Friday, November 13, 2009

Forex Day Trading- Two Step Trend Analysis

Forex Day Trading- Two Step Trend Analysis

If you approach forex day trading by just looking at the 5 minute and 15 minute charts there is a strong possibility your account will evaporate sooner rather than later.

In order to get a feel for the market and an indication of the current trend it is necessary to do an analysis by looking at multiple charts on different time frames starting with higher level charts first.

Rather than having the charts cluttered with numerous indicators and signals which can cause signal paralysis, I recommend just two:

1. MACD (with default settings)

2. 200 EMA (Exponential Moving Average)

Now examine your charts using a top down approach:

  • Daily
  • 4 Hour
  • 1 Hour

As you check each chart take note of these two factors:

  1. Has MACD crossed down or up and is it above or below the water line?
  2. Is price above or below the 200 EMA?

While it is not crucial to have them all lined up on these three time frames for successful forex day trading, if you want to be a cautious trader and go for high probability trades then certainly MACD on the 4 hour chart and 1 hour chart should be in agreement as also should price in relation to the 200 EMA.

The daily chart can be useful in seeing the larger picture and for noting key levels of support and resistance. They stand out on a daily chart so if price is within 100 pips of a crucial level of support or resistance as seen on the daily chart, make a note of the figure.

Then scale down to the lower time frames and see if this level matches with other indicators such as pivot points or Fibonacci levels.

Once you have done this groundwork, NOW you can look at the 15 minute and 5 minute charts for a suitable entry point.

Remember, for successful Forex day trading you need to adhere to the No. 1 commandment: Buy The Dips and Sell the Rallies!

So avoid chasing the market and going with the flow. Instead, wait for price to come the level you want, set your entry order, and let price pull you into the trade.

The Danger With Lower Time Frames

Just concentrating on the 15 minute and 5 minute charts will not give you the bigger picture. You could see what looks like a perfectly good trade and set your stops and limits only to find you get blown out within a few minutes.

By looking at the higher time frame you would probably have seen you were close to a key support or resistance level and either not gone into the trade or adjusted your stops and limits accordingly.

For the novice, Forex day trading can involve a huge learning curve. Include this simple daily top down analysis approach to your trading and protect yourself against making trades you wish you didn't!



accurate forex signals trading

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Trading Forex on Autopilot

Trading Forex on Autopilot - Why Would You Trust a Robot?

Expert advisors and automated trading systems are the latest trendy ways of trading forex. For the life of me, I will never understand how human beings can let a robot do the trading for them. All of these forex autopilot systems are based on lagging indicators, such as moving averages, RSI, and many others. So not only is a robot doing the trading for you, but you are using a system that's based on past information, which offers no future insight into price movement.

Every forex trader who has been trading for over a month, I'm sure has heard this statistic: 95% of forex traders fail at making money. If the majority of people who are standing in front of their computers and are able to know about upcoming or breaking financial news and still can't be successful, then what makes you think that a robot will be as intuitive.

These kind of inventions were made for the times we live in. They market these autopilot systems so people would think that trading is so simple it can be done without any kind of human interaction. It sounds like such a novel, yet 21st century idea,. People think my computer is making me rich while I'm busy shopping. Well, it doesn't quite work like that. If you don't believe me, you can go to any forex forum and find hundreds of people working on expert advisors. You can see the stories of people that have dedicated years to building the ultimate autopilot system. The sad thing is they will never find it.

The forex market is constantly evolving. Maybe someday these trading robots will be as intuitive as humans. When that day happens I'll be the first one to give them the reigns to my trading account. However, until that day happens I'll stick with what's worked for me.



automated forex program review

Daytrading Classes

Daytrading Classes

Daytrading classes are worth their weight in gold and can pay for themselves many times over. We as a society have been conditioned to believe that in order to be successful in life, we must get good grades, get a degree from a prestigious four-year college or university, and then get a good job where you put some money away into a retirement account, and keep working for the next forty years until you retire and cash out your retirement funds.

The vast majority of the populace has been conditioned to be very dismissive of daytrading as a fool's errand, with the stereotypical daytrader being someone who is too lazy to get up and go to work every day so they opt to sit in front of a computer and trade stocks all day long instead.

People also generally harbor this misconception that it takes a lot of money to make money as a daytrader and that it is something that only the rich people with deep pockets and financial reserves would do. Investing, overall, is risky business and it is a sophisticated form of gambling.

With respect to daytrading being risky, they are only partially correct. Daytrading is risky... if you lack the proper education and training in the art of the game. It is extremely imperative that whether you are a newbie looking to make your foray into the world of daytrading or whether you are a seasoned investor, you take the time out and spend the money on daytrading classes.

Why pay tens of thousands of dollars for a college degree that will land you a job that has a market-driven income ceiling, when you can just spend a modest fraction of that to get a quality education in daytrading that offers limitless income potential?



get start day trading

Volume Rate of Change

Volume Rate of Change

Volume Rate of Change Definition

The volume rate of change (ROC) is a technical indicator used to gauge the volatility in a security's volume. The volume rate of change is a powerful indicator when estimating a security's ability to push through key resistance. The volume ROC is calculated the exact same way as the rate of change indicator except instead of tracking the closing price it tracks volume.

Volume Rate of Change Formula

The volume ROC is calculated by dividing the volume over the last "x" periods by the volume over the last "x" periods ago. If the volume from today is lower than "x" periods ago, then the volume ROC is trending lower. Below is the formula for the volume ROC:

Volume ROC = ((Volume - Volume n-periods ago )/ Volume n-periods ago) *100

Interpreting the Volume ROC

The volume rate of change indicator is subjective like many other technical indicators. The first question you have to ask yourself is how many periods should feed the input for the indicator. The shorter the periods, the greater price fluctuations will occur for the volume ROC indicator. Assuming you have selected the correct input value for the timeframe you are trading on, you want to see the volume ROC pick up significantly as it breaks through resistance. This is a sign that you are correct in your long position and the trend should remain intact for the near term. Traders can also use the Volume ROC to identify when there is a false breakout and use this as an opportunity to take a counter position.



spreading betting forex trading

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How to Make Money Day Trading

How to Make Money Day Trading

Day trading sounds like a fun job, doesn't it? You get to stay home and make money simply by sitting in front of a computer in your pajamas. All you have to do is log onto the Internet and buy, check up on, and sell stocks for a couple of hours a day. You can even automate your buys and sells and have a daily report of your stock activity e-mailed to you. If you know what you're doing you can make tons of easy money.

Or is that wishful thinking? Can it really be that easy?

The truth is that it is not as easy as it sounds. You still have to invest your time researching stocks. You still have a degree of risk. You still have to account for trading fees in your profitability calculations. You still have to have money to make money.

Computers and the Internet make day trading a lot more automated and a lot more efficient. And that includes the research aspect of day trading. Gone are the days when you would have to spend countless hours researching among hundreds of stocks to identify the best ones worth investing in.

Now, with the tools and technology that are available to us at our disposal, we can cut our research time hundredfold, and we can make much more sound investment decisions, because our research will be based on mathematical number crunching, data analysis, and precision-based statistical probability.

Computers can extrapolate the future behavior of stock trends based on past performance with a surprising degree of precision and accuracy.



formulating trading plan