must stop trading immediately.

Take a good look at what has been happening, try and identify the problem. If you look close enough you may see a pattern. This is why it is vital to record every trade and as much information about it as possible. You have to break out of old patterns and see things in a new light.

You will never be a successful trader if you continue to live in a state of denial. What can be done to return to reality? There is a lot you can do. First of all make sure you are not trading under stress. When stressed out you can’t see clearly, you become rigid and unable to see alternative views. One of the easiest solutions is to trade smaller. The smaller the trade the less the stress, especially for the beginner. If you are experienced and in a loosing streak reduce your contracts until you get your confidence returns. Some people need to take a break altogether. Get away from it all. Take your mind off the trading.

The second thing you can do is to make sure you have a life. Trading can be addictive especially when you are winning. Do not put all your emotional eggs in the trading basket. You need to have other roles that give your life meaning and purpose. By defining your identity in a variety of ways, you will not place un-natural importance on trading events. Therefore, you will be able to take losses in stride and look at your trading more objectively.

Finally, radical acceptance is a key mental strategy for coping with market uncertainty. Many traders make the mistake of thinking they can control the markets. Nobody can control the markets. We must learn to accept anything that comes our way and to trade accordingly. Adopt the attitude that trading is a journey and that all we can do is go where the markets take us.

To succeed on this journey you cannot afford to lose too much. Manage risk and just accept what you get and enjoy the ride. This way you will trade more freely and creatively. Don’t live your life in denial. Accept your limitations, work around them, and become a winning trader. Write out your trading plan with precise entry and exit points. Most important set your stops and mentally decide you will not break them. Test your system on paper and when confident test in real time with the minimum contract size. You will have losing trades, accept them with grace and go on to the next trade.

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Online Forex Trading Strategies

September 14th, 2008 by DailyBulls | 3 Comments | Filed in Articles, Forex

Forex trading strategies are the key to successful forex trading or online currency trading. A knowledge of these forex trading strategies can mean the difference between a profit and a loss and it is therefore imperative that you fully understand the strategies used in forex trading.

Forex trading is very different from trading in stocks and using forex trading strategies will give you more advantages and help you realize even greater profits in the short term. There are a wide range of forex trading strategies available to investors and one of the most useful of these forex trading strategies is a strategy known as leverage.

This forex trading strategy is designed to allow online currency traders to avail of more funds than are deposited and by using this forex trading strategy you can maximize the forex trading benefits. Using this strategy you can actually utilize as much as 100 times the amount in your deposit account against any forex trade which will make backing higher yielding transactions even easier and therefore allowing better results in your forex trading

The leverage forex trading strategy is used on a regular basis and allows investors to take advantage of short term fluctuations in the forex market.

Another commonly used forex trading strategy is known as the stop loss order. This forex trading strategy is used to protect investors and it creates a predetermined point at which the investor will not trade. Using this forex trading strategy allows investors to minimize losses. This strategy can however, backfire and the investor can run the risk of stopping their forex trading which could actually go higher and it really is up to the individual trader to choose whether or not to use this forex trading strategy.

An automatic entry order is another of the forex trading strategies that is commonly used and this strategy is used to allow investors to enter into forex trading when the price is right for them. The price is predetermined and once reached the investor will automatically enter into the trading.

All these forex trading strategies are designed to help investors get the most from their forex trading and help to minimize their losses. As mentioned earlier knowledge of these forex trading strategies is vital if you wish to be successful in forex trading.

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FOREX: Exiting positions at a right time

September 12th, 2008 by DailyBulls | 1 Comment | Filed in Forex

The presented article covers one of the most important (in author’s opinion) aspects of trading in general and FOREX trading in particular – managing of orders and positions. This includes choosing entry points, making decisions about exit points, stop-loss and take-profit of the trader. I hope this article will help new traders, who just began to work with FOREX, and also to experienced traders who trade regularly and regularly make or loose their money to the market.

When I started to trade FOREX and made my first big losses and profits I began to notice when very important thing about the whole trading process. While the right time to enter a position was rarely a problem for myself (nearly 80% of all my open positions had gone into the “green” profit zone), the problem was hidden in the determining the right exit point for that position. Not only was it important to cut my risk on the potential losses with stop-loss orders, but to limit my greediness and take profit when I can take it and make it as high as I can. There are many known guidelines and ways to enter a right position at a right time – like major economic news releases, global world events, technical indicators combinations, etc. But while the entering into a position is optional and trade can decide to miss as many good/bad entry point moments as they wish, this is untrue if we talk about exiting a position. Margin trading makes it impossible to wait too long with an open position. More than that, every open position in a certain way limits trader’s ability to trade.

Choosing the good exit points for positions could be an easy task if only the FOREX market wasn’t so chaotic and volatile. In my opinion (backed by my trading experience) exit orders for every position should be toggled constantly with time and as the new market data (technical and fundamental) appear.

Let’s say, you took a short position on EUR/USD at 1.2563, at the time you are taking this position the support/resistance level is 1.2500/1.2620. You set your stop-loss order to 1.2625 and your take-profit order to 1.2505. So now, this position can be considered as an intraday or 2-3 days term position. This means that you must close it before it’s “term” is over, or it will become a very unpredictable position (because market will differ greatly from what it was at the time you have entered this position). After the position is taken and initial exit orders are set, you need to follow the market events and technical indicators to adjust your exit orders. The most important rule is to tighten the loss/profit limit as time goes by. Usually if I take a middle term position (2-4 days) I try to lower the stop and target order by 10-25 pips every day. I also monitor global events, trying to lower my stop-losses when very important news can hurt my position. If the profit is already quite high, I try to move my stop-loss the entry point, making a sure-win position. The main idea here is to find an equilibrium point between greed and caution. But as your position gets older the profit should be more limited and losses cut. Also, trader should always remember that if the market began to act unexpectedly, they need to be even more cautious with exit order, even if the position is still showing profits.

Every trader has their own trading strategy and habits. I hope this article will make its readers think about such an important aspect of trading as the exit orders and this will only improve their trading results.

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A Guide To Forex Trading

September 11th, 2008 by DailyBulls | 4 Comments | Filed in Articles, Forex

Trading money in the global markets can be great way to make more of it, it can also be a lesson in how to lose money quickly. More than $1 trillion is traded every day on the foreign currency exchange (Forex), and yet no centralized headquarters or formal regulatory body exists for this form of trade. Foreign currency exchange is regulated through a patchwork of international agreements between countries, most of which have some type of regulatory agency that controls what goes on within their respective borders. Thus, the foreign currency exchange actually is a worldwide network of traders who are connected by telephone and computer screens.

Although more international policing of money trading has occurred in recent years, authorities have had some successes exposing scams and frauds that victimize traders, especially newer ones. So if you want to try this wild world of trading, you need to be wary and not depend entirely on experts. Sure, experts can help you in explaining the working of foreign exchange markets and how the language of the Forex and its risks are unique, but you need a lot more training before you even consider entering this extremely risky trading arena.

If you have ever traveled outside the United States, you have probably traded in a foreign currency. Every time you travel outside your home country, you have to exchange your country’s currency for the currency used in the country you are visiting. If you are a US citizen shopping in England and you see a sweater that you want for 100 pounds (the pound is the name of the basic unit of currency in Great Britain), you would need to know the exchange rate. And that’s the way foreign currency exchange is used by the average shopper, but foreign currency traders trade much larger sums of money thousands of times a day.

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Strategy of Forex trading

September 8th, 2008 by DailyBulls | 4 Comments | Filed in Articles, Forex

Do you value your time and money? If yes, then Forex is an easy source that will help you to multiply your profit of your business. Forex currency trading is the modus operandi where you can have greater return on your investment. There is no doubt that Forex is considered to be the main player in the financial market. It is the convenient way where one can trade International Currency.

Internet Forex trading

Internet has made the online financial marketing especially the Forex Trading strategy is one of the easiest way for the traders. The forex market has boomed tremendously during the year time. Today you can complete the Forex trading strategy by just sitting at one place or home. In fact, buying and selling in this international market means that one should have knowledge about the present scenario of the foreign exchange market. In such cases, the forex signals plays a vital role by providing information about the time that will be suitable for investing money in the Foreign exchange market which in return would be profit making for the traders.

Forex trading signal

Forex signals are usually the recommendations from the seasoned experts of forex strategy system that will give you real-time advice. This Forex signals will help you to get the records of the present foreign exchange market. Forex trading signals will also help to contrive through the valleys, hills and other malfunction that can occur at any second of time. Forex trading signal will provide Forex signals that will update you about the changes that have taken place in the forex trading system. They will sends forex alerts through the help of emails, phone or messages. But the service of Forex strategy system is not free of cost your have to pay a certain amount or nominal subscription fee for effective functioning.

In forex strategy system, the dealing of foreign currencies are actually in pair that means exchanging one currency over the other. For instance, the Forex trading strategy takes place amongst the four foremost currency pairs i.e. British Pound and USD (GBP/USD), Euro and USD (EUR/USD), Japanese Yen (USD/JPY) and Swiss Frank (USD/CHF) USD.

In fact, there is a requirement for Forex trading strategy in order to dominate the international market. Forex aletrs is one of the vital forex trading strategies that are being applied in the global market. By taking the help of Forex trading strategy you can have a profitable venture and safe a great deal of money.

Forex currency trading needs a lot of understanding, knowledge time and self restraint that will help a forex trader to earn huge profits by applying correct trading tactics. In Forex currency trading, you can avoid the conventional media of advertising and marketing. Forex currency trading is better option available in the financial market than any other stock market. If you are interested in starting any kind of new venture, then forex currency trading will be a good choice as it is reasonable. For more information on Forex, Forex signal, Forex strategy system, Forex trading signal, Forex trading strategy, Forex alerts and Currency trading, log onto www.official-forex-trading-system.com

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Elliott Wave Theory – The Myth and Reality

September 7th, 2008 by DailyBulls | 2 Comments | Filed in Articles, Forex

Elliot wave theory enjoys massive popularity – being described as advanced technical analysis, by many brokers and publishers.

Elliot wave theory has a huge and devoted following – shame the theory has no basis of sound logic that can help you make money!

Let’s look at Elliott wave theory in more detail and then look at sensible market analysis.

The theory was named after Ralph Nelson Elliott, who concluded in his book “natures law” that the movement of financial markets could be predicted by observing, and identifying a repetitive pattern of waves.

Elliott’s Profound Observation

Elliott came to the stunning conclusion that all natural phenomena are cyclical – and this includes the financial markets. This is true, but we know that anyway – we know that at some time in our lives, we will feel rain when we venture outside, the question is when exactly?

So, markets are cyclical – big deal! What we want from an investment theory, is the probability of the event – i.e. when is it most likely to occur.

Elliott wave theory is an objective investment theory – but there isn’t any objectivity in it at all!

It’s all a subjective interpretation of peaks and troughs, in any time frame you like!

Does this sound a logical predictive theory to you?

The Theory

Based on rhythms found in nature, the theory suggests that the market moves up in a series of five waves and down in a series of three waves.

The difference between the Elliott wave principle and other cyclical theories is that the theory suggests no absolute time requirements for a cycle to complete – well that’s a lot of help!

The subjectivity is so great in Elliott wave, that like most theories, everything is explainable in hindsight – but the difficulty is actually predicting the future.

There are so many interpretations of the actual peaks and troughs in various time frames, that everyone will see them differently, this is hardly the basis of a predictive theory.

Elliott wave theory claims to be able to predict the market – but gives no objective way of doing it in practice.

Who uses Elliott Wave Theory?

1. Investors who want an easy way to make money, and are attracted to the mysticism of such tools as the Fibonacci number sequence, to predict market retracements.

2. Investors who believe in the false assumption that you can predict market behavior in advance – and want an easy way to make money.

How Markets Really Move

Market prices are a reflection of the following:

Supply and demand fundamentals + human psychology = price action

This looks simple, but is in reality, complicated equation – which is impossible to predict in advance.

Trading markets via technical analysis is all about putting the odds and probability in your favor, and no more than that. It is NOT a way of predicting the future.

Are there better theories than Elliott wave around, for making money from the markets? – A good exercise would be to poll the entire top performing fund managers in the world and see how many of them take the theory seriously.

Predictive and subjectivity don’t mix!

The Elliott wave theory is a predictive theory that leaves everything to subjective analysis.

If Elliott had worked out a predictive theory, why didn’t he give an objective way to make money from it? – Like most predictive theories it doesn’t work.

If all investors could predict the market in advance, we would all know what was going to happen – and there would actually be no market at all, as we would all know the market price in advance!

Elliott wave theory is supposed to be a predictive theory, but the only thing you can predict with it, is you will lose your money.

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