Saturday, January 2, 2010

Automated Forex Trading Strategy

Having an automated Forex trading system can give you an edge in Forex trading, but having a Forex strategy can give an upper hand. If you want to reap long term profits, then you just do not trade using your instinct or just because a particular trade excites you. You need a trading system or a strategy to make sure that you are getting solid trades and transactions.

A Forex strategy or system consists of rules that guide you on how to make trades in the Forex market. A Forex strategy or system provides information on when to enter a trade and how to exit the trade. It would also enable you to apply and use risk management rules.

There are ways to know if your Forex trading strategy is really successful or good.

• Start knowing how successful it has been in the past. It pays to know how much previous or existing users of the system have earned so far by using the strategy. Aside from that, also obtain some information on how much is the maximum drawdown of the system in its previous trading.

• There is a win-loss ratio wchich you can also check. It is about how much you have won compared with much you have lost. Aside from that, there is also a profit-loss ratio. This s about the average winning trade compared to the losing trade.

• You would also have to know how consistent the system is in delivering profits.

When choosing a Forex strategy, you do not only have to factor-in the success rate and profit percentage. You would also need to consider your lifestyle and what system can be used to fit or suit it. You would have to know what Forex trading system can be used appropriately in your time zone.

A useful strategy used in Forex trade is what is called leverage. With the leverage strategy, you would earn about a hundred times the amount of the money that you are trading in your account. A lot of traders have testified that they were able to win a lot of profit by using this kind of strategy. So if you have a funded Forex account, you can use this strategy to get more profits.

Another strategy is the stop-loss order. This strategy works by identifying a point where you will not trade. This trading point is identified and determined before the trading begins. When using this kind of strategy, you would have to be able to analyze trading signals so you would not be mistaken with your prediction. If your predicted trade did not go on as you expected, the stop loss system could be very disadvantageous.
The automated Forex trading is anther kind f system or strategy. Entering and exiting an order will be determined by your automated system. Again, the price and the point where the program would enter or exit a trade is predetermined.

These Forex trading strategies would help you have better trade opportunities in the Forex market. Whether you are using the leverage, stop loss or automated Forex trading system and strategies, 100 % success is not guaranteed. These strategies do not aim to give your perfect trades, because that is impossible. These trading strategies are here to help us minimize the risk of losing in the trade.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Automated Forex Trading System Risks

We’ve been hearing how great automated Forex Trading system is. There are numerous benefits using it. But is it all about the good things? There are two sides in a coin, so what is the other side of an automated Forex trading system?
Some traders and investors would say that intuition means a lot when trading. Some would say that it played a major role when they are clinching a deal or when winning in a trade. But some traders would say that intuition does not play a role. Some would say that it works for them, while others would contest that. But given the fact that some people rely on intuition to get good trades, an automated system would not be able to help them. Since programs and computers do not rely on intuition at all.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Guidelines in stock trading for beginners

Ask people who have recently engage in stock trading and some of them would probably tell you that one of the reasons why they are encouraged to get into this field is the movie, "The Pursuit of Happiness".

In fact, many people who are in stock trading right now have once or twice thought about going into stock trading. It all look so easy considering you just need to make a few phone calls and meet some people and talk to some high brass firms. It is all about presentation they say. It's important that you have the know how to say things at the right time. Now for people who are seriously considering stock trading as a career here are some important things you need to know.

1. What are the types of stocks.
There are basically two types of stocks available—the common stock and the preferred stock. The type that most individuals hold is called the "common stock". Here, the trader represents the majority of stock and he or she reserves the rights when it comes to voting people in the management as well as also calls the shots when it comes to share in dividends. The other type is called as the "preferred stock". Basically, it is the same with common stock only that the traders enjoy lesser rights. But the good thing about preferred stocks is that the traders do not partake in dividends, thus, making companies have more freedom in deciding the trend of the income from dividends. If you are just beginning in stock trading, it would be best to look for companies that have bigger profits on their preferred stocks because it means that they earn bigger dividends, which can give you bigger return of investment.

2. What are "trading stocks."
This is one of the most basic things you need to know. If you are just starting in stock trading, must understand what a stock is, what does trading entails, and how does trading stocks will affect your overall success. Stocks refer to a unit of ownership one has in a certain company. Trading, on the other hand, is the simplest way of saying buying and selling something or a financial tool that is used stock trading. Stock trading simply means that you will be purchasing and selling stocks in the financial market.

3. Understand the methods of stock trading.
Experts say that a beginner in stock trading doesn’t really have to have in-depth knowledge of the minute details of how one buys and sells stocks. The most important thing is that he or she learns the importance of knowing the basics so they would know how to execute the stock trading strategies.  In stock trading, there are basically two interactions that take place when a trader executes a trade—the first is on the exchange floor and the other one is by using electronics. If one is trading on the exchange floor, there is a need to open the marketplace where thousands of people are speeding up, shouting, make gestures to one another, and in heated discussions over the phones. There are also those who carefully watch the monitors for any changes, and almost simultaneously enter data into each respective terminals. When it comes to electronic trading, the exchange floor might be more chaotic compared to this set up. These days, there is a stronger demand in shifting trading to the networks and off the trading floors. In fact, because of lesser room for pressure, more and more traders prefer this stock trading set up.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Forex Glossary

Aggregate
Total amount of exposure a bank has with a customer for both spot and forward contracts.
American Option
An option which may be exercised at any valid business date throughout the life of the option.
Appreciation
Describes a currency strengthening in response to market demand rather than by official action.


Arbitrage
A risk-free type of trading where the same instrument is bought and sold simultaneously in two different markets in order to cash in on the difference in these markets.
Around
Used in quoting forward "premium / discount".
Ask Price
Ask is the lowest price acceptable to the buyer.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

How to Trade Forex

Trading foreign exchange is exciting and potentially very profitable, but there are also significant risk factors. It is crucially important that you fully understand the implications of margin trading and the particular pitfalls and opportunities that foreign exchange trading offers. On these pages, we offer you a brief introduction to the Forex markets as well as their participants and some strategies that you can apply. However, if you are ever in doubt about any aspect of a trade, you can always discuss the matter in-depth with one of our dealers. They are available 24 hours a day on the Saxo Bank online trading system, SaxoTrader.
The benchmark of its service is efficient execution, concise analysis and expertise – all achieved whilst maintaining an attractive and competitive cost structure. Today, Saxo Bank offers one of Europe's premier all-round services for trading in derivative products and foreign exchange. We count amongst our employees

Monday, November 9, 2009

History of Forex Trading

Initially, the value of goods was expressed in terms of other goods, i.e. an economy based on barter between individual market participants. The obvious limitations of such a system encouraged establishing more generally accepted means of exchange at a fairly early stage in history, to set a common benchmark of value. In different economies, everything from teeth to feathers to pretty stones has served this purpose, but soon metals, in particular gold and silver, established themselves as an accepted means of payment as well as a reliable storage of value. Originally, coins were simply minted from the preferred metal, but in stable political regimes the introduction of a paper form of governmental IOUs (I owe you) gained acceptance during the Middle Ages. Such IOUs, often introduced more successfully through force than persuasion were the basis of modern currencies.
Before World War I, most central banks supported their currencies with convertibility to gold. Although paper money could always be exchanged for gold, in reality this did not occur often, fostering the sometimes disastrous notion that there was not necessarily a need for full cover in the central reserves of the government.
At times, the ballooning supply of paper money without gold cover led to devastating inflation and resulting political instability. To protect local national interests, foreign exchange controls were increasingly introduced to prevent market forces from punishing monetary irresponsibility.
In the latter stages of World War II, the Bretton Woods agreement was reached on the initiative of the USA in July 1944. The Bretton Woods Conference rejected John Maynard Keynes suggestion for a new world reserve currency in favour of a system built on the US dollar. Other international institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) were created in the same period as the emerging victors of WW2 searched for a way to avoid the destabilising monetary crises which led to the war. The Bretton Woods agreement resulted in a system of fixed exchange rates that partly reinstated the gold standard, fixing the US dollar at USD35/oz and fixing the other main currencies to the dollar - and was intended to be permanent.
The Bretton Woods system came under increasing pressure as national economies moved in different directions during the sixties. A number of realignments kept the system alive for a long time, but eventually Bretton Woods collapsed in the early seventies following president Nixon's suspension of the gold convertibility in August 1971. The dollar was no longer suitable as the sole international currency at a time when it was under severe pressure from increasing US budget and trade deficits.
The following decades have seen foreign exchange trading develop into the largest global market by far. Restrictions on capital flows have been removed in most countries, leaving the market forces free to adjust foreign exchange rates according to their perceived values.
But the idea of fixed exchange rates has by no means died. The EEC (European Economic Community) introduced a new system of fixed exchange rates in 1979, the European Monetary System. This attempt to fix exchange rates met with near extinction in 1992-93, when pent-up economic pressures forced devaluations of a number of weak European currencies. Nevertheless, the quest for currency stability has continued in Europe with the renewed attempt to not only fix currencies but actually replace many of them with the Euro in 2001.
The lack of sustainability in fixed foreign exchange rates gained new relevance with the events in South East Asia in the latter part of 1997, where currency after currency was devalued against the US dollar, leaving other fixed exchange rates, in particular in South America, looking very vulnerable.
But while commercial companies have had to face a much more volatile currency environment in recent years, investors and financial institutions have found a new playground. The size of foreign exchange markets now dwarfs any other investment market by a large factor. It is estimated that more than USD 3,000 billion is traded every day, far more than the world's stock and bond markets combined.