All posts by Ahmad Hassam

Uncategorized

Engulfing Candlestick Patterns Can Be Highly Profitable

Leave a comment

There are many candlestick patterns. Some are simple. Others are complex. One stick patterns are simple. Engulfing Candlestick Pattern is a two stick pattern can can signal the reversal of a trend. Spotting a trend reversal before time is what can give you the edge as a trader.

Most of the time, it will happen that you find the pattern forming on the first day. But on the second day, your hopes get dashed when the pattern fizzles out and there is no trading signal for you! Now two stick candlestick patterns are more complex. It takes two trading days for the two sticks to form on the daily charts. On the first day if you find a two stick pattern forming, you will have to wait for the end of the second trading day for confirmation.

However, it doesn’t mean that these two stick candlestick patterns do not form at all. They do! But don’t frequently. So if are able to spot a two stick pattern correctly, you can make a highly profitable trade. There are trend continuation patterns and trend reversal patterns. An Engulfing Candlestick Pattern is a very important trading signal about the reversal of a trend.

The open on the second day candle is lower than the open on the first day. A Bullish Engulfing Candlestick Pattern has a candle on the second day that completely covers the first day bullish candle.

Thus indicating that the bears are still in control but soon these bears are overcome by the bulls. Selling is soon reversed by the emergence of buying. Infact so much buying takes place that both the previous days open and high both are surpassed.

On the other hand, in case of the bearish engulfing pattern on the first day, the bulls are in control of the market. However, on the second day or the signal day, the bears have had enough. Sellers or short sellers think that the price has gone too high and it is the time to take profit and exit. They start selling in large numbers.

The second day bearish candle covers the first day bullish candle meaning that bears have taken hold of the market and uptrend is reversing itself. A massive chain reaction starts in the market. Everyone wants to sell and sell quick.

When trading a bullish engulfing pattern place the sell stop on the low of the setup day or the first day to be on the safe side. And when trading a bearish engulfing pattern, place your stops at the open of the second day. This is a good place to place your stops.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report FREE. Master these Candlestick Patterns with this 82 Page FREE PDF Candlestick Guide.

Forex Trading

Back Testing Your Trading System-Know These Shocking Limitations

Leave a comment

A trading system might consist of a few indicators and a number of rules that tell when to enter the trade and when to exit the trade. Trading system is considered to be proven and tested if there is some date that supports its performance under live market trading conditions. However, it might not be possible to test a trading system quickly under live trading conditions. To overcome such problems, backtesting has been developed. Backtesting is done with the use of a software.

For this you can do back testing. Back testing is a method that uses historical data to test how well your indicators work in a particular market. You can use back testing software that enables you to look at the past market data and test how well the indicators and your trading system have worked in the past market.

There are many problems with historical data. There is no slippage in backtesting. Slippage is one of the most important problem that a trader faces while trading live. The other problem that the backtest ignores is the widening of spreads under volatile market conditions. So backtesting results are no guarantee that the trading system will perform well under live market conditions. Things that worked in the past might not work now. Similarly something that didn’t work in the past, may work now! You never know!

What we can say is that no two trades are exactly alike. So when you look at back testing results, you should look at them with scepticism. But it doesn’t mean that backtesting is entirely useless!

Some markets are highly seasonal. For example, if you are a commodity trader and tend to trade agricultural commodities like the grain, seed or the livestock, these have a fixed planting and harvesting cycles.

For example, some markets especially the commodities market is highly seasonal and cyclical in nature. Now in other markets, you might not find any seasonal trends. For example, there is very little seasonality in curreny market or the bond market. In case of the stock market, there is much talk of the January Effect. Well, it is there no doubt about it. Some years, it is highly pronounced and others it is not that pronounced. Similarly stock prices tend to rise at the end of each month and the first few days of the new months. The reason for this is that many institutional investors tend to put the new funds to work at the end of the month and the beginning of the new month!

US Dollar Index trendlines might last for months to years. In other markets too backtesting can help you figure out important trends that lasts for last times. Backtesting can help you figure out how long a trend might last in a particular market.

But to tell you the truth, backtesting can only give you a rough guess about the performance of the trading system under live trading conditions. There is no substitute for live trading results!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Download this 1 Minute Forex Trading System FREE that makes money anytime instantly! Read this shocking FREE 40 page PDF FRWC Brutal Truth Report that exposes everything about trading robots!

Stock Trading

ETF Options Investing Secrets

Leave a comment

Index Options and ETF Options both provide you with an opportunity to use options strategies on a group of underlying stocks. However, there are some major difference between the Index Options and the ETF Options.

ETF Options are settled with the underlying instruments that is shares of ETFs. This gives you the chance to use various combination strategies with ETF Options that you cannot normally use with Index Options.Now trading ETF Options is somewhat different than trading Index Options. Though both track almost similar indexes but Index Options are settled in cash at expiry.

Now when you are trading index options or ETF options both of them get affected by the dividend payments on the underlying stocks. You need to take this fact into account when calculating the values of puts and calls with an Options Calculator otherwise your investment returns may not be what you have been anticipating.

As said before, since ETF Options get settled with ETF shares, you can use the different options trading strategies on them unlike the Index Options that get settled in cash. This makes ETF Options a much superior instrument as compared to Index Options. If you have traded stock options before, trading ETF Options should not be difficult for you.

Protective Put is a famous options trading strategy that portfolio managers use to hedge their stock positions. Now when trading ETF Options, you can use the famous Protective Put Strategy by combining long ETF with a long put. This way you can hedge against the downside risk with a small increased cost to the ETF. A Protective Put will limit the downside risk to the put strike price.

Another options trading strategy is often used is the Covered Call. Covered means that you are covering the call with the stocks that you own and on which you have written the call. You can use a Covered Call on ETF. A Covered Call is formed by taking combining long ETF with a short call on that ETF. The short call will give you some income in the shape of a premium and reduce the cost of the position. This will also slightly reduce the risk of the position. But on the other hand, a covered call will limit the upside profit potential. Your max profit now will only be limited to the call strike price.

Another combination strategy that you can use with an ETF is forming a Collared Position. A Collared Position is formed with a long ETF and a long put combined with a short call. A Collared Position limits the limited but high risk to a limited risk only. The downside risk is now only limited to the put strike price. The premium paid in taking a long put position is offset somewhat by the premium that you get by writing a call.

Options trading is risky in the sense that it has both time volatility as well as price volatility. Now, many traders trade options without getting good options trading education. What you need to do is first paper trade these strategies and master them. This way you will learn how to deal with unexpected risk.

An important fact that you need to know is that not all ETFs have options written on them. This should not surprise you as there are many stocks that don’t have options written on them. Another important fact that you should know is that ETF Options are always American Style. American Style options can be excercised anytime before expiry. You can even trade LEAP Options on ETFs. LEAP Options are long term options having expiry of more than nine months to less than two and a half years.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Read this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading FREE Report. Get this 40 page shocking FRWC Brutal Truth FREE Report that exposed everything about trading robots!

Stock Trading

Inverted Hammer Candlestick Pattern Can Make You Rich!

Leave a comment

Inverted Hammer Candlestick Pattern is a trend reversal pattern. This pattern can be bullish as well as bearish and occurs rarely or what you can say not frequently.

An Inverted Hammer is a quite rare pattern as the price action needed to produce it does not takes place frequently. But if it does, it is an important signal that you shouldn’t ignore. Now an inverted hammer can get formed in a downtrend as well as an uptrend. In a downtrend, the first day is a bearish candle signalling that the bears are still in control of the market.

How to identify an Inverted Hammer? Identifying an Inverted Hammer is not difficult. It looks just like an inverted hammer! What this means is the high of the trading day is way above the body. So most of the trading took place close to the small area near the low. Now, this low serves as the support for the coming days. An Inverted Hammer has a very small body at the bottom of the candle with a long wick on the upside.

Now, you should wait for the confirmation the following day in order to trade this bullish inverted hammer pattern. If the open of the next day after the appearance of the inverted hammer pattern is higher than the low of the previous day, the inverted hammer pattern is a true pattern and you can trade it by putting the stop at the same level of the open of the day.

Now, when an inverted hammer is formed in an uptrend, it means that the uptrend is about to reverse itself into a downtrend. On the first day, you will find the usual bullish candle signalling that the bulls are in control of the market. This is followed by a gap opening and more buying.

But at some time, the bears take hold of the market. The bears start to push the prices lower. The close is equal to or very close to the low of the day. When you spot a bearish inverted hammer, you can sell or go short by placing the stop close to the open of the second or the signal day.

However, as an aggressive trader, you can place the stop at the high of the inverted hammer formed on the second or the signal day. Always follow the rules. Place the stops and wait for the market to move further. If the market moves in the direction anticipated, you can make a nice profit. If not and the candlestick pattern is not confirmed by the subsequent price action, the stop loss order will take you out of action at a very small loss. Sometimes, the price action can retrace itself but stick with the rules, this is what disciplined traders do!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Read this shocking 40 page FRWC Brutal Truth FREE Report on trading robots and how to trade with them! Master these Candlestick Patterns!

Forex Trading

Futures Trading Like The Turtles Can Make You Rich!

Leave a comment

A futures contract is a security just like a stock or a bond with some similarities and many differences. A stock gives you the right to own a small part of the company while a bond makes you a lender to a company or the government.

Futures contract as the name implies is a binding contract between two parties for the delivery of a commodity or an asset or even a financial instrument at some future date between the buyer and seller of that contract. Futures market is a highly regulated market with the CFTC responsible for its regulation. Buyers and sellers don’t come in direct contact with each other. In between is the Central Clearing House that enforces the contract reducing the risk of party default!

Futures market is a very important financial market that sets the prices in the retail and wholesale markets of commodities like wheat, corn,heating oil, oil, gasoline, gold, silver, cattle, soybeans, meat, hogs, coffee and many other foodstuff. Futures market was primarily developed for helping farmers hedge their risk while growing agricultural commodities. Agricultural commodities are a very important part of the futures market. Over the decades, futures contracts become popular on a host of other commodities and contracts.

Futures contracts are by design meant to limit the amount of time and risk exposure experienced by hedgers and speculators. What this means is that all futures contracts are time bound and at some point in the future they expire.

Now you can easily trade these contracts by opening an account with a FCM brokerage and deposit an amount to start trading these contracts on margin. The minimum amount with most of the brokers is something like $5,000 but it can less too! Brokers allow leverage upto 10:1 when you trade on margin. Compare this to the leverage of 2:1 allowed by stock brokers. In the last decades, electronic trading has become highly popular among the traders. This includes futures as well.

In US, open outcry trading still takes place during the official hours at the different futures exchanges. However, most of these futures contracts also get traded electronically. GLOBEX allows electronic trading of most of these futures contracts 23 hours each day. Electronic trading provides a more level playing field, more price transparency and lower transaction costs.

The most popular futures contract that get traded on GLOBEX are S&P 500 stock index futures, NASDAQ 100 futures, Eurodollars, CME E-mini futures, foreign exchange rates, gold futures and crude oil futures. You can also trade options on GLOBEX.

GLOBEX trading overnight tends to be thin and more volatile than during the official trading hours that are from 8:30 AM EST to 4:15 PM EST. If you trade financial news on Bloomberg or CNBC before the stock market opens officially, you will find quotes on S&P 500 futures and other taken from GLOBEX.

These quotes are real time. There are many contracts that you can trade and the possibilities of making money in futures trading are immense. Imagine the prices of crude oil going up again just like what happened in the summer of 2008! Futures trading can be highly profitable but risky as well. Before you dabble in them, you should paper trade these contracts for at least a month just to get a feel of how to do it.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University.Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report Plus the Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade FREE! Know this shocking Dow Futures Secret that can make you rich!