Posts Tagged ‘invest’

Fx trading Book Selection Guide

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

  

How would you select a currency trading book? It is a good idea that you either go for mentor program like Pip Mavens Inner Circle or read a good book to learn the basics before start foreign exchange trading manually or through software like Ivybot. There are a few printed books that have more or less become classics in the 3 decades that foreign exchange trading has been  an accepted form of speculative investment. But, many of these may perhaps seem out-of-date now that we have online fx trading that anybody can carry out from home. A book that was printed during the days when Fx trading was all undertaken by the major banks might still be useful, but it takes some effort for the small time home based currency trader to employ it to our prevailing situation.

Today you can get electronic version of these forex trading books which you can carry in your USB thumb drive. Sometimes these are regular printed books that the writer has transformed into an online format, and at times they are ebooks only. For example, the popular Forex Made Easy book is available only in pdf format. You can usually download these immediately onto your PC the instant that you purchase them without waiting for delivery or giving any delivery expense. You can then print them out if you want to, or simply read them on screen. This can be extremely convenient.

How to select a good forex trading book?
Actually you need not be concerned too much since it is unusual for a book or an even an ebook to be a complete scam. Mostly you will get what you paid for. Whether you like what you are sent is another matter, just as with whatever thing that you receive from mail order or online. In nearly all cases you can get a money back anyway so it should not be a problem.

There definitely are currency trading scams but they typically consist of people trying to get a hold of your investment money. So do not hurry by investing your funds with the first forex broker or organization that you find. Veryfy about them through forex forums and reviews for customer feedback, and make sure that they are regulated in whichever nation they are operating. It is normally best to put your money through a corporation in your own country or one that has enough laws preventing fraud and scams.

Although your foreign exchange trading book might be a complete fraud, there are still some books that are much more valuable than others. Because of this reason you might want to verify on the author’s own fx trading experience prior to your pruchase.

Make sure that the author does not downplay the risks, since fx trading is a risky thing and you need to be fully aware of that. Check out for feedback from other individuals like you who are utilizing the technique into practice and scrutinize their results if you can. All of this will help you pick  the best forex book to suit your desires from the several books that are obtainable.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

How To Buy The Best Stocks

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

  

Although it may seem obvious to most stock market swing traders there are a number of simple rules that you can follow which will ensure that you have more success when buying stocks:

In the USA stock market there are 3 major indexes which are each made up of a basket of stocks, they are the S and P 500 (also known as the S&P500), the DOW 30 and the Nadaq 100. These stock indexes generally only contain major blue chip stocks, as long as you buy from these 3 groups you will at least know that you are getting a well known solid stock.

For example the DOW30 contains major industrials and large multinational stocks such as Home Depot (HD) and Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) whereas the Nasdaq 100 mainly contains techical companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Miscrosoft (MSFT).

Always buy a stock that is liquid, this means that it is a highly traded stock, this will enable you to easily buy and sell at the price you want without having a delay. You will also get a smaller spread, thats the difference between the BID and ASK price of the stock. For a stock to be considered very liquid it should trade at least 500,000 shares per day, ideally even more.

It is best to avoid stocks that are bellow $10 as this usually means the company is in trouble, although with the bear market of 2008 there have been a lot of good stocks at bargin prices between $5 and $10. Avoid buying a stock that is below $5 at anytime.

Another consideration is options, does the stock has options?, this will be important if you want to trade options around your stock, such as a covered call, or you may want to buy a PUT option in order to protect your stock.

Be very cautious about buying a stock just before it’s earnings release, stocks often drop significantly if you come out with a poor report. Earnings are released 4 times a year with one of them being the annual report.

If you are going to trade options make sure that you learn how to trade by getting some good education. There are many swing trading strategies that work well with stocks in todays volatile markets.

 A675645879

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Understanding Investment Bonds

Monday, September 21st, 2009

  

Bonds are one of the main stream types of investment along with stocks and real estate, and if you want to learn how to trade bonds make sure that you get a good education in the subject 1st. There are certain things you must understand about bonds before you start investing in them. Not fully understanding these things may cause you to purchase the wrong bonds, at the wrong maturity date.

Like all investments it is important to learn about what you are investing in, and certainly don’t just take the advice given to you by a bond seller without checking it out first yourself. The three most important points that must be considered when purchasing a bond include the par value, the maturity date, and the coupon rate.

The par value of a bond refers to the amount of cash you will receive when the bond reaches its maturity date. In other words, you will receive your initial investment cash back when the bond reaches maturity.

The maturity date is of course the date that the bond will reach its full value. On this date, you will receive your initial investment, and the interest that your money has earned.

Corporate and State and Local Government bonds can be “called” before they reach their maturity, at which time the corporation or issuing Government will return your initial investment, along with the cash that it has earned thus far. Federal bonds can not be “called”.

The coupon rate is the interest rate that you will receive when the bond reaches maturity. This number is written as a percentage, and you must use other information to find out what the interest will be. A bond that has a par value of $2000, with a coupon rate of 5% would earn $100 per year until it reaches maturity.

Because bonds are not issued by banks, many people don’t understand how to go about buying one. There are 2 ways this can be done.

You can use a broker or brokerage firm to buy them for you or you can go directly to the Government. If you use a brokerage, you will more than likely be charged a commission fee. If you want to use a broker, you should shop around for the lowest commissions!

Purchasing directly through the Government isn’t nearly as hard as it once was. There is a program called Treasury Direct which will allow you to buy bonds and all of your bonds will be held in one account, that you will have easy access to. This will allow you to avoid using a broker or brokerage firm.

More advanced traders may try to buy and sell bonds to take advantage of the price movements, you can even swing trade them. But this is a very risky business if you don’t know what you are doing, you will need to take a swing trading course if this was something that wanted to, but again most people just buy and hold.

A890578432

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Five Important Forex Tips

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

  

Fx market is the leading financial market on the planet. Billions of dollars are getting traded on Fx market on daily. Naturally forex trading market is an attraction to anyone who wants to make money working from home. But foreign exchange trading is risky and if you do not gain enough understanding on forex trading you could suffer big losses. The subsequent five Fx trading tips are valuable for anyone who is a beginner at foreign exchange trading. Now let’s see these essential forex tips.

1. Study Technical Analysis
Learning technical analysis is very important to become victorious at Fx trading. Sure, fundamental analysis is significant because you need to identify when to pull out from currency trading market. However the most effective method to trade currency is to use Forex charts and folow the price movements when it occurs on the chart. Devote your time to read the charts and identify trends.
Should you concentrate on this you can study technical analysis in easily and start making profits.

2. Begin with Easy to Follow System
Do not go for complex trading systems in the beginning. You will lose your money. When you are starting out in forex trading go with a simple system which only consist of chart support and resistance and a few confirming indictors.

3. Avoid Fx trading Robots
The ceoncept of making money from auto foreign exchange trading is really appealing to everyone. However remember that many of those Fx trading programs are just hype and do not perform in the way they claim. Of course there are few good forex trading  programs like FAP Turbo Robot and the new IvyBot. But if you want to make real money from currency trading, it is really important that you learn technical analysis and perform the trading manually.

4. Control Your Emotions
Occasional losses are unavoidable in Fx trading. Even the greatest forex traders in the world make losses. When you lose the money, you either lose your nerve to trade further or you might want to take the revenge. This situation is not going to help. Make use of stop loss and prepared to accept minor losses. This is a part of any business.

5. Discipline the Success Key
Some of the most respected traders make use of simple and straight forward system to make profits with forex. What is the secret of their success? It is discipline in trading. After you develop a good trading system always stick with the system. Time to time you will come across people making big claims about their latest trading systems. You might get tempted to try them. Should you want to test a new currency trading system, start with a demo forex account or you can even open a new mini trading account. Ditch your present trading system only if you are 100% confident that the new system is a lot superior than your existing system.

Everyone can make profit with Fx trading. I strongly advice you to put in some time and money in good forex training. You can read books or sign-up for a currency trading mentor program like Pip Mavens Inner Circle and learn all you need to know about making money with forex trading.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

What is Your Trader Type

Sunday, September 6th, 2009

  

Did you know that there are 4 mains types of trader and depending on what sort you are will determine many parts of your trading strategy and trading plan. The 4 types are: scalping, day trading, swing trading and position trading. When you determine the type of trader that you are it will also determine the time period in which you will be making your trade. This will be a very important decision that you need to make when deciding how you want to learn to day trade.

1. Scalping Trader, if you scalp the markets this means that you are only looking for a few ticks profit per trade and you may only be in the trade for a few seconds or a minute at most. trading. Some people will also call this day trading but it’s really micro day trading, buying the bid and selling the offer, it’s fast trading and you might end up doing 10-50 trades a day. This can be quite a stressful way of trading.

2. Day Trader, the true day trader opens and closes their trade within the same trading session, usually this mean the same day, but unlike a scalper the trade may be held for a few minutes up to several hours. Usually day traders make about 2-5 trades a day and most of them will be in the 5-30 minutes range. This is a less stressful way of trading than scalping but it still requires a lot of attention and quick decision making.

3. Swing Traders, swing trading usually means that a position is held for between 1 to 5-10 days, although some swing traders may keep a trade on for a longer time most are within this time period. For many this is the idea way to trade because it allows you to review your trade in the evening, at the very least you have several hours to make your trading decisions.

4. Position Traders, this just means that you are going to hold onto your trade for longer than 5-10 days, maybe even as long as a few months.

If you are still working out how to day trade then it may be better to go with the longer time frames as it gives you more time to think.

A1528561

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

How to Select Forex Currency Pair?

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

  

What is a currency pair? The currency pair got of two foreign exchange currencies involved in the trade. Example of currency pairs are EUR/USD and USD/CAD. So what is the best pair for forex trading? There are primarily two factors that you need to keep in mind when considering the best forex currency pairs for trading. These factors are activity and the forex trading systems. First let’s see the activity part.

Which are the Most Active Forex Currency Pairs?
One of the best ways to begin forex trading is by choosing the most popular currency pairs. Many experts might recommend you to go for them due to various reasons. The 1st factor is that heavily traded currency pairs got high liquidity and this means that your stop losses will more often be met without slippage. Also, in case of foreign exchange pairs which are really active in the market, the costs tend to be cheaper. When large number of men and women are trading in the forex trading  market it results in a tighter spread, and there is also heavy competition between foreign exchange brokers which will in turn keep the expensiture down.
So does this mean we just have to look into the most traded forex market and choose the forex currency? Nope. If you are new to foreign exchange you may be surprised to hear that the most voleme foreign exchange floor is not New Yoky, but London. But the most traded currency globally is of course US dollar. Now you must be thinking that US Dollar, GBP (British Pound) pair is the most traded forex currency in the foreign exchange market. This is not right. In fact EUR/USD currency pair is the most popular foreign exchange pair. The second most active currency pair is USD/JPY and the 3rd is GBP/USD pair.

Best Currency Pairs for Your forex trading System
The primary factor in choosing the forex pair is definitely the activity level and your understanding about the economic conditions of a particular currency. Your currency trading system also could be a factor in picking the currency pair. You might have the best foreign exchange trading system, but if you select the poor performing currency pair you could end up with losses.
For example if your Fx trading system involves the use of automated forex robot, you will most likely find that the particular Fx trading robot is set to work with a small number of foreign exchange pairs and that the most active forex currency pair might always gives you the best results. For instance, you may know that FAP Turbo which a popular forex software currently in the market is created to trade Euro British pound and Euro Swiss Frabc currency pairs. In case of FAP turbo most users found out that they are able to attain good results using EUR/CHF pair though EUR/GBP more active pair in this situation. Though you can trade numerous currency pairs with the robot, a particular forex robot is always tend to give better profits with its currency pair.
Hence in such cases one must pick a forex currency pair which is appropriate for your Fx trading system even if the currency pair is not the best. There is a new forex robot called Ivybot which gives 4 unique currency trading EA in which each one is designed to work well for a specific currency pair. You can see the Ivybot review here.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Know Your Trader Style

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

  

Did you know that there are 4 mains types of trader and depending on what type you are will determine many parts of your trading strategy and trading plan. The 4 types are generally referred to as: scalping, day trading, swing trading and position trading. When you determine the type of trader that you are it will also determine the time period in which you will be making your trade. This will be a very important decision that you need to make when deciding how you want to learn to day trade.

1. Scalping Trader, if you scalp the market this means that you are only looking for a few ticks profit per trade and you may only be in the trade for a few seconds or a minute at most. trading. Some people will also call this day trading but it’s really micro day trading, buying the bid and selling the offer, it’s fast trading and you might end up doing 10-50 trades a day. This is a very stressful way of trading for many people.

2. Day Trader, the true day trader opens and closes their trade within the same trading session, usually this mean the same day, but unlike a scalper the trade may be held for a few minutes up to several hours. Usually day traders make about 2-5 trades a day and most of them will be in the 5-30 minutes range. This is a less stressful way of trading than scalping but it still requires much attention and quick decision making.

3. Swing Traders, swing trading usually means that a position is held for between 1 to 5-10 days, although some swing traders may keep a trade on for a longer time most are within this time period. For many this is the idea way to trade because it allows you to review your trade in the evening, at the very least you have several hours to make your trading decisions.

4. Position Traders, this just means that you are going to hold onto your trade for longer than 5-10 days, maybe even as long as a few months.

If you are still working out how to day trade then it may be better to go with the longer time frames as it gives you more time to think.

A1528561

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Make Money by Foreign Exchange Trading

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

  

Everyone who want to build wealth from forex trading, will need few good forex strategies. Currency trading is like any other activity in this world. If a person wants to perform it profitable, you need some training and some practice. And if you are going to get into forex you better do it good if not you may possibly lose your money.

Go through the currency trading websites and you will find that there are many automated systems which claim to make you big bucks. If you are a newbie I want to warn you that these software are not money making machines. This doesn’t mean that all those software are fraud or scam. No doubt you can find good applications like FAP Turbo Software and few others. The latest software Ivy robot also shows potential. Go through the IvyBot details here. However these software programs can’t substitute the traders skill and knowledge.

Obtaining hands-on experience is not a problem because a lot of Currency trading brokerage firms will let you open a demo account for free. In fact forex brokers support it, as they are expecting that once you are are able to make money with your forex demo account you will go further and invest real money in your live account. Then they can make money from the spread or the amount that they charge on your account. Optimistically you will make enough money to pay them and then some, so everyone is making money.

Discovering profitable Fx trading strategies is a tough. There are plenty of forex systems online, but some are very complex for a new trader. What you probably want is a system which is really straightforward so that you can start forex trading on the demo forex account immediately.

A Simple currency trading Strategy
Now let’s take a look at a simple foreign exchange trading strategy using what is called support and resistance. A trader can put this technique into action when you have a condition where the foreign exchange market is moving up and down within definite boundaries. Therefore if you look over a long period it is within an upper position and a lower position.
You will find this on the forex charts which you can get access in your demo account given to you by your forex broker. See the candlestick chart over a legthy time period. You can probably find a time when the foreign exchange rates was fluctuating up and down between specific points.

We can draw a line connecting the top points. This line is termed as the resistance line and it is usually horizontal. When the price hits the line it moves further to keep within the boundaries. Therefore at that point we can sell the foreign exchange. If you are finding it difficult to follow all these technical stuff, I recommend you to visit Pip Mavens Inner Circle where Chris Lee explains all these stuff in simple terms.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forex Accounts What You Should Know

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

  

Until recently trading foreign exchange was fully controlled by big financial organizations. The widespread use internet and Forex Trading Systems had changed the situation. Forex mini accounts are best for anyone who is starting out in trading currency. You have to be very wealthy or really convinced to start directly with a standard account if you are a home based trader. A mini forex account lets anyone to start trading without risking so much cash and this makes it an incredible option for many individuals.

Check out this well written tutorial on mini forex accounts with very good info.

Forex Mini accounts commonly let you to do the trade with just one tenth of the standard size of the lot. This usually means 10,000 units of foreign exchange instead of regular 100K lot size.
Of course you do not have to have so much in your trading account. We know Fx trading works with leverage. In case you are utilizing 100 times leverage then you only need hundred dollars to control $10k in your mini forex account or thousand dollars to manage $100K for a standard forex account.

USD100 or 100 units of your base currency per trade is adequate for most people to commit to a trade when they are starting out and that is why the forex mini account is so appealing.

The pip size is also typically smaller in a forex mini account. Trading pips are units in which we will calculate your profits, losses and costs (the spread). Their dollar value can differ depending on the fx pair that you are trading, the size of the lot and other features of your broker, but a common standard pip size is Ten dollars and mini pip size is $1.
Few brokers are now quoting prices to 5 decimal places which mathematically should make one pip 0.00001 of the quoted price, however let us continue to use the usual 4 decimal place pip for this illustration.

Hence if you got a standard forex account you may have to commit $1K on each trade, be involved in trading lots of $100K and measure your gains in $10 units.
If you have a forex mini account you can expect to commit $100 on each trade, to trade lots of $10K and calculate your gains in $one units.

Of course you can place stop losses so that you need not have to risk all of the deposit that is committed for trading. But your losses will be measured in terms of pips so these too will be 10 times more with the standard trading account.

If you maike lot of money and your fund grows, you might be interested in trading bigger sums. It is possible to do this in your forex mini account by trading numerous lot at a time. Therefore if you want to trade a standard lot size you would just trade ten mini lots. However this could be a complicated mission without using software like Forex Autopilot Robot.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time to do Currency Trading

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

  

Is there a specific time to trade forex? Here is an very infomative guide about Forex Trading Times. Unlike stock trading, the currency trading market is open 24 hours a day during the 5 business days. But this doesn’t imply that the currency trading market is enjoying the same number of business or price variations throughout these days. There is a lot more activity on the forex trading markets at certain times of a day and usually, the best times to trade are when the trades are most active.
The 2 largest trading floors for forex are UK and the US markets. Although the UK does not use the euro, the majority of countries in EU are within one hour time difference from the Great Britain, as is the Swiss market. American time zones also include Canada. So the London session and the US session between them cover most of the key currencies that are exchanged.
The United Kingdom forex session begins at 8.00 UTC and finishes at 16.00 UTC. The foreign exchanges that are most involved during this session are the euro (EUR), British pound (GBP) and US dollar (USD) which is involved in the majority of currency exchanges.
The USA trading session starts at 13.00 UTC (8.00 EST) and closes at 22.00 UTC (17.00 EST). The most traded currencies during this currency exchange session are USD, EUR, GBP, AUD (Australian dollar), JPY (Japanese yen) and CAD (Canadian dollar).

The peak trading hours, as you guessed, is during the three hours when these two currency exchange sessions overlap and the markets are active in both London and US. This phase runs from 13.00 to 16.00 UTC (8.00 to 11.00 EST).

If you are a person who like to let the trades run over several days or would like to use a program like Forex Derivative it might not make too much difference to learn about the peak times on the forex markets. But if you are doing day currency trading where you will open and close a trade within a few minutes, you will see most opportunities coming up during the busiest times. And some times trading manually during this period of time can beat the Forex Autopilot which is the most popular currency trading robot.

In case you are involved in a cross rate, i.e. a currencies that do not involve the USD, you will have another time frame when the currency trading centers in your 2 countries are open for business.
Let’s assume if you are trading AUD/JPY you will see that trading was busiest during what is called the Asian session. The Aussie and Japanese trading hours are pretty close and on a day when activity was anticipated you might find some best trades during the overlap. But, usually this is a slow moving foreign exchange center for just about all currencies.
Therefore the best time for most forex traders is during that three hour window in the early hours in the United States and the afternoon in London and Europe, when the Fx trading markets are open on both sides of the Atlantic. Business can be frantic during those hours, there is utmost liquidity and the currencies move far and fast. A number of important financial news is released during this timw too, especially toward the starting. So this window of time is the best currency trading times if you want to get quick profits.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,