Monday, March 30, 2009

Forex Trading Psychology: What Makes A Successful Forex Trader?

The Forex market has changed through the years, growing in volume and expanding across multiple time zones.
Brokerage houses have changed, too, going online with sophisticated software and powerful servers.
Economic indicators and technical analysis have become more sophisticated, too, until the Forex market of today bears little resemblance to what it used to be.
But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed: most traders lose.
Despite all the advances in the Forex marketplace, the ratio of winners to losers remains low. Experts agree that the most hopeful number that can be advanced is a measly 10%, which means that 90% of all traders on any particular day will lose.
Experts also agree that the reason most traders lose is because they allow their emotions to cloud their judgment.
Most people trade on hope and fear, rather than facts. Rather than basing their trades on what the charts and the indicators actually say, these people trade on what they want them to say. They hang onto a losing trade and follow the graph down, hoping the currency pair will turn around. Or they exit a trade too soon, fearing the trend won’t last, and are satisfied with pennies that even the best Forex money management cannot balance against their losses.
Other people lose through greed, by trying to pick the highs and lows too nicely to maximize their profits to the penny. Rather than waiting to place a trade when the indicators confirm the market’s movement, they jump in too soon and are disappointed when the anticipated break-out never occurs.
Remember, there is no magic software or fool-proof trading scheme. If you cannot control your emotions, then you cannot become a winner despite yourself. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of being one of the winners, and the most powerful is to follow these rules of Forex trading:
Prepare a trading plan, using good Forex money management skills and the trading strategy of your choice—then trade your plan. Don’t alter your plan or fudge your criteria if you don’t see a good trade for a few days; wait for the market to fulfill your requirements before risking your money. Remember the law of averages: sooner or later, the market will come around.
Use stops, and trailing stops when possible, to control losses and protect your profits. Remember to set your stops far enough away from the entry price so that you aren’t closed out by normal market jitters.
Paper trade with a demo account until you are efficient and feel comfortable in the market.
When you move on and start trading with real money, it feels different than paper trading! But this is no time to change your plan. To minimize the effects of emotion, set a small, realistic initial goal and trade until you achieve your goal more often than not. Use small sums in micro or mini accounts. Only when you are comfortable risking your cash and sometimes losing it should you attempt to trade with larger sums of money.
Study your trading record and try to figure out what went wrong when you lost. To put it simply, learn from your mistakes. That alone will put you ahead of the crowd!

Forex Training: Deadly Forex Mistakes That Assure Failure

Before venturing into your trading journey there are some things you need to be aware of, otherwise you could succeed on your trading adventure, and we don't want that to happen, do we? This Forex training guide will help you track the most costly mistakes Forex traders do.
First of all, make sure you don't have a trading system. Having a trading system might increase the odds of your success. If you have a system, you will have an objective way to get in and out the market. When traders create their trading systems they think objectively since there is no position to be taken at the moment. If there is no position to be taken, there is also no money at risk, if there is no money at risk, we do think objectively and are open to every possibility, thus we are able to find low risk trading opportunities. So make sure you don't have a system and trade based on a randomly approach.
If you have already created your system, then don't follow it, be undisciplined. If you follow your system, there is a possibility that you can profit from the Forex market based on the trading opportunities you have found. If you want to fail on your trading, be sure to be undisciplined.
Don't get educated. Most successful traders are very well educated in the market they trade (stocks, Forex, futures, etc.) If you get educated, you might acquire the knowledge and experience you require to master the Forex market. Don't read about the Forex market, don't enroll into Forex training programs and don't even look at historical charts.
Don't use any money management technique. The purpose of money management is to avoid the risk of ruin, but at the same time it helps you boost your profits, allowing them to grow geometrically. For instance, by using no money management techniques, there is a possibility that in loosing 10 trades in a row you could empty your trading account. On the other hand, by applying simple money management techniques you can avoid it. So make sure, if you want to fail, don't even consider money management.
Forget about psychological issues. You need to get every trade to win. Successful traders know that they don't need to win every trade in order to profit from the market. This is one characteristic that is hard to understand and really apply. Why? Because we are taught, since kids, that any number below 70% is a bad number. In the Forex trading environment, this is not true.
Don't even consider using a Risk-reward (RR) ratio greater than 1-1. If you use a RR ratio of 1-2 (willing to make twice the amount risked in one trade) then you only need a system that is right around 50% to make money. If you use a RR ratio of 1-3 (willing to make three times the amount risked in one trade) then you will need a system that is right around 40% of the time to make money. So make sure to use a RR ratio below 1-1.
By applying every point outlined in this Forex training guide, you will almost assure your failure in your Forex trading journey. Do the opposite, and you will have the possibility to achieve what every trader is looking for: consistent profitable results.

Easy Forex Trading - How to Trade Forex Easily and Profitably!

When an individual would hear the word 'Forex' it is expected that the initial reaction is that it is a complicated and mind-bugling issue to take. Although this is true at some point, it does not actually work always that way especially if an individual is aware of all the prerequisites of the game. Now, to open each eye about easy Forex trading, this article was created.
• It is easy Forex trading since you need not to overdo things. If you are just new on the Forex trading arena then you can begin with making a profit of only a 20 pips. Do not try to add up more, instead study the tactic that you will have to do the next day.
• You need not to waste all your time; it could be spent on 15 minute chart as well as 1 hour chart only.
• The 5 miniature chart is not there so you could waste yourself into. If you spend too much of your time here then it will only distract you in making a good trading decision.
• Easy Forex trading also means not using the complicated MACD to buy and sell since it only arrive the individual to meaningless trades which anyone would see as a waste of time.
• You can make use of trailing stops during times when you unstoppably keep on moving your Forex proceeds just to cover all your losses. Also keep in mind to practice first with the demo before actually dipping your toe on the real scene.
• You can carry out everything that you can probably do in order to protect your cash through the use of 12-15 pips stop in Forex trading. As expected, you will primarily lose 3 out of 10 trades thus is sensible to hinder your losses to a certain percent and always practice proper money management.
• Some would say that is easy Forex trading given that one can rely only on 'gut feel'. This is not an intuition game; this is a real thing since your money is at risk. Being very much dependent on 'gut feeling' will only lead to financial dilemma thus it is best to control your emotions.
• You need to have a precise and detailed log of every good or bad trade that you had before to serve as your guidelines not to make any erroneous decision later on.
• Every people has their personal indicators thus what work for your friend may not always work for you, be unique.
• Indeed, it is definitely an easy Forex trading but in case you cant compose yourself to be serious on what you are doing then there is no point of even starting.
There are other lists of guideline that would present why it is known as easy Forex trading. For the trader, you have to practice and study every step that you make. Be patient and do not just rely on your inkling if you really want to bag the money all the time.