Thursday, July 9, 2009

What Is A Mini Forex Account?

Nowadays many people around the world is looking for entering the world of Forex trading due to its very high profitability potential and many other advantages the Forex market has over other capital markets.

But one of the main worries of the new trader is if he will need lots of money in order to be able to access this market and start placing trades.

The reality is that practically anyone can enter the forex markets and place trades. You don't need to be super-rich or the owner of a big corporation. You just need a few dollars and the right strategy to start profiting from Forex trading.

In the Forex world there is something called a Mini Account, and it uses a different leverage calculation than a regular (100k) account. This means that instead of trading full-size currency lots (100,000 units), you'll trade in lots that are just 1/10 the size (10,000 currency units), which in turn greatly reduces the amount of money you risk in each trade you enter. Pips in a Mini Account are worth, on average, $1 instead of the $8 to $10 value they have in a regular account. The Mini Forex account offers up to a huge 200:1 leverage, this means that just a $50 margin deposit will allow you to trade lots worth roughly $10,000 , but the smaller lot sizes, with correspondingly smaller pip values, means that you'll be profiting less from a successful trade and also losing less if the trade goes bad . For example, while a 20-pip loss on a 100,000 USD/JPY position would be $200, the same loss on a 10,000 USD/JPY position in a Mini account would amount to only $20.

The following are the characteristics of a Forex Mini Account.

- Minimum required account deposit = $300
- Recommended required account deposit = $2,000
- Traded in 10,000-unit currency lots
- Default Margin: set at 0.5% ($50 per mini-lot)
- Leverage up to = 200:1

Contrary to what you may be tempted to think, there is no downside to trading a Forex mini account, you will be enjoying all the benefits that full-size FX account holders enjoy; including, same state-of-the art trading software from your broker, charts, resources, and tools. This mini accounts are ideal for a new Forex trader to develop a disciplined, rational forex trading strategy and technique without excessively focusing on the fear naturally arising from thinking too much about profits and losses.

One more great new for the starting forex trader is that there is no maximum trade volume when you use a mini account. Although the standard trade size is 10,000 units, you are not limited to trading one lot. For instance, you can trade 10,000 units or even 200,000 units. Allowing that, as you become more seasoned and build up your confidence you can slowly increase the size of your positions to maximize profits. This ability to customize the size of the trade will allow you to have a better risk management of your money.



Best Place to learn forex? My recommendation is INO TV's Free Video Trading Lessons


Other alternatives

Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!



Cheers

Alkepong

The Pros and Cons, of Trading a Forex Trading Demonstration Account

Trading is a skill that takes time to learn. Think of it like Boxing it’s also a skill that takes time to learn.

If you get into a professional boxing ring without any training, you’ll get beat up physically! If you get into the Forex ring without any training, you’ll get beat up financially!

The similarities are that both the examples are Skills, and both require psychological preparation. The difference is that one is physical and the other is financial.

We can get over a physical beating usually in a few days or weeks, BUT a financial beating can be devastating and easily affect us for the rest of our lives, not only does it hurt our hip pocket but it can cause problems with our relationships and family. So when we get into the Forex ring we have to be prepared.

The Professional Boxer

When a professional boxer gets in the ring he has already been practicing in a safe environment usually for years, this safe environment is where he can make mistakes without having medical treatment. He can also spar with other opponents that have more skills and experience then he does and he learns from them. He also has someone there to watch him and give advice and guidance.

Then when he is ready, he gets into the ring and boxes for real, he’s accepted the risk and KNOWS that he can get hurt, but he’s also studied his opponent and done his home work, so he KNOWS he has a good chance. He can still lose this round but if he wins most of them he will take the money home.

BUT! What about the psychological side? Does he fear getting into the ring? Sometimes! But he’s aware of it and he can control how it affects him in a way that is beneficial. Will he be thinking about the money he’ll make? Or will he be thinking about the fight as is happens and planning his next moves during the breaks? He’ll be analyzing the results from the previous rounds and making changes in his strategy for the next round.

The professional Trader

Can you see what’s coming next? If so than, you’ve learned to analyze what you read and form a projection into the future. (A very valuable skill for the FOREX Trader) A forex trader, like the professional boxer, will not get into the Forex trading ring without being prepared first. He might not spend years practicing in the Demonstration Account, but he will at least have spent a month or two or three, sparing with the Forex Market in a safe environment that he won’t get beat up in.

He’ll practice trading forex against all the other traders and learn from them, and he’ll also have someone watching him and giving advice, and guidance.
Then when he is ready, he’ll get into the Forex trading ring and trade forex for real, he’s accepted the risk and KNOWS that he can get hurt, but he’s also studied the Forex market and done his home work, so he KNOWS he has a good chance. He can still lose on this trade but if he wins most of the trades he will take the money home.

BUT! What about the psychological side? Does he fear getting into the forex trading ring? Sometimes! But he’s aware of this fear, but he can control how it affects him, in a way that is beneficial to his forex trading. Will he be thinking about the money he’ll make? Or will he be thinking about the things that are influencing the market as is happens and planning his next trades while he waits for the results? He’ll be analyzing the results from the previous trades and making changes in his strategy or continuing with the one that’s working, and planning for the next Forex Trade.

So it's easy to see that trading with a Forex Trading Demonstration account is something everyone should do before getting into a live Forex Trading account.

The practice account will give the trader MOST of the skills necessary, to be able to trade profitably, giving them the training ring to spar in.

BUT A BIG WARNING!!!

Like the Boxer the Forex trader has to learn to manage his emotions, this is often overlooked by new Forex Traders. BUT is probably what separates the successful investor from the ones that keep getting beat up!

If you are considering getting into the Forex trading Ring, then be sure to practice first, and find all the information you can about controlling your emotions.

Fear, greed, impatience, are the main culprits of financial bashings, so keep an eye out for them, and learn how to beat them before you get in the ring with them.

Understanding these emotions will enable you to use them to your advantage in understanding the market, the market is influence by these emotions and if you understand them you can have them on your side, thus giving you an advantage.


Best Place to learn forex? My recommendation is INO TV's Free Video Trading Lessons


Other alternatives

Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!

Cheers

Alkepong

Will I Get Rich Trading?...Probably Not

Don't throw that coffee cup at your screen, I'm only being honest. The internet is filled with talented pitch men that can hype anything from watching the stars to the latest and greatest make you rich on auto-pilot software program for your trading signals. (but the stars thing does work great with my wife) Well, here today on the World Wide Web I am going to reveal the Holy Grail of trading. The surprise is it won't be found sold on the 'net in fact it is not a trading system at all. It is (drum roll please) being honest with yourself. My goodness, that's not very exciting after all the hype we've been fed by the guru's.

Do Some People Get Rich Trading Forex?...Absolutely

The truth is there are many trading systems that work, but there are precious few people can be honest enough with themselves to pick a system correctly. Most people that want to trade start off by looking for that system that will beat the market. Now I know that some systems out perform others and by all means you should seek the best one. Where many struggling traders don't understand is that the best system is the one that matches your own personality. If one trader has good discipline he may not need a system that is very rigid.

On other side of the discipline spectrum, a trader would need many rules to protect him. If either of these traders try to trade with other system they would probably fail. When you try to trade a system that does not align with your need for discipline as an individual you are destined to fight the very system your trading.

The holy grail that many seek is the ability to correctly identify their strengths and weaknesses. This sounds simple but you would be surprised at how many people will disregard certain weaknesses that they do not want to admit to anyone, even themselves. If more traders would first be brutally honest with themselves and then design a system tailored to their own attributes we would have many more Rich traders.

So Will You Get Rich Trading Forex?

If you have the honesty to choose the correct system, and the discipline to follow that system it may be possible, why not?



Best Place to learn forex? My recommendation is INO TV's Free Video Trading Lessons


Other alternatives

Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!





Cheers

Alkepong

Why Is A Mentor Necessary To Succeed At Forex (FX) Currency Trading?

Forex (foreign exchange) trading, which is becoming a very popular due to its low investment capital, 24-hour market availability, lower transaction fees, as well its high returns potential. However, it is not easy to learn Forex trading on your own. While it can be done, the lessons can be relatively expensive.

With vast online-forex trading courses, videos, books, and seminars, it is difficult for you to know which one will be the one that is suitable for you. You may end up falling for scammer mentors without actually finding the 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.

This is why I suggest a mentor to assist you in the process of learning Forex. A mentor will save you countless hours of research that will not help you as well as thousands of dollars purchasing ineffective material. You are also likely to find that you are making profitable currency trades much sooner than you would have been without utilizing the services of a mentor.


Where to start? My recommendation is INO TV's Free Video Trading Lessons


Other alternatives

Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!

Cheers

Alkepong

Understanding What Influences Forex Prices

Differences between Technical Analysis and Fundamentals

Below are excerpts taken from the best-selling book ‘Market Wizards’ where Jack Schwager interviews Ed Seykota and Bruce Kovner.

Ed is a trend trader (uses technical analysis) and also relies on hunches from 20 years of experience. He definitely emphasizes his reliance on technical analysis. While reading this, I liken, the ‘hunches’ to knowing the effect fundamentals can have on a market although I could be mistaken, they could be purely from reading lots of charts so well. Here are is exact words “Fundamentals that you read about are typically useless as the market has already discounted the price, and I call them ‘funny-mentals.’ However, if you catch on early, before others believe, then you might have valuable ‘surprise-a-mentals.’”

Ed says his priorities when trading are the long term trend, the current charts and picking a good spot to buy or sell, in that order.

Bruce says technical is awesome and very useful but by no means disregards fundamentals.

It’s important to note that technical analysis is a critical method of understanding the history of market movements and hence useful to identify trends. It doesn’t actually tell us where the currency is going but analyses historical data. We then need to use our own intelligence to see what the activity of trading says about future trades.

Technical Analysis can be compared to taking a patient’s temperature. To ignore it is ignorance and it can tell you whether a market is active, or cold and dormant.

It also picks up unusual behaviour. Anything that creates a new chart pattern is something unusual. He also says “Studying the charts is absolutely crucial and alerts me to existing disequilibria and potential changes.”

It’s the fundamentals that will help to indicate whether a trading value will increase or decrease.

Everything that makes a country tick, in Forex terms. Consumer spending, government spending, employment cost index, government policy, political concerns and even an individual event can influence the market heavily.

In summary, the fundamentals will indicate the direction of a price but not exact prices. The chart analysis or technical analysis is better for that, so together you can really increase your chances of coming away with some pips.

The reason technical analysis is so emphasized is that many traders use charts to trade and at any given time, will be drawing the same lines of resistance and same lines of support. So if you can read the charts well, you have an awesome chance of predicting market movements. The best way to learn about the effect of fundamentals is to learn one piece of economic data at a time. This will help you make better-educated trades.


Cheers
Alkepong

Recommended programs
Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!

Recommended Forex Robot
Forex MegaDroid Robot

Recommended Forex Signal
Supra Forex

Think Forex And Consider These Two Factors

If you are thinking trading forex, consider these.

Daytrading with a small account
If you want to daytrade with stocks and you have less than $25.000 on the account, you are likely to have a hard life. The reason is that a rule called "pattern day traders" allows you to daytrade freely only if you have that amount or more on your account. If you have less, your daytrades (positions entered and exited the same day) are limited to three in any five trading days period. Your broker should monitor your activity and make sure you do not execute trades that are not allowed under the "pattern day traders" rule. This regulation applies for stocks and stock options. The Forex market at the time of this writing is not involved.

Risk Control
The Forex market has two characteristics that may translate in a better risk control on your trades. What I mean by risk control, is the possibility to define your maximum loss should the market move agains you. If we do not consider the use of options or other tools as a hedge, the way to take control of losses is by using a stop loss order.
Nothing new, up to here. The problem that at times traders face is that a stop order can be executed at a price much worse than the one intended and originally set.

Generally, there are two situation where this can happen.

The first has to do with the liquidity of the market. Within this article, we can consider liquidity as a synonymous of trading volume. If liquidity is poor in a market, there might be a significant price difference from one execution to the next one. You can notice this easily in any intraday chart of a small volume security: the price does not move in a continuous an harmonic way, like it does in a very liquid market; rather, it has a tendency to "jump" from one level to the next. This can affect the execution of your orders in a negative way. The phenomenon is also referred to as "slippage". Here we consider in particular the exit order, but slippage can affect your entry order as well, and this could translate in for example in a buy order executed at a higher price than the one you wanted to buy. The Forex market does not fear competitors about liquidity. 3.98 Trillions dollar are traded in Forex every day. The other markets follow at a big distance.

The second factor that gives trouble to risk control is in the occurence of price gaps. Say your stock closes today at 63, and your stop order is at 61.5. In theory, your maximum risk is 1.5 points per share. But the stock for any reason tomorrow opens for trading at 57, and you will be stopped out at that price, so the actual loss will be 5 points per share. Gaps are common in stocks whenever an important news is announced when the market is closed. Sometime an important news can cause a gap even intraday, especially in a not so liquid market. Some other times, the trading in a stock is suspended just in the wait of an important pending news. A gap in almost assured when the news is released. Of course, your position can also benefit from a gap, if the gap direction is in your favour. But the point here is that the occurence of gaps reduces your power to control risk with a stop loss order. The Forex market is virtually always open from Monday to Friday. There can be wild intraday moves caused by news, but the occurence of gaps is very rare within the week.

These are just two of the potential advantages the Forex market offers to traders. There are many others that I will not cover here, from the cost of trading (commissions are often zero), to the amount necessary to open an account (which can be very low). All these factor explain why the Forex market is attracting more and more traders.


Where to start? My recommendation is INO TV's Free Video Trading Lessons


Other alternatives

Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!


Cheers

Jay Alkepong






Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Online Forex Trading

Online forex trading is now an alternative for just about anybody to venture into this lucrative business with very small capital. This especially so as foreign exchange market brokers are able to offer small traders like you and me the opportunity to buy or sell any number of smaller money lots with the option to trade them at the same rates and price movements as the big players who once dominated the market.

With jut as little as US $ 250 in your account, your can to get in one of the biggest, and most exciting, opportunities that has come along in decades, and you can even trade at home. On forex trading is made possible with a number of foreign currency trading platform such as the meta trader which most brokers will supply it once you opened an account with them. Just install it and you are ready to trade.

Consider these

1.Lower margin
The margin requirements for forex are about 1%. For example, the margin required to trade foreign exchange is $1000 for every $100,000. That means trading forex, your money can play with 5 times as much value of product as a futures trader’s, or 50 times more than a stock trader’s.

When you are trading on margin, this can be a very profitable but it’s important that you understand the risks that are involved as well. Here is where a great forex trading course comes in to help and support you all the way to real profits.

2. No commission and no exchange fees
Trading forex has the advantage of being commission free, which is much better for you. Currency trading is a worldwide inter-bank market that allows buyers to find sellers in an instant.

3. Limited risk
When you are trading futures, your risk can be unlimited. For example, if the price for an item falls dramatically, you can’t leave your position and this could wipe out the entire equity in your account as a result. If the price keeps falling, you have to find more money to make up for the deficit in your account.

4. 24 hours marketplace
Forex market operates 24/5. You can trade any time you like from Monday to Friday.

5. Free marketplace
Foreign exchange is perhaps the largest market in the world about $3.98 trillion and with the huge number of people trading forex around the globe, it is very hard for even governments to control the price of their own currency, the prices are fair.

6.You Can make money in rising and falling markets
There are no restrictions to sell currencies short, which means that with forex currency trading you can make money just as easily in rising and falling markets.

However, as with all trading, there are always some risks involved, but if you follow the tips and teachings of people who made the Forex easy to trade, there is nothing which can stand between you and substantial profits.


Where to start? My recommendation is INO TV's Free Video Trading Lessons


Other alternatives

Learn Forex Live.
The Traders Club!
Trendlines.TV
Forex Candlesticks Made Easy!




Thats it for now

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