Jobs and Inflation

February 16th, 2012 by Logan No comments »

Jobless ClaimsThe US economic front looks a little bit leery after the unexpected dip last week in jobless claims. Meanwhile while producer prices presents the next signal, inflation still looks to be under control. The jobless claims have dropped nearly 13,000, revised number 360,000 the previous week. The producer price index rose .1% for last month and this was due to the gas prices on the rise. The new four-year low on jobless claims suggested that the market was strengthening.

These initial claims that dropped 13,000 seasonally adjusted 340,000. All the numbers fell out of line and this is still the lowest we’ve seen the job market since April 2008. The job gains have exceeded over 200,000 for two straight months and the unemployment rate is now at 8.3% in January which is a three-year low.

Economists forecasted claims falling to around 3.5 million from an expected 3.53 million. There seems to be a lot of pressure in the employment market and without something being done this number should fluctuate over the coming months.

Meanwhile, the producer prices outside of food and energy have recorded one the biggest gains in six months. This will not get the inflation chatter going but may affect the overall markets.

It appears after a long stint of housing recovery the foreclosure market has increased again. One in every 624 households received a foreclosure filing in January This is up 3%. The pattern of increased foreclosures and is expected to continue and may affect the overall growth of the market in both jobs and strength. Many states such as Florida, Illinois,and Indiana are affected by this.

Nevada still posted the highest foreclosure rate in the country which is pretty significant compared to everyone else. The 30 year fixed mortgage rate at 3.81% is at its lowest in decades. You can pretty much get a 15 year fixed mortgage at 3.13% which is a huge change over the last 10 years. The refinance boom will continue over the coming months as these percentage rates change.

People are looking for a new way to invest may want to check out the penny stock millionaire. This new product allows investors to trade penny stocks with smart intuition and confidence.

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The Swiss Franc

November 2nd, 2011 by Logan No comments »

The Swiss franc is one of the more stable currencies. This does not mean that traders looking for highly volatile currencies to day trade should completely ignore the franc, however. Putting your money in the Swiss currency can have great rewards, especially if you are looking for long term growth. Over the last five years, the franc has dropped considerably in value—thus opening up the possibility that there is a lot of room for this currency to increase in price. Compared to the US dollar or the Part Time Gold Trader, the franc is near its five year low. But because of Switzerland’s stable political and economic outlook, it is only a matter of time before the franc’s price in comparison to the dollar will begin to retrace its past highs.

If you look at the five year chart of the Swiss franc, the downward trend is very clear. But why should we expect the price to begin climbing once again? While it is impossible to tell exactly when this will occur, we can with some degree of certainty say that it will occur. The lowering of the price looks like it was just a long term corrective act. If, as many experts agree, this is correct, new highs are soon to manifest. Going long in the franc looks like a very good move when seen in this light.

Long term currency investments are not as reliable as stock investing, but with a stalwart in the global economy such as the CHD, you can be a bit more confident.

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Investing During Tough Times

September 30th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Forex TradingDuring times like these, finding a safe trade or investment can be downright tricky. With worries of a recession looming before us, how are we expected to make money in the market? If the answer to this question was obvious or easy, we would all be rich. The truth is that there is no easy answer to this question. Trading in turbulent or downward falling markets is tricky; many people have lost fortunes trying to do this.

One of the best ways to make money in the market is to follow prevailing trends using Tom’s EA. If the stock market is falling, find a company with poor numbers and sell it short. Or find an exchange traded fund that is the inverse of a major index and buy that. VIX rose by 35 percent on August 18th, 2011. This basket fund is a volatility measure of the S&P 500 index and because the S&P index fell by 53 points on this day, the volatility index increased dramatically.

The hard part is the predicting. Even the most carefully plotted out trades sometimes fail. In order to survive, you need to commit to diversification. Don’t use all of your money to trade; invest some of it. Investments for long term growth aren’t as flashy as quick trades, but they will help you to protect your capital over a longer period of time. Trading is a tough profession; you need to always be on the lookout for your long term safety. If you put all of your money into trades, your risk of ruin becomes much higher than if you invested a portion of it.

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Political Trading

August 15th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

It’s no secret that a currency is only as strong as the country it belongs to. In most respects, a country’s economic and political health are going to be the clearest fundamental indicators that will betray just what that country’s currency is worth. If a country has a volatile political atmosphere, it is quite likely that their currency is going to oscillate up and down with their situation. Take a country like Afghanistan for example. They are on their way to establishing a government free of corruption and crime, but as it still stands, their currency is not exactly a hot commodity in the international Forex community.

But it must be acknowledged that currencies do not exist in a vacuum. Currencies fluctuate according to supply and demand in relation to other currencies. Sometimes a currency sinks to such an undervalued price in comparison to another currency that the price will once again start to rise. If the currency remains in demand using the Hedge Fund Copier, there will be an increase in its price, regardless of the domestic unrest. These slight increases are usually only temporary and are known in market lingo as corrections.

Riding the minor correction trend can lead to a profit for you if you know what you are doing. Because these are generally slighter changes than what occur with other currencies, you have to be prepared to enter the trade as early as possible and wait until the last minute to exit. This is a type of day trading and can lead to ruin if you do in incorrectly.

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The Euro Currency

July 11th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

The euro is the official currency of the European Union’s (EU) member states. This includes Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. These countries are the Eurozone and have the euro as their common currency.

The EU introduced the euro in 1999 and in 2002 physical euro coins and paper notes were introduced. The European System of Central Banks prices and manages euros. The currency is used interchangeably in the Eurozone. The Trade Miner has been trading the euro dollar for many years.

Because the euro represents a common currency for these nations, it removes foreign exchange rate risk from businesses and financial institutions. Some critics believe that the euro concentrates too power with the European Central Bank. The member nations in the EU can’t implement separate monetary policies even though the countries have different needs and financial conditions.

A current example that is affecting the euro on a less healthy country than a healthy one is Greece. Because of its deteriorating financial condition, the euro is being dragged down. Recently, Greece had its credit rating cut by Standard & Poor’s. The credit rating agency gave it the world’s lowest debt grade.

With the downgrade, there is now fear of a Eurozone debt crisis.

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The Significance of the US Non-Farm Payrolls Report

May 16th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Many economic announcements affect the Forex markets, but no other economic announcement is more closely watched than the US non-farm payrolls report. It can also cause a wild spike within currency pairs involving the US dollar if the results were not within expectations.

Non-farm payrolls or NFP announcements take place every month on the first Friday. The US Department of Labor Statistics issues this survey data on a monthly basis. This report is seen as the barometer of the US economy and its global impact.

The data is composed of numbers of people working in paid jobs in all sectors of the economy, except the government, farm labor, non-profit organizations and private household workers. It is estimated that these workers contribute towards roughly 80% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Along with these numbers, the report also includes the Unemployment rate, as a percentage of US citizens without paid work. These numbers are compared to those released in the previous months to gauge if the economy is improving or receding. An improvement in NFP and a reduction in the unemployment rate are seen as being positive for the US dollar. It points towards a more productive economy.

Many economic pundits would have estimated the data that the report would entail. Using the Straddle Trader Pro this information is generally believed to be discounted into the exchange rate. Therefore, any deviation from expectation causes a sharp reaction in the US dollar related currency pairs, immediately after the report is released.

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Order Placement in Trading

March 31st, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Brokers only do what traders instruct them to do. For some traders, they may want something to be done but cannot express it. Thus, here are some of the familiar terminologies being used in the trading business which can cut down on time and make our point immediately known to the broker.

The most common type of order is the market order, where instructions are given based on market price. Another type of order is the stop order, which can either be a buy-stop order or a sell-stop order. The trader usually sets a price and instructs the broker to sell or to buy once the price set has been reached. The last type of order is the limit order. This means that an order would be placed only if the market price is the same or even better. For instance, a limit-buy order instruction tells to buy a certain commodity once it reaches the specified price, or possibly lower. On the other hand, a limit-sell order instructs the broker to sell at the stated price or probably higher than the market price.

Hence, as we now know the different orders we can place, our minds are now at ease as we can now give clear instructions to our brokers.

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Forex Ranges

March 4th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Studying a currency’s range of prices can give you quite a bit of information on how that currency is going to move in the future. For one, the fifty-two week range gives you a fairly clear standard of where the currency is going to go long-term. Let’s look at the U.S. dollar as compared to the Japanese yen (USD/JPY) for an example. The fifty-two week range on this pair is about 80.34 – 95.00.

This tells us nothing by itself though. We also need to look at where the price currently is and where in the last year these highs and lows have occurred. In this instance, the pair is currently near its year-low at 81.87. The yen has dropped in value almost continuously over the past year and now appears to be range bound between 81.00 and 84.00. Clearly, if you were looking to position trade, you would want to make sure you were at the bottom of the range so when it rose, you could sell off and make a profit. By using the Pro Trade Copycat signal service, the ranges will be given to you daily in the analysis area.

The other range that is important is the daily fluctuations. For the USD/JPY, this range is currently at 81.62 – 81.87. This is important for day traders that are trading with large amounts of capital. By buying at the bottom of the daily range and then selling at the top, you can make a profit if your timing is right. Of course, this isn’t going to happen every time, but by looking at ranges, you improve your chance of success.

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Forex Trading TImes

February 12th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Knowing when to trade currencies is an important concept. If you are trading the right currency at the wrong time, you will fail miserably. Forex trading happens 24 hours per day, but different markets are open at different hours. There is a big difference between trading during New York hours than trading during Tokyo hours. The dollar will perform differently during these different periods of time, so it is important that you know the difference.

The first step in determining when to trade should be easy. You want to find a time that fits in with your schedule. If you work all day, you are going to want to trade mainly between 8 PM and midnight; this is when the Asian markets are at their most active level. After you select when to trade, you need to learn the intricacies of the specific market you will be trading in. Which currencies are most widely traded? What factors influence price levels? Having a firm grasp on the Japanese yen, in this instance, and its relation to the dollar will help you the most here. But do not ignore other nations. China, for example, is a quickly growing nation and their currency is becoming more and more popular amongst traders. Knowing this can help you to make more pips.

The final step is to determine what news is going to influence prices or when harmonic price patterns will show up in the elemental trader. Every week, reports are issued that influence currency prices. Knowing when these releases will take place can help you fine tune your trading hours and make more money in less time.

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Using Your Tools

February 1st, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Every good forex trader has tools that they use to help them determine which trades to enter and which trades not to go near. Your trading should be no exception. The better the quality of the tools that you use, the better quality your trading will become. This means that the more work you do, the better your profit margin will be.

News trading is a popular and emerging method of trading the Forex market. This mode of analysis uses press releases, news conferences, public appearances, and status updates as a way of determining where currency prices are headed. What does this mean for you? The first thing to do is find your own reliable news source. If you can find a site that lists when major news is going to be released, you will cut down on your research time and increase your action, and accordingly, your profits. This may come with a small fee attached to it, but the price you pay for information will be more than offset by the profit you make from the resulting trades.

Another important tool is your trading platform software. You want a package that allows you to customize your charting options so that you can better make decisions when using the Trader Swiper. Visual information is crucial when it comes to charts. You need something that can create and identify patterns for you so that you can stay ahead of the game as technical analysis is another key component of your trading. The software you use is crucial, don’t skimp on this or you will regret it.

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Risk Aversion

January 7th, 2011 by Logan No comments »

Before you start trading currencies, you must determine what your risk aversion level is. Trading currencies is generally considered to be high risk since their prices can change very dramatically over a relatively short period of time. If you have a displeasure of taking risks, trading currencies in the traditional Forex market may not be fore you.

Still, many people are well suited to taking risks. These folk generally include younger crowds since they have a whole lifetime to make up for any losses that might occur. A general rule is that your safe investment portfolio should be the same percentage as your age. For a thirty year old, they would then have 30 percent of their wealth allocated in safe investments. The percentage of higher risk investments would then be 100 percent minus your age, so 70 percent of the thirty year old’s investments could carry a higher risk. This means that a portion of that 70 percent could be used in Forex trading (but not all of it). This 70 percent should be diversified amongst several different types of investment products.

But people who dislike risk still might find comfort in trading currencies. With options trading, you can select as to whether or not you actually want to commit to a trade over a given time period. The only thing lost if you do not want to make the trade is the contract cost. If you are against high risk trading, yet want to diversify your portfolio with currency trading, options might be the perfect solution for you.

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Time Frame Combinations

December 20th, 2010 by Logan No comments »

While it is usually in your best interest to stick to a single time frame when it comes to your analysis of a currency, sometime combining two or more time charts can be to your advantage. Having multiple charts will either solidify or weaken your original analysis of a currency, thus giving you more conviction when you are about to make your given trade.

Most technical analysts like to consult three different time charts before opening a position. A larger time frame will show you overarching trends that exist and will let you know exactly how long you can expect your given trade to last. The shortest time frame charts will help you fine tune your entry and exit positions since this will be the most minute amount of data you can receive. The time frame in between these two will serve to reinforce or dismiss that trade that you were planning on making.

The time frames need to be far enough apart so that you can truly see what you need to. They also must be complimentary to your trading style as well as work with the Oracle Trader products. For example, a day trader might look at a 1 minute, 5 minute, and 30 minute chart before executing a trade. A position trader could look at the hourly, daily, and weekly charts before making his decision. As long as there is enough of a difference to see what exactly a currency is doing in the short, medium, and long term of your given trading type, you will benefit from this three chart approach.

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Trading Futures

December 2nd, 2010 by Logan No comments »

A futures contract gives a trader the obligation to buy or sell a currency at a given price upon a given date. As you can see, these can either be on the long or short side of a trade. Both are valuable to traders, but if you are not prepared to follow through with this type of trade, you can stand the risk of losing a lot of money.

Let’s start with an example. Suppose you think that the Japanese yen will have the potential to rise quite a bit in value over the course of the next year. You would want to purchase a futures contract for the yen at the current price now and wait for the yen to increase in value. When the contract reaches the expiration date, or the date that the trade is to take place upon, hopefully the price you agreed on is much lower than the current price. This will enable you to buy the yen at the agreed upon low price and then immediately sell them on the spot trading market for the higher price, giving you a tidy little profit.

But what if you think the yen is going to drop in price? For this too, there is a futures contract available to you. You can sell a contract for the current price, and then when the expiration date hits, you will hopefully be able to provide the buyer of the contract with the devalued yen. Meanwhile, the other trader involved is paying you the higher price, again giving you a profit.

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Trading Breakouts and Fakeouts

November 21st, 2010 by Logan No comments »

Trading fakeout in Forex trading refers to a false breaking in the trend line or the channel that makes the trader think that it is a real breakout. The trader ends up making a loss after some candlestick moments as he realizes that the prices are moving back sweeping away all his profits. Many beginners have experienced such type of fakeouts and it really costs them money till the time they get enough experience to handle the situation.

Fakeouts normally occur at times of low market volatility in which case the bigger players are able to influence the market and manipulate the currency price movement at lower cost. The trading fakeout occurs when the big players are able to move the prices through the channel or the trend line so that the small investors are lured into pushing the prices up. Since the big players enter the market earlier they end up making good profits.

The big players will then exit the market by selling their stock to smaller investors who are still in the belief that it is a real breakout. The volume of stocks sold by these big players is quite high in times of low volatility. The small traders begin to place a stop above the trend line or channel and this leads to a fakeout leading to the prices moving down along the line.
As mentioned before, a Forex trader may experience the situation of fakeout several times but he will soon learn the tricks of the trade and then know how to avoid them to lessen his losses.

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Harmonic Price Patterns

November 16th, 2010 by Logan No comments »

Harmonic trading makes use of Harmonic Price Patterns in order to find out the reversal points in stocks. This methodology assumes that the trading cycles repeat themselves over a period of time. The trader should identify these patterns to maximize his returns and then enter or exit the market when there is a high degree of profitability.

The Harmonic Price Patterns are formulated by price structures that are derived from the Fibonacci calculations. The pattern of price structures has a combination of Fibonacci projections and retracements. Hence the Harmonic Patterns can be derived by calculating the various Fibonacci aspects. The Patterns help to pin point a particular area which can then be examined by the trader.

The Harmonic Patterns show that the similarity between the price movements and the price waves. The Patterns manifest these relationships and then help to show when there will be turning points. When the traders identify the turning points correctly they begin to execute the trades where the cycle changes. In this way the traders respect the buying and selling natural ebb. Hence the trades are executed in harmony with the market patterns. The Harmonic Patterns also help to identify those trades which are very near the reversal point.

The Harmonic Patterns are based on several patterns of geometry. They focus more on the price structures which are precisely 5 point structures. Hence the movements here are differentiated from the Fibonacci series. The Harmonic Patterns work on a particular time frame such as intraday, weekly and monthly.

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Types of Charts

November 11th, 2010 by Logan No comments »

Forex DudesForex charts are the perfect way of analysis of Forex trade over a period of time. There are normally 3 types of Forex charts which are the line chart, the bar chart and the candlestick chart. The line chart is simple and easy to read. In this chart, a line is drawn from one closing price to another so that the person can come to know the price movement of a particular currency over a period of time.

Then there is the bar chart which provides more accurate information. However the bar chart is a little complex to understand in the beginning. Here you draw bars over the prices so that you come to know the highs and lows of the closing and the opening prices. However it is the candlestick chart that is easy to read as well as provides accurate information. This type of chart has an easy to read pattern that can even help estimate the future trends and the change in currency prices.

All these types of Forex charts are important in finding the movement of prices of various currencies against one another during a particular period of time. These charts are significant to the Forex Profit Multiplier. Instead of reading through loads of data, the charts provide a visual picture that helps you to understand the information quickly. By just glancing at the chart you can quickly gauge the currency price patterns. You can find out whether a currency pair is doing weak or strong and then take decisions accordingly. You will be able to find many sites in the internet offering free Forex charts.

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Types of Traders

November 6th, 2010 by Logan No comments »

There is a big difference between the terms “investing” and “trading” even though many people use them interchangeably. Investing is a long term process where an individual purchases financial instruments that they expect to increase in value over the course of many months or even years. Trading refers to a shorter time commitment. Traders seldom hold on to a position for a long period of time. There are three main types of traders: position, swing, and day traders.

A position trader will hold a position for a few weeks up to a few months. These traders do not usually fare well in the Forex market because the markets are so volatile and as a result, they require a great deal of monitoring.

Forex traders are generally interested in more short term gains. Swing traders will keep positions open for no longer than a few days up to a couple weeks. They try to anticipate the sudden changes in currency values and usually will open and close a position very quickly. Swing traders are much better suited to the Forex market than position traders.

Day traders are common in the Forex market. Rather than being subject to the day trading laws and regulations that exist in the U.S. stock market, Forex day traders are largely able to operate in a more relaxed nature due to the lack of central regulation for the Forex market. Day trading, at least at times, is often a necessity. Because the Forex market is open twenty-four hours per day and a currency can theoretically change at any time, it is common for traders to close positions while they are away from their computers or sleeping.

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An Intro to Technical Indicators

November 1st, 2010 by Logan No comments »

Technical analysis is the most widely used method of analysis by currency traders. This skill is a universal one; you can use the same technical principles to trade anything, whether it is currency, domestic stocks, or commodities. Technical analysis, despite looking scary, is also pretty easy to understand. Charts are made for you by software programs as are the technical indicators superimposed over them.

The secret of technical analysis is to find the indicators that you best understand and use them in a situation where you think they best apply. This sounds confusing at first, and it is quite complicated. There are dozens of variations of the technical indicators, and you can look at them over almost any time period. Because of this, charts can oftentimes be misleading. But if you know what you are looking for, you can manipulate the data in your favor.

One of the easiest indicators to understand is the moving average. There are two major variations of moving averages that are used by traders: simple and moving. Simple moving averages weigh prices over the given period of time evenly, while moving averages will weigh the most current prices more than the older prices. Both of these are valuable tools, but moving averages are more widely used because they are more sensitive to short term changes.

Moving averages are used in the MACD indicator. The MACD (moving average convergence / divergence) measures price changes and their relationships over time. This indicator identifies trends and will give a buy or sell signal when these trends begin to change direction.

Technical Indicators

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Why Forex?

October 30th, 2010 by Logan No comments »

The Forex market might seem intimidating but there are some clear advantages to trading in this marketplace. For one, unless you use a broker, there are no commission charges. The forex market is an over the counter market, meaning that anyone can trade directly within the market. This is very different from stocks, where you are legally obliged to go through a stockbroker with any trade you wish to execute. This brings up another advantage of trading currencies: there is no middleman. You decide who to trade with and at what price you want to trade at.

The forex market has other advantages, such as its ease of accessibility. If you are a day trader of stocks, you only have a limited amount of time per day when you can trade because the stock market is only open for a few hours per day. But with currency, the market never closes. This allows you to trade on your own schedule.

It is also easier to gain leverage in the currency market. Stocks bought on margin can only double your trading capital, but within the currency market you can trade up to 50 times your trading capital.

These last two points do have downfalls that need to be addressed. A 24 hour market means that you need to be monitoring the market always when you have open trades. This can be alleviated by closing all trades when you are done for the day. The other danger is having too much leverage. You can make large gains with currency bought on leverage, but you can also suffer large losses, so risk protection is a necessity.

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