Can You Trade Forex Online to Make Money?

By Celicia Aringa

The question as to whether it is really possible to make real money trading forex is one that is likely to be coming up frequently in the days to come, as more and more people start to question their long held assumption that forex trading is only an opportunity to make a little money on the side during one's free time - and not something one can depend on for their livelihood (or something one can make a fortune out of).

It is all well if you see online forex trading as an opportunity to make a few dollars during one's free time, but the problem with such a view of forex trading tends to be limiting; so that the people who only see such forex trading as 'a small time money making opportunity' are likely to have their horizons with regard to forex trading and the possibilities severely limited.

The truth of the matter, however, is that people have actually been known to make good sums of money, fortunes actually, trading forex online. Indeed, there are people who derive their day to day livelihood from the said online forex trading; so that you have a person who wakes up in the morning, showers and has his or her breakfast, and then proceeds to their 'home office' to get started with their forex trading business, with which they carry on till the end of the day.

The people who do make good sums of money out of their forex trading, of course, also put in commensurate levels of efforts and monetary investments into their forex trading: they 'take it as a job.' If all you are ready to do in your forex trading is to just invest a few dollars here and there, and make a few 'moves' here and there, then it should not surprise you when it is only a few dollars - here and there - that you end up earning out of your forex trading.

So it is possible, to make real money out of forex trading? Yes, but only if you do two things: namely invest an adequate amount of money into your forex trading, and secondly, invest an adequate amount of effort into your forex trading.

If on the other hand what you are looking to make is a fortune from your forex trading, there are two things you will have to do: namely to invest an adequate amount of money into your forex account, and follow it up with an adequate amount of effort investment into your forex trading venture.

And the second thing, equally important, that you need to do to move your forex trading to the next level is to make a commensurate investment of time and effort in making the strategic trading moves that will yield you the profits out of your trade, because however much money you put into your forex trading account, if you don't back it up with proper moves, you are not likely to earn from it as much as you really should. - 23212

About the Author:

Learn Currency trading online and how to buy stocks online.

Automated Expert Advisors (EAs) Are They Worth Considering?

By Ash Naeck

If you are familiar with Forex, I bet this is one of those questions that got your brain juices running.

My trading career begun when, Expert Advisors were becoming popular among the retail traders. The hype and results surrounding those systems were so mind-blowing that I believed Forex would be an easy trading game. I wasted a lot of time and money in search of the best Expert Advisor out there. I bought literally every EA that hit the market. They all promised the sky but in the end I was left with nothing. It took me a while to come to terms that most of those systems were no definite solution to currency trading.

Why are we so obsessed about Automated Expert Advisors?

These are the main points why traders use EA's:

- System is on autopilot

- No thinking involved

- More time to relax

- Less stress

- Doesn't require constant monitoring

- No thinking required

- Help documents available

These are the main features that attract us to trading on auto-pilot and I have to admit, they are all very tempting in hind sight. However, the trading world is not as perfect as it seems. Many a time things that, "look too good to be true'' turn out to be greatly deceptive.

There are thousands of automated Forex providers on the net nowadays. This number is increasing day by day and funnily enough they all seem to have insane winning rate some even with a 100% success rate (hmmm). The common sales pitches used by those providers are:

- Robot turns $1000 into $10000 in matter of days

- No experience needed- start making money in minutes

- Make $1000 on autopilot every day

- Plug in and make money in a matter of minutes

If all these were true we would all be filthy rich by now and I wouldn't have spent thousands of dollars on useless Expert Advisors that do not work. The reality is that most of those expert advisors are in plain English B.S. The chance of you losing money is much higher than you making money.

If you are reading this article then consider yourself as one of the lucky ones. Do not get me wrong and am definitely not bragging here, I am simply sharing with you the experience I have had, personally, over those 5 years of trading. I am one of the few who will tell you that 98%+ of the Expert Advisors available on the net simply do not work. If they did work don't you think those major financial corporations would use those systems instead of relying on their FX traders?

However, that is not the case. Banks and major financial institutions rely solely on their human minds (traders) to make money day in and day out on the market, not on the so called Robot traders. Those major institutions understand the fact that market conditions are not always in harmony and that price is highly unpredictable.

You must have heard of those mathematicians and engineers coming forward and voicing out the fact that they have cracked the code to Forex trading. This is simply B.S. Most, if not all of their data are collected through back-testing or demo testing. I will make this short and simple for you to remember; a system cannot be built on the basis of back-testing only.

Here are some of the points to take into account when investing in a Forex Robot:

- Who developed the system? (make sure he/she is a well-known Forex trader with substantial experience in Forex trading)

- Has the system been tested on a live account? If yes what are the monthly returns.

- How long has the system been in operation?(2+ years)

- What is the maximum risk exposure?

- The risk to reward ratio.

If all the above questions are ticked then you got yourself a potential winner.

I have spent a large sum of money over the years trying all sorts of Forex robots. The result was that I lost as much hair as I lost money! Quite frankly, I was quite disgusted with all those Experts advisors until the day I came across a guy named Ashkan Bolour.

I knew nothing about Ashkan Bolour at this point. I researched the net for more information and learnt that he was a highly successful money manager who was well respected in the Forex world. He had featured in many trading books and had become quite an authority in the foreign exchange arena. I decided to try his product after seeing the nice monthly returns he had on his live accounts.

All my skepticism was left behind when I started seeing the power of his system. My profits were consistent and my account was growing gradually. The returns were realistic and the draw-downs low. If you are looking for a good system with decent monthly returns, do yourself a favor and try Ashkan Bolour's system, the FXprofit Mountain. You may fall in love with this robot. - 23212

About the Author:

To learn more about FXprofit Mountain and its amazing results go to the Forex Expert Advisors section of Forex Trading Domain for a review of all the Forex Systems that actually work!

Stock Margins Can Make or Lose You A Lot of Money

By Richard Moran

You can use someone else's money to leverage your capital for stock purchases. That is buying on margin and is the same as buying other things on credit. The difference comes to the control you have over your investment - with the stock market you are at the whims of the day-to-day market fluctuations. Many of the recent financial problems drove the market down and therefore lost money for those who held their stock on margin. These circumstances left many stocks at all time slows.

Cash is still king when it comes to purchasing stock

When you initially open a brokerage account most stock firms will make you pay for your initial purchase. Most require a minimum equity of $2000 before they will even discuss any margin purchases. Remember unless you are paying cash there will be interest charges due on any stock you buy on margin. Therefore, in order to make a profit not only does the stock have to go up in value enough to cover your investment and the firms charges, but you will also have to cover the interest you have paid over the time you have owned the shares. Most times unless you are a market maven you will come out way ahead using cash to purchase your stock.

Buying on Margin

When you buy stocks on margin, you are requesting a loan for the money to purchase those stocks. In return for the loan from the brokerage firm, you will pay interest on that loan. The brokerage firm is virtually making money on your loan and will hold your stocks as collateral against the loan. If you do not pay the firm back, they sell the stocks. In short they have little risk involved in loaning you the money for the stocks. On the other hand, you have to see to it that the stocks you select make enough in profits to not only put money in your pocket but to pay the loan back to the brokerage firm.

Regardless of How You Pay You Still Must Know What Stocks To Buy

One way of ensuring you can pay back the loan on your investments is to know your stocks. You should study your stocks before making a purchase. It is important to know how they have been effected by other aspects of the market, how often they drop, how long they remain on a rise and what the average rise for them is. By studying the stocks you want to invest in, you may find that you dont need to borrow money in order to invest.

Margin/Cash - so which is the best way?

It comes down to your mindset when it comes to risk. If you will get ulcers worrying about the money you owe on margin it might be a good idea to stay out of the market all together, or buy mutual funds and let someone else worry about the return. Paying cash leaves you in a more flexible position while the margin gives you greater potential. The most important thing is to do your research and invest with your head not your heart. - 23212

About the Author:

Richard Moran is a Financial Consultant and writer for Money Helpers. The site contains 100's of articles, charts, and calculators to assist you in your financial well-being. All the parts of the site are free and it is updated on an almost daily basis. If you are looking for any financial aids or products they can be found on Money Helpers.

Trading Window Frames (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

What matters most to a trader or an investor is how to create a positive cash flow. It all depends on your trading strategies. The first step is to identify the type of trade into which we will enter.

Is it a day trade? Is it a swing trade or is it a long term positions trade? Once we acknowledge what our goals and objective are than we can narrow our expectations.

Suppose I am a day trader. I need to know what the daily range of the currency pair that I am planning to trade is to start with. I will expect that if I miss 20% of the bottom and 20% of the top then I can expect to capture 60% of the average daily range. I will generally be able to identify what the average range for the day is. My expectations are for X amount of a given range.

For that I will have to structure my computer and charts to a format that is conducive to day trading. Day trading can be stressful for some people. You need to know all these things before you decide on a trading style for a trade. So how do I start? How many pips you want to make in a specific time frame like eight to six bars from entry? Say 30 pips or 40 pips! This is what you should expect in day trading. In swing trading the profit targets can be higher but the time frame is also much longer.

Use the 15 minute time frame for the dominant trend if you trade Euro, Yen or Pound, then for day trading. Use the 5 minute time frame to exit a position in day trading. Use the 5 minute time frame as a shorter time frame trigger to go with the 15 minute signal.

The key to remember is when the 15 minute time period is in sell mode, take the 5 minute sell signals. Similarly when the 15 minute time period is in the buy mode, take the 5 minute buy signals.

If you are in a trade based on the 15 minute and the 5 minute time periods, these are the time frames you need to monitor for that specific trade. However as a day trader you can watch the 60 minute time period.

During day trading keep in mind your profit targets and where you are in range. Keeping an eye on the 60 minute time period will help you identify the current trend if a moving average crossover occurs and a potential change in the trend.

Suppose you are trading Euro/USD currency pair. The odds are that your profit potential is in the range of suppose 30 pips or less if the average true range (ATR) is 80 pips based on the past 14 trading days and if the Euro is already down 50 pips when a sell signal is triggered. How do you calculate these things?

Using good forex charting software will help you automatically calculate all the daily, weekly, monthly pivot points as well as the daily range, support and resistance, S-1, R-1 and other stuff.

You should learn how to calculate pivot points. Using pivot points in day trading can give you an edge. For day trading use the 60 minute time period for calculating the monthly pivot points, 15 minutes time frame for calculating the weekly pivot points and the 5 minute time frame for calculating the daily pivot points. - 23212

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try Strignano's Forex Signals free. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System!

EUR/USD

By AHmad Hassam

EUR/USD is the most liquid and the most popular currency pair among the forex traders. Trading currencies can be exciting and lucrative. Its a great market because of the way politics affect the trends. Elections, strikes, and sudden developments, both good and bad, can lead to significant trading profits if you stand ready to trade the euro is a convenient currency because it encompasses the policies and the economic activity and political environment of a volatile but predictable part of the world: Europe. EUR/USD is the most heavily traded currency pair in the global currency markets at the moment.

In the United States, where the free-market approach and a usually vigilant Federal Reserve make more frequent adjustments on interest rates. France, Italy, and Germany, the largest members of the European Union (EU), normally operate under high budget deficits and tend to keep their interest rates more stable.

The general tendency of the Fed is to make the dollar trend for very long periods of time in one general direction. Aside from the technical analysis, here are some general tendencies of the euro on which you need to keep tabs:

1) As said before most central banks in the world have a strict agenda to fight inflation. Given Germanys history of hyperinflation in the first half of the 20th century and the repercussions of that period, namely the rise of Hitler, the European Central Bank (ECB) is almost fanatical about inflation. That means that the European Central Bank most of the times raises interest rates more easily than it lowers them. However, right now keeping in view the severe global recession, ECB has lowered the interest rates drastically to stimulate economic activity across the Eurozone.

2) The US and the EU are two major trading partners. This gives EUR/USD currency pair very interesting characteristics. EUR/USD pair is affected by what is happening politically and economically both in Europe and the US. The European Central Banks actions become important when all other factors are equal, meaning politics are equally stable or unstable in the United States and Europe, and the two economies are growing. For example, if the U.S. economy is slowing down, money slowly starts to drift away from the dollar. In the past that meant money would move toward the Japanese yen; however, because the market knows that Japans central bank will sell yen, the default currency when the dollar weakens is often now the euro. USD is inversely correlated to the gold prices. All these facts should be taken into consideration while forming your bias about a particular currency pair.

- The flip side is that the market often sells the euro during political problems in the region, especially when the European economy is slowing and the economy in the United Kingdom (UK), which often moves along with the U.S. economy, is showing signs of strength.

As a word of caution, its okay to form an opinion and have some expectations, but the final and only truth that should make you trade is what the charts are showing you. Candlestick charting is one way to read the markets. There are many candlestick patterns that are used to signal trend reversals or change in the market behavior. The more proficient you become in reading candlestick charts the more profitable your trades would be. As usual, you want to closely monitor major currencies and the cross rates. The direction that counts is the one in which the market is heading. Candlestick charts are a good way to read the direction in which the markets are heading.

Combining fundamental analysis with the technical analysis can give you the edge as a forex trader. Fundamental analysis can help you determine the strong/weak currency pair. Use fundamental analysis to determine if USD is expected to lose value and EUR is expected to gain more strength that means that the currency pair EUR/USD is perfectly timed for swing trading. Use technical analysis to make the entry and exit decision. - 23212

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!