Fibonacci forex trading is the basis of many forex trading systems used by a great number of professional forex brokers around the globe, and many billions of dollars are profitable traded every year based on these trading techniques.
Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician and he is best remembered by his world famous Fibonacci sequence, the definition of this sequence is that it's formed by a series of numbers where each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers; 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ...But in the case of currency trading what is more important for the forex trader is the Fibonacci ratios derived from this sequence of numbers, i.e. .236, .50, .382, .618, etc.
These ratios are mathematical proportions prevalent in many places and structures in nature, as well as in many man made creations.
Forex trading can greatly benefit form this mathematical proportions due to the fact that the oscillations observed in forex charts, where prices are visibly changing in an oscillatory pattern, follow Fibonacci ratios very closely as indicators of resistance and support levels; maybe not to the last cent, but so close as to be really amazing.
Fibonacci price points, or levels, for any forex currency pair can be calculated in advance so that the trader will know when to enter or exit the market if the prediction given by the Fibonacci forex day trading system he uses fulfills its predictions.
Many people tries to make this analysis overly complicated scaring away many new forex traders that are just beginning to understand how the forex market works and how to make a profit in it. But this is not how it has to be. I can't say it's a simple concept but it is quite understandable for any trader once he or she has grasped the basics and has had some practice trading using Fibonacci levels along with other secondary indicators that will help to improve the accuracy of the entry and exit point for every particular trade.
Free chapters of a forex day trading system can be downloaded at http://www.1-forex.com in case you are interested in learning more about Fibonacci forex trading.
About the Author
Adrian Pablo; Forex trader and freelance writer.
>> http://www.1-forex.com
Sunday, November 25, 2007
What's The Fuzz About E-Currency Trading
You keep hearing about this money making system that requires no selling, only an hour a day (max) and no special skill.
Yeah right.
At least that's the first impression for someone who has been in the internet for a while.
Enter E-Currency Trading.
What if you were able to provide the liquid capital for "Internet Money" so that it could be used with as a backup or "real money"?
You can make around 1.5% to 4% in daily interests on your capital for doing that. My eyes almost popped out. You can gain coumpounding interest for a starting investment as little as 50 bucks.
Depending on your background, it may be a little hard to believe that you can take $100 and turn them into $800 in less than 45 days. I'm 21 years old and it was tought for me to believe it. You're actually putting your money to work. Yep, it happens. And it takes no special skill. After all, your money is the one doing all the hard work.
There is a downside, of course. It's a very complex system to grasp at first. In fact it can be overwhelming if you don't know what the heck you're doing. Open an account here, another one there, buy some stuff here buy some stuff there. You could go insane trying to figure it out by yourself.
I was lucky enough to do it the simple way. If someone guides you step by step, with a visual image of how he uses the system Every-Step-Of-the-Way,
"do this, open this account, then open this other account, put your money here, transfer it here, and see how it grows"
When someone takes you by the hand like that and teaches you, it just become too easy. All I did was watch a video, do Exactly like on the video. Watch the next video, do exactly what you see on the video. Watch the next video and... well you get the point.
The great thing about E-currency Trading is that you and I and everyone else does the same thing to make money. We all take the same path. If you're heading this way, if you're interested in learning about e-currency trading, I can recommend you take the smart way and learn the system instead of trying to figuring out for yourself.
When you decide to learn currency exchange the smart way, the rewards are higher in a shorter time frame, without really having a learning curve because you are learning it directly from a source that is already generating income for themselves.
Remember the law that says that the shortest path between two distances is a straight line.
About the author:
Charles Cruz CEO of Currency Trading Center (http://currencytrading-center.info). Teaching you how to set you income on fire with Currency Trading.
Yeah right.
At least that's the first impression for someone who has been in the internet for a while.
Enter E-Currency Trading.
What if you were able to provide the liquid capital for "Internet Money" so that it could be used with as a backup or "real money"?
You can make around 1.5% to 4% in daily interests on your capital for doing that. My eyes almost popped out. You can gain coumpounding interest for a starting investment as little as 50 bucks.
Depending on your background, it may be a little hard to believe that you can take $100 and turn them into $800 in less than 45 days. I'm 21 years old and it was tought for me to believe it. You're actually putting your money to work. Yep, it happens. And it takes no special skill. After all, your money is the one doing all the hard work.
There is a downside, of course. It's a very complex system to grasp at first. In fact it can be overwhelming if you don't know what the heck you're doing. Open an account here, another one there, buy some stuff here buy some stuff there. You could go insane trying to figure it out by yourself.
I was lucky enough to do it the simple way. If someone guides you step by step, with a visual image of how he uses the system Every-Step-Of-the-Way,
"do this, open this account, then open this other account, put your money here, transfer it here, and see how it grows"
When someone takes you by the hand like that and teaches you, it just become too easy. All I did was watch a video, do Exactly like on the video. Watch the next video, do exactly what you see on the video. Watch the next video and... well you get the point.
The great thing about E-currency Trading is that you and I and everyone else does the same thing to make money. We all take the same path. If you're heading this way, if you're interested in learning about e-currency trading, I can recommend you take the smart way and learn the system instead of trying to figuring out for yourself.
When you decide to learn currency exchange the smart way, the rewards are higher in a shorter time frame, without really having a learning curve because you are learning it directly from a source that is already generating income for themselves.
Remember the law that says that the shortest path between two distances is a straight line.
About the author:
Charles Cruz CEO of Currency Trading Center (http://currencytrading-center.info). Teaching you how to set you income on fire with Currency Trading.
Which e-Currency Should You Use?
by Matthew Glanfield, DXTrainers
With the recent problems that we have been seeing with IntGold and other online currencies I have decided to address the issue of which e-Currencies are good to use.
The main difficulty in talking about this is that working with e-Currencies is not easy as they are constantly changing in many ways.
We can easily see this with www.paypal.com/uk/mrb/pal=T7T7XT9KZZSNS target=_blank>PayPal. As they grew they had to adopt new rules and regulations to protect themselves and also those using their services. Like any credit card company they have to deal with fraud and other legal issues on a daily basis.
We see the same in banking. Banks need to have strict security in all that they do in order to secure themselves and their customers.
e-Currencies are no exception to this rule. In fact, e-Currencies probably have to deal with more problems as they work only with the Internet, which is probably one of the biggest sources of fraud.
In the past we have seen e-Currencies fail: Notably those that have been with www.dxinone.com/?DXLink=103373 target=_blank>DXInOne for more than a year will know of the infamous Evocash and the problems it caused when it shut down. Now we are seeing similar problems with IntGold, although I cannot say what their fate will be.
So how do you choose a good e-Currency?
The problem here is that all you can see is the website from which the e-Currency operates. A good web designer can make even the smallest of operations look like a large corporation.
Instead of judging by appearances we will consider the following to be important when choosing an e-Currency:
1. Security
What does the e-Currency provide in terms of security? Simply having a secondary password is not enough as key loggers can easily bypass even them.
Questions to ask about security would be: Do they use a virtual keyboard (like DXInOne)? Do they have more than one password to remember (like IntGold or NetPay)? Do they have some sort of hardware that you can purchase to increase your security (like e-Bullion)? Do they require you to verify your identity to prevent fraud (like PayPal and DXInOne)?
The more security measures that the e-Currency business takes the more secure that you can feel when dealing with them.
However, security is not enough.
2. Customer Service
This is where the one or two man businesses will fail in comparison to those providers that have real resources. Test out their customer service by emailing them a simple question.
How long does it take them to respond? While customer service doesn't necessarily give you a proper guage on a company alone (DXInOne is still working on theirs...), it will help you to feel more comfortable when dealing with the e-Currency.
This is important because illegal issues such as fraud or theft do happen to people's accounts. No matter how secure an e-Currency is it is still possible to lose money from theft or fraud. The company's customer service is key in resolving these matters quickly so that you lose the least amount possible.
3. Liquidity
This is a question on how easily you can exchange the funds in this e-Currency for another. Any good e-Currency will allow you to easily withdraw your funds, and not just to another account.
E-Bullion has been great for this. I request a check for the amount in my account and I have it delivered within two weeks, and that is to another country! PayPal's option to outxchange right to your bank account is quick and efficient.
Liquidity is a sign of healthiness in an e-Currency, and should be considered as well. This is one of the main reasons that DXGold is not yet used by a lot of companies in their online transactions - their outxchange times are far too slow right now.
Conclusion
In the end each of these factors alone will not give you enough to determine if an e-Currency is any good, but combined they will give you a healthy picture of how the company is working.
Always be careful when dealing with online transactions - there is a lot of risk involved, more than most companies are willing to tell you. Do not trust any e-Currency with a large amount of funds until you have tested them out with smaller amounts.
e-Currency is the way of the online future. Choosing the right one for you is as important as choosing the right bank.
About the author:
This article was posted by Simon Minister, owner of www.dynamic-xchange.com target=_blank>Dynamic-Xchange.com
With the recent problems that we have been seeing with IntGold and other online currencies I have decided to address the issue of which e-Currencies are good to use.
The main difficulty in talking about this is that working with e-Currencies is not easy as they are constantly changing in many ways.
We can easily see this with www.paypal.com/uk/mrb/pal=T7T7XT9KZZSNS target=_blank>PayPal. As they grew they had to adopt new rules and regulations to protect themselves and also those using their services. Like any credit card company they have to deal with fraud and other legal issues on a daily basis.
We see the same in banking. Banks need to have strict security in all that they do in order to secure themselves and their customers.
e-Currencies are no exception to this rule. In fact, e-Currencies probably have to deal with more problems as they work only with the Internet, which is probably one of the biggest sources of fraud.
In the past we have seen e-Currencies fail: Notably those that have been with www.dxinone.com/?DXLink=103373 target=_blank>DXInOne for more than a year will know of the infamous Evocash and the problems it caused when it shut down. Now we are seeing similar problems with IntGold, although I cannot say what their fate will be.
So how do you choose a good e-Currency?
The problem here is that all you can see is the website from which the e-Currency operates. A good web designer can make even the smallest of operations look like a large corporation.
Instead of judging by appearances we will consider the following to be important when choosing an e-Currency:
1. Security
What does the e-Currency provide in terms of security? Simply having a secondary password is not enough as key loggers can easily bypass even them.
Questions to ask about security would be: Do they use a virtual keyboard (like DXInOne)? Do they have more than one password to remember (like IntGold or NetPay)? Do they have some sort of hardware that you can purchase to increase your security (like e-Bullion)? Do they require you to verify your identity to prevent fraud (like PayPal and DXInOne)?
The more security measures that the e-Currency business takes the more secure that you can feel when dealing with them.
However, security is not enough.
2. Customer Service
This is where the one or two man businesses will fail in comparison to those providers that have real resources. Test out their customer service by emailing them a simple question.
How long does it take them to respond? While customer service doesn't necessarily give you a proper guage on a company alone (DXInOne is still working on theirs...), it will help you to feel more comfortable when dealing with the e-Currency.
This is important because illegal issues such as fraud or theft do happen to people's accounts. No matter how secure an e-Currency is it is still possible to lose money from theft or fraud. The company's customer service is key in resolving these matters quickly so that you lose the least amount possible.
3. Liquidity
This is a question on how easily you can exchange the funds in this e-Currency for another. Any good e-Currency will allow you to easily withdraw your funds, and not just to another account.
E-Bullion has been great for this. I request a check for the amount in my account and I have it delivered within two weeks, and that is to another country! PayPal's option to outxchange right to your bank account is quick and efficient.
Liquidity is a sign of healthiness in an e-Currency, and should be considered as well. This is one of the main reasons that DXGold is not yet used by a lot of companies in their online transactions - their outxchange times are far too slow right now.
Conclusion
In the end each of these factors alone will not give you enough to determine if an e-Currency is any good, but combined they will give you a healthy picture of how the company is working.
Always be careful when dealing with online transactions - there is a lot of risk involved, more than most companies are willing to tell you. Do not trust any e-Currency with a large amount of funds until you have tested them out with smaller amounts.
e-Currency is the way of the online future. Choosing the right one for you is as important as choosing the right bank.
About the author:
This article was posted by Simon Minister, owner of www.dynamic-xchange.com target=_blank>Dynamic-Xchange.com
Why Demo FX 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.
About The Author
William White is a software developer and avid foreign exchange enthusiast.
His website - www.financemaps.com 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.
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.
About The Author
William White is a software developer and avid foreign exchange enthusiast.
His website - www.financemaps.com 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.
Why Trade the FOREX?
My purpose for writing this article is to demonstrate to you the advantages of trading on the FOREX market. However, there is one myth that I want to dispel before I go further. The myth is that there is a difference between trading and investing. To dispel that myth I quote from Al Thomas, President of Williamsburg Investment Company, who wrote �If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It�. He said �Everyone who invests is a trader, only the time period is different.� It is a lesson that I took seriously after taking a beating in the stock market in 2000.
So now, let's compare features of currency trading to those of stock and commodity trading.
Liquidity - The FOREX market is the most liquid financial market in the world around 1.9 trillion dollars traded everyday. The commodities market trades around 440 billion dollars a day, and the US stock market trades around 200 billion dollars a day. This ensures better trade execution and prevents market manipulation. It also ensures easily executable trading.
Trading Times – The FOREX market is open 24 hours a day (except weekends) which means that in the US it opens at 3:00 pm Sunday (EST) and closes Friday at 5:00 (EST), allowing active traders to choose the times they want to trade. Commodities trading hours are all over the board depending on which commodity you are trading. Including extended trading times US stocks can be traded from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (ET) on weekdays.
Leverage – Depending on your FOREX account size, your leverage may be 100:1, although there are FOREX brokers that offer leverage of up to 400:1 (not that I would ever recommend that kind of leverage). Leverage in the stock market can be as high as 4:1, and in the commodities market, leverage varies with the commodity traded but it can be quite high. Because the commodity markets are not as liquid as the FOREX market, its leverage is inherently riskier. Although I was never shut out of a commodity trade by the day limit, the fear was always in the back of my mind.
Trading costs – Transaction costs in the FOREX market is the difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair. There are no brokerage fees. For both the stock and the commodity markets, there are transaction costs and brokerage fees. Even when you use discount brokers, those fees add up.
Minimum investment – You can open a FOREX trading account for as little as $300.00. It took $5,000 for me to open my futures trading account.
Focus – 85% of all trading transactions are made on 7 major currencies. In the US stock market alone there are 40,000 stocks. There are just over 200 commodity markets, although quite a few are so illiquid that they are not traded except by hedgers. As you can see, the fewer number of instruments allows us to study each one more closely.
Trade execution – In the FOREX market, trade execution is almost instantaneous. In both the equity and commodity markets, you count on a broker to execute your trades and their results are sometimes inconsistent.
While all of these features make trading the FOREX market very attractive, it still requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience. All trading can be risky.
About The Author
Dr Susan Walker has been an environmental consultant for more than 20 years and has dabbled in trading for longer than she cares to remember.
Please visit me at http://www.creative4xtrader.com and I will give you, absolutely free, a copy of the great little e-book, �FOREX FREEDOM�.
So now, let's compare features of currency trading to those of stock and commodity trading.
Liquidity - The FOREX market is the most liquid financial market in the world around 1.9 trillion dollars traded everyday. The commodities market trades around 440 billion dollars a day, and the US stock market trades around 200 billion dollars a day. This ensures better trade execution and prevents market manipulation. It also ensures easily executable trading.
Trading Times – The FOREX market is open 24 hours a day (except weekends) which means that in the US it opens at 3:00 pm Sunday (EST) and closes Friday at 5:00 (EST), allowing active traders to choose the times they want to trade. Commodities trading hours are all over the board depending on which commodity you are trading. Including extended trading times US stocks can be traded from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (ET) on weekdays.
Leverage – Depending on your FOREX account size, your leverage may be 100:1, although there are FOREX brokers that offer leverage of up to 400:1 (not that I would ever recommend that kind of leverage). Leverage in the stock market can be as high as 4:1, and in the commodities market, leverage varies with the commodity traded but it can be quite high. Because the commodity markets are not as liquid as the FOREX market, its leverage is inherently riskier. Although I was never shut out of a commodity trade by the day limit, the fear was always in the back of my mind.
Trading costs – Transaction costs in the FOREX market is the difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair. There are no brokerage fees. For both the stock and the commodity markets, there are transaction costs and brokerage fees. Even when you use discount brokers, those fees add up.
Minimum investment – You can open a FOREX trading account for as little as $300.00. It took $5,000 for me to open my futures trading account.
Focus – 85% of all trading transactions are made on 7 major currencies. In the US stock market alone there are 40,000 stocks. There are just over 200 commodity markets, although quite a few are so illiquid that they are not traded except by hedgers. As you can see, the fewer number of instruments allows us to study each one more closely.
Trade execution – In the FOREX market, trade execution is almost instantaneous. In both the equity and commodity markets, you count on a broker to execute your trades and their results are sometimes inconsistent.
While all of these features make trading the FOREX market very attractive, it still requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience. All trading can be risky.
About The Author
Dr Susan Walker has been an environmental consultant for more than 20 years and has dabbled in trading for longer than she cares to remember.
Please visit me at http://www.creative4xtrader.com and I will give you, absolutely free, a copy of the great little e-book, �FOREX FREEDOM�.
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