How To Trade Foreign Currency

Unless you are new to trading you probably know already that technical analysis is a method of forecasting future price movement of commodities, securities, etc (in this case currencies) based on chart analysis, pattern formations, technical indicators, etc. Forex can be traded technically and in my opinion it is quiet predictable.

So, I will show you here some very common technical indicators and how they are used to forecast market prices. Remember that technical indicators are the basis of technical analysis systems. You can implement three different aspects to your trading systems. One is technical analysis as I explain here. The other is fundamental analysis. The third one is money management as I explain in my other articles on this series.

You can learn more about these technical indicators and how they are used if you visit www.investopedia.com. Most technical analysis systems combine at least a few technical indicators to forecast the market. I think that proper technical analysis skills are an important aspect of most successful trading systems. You can learn more about Forex and trading systems from my other articles on this series. I covered here important aspects of technical analysis, but most successful trading systems need some fundamental analysis and/or money management too.

A Forex mentor will help you learn the ropes of Forex currency trading. With so many people out there offering the same service with different methods of delivery, how do you determine which method of learning is best for you? With all the e-courses, videos, books, and seminars that are easily available online and offline for a price, it is difficult for you as the consumer to guess which one will be the one that clicks for you. You have to examine several options before purchasing one that works and some people go through several methods and never find one that actually helps them learn Forex trading. While this is not rocket science, it can be quite confusing and a little knowledge can be more dangerous and expensive than a true education.

My purpose for writing this article is to demonstrate to you the advantages of trading on the FOREX market. However, there is one myth that I want to dispel before I go further. The myth is that there is a difference between trading and investing. To dispel that myth I quote from Al Thomas, President of Williamsburg Investment Company, who wrote “If It Doesn’t Go Up, Don’t Buy It”. He said “Everyone who invests is a trader, only the time period is different.” It is a lesson that I took seriously after taking a beating in the stock market in 2000.

Leverage – Depending on your FOREX account size, your leverage may be 100:1, although there are FOREX brokers that offer leverage of up to 400:1 (not that I would ever recommend that kind of leverage). Leverage in the stock market can be as high as 4:1, and in the commodities market, leverage varies with the commodity traded but it can be quite high. Because the commodity markets are not as liquid as the FOREX market, its leverage is inherently riskier. Although I was never shut out of a commodity trade by the day limit, the fear was always in the back of my mind.

Trade execution – In the FOREX market, trade execution is almost instantaneous. In both the equity and commodity markets, you count on a broker to execute your trades and their results are sometimes inconsistent. While all of these features make trading the FOREX market very attractive, it still requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience. All trading can be risky.

If they had stayed for more hands they would have slowly chipped away at the winnings until it was gone. In trading the house doesn’t exactly have odds but commissions and slippage amount to odds against you. If you are new to trading you are probably thinking that commission and slippage are not that big of a hurdle. Well, I tracked it one time in my account, at the time I was daytrading. After six months I had lost more to commissions and slippage than I had lost on losing trades. Also keep this is mind I only traded on average 3 times per day and had a profit 66% of the time. During that six months I had only realized an increase of 5.5% in my account balance.

With so much to learn it is likely there is much more for you to know about foreign currency. For additional information visit the authors main page at Foreign Coin Values

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