Archive for currency trading
Energy Futures (Part I)
Posted by: | CommentsOne thing should be clear to you. Energy markets will be a major focal point in the global financial makers and the global economy for many years to come. The key to understanding energy trading is to understand oil, natural gas, gasoline and heating oil futures.
NYMEX trades futures and options contracts for crude oil, natural gas, heating oil, gasoline, coal, electricity and propane. NYMEX is also home to trading in metals. Trading in energy futures is centralized at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world’s largest physical commodity futures exchange.
For smaller traders NYMEX offers e-mini contracts for oil and natural gas that also trades on the GLOBEX network of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Trading in NYMEX is conducted in two divisions: 1) The NYMEX Division and 2) The COMEX Division. You can trade crude oil futures. If you haven’t done futures trading before than before you start trading crude oil futures, you should first educate yourself on how to trade futures contracts. The good thing is that you can paper trade on your demo account with the use of virtual money. Paper trading is something that should not be missed by even professional traders. Practice makes your trading perfect!
The relationship between energy and interest rates is very important to understand. This relationship ties together the two most important aspects of the global economy: energy (the fuel for growth) and the interest rates (the catalyst that powers borrowed money to do things). Next to interest rates, energy and especially oil is the center of the universe not only for the industry but also for the financial markets.
As a trader, you should know this fact that oil price rise often tends to slow down the economy and lower retail sales as well as consumer confidence with lower traffic on the highways. Sometimes the rise in oil prices leads to the increase in interest rates through the bond market and the actions of central banks and the other times the opposite happens. Rise in oil prices if often inflationary.
Now you need to understand the Peak Oil Concept. Peak oil is the concept that the world oil production has peaked and the production of oil will never be as high again. Oil prices and the interest rates generally move in the same direction when viewed over long periods of time.
Many oil wells have gone dry. US was a major producer of oil in the beginning of the 20th century but over time, depleted all its oil reservoirs. The last oil well went dry in Texas in the early part of’70s. Oil production in countries like Venezuela, Iran and Nigeria has peaked and is going down. Non OPEC sources of oil like North Sea and Mexico are also showing sign of declining production. There has been no major oil well discovery for the last few decades. Some people consider the Peak Oil idea as controversial but this concept is increasingly plausible given the state of the global oil industry. The peak oil concept is very important for you to know. This means that now in the next few decades, we will be witnessing an uptrend in the oil prices as the global demand increases and the supply is unable to catch up with the global demand of oil. When oil prices reach above $100 per barrel, it becomes too expensive for the industry as well as the private consumer. With this price level, chances are that more and more investment will go into the alternative energy industry. Now you should keep these facts in the background of your mind as a trader. In any case, most of the experts now agree that in the next 10-20 years, the oil production will peak and after that it will start declining.
Now this means that in the short run, following oil prices can be a highly profitable strategy. Your aim as a trader is to make quick profits by trading the price fluctuations in the oil market. So the important facts that you need to keep in the back of your mind while trading oil is: 1) Demand fluctuates but supply of oil is finite. 2) The world runs on oil and any threat to the supply of oil often leads to rising prices. As an oil trader your primary goal is to consider the effects of events on the supply of oil and correlate this effect with your charts.
Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading ! You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.
Reading Candlestick Chart Patterns
Posted by: | CommentsCandlestick patterns are customary indicators that abet a trader to understand candlestick charts. This can be accessible when producing simple systems that will inform you when a trend is emerging so that you can begin a trade.
The open, high, low, close market price of the stock, commodity or currency over a period of time is presented in the candlestick form. The period covered is typically user selectable.
The ecommended time period is 5 minutes but you may desire in some situations to consume 15 minutes. Typically, longer periods are exercised for longer term trading.
The difference between open and close points are designated by the candle body. If it?s a white or blue / green on charts with color, the lower body is the open and while you were considering it, the market price moved up. Should it be black or red in charts with color, the top border indicates the opening market price and during that period, the price descended down.
Vertical lines sticking up from top and down from the bottom are known as wicks. The highest position the price ever hit is the top of the upper wick division. The low is the bottom of the lower wick.
The trader can establish immediately the price behavior from this analytical method. Bear markets are illustrated by green or white candles whereas bull markets are represented by red or black candles.
Aside from this, the high and low comparably to open and close prices are directly evident. Then you may have an evidently definite candle without a wick.
This is referred to as the Marubozu pattern. In this event the rates never went lower or higher than their opening and closing points.
The high value as opening price and low value as closing price is designated by the red or black candle. On the other hand, green or white candle means the low was the opening price while the high was the closing price.
A relatively even upward or downward trend is signified by a long body. A reversal is designated by a long wick on the top or on the bottom.
In short, to ensure exact trend reading, candlestick must be read within the context of the preceding candlesticks. You then can go ahead to make more detailed candlestick patterns that will signify probable future trends.
Nitty Gritty of Foreign Exchange Trading
Posted by: | CommentsCurrency trading fundamentals are straightforward to understand. All that’s desired to understand the basics is a awareness of the market basics and a working knowledge of forex vocabulary and trading terminology.
Making super money in a short while is the usual goal of forex currency trading. It is feasible for investors to make a lot of money very fast for the rates of exchange on the foreign market can rise and fall lightning fast.
However, prospect of fast profits is always supplemented with potential speedy losses as well, as the adage goes, the higher you fly the harder you fall.
The rates perpetually change, as one will find whilst they trade currency for travel. For example, one might need to transact $100 for a different currency going to another country, and then realize that it won’t be utilized and convert it back. It is highly likely that, the rate has moved and possible result might be a profit.
Foreign Exchange traders deal in currencies hoping to make a return all of the time, but instead of exchanging money at the bank they utilize a broker. Most transactions at present are organized online.
In several ways it is not so unique from stock trading. There is the same plausibility to trade in margins where a slight balance held by your broker can control much bigger deals.
Each currency is depicted by 3 letters: USD for the USA dollar, GBP for the British money, EUR for the Euro, SGD for the Singapore dollar, CHF for the Swiss franc, CAD for the Canadian dollar, NZD for the New Zealand dollar etc.
The exchange rate between two currencies may be illustrated like this: USD/CHF 1.14. This means that to change one USD you will need 1.14 Swiss francs.
Whoever is attracted to become a part of foreign exchange trading, finding a broker and a high ranking investment management company is greatly suggested. Seek recommendations from discussion forums online.
Examine how long the company has been in being and what your rights & liabilities will be. Understand all of the fine print.
Using bots may be an alternative you may want to probe. Bots are forex software that delve in in automatic trading 24 hours daily and they use trading rules that you will outline. The market has a great deal of forex bots and they will have all the information that newbies will seek to commence forex trading.
Jump Start Your Trading Results with a Trading Coach
Posted by: | CommentsSame market, same system, different results? New traders often can’t understand how it can be. How can another trader using the same system be making great profits while he is just breaking even or even making a loss. The answer is often experience in the market and managing the trade after it has been opened. Only after trading for a while do many traders realise the skill involved in managing trades after they have been opened. A trading coach is someone that has years of experience in the market and can help you succeed more quickly in the market by sharing their experience and guiding you.
A trading coach can help you no matter what level of experience you have. Even professional traders have trading coaches, as they see the value in having another experienced trader review their trading results and provide objective advice. If you are a beginner, a trading coach will make sure that you get started in the right way and don’t develop any bad habits.
You can work with a trading coach one on one in a private session or some coaches offer group sessions. Obviously there are pros and cons of each. Private sessions will be more expensive, but on the other hand you the trading coach will offer you advice specific to your situation and offer suggestions on how to improve on your current trading. Group sessions will be cheaper and although you will get less attention, you may find yourself learning just as much from the other people in the group. Both private and group sessions are done in person, on the phone or on the internet using Skype or another online communication tool.
Some trading coaches also offer a home study course combined with a number of private sessions. The idea is that you learn the basics on your own. You then get to the level of knowledge where you can start trading. You can then spend the time most effectively with a trading coach, as you will concentrate on those areas where you need help with actual trading.
Some group sessions meet in person, and others use online forums for questions and answers. Recently online ‘trading rooms’ have become popular for trading coaching. In a trading room, the coach uses software that allows the group to see the coach’s screen and allow the group to ask questions and then hear the answer as the coach answers the questions in real time. Often the coach will be analyzing a live forex or stock market, and this gives the group a chance to understand the thought process of the coach and a chance to ask questions.
There are many areas that a trading coach can help with. It may be that your trading plan needs work. You may need assistance in technical analysis to improve your trade selection. It could be that you are able to select good trades but then are not able to manage them to extract the most profit from them. Regardless of the area, if you are able to identify where you need help, you will be able to get the most out of a coach.
Learn more about a trading coach, visit www.tradingcoachdirectory.com to find a list of the best trading coaches.
Forex Tips That Work
Posted by: | CommentsChecking out forex tips there is one that I came up with that is one of the most important in trading. Making a trade on the forex market without doing your research first is like gambling. A gambler does spontaneous moves for fun in a game. Gamble in forex and you are sure to lose real money. It is not fun when you lose money, never make trades before you study the market.
Forex tips for thought is the trend. The trend was not made for nothing; use it to your fullest capabilities! Trading with the trend is a sure way to maximize your possibility of winning the trade. They do not say the trend is your friend for no reason. Simple rule: when the trend is up you want to buy not sell and when the trend is down you want to sell not buy.
One of the forex tips that is crucial is proper money management. It is never a good idea to put at risk more than 3-4% of your trading account in a trade. What makes the successful traders different from the non successful is the ability of surviving bad market conditions. You can’t win all your trades, be prepared to lose some on the way.
This Forex tips important. When you are doing your trading separate your self from emotions and trade in a calm state. The last thing a trader should be doing is trading when in a rough mood, key is to be calm. To add to that, it is a good habit to pick a time frame that is good for you where you can focus on your trading.
Best forex tips for the day; know your risk in a trade. Do not go in a trade if the risk is greater than the reward. Making a rush into a trade is never a good idea. One of the best things I have ever added to my trading was this one method that the big traders have been using. This one method has doubled my forex profits, it is no wonder they tried to keep this hidden for so long!
If your trades aren’t raking the cash you want, you need to check out the “Big Wigs” Forex Tips that work! Stop letting the “Big Wigs” feed you baby steps, take action and find out their untold secrets and Forex Tips today!