FINANCE

Finance, Investments and Trading

This section is divided into two sections - the first part is for those who want their investments managed. The second section is for those who want to trade for a living

Manage Your Money for Greater Rewards

In the managed money section you can learn the basics of investing and the advantages of diversification and how you can assess risk to lower downside volatility and increase potential returns

You can learn about low risk investments such as bonds, land and real estate as well as higher risk investments such as managed FX investments and hedge funds for above average capital growth

Become a Successful Trader from Home

For those traders who want to trade for a living, we provide all the information you need. We will show you what separates winners from losers and how you how to construct a trading plan and the basics of market analysis.

There are many methods for profit you can use and we provide specific trading systems as well as free currency trading PDF guides as well as how to swing trade the markets.

Finally we have a specific section on W D Gann who was one of the most successful traders of all time and amassed a fortune of nearly $50 million. See how he did it and take advantage of our exclusive W D Gann trading course.

Read More......

TO BE A SUCCESS

In online FOREX trading (and any financial market for that matter) prices move based upon the following equation
Supply & demand fundamentals + Trader psychology = Market price
Which is most important? In today’s markets definitely the latter – Why?
Quite simply, markets discount fundamentals quickly and with the internet its done in seconds.
In all corners of the globe the internet delivers information quickly and it’s immediately discounted in the market price.

This means traders make opinions on what will happen in the FUTURE and it is their psychology that is the key to future price direction.
Sure, the papers and news wires are great at telling you why things DID happened and their normally wrong about WHAT will happen.
Traders get deluded by the experts in online FOREX trading and fail to see their wrong most of the time.

Will Rogers once said:

"I only believe what I read in the papers"

Now, he was joking, but most traders take news services as gospel.

Reuters and Bloomberg stories agree with them, so they must be right, is the view of most online FOREX traders. Don’t think so, in fact we know so, based upon the facts and the so called experts past performance.
It’s easy to be wise in hindsight, but looking into the future is much more difficult!
They write stories for a living they DONT trade, traders that are interested in making profits should not be following news stories or media hype.

It’s a fact: Most important market tops and bottoms and formed when the news is most bullish or bearish. When the trends change of course, news wires have an explanation but that does not help you trade!

In the 1987 crash they were bullish in the tech stock boom they were bullish and these are just tow examples of media experts being wrong and there are many others.

Understand the past and look to the future

This is the key to successful online FOREX trading. Quite simply the fundamentals are digested in seconds and reflected in the price.

Its trader psychology that’s important as they look at the future and how they determine the supply and demand situation is reflected in price changes.

Human psychology has remained constant over time and thats why many price patterns are so reliable and point to important market tops and bottoms when the market is either very bullish or bearish.

Of course, prices then go the other way! confounding the so called media experts.

Technical analysis of markets

The only way you can win in online FOREX Trading is to use a technical analysis system that focuses on price.

Why use a technical system in online FOREX trading?

There are two main reasons

1. You will not be distracted by media stories and news hype and will keep your emotions in check.

2. If you are involved in online FOREX trading you can look at charts and see long term trends that last for months or years and many of them (in fact most of them!) run against what the papers and the so called experts say!

To be a success in online FOREX trading all you need to do is focus on these trends and forget the news and media, media experts don’t get paid to trade, they get paid to write stories.

Focus on the reality of the price, not the media hype and you can make big profits in online Forex trading.

On finance including investments and becoming a succesful trader succesful trading visit our website for articles features and downloads here.
By sacha tarkovsky

Read More......

INTRODUCTION TO FOREX

Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) is the arena where a nation's currency is exchanged for that of another at a mutually agreed rate. It was created in the 70's when international trade transitioned from fixed to floating exchange rates, and nowadays is considered to be the largest financial market in the world because of its tremendous turnover.

All currencies are traded in pairs and each is assigned with an abbreviation. Here are some of them:

Currency Abbreviations (Table 1)
EUR	Euro
USD	US Dollar
GBP	British Pound
JPY	Japanese Yen
CHF	Swiss Franc
AUD	Australian Dollar
CAD	Canadian Dollar
NZD	New Zealand Dollar
SGD	Singapore Dollar

The rate at which currencies are exchanged one for another is called the currency exchange rate. For example, "EUR/USD exchange rate is 1.2505" means that one Euro is exchanged for 1.2505 US Dollars.

The exchange rate of any currency is usually given as the Bid price (left) and the Ask price (right). The Bid price represents what will be obtained in the quote currency (US Dollar in our example) when selling one unit of the base currency (Euro in our example). The Ask price represents what has to be paid in the quote currency (US Dollar in our example) to obtain one unit of the base currency (Euro in our example). The difference between the Bid and the Ask price is referred to as the spread.

1.0 lot size for different currency pairs (Table 2)
Currency	1.0 lot size	1 pip
EURUSD	EUR 100,000	0.0001
USDCHF	USD 100,000	0.0001
GBPUSD	GBP 100,000	0.0001
USDJPY	USD 100,000	0.01
AUDUSD	AUD 100,000	0.0001
USDCAD	USD 100,000	0.0001
EURCHF	EUR 100,000	0.0001
EURJPY	EUR 100,000	0.01
EURGBP	EUR 100,000	0.0001
GBPJPY	GBP 100,000	0.01
GBPCHF	GBP 100,000	0.0001
EURCAD	EUR 100 000	0.0001
EURAUD	EUR 100 000	0.0001
NZDUSD	NZD 100,000	0.0001
USDSGD	USD 100,000	0.0001
CHFJPY	CHF 100,000	0.01

Margin:

• 1% of transaction size for account balances below $ 100,000
• 2% of transaction size for account balances up to $ 250,000
• 4% of transaction size for account balances above $ 250,000

Read More......

WHAT IS FOREX

Forex is an interbank market that was created in 1971 when international trade transitioned from fixed to floating exchange rates. Since then the rates of currencies relative to each other are determined by the most obvious means which is the exchange at a mutually agreed rate.

This market surpasses the others in its volume. For example, the daily turnover of world securities market is estimated at $300 billion, while Forex approaches 1 to 3 TRILLION US dollars in the same amount of time.

However, Forex is not a market in a traditional sense. It doesn't have a fixed location of the trading floor as, for example, futures market does. The trading is done over the telephone and at the computer terminals in hundreds of banks around the world simultaneously.

Futures and securities markets have one more significant feature distinguishing them from Forex, and at the same time restricting them. The trading is suspended at the end of each day and resumed only next morning. Thus, should certain significant developments occur in the USA, the opening of Russian market next morning could quite surprise you, if you're trading there.

Forex is open 24 hours a day, and the currency exchange operations are maintained throught working days of the week. Almost every time zone (London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney) has dealers willing to quote currencies.

Read More......

FOREX INDICATORS - COMPLETE LISTING

Forex Indicators - Video
Indicators window and edit	Fibonacci Zones Channels	Pivot/Sup/Res
Indicator of an Indicator	Fibonacci Zones Next	Pivot Point Channel
Acceleration Band	Fibonacci Zones High	Point&Figure
Arkay Minor Line Own / next	FiboRoc	Price Channel
Arkay Swing Chart Next / Own	FlipIt	Price-Volume Velocity
Arkay Swinger	Gann Swing Chart	Range Per tick vol
Balance Point	HiLo Activator	Rate of Change
Balance Step Higherst / own / next	Hi-Lo Bands	Ratio Oscillator
Bollinger Bands	Inside Day Narrow Range	Relative Strength
Bollinger Bands Dif	Jackson Zones	Relative Strength Index
Candle Stick RSI	Kagi	Relative Strength IndZ
Chandelier Stop	Keltner Channel	ROCO
CMF CMF-MACD CMF-MACD-DIF	Krausz Ratio Bands	Slayter's Cross Over Point
Commodity Channel Index	Least Square	Stochastic RSI
Danton Stop	Least Square Channel	Stochastics
Deviation Lines	Leas Square Slope	StochRSI with 2EMA
DI+/- ADX ADXR	Line Chart	Support and Resistance Range
DI+/- ADX+/-	MACD	Three Moving Averages
Directional Volatility	MACD Histogram	Trend Finder
Donchian Channels	Market Speedometer	Triple Switch
Double Hi-Lo Point	Momentum	True Range Average
Dual Moving Averages	Money Flow	True Range Average Exponential
Dynamic Balance Point	Moving Average	True Strength Index
Dynamic Balance Step	Moving Average Exponential	Volatility
Dynamic Fibonacci Channel	Moving Average Oscillator	Volatility Stop
Dynamic Fibonacci Range	Moving Average - Weighted	Volume
Dynamic FiboZone	MPoint	Volume Accumulation Oscillator
Dynamic Range	On Balance Volume	Volume Price Trend
Dynamic Trio	On Balance Volume Range	Volume Weighted Average Price
Ease Movement Value	Parabolic	William's A/D Oscillator
Efficiency Ratio	Parabolic Filters	William's %R
Envelop	Patterns (pdf)	William's Variable Accumulation
Fast Point Switch	Percent Price Osc.	Z indicadors
Fibonacci Channel	Perry Kaufman's Adaptive MA

Read More......

FOREX INDICATOR DEFINITIONS

Simple Moving Average (SMA) - The average price of a given time period, (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 day, etc.) where each of the chosen periods carries the same weight for the average. Example using the closing prices of the USD/JPY currency pair: Day 1 close = 124.00, Day 2 close = 126.00, Day 3 close = 124.00, Day 4 close = 126.00; The 4-day SMA is 125.00 (the average of the prior four closes).

Exponential Moving Average (EMA) - Here, the averages are calculated with the recent forex rates carrying more weight in the overall average; for example: In a 10-day exponential moving average, the last 5 days will have more effect on the average than the first 5 days. The idea is to use the most recent data as a better indication of trend direction.

Bollinger Bands - The basic interpretation of Bollinger Bands is that prices tend to stay within the upper and lower bands. The distinctive characteristic of Bollinger Bands is that the spacing between the bands varies based on the volatility of the prices. During periods of extreme currency price changes (i.e., high volatility), the bands widen to become more forgiving. During periods of low volatility, the bands narrow to contain currency prices. The bands are plotted two standard deviations above and below a simple moving average. They indicate a "sell" when above the moving average (or close to the upper band) and a "buy" when below it (or close to the lower band). The bands are used by some forex traders in conjunction with other analyses, including RSI, MACD, CCI, and Rate of Change.

Parabolic SAR - The Parabolic SAR (stop-and-reversal) is a time/price trend following system used to set trailing price stops. The Parabolic SAR provides excellent exit points. Forex traders using this technical indicator should close long positions when the price falls below the SAR and close short positions when the price rises above the SAR. If you are long (i.e., the price is above the SAR), the SAR will move up every day, regardless of the direction the price is moving. The amount the SAR moves up depends on the amount that currency rates move.

Rate of Change - The oldest closing price divided into the most recent one.

RSI (Relative Strength Index) - The RSI is a price-following oscillator that ranges between 0 and 100. A popular method of analyzing the RSI is to look for a divergence in which the currency price is making a new high, but the RSI is failing to surpass its previous high. This divergence is an indication of an impending reversal. When the RSI then turns down and falls below its most recent trough, it is said to have completed a "failure swing." The failure swing is considered a confirmation of the impending reversal in the price of the currency.

Stochastics - Stochastic studies are based on the premise that as prices rise, closing prices tend to be near the high value. Conversely, as prices fall, closing prices are near the low for the period. Stochastic studies are made of two lines, %D and %K, that move between a scale of 0 and 100. The %D line is the moving average over a specified period of time of the %K line. The %K line measures where the closing price of a currency is compared to the price range for a given number of periods.

Momentum - Designed to measure the rate of price change, not the actual price level. Consists of the net difference between the current closing price and the oldest closing price from a predetermined period. The Momentum indicator can be used as either a trend-following oscillator similar to the MACD or as a leading indicator.

MACD - Moving Average Convergence/Divergence - Consists of two exponential moving averages that are plotted against the zero line. The zero line represents the times the values of the two moving averages are identical. The MACD is calculated by subtracting a 26-day moving average of a currency's price from a 12-day moving average of its price. The result is an indicator that oscillates above and below zero. When the MACD is above zero, it means the 12-day moving average is higher than the 26-day moving average. This is bullish as it shows that current expectations (i.e., the 12-day moving average) are more bullish than previous expectations (i.e., the 26-day average). This implies a bullish, or upward, shift in the forex rate. When the MACD falls below zero, it means that the 12-day moving average is less than the 26-day moving average, implying a bearish shift in the currency.

ADX - Measures the strength of a prevailing currency trend and whether or not there is direction in the currency market. Plotted from zero on up, usually a reading above 25 can be considered directional.

William's %R - A momentum indicator that measures overbought/oversold levels in the price of a currency. The interpretation of Williams' %R is very similar to that of the Stochastic Oscillator, except that %R is plotted upside-down and the Stochastic Oscillator has internal smoothing. Readings in the range of 80 to 100% indicate oversold, while readings in the 0 to 20% range suggest overbought.

Volatility - Measures the overall volatility of a currency in a given time period.

Read More......

CALCULATING PROFIT/ LOSS

For example, EUR/USD exchange rate is 1.2505/1.2509 and your leverage is 1:100. You believe that EUR/USD will go up and buy 0.1 lot (minimum contract size) of EUR/USD at 1.2509 (Ask price) - for the contract size refer to Table 2. As we can see from Table 2, 1.0 lot of EUR/USD is 100,000 EUR, which means that 0.1 lot (our example deal size) is 10,000 EUR.

So, you buy 10,000 EUR and sell 10,000*1.2509=12,509 USD. In fact to fund this position you do not have to have 12,509 USD but only 125.09 USD. The rest of the money (in our example 12,383.91 USD) is leveraged to you by Alpari (UK).

Leverage (or gearing) mechanism allows you to open and hold a position much larger than your trading account value. 1:100 leverage means that when you wish to open a new position, then you need to support a deposit 100 times less than the value of the contract you are interested in.

For example, you believe that EUR/USD is moving higher and buy 10,000 EUR and sell 12,509 USD. Assuming you are right and EUR/USD goes up to 1.2599/1.2603 and you decide to close the position: when you close a long position you sell the base currency (10,000 EUR in our example) and buy the quote currency (10,000*1.2599 = 12,599 USD):

Transaction	EUR	USD
Open a position: buy EUR and sell USD	+10,000	-12,509
Close a position: sell EUR and buy USD	-10,000	+12,599
Total:	0	+90

NB: When you close a short position you buy the base currency and sell the quote currency.

To fund this position you only need 100 EUR (approximately 125 USD) not 10,000 EUR. The profit on this position is 90 pips (1.2599-1.2509=0.0090). A pip or point is a minimal rate fluctuation. For EUR/USD 1 pip is 0.0001 of the price (see Table 2).

This example shows a favourable outcome. If EUR/USD had fallen you would realise a loss not a profit and with leverage this loss will be magnified. For example, if you close the position at 1.2419, your loss would be $90. Should you have doubts about your understanding of risks, please consult your financial adviser.

Read More......