S&P cuts outlook on Japanese insurers

S&P has cut its ratings outlooks for Japanese non-life insurance companies (property/casualty, I assume).
Impact will vary among various companies and any downgrades would be limited to one notch at this stage, S&P says.

Rules are made to be broken

I counsel never to fade strong trends. Ever. EUR is in a strong trend.
This time is different. Fade it. Sell it with a stop above 1.4050 for a steep slide…trail stops lower as we drop.
Should we break the 1.3750 area, we should be good for 1.3500 in the next few weeks…Good risk/reward.
It is also likely to be painless. The stop will be hit before ya know it… 
The euro pact is smoke and mirrors, like every pact in EU history. There is demand out there for euro, that’s for sure, and that is troubling. But sometimes you have to feed the chickens when they are hungry and right now they are starved…
EUR/USD trades at 1.4008.

Forex Trading Strategies And Systems

I've been trading the forex markets for several years now so I've developed quite a few different systems in my time. However there are some that are more profitable than others, so let me share you with you some of my most profitable forex trading strategies.
4 Hour Trading Strategy

I created this trading strategy myself and have been using it for several years now. This one system has generated more profits that any other system I have ever used, and yet it's surprisingly simple.

I simply look at the daily trend for a particular currency pair (usually the GBP/USD, EUR/USD or USD/JPY pair) using a very simple but effective technical indicator, then I wait for two EMAs (exponential moving averages) to cross over in the same direction on the 4 hour chart.
I will then enter a position (usually after a slight pull-back) and will employ a two-part exit strategy to maximise my profits. One half of the position will be closed out early for a safe profit, and the other half will be left to run for as long as possible in order to capture those really big price moves.
As I say, this particular forex trading strategy is highly effective, as regular readers of my blog will know because I share my trading results every week in my 'Weekly Trading Updates'.
Anyway if you would like to read all about my 4 hour trading method, you can access it (for free) by filling in the short form to the right and subscribing to my newsletter.
The only problem with trading this strategy is that there will always be quiet periods and particular days where you know you are not going to get any set-ups on any of the major currency pairs. Therefore at times like these I will often employ some of the other trading methods that I keep in reserve:
CCI Divergence Trading System
This is a forex system that I've recently created and it basically uses the popular CCI indicator with two different settings. The key here is to wait until there is divergence between both of the CCI indicators at the same time because this will give you a set-up with a very high success rate.
You don't get that many good set-ups per day using this trading strategy, but when you do, you are likely to make some decent profits because it is a very high probability set-up.
I have discussed this particular strategy elsewhere on this blog so please click here if you want to find out more about this CCI Divergence Trading System.
Forex Income Engine 2.0 Methods
At the time of writing (20 June 2009) I've just started using the three day trading methods included in the Forex Income Engine 2.0 course as well. I've always been quite sceptical about many of the short-term forex methods that I come across, but I've been very impressed with these three methods so far because they do actually produce some very good returns.
Anyway if you would like more details about each of these methods you can read all about them on my Forex Income Engine 2.0 review page.
Forex Nitty Gritty Method
This trading method was included in the Forex Nitty Gritty course and although it is a very basic method, it is actually surprisingly effective. The goal is to look for pairs that are in strong upward or downward trends, wait for a pull-back, and then enter a trade if the trend continues.
I've been using this method on the 15 minute charts for quite a while now and it has always performed well for me because these continuation trends occur all the time.
Again if you would like to find out more about this particular trading method, you may like to read my full review of Forex Nitty Gritty.
Long-Term Trading Strategy
I'm not really a long-term trader but I do occasionally open a position if a good trading opportunity arises. I will usually use the daily charts for these trades and will look at a variety of indicators such as the 200 day moving average, the supertrend indicator, established support and resistance levels, fibonacci levels if applicable, and Marketclub's excellent trading signals.
I will regularly post my long-term analysis of the various currency pairs on this blog, but I will only follow this up with an actual trade if I'm really confident about my predictions.
Other Forex Trading Strategies
Finally as well as all of the trading systems and strategies listed on this page, I also have a few breakout strategies that I like to use when a good opportunity presents itself. I'm also constantly testing out new ideas and reviewing the various trading systems that I get sent regularly by product owners who want me to promote their product.
However for the most part it's my 4 hour trading strategy that I spend most time on because this is my core system which generates the most consistent and reliable profits. All of the other forex trading systems are used to boost my trading pot during the quieter periods of the week.

Japanese Yen Drops as Central Bank Pumps Money

The Japanese yen tumbled today after the Bank of Japan pumped money into the nation’s financial system to help the country in dealing with the consequences of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake on March 11.
The BoJ will add ¥15 trillion ($183 billion) to Japan’s economy and increase its asset-purchase program. The 8.9-magnitude earthquake on March 11 and the tsunami, caused by the tremor, have killed 10,000, according to the preliminary estimates of the police, in Miyagi prefecture north of Tokyo.
USD/JPY traded at 82.04 as of 11:01 GMT today after it opened at 81.44 and jumped to 82.43, while EUR/JPY surged from 113.52 to 114.60.
If you want to comment on the Japanese yen’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

Not What it Seems Apparently

Guide to Getting Rich with Forex Robot
There is this new deal here that popped up on the market a few weeks ago by Rob Casey the guy who did ‘Fap Turbo Expert Guide’
Now I wasn’t too fond of that guide because to me it was an expert guide on a particular EA for dummies. But at that time, FAPTurbo was the tipping point in marketing Forex EA to the masses which churns out FAPTurbo wannabes by selling other peoples codes. And being a hot product that it was… This FAPTurbo Expert Guide was born…
Anyway… at that time, there were already a lot of ‘dummies’ looking to make it big with Forex EA… So FAPTurbo did what not many EA sellers did then… Sell it ala Internet Marketing style… Big words… Words that reach out to the weakness of the visitors sensors… Testis-monial of people… etc etc etc… All those ‘tricks’ that internet marketing teaches internet marketers…  Of course before FAPTurbo there were a few others… but somehow or rather FAPTurbo was the prime tipping point of it all.
Anyway back to Rob Casey… No… Not to rob ME… but the guy Rob Casey…
(I know… I know… bad joke of the day… ) Anyway…………….
When I first got an email about lessons 1 on Forex Robot Scam School… The launching site was nothing but a squeeze page (a page where they get your email address) and allow you into their lesson 1 video.
I must say… the first lessons was about how a scammer works and some of the points he mentioned were well… old… but nevertheless informative.
So I thought to myself… with a site entitle ‘Guide to Getting RICH with Forex Robot’ and an ironic lesson about scammers there is got to be an angle here… there is always an angle when you put the words Getting RICH and scammers on a same page… You know the sort of ironic internet marketing approach
This ‘Getting RICH’  tagline is one of the best overly exaggerated tag line for over selling a product if you asked me.
Anyway, I wrote to them to ask them ”Say… you giving free lessons on scammers. What is the angle here?’” I mean the site domain itself already mentioned that it is a GuidetoGettingRichWithForexRobot.com
But when one puts up a video about scammers… Hmmm….
It’s not a surprise that they did not answer my email… They must be thing ‘This guy is such a twat! Can’t he read??’
With that… I did not really took notice about lesson 2 and 3 when I sign up for his course… Probably the lessons email notice did not reach my inbox but my junk box instead. So I did not follow up on the final two lessons at that time.
It was just about yesterday that I finally got an email from one of my trusted forex spammers about this site that I finally have a look at the site again.
The site was already launched and lesson 2 and 3 were already in display on their site. Like a curious cat… I read the sale page… And I shook my head on the first paragraph with a smile

I mean… C’mon… ‘If you have been frustrated with making profits from your Forex Robot’?!
How can I be frustrated when I am making profits from my Forex Robot?!? Fail…
Ok… maybe I am critical… Probably it was a grammatical mistake… Probably Rob Casey outsource the copy writing to one country where English is not a strong suit… Probably…
As I continue to read down the sales page… This tag line appears… The juice of it all

I thought… ok… this should look interesting… with Almost ZERO starting Capital…
Only to find out…

It’s a FREE DOWNLOAD…
My gawd!! Since this is not the end of the sale letter… There has got to be the punch line to this… By this time… I kind of lose interest in reading the next paragraph… I wanted to see the punch line… So I quickly browse through the rest…
Blah blah blah… Who am I?
Blah blah blah… I got scammed…
Blah blah blah… Forex Scam School lessons…
Blah blah blah… 99% backtesting quality…
Blah blah blah… How blah blah blah Fortune blah blah blah Easy to Learn
Blah blah blah… Blew the secret blah blah blah no one is telling…
After all that blah blah blah…
The punch line title THE GUIDE TO GETTING RICH WITH FOREX ROBOT
And the paragraph says ‘I’ll cut to the chase… ‘
Man!! You should have done that like on the top…. Then to my dismay… it was more blah blah before they got to the interesting part… What is in his guide…
Backtesting… The main juice of it was Backtesting…. 2 modules dedicated to BACKTESTING….
Module 3 is Risk & Money Management
Module 4 is Optimizing Your Forex Robot
Module 5 is Building A Forex Robot Portfolio
I must say… I was pretty amuse… Honestly… can you tell me how those this 5 modules or topic will guide me to get rich with Forex Robot?
Hmmm…. Then I though to myself… it would be interesting to buy the product and see what they have to offer… and then blow this $hit hole out of this site on my blog…
After having to part with $87… I got myself into the members area… It seems like all the material is web base… So all the guide are describe in the member’s area.
Before I go any further… The above was my impression of the sales page. Like any other product sold on the internet, sales page are overly exaggerated so I usually read it with a pinch of salt and take a better look at the product.  So if the product is $hit, then I guess I have to say it is $hit… But if the product is good… then well… I have to be very objective about it… So now, this is my impression on the content…

• Neat site
• Very well presented
• Simple
• Readable
• Unfinished

The so call ‘guide’ is easy to read and I must say… informative. Even though the topic of module 1 and 2 was about backtesting…  it was very well presented. Bullet point with pictures. Easy to understand.
But then again… the topic on backtesting is not all that complicated. It is an easy step by step guide to doing a backtesting and in module 2 the step to do a 99% backtesting exercise.
Now… I have written before with regards to 99% backtesting. It was something I wanted to do last year but due to problems I have downloading of data, I kind of lost steam on that issue. On top of that, the only forum thread on 99% backtesting which started off by Brit of EAReview.net did not offer me a clear solution.
Rob’s guild was actually an easier way to downloading the data and a step by step on how to convert it to be used on the MT4 platform.
For that, I give him a thumbs up…
Make no mistake, backtesting is one an important part of forex trading. With the ability of having 99% backtesting model it is even imperative that one should backtest an EA to feel more confident with the product before one puts it on demo or on a live account.
I repeat… backtesting itself only gives the person a sense of confidences to put that EA to the demo or real test. Take Birt of EAReview.net for example… He does a 99% backtest exercise before putting the EA live. And he only puts like 2 to 5 EA live out of all the gazillion EA around.
However… even that too it does not guarantee he will be rich with trading forex EA. Is he?
@Birt Hey Brit!! Are you rich yet?!
Anyway… because the guide is ‘unfinished’ I can’t say anything else about this ‘guide’ if you ever call it a guide because I do not know how module 3 to 5 ties in to the Guide of Getting RICH…
So this is my comment on the current content that I have read so far…
I mention of an article that says how the forex market is growing and how there are many new traders in the market because of technology.

• Everybody is Forex Trading
• Forex market jumps thanks to electronic revolution: BIS

And in the past couple of weeks I have been receiving some emails from new ‘players’ and that is something which has not happen to me for a long long time now.
There are many aspect to learning about trading forex robot or forex expert advisers. And backtesting is one of the main component… It will probably give a person and insight to what trading forex robot is all about for these new comers.
While I did take a piss at his sales page (I just feel it is very badly written) and the approach Rob took to marketing this ‘guide’, I find his guide thus far…. informative and interesting.
I am looking forward to the rest of the modules which he will be releasing soon… I think it should be an interesting read as all the important topic are in one place. Structured and neatly presented. Of course this will be my expectation for the up coming model base on what I have seen in module 1 and 2. Structured… Neat… Interesting and most importantly Informative…
Risk and Money management is a very important topic and I would want to see that he address this properly.
Optimizing is a tedious exercise… So lets see if he has a more simple approach
And finally building a Forex Portfolio… Diversification is the key… It is also as tedious but something one has to manage. (Like my football post: Adapt or Die)
So yeah… it would be interesting to see what Rob has to offer in module 3 – 5.
In this pre closing…
The sales page does not fully describe what Rob is actually offering. In order to make a sales… he over did it with his sales page… His sales page really does not describe the contents even at a glances at the brief description of the modules.
Treat the senses as they say over and over again in the internet marketing world… Appeal to their greed and make them part with their money… That is the mantra most scammers will use. And Rob seems to be using these tactics on his sales page…
Yes… it is a guide… but not a guide to getting rich but a guide for trading forex robot. In my honest opinion… but I am slowly beginning to understand his round about approach… If you read his FREE EBOOK on how to make 20k to 50k a month with ZERO capital… you will understand that the idea he is actually trying to sell is for you to be a signal provider using the best forex ea…. Or from your Forex EA portfolio…
To me… I found that ebook also an interesting read… but the approach is kind of shall I say… misleading…
Firstly… it won’t be zero capital… why? Because firstly you need to acquire that EA. And secondly you need to put your money where your efforts were… which is to trade live on an account before you can start selling your signal… That is also if you manage to get thought to whole tedious exercise of backtesting and optimizing…
I know a guy who had 5 computer running back to back backtesting and optimizing on a few EA… Not so simple if you asked me… I never really asked him what became of all the information he had gathered via this backtesting efforts…
So yeah… this guide is actually preparing one to find the best settings for any EA around via backtesting… put it live and then start selling signals.
That is his guide… and I believe his ultimate aim.
I totally do not agree to this approach of his… because it is not easy and many people or customers will be left wanting…
Some people might get rich trading forex robot and selling signal… but so far… No one I personally know got rich by doing that…
Even on his sales page there is no indication that reading his guide will make one rich… So it is very misleading, both the domain and his sales page.
On the other hand, his contents will or might be suited for beginners… if the article about forex market growing with new green players coming in is correct and trending… Then Rob will make a killing with this site…
So… if you want to learn more about what Trading Forex Robot is all about… then I will recommend that you buy into his product. (‘Guide to Getting Rich with Forex Robot‘) But do it only after the 9th February when all the modules are release.
At $87 bucks I believe it is a fair value… that is provided the rest of the modules are information, helpful, easy to read and understand. So I guess there will be a follow up this topic when the rest of his module is release…
I think it is an interesting guide for knowing the to do and what to expect from trading forex robot.
If you are thinking of getting rich with trading forex robot… then I strongly ask you to examine that idea firstly and deeply before even jumping into the forex market. It’s kamikaze at it’s purest form…

US Stocks slide again; Crude hits $100

Wall Street is posting important losses for the second day in a row as crude oil (WTI) hits $100 for the first time since October of 2008. Gold is holding above $1,410 an ounce. Commodity currencies and the Pound are falling on American hours against the Dollar. The Swiss Franc and the Yen are among the strongest currencies but Greenback started to move off session lows in the last hour.

Wall Street adding to yesterday’s decline
The DOW is falling 112 points or 0.95%, currently at 2-week lows while the NASDAQ falls further, 1.50%. In Europe markets ended in red: FTSE 100 -1.22%; CAC 40 -0.914; DAX -1.68%. Concerns over Libya are weighting on risk appetite. Current environment in North Africa and Middle East are increasing worries about oil supply. The barrel rose to $100 a barrel in New York for the first time in two years.

USD trims losses

The decline of the Dollar against European currencies eased during the American session. EUR/USD rose to 1.3785 and pulled back to 1.3730 while GBP/USD failed to hold above 1.6200 and retreated to 1.6179. Cable weakened across the board in the last hours.

USD/CHF tested record lows but so far it has been able to hold above 0.9300; the pair is now trimming losses, attempting to recover levels on top of 0.9350. USD/JPY is also recovering, moving away from daily lows. The Aussie and the Kiwi lost momentum during the American session and erased gains.

Existing Home Sales in the US top forecast

Today The National Association of Realtors released the Existing home Sales figures from January when the annualized amount reached 5.36M, a 2.7% monthly increase over the revised December count of 5.22M. An increase that was far from the previous, also revised, 12.5% but better than the 1.1% decline markets forecasted.

The NAR website features Lawrence Yun, their chief economist: "The uptrend in home sales is consistent with improvements in the economy and jobs, which are helping boost consumer confidence,” Yun said. “The extremely favorable housing affordability conditions are a big factor, but buyers have been constrained by unnecessarily tight credit. As a result, there are abnormally high levels of all-cash purchases, along with rising investor activity."

Things you Should know about Forex Trading Before you Trade Real Money

How difficult is it to make money trading the Forex market? How much time does it take to actually be able to make a living trading the Forex market? These and other important aspects of trading are to be discussed in this article.
Trading the Forex market has many benefits over other financial markets, among the most important are: superior liquidity, 24hrs market, better execution, and others. Traders and investor see the Forex market as a new speculation or diversifying opportunity because of these benefits. Does this mean that it is easy to make money trading the Forex Market? Not at all.
Forex brokers agree that 90% of traders end up losing money, 5% of traders end up at break even and only 5% of them achieve consistent profitable results. With these statistics shown, I don't consider trading to be an easy task. But, is it harder to master any other endeavor? I don't think so, consider musicians, writers, or even other businesses, the success rates are about the same, there are a whole bunch of them who never got to the top.
Now that we know it is not easy to achieve consistent profitable results, a must question would be, Why is it that some traders succeed while others fail to trade successfully in the Forex market? There is no hard answer to this question, or a recipe to follow to achieve consistent profitable results. What we do know is that traders that reach the top think different. That's right, they don't follow the crowd, they are an independent part of the crowd.
A few things that separate the top traders from the rest are:
Education: They are very well educated in the matter; they have chosen to learn every single and important aspect of trading. The best traders know that every trade is a learning experience. They approach the Forex market with humility, otherwise the market will prove them wrong.
Forex trading system: Top traders have a Forex trading system. They have the discipline to follow it rigorously, because they know that only the trades that are signaled by their system have a greater rate of success.
Price behavior: They have incorporated price behavior into their trading systems. They know price action has the last word.
Money management: Avoiding the risk of ruin is a primary subject to the best traders. After all, you cannot succeed without funds in your trading account.
Trading psychology: They are aware of every psychological issue that affects the decisions made by traders. They have accepted the fact that every individual trade has two probable outcomes, not just the winning side.
These are, among others, the most important factors that influence the success rate of Forex traders.
We know now that it is not easy to make money trading the Forex market, but it is possible. We also discussed the most important factors that influence the rate of success of Forex traders. But, how much time does it take to have consistent profitable results? It is different from trader to trader. For some, it could take a life time, and still don't get the desired results, for some others, a few years are enough to get consistent profitable results. The answer to this question may vary, but what I want to make clear here is that trading successfully is a process, it's not something you can do in a short period of time.
Trading successfully is no easy task; it is a process and could take years to achieve the desired results. There are a few things though every trader should take in consideration that could accelerate the process: having a trading system, using money management, education, being aware of psychological issues, discipline to follow your trading system and your trading plan, and others.
by Raul Lopez
http://www.straightforex.com

Forex Autopilot - Why People lose $1000's scam

Some recent feedback: I've tried FAP Turbo on a live account for couple of days now. While it's giving quite moderate result with its scalping strategy, it's made great profit through its long-term strategy.
Sam Blazer
Thanks again for Fapturbo!! Its the nicest gift I've ever recieved!! I still can't believe it when I go to the computer in the morning and my balance has increased over night!!!
John Moore

Forex Robot Settings Scam: Fap Turbo, Megadroid, Bullet Proof.

OK So I Found this Video on You Tube and I like Posting Videos and Info that can Truly interest Forex Beginners.

Forex market and its players

Forex Trading for Dummies An article looking at forex trading at a very basic level. Great overview of the concept of currency trading.

Anyone new to the foreign exchange market, through no fault of his own, will have a hard time understanding what it is all about. The foreign exchange market after all, is the world’s largest financial sector, involving an average of $1.8 trillion cash value traded per day.

The foreign exchange market is actually a vast market composed of many-tiered levels and many participants. Online traders contribute only 2% of the total cash value traded. This shows just how intricate the foreign exchange market really is.

What makes foreign exchange even more problematic is that it has developed a jargon all on its own such that its terms are no longer what they mean in common parlance. Although the task of understanding what the foreign exchange market is, is overwhelming, it is not impossible.

The Big Picture

A large company in South Africa ordered tons of marble from a small company from a province in Taiwan. In the old days, the company in South Africa would have a hard time paying for the marble as it not only would have to ship millions of South African money to Taiwan but it would also have to pay the small company in Taiwan in its own currency or else, the money will be useless.

With the foreign exchange market, paying for goods and services rendered by one country to another is no longer difficult. Through computers, there is no longer any need to ship money. All the South African company would have to do is to go to a bank and pay that bank in whatever currency and that bank will transfer the amount to a bank in Taiwan which will pay in whatever currency the small company in Taiwan wants. For profit, the bank will ask the South African company to buy the currency at a slightly higher price and pay the small Taiwan company using the current exchange rate.

The Small Picture

On the computer, a 21-year old jobless fresh graduate earned $10,000 in a few months. In April, he bought Euros to try out his luck in currency trading and to his surprise, the price of Euros soared by June and continued to soar until December. By December, he sold all his Euros, on a tip-off by an online friend that most of the European countries involved in the war in Iraq will be boycotted by those countries not in favor of the war. The tip-off was correct and in less than a month, the Euro’s value slipped lower than its original value when this jobless fresh graduate first bought them.

Many people have found, just like this jobless fresh graduate, how simple it is to earn through currency trading. Even a dollar capital can snowball into thousands of dollars if you know when to buy and when to sell. Etched in stone, all currency traders have but one motto: buy low and sell high. The jobless fresh graduate took a risk by buying Euros. He held on to the currency until it gained value and, as soon as he realized the value might lessen, he sold the currency for another.

What is Forex Robot?

A forex robot is a piece of software that will automatically handle the currency trading process for you, it enters and exits trades with the goal of making a profit. A lot of traders eventually switch to a piece of software like this because they are tired of entering in all these trades manually. When you’re trading manually you have to spend a lot of time each day keeping up with the market, and you have to spend a huge amount of time staying current with the trades you have active. A Forex robot can take the pain out of this process for you, eliminating the need to enter this information manually.

The majority of Forex robots will only come prepackaged with one specific way to trade. They only have one set of rules they follow, no matter what the market conditions could be, they’re built to trade strictly currency pair. Because the market is constantly changing hour by hour this can be a big problem, as each currency pair will need to be treated differently. This is why the very best Forex robot is quite different from the others, Forex experts are constantly updating the software, these people monitor the market 24 hours a day.

Basics Steps for Forex Beginners

Are You a Forex Beginner?
Find Out How to Get Started with Forex Trading
Starting out with Forex Today's job market offers little security for employees. For this reason many of them are providing for retirement by earning additional income online. Forex trading offers a business people can run from anywhere in the world with internet access. Furthermore, forex trading does not require a lot of startup capital, so beginners can start trading with little money and grow it into a nice little financial nest egg. This article discusses 3 important tips that will help any forex beginner become successful at forex currency trading.

Getting Startup Capital
Over the years I've found that the majority of people that are not familiar with trading or investing of any kind have the misconception that it requires a large sum of money to get started. Even though this holds true for some brokers, most brokers are pretty geared towards entry-level investors. There are variuos brokers that will let you start with as little as $200. There's even one broker called Oanda that allows you to start with a mere $50! I know times are tough for a lot of people but $50 is doable for everyone. If you're having problems coming up with this kind of start-up capital you could even sell a couple of things on eBay to get the ball rolling. Everyone has some old junk laying around and remember; one man's junk is another man's treasure. Once you have your capital to start trading you will need to choose a broker.

Success Begins with Choosing the Right Broker
There are two types of Forex brokers. The first is called an Electronic Communication Network or ECN for short. ECN's earn money by charging you a commission for all of your trades placed through them. The other type of forex brokers are called Market Makers. Market Makers may have an interest in seeing you lose money, because they can trade against you with counter-party trading. Opting to trade with an ECN can save you money in the long run and is generally safer.
Before depositing any money with any broker, do the necessary research on them. A good up-to-date resource is Google, just type in your broker's name plus the word "review" and look for forums or other places where site visitors have posted their feedback or vented their frustrations.

Develop Your Plan
After depositing your start-up capital with a broker of your choice you will have to come up with a trading plan. This "blueprint" will act as your road map to success and assist you in achieving your goals. This step is extremely important so be sure to spend enough time on it. Some of the components of every trading plan are financial goals, trading system, trading rules, and money management rules.

Trading as a business is not just a quick way to make money. The best investing advice requires investors to plan and prepare. Whenever you have a business, you have inventory. The inventory in online forex trading is your capital. Manage your capital well so that you can grow your inventory and "expand" your business. Following the rules will help anyone to grow financially in the realm of Forex trading.

Another Post for Forex Newbies

Forex, also referred to as 4X or FX, stands for Foreign Exchange. This is the name of the financial trading market that involves the trading of Currencies. The Foreign Exchange Market is made up of banks and brokerage firms who are connected over an electronic network that allows them to convert the currencies of most countries in the world.

Currency Trading - The Best Business In The World
What's Forex? From that headline you may be wondering what qualifies me to say that currency trading is the best business in the world. It definitely is in my own opinion though due to the lifestyle it so easily allows me to enjoy. There isn’t the hassle that you often get with so many other ways to make money either. There is also the flexibility that comes with currency trading as you can do it from anywhere you desire. You can also make money no matter what the economy looks like out there. I want to share with you some of the reasons why I think that currency trading is definitely the best business in the world!


Currency Trading Reason #1: Anyone can do it
Anyone can make money with currency trading. You do have to learn the basic skills involved but you can do it no matter what your background is. If you are tired of the commute to work as well as the 9-5 schedule then allow yourself to break free from it. You will feel happier than you have in a long time due to being able to decide when you are going to work.


Currency Trading Reason #2: You can do it from anywhere in the world
As I mentioned before you can do it from anywhere in the world. All you need is access to the internet and you can do it. You can do much more with your family than you have been able to do in the past. No more missed ball games because you can do your work when it fits into your daily plans. So if you want to go to the beach for the week do it! There isn’t anything to stop you any more!


Currency Trading Reason #3: Learn a Skill for Life
The skills you end up learning relating to currency trading will pay off in the long run. This isn’t any get rich quick scam or anything new. People have been doing it for a very long time. Currency will always be there too as a way for us to buy and sell things no matter which part of the world you happen to live in. You will be able to make money all the time with currency trading. You can control how much you make too based on how many hours you want to work. It all depends on the type of lifestyle you wish to enjoy.

I strongly encourage you to look into currency trading and what it has to offer. I have only touched on a few of the basic rewards it has to offer you here. Take the time to read more about currency trading and I think you will be motivated to get started with it. You can reclaim your life again by working when you want, making plenty of money, and being your own boss. Once you do so I am sure you too will agree that currency trading is the best job in the world!

What currency pairs to trade in Forex?

Although there is lots of currency pairs offered to Forex traders, if you are a beginner it is easier to start with major currency pairs:

EUR/USD
GBP/USD
USD/JPY

There are several good reasons for that:

1. These currency crosses are widely traded, thus providing liquidity which is needed in order to benefit from price changes.
2. They have tight spreads, except may be for GBP/USD, which most of the time receives higher spread quotation from Forex brokers as it is more volatile (e.g. has wider price ranges than other pairs).
3. They all are traded against US dollar, which automatically suggest that the most active trading hours would be during New York trading session – the session with the highest volume of trades.
4. And finally, there are many Forex trading systems that are developed for trading those pairs and can be found online.

What currency pairs to avoid?

Exotic and uncommon currency pairs should be avoided by novice Forex traders as some further knowledge is needed to trade such pairs successfully.

Here is the list of major currencies beginner traders should focus on:

Euro (EUR)
US Dollar (USD)
British Pound (GBP)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Canadian Dollar (CAD)

Also novice Forex traders should try to avoid currency pairs which have high spreads. Spreads vary from broker to broker. The information about spreads can be found at brokers’ websites, or at the special column called “Spread” on the trading platform itself, or from the Ask/Bid table (found also on the trading platform) by subtracting Bid price from the Ask.

Here is an example:
Forex bid/ask example


On the screenshot we have USD/CHF spread = 3 (Ask – Bid = 0.9992-0.9989 = 3)
GBP/USD spread = 3
EUR/USD spread = 2
USD/JPY spread = 2


Currencies that have high spreads are more volatile, e.g. have wide price ranges and longer price spikes, which unprepared traders may find difficult to trade.

Also a common mistake done by many beginner traders is that they try to monitor too many currency pairs at once. Not only it makes trading hectic and more difficult to manage, it also prevents deeper analysis of the currency pairs and actually learning their “behavior” over the time.
Currency pairs do have their unique ways to move, react to economical events, form trends etc.
By studying one currency pair at the time, Forex traders have the ability to observe its behavior and learn the ways to trade the pair even more effectively.

What is FOREX

Because the value of each currency always on the move, it fluctuates depending on the local and global economic factors, there is always an opportunity to profit on those changes/fluctuations - it is called currency speculation.

Euro, US dollar, Swiss Frank, British Pound and Japanese Yen - these are the most traded currencies in Forex. Of course, trading is not limited to those currencies, Forex offers variety of currencies one can trade.
If to describe in simple words how individuals trade Forex it would look next way:
Forex trading in its prevailing volume is done online.
A person finds a Forex broker, opens a trading account with the broker and deposits money.
Forex broker provides to trader so called Forex trading platform - an application, a working environment, where trader buys and sells currencies, dealing online - in other words he speculates to make money on the difference of currency rates.
In Forex currencies are traded in pairs.
EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/JPY, USD/CHF and so on.

The first currency in the exchange pair is referred to as the base currency and the second as the quote currency.
For example, EUR/USD exchange rate = 1.400
Here the price of the Euro is expressed in US dollars: 1 euro = 1.400 dollars
The exchange rate tells to trader how much of the quote currency should be paid to obtain one unit of the base currency.

A Quick Overview of FOREX

FOREX is a spot market, where foreign currencies are traded - bought and sold for profit.
FOREX is a worldwide currency speculation arena with no centralized place for trading and exchange.
FOREX is a huge market with trillions dollars turnover a day and the largest investors - banks, hedge funds, investment companies and so on.
FOREX is open to individual retail investors - Forex traders - through the services of Forex brokerage companies that provide an access to the currency exchange market and take care of buying and selling orders of their clients.
FOREX is a 24 hour market that is traded every day all year round, except for holidays.
FOREX allows trading over 150 foreign currency pairs, among which the most traded are: EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, AUDUSD, USDCHF, USDCAD and GBPJPY.
FOREX trading is based on technical (price charts) and fundamental (news, economic events) analysis.
FOREX is an online stay-at-home type of business for individual investors.
FOREX is an attractive financial instrument, which can be mastered by any person with any kind of education and/or social status.
FOREX is a type of market which nowadays can also be traded by automated online expert advisors without any human intervention.
FOREX is an alternative type of investment, which unlike any other investment carries one of the largest financial risks.
FOREX is a trading arena, where in order to succeed a trader needs to learn the rules of the market, its trends, moves and behavior, and be able to apply the knowledge under real trading conditions.
FOREX is difficult to trade without a trading method - a trading strategy or system.
FOREX is a fast growing industry, and by directly dealing with money it also became
a lucrative business to various scam dealers. Novice traders should be alert about any offers in Forex which sound too good to be true.
Finally, FOREX should never be associated with quick and easy money.