Posts Tagged ‘forex trading’
Forex Trading Using Support and Resistance

Many experienced traders will tell you that keeping a trading system as simple as possible brings many benefits (just like like simple investment property). Simplicity means that you will not be second guessing yourself too often and conflicting signals should not pose too much of a problem for your. Also, you should be able to avoid the dreaded ‘analysis paralysis’ a lot more easily as well. There many simple and very effective trading methods that can be used, but a lot continue to be overlooked due to more complex systems attracting the interest of traders. One of the best ‘no frills’ methods is Forex support and resistance trading which has remained effective ever since markets first existed.
Trading Forex using support and resistance seems to be a bit of a lost art. A lot of newer traders tend to avoid this method as it seems to simple and is not sophisticated enough for them. All the while, institutional traders are sitting behind their desks making huge profits everyday by paying close attention to the key Forex support and resistance levels in the market at any one time.
In essence, support and resistance areas are points or prices where some kind of change in activity is more likely than usual. This could be a pause in a trend or even a full reversal. The market seems to have a memory, and areas which were significant in the past are very often still important weeks, months or even years later. These levels are very important in Forex trading.
You will probably not have too much success when Forex trading if you just expect price to reverse at every support or resistance point. You will need some kind of system you have tested out that can validate your entry points and provide some additional confirmation that the price level you are watching is important.
Fed Interest Rate Near Zero – More Easing to Come
The Fed interest rate is already near zero, but they will probably enact more monetary policy to provide more easing so people can get money for small businesses or investment property. They are expected to go further by enacting quantitative easing through buying Treasury Bonds in an effort to spur the economy.
They have made the cost of borrowing cheap to encourage commercial banks to lend money to businesses. The idea is that easy loans would lead to businesses investing in expansion and in creating jobs. Right now, the main concern in the present recovery is the lack of jobs and the consistently high unemployment rate.
The current easing is causing havoc in the currency market. The Fed’s actions and planned actions have brought down the value of the USD, and that has caused all the other world currencies upward.
So what does this means for traders? That means their forex trading systems will have to account for political pressures and international dealing. It will also have to include potential actions of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In addition, you might need to change up your strategy a little. The volatility that we are about to see in this market can easily eat up your forex margin deposit. Make sure you have enough trading capital to take you through extreme moves in the market. Don’t over leverage and think about trading options temporarily if you don’t have much cash.
The Fed interest rate can’t go down any further so they will inject cash into the system. Japan has already done it and the EU will probably not be far behind. And emerging markets like China, Brazil and Southeast Asia will continue to need a devalued currency to keep their all important exports cheap.
This could potentially be a big deal that affects all financial markets, including the stock market. Make sure you and your investment portfolio are prepared. It is unlikely that any country will really back down from this fight.
What’s the best forex trading system for me?
Are you trying to figure out what’s the best forex trading system to put into effect? If you’re not interested in investment property, then you will probably have to experiment with a few different trading systems and techniques before finding one that meets your requirements.
If you don’t fancy looking at forex charts for any length of time and have more pressing commitments ahead of trading. Then a forex robot would probably be the way to go. One of the advantages of using this type of system is that it takes a lot of stress out of trading in that it’s configured to run automatically on your trading platform, leaving you to go about your daily business.
A disadvantage however is that you don’t have any control over trades other than the stop loss and take profit parameters which you will have pre-programmed before hand into your forex robot.
If you choose this kind of forex trading system, then it would probably be a good idea to check out websites that give impartial reviews of tests carried out on performance of forex robots under a variety of market conditions (e.g. choppy, consolidation and trending markets) and over specific time periods before opting to buy one.
However if your want to place your own trades but still have a software system inform you of buy and sell alerts then you would want to go with a mechanical forex expert advisor. This type of software is obliviously more flexible than the robot in the respect that you have the option of whether you want to take a trade on or not from the alert signals you receive.
I would suggest though that if you have any aspirations in the longer term of becoming a successful trader then you should seriously think about creating your own forex trading system. If you are thinking along these lines then my advice would be to initially study the price action/chart patterns on a plain forex chart without indicators, then take it from there.
Traits of a Forex Currency Trader
There are certain qualities that a forex currency trader possesses. These are innate traits that they already have even before they learn their first forex trading strategies. If you have these characteristics as a person, you have the foundation to be a successful trader. If you don’t have these qualities, you’re in luck. All of these are learnable traits.
Discipline to Practice and Execute
Most successful investment traders have an incredible amount of discipline. They have discipline in several ways that make them successful. Again, these disciplines can be learned behavior.
First of all, they practice before they trade. This takes an enormous amount of discipline. Most new traders are so eager to chomp at the bit that they go in too soon. They start trading real money before they sufficiently practice on a forex demo at the early stages of their development.
Secondly, they have the discipline to follow their trading plan. This seems straightforward and obvious enough. You develop a plan based on strategies, indicators and all the things you have learned so far about trading. Then you execute the plan, including all of the back up scenarios.
This seems simple enough, but so many traders don’t follow their plan. It takes a lot of discipline to not be swayed by the market. Don’t underestimate the psychological and emotional factors of trading. You must have the discipline to carry out the plan regardless of how you feel in the moment.
Persistance and Diligence
It takes a lot of trades, a lot of successes and a lot of failures to become an experienced, successful trader. You have to learn from all of your activity, especially your failed trades. You need to persist through the good times and the bad.
Remember, trading is a numbers game. You will certainly lose sometimes. Every trader loses sometimes. The idea is that you win more than you lose, and you make more money on the wins that you lose money on the losses. It takes persistance to get you through the rough patches.