The thought of investing for long term benefits is an ideal one but this is only an option if you are established and have extra cash that you plan to multiply rather than just save it. The present situation is more important to deal with, than the future solutions.

When we are dealing with present situation, it is mainly focused on clearing any type of credit or loan that you have pending. Clearing them up before you take the next step towards investing is the wisest course of action and the first line in any book of a professional investor. Suppose you have $1000 credit to be paid and also an opening where you can invest these $1000 it is better to clear your credit first. This is especially true if you are in possession of a credit card that has high interest rates. Such high interest credit cards are always best to be exchanged with low interest credit cards. If not you can reschedule your loan scheme to that which has low interest loans. In case you have a outstanding credits, don’t even think about investing first to earn more and then pay through the profits obtained through investment. Out of ten people who try this sort of stunt more at least five of them end up being bankrupt. This is because psychologically even if you do receive any profit, you will be pulled towards gambling tendencies rather than paying up your dues in time.

It is always safe and satisfactory to be debtless while dealing with investments. The progress of your financial situation through investments depends on your stability to manage your finances correctly rather than earning a very large profit and not knowing what to do with it. Stabilize the current situation to be stable in any kind of trading situation. In this way any kind of profit will satisfy you and you will not be disappointed when the income you have received does not equal your credit and loans. Remember that there is not one regular investor in the world has never lost through investments at some point.

Dr. Joshua Geralds is a successful Investment Specialist with over twenty years experience increasing the income of people world wide. Visit http://www.pipsalot.com to learn how to make steady profits through safe trading.

Learning to trade the forex market is no small job. It is a job that professionals go through all sorts of education and experiences to be able to manage billions and trillions of portfolio funds. Therefore, learning on this profession does not have an end.

The basics of fundamental and techical analysis, therefore cannot be over-emphasized. I will want to discuss the advantages of moving averages and bollinger bands in take profits.

In trading the forex market, emphasis has to be laid on larger time frames, especially when the resistance or support of lower time frames has been broken.

Now, when you plot a bollinger band say 62 band on your chart, enable it on all time frames, you will find out that its resistance and support levels vary for each time frame, hence a break on a larger time frame indicates more pips in the making.

I use a simple moving average (100). A break of this on the 15 minutes chart upwards or downwards may cause a pip rise or drop of over 100, but when this happens on the 1 hour chart, the pips may triple or quadruple.

When there is a break of the 100 SMA on the 15 minutes chart, look to the 1 hour chart, a break of this signifies that the trend has gradually changed from a downtrend to an uptrend even if temporary. It usually results in massive pip gain. However, during the uptrend or downtrend, this moving average or bollinger band, on the larger time frame can be a point for initial profit take. This is because at these point, the market usually takes back some of its gains.

When a currency pair is struggling to break a particular price point, say on the 15 minutes chart, look to the larger time frame because it may have hit a bollinger or moving average of a larger time frame. When this happens, the price retreats initially, then makes another come back.

A break above that resistance or support level is a confirmation of the next rally.

Trading the forex market involves a whole new world of learning. Never underestimate any resource, it will only limit you chances of being a better trader.

I’m just a start up guy with quite a load of experience and still counting. forex trading just got better. Learn the trade, keep the pips. http://successcreations.wordpress.com

Most forex brokers that you will use online have developed their trading platforms so that they calculate your profits/losses for you. So why am I writing this article?

Well, it’s pretty simple really.

If you are serious about being a successful forex trader you need to understand the mathematics behind your trades. Plus it makes sure that you can keep tabs on your forex broker, so you can make sure they are not ‘cooking the books’.

As a forex trader, I’d expect you to be numerate, so it should be pretty easy for you to calculate your profits and losses. But I can understand if you are new to forex trading it might not be initially self-explanatory.

The 2 formulae you need to commit to memory.

(In this calculation I’m assuming you are trading in USD.)

When the US Dollar is the second currency (the quote currency), the formula to use is:

1 – Profit is equal to: the price change in PIPs multiplied by the units traded. (e.g. profit = pips price change x traded units)

Secondly if the US Dollar is the first currency in the pair (base currency), the formula to use is:

2 – Profit is equal to: the change in price in PIPs multiplied by the units traded divided by the exit price. e.g. profit = price change in pips x units traded / exit price

So to ‘hammer this home’ and make sure you really understand this process I want to give you a few examples.

To start with we’ll use an example where the US dollar is the second currency, the quote currency, and to make things easy we’re going to use a 1% broker margin. So you can trade up to 100,000 USD with only 1000 USD.

OK?

Great. We’ll take the EUR/USD which for example is trading at 1.5618/9. Your analysis has led you to predict that the Euro is going to rise in value against the dollar so you start a trade to buy more Euros and sell US Dollars.

So you end up buying $100,000 worth of units at a price of 1.5619 – remembering that you are buying so you have to buy at the ask price – this is the last/second number in the quote (so you buy at the ask price of 1.5619 not 1.5618).

Your predictions turn out to be correct. Congratulations, the price rise to 1.5635/6. So you start another trade to sell the Euros and buy USDs. For this trade you use the bid price as you are selling, which is 1.5635.

So here’s where your maths comes in.

As you purchased the Euros at 1.5619 and then sold at 1.5635 your profit is 16 pips, or 0.0016. So before that makes any sense we need to convert that into proper money. So this is where we use our formulae.

Profits = 0.0016 (price change in pips) x 100,000 (units traded) = $160.00

If you are trading standard sized lots of a currency pair as we did above of 100,000, in which you use the USD as the quote currency, a quick rule to remember is that a pip is equal to c.$10. Hence 16 pips = $160.

So let’s take another quick example, but this time we’ll use the USD as the base currency.

You place a buy order for 100,000 units of USD/JPY at 103.20. The price increases and you sell at 103.33. You just made a quick 13 pips. So to calculate your profit in your second formula:

Profit = .13 (pips) x 100,000 (units traded) / 103.33 (exit price) = $110.78

Easy huh?

Do you make these forex trading mistakes? Don’t lose your shirt. Discover how to trade forex for big profits. Visit: http://realforexsecrets.com

titleThe Real Secret to Day Trading Forex Currency/titlepYou want to know the real secret to day trading forex currency? Well, here it is: emConfidence and understanding of the market/em. There you go. Theres your real holy grail. If you can accomplish these two feats then you can write your own paycheck. Happy? Ok, so you probably need a little more information. Fine. Here it is:/ppustrongConfidence/strong/u! I cannot begin to tell you how many forex traders in the world are having anxiety attacks watching their trades just as I am typing. If you cant handle a trade or trading or in general, then ustrongdont do it/strong/u. Youll never have success day trading forex currency if you are watching every pip move like its life or death. Emotions can destroy a trader. A traders fear can cause him/her to hold a trade even though the obvious trend is going against them. It could also have the adverse effect in which a trader closes a trade WAY too early because hes afraid to hold it, even though all the signs are pointing in the right direction./ppI could give you the greatest trading system in the world, but it wont do you much good if you dont have any confidence in trading it./ppThe ustrongunderstanding of the market/strong/u goes hand in hand with the confidence. When I say emunderstand,/em I mean just that: Understand what you are looking at. Dont be like everybody else who has to use indicators to tell them what the market is doing. Does anybody understand what these indicators even mean? Can you honestly tell me what using an MACD Divergence does? Its colorful and its pretty on a chart, but what does that have to do with the tea in China? Take the time to understand the underlying causes of price and market movement./ppTake off the indicators on your charts and see if you notice some repeated patterns. If you can start to see them then you can be ahead of the other 95% of forex traders who end up losing money on the markets. After all how can you have confidence day trading forex currency if you have no idea what you are looking at./ppJim Buhs has been a successful forex trader after learning how to trade price action. He was able to have a target=_new href=http://www.squidoo.com/forex-successforex trading success/A after he cleaned his charts of indicators, and his profits soared./ppTo check out Jims Highest recommendation go to LearnForexDirectory.com and look at a target=_new href=http://www.learnforexdirectory.com/forex-education/bird-watching-in-lion-country.htmlBird Watching in Lion Country/A./pbrbr

titleCurrency Trading Strategy – How To Use The Fib 127 For Consistent Profits/titlepA solid currency trading strategy consists of entering a trade at the right place, having a stop that is properly calculated, and setting a reasonable profit target level that works time after time after time./ppMany newer traders set too ambitious profit targets expecting the trade to be the big one and hoping it will help offset the losses they have accumulated./ppHowever, a far more effective currency trading strategy is to set a reasonable profit target each time, not expecting the home run, and being satisfied with smaller profits which on a consistent basis will build the equity in the account surprisingly quickly once the compounding action kicks in./ppHere is where the Fibonacci tool comes in./ppThis article assumes a trader knows how to use the Fibonacci tool which comes as a standard technical analysis tool on most charting software packages./ppWhile the key retracement levels are 38, 50, 62 and 70 percent, two extension levels are commonly used – 1.27 and 1.62 percent./ppbThe Importance Of Fib 127/b/ppIt is the 1.27 level we are interested in./ppWhy?/ppBecause price regularly gets to the 1.27 level, or at least within a few pips of it. Price also gets to the 1.62 level fairly often but not nearly as often as the 1.27 level./ppSo if you are trading with the trend, always a safe currency trading strategy, and price has pulled back to the 50 or 62 retracement levels, there is a very reasonable chance price will reach the 1.27 target./ppIf price pulls back to the 79 retracement level it may not go so far. If you trade from that retracement, you will want to take the first profit at the end of the swing as price may not extend beyond that point to the 1.27 or 1.62 level./ppSome traders just focus on this currency trading strategy when going with the trend:/ppul liIn at the Fib 50 retracement/li liOut at the Fib 127 extension/li/ul/ppbWhy is this such a sound currency trading strategy?/b/ppBecause the Fib 38 retracement level does not offer such a good risk reward ratio many times. There is always the risk price will pull back further and take out your stop./ppOn the other hand, price frequently fails to reach the 62 or 79 retracement levels so the trader is left on the sidelines as the trade fails to get filled./ppThe 50 level is frequently reached so the trader has a good chance of getting his order filled./ppOn the other hand, the 127 extension is not too ambitious. In at 50 and out at 127 will often net a profit of somewhere between 25 and 40 pips. With a 20 to 25 pip stop the risk reward ratio is satisfactory./ppbHow To Use Fib 127/b/ppHere are some other factors to consider when using the Fib 127 extension:/ppLook to see if this level coincides with other factors such as/pliA previous key level of support or resistance on the higher time frames such as 1 hour, 4 hour, daily, or even weekly./liliThe 200 EMA (Exponential Moving Average) on the 1 hour or 4 hour. This often provides quite a strong level of support and resistance./liliA pivot point (Central Pivot Point, R1, R2, S1, S2, or M1-4 levels ) calculated from the previous days High, Low and Close./libr/ulpEven when targeting the Fib 127 as the profit taking point, it is wise to trim a couple of pips of the limit order. So often price will nearly reach Fib 127 and pull back./ppYes it might go on to touch it later but in the meantime price retraces and you have to have the mental stamina to be able to handle that./ppMany traders would rather just take a slightly smaller profit and save themselves one or two hours of price consolidation with the risk they may lose the profit altogether./ppA solid currency trading strategy develops over time. A key ingredient is not being too ambitious. The Fib 127 extension level is a reasonable profit target you can use regularly to extract your wages from the Forex market!/ppbFor a free Fibonacci calculator, pivot point calculator, and the best free economic calendars click here:/b/ppa target=_new href=http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.htmlhttp://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html/a/ppbFor a free candle chart pattern recognition reference tool click here:/b/ppa target=_new href=http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Candle-Chart-Patternshttp://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Candle-Chart-Patterns/a/ppbSee how to use trendlines to get an optimum trade entry point:/b/ppa target=_new href=http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/trendline.htmlhttp://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/trendline.html/a/pbrbr

For those unfamiliar with the term, FOREX (FOReign EXchange market), refers to an international exchange market where currencies are bought and sold. The Foreign Exchange Market that we see today began in the 1970′s, when free exchange rates and floating currencies were introduced. In such an environment only participants in the market determine the price of one currency against another, based upon supply and demand for that currency.

FOREX is a somewhat unique market for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few markets in which it can be said with very few qualifications that it is free of external controls and that it cannot be manipulated. It is also the largest liquid financial market, with trade reaching between 1 and 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. With this much money moving this fast, it is clear why a single investor would find it near impossible to significantly affect the price of a major currency. Furthermore, the liquidity of the market means that unlike some rarely traded stock, traders are able to open and close positions within a few seconds as there are always willing buyers and sellers.

Another somewhat unique characteristic of the FOREX money market is the variance of its participants. Investors find a number of reasons for entering the market, some as longer term hedge investors, while others utilize massive credit lines to seek large short term gains. Interestingly, unlike blue-chip stocks, which are usually most attractive only to the long term investor, the combination of rather constant but small daily fluctuations in currency prices, create an environment which attracts investors with a broad range of strategies.

How FOREX Works

Transactions in foreign currencies are not centralized on an exchange, unlike say the NYSE, and thus take place all over the world via telecommunications. Trade is open 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon (00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday). In almost every time zone around the world, there are dealers who will quote all major currencies. After deciding what currency the investor would like to purchase, he or she does so via one of these dealers (some of which can be found online). It is quite common practice for investors to speculate on currency prices by getting a credit line (which are available to those with capital as small as $500), and vastly increase their potential gains and losses. This is called marginal trading.

Marginal Trading

Marginal trading is simply the term used for trading with borrowed capital. It is appealing because of the fact that in FOREX investments can be made without a real money supply. This allows investors to invest much more money with fewer money transfer costs, and open bigger positions with a much smaller amount of actual capital. Thus, one can conduct relatively large transactions, very quickly and cheaply, with a small amount of initial capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market is quantified in lots. The term “lot” refers to approximately $100,000, an amount which can be obtained by putting up as little as 0.5% or $500.

EXAMPLE: You believe that signals in the market are indicating that the British Pound will go up against the US Dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the Pound with a 1% margin at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to climb. At some point in the future, your predictions come true and you decide to sell. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips or about $405. Thus, on an initial capital investment of $1,000, you have made over 40% in profits. (Just as an example of how exchange rates change in the course of a day, an average daily change of the Euro (in Dollars) is about 70 to 100 pips.)

When you decide to close a position, the deposit sum that you originally made is returned to you and a calculation of your profits or losses is done. This profit or loss is then credited to your account.

Investment Strategies: Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis

The two fundamental strategies in investing in FOREX are Technical Analysis or Fundamental Analysis. Most small and medium sized investors in financial markets use Technical Analysis. This technique stems from the assumption that all information about the market and a particular currency’s future fluctuations is found in the price chain. That is to say, that all factors which have an effect on the price have already been considered by the market and are thus reflected in the price. Essentially then, what this type of investor does is base his/her investments upon three fundamental suppositions. These are: that the movement of the market considers all factors, that the movement of prices is purposeful and directly tied to these events, and that history repeats itself. Someone utilizing technical analysis looks at the highest and lowest prices of a currency, the prices of opening and closing, and the volume of transactions. This investor does not try to outsmart the market, or even predict major long term trends, but simply looks at what has happened to that currency in the recent past, and predicts that the small fluctuations will generally continue just as they have before.

A Fundamental Analysis is one which analyzes the current situations in the country of the currency, including such things as its economy, its political situation, and other related rumors. By the numbers, a country’s economy depends on a number of quantifiable measurements such as its Central Bank’s interest rate, the national unemployment level, tax policy and the rate of inflation. An investor can also anticipate that less quantifiable occurrences, such as political unrest or transition will also have an effect on the market. Before basing all predictions on the factors alone, however, it is important to remember that investors must also keep in mind the expectations and anticipations of market participants. For just as in any stock market, the value of a currency is also based in large part on perceptions of and anticipations about that currency, not solely on its reality.

Make Money with Currency Trading on FOREX

FOREX investing is one of the most potentially rewarding types of investments available. While certainly the risk is great, the ability to conduct marginal trading on FOREX means that potential profits are enormous relative to initial capital investments. Another benefit of FOREX is that its size prevents almost all attempts by others to influence the market for their own gain. So that when investing in foreign currency markets one can feel quite confident that the investment he or she is making has the same opportunity for profit as other investors throughout the world. While investing in FOREX short term requires a certain degree of diligence, investors who utilize a technical analysis can feel relatively confident that their own ability to read the daily fluctuations of the currency market are sufficiently adequate to give them the knowledge necessary to make informed investments.

Rich McIver is a contributing writer for The Forex Blog: Currency Trading News ( http://www.forexblog.org ).

Forex trading, as one of the important markets worldwide, is a very rewarding opportunity and it can bring huge takings to traders. Forex trading can also be very perilous, especially to the new inexperienced traders. That is why every trader should trade smart and improve his/her own trading strategy that works and follow it consistently.

Call and email with software, and see how fast they respond – and how helpful the trading process are. Do not think that so-called Forex is a way to get rich quickly. Industry thinks that if a variety is cheap, it’s software and they should buy. These scams Support There are the Internet boom out there dedicated to making easy money off of the currency markets, conmen included.

Do their users use them, do you see them in industry or do you ever see conmen who has made software with them – No you don’t. Software is if you are buying All Forex Trading Software, is you see all Forex trading software, be wary and either discount it and move on.

Now, what I mean by the ways is from course of some sort on All Forex Trading Software. You and the casual trader are just trying to ride All Forex Trading Software of easy money. In order to develop Google of what a quick search is and what makes it possible, you are going to need to have industry grasp on what money is, and how your money functions.

One of the ways in which they do this is by selling some sort of a quick search. From 2001 to 2007, industry said that 26,000 people lost $ 460 million in a quick search. Like the casual trader always point to: currency conversion with Discount Forex Trading Software.

The casual trader can also offer a variety to open A Forex Software Trader and trade with things. In order to achieve a demo, the casual trader would have to take a good number of its profitability available in a quick search and then get extremely lucky.

Consistent profits that you trade with allow you to make more money per a quick search, so that’s why it is useful. We often hear about profits. You have to give attention at least a fair chance to work it out. This is all important and course of its profitability can be decided by 20 pips.

The author runs a Forex Traders website where traders can gather tips and resources about forex trading at http://www.fxtradershub.com

Many new traders think that profiting from the Forex involves finding a ‘secret formula’ or trading strategy. So they embark on an exhaustive search for what amounts to the ‘holy grail’ only to find themselves still searching 2 or 3 years later still waiting for consistent profits.

If that is the case, it is unlikely to be the strategy that’s the problem. Profiting from Forex can be done through any number of tried and test strategies. Just purchase a training package from many of the reputable online traders or brokers and you will find them.

The main problem that stops traders from profiting from Forex is in the mind! Successful Forex trading involves a whole range of mind control skills and mental disciplines that take some time to develop.

So if you are still struggling after one or two years of trading the Forex, start to focus your time and energies not so much on searching for a new strategy or trading methodology, but rather on yourself and how you approach and manage trades.

Monitoring Emotional State

How can this be done?

By monitoring our personal responses and emotional state during the course of a trading day.

Once we have a strategy we have confidence in, it is merely a case of waiting until the setup appears where we can employ that strategy.

Here is the problem. The Forex market goes through long periods of consolidation and low liquidity. The anxious trader will desperately look for trading opportunities and deviate from the strategy they have selected.

So things may not be quite right, but it looks reasonably favorable so in they go only to be dismayed when the trade turns against them.

It takes much mental discipline to restrain oneself from going into trades that do not match the criteria the strategy demands.

Once in the trade, mental discipline is again required so the trade is managed properly.

Have you ever found yourself doing this?

You enter the trade after examining risk and profit potential. Your stop is strategically placed 25 pips from your entry point. Price starts to go against you. It gets dangerously close to your stop and you think to yourself, “the trade needs a little more room for maneuver so I’ll push back the stop by another 5 pips.” Price continues to pull back getting close to your new stop.

The novice trader now thinks, “Just another 5 pips to make sure I’m not needlessly going to get stopped out of this trade” and moves the stop back to 35 pips.

Almost predictably in this scenario, price continues stopping out the trade at 35 pips. The trader has now suffered a loss of 35 pips instead of 25 pips which was originally factored in.

Continuing to trade in this manner makes profiting from Forex pretty remote! It takes mental discipline to stick to the plan!

Winning And Losing Responses

Then come the emotions associated with winning or losing.

The newer Forex trader will feel emotions of elation on getting a winning trade. In fact, the whole day can appear bright and cheerful with just one winning trade.

On the other hand, a losing trade can put the same trader into the depths of depression or despair. The day seems grim and hopeless leading to flawed judgment on the next trade which also goes wrong and compounds the attack on the trader’s level of confidence.

It takes mental discipline to keep the emotions in check trying to avoid feeling either elation or despair on the basis of a winning or losing trade.

The disciplined trader approaches order entry almost mechanically realizing there will be winners and losers and that the strategy, if adhered to, will in the end win out!

So how can we develop this tough mental condition and strong mindset if ever we are to see the day when we are actually profiting from Forex?

Just as the trader will keep monitoring the charts, watching price action and candle formations during the course of a trading session, the same monitoring activity needs to be applied to the mental and emotional condition.

Self-Monitoring Sessions

This can be achieved by constantly asking questions of oneself. For example:

• What am I feeling right now?
• Am I in a relaxed state or am I anxious, agitated, or frustrated?
• Am I desperately looking for trading opportunities when no high probability trades are setting up right now?
• How did I react after my last trade whether it was successful or not?
• What can I learn from that and how can I better handle my emotions next time?
• Am I enjoying the experience or am I nervous of the markets?

Many sports participants and Olympic medalists spend huge amounts of time and resources on getting the right mindset. Coaches work with them to develop mental discipline and mind conditioning so they perform well under pressure and become aware of their own emotional state and feelings.

Often, it is not so much the level of skill or physical strength that makes the difference between the winner and the rest, it is competitor who has mental toughness who has the edge!

Focus On Mindset

So if you have been trading the Forex for one or two years already with mixed results, why not focus on your mindset.

Select a strategy that has a tried and tested track record by other traders and professionals who are already profiting from Forex, and then spend most of your time and energy developing the mind skills necessary to get into the small percentage of traders who actually make money on the Forex!

To learn how to preserve your mental and emotional resources in addition to your account equity click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-day-trading-mental-equity.htm

Do you know the important lesson Mohammed Ali teaches us about Forex trading? Read it here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-online-trading-mohammed-ali.htm

For a free pivot point calculator, Fibonacci calculator and the best free economic calendars click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

Almost everyone wished to be successful in forex trading, but has anyone planned on the path to be a successful currency trader? I believe not many. If you have not or not sure how to plan, below are the steps that can lead you to the path of success in forex trading:

Step 1: Get yourself a forex ebook or forex course to begin with, so that you can understand the basics of forex trading and how does it work. If you have gotten my free ‘Forex Trading To Riches’ ebook, you should be able to grab hold of what foreign exchange is about.

Step 2: Open a FREE forex DEMO (practice)account with online brokers.

Step 3: This is an important step. Make sure you read the psychology part and money management rules of forex trading before you start on demo trading. Take note, always start with good habits. Getting rid of bad habits is much harder than to build good habits.

Step 4: After you have gone through the whole ebook or forex trading course, you will probably know how a forex trading system works. Moreover, my PIPS MOVER™ trading system is easy to understand. So let’s get practical and practice it on the demo account. Practice makes perfect!

Step 5: Demo trade for about a few weeks until you get used to the forex trading system. If you have developed some bad habits along the way, carry on demo forex trading until you get rid of them, you do not want to make those mistakes when you go live trading! I would recommend students to go live trading only when they hit a success rate of 70% and above.

Step 6: You should be already quite consistent in your demo trading when you have come to this step. Open a LIVE forex trading account, either a mini account or a standard account. I understand that many traders start off with mini account first to build their confidence. That is absolutely alright, but do not get stuck in mini account for too long as you might have psychological barrier to go through. Move on to standard trading account when you feel confident, consistent and making profits in your currency trading.

Step 7: Increase your lot size slowly as your trading skills improve. You may want to increase it when you have 30% ROI(return on investment) in your forex trading account. Refer to the money management rules on how you can keep increasing your trading lot size.

Step 8: At this point of time, you are a successful forex trader if you have consistent profits every month. You don’t have to be a institutional trader to be successful! And you seriously should start planning and considering to be a full time forex trader from here onwards.

The above may sound easy, but trust me, it’s not easy at all, or else why 95% of the people failed in forex trading? So you really have to drill on the psychological, discipline and money management parts before you can go far in forex trading.

To learn the more ways to be a successful forex trader and discover a time tested, proven trading system, download my 56-page “Forex Trading To Riches” ebook free at http://www.forextradingpower.com

The author, Daniel S, is the owner of http://www.ForexTradingPower.com where he provides premium forex tips and resources.

So you’re interested in Forex trading but you’re losing money like an addicted gambler? Have no fear, here’s the solution.

Match Your System with The Market

Of course, whatever style or method you choose to trade, it needs to be profitable. Mathematically, this means that at the end of the day (or month, or year), if you clump all the winners and losers, you’ll end up net positive. Statiscally, this is called having an edge, or having a positive edge. You must make sure, through backtesting and managed forward testing, that your system is indeed profitable. You might be asking, “But I can’t seem to follow my trading plan.” We’ll get to that later, but for now, let’s assume that you CAN follow your trading system perfectly.

Matching your system with the market means that the system works for that market at the time. Keep in mind your system might work for the EUR, but maybe not for the CAD. Also keep in mind that the system might have worked for the previous 6 months, but something happened to the market that the participants are acting differently now; this would mean that your system was profitable for the past 6 months but the market change has nullified your system’s edge.

Let’s assume that your system is somewhat profitable if you could follow it perfectly. So what’s next?

Match The System With Yourself

At this point, you might be thinking, “Hey, I was looking for a How to trade forex article, not some self-help psychoanalysis article.” Do yourself a favor, and read through the entire article, because this might be the key ingredient your trading has been missing.

This is the part where 99% of the traders don’t seem to understand. If you happen to talk with other traders, please feel free to point this section of the article out; it might be the missing key ingredient in your entire system.

It’s pretty obvious that if you have a profitable trading system written down in your trading plan, but you can’t seem to follow the rules, that trading plan is as good as useless. So why do you deviate from you trading plan that you’ve researched so hard for? There are two primary reasons: 1) Your expectations as an analyst versus your expectations as a trader. And 2) Your trading system doesn’t match your personality. I could write an entire book on the first issue, but we’ll focus on the second issue in this article.

To trade with consistency, you need to understand how your subconscious mind works. If your trading system contradicts who YOU are as a person, your mind will NATURALLY pull you away from that trading style, and SUBCONSCIOUSLY gravitate you to a particularly different trading style. A lot of people get confused here, and this is one tough concept, (and really, not too many people want to learn about it) so don’t worry if you’re confused. Let me give you a few examples, the first ones illustrating basic principles, then drilling down to more subtle points:

First example is John. John likes playing video games. He loves playing 5 handed table Texas Hold’em (poker) with his friends. He likes playing hardcore sports. He is a risk-seeker. His natural trading style is day trading and/or fast swing trading. He cannot naturally trade longer time frames because that’s not who John is, and John is a fast-paced guy. So no matter trading system he’s researched, backtested, and written, he won’t be able to trade it unless it fits his naturally fast-paced personality. Also note that his personality has gravitated John towards all these other fast-paced activities like video games and poker.

Let me give you a more subtle example: Susan was an underdog all her life. So she pictures herself as David who fights against all the Goliaths of life. Whenever there’s a competition, election, or basketball game, she always roots for the underdog because subconsciously she relates more with the underdog.
How does this affect her trading? She’s naturally a fader. Fading the market means going the opposite of the major trend. So while trend followers go with the majority of the market participants’ decisions, Susan is the opposite; she naturally likes to bottom/top pick and go against the trend. This means that she has to either 1) change herself to match the trend following system (which is hard), or 2) find and develop a profitable fading trading system (which is easier). Mostly likely, she’ll have a better time trading sideways markets, fading at the edges of the channel. Of course, how she decides to trail also depends on her self-image.

At this point, you might be thinking, “Ok, this is starting to make a little more sense now. But I don’t really know how to do all this stuff.” Let’s move on to the final point.

Know Yourself

Schedule a 1~2 hour block of free time and go through this this action plan:

• 1. Make a list of all the activities you enjoy doing.
• 2. Make a list of all the people you naturally enjoy hanging out with.
• 3. Make a list of all the movies, TV shows, sports, etc. you naturally find pleasure in.
• 4. (Insert more questions you can make up)

Take a close look at all those items, and focus on analyzing what kind of item it is. For each item determine:

• 1. Is this fast-paced, medium-paced, or laid back? Are you a New York City person or a Southern California person?
• 2. Is this more number smart or people smart? Are you naturally good with numbers or with peoples’ feelings?
• 3. Is this more of an underdog or topdog activity? When you watch a tennis match, do you root for the topdog or the underdog?

All these things reflect who you are at the time. The more laid back you are, the larger the timeframe you need to trade (because you would trade less frequently and the trades would take a longer time). The more fast-paced you are, the more you should swing trade or even day trade. The more number smart you are, the more systematic, quantitative, and progamming-oriented you are with your backtesting and trading. The opposite would be much more of a discretionary trader. The more topdog-inclined you are, the more of a trend-following system you need to trade. The opposite would be fading at the edges of a sideways channel.

But keep in mind that most people are a combination of the two. Explore yourself. Take some time for self reflection. Here’re more questions for you to really think about:

• 1. What does this list say about how I should trail my trades?
• 2. How should I enter and exit? Partial profits or not?
• 3. Which markets should I trade? Which session should I trade?
• 4. Should I consider trading stocks, options, or futures instead?
• 5. Should I use technical analysis, fundamental analysis, or both?
• 6. Am I even right for trading?

Let’s look at one last example:

Mathematically, if you don’t take partial profits – that is, you enter and exit only once, and not exit multiple positions – you would make approximately 3~4 times more profit than traders that do take partial profits. To clarify, let’s say you’re long 3 contracts, and you unload 1 lot at +25 pips, the second at +45, and the last at +60: this is what I mean by taking partial profits. But let’s say you’re short 3 lots, and you decide to exit all 3 lots at +47 pips. That would be the opposite of taking partial profits.

But again, let’s take a closer look at what I talked about in this article and relate it to this point: Sure, on paper you’d be more profitable, but then again, all trading plans are profitable. It’s just that you couldn’t follow that plan in the first place. Just as likely, not taking partial profits is more profitable, but it’s the same principle – it’s easier on your mind to take partial profits. It’s a trade off between psychological ease and economical gain.

There is a deep underlying reason why every trader naturally wants to take partial profits, and I could write a separate article on it, but suffice it to say that everyone initially is naturally inclined to cut profits short and let losses run. (As a teaser, it’s about how we grew up in society/school/parents that has instilled beliefs that are beneficial to us in society but detrimental in the markets.) The more question is can you trade this way? Should you trade this way? Forget about what’s more profitable on paper. Focus on being able to trade with consistency by trading according to your natural self.

Well I hope this article has shed some interesting insights with your trading. Perhaps you’re ecstatic at this new finding, perhaps you thought this was a waste of time, or perhaps you don’t even have a trading system yet. Don’t worry, take your time.

So what now?

So now you’ve done your due diligence and now you know what your ideal trading system is. Well, good news! We’ve done most of the research for you. My website has compiled most of today’s forex trading system. If you’re somewhat of a discretionary swing trader, I highly suggest this Forex trading system. Feel free to browse for the right system for you. Feel free to even browse for more Forex education.

Now, before I finish, I’d like to leave you with this: Risk is not a function of the market, but a function of the investor. The greatest thing you can invest in is not in a specific instrument or market. The greatest thing you can invest in is yourself. Never stop reading, never stop learning.