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Archive for May 29th, 2007

Forex Brokers - 9 essential points to consider when you open an account

There are lots Forex brokers to choose from when trading currencies online - and finding the right one to work with us critical, if you’re going to maximize your FX trading profits.

Here are 9 points to consider when choosing a Forex broker.

1. Pip Spreads Offered

Spreads between brokers vary dramatically and the difference can be as much as double so first and foremost when trading FX you need a tight spread

Transaction costs mount up - especially if you are trading frequently and impact on your profits and add to your losses. The tighter the spread, the more profits
you will make.

Today, many brokers offer 3 - 5 pips - and this is what you should look for.

2. Deposit Online & ease of account operation

Look for a broker who will take online payments to your Forex account via and secure online payment method. This is great for funding your account quickly - and getting your trading profits back to.

3. Negative Balance Protection

Leverage or gearing is one of the main reasons that people are attracted to online currency trading. Of course, leverage is a double-edged sword - and where there are high rewards, there is high risk.

With this in mind many Forex brokers now offer guaranteed stops and negative balance protection which is a big comfort to those traders who are new to the market or want to have a finite risk.

Fees for the service tend to be quite competitive and their a popular option with many traders

4. Leverage Offered

The leverage brokers will give you varies from broker to broker, but today 100 – 200:1 leverage is common and some brokers will go as high as 400:1 meaning you have the potential to leverage your account for greater FX profits

5. Other Charges & Broker assist accounts

Your only transaction cost should be the currency spread - you should NOT pay other commissions.

Avoid broker assisted accounts where a broker supposedly will help you make money from Forex trading they wont! If brokers were good traders they wouldn’t be brokers!

If you trade in this way you will lose and you will extra commissions to.
You are responsible for your FX profits so accept this fact and go with an execution only broker.

6. Investment Minimum

Today, currency trading is not just the preserve of wealthy individuals and banks - anyone can get involved and minimum deposits have dropped dramatically.

You can open a trading account online with some Forex brokers with as little as $100.00.

This means that novice traders can start off with small amounts.

7. Trading Platform

If you are trading online, you will go through a Forex trading platform.

You want ease of use and reliability – Many brokers offer demo accounts so try them out.

8. FOREX Trading Education

While you should always make your own investment decisions, it’s good to get some freebies that can help you with your Forex trading strategy such as:

• FREE trading guides

• Forex trading seminars

• Trading news and charts

• Trading recommendations & ideas

• Forex trading systems

• Trading books etc

9. Look at the overall package

When choosing a Forex broker you have a lot of choice and the above tips will help you while there are a lot of small brokers around and many are good go for someone who has been around for a while and is established.

Forex brokers are not all the same and some are far better than others in what they offer and if you use the above tips you will find one that will help you maximize your online currency trading profits.

Posted on 29th May 2007
Under: Brokers, Forex | No Comments »

5 common mistakes that wipe traders out

In Forex trading, there are five common reasons traders get wiped out when implementing their Forex trading strategy.

If you can avoid these mistakes and its simple to do, you can enter the elite 10% of online Forex traders that make consistent capital gains from the markets.

Here are the mistakes you need to avoid:

1. Learn the right knowledge.

Many new online currency traders work hard and put in effort - but they don’t acquire the right Forex education.

FOREX trading attracts some of the cleverest people around, these traders are smart, but think they have a right to make money because of this.

Being clever and having an ego however, can be a bad trait to have in Forex trading. These Forex traders tend to see the market the way they want to see it, not the way it really is.

If you want to make money, be humble , and simply focus on the main objective of Forex trading making money. Humble trader who does not have an ego will beat a clever arrogant who’s obsessed with beating the market.

2. Keep It Simple.

As stated in point 1, being clever doesn’t mean you’ll achieve success in online Forex trading. You should also concentrate on trading using a simple system.

Many Forex traders think the more complicated their system is, the more successful the system is likely to be – Nothing could be further from the truth.

Simple systems are more robust than complicated systems, in the face of ever changing market conditions. When developing your own Forex method, keep it simple and you will make money over complicate it and you will lose.

3. Accept Responsibility.

When you’re trading currencies, it’s tempting to follow a guru, mentor or e-book seller who claims to have made money.

The Internet is full of Forex education you can buy for a few hundred dollars - and they all claim it’ll make you rich - but the reality is different! The only way to succeed is to rely on yourself so don’t follow others and lose.

4. Don’t be too subjective.

In Forex trading, the bulk of traders like to use technical analysis, and study Forex charts. Studying charts can make you a lot of money, but you must NOT be too subjective.

Avoid methods such as Elliot Wave and cycles – instead use indicators that define trends.

Good indicators to use in conjunction with trend lines are: Moving averages, MACD, RSI, stochastics and Bollinger bands.

This will keep you objective and focused and help keep your emotions out of trading.

5. Patience & chasing your tail.

Many traders in FX trading want to achieve success quickly.

They start trading using one method, get frustrated with it when it doesn’t make money, and then switch to a different method and continually end up chasing their tail!

Bad periods are normally followed by good trading periods, (if you’re using a robust logical Forex trading system) so you need to stick with your Forex. Trading strategy through losing periods to reap longer term FX profits.

Know Your advantage.

Ask yourself this simple question:

Why should I succeed when 95% of forex traders lose?

This is your trading advantage– if you don’t know what it is - you don’t have one and will join the losing majority.

Forex trading is not as complicated, or as hard as many traders think – you need to work hard in the right areas and be disciplined in your pursuit of success.

Fact is anyone prepared to learn Forex trading the right way, can become a consistent and profitable Forex trader.

Posted on 29th May 2007
Under: Forex, Investing, Trading | No Comments »