Commodity Futures Trader

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The foreign exchange market, also called forex or FX, is trading one currency for another. It is one of the largest markets in the world and everyone from central banks to companies to individuals participates in it. Retail traders are now only a small portion of the entire forex market with speculators making up the biggest portion. The market itself is almost completely liquid and operates 24 hours a day. The chance to make money depends on the belief that the currency you buy will increase in value compared to the one you sold, allowing you to make a profit on the margin.

What is the simple basis of forex currency trading. Its that currencies reflect the health of the economies of their respective countries or regions. If a country is stable economically as well as politically and yet it currency seems to be undervalued in terms of comparison to other major indexes of both the countries it trades its products or services with , or if overall that countries issued standards of conversions seems way out of whack – either too high or too low – then it may well be the time and opportunity of the active financial currency trader to either be in ( that is to acquire) or redeem or even relinquish his or her’s monetary holdings in that fund.

Why you need a trading system? You need a trading system to make sure that your trading decisions are not arbitrary and based on your whims or emotions. When selecting a trading system, first try to paper trade it. You need to paper trade your trading system to get the bugs out. Paper trading is not a substitute for live trading but still you can assume that 75% of the results that you achieve in demo trading can be replicated in live trading.

Money management plan for your trading system is a must. A good money management plan will tell you how much you should risk on each trade with that trading system. For that to know you need two ratios. Win ratio and the payoff ration are two highly important figures to know for any trading system. Use the results of these paper trades to calculate your win ratio and payoff ratio. Determine what your personal win ratio and payoff ratio are in using that trading system over time.

It takes three to tango here. The trading system, your money management system and you yourself, all three of you have to gel together. The stronger and more developed the relationship is between the three of you, the more profitable you will be over time.

There are four major market cycles. Knowing these major market cycles is important for you and your trading system. Each market cycle requires a different approach from your trading system. Adapting to market cycles can improve your bottom line.

The four major market cycles are: 1) Trending, 2) Consolidating, 3) Breaking out of a consolidation and 4) Corrective. Lets discuss these market cycles now.

Trending is when the market starts to move consistently in one direction either up or down. An uptrend means each higher high is higher than the previous high and each lower low is also higher from the previous low. Similarly for the down trend!

A Consolidation market also known as Non Trending market will look like a sideways horizontal line on a chart. Consolidating is when the market is struck between two horizontal support and resistance levels. You can use moving averages or other technical indicators to determine whether the market is consolidation or trending. In case of a consolidating market, the moving average line will almost be horizontal.

Breaking out of a Consolidation is when there is a sharp increase or decrease in the price after the market has been consolidation for at least 20 bars.

Corrective is a short sharp reverse in prices during a longer market trend. In addition to these four market cycles, many traders also use Elliott Wave Theory to determine waves which are also an indication of market cycles.

Candlestick charting methods had been developed by Japanese rice traders hundreds of years back. However, candlesticks have become popular in the Western trading community especially the United States in the past decade.

Internet made possible the availability of online trading to retail trading. The advent of internet has leveled the playing field for traders whether they trade stocks, futures, options, commodities, precious metals or currencies. In the last two decades there have been seismic changes in the way people used to trade. Access to the market is now only one mouse click away. Trade just by clicking your mouse!

The opening of retail trading especially in the currency markets that was previously only open to large players like big banks and corporations has been a revolution. Market information is now in most cases freely available online. Internet has made commission rates dramatically lower. The result is that a whole generation of new traders and investors want to try their luck beating the market. You can now demo trade with virtual money to develop and hone your trading skills.

Did you attend the last Steve Nison Candlestick Charting Technique webinar? Now, you should. Steve is the master of candlesticks and you can learn a lot from attending his candlestick. I am a great fan of candlesticks charting and I have seen many traders both new and professionals becoming die hard fans of candlestick charting. Why? Because candlestick charting is the best tool available. Can you beat the market? It depends if you are using the right tools.