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."