As a day trader volatility is you friend

As a day trader volatility is you friend, a friend you cannot afford to trade without. In it’s basic definition, volatility is simply the amount of price change with relation to time. Volatile currency pairs have various price swings (price changes) during a small period of time (one day). These price swings are what a day trader lives on. In the forex market volatility many times comes hand in hand with liquidity. The most liquid pairs are the ones that are the most volatile. The big 4: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY and USD/CHF are the most liquid pairs that provide the best volatility and hence opportunity for the forex day trader. Within these four pairs, the GBP/USD is the most volatile. Although it’s not the most liquid (the EUR/USD is), but it’s the most volatility. This pair, traded with the right broker (one that provides a 3 pip spread) can present many profitable opportunities for the astute day trader.
Specific news announcements
Currency rates are affected by rumors, news, economic indicators and government reports. As a day trader you must always be aware of what economic reports are scheduled on the day you are trading and at what time. Why? Simply because many of these reports can have a strong momentary impact on the market once they hit the news wires. This impact can be of 10 pips or 100 pips depending on the report and it’s difference from the market consensus. The most important and impacting economic indicators and government reports are issued by the US government. They affect every USD/X or X/USD currency pair. Again, always know what are the release times and the importance of the economic report. For example, suppose you are in a EUR/USD trade at 8:25 a.m. You know that an economic report is scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. You might consider either exiting the trade before the release (in order to avoid unnecessary speculation as to what impact the report will have on the market) or entering your profit objective and stop loss into your deal station (for risk exposure reasons).
In conclusion, the forex day trader has to be prepared not only with the basic day trading rules, skills and principles. His job is to incorporate into his trading the characteristics and uniqueness of the forex market. Remember, every currency pair might present different opportunities and it is your job to always focus on the ones that best fit the purpose and objectives of day trading. I hope to have contributed to your forex trading education and I thank you for taking the time to read this article.

Day Trading the Forex Market Profitably

Being a forex day trader can be very lucrative. The currency market is by far the most liquid and volatile market in the world and with this come various opportunities. No matter what type of market you chose to day trade you must know the “personality” of the market you are trading.
Every market has it’s own characteristics and it is important to know what they are before attempting to profit from it. The forex market is no different. In this article we will go over very important general day trading principles/rules and then we will see what a day trader has to recognize when specifically day trading the forex market.
As the term implies, day traders are concerned with what happens in the market today. Not tomorrow, not next week and not next month, but today. The day trader’s job is to capture intraday price swings. Depending on the system or trading method employed, this can mean capturing one intraday swing or various intraday swings. The general job of a day trader is (then we will go over the more specific job of the forex day trader):
To control risk
One of the most important jobs as a day trader is to control your risk exposure. Sure, controlling risk is a concept you must use in any type of trading, however in day trading you must look at this issue from a different angle. Since your job is to capture various price swings during the day naturally your profit objectives will be much smaller than that of a swing trader (who places a single trade aiming for a much larger profit objective). So, when placing several trades during the day it can be easy to “drift” away from your pre-determined stop loses. A common (very common actually!) day traders thought is “if I extend my stop loss just a bit I hope the market will turn around”! Hope is one of the trader’s biggest enemies. These little extensions of stop losses add up and suddenly without noticing you are losing more dollars per trade than planed making your risk/reward ratio turn against you.
To be disciplined
This principle is key for any type of trading but particularly for day trading. If I had to name one single aspect of a day trader that can make him or her a winner or a loser it is discipline. You can have a so-so system but still make money if you are disciplined. However, you can have the best trading system in the world but if you are not disciplined I guarantee you will not be a successful trader. So, what is all this discipline everyone talks about when discussing trading? Very simple, it’s respecting and strictly following your trading plan, your trading system, your money management rules, and your commitment to the business. Being disciplined with regard to each and everyone of these components is essential for your success.
It is so easy to deviate from your trading plan, the rules of your trading system or any of the above mentioned components, especially when day trading. Why? Two reasons. First, because the trader is trading very frequent and does not have time to cool down, think, and evaluate. Second, because reality is replaced by hope. Your trading system rules (reality) says: “get our of the trade” hope says “hang in there, maybe it will still be profitable”. Your money management rules (reality) say “risk only 2% of your account on this trade” hope says “since I lost on the last trade I will risk 4% on this next one so I can make up for the loser and also be profitable”. Your trading plan (reality) says “trade each day 4 hours, give yourself Wednesday or Thursday a vacation to rest” hope says “Since I am not doing very well now I don’t need this rest day, and I will also trade 7 hours per day to make up”. I know (not hope!) you now understand the point!
To focus on the appropriate time frame
As a day trader your primary concern is to catch intraday swings. Your trades start and finish the same day. Your world is the day you are trading in. You don’t care what will happen in the market tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Your objective when trading is focusing on the appropriate time frame chart. My opinion is that day trading should be done on a 1, 5 or 10 minute bar chart. Remember, you are looking to capture several fast moves during the day and hence you must focus on the charts that best illustrate events as they happen in a short period of time. However, the fact that you are day trading on a 1,5 or 10 minute bar chart does not mean you can’t use a larger time frame chart for the purpose of analysis. This however, is very subjective and depends very much on the traders strategies and methods of trading. As an example, many day traders would look at one hour bar charts in order to have a view of how the market has been behaving in the last week. Is it moving sideways (and so maybe I should only place trades between support and resistance areas)? Is it trending (and so maybe I should only be looking at placing trades in the direction of the higher time frame trend)? Are there any major support and/or resistance levels I should be aware of (areas where I should refrain from placing trades since it is uncertain how the market will react when reaching them)? Did the market brake out of a congestion area?
Again, it is very subjective. Some day traders believe that with proper larger time frame analysis they can select better day trades. My personal opinion is that the more you analyze the more conflicts you will have and the more uncertainties will appear (especially if you are new to trading). I like making things simple and I found it very useful when trading (proof of this is that all of the trading systems I use are 100% mechanical). Don’t get me wrong, this is not to say that larger time frames should not be used at all for analysis purposes. But, try to keep it simple and if you see that looking at larger time frame charts interferes with your correct decision process when placing day trades then simply stop.
To trade volatile and liquid markets
Since your job as a day trader is to capture intraday swings it is crucial that the market you are trading has enough movement to allow you to do this. It is also important that the market you are trading has enough liquidity so that order fills do not suffer from excessive slippage. You have to select a market that it’s volatility is permanent and not a temporary occurrence. Since you are basing your trading method on catching intraday price swings you have to know that you are trading in the right place. As a day trader volatility is your allay and you have to know that you can count on it every single day (or at least 90% of the days). Liquid markets will provide you with good order fills. As a day trader this is very important since you are aiming at smaller profit objectives and hence larger slippage will eat away more of your profits. When trading several times a day this adds up and can be the difference between success and failure.
As a forex day trader you have to apply all the above rules and principles plus other criteria that are unique to the forexmarket.
Time of day trading
The forex market is a 24 hour market. Never stops except on weekends. Within this 24 hour period different currencies behave in different manners. As a day trader it is very important to know the “personality” of the currency you are trading. For example, the GBP/USD is more volatile in early to mid European session than any other liquid pair. For a day trader trading in these hours it would be wise to take advantage of the price swings the GBP/USD pair offers instead of trading some other currency pair that constantly shows no movement. The USD/CAD pair is “silent” in the early to mid European session but starts to have more price movement toward the start of the US session. Every time Non Farm Payroll is released most if not all currency pair have a very small price range up to release time. As a day trader it wouldn’t be wise to trade during these pre-announcement hours with strategies that are based on breakouts. It would probably be smarter to use strategies that are based on range support and resistance.
Spread and liquidity
Forex brokers don’t charge you a commission for every trade you make (at least most forex brokers). Instead, they make their profit on the bid/ask spread which is measured in pips. As a forex day trader you are aiming at capturing small price swings sometimes several time per day. Also, your profit objectives are obviously much smaller than the swing trader’s profit objectives. All this means one thing: every pip counts.
You cannot afford to trade currency pairs with large spreads, if you do your profit will get eaten up to a point where you will not be trading with an adequate risk/reward ratio. Forex day trading must be done with liquid pairs.

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Most forex brokers will provide you with a very narrow spread for the most liquid currency pairs. As an example, many brokers are now offering a 2 pip spread for EUR/USD and USD/JPY and a 3 pip spread for USD/CHF and GBP/USD. These are the most liquid pairs and the ones a day trader should focus on.

How far can the dollar go down?

Theoretically, the US Dollar can go to zero. While unlikely, it should be remembered that nearly every currency that has ever existed throughout history, eventually has a crash that destroys 90% of absolute value, or more.Won't foreign Central Banks support the dollar?Why should they? If you are hungry, and your 600 lb. neighbor (who is now so fat he can't even walk anymore he needs to use one of those little carts) missed a few meals, which happen to be 5x expensive as yours, would you finance his dessert? Of course not. You are thinking many things, but supporting his habit of overeating isn't one of them. The US consumes over 25% of the world's resources but produces less than 10%. Economists may not care for such a crude analogy, but the situation with the US Dollar is very, very simple, and should not be overcomplicated. The USD has been a reserve currency for the post WW2 world, but since Nixon abandon gold standard, the USD is backed by only the belief and faith in US Government. We are seeing a commodity boom, not because of a bubble in commodity asset prices, but because of a decline in the USD, the world's reserve currency in which many commodities (especially Oil and Gold) are priced. In any event, it's not likely that foreign central banks will bail out the dollar, because that would in effect make them eat a realized loss in their current account. Moderately wealthy nations cannot afford to take the loss of the US, the largest and wealthiest economy in the world. The US has been a financial big brother who have bailed out other failing economies  but the US has no big brother to lean on, except maybe Russia, although that wouldn't go over too well in Washington. So if the US Defaults, who can come to the rescue?Gold is cheapAdjusted for inflation, Gold should be above 1500  without considering any boom. Many are wondering if commodities can continue to increase, without considering how depressed commodity prices were in the late 90's. An economy can live without services, or money, but people cannot decide not to eat or use Oil. Gold is money, the high price in Gold is reflective of investors concern about the value of money  any money. The US Dollar is a reserve currency so when USD goes down, so do many other currencies. The majority of USD holders are foreigners, but that is changing (in the past 10 years foreign USD holders have decreased from 77% to 62%).What to do?An argument of this nature should end in a that's next or that you should do. Unfortunately, this is a complex situation with no magic bullet solution. On a basic personal finances level, one should sell your mortgage at any price and become debt free with low cost of living. Don't bet on any economic upturn that will save your finances, things will only get worse. Second, do what you do well  no matter what the value of the dollar or the state of the economy, there will always be demand for goods and services (unless you happen to be in real-estate business, in which case you could start looking into farms.) The good news is that in any time of chaos, uncertainty, and reorganization, there are always massive opportunities. Taking advantage of them may not require huge amounts of capital. Knowledge of the situation can cause one to be in the right place at the right time or at least not in the wrong place at the wrong time for example it would not be smart to be in south Florida amidst economic suffering which could lead to crime, rioting, overall fraud, and a depressed local economy.Property surrounding small country towns has been doubling in 1 year! Farmland has increased by as much as 500% in some areas over the last few years. There are plentiful opportunities in this market, but they may not be the traditional opportunities that investors are accustomed to.It's 2008There is a new market thinking, accept it or not. We don't live in the 1970's, it's not 1970 it's 2008. In 1970 Russia was communist, now there are more billionaires in Moscow than in New York. In 1970 Oil had not yet peaked, there was no Internet, financial markets were not deregulated to the extent that they are now, there were no derivatives, no climate change, and no Oil hungry China. In 1970 Europe was scarcely organized, only 25 years of reconstruction post ww2, and there was no Euro.Thinking DifferentTherefore, the only way to survive in the New Investment Paradigm is to be nimble and stay ahead of the information curve. In any field, applied intelligence can earn a solid position and even great profits. Safe havens are no longer safe as they were, the bond market is getting destroyed by inflation, TIPS (inflation protected bonds) are trading negative for the first time ever, meaning you are betting inflation will be worse than the small loss you will take on the bonds.A trader named Paulson made a record Wall Street profit on single trade, shorting SubPrime loans. Gold investors are happily sitting on 300%+ returns since 2002. Those holding US Dollar short positions have doubled their money in several years. CTA programs have achieved 70% - 150% in 2007, trading currencies, commodities, and futures. Anyone long Oil or Gasoline futures in the past months would have been very profitable.Clearly, there are hundreds of opportunities but no clear magic bullet solution that could be recommended, compared to 5 years ago when a US Dollar short or Long Gold portfolio could have been safely recommended. It is for this reason Elite E Services is launching a Global Opportunities Hedge Fund, which should be ready by late spring. If you are trading for yourself, take quick profits and don't hold any positions for the long term, and seek new opportunities. Keep in mind the opportunities may be biased toward the Short side than the long side, as DOW and NASDAQ components will be hit by a sinking dollar, sinking US Economy, and credit problems.

Avoiding Forex-Related Frauds and Scams

Avoiding Forex-Related Frauds and Scams
A lot of people have been 'burnt' from scam operations on the Internet. Their sites may look so perfectly legitimate that you doubt whether they would have gone through all that trouble building a trading platform just to steal your money. Beware.
The first thing I look for is the geographical location of the broker. If I find that they are based in a country where the financial industry is, in my opinion, relatively unregulated and under-developed, I quickly forgo signing up. This is terrible news for honest brokers in those countries, but your job as a trader is to protect your capital. If you lose that, then you cannot trade. The onus is on them to convince you that they will do the right thing by you as an investor.
I started out with an Australian broker. Currently I am using an American one. I have not tried UK-based brokers but the British financial industry is one of the best. Companies that are based in countries such as Japan , Germany and France are probably just as good too, if their website speaks your language.
Notice any license numbers that they may have registered with regulatory bodies that act like government watchdogs who oversee the finance and investments industries. These are organisations that impose strict rules to safeguard your investment. Some of these rules may include the requirement that brokers segregate all customer funds from the operational funds of the business. Your money is required to be put in highly-reputable banks and the funds are only withdrawn from these accounts upon specific withdrawal requests.
Take note that there are some fake regulatory bodies being thrown around in cyber-space as well. Take a look at how long they have been operating for. Try and search out any reviews or comments made about them. See if you can find forums where traders have discussions about their brokers.
Below is a list of things to keep in mind to help you avoid being a victim of a scam:
Stay Away From Opportunities That Sound Too Good To Be True
There are people who may have just acquired a large amount of money just and recently are the same and are shopping around for safe investment vehicles. These may include retirees who have access to their retirement funds. It is understandable why retirees would be drawn to 'high-return, low-risk investments'. This is also what makes them very vulnerable. If you identify yourself to be one of these people, be careful. A lot of deceitful characters are after your money. Furthermore, only allocate a tiny amount of your money to trading until you can start growing it. Not all people can trade successfully, so it is a venture you should take on haphazardly. It is your life savings at risk.
Avoid Individuals Or Organizations Who Claim To Predict Or Guarantee Large Profits
Any form of trading is hard. Trading currencies is no different. Be wary of statements that make it sound easy. Statements like:
"Whether the market moves up or down, in the currency market you will make a profit";
"Make $1000 per week, every week";
"We are out-performing 90% of domestic investments";
"You'll make returns of 70% a year";
"Here is a no-risk strategy".
If they could make such returns, why would they even bother letting you know about it.
Be Wary Of Companies Who Downplay Investment Risks
Hold your wallet tight and zip up your purse when companies say that written risk disclosure agreements are routine formalities imposed by the government. Watch out for statements like:
"With a $10,000 deposit, the maximum you can lose is $200 to $250 per day";
" We promise to recover any losses you have ".
Be Wary Of Companies That Claim To Trade In The 'Interbank Market'
Do not believe it when some people say that they have access to the 'Interbank market' or that they can give you access to trade in that market because that's where bargain prices can be obtained. This is not true. The 'interbank market' is not a place, it is not a physical building. It is simply a loose network of currency transactions that are negotiated between big financial institutions and other large companies.
Ethnic Minorities Are Often Targeted
Ethnic newspapers and television 'infomercials' are sometimes used to attract Russian, Chinese and Indian minorities. Sometimes these ads offer so-called 'job opportunities for account executives to trade foreign currencies', whereby the recruited 'account executive' is expected to use his own money to trade currencies and would often times be encouraged to recruit members like their friends and family to do the same.