Trading Strategy Before You Begin To Trade The Forex

If you are a newcomer to the world of currency trading then, before you make your first trade, you must develop a trading strategy. The foreign currency market is one of the most lucrative and exciting markets in the world, but it is also very fast moving and, while you can make emormous profits, you can also make sizeable if you do not have a very clearly defined game plan.

There are numerous different Forex day trading strategies which you can adopt and you must develop a strategy that suits you. Ultimately, exactly what sort of strategy you adopt is largely immaterial but, what is important, is that you pick a strategy before you start trading.

A lot of traders nowadays choose to base their strategy on a technical approach to trading while others choose to follow a fundamental approach. Both approaches are fine but the successful traders know that the true secret is to be found in not selecting one or the other but in combining the two.

Technical analysis holds that prices follow trends and that markets demonstrate clearly identifiable patterns which you can recognize as long as you know what you are looking for. experience and knowledge play an important role in technical analysis but here it is a case of experience and knowledge of not only the patterns in the market but of working with the barrage of tools which are available today to the technical analyst.

A lot of traders and technical analysts like to make use of what are referred to as support and resistance levels. Here a support price is a low price to which a currency repeatedly returns, in effect marking the bottom of the market or the price that supports the market. A resistance price by contrast is a high price which a currency reaches at times but above which it resists rising.

These two levels are seen as significant because once the price of a currency falls below its support level it will commonly continue to fall and, similarly, once the price exceeds its resistance level it will continue to rise.

Traders also frequently make use of moving averages which depict the average price of a currency over a specific period of time within a longer period of time. This is very helpful for eliminating short term price fluctuations and producing a clearer picture of currency price movements over time.

These of course are only two of the tools available to Forex traders who choose to adopt a technical approach and there is a wide range of far more complex and powerful tools available today.

As well as technical analysis, a lot of traders also have a string belief in fundamental analysis which holds that currencies move in response to a wide range of factors including political events, changes in trade agreements and trading patterns, economic numbers, employment figures, interest rates and much more.

Fundamental analysis is a complex area which requires a great deal of experience and knowledge to master, which is probably one reason why many new traders are drawn to technical analysis and tend to make use of fundamental analysis to a limited degree at first while they gain the knowledge and skills needed to put it to work effectively.

Fundamental and technical analyses of course are not in themselves trading strategies but provide the base on which you have to build your strategy. Your starting point must be to pick the foundation on which you are going to analyze the market and thus make your trading decisions. Having done this you then need to look closely at the mechanics of your trading and it is detailing just how you intend to trade which forms your Forex trading strategy.

Finally, do not forget that drawing up your trading strategy is something that has to be done at the start of your trading career and that you have to make full use of the ability to run a demo Forex account and a mini Forex account to build your strategy.

FOREX TRADING HARNESS THE POWER

With average volume in foreign exchange exceeding $1.5 trillion per day, foreign exchange (Forex) is truly a global marketplace displaying the crucial attributes of liquidity and low cost of execution. For traders, this high volume can be advantageous, as transactions can be executed speedily and with minimal slippage.* Indeed traders and investors alike are discovering that Forex is the underlying asset class that might fulfill nearly all of their trade strategy requirements. *Under normal market conditions.

This market has long held these benefits for market participants, so why now should this be the moment that Forex has come of age for the individual trader?
In fact, it is the coinciding of two key factors; firstly, rarely has there been so much focus on the foreign exchange markets as in the last 18 months, leading to continued and consistent trading opportunities. And secondly, the technology revolution that enables individuals to trade effectively on a 'level playing field' with the institutions is now a reality.

Hardly surprising then that the largest, most liquid market in the world, is drawing increased interest from both active and retail investors alike.
Market accessibility is the key component that enables individual traders the opportunity of participation, and now more than ever before, brokers, software providers and financial institutions have both the ability and presence of mind to offer effective market access.

Medium-term traders are finding that institutions are ever increasing the range of currency-dominated products, such as funds, baskets and other investment vehicles. Even investors with long-term portfolio planning tactics who have previously been used to Dollar stability must now include an element of currency hedging within their strategy.

But, it is active traders who are benefiting most from the aggressive rise in accessibility of the electronic foreign exchange markets. New software, providing lightning speed of execution, variable order-type, and improved software applications all go toward making daytrading more effective.
Couple this with increased Internet speed, the availability of timely market news and quality analysis and it is clear to see that the active trader can now access the very 'heart of the market'.

The trend is set to continue with an increased appetite amongst the brokerage community to offer global currency markets alongside their existing product offering. This is leading to the launch of successive products from specialist brokers, as well as spread-betting companies, all offering market access to everyone with an online trading account.

Dealing services like that of easy2forex (see figure 1) incorporate multi-screen capabilities, including real-time news, data, charting and dealing functionality, displayed in an intuitive format. The result is that a market once dominated solely by banking institutions has now truly become accessible to all. With more and more traders gravitating towards this compelling market place, whether in conjunction with an existing trade schedule or as an entire switch.

As an asset class, foreign exchange is probably the least understood by retail investors and active traders alike. Knowledge is still limited, especially when compared to products such as equities, bonds and futures. Indeed, European traders have some catching up to do compared with their US counterpart with regard to the widespread inclusion of Forex trading. However, the trend is in place and over the next few years the currency markets promise to become a widely used underlying instrument for daytraders, swing-traders, and even private investors.

The following paragraphs briefly examine market background, key information including contract terminology and specification, as well as outlining some of the most effective techniques used to trade the foreign exchange markets.

History and background

Looking back to the origins of currency trading, coins have been around since ancient Egyptian times and currency notes were introduced in the Middle Ages to make commercial trading an easier process. This use of bills as opposed to coins helped regional economies flourish. These currency markets, from their origins right through to the mid 1940's and the end of the Second World War, were relatively stable and were never perceived as instruments for speculation.

All this changed as the post-war economies became extremely volatile, resulting in a dramatic increase in currency volatility. Market volatility began to attract speculators and traders, whose numbers were few given the potential gains from such volatility. At this time, the British Pound was the benchmark for global currencies, however, the inevitable post war turmoil led to the US Dollar taking it's place and has remained the benchmark and safe haven ever since. The Bretton Woods Accord, formed in 1944 between the US, UK, and France as an attempt to stabilise the global economies, essentially limited currency movement to just 1% against the Dollar. This pegging of currencies to the US Dollar lasted until the early 1970's.

More recently, the European Monetary System, which was introduced in 1978 as an attempt to gain independence from the US Dollar, failed in a spectacular fashion in 1993, following the exit of the British Pound in 1992.
Since 1993, the major global currencies have been freely trading with no structured boundaries. This free movement of the major currencies catalysed an influx of mainly institutional speculators including banks, brokerage houses and hedge funds. The increase in speculative interest has now filtered down to private individuals who are also able to trade Forex.

Until relatively recently, Japan had long been a country with an interest rate differential to the rest of the world so large that made holding the Yen a punitive gamble. This world differential is now far smaller, meaning that even the Yen is on the table to traders with a broader appetite.

The largest and most recent impact to foreign exchange trading occurred with the incorporation of the Euro. The new single currency is no longer the fledgling underdog that it started life as. The Euro has risen in importance and increased its weighting in the global economy, gaining its current status as the second most liquid currency in the world. The result is that the major currencies now holding speculators interest are the US Dollar, the Japanese Yen and the Euro, with as much as 90% of all transactions involving the Dollar.

Volatility and change is something that the Forex market has become accustomed to, and with recent aggressive Dollar depreciation, once again the spotlight is firmly fixed on foreign exchange trading opportunities. This time however, it’s not just the banks who can take advantage of the market, as changes in market accessibility mean that everyone from day-traders to swing traders to long term portfolio hedgers, can access this global market place.

An efficient market place

Worldwide focus together with factors touched upon in previous paragraphs all contribute to the adoption of currency markets amongst private traders. However, there are additional and important market characteristics that also enhance trading opportunities and explain why Forex is rapidly gaining popularity.

24/7

Forex markets are open for business every hour of every day. They in effect "follow the sun" around the globe in a market that rarely experiences periods of illiquidity. The market for major currencies never closes; in fact at every moment someone somewhere is trading the principal markets.

This means that any trader in any time zone can trade Forex day and night. In contrast to just about every other asset class, a Forex trader never has to wait for the market to open when perhaps news has already hit newswires. The result is the virtual eradication of' overnight risk,' as a stop-loss order can be executed at any time. It also allows Forex traders the added flexibility and continuous market opportunities that just aren't available in most other markets.

The three main economic world zones ensure continuous execution availability. For instance, when the Pacific Rim markets such as Japan and Singapore begin to slow, the European markets of England, Switzerland and Germany take over, followed by the North American markets of the United States, Canada and Mexico. As the North American markets begin to slow down for the evening, the Pacific Rim starts their trading day and so on.

Super-liquidity

A perpetual trading environment attracts volume, in turn attracting additional volume, creating a market with super-liquidity. This makes it extremely difficult for large 'players' to manipulate the market during periods of low volume, thus resulting in an even more attractive market place. The true 24-hour nature of the Forex markets, mean that traders enjoy unparalleled liquidity. With liquidity comes tight spreads, reducing trade slippage as well as improving price fills on both entry and exit orders.

In contrast to many futures markets where overnight access is to a large extent "window dressing," currency markets offer full-time genuine liquidity, allowing greater control over position management.

Minimal execution fees and high leverage

Whether trading currency futures or SPOT, Forex execution typically offers some of the lowest commission levels available in any market place. Instead, brokers are compensated by the spread between the bid and ask prices.

However, the high degree of leverage can work both for or against a trader. Increasing leverage increases both potential gains or losses

A trending market

Forex markets provide some of the smoothest trends available in any market. Whereas equity and futures markets often trade with gaps and spikes, currency markets may offer smoother and less erratic trading conditions, better for traders who dislike trading 'choppy markets.'

In fact, foreign exchange markets are widely accepted as the best trending markets in the world. Proof, if needed of this fact, is that Forex is traded technically and systematically by all major hedge funds. ManFinacial, the FTSE100 Company, has over recent years grown assets under management to over $30 billion, trading, to a great extent, systematically.

This last and important feature is the premise on which a vast majority of traders build their trading strategy. Trending markets offer traders incredible opportunities, allowing price data analysis to form the foundation to a trading system over many varying time frames.

Strategy - fundamental or technical?

As with any other market in the world, there are two high-level trading strategies used to identify trading opportunities in the Forex market. The first strategy is technical or systematic analysis using charts, mathematical analysis, support and resistance and so on. The second is fundamental analysis which uses financial, political and economic information to make trading decisions.
Beneath these primary headings lie hundreds of different strategies to choose from. Add this to the fact that many of the most successful traders use a combined approach, and it becomes clear that there are numerous valid Forex strategies.

The strategy that traders adopt as their own must be dependent on what works best in the traders’ experience and is most comfortable for them. If choosing fundamental analysis exclusively, a trader must follow current breaking news, indicators, as well as current political trends in order to increase the chances of making money. Using fundamental analysis for trading decisions requires deep understanding of how the markets work and of how the markets will react to news.

Econometric tools can aid the analysis of fundamental information, some of which are provided by brokers and financial web sites. A trader choosing to use technical analysis will also have to learn techniques that best suit their individual trading style. There are hundreds of technical trading techniques to choose from, encompassing the use of standard charts, mathematical formulae and quantitative methodology.

In fact, this vast range of technical techniques often overwhelms traders, effectively negating any potential opportunities with 'analysis paralysis,' or analysis overload. The result is that too many traders feel cornered into a strategy that they have either read about or been lectured about. Trader should use studies that work for them, remembering that within any given market, at any given time, a vast array of traders using hugely varying trading strategies can all simultaneously profit or lose.

Technical analysis

For a trader entering the forex market for the first time, technical analysis has major advantages when compared to fundamental methods, not least the fact that it is a directly transferable skill-set. Techniques learned and fine tuned over many years of trading are just as valid when trading foreign exchange contracts as they were with previously traded instruments. From an active trader's perspective, this effectively means that existing expertise may be directly transferable to the currency markets.

Technical analysis also has the advantage of assisting short term intra-day trading, as opposed to fundamental techniques, which are largely applied to mid- and long-term position taking. In addition to this, trading using technical analysis has the benefit of being rule-based or systematical. This makes strategy testing using historical data comparably easy. By mastering any degree of systematic approach, traders are able to measure both current and past performance, enabling them to tweak their system-criteria attempting to maximize their performance. It also provides the benefit of helping eliminate stress, reducing individual trade anxiety and improving overall time management.
The following paragraphs examine the utilization of these techniques when constructing an initial Forex trading strategy.

Strategy construction

A trader undertaking foreign exchange trading while continuing to trade in other markets must determine two important factors. Firstly, how much time can productively be spent trading the Forex markets, and secondly, which time frame to trade within.

Clearly, for a trader who is unable to focus entire attention on one market, a sensible approach is to trade from a medium-term perspective, perhaps initially trading only several times per week or even less. Forex markets are ideally suited to this approach to trading as they typically trend extremely well.
So, when considering which technical trading strategy to implement, the most reasonable starting point is to utilise trend following and continuation techniques.

Supporting this theory is the fact that one of the most common causes of losing trades is from trying to pick the top or bottom of the market. Often, as a result of a 'gut feeling', the exchange rate is overdone and traders attempt to pre-empt the trend reversal.

Foreign exchange trends are typically long and often overshoot perceived value areas; there is no better example of this than that of the Euro since launch. It was, and still is widely considered by most institutional analysts that "fair-value" for the Dollar versus Euro is between 1.20 and 1.22 Dollars to the Euro.

However, following launch it traded as low as 0.80, overshooting within the long-term trend. Now the reverse is true, and markets are witnessing considerable Dollar weakness. In Forex, the trend is your friend.
Clear trend patterns can be identified using simple but effective continuation and breakout techniques, once again emphasising just how valuable technical analysis is for traders.

A trading strategy

An initial trading strategy for a trader entering the Forex markets, in addition to his existing trade activities should include the following attributes:

• Trend following technical analysis - use existing techniques that work for you
• Medium-term position trading - initially just a few trades per week
• Monitoring system - traders must have the ability to evaluate precisely where they are making and losing money
• Start small - test performance with inconsequential trade size
• Keep it simple! - Start with basics and then add one system constituent at a time
• Stick to your rules: discipline, discipline, discipline

Traders should utilise existing techniques that have been well-tested, however the most widely used technical analysis techniques in the Forex markets are:

• Support and resistance
• Channel trends
• Moving average
• Fibonacci
• Relative Strength Index

An initial trading strategy should aim to trade with the long or medium term trend, from the position of the trend. So if the Dollar is in a long- or medium-term depreciation trend as is currently the case, opening trades even if relatively short-term, should be from the short Dollar side. This is particularly important if a trader's attention is divided between several markets.
Traders often suffer losses when they feel under pressure to trade, forcing trade decisions that perhaps do not meet all trade entry or exit criteria. By trading less frequently as outlined above, traders might be more successful than anticipated due to their ability to follow a newly developed trading strategy with reduced trade pressure.

Currency trading patterns are apparent over a whole range of different time frames, from yearly to monthly, to daily and intra-day trends. With this in mind, a trader has the ability to scale-in trade frequency and activity. The fact that Forex markets consistently trend is the crucial reason why many independent currency traders choose to utilise technical analysis. Indeed, even when combined with some broad fundamental studies, technical analysis can form the cornerstone of an active traders rule set.

Conclusion

Catalysed by world events and then fuelled by the incredible appreciation of the fledgling European currency, interest in Forex trading is now penetrating even the retail investor market. Headline grabbing news of the Dollar's decline to levels not seen for over a decade, coupled with global market volatility, has turned the spotlight on the emerging opportunities available to market participants.

From an active trader's perspective, identifiable trading patterns as well as comparatively low margin requirements and cheap execution costs have created potentially favourable trading conditions. Whether in conjunction with an existing trading approach or as an entirely new undertaking, Forex markets may lend themselves to traders following price data using technical analysis. Indeed, many traders previously trading futures on bonds or even equities have switched entirely to the currency markets.

The basics of the forex market

The foreign exchange, or forex, market is relatively young, having begun in the early 1970s after the United States dropped the gold standard and national currencies started to fluctuate widely. For about 30 years prior to that, most nations had agreed to keep their currency values stable in relation to the U.S. dollar, making a forex market unnecessary. With that no longer the case, banks quickly realized that a profit could be made in “buying” currency when it was devalued and “selling” it after it strengthened, just like any other commodity.

Today, the forex market handles about $1.9 trillion in transactions every day, and it runs 24 hours a day, five days a week. (With nations around the world involved, it’s always daytime somewhere.) The most traded currencies are the U.S. dollar, the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc and Australian dollar.

The forex market is overwhelmingly dominated by international banks, government banks, investment banks, corporations, and hedge funds. In fact, individual traders account for only about 2 percent of the market. Nonetheless, a lot of people do try their hand at it, with varying degrees of success

In the forex market, transactions are always handled in pairs: You buy one currency and sell another one. The idea is to make a trade when you believe the currency you’re buying is going to go up in value compared to the one you’re selling. Then, if it turns out your prediction was correct, you do another trade in the reverse direction — selling the currency you originally bought and buying the one you sold — in order to reap the profits.

For example, let’s say the market reports this: GBP/EUR 1.2200. That means the cost of buying one British pound is 1.22 euros. If you believed that course was going to change, and the euro was going to become more valuable than the pound, you might sell 100,000 pounds, buy 100,000 euros, and wait. Then let’s say a few weeks later, the exchange rate fluctuates to this: EUR/GBP 1.3100. Sure enough, the euro is now worth 1.31 pounds, a profit of 0.11 per unit.

The forex market is vast and daunting and mostly inhabited by giant organizations. But it can be navigated by individuals who have studied the finer points and who want to take a risk on something potential profitable. And since the whole world uses money, the trading of that money is always going to be a major force in the financial world.

How To Monitor Active Forex Trades?

Monitoring active trades is not as easy it sounds. In this article I’ll take you through several ways of doing it effectively:

No matter what trading style you use it always pays off to watch and monitor your trades once you have placed them. There are several way of doing it and it is up to individual to work out the best method based on his/her personal situation.

• Audible Alerts:

If you happen to use MetaTrader then you have a feature of placing audible alerts. Once set properly MetaTrader would alert you when the price reaches a certain point, it can be your Stop Loss or Take Profit level. To set it up simply press “Ctrl + T” and then select “Alerts” Tab. Right click and select “Create”. I personally use this feature a lot, it helps me get away from PC and do other things around the house while still trading at the same time.

• Expert Advisor:

Unless you are very good at programming I won’t recommend creating your own Expert Advisor for managing trades. However there is an popular free Expert Advisor called “ManageTP” available on forums which works just fine. It helps you to automatically place Stop Loss and Take Profit levels and move them as per price action. Simply Google the name you would find the Expert Advisor along with instructions on how to use it.

• Multiple Monitors:

While on your desk looking at charts it helps if you have multiple monitors. You can then place charts on one monitor and work on something else on the other monitor at the same time. I’ve a setup of 2 x 22” monitors dedicated for trading and third one for other purposes.

• PDA:

Using PDA to monitor trades comes in very handy while on the road. MetaTrader and several other Brokers offer PDA versions of their trading platform. Before buying a new PDA check with your Broker support to see if it is compatible. You can also use a laptop with a wireless internet to do the same.

Forex Trading Calendar

Forex trading has seen sky-high volumes since quiet some years. Every forex trader wants to keep himself updated on the market news and trends in trading scenarios. Automated systems and excellent network are the pre-requisites for any trader to keep at sync with the markets. Such systems have come in the market and also we have forex trading calendars offered by various vendors.

In simple words, a forex trading calendar is a detailed analytical forecast of the forthcoming events in the forex trading markets. Any forex trading calendar is usually given out for the forthcoming economic events in the forthcoming trading week.

It’s the software that provides daily signals on trades for its users, with which they can decide on their trading strategies on the forex markets. Forex markets are highly volatile and this tool works in conjunction with the latest market trends. Whether a currency will do well or fail, company doing good or bad, the forex trading calendar is great at performing analysis on these events and provides a consolidated analysis useful for a trading decision.

Consultants and trade analysts working on these calendars design high end formulas to enable them to take quick trade decisions along while analyzing the market trends. The consultants and analysts working on this tool are veterans of the forex markets and possess immense knowledge on the markets. Hence, investing on such a tool is nevertheless a good decision. And what makes you think it isn’t? Aren’t you buying their in-depth knowledge to use in your decisions? A forex trade calendar provides other statistical and analytical tools also, which can aid a trader in his daily trading decisions.

With the growing trend to trade in forex, one may not have the necessary know how of the markets. At such times, tools like forex trading calendar prove a helping hand in the market decisions. After all, analysis is what matters.

Yen and Dollar Fell While Sterling Excelled

The Yen and the Dollar fell on Thursday, compensating some of the earlier session's gains, while sterling extended gains after the Bank of England kept its quantitative easing target unchanged.A recovery in European stocks helped to buoy the Euro and perceived higher risk currencies, which fell sharply on Wednesday as optimism about the global economy's recovery prospects, waned and investors trimmed risk exposure.European equities jumped by 1.1 %, breaking a five-session losing streak and pushing the yen lower after it surged broadly on Wednesday, hitting a five-month high against the USD.Analysts noted, however, that the current moves are corrective and do not represent any fundamental shift in market sentiment.Sterling outperformed meanwhile after the BoE left its asset buying programme at 125 billion pounds, just as most in the market had expected the central bank to expand the total by 25 billion pounds..Sterling jumped by 1.2 % against the Dollar to $1.6255 , while the Euro lost 0.5 percent against the UK currency to 85.98 pence as the pound extended gains after the Bank of England policy decision. The news that it was not expanding quantitative easing came as the central bank left key interest rates unchanged at 0.5 percent, as widely expected.

Free Guide to Interesting Facts About Forex Trade Market

Forex market is a marvelous place for those who would like to change their lives and become independent and affluent people. If you are the one who is fed up with the need to get up every morning at a certain time in order to get dressed and to come to the work at a prescribed time. If you would like not to worry any more whether you have dressed properly and whether you have come on time at you working place because otherwise you are like to get fines. What is more, if you are fed up with the necessity to take part in the rate race because in order to be promoted to the higher position you have to compete with your colleagues. There is a great chance to escape all these troubles and start making money with the help of forex market. It is an alternative to all your hardships. You do not have to depend on your employer anymore because you will become an independent trader. In other words with the help of forex market you will be able to work on yourself and everything will be depending on you and your skills only.

What is more forex market has many opportunities for those who start trading on it. You can trade any time you like due to the fact that it is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Also there is no difference how many time you devote to trading. It is possible to trade 30 minutes a day and to get profit. That is why you should not be afraid to lose your current job since you can combine your working hours and trading on the forex market.

However it is especially essential for the newcomer to get to know as much as possible about forex market. You have to understand that when you start trading on the forex market you can rely only on yourself. There is no other help you can get than your brains. That is why you need to develop your trading skills as much as possible. There are a lot of things you should be aware of when you start trading on the forex. If you think that it is enough to get to know how to operate the figures you are wrong. There are many of the various aspects which influence trading and the result of the trades a lot.

I wish you good luck. Forex trading is a great chance to change your life and to become a successful person and stop depending on anything else. All you need to do is to put some efforts and you are likely to get a lot of income.

Article source : http://www.fxstreet.com