Online Forex Trading - What You Need To Know

By John Eather

We probably are not the first ones to admit that our technology has come a long way throughout the years. Take online forex trading, as an example, years ago, no one, except those high up institutions were able to use it. Now, here we are today, using it like never before. Today, normal people just like you are able to enjoy forex trading and that is all thanks to the Internet and some other technology advancements. Within this article, we are going to talk about online forex trading and what you need to know about it.

If you are interested in getting a piece of that currency market's pie, then chances are, if you have the Internet and a computer, then you will be able to do so. The trading systems are generally provided by a number of different online brokers. This means there are a number of such systems on the market today.

There are many of the trading websites online that will give you the opportunity to try forex trading out before you jump into it. They will allow you to register a practice account for free. That practice account will give you the feel of how it feels to trade on the Internet.

However, as you are turning to online forex trading, it is very important that you have a good Internet connection with an optimized computer. We tell you it is important because of the latency issue that is involved in trading on the Internet.

If you have a slow Internet connection when you are doing online forex trading, the system will not be able to submit the information to your broker on time. This will cause you to lose a bit of money. In the end, as long as you have a fast Internet connection, nothing is wrong with the forex system on the Internet. So, you should have no problem with joining in with the other traders online. - 23212

About the Author:

Learn more about online forex trading. Stop by John Eather's site where you can find out all about forex trading systems and what it can do for you.

Spot Forex Market (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

The spot forex market is an over the counter market. The spot forex market is a decentralized network of buyers and sellers. There is no physical central exchange that acts as a central clearing house.

Stocks, options and futures all are traded on centralized exchanges with a clearing house as the intermediary. This brings a lot of order in these markets. Unlike the forex futures trading that is carried out through the exchange like CBOT, CME etc, over the counter in spot forex means that the buyers and sellers make a binding contract with each other after agreeing on the price and this is not carried through an exchange. The buyer and sellers can agree on any price!

What are the advantages of a centralized market over OTC market? There is a better price discovery in a centralized market and there is trading anonymity something that big players want to hide their trails. There are several other advantages of a central exchange too like the counterparty risk for the trade is reduced. Forex traders in the spot forex market carry out their activities by dialing directly with one another or through brokers on telephone or internet.

In 2007, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) along with Reuters launched FXMarketSpace; the worlds first centrally cleared global forex market place. In this centrally cleared system, CME will act as the clearing house and guarantee the performance of all the contracts for both buyers and sellers.

Only sophisticated investors with net worth of more than $20 Million can trade on the FXMarketSpace. Unfortunately FXMarketSpace is an institutional trading platform and is not open to retail forex traders.

There are many players involved in the spot forex market. The spot forex market has long been the playground of only the biggest and the baddest global banks. At its core, the spot forex market is a credit market. The dominance of big banks is unlikely to be challenged soon. Recently NFA (National Futures Association) had also passed certain new rules that make it more skewed against the small investor like you and me. The spot forex market is still skewed against the retail forex trader. Why is it so?

With the advent of the internet, it became possible to introduce trading platforms for the retail investors. Previously spot forex trading was the playfield of the big banks, multinationals and the hedge funds.

The forex market differs from other traditional financial markets. Things deemed illegal in most of the other financial markets are simply considered part of the game in the forex market. Insider trading, front running, price shading etc are all regularly seen in forex trading and have no legal repercussions whatsoever. Retail spot forex is seeing a lot of growth in the recent years. A mushroom growth of online forex brokers took place. Many did not have even enough capital with them to start the brokerage business. Most of these forex brokers behave like bucket shops. But this is the way; the spot forex market has developed over the years.

It is essential for you that you understand the nature of the spot forex market and who are the main players. Why they trade forex? What type of advantages they have over the retail forex traders?

Over the counter (OTC) means that the spot forex market is spread all over the globe with no central location! Over the counter nature (OTC) of the spot forex market means that currency transactions do not take place at any single place. No government oversight and no central deal book to compare trades means that the banks can pretty much do whatever they want to their unsuspecting customers.

A players access to the spot forex market depends on the quantity of transactions of large amounts of money. Players in the spot forex market range from those who trade billions of dollars daily to those who only trade just a few thousand dollars daily. Now who are the main players in the forex market against whom you as a retail forex trader will be competing? - 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. Develop Your Own Forex Trading System!

Deciding On An Expert Financial Advisor

By John Eather

Long-term planning for one's finances is probably one of the most important activities which will need to be undertaken in a person's life. This is why knowing a few tips for finding an expert financial advisor can make a difference in good personal financial planning. In fact, monetary decisions made early in a person's savings life can have a wide range of impacts in later life, just before retirement - whenever that may be.

What then, are some of the actions a person should take before deciding upon the financial advisor who will help guide him or her through the intricacies of finance and planning for investing and eventual retirement? For starters, a person should never just pick out the first so-called "advisor" who pops up on an Internet search engine's results page. There are a lot of con artists out there and never so much so as in the finance and investments industries.

Always check on a planner's credentials, certifications and memberships in professional associations. No planner worth his or her salt will hesitate at providing background information. In fact, the good ones all encourage potential clients to look at their bona fides carefully before making a decision. Generally, any planner at one of the large financial services companies will have all these attributes.

Many small or independent firms also seek to maintain a high degree of professionalism, so don't be afraid to investigate the possibility of using an advisor from such entities. And professionals from any size firm will always have a complete and full disclosure form, called the Form ADV Part 1, and Part 2, on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The copy is viewable on the SEC's website, too.

Trusting blindly to any financial advisor is not a recommended practice. Take the time to do a background check, and look to see if the advisor has had any run-ins with regulators or has received complaints from other investors. All of this information is freely available on the Internet and at the SEC's website. From there, any additional tips for finding an expert financial advisor can be easily obtained. - 23212

About the Author:

Learn more about expert financial advisor. Stop by John Eather's site where you can find out all about forex trading systems and what it can do for you.

You Should Have A Stop Loss (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

Do you have a trading system that tells you when to enter the market? Lets assume that you already have got a trading system that tells you where to enter the market. Does this system also tell you where to get out before you enter the trade?

On the road to profitability, lets start by agreeing that we need stop loss exits. In other words are you taking the market conditions into account and willing to give your trade a breathing space so that you dont get whipsawed or repeatedly get stopped out.

Just dont forget, the more trades you place, more commissions or spreads you will have to pay and the higher your trading cost will be. After this agreement on having stop loss exits, we need to determine how to effectively select stop loss exits to avoid excessive stop outs.

The best way to do this is to develop a stop loss strategy that takes into account currency market conditions. So right there you can increase your profitability if you increase the number of winning trades that is your win ration thereby decreasing your trading cost.

A trading system is like having a girl friend. You can only have one girl friend at one time. There need to be a connection between you and your trading system. It truly is like having a personal relationship. Finding the right trading system can be a lengthy process. You must believe in your trading system and have a high degree of trust that it can produce consistent level of profits overtime.

You need to thoroughly test your trading system and try to measure and calculate its parameters accurately. If you have a trading system that isnt working for you and your win ratio and your payoff ratio dont generate a profit over time then you need to rethink your trading strategy. But you must also understand that no trading system can be perfect and no trading system can produce 100% winning trades.

Make adjustments to entry and exits. Determine if it is your trading system that isnt working or is it your trading psychology that is off. Maybe the market conditions have changed and you havent adjusted your trading system to the new market conditions.

Test your trading system overtime. Make a number of trades with your trading system. Just keep this in mind that if you dont give your trading system a chance to work jumping constantly from one trading system to another trading system in search of a holy grail wont help you.

The decision to divorce your trading system should be a carefully thought out one. Divorce of any kind can be emotionally and financially expensive so proceed with caution when divorcing your trading system.

The primary purpose of your trading system is to make you feel comfortable and confident. If you feel comfortable and confident with your trading system, you ultimately will also be profitable.

Its a team work. You will feel confident when your trading system has proven to you and you have proven to your trading system that both can work together. - 23212

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Download Your Free 82 Page PDF Candlestick Guide!

Forex Trading Robots Can Assist In Day Trading For Profits

By John Eather

Foreign exchange day trading is no great challenge. Millions of traders are doing a similar thing during certain hours of the day. This is where forex trading robots have their use, they look at the trends, and are set to seek and scalp profits. While this is a relatively risk free way of building up reasonably large incomes over time, the challenge lies in finding a robot that will perform.

Forex traders all use different trading systems; however these do tend to have a certain predictability about them. For you to actually take on the challenge day trading is a bit of a bore as volatility in short time frames is completely random. There is also the matter of support and resistance levels which are not valid, and because of these the trader is able to make losses when using a robot instead of profits.

Forex trading robots come in all shapes and sizes, there are loads of these products available. While day trading can mean the trader earns regular small profits which add up in the long terms. Most day trading robots have simulated "back tested" data available. This is base on historical information which may not apply in a real time situation. The only way for the trader to know if these products perform is to test them with real data in real time.

Testing a forex robot in this way is called a "forward test" as apposed to a "back test". It has to be able to adapt to changing market circumstances while performing on a broker account. The test should reveal that the robot shows consistent trades, meaning more winning trades. And most vital of all is money management, the robot has to be able to protect the account equity without allowing any large draw-downs.

Ideally forex trading robots should be tested while the market conditions are exactly the same, or at least similar. The capital deposit in the margin account must be the same and more than one product should be compared during these conditions. Some traders believe you should stay away from day trading, while others believe it. - 23212

About the Author:

Looking to find the best deal on forex trading robots, then visit www.MoneyMakingFxTrader.com to find the best advice on automated forex trading for you.