Why Demo Account Performance Is Often Better Than Real Account Performance

Over the past several years, the popularity of online currency trading has grown substantially. Each day, online FX brokerage firms attract new investors - each of them lining up with a glint in their eye, lured in by promises of easy money. Most of these companies allow you to sign up for a free demo account which lets you place mock trades using their trading platform to get a feel for the excitement of currency trading. In the casual world of free demo accounts - many young traders find they are able to garner impressive profits without a significant amount of effort. It almost seems too good to be true. But transferring this success from a demo account to a real account is far less common. Why is this? The actual trading platform behaves the exact same way, the market doesn't care whether you're a demo or real trader - so what is different? It's you who has changed. Not your personality, not even your trading style - but the factors that affect you are different.

What is the key factor to trading success?

The search for the "Holy Grail" of trading has been a common theme throughout the history of markets. There are a variety of different techniques. Those whom are inclined towards number crunching and pattern recognition may prefer technical analysis, whereas those more focused on the big picture, logical macro perspective prefer fundamental analysis. Then there are specific methodologies like swing trading, trend following or even more esoteric ideas like the Elliot Wave theory. Which one is best? There are examples of very successful traders using each methodology.

Since most new traders lose money - perhaps the more appropriate question to ask is, "What is the key factor to trading failure?"

Greed and Fear

Trading is an atmosphere rich in the porous emotions of greed and fear. The current price of a given security or financial instrument at any point in time can be thought of as the confluence of greed (bulls) and fear (bears). These two emotions make up the core of humanity itself. When market information is released, trading can be a high intensity experience. Sensing danger, your body releases adrenaline that acts to accentuate both your greed (fight) and your fear (flight). Because these emotions are so strong, they can cause you to act irrationally, ignore your system, stated set of rules or trading plan and to act upon impulse. Indeed, this is a genetically programmed response - but it is often also the trader's downfall, especially when he's playing with much better capitalized, more sophisticated and experienced foes that know how to manipulate those emotions.

When you are a trader - you are always under the influence of at least one of these two emotions, even if you don't have any trades on.

Impact of fear and greed on your trading

If the market's going up and you're in - greed is telling you to buy more and fear is telling you to take your profits while you still can. If it's going down, fear of being wrong makes you hold onto a losing position - and then greed sometimes convinces you to "average down" your position (and buy more) so it'll be easier for you to come back.

If the market's going up and you're not invested - fear is telling you that you're missing out on easy money but it's your greed that causes you to get in just after the greatest increase (just when its about to reverse course). If the market's going down and you're not invested - greed is telling you to get in as the price is cheap, while fear reminds you that you'll miss out on this opportunity if you don't act quickly.

Perhaps if we just felt greed, or just felt fear we would be able to control our emotions a little better. But when both of these little devils whisper into our ears at the same time - it is often impossible not to listen.

The Thrill of Greed

The first time you try FX trading - you will feel the thrill of greed. It is an ecstatic experience, your brain flush with neurotransmitters and your mind giddy with visions of untold riches about to be reaped. Greed is bold, aggressive and incredibly exciting. It can take hold of you both mentally and physically. Just imagine the possibilities!

This greed is what draws us into FX trading in the first place - the dream of easy money and 100:1 or 200:1 margin rates. It inspires us and causes us to forego rational thinking in favour of reckless abandon.

In the movie Wall Street, Gordon Gecko says, "Greed is good", but it is also very dangerous - especially if you are unable to recognize when greed is the one doing the talking. Greed is also one of the most common techniques used to manipulate people. Every get rich quick scheme, promising untold riches for no money down takes advantage of your natural predisposition to throw all logic and sense out the window when greed pays a visit. The argument starts to appear very compelling and you ignore what would otherwise be clear warning signs. Like drunk goggles, greed can mislead you and when you eventually wake up you are often in a very precarious position.

The Fear of Losing

Fear can be equally as dangerous. The most potent and easily manipulated form of fear is your fear of admitting that you are wrong. Fear of having your precious ego bruised. This fear can cause people to do incredibly stupid things. The funny thing about this world is that everyone thinks that they are right. Most people would rather lose thousands of dollars than admit they are wrong. It is easy to feel ashamed of trading losses and live in denial but this is self-destructive behaviour. By denying the problem exists, you fail to take steps address it and only ensure that it will continue in the future.

Demo Trading

Demo trading is a great way to get started in foreign exchange trading. It is identical to real trading, except that you're using "pretend" money. Demo trading allows you to get a taste for what type of events move markets and how they move. It encourages you to learn more about geopolitics, macroeconomics and global finance and these are all incredibly positive things.

Demo trading also introduces you to the rapture of greed. Trading is a means to one of the purest, most raw and potent forms of greed. The whole point of trading is to make money and the more money you make - the stronger the pull of your greed becomes. It is intoxicating and can take complete control of you.

But demo trading does not introduce you to fear. There is no fear when you are demo trading. It is like you have a perpetual get out of jail free card. If you start losing badly on a demo account - simply start a new one. There is no accountability for your trading failures and only recognition of your trading success.

So your demo account does not teach you how to handle the emotion of fear. This emotion is most likely going to lead to your downfall. Greed may get you overextended, but fear will stop you from cutting your losses. You may think that fear of losing money would cause you to cut your losses, but the stronger emotion is fear of being wrong and that causes you to hold on to your losing position - until it's all gone.

There is also the issue of account size. Many demo accounts give you $50,000 to play with. This type of capitalization allows you to buy 5 lots (500K) of EURUSD pretty easily. If goes up 20 pips you've made $1000. Nice one. But when you open your real account - it's more likely that you put $5000 or $10000 in there to begin with. Now you're dealing with a 50K lot, which means you'll take $100 out of a 20-pip movement. But mentally you are used to getting $1000 for that movement so you usually end up risking more. Next thing you know - your 200K position has turned against you 50 pips and you've lost $1000. That's real money you just lost. You can't just start another account.

The capitalization of the demo account is sufficient to sustain losses and still come out on top. But your real account is likely to be undercapitalized and if you're trying to achieve returns similar to what you got on your demo account - you are going to blow up very quickly.

Being honest with yourself

Ultimately, while providing an excellent introduction to FX trading - demo accounts do not accurately predict whether you'll be successful trading real money. Markets are dominated by psychology and often go against what fundamental logic or technical indicators suggest should happen. The single most critical factor in your trading success will be your ability to control your emotions of greed and fear. These emotions cloud your judgment and cause you to trade recklessly. Demo accounts introduce you to the emotion of greed, but by their very nature they are risk free and therefore there is no fear involved. They are also likely to be better capitalized than your real money account, which misleads you with respect to the amount of returns you can expect to earn.

For all of these reasons, demo accounts allow you to avoid being honest with yourself and this is perhaps the most important factor of all. You need to know your edge and your limits and in order to know these - you must be honest with yourself.

This being said, demo accounts are still very entertaining and educational and I highly recommend opening one to anyone who's interested in getting a taste of the exciting world of FX trading. It's a great way to learn more about economics, global politics and yourself.

William White is a software developer and avid foreign exchange enthusiast.

His website - Finance Maps offers free maps depicting short, medium and long range trends for the major currency pairs which allows the reader to easily get an overall sense of the global forex markets in a single glance.

Be a Smarter FOREX Currency Trader: Three Basic Principles

Below I will describe three basic principles that may come in handy for currency traders. They are very easy to implement and potentially take advantage of as you will see.

Principle 1

Some currency traders find that it is useful to always trade a given currency pair at the very same time every day. The reasoning for this is that most of the other traders buying or selling that currency pair may also trade at the same time. Major trading pits may also be working the exact same shift every day. This technique may be especially useful for currency traders who exploit technical analysis. Again, the reasoning for this is that it may be possible to standardize the trading conditions if one trades during the same time frame every day, if only for a very little bit. However, that small bit of standardization may yield several pips worth of profit. Nevertheless, it is readily obvious that the foreign exchange market can be very volatile and random.

Principle 2

Certain currencies trade with a certain volatility at a certain time. Once you've finished practicing your trading skills on a demo account and you decide to test the waters using your own investment capital, you may want to minimize the amount of liquidity and volatility to hedge your risk. Alternatively, you may want to increase the risk involved, and potentially increase your profit potential. (It should be noted that very heavy risk is involved under any circumstances.)

The foreign exchange market follows the sun around the world moving from the United States to Australia and New Zealand to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the United States. Overall foreign currency trading volume is determined by which markets are open and the overlap in the times that these markets are open. Currency trading volume is relatively high 24 hours a day, but there are considerable peaks in activity when the British, European, and US markets are open simultaneously, which is from 1 pm GMT to 4 pm GMT. Pacific Rim markets, such as Japan and Hong Kong, show a dip in their trading volume while there is extensive volume in the US market at the very same time. Nevertheless, it is still possible to perform technical analysis on Pacific Rim currencies. By trading during a certain time frame, one may be able to either minimize or maximize the level of volatility (and risk) for a given currency pair.

Principle 3

Although the above is a general statement about the activity volume for certain currencies, it may be a good idea to attempt to capture the level of volatility for given currency pairs. You can potentially use Bollinger bands, a tool used by technical analysts, to quantify volatility. Bollinger bands compare volatility and relative price levels over time. Some currency traders cannot trade a day in their life without using Bollinger bands, while others may not find any use for them; it is really up to you to decide whether Bollinger bands are of any use to your specific situation.

I have described three basic principles that may potentially come in handy for currency traders in the foreign exchange market. They are very easy to implement and may reap rewards (or lack thereof) depending on market conditions. Hopefully these principles will help you come up with your own successful strategies for trading currencies in the foreign exchange market.

Joshua M. Kunken is Currency Analyst for ForeignMarketWatch.com. His articles may also be found at ForexTrack.com.

How To Control Fear And Greed In Trading

There is an old saying that the market is driven by fear and greed. Anyone that has placed more than a couple of trades will surely have experienced these two emotions.

All traders experience emotion. The distinction between a successful trader and an unsuccessful trader comes down to how they deal with that emotion. Let's look at how these emotions affect a successful trader and an unsuccessful trader in various scenarios:

1. The trader's three previous trades have been losers. The unsuccessful trader will consider this before placing his next trade and be fearful that this trade will also end up a loser. This might result in a delay in placing the trade whilst waiting for the price to confirm that they were right - thus missing a perfectly good entry. They might suddenly discover that some other factor, previously unconsidered, is a reason not to enter the trade at all. Basically they will be fearful of another loss.

The successful trader will have tested their strategy extensively and will be aware that a series of losing trades is very probable. They will also measure their success on whether they place the trade according to their system rather than whether it is purely a winner or a loser. They trust their system and place the trade when the set-up occurs. The fear is removed from the trade because they know that several losers in a row is to be expected.

2. Once a trade is entered it immediately moves against the trader. The unsuccessful trader will fear that they have made a mistake. They fear making another loss so they wait and hope that the market moves back in their favour. The fear of taking another loss now controls their trading decisions, they might move their stop further out so the market doesn't take them out for a loss. They might ignore the trade, hoping that it will get back to at least breakeven - the daytrade becomes a position trade of a few days and then it becomes a long term 'buy and hold' strategy.

The successful trader, of course, will know from extensive testing of his system that such trades happen and that the trade might come round or it might hit the stop. His stop is in place and it will remain in place - the system dictates where the stop is, not the trader's fears.

3. Once a trade is entered it immediately moves strongly in the traders favour. The unsuccessful trader will suddenly see a villa in the sun or a new sports car flashing before his eyes. This trade is going to the moon so he removes his price target and decides to let it go. Greed has now completely taken over his trading decisions and the previous plan (if any) is ignored. Of course, markets rarely move in one direction for long and when the market turns the greed turns to fear as the dream slips away and the trader tries to hold on until the price gets back to where it was. The daytrade becomes a position trade...

The successful trader has set a target, either a certain price or a timed exit and will stick to it. If the trade only takes 5 minutes then that's just great, there's plenty that won't.

Fear and greed are human emotions - we can't do anything about that. But, when it comes to trading we need a way to control those emotions. Here's a few tips:

1. Know your system. If you have confidence in your system this helps to override those feelings of fear and greed. Confidence can only come from designing and extensively testing your own ideas. You can never be fully confident when you rely on someone else's tips or signals.

2. Automate your system. Computers do not suffer from fear and greed, they won't hold onto a loser praying for a miracle or screaming at the screen that the market is wrong - they'll just cut it if that is what the system says to do.

3. Money management. Quite simply, no matter how good your system you must only risk a sensible amount - and always money you can afford to lose.

Tim Wreford runs Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides a free day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.

A Short Introduction To FOREX

FOREX is the world's largest and most liquid trading market. Many consider FOREX as the best home business you can ever venture in. Even though regular people have had the opportunity to take part in trading foreign currencies for profit (in the same way banks and large corporations do) since 1998, it is just now becoming the cool, hip, new "thing" to talk about at parties, business events, and other social gatherings.

Even though it has been somewhat of a loosely guarded secret, every day more and more investors are turning to the all-electronic world of FOREX trading for income and profit because of its numerous benefits & advantages over traditional trading vehicles, like stocks, bonds and commodities.

But, still, whenever something seems new or is just becoming a part of social conversation, news articles, and water cooler gossip, misconceptions have to be overcome, the mind has to be open and the slate has to be clear for starting out fresh with the CORRECT information.

So, in this article, it is my attempt to give you some solid, but not over-detailed, information on just what the heck "FX" (FOREX) means, what it is, and why it exists.

As a successful trader said, Trading FOREX is like picking money up off the floor. Not trading FOREX is like leaving it there for someone else to pick up." Others in the industry have also said, Trading FOREX is like having an ATM machine on your own computer.

Here's an explanation (one I feel you'll appreciate) of what FOREX is and how a bunch of traders, profit from it:

The Foreign Exchange Market, also referred to the "FOREX" or "FX" market, is the spot (cash) market for currency.

But, don't mistake FX as trading the futures market, where you buy a contract to purchase a particular currency at a future price in time.

What FX traders do is much less risky than trading currencies on the futures market, much more profitable, and a lot easier, than trading stocks.

So, you're probably wondering where it's at ... or ... how to access the FX market?

The answer is: FX Trading is not bound to any one trading floor and is not centralized on an exchange, as with the stock and futures markets. The FX market is considered an Over-the-Counter (OTC) or 'Interbank' market, due to the fact that the entire market is run electronically, within a network of banks, continuously over a 24-hour period.

Yes, if that's the first time you've heard about an all-electronic market, I know this may sound somewhat intriguing to you.

Here's what you are actually trading when you participate in the Foreign Exchange (FOREX) market:

Essentially, like the large banks who use the FX market to protect themselves from the fluctuating exchange rate of different currencies, as an investor, what a FX trader is doing is simultaneously exchanging one countries currency for another. So, in actuality, they're electronically trading a currency-pair and the price that is quoted to us is the exchange rate between the two currencies.

In other words, simply the quoted price is how many of the one currency is worth 1 of the other currency.

Example:

EUR/USD last trade 1.2850 - One Euro is worth $1.2850 US dollars.The first currency (in this example, the EURO) is referred to as the base currency and the second (/USD) as the counter or quote currency.

The FOREX has a DAILY trading volume of around $1.5 trillion dollars - 30 times larger than the combined volume of all U.S. equity markets. This means that 1,498,574 skilled traders could each take 1 million dollars out of the FOREX market every day and the FOREX would still have more money left than the New York Stock exchange every day!

The FOREX plays a vital role in the world economy and there will always be a tremendous need for the FOREX. International trade increases as technology and communication increases. As long as there is international trade, there will be a FOREX market. The FX market has to exist so a country like Japan can sell products in the United States and be able to receive Japanese Yen in exchange for US Dollar.

There's plenty of money to be made using FOREX for plenty of traders that use the right trading techniques / tactics that will allow them to profit immensely. And, with only 5% of the daily turnover of volume coming from banks, government and large corporations who need to hedge, the other 95% is for speculation and profit.

http://www.1-forex.com

Omar Vargas; Forex trader and freelance writer. http://www.1-forex.com/

FOREX

Forex Profit

The Forex Market-What, When and Why?

Forex, FX and the Forex market are some common abbreviations for the Foreign Exchange market. Actually it is the largest financial market in the world, where money is sold and bought freely. In its present condition the Forex market was launched in the seventies, when free exchange rates were introduced, and only the participants of the market determine the price of one currency against the other proceeding from demand and supply. As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, the Forex market is a perfect market.

With a daily turnover of over trillions of dollars, the Foreign Exchange market conducts more than three times the aggregate amount volume of the United States Equity and Treasury markets combined. The Forex market is an over-the-counter market where buyers and sellers conduct foreign exchange business using different means of communication.

Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location or central exchange. Since the Forex market lacks a physical exchange, the market trades continuously on a 24-hour basis, moving from one time zone to the next, across each of the world's major financial centers every day. Trillions of dollars of foreign exchange activity takes place every day. From 1997 to the end of 2000, daily forex trading volume surged approximately from US$5 billion to US$1.5 trillion and more (according to various recent studies it has touched $1.7 trillion per day and dwarfs all other markets for trading in size and volume). It is really difficult, if not impossible; to determine an absolutely exact number because trading is not centralized on an exchange. But one thing is for sure that the Forex market continues to grow at a phenomenal rate.

Before the advent of Internet and ecommerce, only big corporations, multinational banks and wealthy individuals could trade currencies in the Forex market through the use of the proprietary trading systems of banks. These systems required as much as US$1 million to open an account. Thanks to advancements in online technology, today investors with only a few thousand dollars can have access to the Forex market 24 hours a day and around 5 ½ days of a week.

The Forex market is a nonstop cash market where currencies of nations are traded, typically via brokers called forex brokers. Foreign currencies are constantly and simultaneously bought and sold across local and global markets while traders increase or decrease value of an investment upon currency movements. Foreign exchange market conditions can change at any time in response to real-time events so it is also considered to be a highly volatile and fragile market too. Conditions of the Forex market never remain the same they changes every second.

The foreign exchange market dwarfs the combined operations of the New York, London, and Tokyo futures and stock exchanges. According to its size and scope it is many times larger than all other markets. Stats shows that spot transactions and forward outright Forex trading take place in the inter-bank market. 51% of the market is in spot Forex transactions, followed by 32% in currency swap transactions. Forward outright Forex transactions represent another 5% of this daily turnover, with options on 'interbank' Forex transactions making up another 8%. Therefore the inter-bank market accounts for 96% of the global foreign exchange market, with the remaining 4% being divided among all the global futures exchanges.

For traders, Forex trading provides an alternative to stock market trading. While there are thousands of stocks to choose from, there are only a few major currencies to trade (the Dollar, Yen, British Pound, Swiss Franc, and the Euro are the most popular). Forex trading also provides a lot more leverage than stock trading, and the minimum investment to get started is a lot lower. Add to that the ability to choose flexible trading hours (forex trading goes on 24 hours a day) and you have the reason why so many stock traders have flocked to day trade currencies.

Anthony Trister is a currency trader and is an owner of OneDayTrades which offers free, mechanical forex signals and an automated trading program for those wanting to trade forex. Free access available here: http://www.onedaytrades.com

How Currencies are Traded in the FOREX Market

Currencies are traded in dollar amounts called "lots". At 100:1 leverage, one lot is equal to $1000 which controls $100,000 of a given currency. This leverage is known as "margin" and some brokers will allow traders even higher leverage than 100:1. This superhigh leverage is one of the reasons that Forex trading has become so popular.

Currencies are always traded in pairs. Each pair has unique notation that expresses which currencies are being traded. The symbol for a currency pair will always be in the form ABC/XYZ. ABC/XYZ is not a real currency pair, just an example of how currency pairs are stated in the market. In this particular example, ABC is the symbol for one country's currency and XYZ is the symbol for another country's currency.

Listed below are some common symbols used. There are symbols for other currencies as well, but these are the most commonly traded ones.

USD - The US Dollar
EUR - The currency of the European Union "EURO"
GBP - The British Pound
JPN - The Japanese Yen
CHF - The Swiss Franc
AUD - The Australian Dollar
CAD - The Canadian Dollar

As mentioned earlier, currencies are traded in pairs in Forex trading. Thus, a trade always compares one currency to another in terms of how the two currency prices will move relative to each other. Some of the common pairs traded are:

EUR/USD Euro / US Dollar
USD/JPY US Dollar / Japanese Yen
GBP/USD British Pound / US Dollar
USD/CAD US Dollar / Canadian Dollar
AUD/USD Australian Dollar/US Dollar
USD/CHF US Dollar / Swiss Franc
EUR/JPY Euro / Japanese Yen

When you place an order to buy the EUR/USD, you are actually buying the EUR and selling the USD. If you were to sell the pair, you would be selling the EUR and buying the USD. So if you buy or sell a currency pair, you are buying/selling the base currency. You are always doing the opposite of what you did with to base currency with the counter currency. In Forex trading, currencies are traded on a price interest point (know as a "pip")system. Each currency pair has its own pip value. Since we have a listed currency pair (i.e., EUR/USD, EUR/AUD), we need a way to talk about its associated number or price. When you see a price quote, you'll see something listed like this:

USD/JPY: 118:51/55

The first component (before the slash) refers to the bid price (what you obtain in JPY when you sell USD). In this example, the bid price is 118.51. The second component (after the slash) is used to obtain the ask price (what you have to pay in JPY if you buy USD). In this example, the ask price is 118.55. The difference between the bid and the ask price is referred to as the spread. In the example above, the spread is .04 or 4 pips.

Chuck Cox is a Technical Writer and Industrial Scientist by professional with a background in statistics. He has used mathematical and statistical methods to invest and trade in the stock, futures, and options markets. Chuck has owned various businesses and presently operates several websites. To learn more about trading the markets, visit his website, http://www.earncashathometoday.com/trading-FOREX.htm

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How To Handle A String Of Losses

Everybody hates to lose and unfortunately no one is blessed with the ability of foresight, therefore losses are an unavoidable part of trading. When we enter a trade we will either be right, or wrong, and even if we broke-even we'd still be classed as being wrong - as nobody enters into a trade just to break-even! When unsuccessful traders encounter a string of losses they begin to engage in self-destructive patterns that help them escape the pain they are experiencing.

In this article we bring to light these self-destructive actions that can help you realize what you are doing before it takes hold of your physical health. If you find yourself already engaged in these patterns hopefully this article can help you to get you back on track as quickly as possible.

The Destructive Patterns

If you find yourself caught in a string of losses or a bad performing week/month be sure to monitor your behavior. It is during this time that you will be at your most vulnerable. You will begin to indulge in activities that at first seem harmless, but upon excessive use (or in time), begin to cause physical damage to your health.

Ask yourself the following question: during during drawdown periods do I find myself over-indulging in these activities:

> Food (especially junk food - eg. chocolate, ice-cream, chips)?

> Sex (includes viewing pornography)?

> Alcohol?

> Drugs (includes excessive smoking)?

> Laziness (find it difficult to wake up in the morning)?

> Entertainment?

All of the above taken in excessive doses can be detrimental to your own physical health (some even in small doses!).

These activities above during your losing period are only covering up the pain of confronting the true issue, and your body tries to rid the emotional pain by trying to "fix" it with physical pleasures. Unfortunately it is going about it in the wrong way, so what should you do?

Firstly... REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND STOP IT!

You need to realize what you're doing and you need to STOP doing it immediately! You can either decide to stop, or you'll be forced to stop when your body eventually breaks down and prevents you from any form of movement. It will be much more beneficial to you in the long-term if you can decide to stop *NOW*.

Once you have stopped you now need to figure out a way to solve the pain - not by cutting out or neglecting it, but by staring it in the face. Bring your problems out into the light, be honest with yourself. There can be no growth without pain, you are experiencing the emotional pain, now it is time to find the error and therefore your growth.

Begin Your Review

The review process begins in two separate areas: You & Your System. Here are some checklists for you to go through to find out where the problem could lie:

"YOUR SYSTEM" CHECKLIST

> Was your system thoroughly tested prior to trading it (or paper traded if you do not have the capacity to programme your system into backtesting software)?

> Did you test with out-of-sample data?

> Do you even have a system???? If you do not, how do you even know if the method that you are trading is even profitable??

> Is your system's code correct?

> Did you over-optimize your system? (what have we discussed about over-indulging?)

> Did you paper trade your system prior to placing capital on it?

> Did you trade with a small amount of capital prior to placing the rest of your funds on it?

> Do you know the system's limitations?

> Did you properly drill your system? (see our blog article on why I am the system designer from hell)

"YOU" CHECKLIST

> Is the current drawdown you are exhibiting with your system normal?

> Are you comfortable with your system's historical drawdown performance?

> Are you fully aware of the risks involved with your system and the instrument(s) you are trading?

> Are you trading with funds that you are comfortable risking?

> Are you relying too heavily on your performance?

> Have you set realistic goals?

As you can see there are generally two areas that you need to explore: the mechanical aspect - your system - and the emotional aspect - you. Both can be responsible for making the way you feel the way you do. It will either be an error on the system's side with how the system was tested and/or programmed, or it can be your own psychological profile not being comfortable with the system's performance.

Your Answers = Change = Your Growth

What steps should we now take? Now that we have begun a corrective process where we have stopped the evil nature of our over-indulging ways to take control we should continue our "corrective nature" by invoking our findings and taking ACTION in correcting our errors.

If the problem was mechanical - fix it, if the problem was emotional either go about setting up new thought patterns, or change your current system. The answers lie in whether you need to expand your knowledge in system development, or whether you need to grow emotionally as a person.

Unfortunately there is no easy road, and even if there was everybody would be doing it. Hopefully this article has made you ponder over some of your behaviors during drawdown periods, be sure to keep an eye on yourself and as always take care of your body, because there's no use in making all the money in the world when you don't have the physical capacity to enjoy it.

Ryan Sheehy is the author of http://www.currencysecrets.com where you will find more free articles and resources on forex trading. You can also subscribe for free to their monthly newsletter.

Forex Trading Online - 7 Reasons Why You Should!

Forex trading online is a fast way to use your investment capital to it's fullest. The Forex markets offer distinct advantages to the small and large traders alike, making Forex currency trading in many ways preferable to other markets such as stocks, options or traditional futures. Here are seven reasons why you'll want to look into Forex Trading online.

1 - Forex is the largest market.

Forex trading volume of more than 1.9 billion, more than 3 times larger than the equities market and more than 5 times bigger than futures, give Forex traders nearly unlimited liquidity and flexibility.

2 - Forex never sleeps!

You can execute forex trading online 24/7, from 7AM New Zealand time on Monday morning, to 5PM New York time on Friday evening. No waiting for markets to open: they're open all night! This makes Forex trading online a very attractive component that fits easily into your day (or night!)

3 - No Bulls or Bears!

Because Forex trading online involves the buying of one currency while simultaneously selling another, you have an equal opportunity for profit no matter which direction the currency is headed. Another advantage is that there are only around 14 pairs of currencies to trade, as opposed to many thousands of stocks, options and futures.

4 - Forex Trading online offers great leverage!

You can make the most of your investment resources with Forex trading online. Some brokers offer 200:1 margin ratios in your trading accounts. Mini-FX accounts, which can typically be opened with only $200-300, offer 0.5% margin, meaning that $50 in trading capital can control a 10,000 unit currency position. This is why people are flocking to Forex trading online as a way to highly leverage their investments.

5 - Forex prices are predictable.

Currency prices, though volatile, tend to create and follow trends, allowing the technically trained Forex trader to spot and take advantage of many entry and exit points.

6 - Forex trading online is commission free!

That's right! No commissions, no exchange fees or any other hidden fees. This is a very transparent market, and you'll find it very easy to research the currencies and the countries involved. Forex brokers make a small percentage of the bid/ask spread, and that's it. No longer any need to compute commissions and fees when executing a trade.

7 - Forex trading online is instant!

The FX market is astoundingly fast! Your orders are executed, filled and confirmed usually within 1-2 seconds. Since this is all done electronically with no humans involved, there is little to slow it down!

Forex trading online can get you where you want to go quicker and more profitably than any other form of trading. Check it out and see what Forex trading online can do for you!

Keith Thompson is the webmaster of Forex Trading Today; a blog focusing on the latest Forex news and resources.

एक्सपेरिएंस

Throughout our course on futures trading, we have tried to point out to you that there is a great difference between having an investor attitude and being a trader. There are also many similarities. In one sense, a trader is someone who invests in his own trading ability. Therefore, in that sense trading is investing. Trading and investing are interrelated. You come to realize this through experience.

For the most part, the trading approach comes from a much shorter- term mindset than the mindset of an investor. It can also be much more based on technical information than on fundamental information. But here again we find a dilemma. What exactly is technical information? What exactly is fundamental information? Where do the two overlap, or do they? Are they interrelated? Sure they are. But again, it is through experience that you learn about and develop an appreciation for these concepts.

TECHNICAL VS FUNDAMENTAL??

As futures traders, we get to hear some pretty weird things, and also as writers, and teachers in the business of educating people about futures trading . One of the strangest things we get to hear is when people try to separate trading into either technical or fundamental. Why, oh why, does everything have to be put into a box? Would someone please explain how to separate one from the other? Is it possible, or is there some middle ground that cannot be classified as either technical or fundamental?

For example, how do you classify trading from news stories? Surely you would not call news stories fundamental information, would you? A friend of ours tells about a time in January when he heard a commentator on CNBC explain that the price of coffee had gone up because of a freeze in Brazil. The only thing wrong with the story was that January is the middle of summer in that country. Was the news worthy of the name fundamentals?

What about seasonal trades? Are they technical or fundamental? Certainly they are not based upon hard facts. Who knows if tomorrow will bring a season like the last? Who knows that the weather will be the same this summer as it was the last?

They say enter on rumor, exit on fact. Is that technical or fundamental? Or is it just plain good old common sense? This chapter is about experience, but here's the catch: You must survive as a trader long enough to gain experience. Experience will show you that trading cannot be placed into a box. Experience will bring you to the realization that some of the best trades you will ever make come from experience, gut feelings, and good old common sense. Experience will demonstrate to you that many great trades are derived by paying attention and learning to be an opportunist. Experience will bring you to the point where you will take a smattering of what others may call "fundamentals" along with a pinch of what some call "technical analysis," and combine them with a spoonful of know-how to succeed in making your living in the markets.

FUNDAMENTALS

Our understanding is that fundamentals deal with known facts and published or unpublished information about the underlying commodity or instrument you wish to trade. Because statistics lie, governments knowingly lie with statistics, or at times do so unwittingly, those who can afford it and also have a need, spend tons of money doing their own research in order to come up with their own body of fundamental knowledge. This includes gathering information and statistics on anything imaginable that might affect the underlying. They research production, marketing, crop conditions, financial conditions, etc.; everything they can find out about the underlying. They may even make in-person visits to farms, mines, or financial institutions for discussions about the underlying. They then combine this knowledge with what they find believable as handed down by various reporting agencies.

Even with live data, it is not economic to compete with these behemoths with regard to the amount of fundamental knowledge they can afford and are able to gather.

TECHNICALS

Technical analysis in its purest form assumes that everything known about the markets that affect the markets can be seen on a price chart. We believe that to be true. But that's where reality and the kind of technical analysis we see today part company. What we mean is, in general what do technical indicators show you that you can't normally see with your two eyes via pure chart reading and analysis? Admittedly there are a few things. We have never denied that an indicator like Bollinger Bands can show you the location of 2 standard deviations. We cannot visually know where that amount of deviation from price would be without the bands. But most technical indicators wipe away the very things we do want to see. They take your focus away from what is truly happening to price. By smoothing, they purport to remove "noise." But it is the noise that we, as traders, and especially as day traders, most want to see. The noise is what tells us the reality of what is going on.

REALITIES

Fundamentals, in the purest sense, are beyond what the individual trader can deal with. Most individual traders simply don't have the time to conduct the required research. But that doesn't mean they cannot use this information should the happen to stumble across it. Technicals in the purest sense are fine, but the way they have been bastardized into virtually meaningless indicators makes no sense. The ultimate foolishness of technical indicators is that of rendering them as mechanical trading systems. Employing mechanical systems represents the height of the undisciplined mind. It is tantamount to conceding that because you do not have the discipline to exercise self-control, you will undergo the harsh discipline enforced on you by an uncaring, unfeeling machine. While you try to escape from self-disciplined trading, mechanical systems force an even more horrible discipline upon you in that you now have to sit and grit your teeth due to the pain brought on yourself because of the mechanical aspect of the system. Mechanical trading is not without discipline, rather it places the discipline onto the wrong part of the trade. Instead of placing the emphasis on planning, organizing, directing, and controlling the trade, it gets the trader in via a mechanical signal and then forces him to suffer through the trade in order to exercise discipline - quite often a discipline he does not understand based upon a system he does not understand, and that may have been derived entirely outside the realm of reality.

The realities of the market are many. Markets are affected by a lot of things that are not measurable by either fundamental or technical analysis. In addition to seasonality, news, rumor, weather, and common sense observation, one has to take into account the market conditions at the time at which a trade is to be entered. Is the market fast? Is the market thin? Is the tick size abnormal? Are market makers moving the market? Is it options expiration day? Is it the day before a holiday? Is an important dignitary going to make a speech? Has the market gone into a state of hysteria, or even euphoria? Are you going to buy or are you going to sell? It is the summation, organization, and perception of these and even other criteria that constitute the realities of trading.

REALITY TRADING

We are convinced that the best way to trade should be termed "Reality Trading?." In fact, we are so convinced that we have trade marked the name for future use. Reality Trading views the market as an entire entity, a living, throbbing reality that includes fundamentals, technicals, and realities such as news, rumors, seasonal tendencies, common sense observations, and market conditions.

Let's look at a possible trade that is based upon realities. Let's say that this is a trade that has been good most years in the last 15 years. Let's say that the trade is to buy March wheat between September and December of the current year.

First we look to see if March wheat futures are behaving normally. What does the March wheat futures chart need to look like if this trade is going to work?

We begin watching March wheat futures in the first week of September, for possible entry between that time and the last week in November. We're not particularly interested in what the March wheat futures look like prior to September, but according to past seasonal patterns, they should not end September in a down trend. The normal pattern for wheat futures at that time of year is that wheat prices begin to rise or at the very least remain flat. Falling prices would indicate an over supply of wheat. The rising or flatness may have begun earlier, or it may begin later, but not by the end of September. The main thing we don't want to see is wheat prices falling after September. If wheat prices are falling in the time period mentioned above, then we do not have a normal year for these futures and we want to avoid this trade. No one knows for sure what weather conditions will be between the first week in September and the time the that wheat inventory figures are known. No one knows if exports will be up, down, or flat compared with the previous year. It is the seasonal anticipation that should prop up the price of the wheat futures.

Obviously, this same sort of technique could be applied to any purchasable commodity that can be expected to experience increased activity seasonally.

So, lets look at a wheat chart. We want to select the best the best possible time to enter. Experience has shown that the two best times are as follows:

? An announcement by the government between September and October that it export sales of wheat have increased materially - a buying situation

? A report showing a greater than expected inventory of wheat in September through November - a selling short situation.

At "A" we see announcements coming from government reports that demand for wheat for export is great. It is the middle of September. People rush in to purchase wheat futures. However, from the look of this chart, overall demand for wheat was not very good. Actually, the year shown was poor for wheat most of the time.

Later, beyond the time frame in which we are interested, at "B" we see that the government crop report for January was really bad for wheat. There was simply too much of it. Wheat prices began to plunge. What stopped the plunge? Anticipation of planting problems due to unusually cold weather.

Joe Ross

Trading Educators Inc

ABOUT JOE ROSS:

Joe Ross has been trading for more than 47 years, and is a well known Master Trader. He has survived all the up and downs of the markets because of his adaptable trading style, using a low-risk approach that produces consistent profits.

Joe is the creator of the Ross hook, and has set new standards for low-risk trading with his concept of "The Law of Charts?." Joe was a private trader for most of his life. In the mid 80's he shift his focus and decided to share his knowledge. After his recovery, he founded Trading Educators in 1988 to teach aspiring traders how to make profits using his trading approach. He has written 12 major books on trading. All of them have become classics and have been translated into many different languages.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Los Angeles. He did his Masters work in Computer Sciences at the George Washington University extension in Norfolk, VA. Joe still tutors, teaches, writes, and trades regularly. Joe is still an active and integral part of Trading Educators.

6 Critical Factors For Successful Trading

Success in any profession can be broken down into a number of critical factors. Trading is no different. Does your trading tick all 6 boxes or are there any areas you need to work on:

1. Do you have an edge? Trading futures is a zero sum game - you must have an identifiable edge over the other market participants. Have you identified a high probability pattern that can be exploited time after time? Remember though, the only constant in trading is change - you will have to constantly evolve your trading edge to stay ahead of the crowd.

2. Disciplined Execution. There is no point in identifying an edge if you can't execute the trade. Measure your trading success against your trading plan not the actual outcome of the trade. If you make a loss but you executed your trade exactly according to your plan than pat yourself on the back, don't beat yourself up over it.

3. Money Management. If your risk per trade is too aggressive then you run too high a risk of blowing your account, too conservative and you will not optimize returns from your system. It is essential to establish the maximum expected draw down of any system and set money management rules accordingly.

4. Have a Trading Plan. A trading plan will dictate what you will do in any given situation during the trading day. When the market is open you do not want to have to think - just concentrate on executing your plan. When the market is closed you need to be preparing for the next session to ensure you have a clear plan prepared.

5. Accountability. You are responsible for every trade. Ultimately the decision to put on a trade is yours. If your stop is hit and the market immediately reverses then you are responsible, not the 'big boys' gunning for stops - it happens, move on. If you get huge slippage on your trades then does your trading plan account for it or is your plan unrealistic for the market you are trading?

6. Commitment. Trading is not like a regular job, you don't pick up a pay check at the end of the month even though you did no work and spent the whole month surfing the web and emailing your friends. You must be committed to placing every trade according to your plan, even through the losing periods where every trade seems to end up a loser. Trading seems to throw up extremes of good times and bad times, you must not get over confident during the good times and you must not give up in the bad times - remember it is all part of the plan. You must set aside adequate time every day to compare your actual performance against your trading plan. You must be committed to continuous testing of new ideas and regular monitoring of your existing plan. Research into future ideas is essential - remember the only constant in trading is change.

Tim Wreford runs Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides a free day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.

Reality of Online Forex Trading

Foreign exchange trading is the trading of currencies. Most currencies can be traded. Huge amounts of currencies are traded 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. On average $1.9 trillion is traded a day. The most traded are United States Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, Canadian Dollar, British Pound Sterling, Australian Dollar and Swiss Franc.

Many brokers will let you open an account with a starting balance of just $250. Though that may seem small, remember you will be trading on margin. Your $250 investment may let you control $25,000. As with all investments there are risks so make sure you take the time to study the markets and your exposure before making your first trades. I highly recommend that you do some paper trades first to make sure you have understood how the markets work. No risk training, just write down the trades you would have done for real and chart the prices. Buy and sell and see if you have the right strategy before making real trades.

A fast internet connection will allow you to do forex trading online. Your broker will give you many online tools to allow you to study the markets: Real time quotes, news feeds?

Visit different broker's websites and compare the services they offer. Some brokers give you the possibility to open demo accounts. Do so, to test their software and find the one you like best.

Before you start trading make sure that you have learnt the terminology: Market Order, Limit Order, Stop Order. You may find the definitions of these terms and more information at Calculating Forex Profits And Losses.

All currencies have standard identifying code used worldwide, some examples are: EUR (European euros), GBP (United Kingdom pounds), AUD (Australian dollars). Of course you don't have to know them all but it may be good to be able to recognize all the major currencies codes so that you will be able to make quick decisions.

To make sound evaluations, you need information. Follow carefully the world's current events, economic and political news. You will be surprised to see how, what may seem to you as insignificant will cause the currencies markets to fluctuate wildly.

David Jones writes for Forex Value Guides a site set up to give users the most updated information, articles, and news related to the Forex Market.

5 Questions You Need To Have Answered Before You Back-Test Your Forex System

As 90-95% of new forex traders lose money within the first 3-6 months this article helps to guide new forex traders by asking 5 questions that the forex trader needs to know prior to back-testing their forex system.

Let us jump right in...

1. What data type are you using (or going to use)?

I know this sounds strange, especially if you have experience from another market such as stocks as their generally is only one type of data source available. However, in the forex market you can have up to 4 different data types: bid, ask, mid and indicative. Each have their own little nuances.

If you would like to know more about the data types then visit the article written about the perils of indicative prices. As this will save me from having to repeat the information again and boring those who've already read it.

So, if you know you have indicative prices then you know you're in for some good results! However, if you have any of the other three you need to be careful on how stop and limit orders are placed.

As an example: If we had bid price history and we were looking to place a buy entry stop at 0830 EST according to the day's high, then we know that the bid price will not accurately reflect what the actual price of our order should be. You would have noticed that if you placed a buy entry stop at the exact same price as that of the day's high you would have entered prematurely - you would have entered 4 or 5 pips before the high or the low of the day was touched (the exact same amount as the spread your broker offers!).

This leads me into the next most important question...

2. What spread is your broker offering on the currencies you are bask-testing?

You need to know this as this can help you set your slippage settings on each currency.

As our example in question 1 pointed out. We found that our buy at the day's high method did not exactly work because we bought at the BID PRICE high, not the ASK PRICE high - the price that we need when we place our order TO BUY.

Therefore, we enter in a slippage setting representing the spread that would be exhibited by this trade on this currency.

But knowing at what price to buy is only half the problem... how do we know what quantity to buy?

3. What margin does your broker offer?

If we know at what price to buy our currency at we need to inform our broker on what quantity to buy to fulfill the order. We only know what quantity to buy by the margin that the brokerage firm offers.

Most brokerage firms offer 100:1 leverage, however, some firms offer mini accounts with 200:1 leverage, others only 50:1 leverage.

Find out the margin required.

4. What restrictions does your broker impose?

Now, I don't just mean margin and spread restrictions as I have mentioned above. These are important in their own right, what you need to find out are the details.

This is probably the most important question of all as the fine line between success and failure can be found in the details. Now you can have this questioned by one of two ways: 1. You can find out through experience (generally the most expensive way unless done through the demo account!); or 2. You ask your broker (the cheapest and best way).

Why is this so important? I hear you ask. Well let's say you have a system that trades any gaps that might form on Sunday at 1700 EST, but your broker does not open until 1730 EST. You either need to factor this restriction in to your system, or move onto another system completely. Or, you may have a system that has 10 pip stops, but you find out that your broker will only let you place 15 pip stops from your initial entry price. Once again you will need to change your system to see whether it still performs well, or throw out your system (or change your broker)!

In fact one of the most devastating restrictions imposed by FXCM is that they do not accept stop entry orders if price never happens to trade at your entry stop price! FXCM will honor and "take the loss" of your OPEN stop positions, but if the liquidity is not there and price has shot straight through your stop price then you will miss out. This can have disastrous effects on your system results as you are left wondering on trades where you made good returns - "Would FXCM have got me in?". You may want to read of some of the quirks I use when placing entry stop orders on FXCM that could be of huge benefit to you to help you possibly get around this problem.

The restrictions by your broker are only half your systems' success, you also need to find out about another more important restriction... yourself. This leads me to the final point...

5. What restrictions do you have?

This is a vitally important question. Most people test their systems and fall in love with the results but find when they trade their system they have lost their account and that most of the best signals occurred while they were sound asleep!

As the forex market is a 24 hour market, you need to put into place restrictions in your system that will be realisticly conducted by you during the course of a normal trading day. There is no use operating a trailing stop method that changes your stop points during times when you are asleep and cannot possibly do so.

I hope this article has made you aware of some of the important things that need to be known prior to testing your system.

Article written by Ryan Sheehy from Currency Secrets.com. Where you will find reviews on forex data vendors, signal providers, brokers, and popular forex resources, along with more quality articles... all for f*ree!