I’ve been studying forex trading for some time now, and while playing with demo trading stations and platforms is safe and nice, it is far away from the real thing. Everything is so easy on demo, and since there is no fear, there is no greed… So I had no problem sticking with my trading scenario and I made more profitable trades than not. So I thought – you are ready for the real thing…

Choosing a forex broker where I opened a live account is a story on its own, so I will leave it for one of the next posts, but let’s just say that a bit over one month ago, I opened a live account. On purpose I only wired in $400, as this was my first live account with forex (i do have 7 years of experience trading stock and options). I chose 100:1 leverage, and I noticed that broker only lets me trade mini lot size (0,1 lot – meaning every pip move is $1). I wanted to trade micro lots (0,01 lots – pip move translates to $0,1) but somehow i didn’t change that…

And so it began. On the next day my total was $480. Over 20% in 24 hours! I was thrilled and so proud on myself. Maybe trading mini lots is just a right thing! Why should I bother with micro trading – it will take too much time to make me a rich man I thought somewhere back in my head… Third day was when disaster began!

I left two buy EURUSD positions open over night, setting nice trailing stop/loss.. But during the night positions went against me, and  my broker closed my positions as I reached my margin limit! In the morning i see EURUSD where i wanted it, but – what’s that? my account total is just $370! Aaargh!

More on How I quit demo and opened a live forex account…

I recently bought a expert advisor trading robot for Metatrader 4 (MT4) and put it to a test in InvestTechFX live account. Account size was US 5000, and I was trading with robot’s default settings (i  am in GMT+1 timezone) from mid march to end of march. First week performance was amazing, as robot managed to raise account by 10%. Then there was a sharp drop, but recovered next day… I transferred FAPturbo to smaller $250 account at GOforex.com, due to smaller spreads in Asian trading sessions (FAPturbo is scalping robot, so it is very important when it trades and how big the spread is). Also take care and start small and smart – I heard that with several brokers FAPturbo was trading fine with demo currency demo trading accounts, but when switched to live accounts performance was much worse, and robots started to eat the account!

Overall I must say that I am impressed, and will keep using it, but since it is very volatile, I will limit potential damage in smaller account… Will keep you posted

START 5000 ACCT - default faptrader
————–
thurstday  -6,88 4993,12
friday   78,77 5071,89
—
monday   +106,05 –> 5177,94 
tuesday   +66,72 –> 5244,66
wednesday * not trading - (my wmvware crashed)
thurstday +270,56 –> 5515,22
friday  -39,61 –> 5472,61
—
monday   +140,87 –> 5613,48
tuesday   +147,36 –> 5760,84
wednesday +192,90 –> 5953,74
thurstday –568,34 –> 5385,40
friday   +309,53 –> 5694,93

Looks like EA robots are becoming better and better, and I recommend you take a look at http://www.forex-tsd.com since they have some nice EAs there free to download and try out! I will test drive several of them and report my findings. What about FAPturbo? Do you need to have it? If you think it will double your account fast, then it is probably better to stay away – read here why.

More on FAPturbo Review – FAPturbo put to the test in real live trading

When choosing forex broker, it is not all in pips, spreads, commissions and features, and forex trading hours… Especially when you are opening a big account, it is all about asset protection and money management. Therefore you should always do what ever you can to protect your money. This includes choosing a respectable and well standing broker firm. US regulators proposed new net capital minimum requirements for forex brokers, which will probably become effective in next months. So it is wise to choose your broker with this in mind! In mid march CFCT released latest net capital data of forex brokers:

The following firms have net capital below $20 million:

MB Trading ($15,227,000)
Easy Forex ($15,544,000)
GFS Forex ($15,957,000)
I Trade FX ($16,088,000)
Ikkon Royal ($16,548,000)
Alpari ($19,690,000)
Advanced Markets ($19,873,000)

The following firms have net capital above $20 million

Forex Club ($22,409,000)
PFG ($26,005,000)
CMS Forex ($29,255,000)
Interbank FX ($39,945,000)
FX Solutions ($43,785,000)
GFT Forex ($76,055,000)
FXCM ($98,456,000)
Gain Capital ($107,390,000)
Oanda ($169,501,000)

We recommend that you always conduct your due diligence, before jumping on board any broker. Make sure the firm you are trading with will be able to comply with the new $20 million capital requirement going into effect in mid of this year (US regulations)!

More on New Capital Requirement for Forex Brokers

How to trade forex in recession times? Well, if your positions got stuck in stocks, your portfolio lost 60-85% value in last 6 months. This is more that rookie forex trader looses in this timeframe (if rules are obeyed)! And even tho Alan Greenspan admitted that he was wrong few months ago, and we are now seeing record injection plans by government, over all market trend is still pointing down.

After three years Alan Greenspan who was former chairman of the Federal Reserve, admitted that he was wrong in putting his faith in the self-correcting power of markets and also was not able to anticipate the destructive power of wanton mortgage lending.  He is now being blamed for the financial crises and the recession. He said that the crises are much worse than what he imagined.

He say that according to evidences that suggest if there wasn't any excess demand than mortgage originations would have been considerably small and in the same manner, lesser would be defaults.

Meanwhile US and international markets are reaching bottoms not seen in a over decade… Forex markets are booming in this time, as currency fluctuations are above average, and volatility is great.

More on World in recession… Forex blooming…

There is indeed a very huge scope for the automated Forex market now with the new schemes and systems creeping up every week.  Although most of these so-called automated forex are nothing more than just a scam which are being released by those who are trying it hard to sell to your and with that trying to get as much money as possible from you.

Getting a genuine expert in Forex has become a tough job and it would be even worse if you are a newbie to Forex and the chances of getting scammed are very high. One important rule that you can follow when it comes to automated Forex is totally avoiding such vendors who do not give you the forward test statements live.  As many are just making false claims but giving you the black test result.

The next most important thing you should know is understanding the basic principle and the logic involved in the system.  With only discipline and without knowing the basics and logic will have no purpose in it and would only let you

More on Automated Forex Trading Systems - How to Choose the Best One, and why to avoid them completely!

For a successful start at forex, you have to trust and feel confident about yourself because you alone will be the cause of your success or failure in this business. No one has to go to college to know the ins and outs of trading. Everything needs practice including forex.

However, getting in this business with a lot of money and very little knowledge will lead you to a downfall, even if you try to recover in a few months after your first failure. On wrong move could be following a demo account. This type of “practice tool” can’t really be reliable especially for big players who use millions in trading.

The only reason for this is that you can only learn about the basics of forex trading. Unless you get a “hands-on” about forex and get on the “real” thing, then that is where you’ll learn more about trading. More on How to trust your forex setup?

As you might noticed last update to my forex trading site was few months ago… But this is about to change, as I decided to update my forex blog at least once every week! In last months I was not siting idly, but was rather reading and educating myself in art of forex… Yes, I meant art… One of the surest thing I heard in last time with which I agree 100% is an old forex saying: "stairs up, elevators down…" … which references on your currency pair value of course

Anyhow, I will spare you all the books and trainings I read, and will rather start fresh - from beginning. So in next post, I will cover the Forex basics - Forex 101. The total beginner's guide to Forex. No prerequisites necessary. I will cover everything, from what is forex, to basic strategies, currency pairs, trading itself, and will tell you what I believe is important to do before going to actual live trading for real money… Because, unlike stock trading, in Forex you can lose all, and even more!!! So while 99% of everyone who talks about Forex on line is "sponsored" by brokers, or some sort of forex product authors, they all talk about great benefits and possibilities. But while they are all true, the fact is that more than 90% of all forex rookies - first time traders - finish with empty portfolio, and maybe some debt if they do not use proper actions/safeguards. Therefore it is important to know what you are doing, before you start doing it Salvation is in education I would say.

As for myself I am still far from forex expert, or even intermediate level user, it might be easier for me to write about traps, and all the bumps I came across. I will be happy if you comment and communicate with me, no matter whether you are just beginning or you are experienced trader with years of experience.

At the end, let me tell you, that I still believe that forex is very interesting platform for investor, but there is more than meets the eye here, and you should at least be aware of it, if not know it before you enter Forex…

Forex signals are such indicators for people who are involved in the forex trade. As we know that forex trade is a high risk, high-profit business, we need to ensure that the forex signal that we get, adheres to certain criteria and comes from a credible source.

Forex signals are often accurate and an increase of funds averaging 60% to 80% yearly is generally noted. Forex signals are provided by specific firms, who do extensive research and analysis to figure out entry and exit points for traders with the stop-loss values and profit limit targets. Forex trading signal providers make predictions and offer trading tips. If you want to know more about forex trading signals read it in our learning section.

Forex Signals are taken when MACD crosses its signal line. Forex Signals are buy and sell indicators based on technical analysis. Technical analysis uses historical price and . Forex signals are used to take the 'emotion' out of the equation. Forex signals are worthless unless you have access to Forex live data.

They are best used with automatic forex system trading, which is a really sophisticated and complicated piece of software. It can be a simple, yet effect system used to trade foreign currency. But know, that automatic currency trading systems cannot make you rich overnight. There are mechanical systems though, that do, in fact, exist and can help you make consistent, smaller profits each month. But, it is also possible More on Why using Forex Signals is generally a bad idea

Forex charting plays a very vital role your tools to success in the foreign exchange market. To completely understand the constantly changing patterns of market rates, forex charting provides you with an overall snapshot, which will help you to do your trading in a  effective manner. If you are unsure of the different benefits of forex charting, read on and get ready to be convinced.

Why is Forex Charting So Crucial?

Completing trades on the foreign exchange market place using  forex charting is almost like playing on the highway, where things move very quickly and you have to catch the market action in the blink of an eye. If you are able to catch a financial trend it can bring new financial rewards whereas if you miss some of the key data points may leave you stranded.

Forex charting can be used in spite of your trading style or skill level. Forex charting allows you to get a bigger picture of where the market is heading, then enables you to anticipate various events that may bring some fairly large financial rewards.

Generally, the currency market on day by day basis, are unable to reveal the long range trends. But by using forex charting, you  can see the changes in the recent market activity and allow you to make predictions for future currency movements. This will keep you one step ahead of the market trends, which may result in financial profits.

Characteristics of Forex Charting

The best feature of forex charting is that it is easy to use and it brings you the most recent real-time data. Nevertheless, the view is much bigger than the day to day movements of the market or even a certain stock. Forex charting mainly gives importance to observing the  market, which really has the ultimate controlling influence over the performance of individual stocks.

This will assist you in seeing why even the best stocks sometime suffer from negative movements in a bear market. This type of charting software helps to map out the large amounts of historical data and provides the information in an arranged way to give you an overall view of what is happening now, what has happened in the past, and then hopefully what is in all probability going to happen in the near future.

The data that is charted also features analysis that is simplified to help you make the proper market timing determination. Forex charting provides a wealth of details and advice at your fingertips. The unbiased projects are predicated on numbers, hard facts and trends, which can then be translated at a later time for profit.

To learn more go to Forex Real Time Chart advice and at Forex Online Quotes tips.

One of the primary elements when it comes to trading forex currencies is that it necessitates trading in pairs of currencies like EUR/USD in which Euro trades over the US dollars. This is a characteristic pattern of forex currency pairs.
In the instance of the Euro which is the initial currency it is recognized as the base currency whereas the second currency or the dollar is regarded as the counter or quote currency. What it actually means is in case of these two forex currency pairs, if you want to purchase the currency pair, then you have to buy the Euro currency and sell US dollars at the same time.

Complete Comprehension

Hence, to have success when trading in forex currency pairs, you need to have a full and comprehensive understanding about currency pairs especially when going into a forex trade, you must know what currency you are selling or buying. For success in forex currency pairs, you should have a very complete knowledge about the major currencies such as the US Dollar, Euro, German deutshe mark and so on.

For a very long time, the US dollar has been the major currency throughout the world. It was used as a primary currency to assess other currencies that were being traded on forex and because of this all the currencies needed to be quoted in terms of the how it related to the US dollar.

Because all Forex trading deals in foreign currencies and the full extent of such trade is stupendous and ultimately amounts to well over a trillion dollars, to become a success at trading in them requires a full understanding of forex currencies pairs.

Simultaneous Transactions

As elaborated on, traders purchase and sell currencies by exchanging one type of currency to another and in the hopes of turning a profit from doing in the process. The market quotations as far as Forex is concerned, is specified as forex currency pairs which is denoted as the base currency which is then followed by the quote currency.

Amongst the most usual types of currency pairs are the GBP/USD (British pound vs. US dollar), EUR/USD (Euro vs. US dollar) USD/JPY (US dollar vs. Japanese Yen) and USD/CHF or US dollar vs. Swiss franc.

As far as forex currency pairs go, it is common to have the base currency listed first which is then followed by the quote currency or counter. Moreover, the base currency is a single energetic monetary unit, for instance 1 EUR, 1 USD or 1 GBP, and is implied and not shown necessarily.

Finally, forex currency pairs ordinarily represent the 'bid' and 'ask' price and the former of the two make reference to the price that the broker wishes to pay whereas latter means the price in which the broker wants to sell the currency.

To learn more go to Forex Signal Software advice and at Forex Charting Software tips.