DEMO ACCOUNT

I am always telling new traders to practice on their demo account until they become consistently profitable.

WHY?????

Because I have found that it is a way to program a success pattern in your mind. Your mind doesn't distinguish between a live and a demo account, however we do. Sometimes we allow emotions to interfere with the successful program that our mind is running once we get a live account.

We want trading to be so ingrained in us that it is almost instinct. Your demo gives you the opportunity to train your mind toward automatic success.

Your brain begins to recognize patterns of success as you practice on your live or demo account, it doesn't matter which one?.

As a trader, every time you enter the market, you take a risk.

YOU CAN NOT BE BE AFRAID OF RISK!

But you must make SMART, CALCULATED RISK in the market. Risk no more than 2% of your capital in a trade. 2% on the right side of the trade is more than enough to provide your with a very comfortable life style. 2% on the wrong side of the trade can also take you out. That is why smart calculated risk give you the biggest advantage in the market. When you don't over trade your account it gives you more control over your exit as opposed to being forced out of the trade by the market.

ENTER THE MARKET WHEN YOU CAN SEE A CLEAR ADVANTAGE!

Use your demo up, blow it up several times if that is what is necessary for you to gain an understanding of what is going on in the market.

Take your demo seriously. Practice your successes and it will help your mind begin to eliminate those habits that are counter productive to good trading. Practicing success in your demo translates into success in your live account.

YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)

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RUNNING PRICE

Many times when price is running like a mad train on steroids, it is very unsettling because all of your emotions are screaming for you to jump aboard. The problem with that is many time that same train that seduced you aboard will often abandon you at the station leaving you wondering what happened??????

One of the most difficult temptation to resist in trading is the urge and beckoning to follow running price. Running price will often leave you stuck at the top or abandoned at the bottom. When your eyes see price running, all of your emotions are screaming for you to jump aboard. DON'T DO IT! Many times it is a trap that will leave you licking your wounds. When you get off of the ground all scraped up, you still aren't sure what happened because you were in harmony with your trend. Many times price will speed up just before the critical end of that run.



Now if you are aboard a trend and price starts on super steroids x 20 then you might want to begin looking for the nearest exit point. It doesn't always happen like that, but I have seen it often enough that I never jump into running price, even though my emotions are still screaming for me to.

While I am looking at price accelerate, I am thinking "look at all of that money you missed, and you knew it was going to keep going" or thoughts like "crap you should have gotten in, you missed your chance." My Friend the market will give you another chance!

I would rather miss out on an iffy trade for a sure one any day. When things settle and I can see a clear advantage then I can enter the market with logic instead of emotions....

Study Your charts and learn the price rhythm of your currency pair or pairs

YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)

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LIKE FINE WINE

Like a fine wine the surety of a trend reversal gets better with time. The more a trend has aged, the more likely you are to get a valid reversal.

The older a trend gets the more ripe it is for falling off, and the more likely a new more robust trend will take over. A trend that is young and vigorous maybe side tracked briefly, but is not very likely to be defeated. The end of the uptrend says that the last of the big buyers are gone and the end of a down trend says that the last of the big sellers are gone and that trend has now become ripe for a take over.

Think of a trend like a young lion protecting his pride, another lion is not likely to usurp his authority. As he gets older, he is much more likely to lose his pride in defeat to a younger more energetic lion. The same is true with a trend as it gets older it becomes much more likely to be taken over. When considering whether or not to take a reversal (especially in the short term) gauge the age of the trend first. If the trend has just begin then you are not likely to have a legitimate reversal on your hand. If the trend is still very close to the trend line then it is not likely to be a valid reversal.

There are no absolutes in the market, but you do need to keep an eye out for things that put the odds the most in your favor.

YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)

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FEAR

How many times have you let the perfect trade pass you by? The trade that was screaming for you to take it, but fear kept you from pulling the trigger; then once you saw what a 'fat trade' it turned out to be; you beat yourself up.

Most of us have heard that classic acronym for Fear:

F-False
E-Evidence
A-Appearing
R-Real

There are a million ways to be successful in this market, but most people defeat their own success with fear. Fear is that paralyzing emotion that happens when you feel certain that you should pull the trigger, but can't.

As a trader, Fear can be an almost constant companion.........
How do you tame this beast??? What can be done about this monster that creeps into your psyche and holds you hostage????????

If you find yourself victim to this dreadful enemy. Stop trading your real money and paper/demo trade for a while. Make note of every trade and write down what is working most of the time. When you miss it, write down what happened and what you can do to improve your odds. This will take the discipline that most people lack, but it can be a big help. Also feed yourself new messages about your ability to succeed in this market. Read about others who are doing it and how they are getting this done.

A solid education will also help tweak and perfect your skills. The Market is an arena that is always offering you an opportunity to sharpen your skills. Learn, Learn, Learn.

Practice pulling the trigger on trades that are showing you a clear advantage and practice letting them ride into glorious profit. "Remember the shorter your time frame, the shorter your profit run will be...........

You have got to talk to yourself about who you are, (ex: "I am a super forex trader, making more money in the market than I can spend.") Don't keep feeding that demon that's telling you 'this won't work for you'. The one that keeps telling you when you take a hit, 'you can't do this', or 'GOD helps everyone else but you', or any of that other nonsense......

I would say that your mental ability to play this game is even more essential to your success than your education. You can not be afraid of good smart calculated risk if you are going to win at this game.

You are looking for trades that stack the odds in your favor. Trades that are showing you a clear advantage. Trades that are begging you to come and partake of the sweetness.

Every time you enter the market you take a risk, but you want to find the lowest risk entry trades. There will be times that despite your best efforts, you will still miss it. So what, cut the legs off of that monster, save your capital and thrive to trade another day. The market is very generous and will give you the opportunity to make your loss back and so much more. If you took a hit yesterday, so what; that no longer exists. Today is a new trading day filled with new trading opportunities.

When I take a hit, I just wait for another good entry and usually I will get all of the money back that I lost in the hit and then some. THE MARKET IS VERY GENEROUS AND WILL GIVE YOU MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR PROFITS.

1. Exceptional Trading requires discipline, patience, education, good money management and the ability to pull the trigger on a good entry in spite of any present fear.

Demo trade, Demo trade, Demo trade, and fill your head with good positive things about your ability and who you are as a trader until you are consistently profitable and until you can pull the trigger on trades with confidence.

YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)

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YOUR MARKET OPPONENT

Most traders are under the illusion that their greatest opponent in the market are the skilled pros out there who are waiting to gobble them up. While they are worthy opponents, there is an opponent even more worthy, if you go to the mirror, you will find them. The biggest enemy to trading successfully is YOU and your mindset.

The thing that usually demolishes traders besides getting into the game way too early (while they are still very, very green) is their lack of discipline and patience. The hardest thing in the market, especially if you are a natural Type A personality, is the waiting.

The natural type A makes the perfect forex victim, because we like to see things move and like to get things accomplished. While this is a very desirable trait in most other aspects of life, it can be to your determent in forex.



It is the incredible volatility and fast pace of forex that attracts us in the first place, but when the market is stagnant, it can make us nuts, often causing us to make premature ill-timed entries.

That is why it is essential to your long term success for you to perfect your WAIT!!!!!

What are you waiting???
For proper trade set-ups!

Trades in harmony with your trend will usually be the most profitable and give the most reliable signals.

LEARN YOUR CANDLESTICK PATTERNS!
LEARN YOUR TRENDS!!!
LEARN YOUR SUPPORT/RESISTANCE!!!!!
LEARN ABOUT MARKET RHYTHM!!!
LEARN MARKET PSYCHOLOGY!!!!!

AFTER LEARNING ALL OF THAT.

YOU MUST PERFECT THE ART OF WAITING !!!!!!!! (^_^)


YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)


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TRADING PREDICTABLE

There are times when the market is murky, cloudy and choppy, but there are the sweet times when the market is crystal clear like a cool refreshing spring. That is when you want to be in it. Many traders try to swim in all market waters. This is a big mistakes. Dirty waters are full of sharks.

IF YOU DON'T CLEARLY SEE AN ADVANTAGE; DO NOT TRADE!!!!!



IF YOU CAN NOT SEE A TRADE SET-UP, IT IS PROBABLY BECAUSE THERE IS NOT ONE.

You may wait a whole day for a market set-up, never to get one. That is when traders get antsy and agitated and begin creating trades from thin air. Mostly ending up on the wrong side of the trade. WHY gamble with your capital like that?????????? THAT IS DUMB.

When the market is lost, let it wander, but you stay out. It is hard, I know, as all of your emotions are screaming at you not to miss out. Miss out on what??????

What you are missing out on is the set-up for the BIG KILL. SOMETIMES THERE IS NO TRADE and if you are wise, you except that and go find some other way to occupy your time. If you are no a pro, don't play the out-smart-the-market game, it will make road kill out of you fast. You may get away with it a time or two, but you can be sure that eventually it will catch up with you, because market strategies don't stay the same. It only takes that one 200-400 pip shake out day to change your world for the worst.

Trade when your trades are more predictable than not. Trade when the waters are cool, refreshing and crystal clear. Trade when the market is sending you a VERY CLEAR invitaion to jump in. If the water is murky, you can believe there are sharks. SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK !!!!

YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)

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TRICK CANDLES

There are two very tricky candles that I must warn you about. Both are part of the umbrella group. The first is the shooting star. The shooting star comes at the top on an uptrend and has a shadow twice the size of the real body. The thing about the shooting star is that it opens near the bottom of the candle goes up to create the illustration of a strong bullish candle, quickly turns on you, and closes near it's open. It can be bullish or bearish, but a bearish shooting star is stronger and more likely to create a reversal than a bullish shooting star.

A shooting star happens when the bulls are running strong with the ball , and it looks like they are going to score when the bears come in and slam them at the last minute. Many times the bears take over then run the ball the other way.  Sometimes there is a fight and there is a sideways standoff for a while.
The hammer is the other trick candle that you want to be aware of. A hammer come at the end of a downtrend and will mislead you with the idea that it is going to continue in a bearish fashion before price turns traitor on you. It is called a hammer because it looks like a hammer. A hammer opens near the top of the candle, falls strong before reversing on you, creating a lower shadow that is twice the size of it's real body . When you see a hammer form, it is a sign that you need to protect your profits.

The thing that is detrimental about the shooting star/hammer is that if you enter either before it closes, you will more than likely find yourself on the far end of the WRONG SIDE of the trade. If you are using candles as trading flagships, always let them close before you jump into a trade. Impatience in the face of either of these candles will break you fast.



YOU CAN DO THIS (^_^)

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WAIT FOR PROPER CONFIRMATION SIGNALS

The biggest challenge to being a successful trader is waiting for proper confirmation signals before entering a trade. Many traders play the guessing game with the market even when they understand that they should buy low and sell high. In a bull market when they think price has gone up far enough, they sell and when they feel it has gone low enough, they buy to get a jump on the market, for what they are hoping is a big pay check. This kind of thinking is often Market Suicide, and will get you killed.

Price in a trend is like a locomotive freight train, it will run you over and never even feel you. You have got to wait until the breaks are applied and the train does a u-turn before trying to sell tops or buy bottoms. YOU CAN NOT GET A JUMP ON THE MARKET unless you are psychic. The market has successfully tricked traders for hundreds of years and is very efficient at it.

YOU CAN NEVER OUT GUESS THE MARKET !!!!! You can only follow where it leads, hoping it doesn't turn on you like a mad dog.

Sometimes you will wait for a proper set-up and still get stopped out, but waiting for a proper set-up is going to give you the greatest chance for success and put the odds the most in your favor.

There is no perfect strategy, but you are looking for one that will put you on the right side of the trade most of the time. Remember everyday your market is different, so develop a strategy for every kind of trading market. (The bullish, the bearish, consolidation and choppy). As a trader you will take an occasional hit, but it is the end of the month profit that you are looking to, not the end of the day profit. It is ok to lose a battle every now and then as long as you win the war.

The most simple trading strategy is to follow the current trend until your candlesticks tell you differently. A good trader spends much more time waiting than trading. LEARN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF YOUR CANDLES AND YOUR CANDLESTICK PATTERNS !!!!!!!!

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30 MINUTE MASTER STRATEGY

This great strategy is provided by Peterfibonacci:

Here is my strategy.

On a GBP/USD and EUR/USD M30 time frame:

Indicators:

8 EMA applied to Open
5 EMA applied to Close
Fibonnaci pivots to show the resistance and the supports.
Signal Line period of 45
2MA Crossover signal Indicator (to alert when a cross over has happened)

RSI 14
Stochastics (10,3,3)
MACD (5,15,9)

Long Entry:
Enter immediately when the MACD, Stochastics, RSI show a long position and the 5MA has crossed over the 8MA from below.

Place the stop loss a few points below the recent low with a take profit of 70 pips and a trailing stop of 30 pips.


Short Entry:
Enter immediately when the MACD, Stochastics, RSI show a short position and the 5MA has crossed over the 8MA from above.

Place the stop loss a few points above recent high with a take profit of 50 pips and a trailing stop of 30 pips.

This strategy seems to work best in a horizontal market. Sometimes one has to work with the resistance and support points to determine the proper Take Profit level, because it's not always 50 pips.

This strategy also works well with the H1 time frame. I personally like the H1 because the candlestick patterns are move evident and sometimes one can see entry and exit points before the alert(which is the EMA cross)!

Above and below a chart has been provided for your study, so that you can obtain a better grasp of this strategy. If you left click your mouse on the chart, you will have the options at the very top of that menu that says 'view image'. If you click 'view image', it will provide you with a larger, better view of the chart.

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Have an awesome trading week! Thanks!

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STOP LOSSES ARE YOUR FRIENDS

Many traders fear placing stop losses because they are afraid that they will get stopped out. This is the wrong mindset. A stop loss is a friend that helps you preserve your capital when you are on the wrong side of the trade.

A stop loss is simply what it says, it is a system that you put in place to stop the loss of your capital, just in case the trade goes against you strongly. Don't place stop losses with the idea that you are going to get stopped out, but place it with the idea that you are protected if a trade does something differently than you expect. It will give you the opportunity, if it is hit to step back and position yourself for a more profitable trade set-up and entry.

What happens when you ride a losing trade to long. It depresses your emotions. It keeps you locked in a losing mentality. It takes up margin that you can be using on a better more profitable trade. A stop loss gives you the freedom to move on, and be free from all of the negative things that comes from seeing that losing trade over and over.

Even if you have the capital to ride out a losing trade for months, then whenever you see a more profitable trade set-up in that same currency pair, you are not free to take advantage of that new opportunity because you are stuck in a losing trade waiting for it to turn back in your favor......one day 8^( .

Let's go back and look at that trade from day one. What if you had taken that hit the first day with a 60pip loss. That is quite a hit. You could have simply made 10 pips a day for the next 7 trading days, and you'd be a head 10pips. What that would have done is free up your capital as well as your mindset. There is an extra confidence that comes when you go to your platform with no losing trades staring you in the face. It is a feeling of power.

Instead you decided to hold that trade 7 trading days. Now you are in the hole 150 pips, plus you paid 7 days of rollover fees, but things have begin to turn in your favor like you knew they would. That is 7 days that you have locked yourself out of more profitable trades in that currency pair, and who knows when you are going to break even on that pair.

When you have losing trades on your platform, then you are fearful of taking other good trades that you see, because of your margin level, the new trade may go against you and wipe you out, or any number of negative messages that we hear in our heads when we are in losing trades.

Dearest traders stop losses are your Friends. Here is a video that can help you decide how you may want to place your stop losses.

Placing Stops, Traders Whiteboard #4 Click Here

I am certainly not encouraging you to take unnecessary losses, if you are in a situation where you are in harmony with your trend and you have a little retracement that has gone against you temporarily, by all means allow that trade to close profitable.

Just don't allow losses to run on and on and on and on, because it's like spiderwebs in the mind and pretty soon, they cloud your vision and your judgment until you are paralyzed and can not do anything until that position comes back into profit. It is better to be out of a good trade wishing that you were in, than to be held hostage in a bad trade that you wish you were out of. Lastly letting trades go to far against you is just breeding grounds for stress and anxiety.

Remember strong dips and rally punish traders who don't have proper stop losses in place.

Trade well, Live Well, Laugh a lot and have Loads of Fun (^_^)


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This blog is not in anyway an enticement or solicitation to trade in the Forex Market. These tips are for informational purposes only and are not to be substituted for legal advice or council. I have written this blog in hopes that it will help you to avoid some of the terrifying pitfalls I had in the Forex Market before I learned better.

CONFIDENCE !

Confidence, is a key ingredient in successful trading.

What do you need confidence in????? You need confident in your ability, and you need confidence in your strategy.

But I have gotten it wrong so much.

So what I went broke, it is ok. You can do this!!!! (^_^)

How do I start to rebuild??????

You start by taking a deep breathe, taking a break and investing in more education.

I have already gotten education till my head is going to fall off, and I still can't get it right. I JUST WANT TO QUIT!

That is exactly why you need to take a break, if you quit now, you will miss out on how good it feels to win.

Let me explain something, the market will give you plenty of opportunities to make profit. Every trader has losing trades. The successful traders have more winning trades. You just have to learn to take trades that are going to put the odds in your favor. You only have to win most of the times. If you lose, the market is generous and will give you another chance to try again

Trust me, you can do this. Part of your biggest challenge is overcoming the feeling of hopelessness that comes from the idea that you have failed.

YOU HAVE NOT FAILED, you didn't meet your goal, but it is ok. You just discovered how not to do things, and now you are ready to learn a better way (SMILE). I know it is hard now, but if you hang in here with me, I assure you that it will be ok.

Do you still have money in your account?

Yes, but it is just a little.......

Great, leave it alone. I want you to open up a demo or practice account, and practice on it.

I already did that 2 months before I opened my real account.

I went broke two times and almost three, so trust me here. Even though I am very profitable now, I still open a practice account to practice new strategies.

I want you to go to your library and pick up Steve Nison's books:
Beyond Candlesticks and/or Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques.
Either book is a good place to start.

If you can't find it yet, go to my youtube channel and look at my favorites. I have uploaded lessons there on candlestick trading, it is a good place to start, but the books are better.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TRADERSFRIEND

Do you have an understanding of a lot of your indicators?

I understand them pretty well. I know you don't really use them, do I need to stop using them?

No, they are important for giving you an idea where price might go. Just don't over do it.

I want you to start where most traders should start and that is with the basics, it is so critical for traders to understand where price might reverse on them.

Yes, I can see now that is how I ended up with losing trades, because I would start out good many times and ended up losing and it would make me madder than hell.

We don't want you to be madder than hell, we want you to win at this game. Forex is a zero sum game, it has no mercy, winner take all. YOU CAN BE THAT WINNER!

Once you learn your patterns and understand more of the market psychology, then I want you to practice only on your demo account until you build your confidence back. Forex is like Poker, in that, it is a game where the ones with the confidence will go home with the pot!!!!!!!

I also want you to remind yourself often that you are not that same losing trader, and that you have grown. You have got to tell yourself that or those ghost (of your losing days) in your head will scare you to death. Those past fears will keep you out of good profitable trades which you end up kicking yourself for later.

Listen to me. YOU CAN GO LONG, YOU CAN GO SHORT!!! YOU ARE NOT JUST A BULL OR A BEAR, YOU ARE A CHAMELEON AND CAN CHANGE WHEN THE MARKET CHANGES!

YOU ARE NOT THAT SAME TRADER. YOU ARE BETTER AND MORE INFORMED. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!

Once you understand your reversal patterns, then you can combine them with what you already know. The practice on your demo account will only lend to your confidence.

When you are ready, you can start back on your real account; but make small short trades. Since you don't have much money left, trade mini if you can.

I only have a mini account.

Great, then we are in business!

Take small trades on reversal signals, but only in the direction of your trend. This will help your confidence, and help you realize that this game is not rocket science, though it can be tricky. YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

Finally come to your platform well rested, if you are fighting with your love, don't trade because a more well rested focused trader is going to take your money.

In order to trade successfully you must identify your trend, be able to read your chart, wait for proper market set-ups, recognize reversal patterns, have confidence in your ability to trade successfully and be focus. My dear Friend, never stop learning and growing the market is always teaching a new lesson

You know where to reach my if you have any questions and I will help you all that I can, I promise (^_^). It will be ok, we can do this together.

HANG IN THERE!


This blog is not in anyway an enticement or solicitation to trade in the Forex Market. These tips are for informational purposes only and are not to be substituted for legal advice or council. I have written this blog in hopes that it will help you to avoid some of the terrifying pitfalls I had in the Forex Market before I learned better.

Classic tips

Originally posted 3/2/08


WOW!!!!!.....

.......so you decided to trade Forex. Good for you! Forex can be profitable, but you can also lose everything before you have time to blink. I know, I have been there, and there is no adrenaline rush in the world like watching a half a years salary go up in smoke in a matter of minutes. It will arrest you and leave you picking up your jaw from the floor two minutes later.

I just want to offer some TIPS, that I hope will be helpful in your trading experience.

1. Never trade against the trend if you are new. Learn the market like your own name first before trying such stunts. Use 4 hour, daily charts or longer to identify a true trend. Anything less may give you a false reading of the overall trend. KNOW THE PREVAILING TREND BEFORE YOU START TO TRADE.

2. Never trade on impulse. Impulse trading will KILL YOU. Never trade tired; tired trading create costly mistakes. Never do angry/revenge trading. That is when you trade in anger to try to get your money back when a position goes against you. It rarely ever works. Pay attention to what you are trading and how much. An accidental wrong click can be as costly an any other trading mistake.

3. Find a Forex company without a dealing desk, because they are always trading against you, waiting for you to make mistakes that they can pounce on. Forex companies like that stack the odds so far against you, that it makes it almost impossible to win. They will give you just enough knowledge to hang your self.

4. Don't trade with a Forex company that doesn't display your free margin, because most of these companies hide your free margin in your Margin Balance, so that you are fooled into thinking you have all of your balance as a free trading balance, but they will liquidate you. Remember, they are dealing against you, they are not your FRIEND, and they are not there to help you prosper. If they do accidentally liquidate your position, they will still keep ALL OF THE MONEY THAT THEY HAVE LIQUIDATED, then they put you back in at the position that they liquidated you from, even though it was their error, and try to tell you that the position they put you back into is the same because your marginal balance is the same as what it was when they liquidated you, but all of your real money that they stole, is gone, and you are left with a vulnerable open position praying that you can recover your money, which they well know that you probably won't do, that is why they will not give you a refund. THEY ARE CROOKS, SO BUYER BEWARE.

5. If you trade with a company that offers their opinions with the news, ignore the postings, it will scare you to death and often times cause you to lose out on good profit potential or take an unnecessary loss. Just be careful!

*Remember price action is everything and the longer term trend is your friend. Only the charts tell the whole truth. Learn to read them like a master musician reads sheet music.

6. Don't hold on to losers to long, it will eat you alive. If you are in a losing position wait until you recover some before you sell, or sell small lots of the position at a time. Ex: if you have an open position of $100,000USD, and the market has gone against you in a big way, you may want to sell $20,000USD when the market goes back in your favor some instead of the whole $100,000 lot.

7. Be very careful of advice you find on the internet! There is some good stuff out there. Do your own homework, and DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK, and DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK. The market will not reward your lazy attempts.

8. Realize and respect that it takes hard work to be successful in Forex.

9. Do not gamble with the market, make good calculated pre-planned entries.

10. When you are borrowing money from family, friends and credit cards for Forex, it is time to step back; look for new/better strategies and make sure that this is what you want to do.

11. THIS IS BUSINESS, ALWAYS RESPECT THAT FACT. YOU ARE HERE TO MAKE MONEY!

12. Never lower your margin with an open position, it could liquidate that position, be sure all of your positions are closed before you lower your margin.

(Allow me to explain margins a bit. I am going to try to make this as simple as possible, it is when your broker lends you $50.00, $100.00, $200.00 and even $250.00 on every $1.00 that you have, (50:1, 100:1, 200:1, 250:1) This is a great deal that can help you be more profitable(because it allows you to hold a bigger position in the market), but it can cause you to over leverage yourself, and if the market goes against you in a big enough way, it will drown you quickly, taking all of your hard earned money in the process.

13. Learn all of the major reports for your currency pair, and try to avoid being in the market before or during those releases, because the market can become so violently volatile that you can be liquidated in less than two minutes.

14. Maintaining your trading capital is more important than making a profit. Sometimes you just gotta save your butt. Minimize losses and your profit will take care of you!

15. Practice on a realistic size Forex demo account. if your initial investment is $250USD, then don't practice on a $50,000 demo account, it will give you a false confidence, and cause you to get your butt handed to you. Use a practice account that will allow you to trade as close to the actual amount you plan to trade as possible.

16. Please don't over leverage yourself, over leveraging will kill you quickly. Invest only 2-5% of your capital Maximum, Even when a trade looks really promising; something can happen to turn a trade against you quickly, and you want the room to ride the wave if you decide to ride, or of course you can get out, (which in a lot of cases is just wiser).

17. When you are looking for a good Forex trading platform, the NFA (Nation Futures Association), FCM (Futures Commission Merchant), (CFTC) Commodity Futures Trading Commission and all of other organizations designated to oversee these markets are good places to begin, but if you really want to find a good Forex Broker, Google "Reputable Forex Broker" and see how other real people feel about different brokers. You will be surprised at how forthcoming they are. You will be glad that you did. Also one of the reason people don't file complaints against these companies is because some of the companies designed to protect you, charge you a hefty fee just to file the complaint, so most people avoid the headache all together. Be wary, and look out for those unscrupulous Forex Brokers. With that said there are a few really good brokers out there! What you are looking for is a broker who is TRANSPARENT, and DOESN'T HAVE A DEALING DESK!

18. Don't panic trade, when you feel that antsy, desperate feeling that makes your mouth dry, turn off the computer and do something else until you are your best self. Trading requires confidence and a good clear head.

19. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE , PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE ON YOUR DEMO ACCOUNT,.......... EVEN THAT WON'T BE QUITE ENOUGH,....... BUT GET AS MANY SCREW UPS AND BAD HABITS OUT OF YOUR SYSTEM AS POSSIBLE!!!!!!!


The biggest challenge in Forex is having the confidence that you are doing the right thing, and the discipline to see it through. As you watch those numbers dance in front of your eyes along with your profits, it gets though. It can make you down right panicky, learn the market, and if you pray, ( learn to trust that feeling of peace no matter what the market is doing). The news and the market will make you crazy, but what does your gut tell you in the mist of all of that noise?

20. Lastly if you are stressed, irrational and ready to throw the computer, turn off the screen, breathe and go do something that you really enjoy. (Just breathe, it will be ok, this too shall pass. Live in peace!

HAPPY TRADING

Remember to be thankful, be humble, be kind. I hope that this help. Thank you for visiting my blog. Wishing you every blessing of health, wealth, happiness, prosperity and peace for your life. (SMILE)


This blog is not in anyway an enticement or solicitation to trade in the Forex Market. These tips are for informational purposes only and are not to be substituted for legal advice or council. I have written this blog in hopes that it will help you to avoid some of the terrifying pitfalls I had in the Forex Market before I learned better.

Margins/Leverage

Well, I am ready to talk about a biggie, the margin. What is margin? A margin is money we put up as collateral to our broker to cover credit risk on the money the broker has lent to us. A margin gives you leverage (magnification). Leverage is an amount of money a broker lends an investor to buy securities, in our case currency.

The thing that makes margins/leverage so attractive is that it can increase your potential returns). In a 50:1 ratio, for every $1.00 you invest your broker is extending $50.00 to increase your buying power. In a 100:1, it is $100.00 for every $1:00 you put up, and so on. Whoo Hoo! Nice broker, huh??????? The thing about leverage is it can either work for or against you. For most traders, it works against them, that is why your broker is willing to give it so freely. The expectation is it will help you deplete your account more quickly.

Forex is a zero sum game, for every penny you lose, someone else gains it, and it is usually the one who has the deepest pockets and can most afford to ride the volatility waves; so brokers can afford to allow you to over leverage because they have much deeper pockets and usually they win.

I have to mention this, there are some brokers that offer up to 750:1 ratios, stay away from them. I would not trade with a broker who offered more than a 400:1 ratio and believe me 400:1 is gamblers stakes. You work too hard for your money to willing give it over to the market.

How do you protect yourself against the downside of leverage???????

Decrease the size of your leverage. It will take away from that ideal wind fall, but it will also keep your account from being depleted fast.

If you are new to Forex, my advice is a 25:1 or 50:1 ratio, and decrease your lot size. Most of us don't start our accounts with $50,000, and if you are fortunate enough to, then you definitely don't want to give it to the market.

Remember leverage ONLY works for you if the market is moving in your favor. If it moves against you, then it magnifies your losses.

Happy trading!


This blog is not in anyway an enticement or solicitation to trade in the Forex Market. These tips are for informational purposes only and are not to be substituted for legal advice or council. I have written this blog in hopes that it will help you to avoid some of the terrifying pitfalls I had in the Forex Market before I learned better.