FOREX How To

Latest progress plus more...

It's good when you make profitable trades, I've made a few the last couple of days which is great for morale... of course when there is a big trend it's probably not that hard to take advantage of it... One thing I have had a little bit of trouble with ...

My Current Status

I've got some more cash in my forex trading account, still nothing huge, though at least if I do well I might make a little bit more money :)My current status is that I'm not trading very often, my currency of choice is the EUR/GBP which is not really very ...

More on Timing

A couple of posts back I wrote about timing, here's a good read on Investopedia about timing.

Progress

I thought I'd update on how my trading is going, since I made my last post, it did swing the way i was expecting which was good, as I made back all my losses and added about 1.5% to my starting capital :D I should mention that I'm using 1:20 ...

Timing is Everything

OK, well maybe not EVERYTHING (you still need to make sure it's going the right way), though it is extremely important when you are highly leveraged.Since I've started working with real money I've lost money :( Luckily it hasn't been a lot (I'm currently down by 1.44%). The main reason ...

I'm Back

OK, been a damn long time since I last posted. I've been busy looking at other things (CFD's, commodities and sports arbitrage) and doing some reading. After all that I've made the plunge (I made a SUPER SMALL plunge) and have opened a live FOREX trading account. I say it ...

Exploring other things

I've been giving my FOREX trading a rest and have been playing with mechanical trading systems which I've developed using languages that I'm happy with (I'm not 100% happy with MQL4). I've mostly been running my mechanical systems over stocks. The stocks that I've been using as my test pool ...

What I've been doing

I thought I should make a post on the blog again... since it's been a quite a long time.I've been paying more attention to trading stocks and GOLD, I made a beautiful trade on GOLD, I tripled my balance overnight! I started with $5k and went short 1 lot which ...

Disciplined or Lazy?

With most things, if you sit around and do nothing it's considered lazy, though I think I'm being disciplined with my trading as I'm not making any trades until I see a high profit situation arise.I've also been extremely busy with my work, which has kept me out of FOREX ...

Gold Massive Monthly Doji

I've been a bit slack with my FOREX trading ever since the USD started going sideways or gaining a little on the other currencies, I've been waiting for a good trend to establish itself before I take any new positions.To keep myself occupied I've been really busy with work. I've ...

Money Management

I've been getting stuck into the book that I recently borrowed and have to say that thus far the chapters that I've found most helpful/interesting have been "Using oscillators to predict trade opportunities" which is written by Tom DeMark andmore helpful from a basics point of view is the final ...

Another Technical Analysis Book to Read

I've finally managed to get my hands on another technical analysis book. Again I borrowed it from the library, though as it was in some far off out of the way library I got them to transfer it to my local library which took ages (I was hoping to have ...

My Trading History #1

I thought it might be interesting for someone to see my trades so that they can see how much of a fool I am. I'll post some followups from time to time. Account: 1036304 Name: forexhowto Currency: USD 2006 May 9, 09:47 Closed Transactions: TicketOpen TimeTypeLotsItem PriceS / LT / ...

Easy Come, Easy Go... the story of my trading life

I was quite happy with the way I had been going since I started my "fresh start", and I had made a decent profit (I was up by 33% on my starting capital). The problem is that I think the EUR/USD might have reversed on it's uptren. Unfortunately I made ...

A new indicator I've found

I've been very bad when it comes to writing about the various technical analysis indicators. The main reason has been that I've been so happy with RSI (yes I do have repetitive strain injury as well, though I'm not that impressed with it), and to a lesser extent CCI (I ...

Finished reading the candlestick book

I've finished reading the book that I mentioned in this post about candlestick charting. Overall I got a lot of inspiration from it and really looking forward to putting some of the techniques mentioned into practice.I was a little disapointed with the multi line patterns, not because of how they ...

Amazing what a couple of good trades can do

It's really interesting analysing my emotions when I have good trades and bad trades, I think that ideally I shouldn't be allowing emotion to come into it at all, just get on with the job of finding and making profitable trades.When I've been making profit then I'm all happy and ...

Right on Cue

I mentioned yesterday that there is a spike when the US wakes up, well right on cue today I made over $900 within an hour :D That is not to say that I opened my position at the right time, I had my money tied up from about this time ...

Good System to Profiting?

It's actually a strategy that I thought about back when I first started experimenting with FOREX, and lately I've been starting to wonder if it's a good method of profiting from timezone differences. It revolves around the Americans doing a LOT of trading, so if you have a fair idea ...

I am a chicken

I know that I said I was going to hold my aussie dollar position long term, though well I'm a chicken and I got greedy, after it suffered for a day it has finally climbed again and well I was just too much of a chicken to not take the ...

Learning About Candlestick Charting Patterns

Because I don't like to spend money I go to visit the local library to find reading materials, the latest book that I've borrowed is proving to be an absolute gem. The book is The Secret of Candlestick Charting, by Louise Bedford. It is quite strongly targetted at stock inveseting ...

Aussie Dollar and Interest Rates

Let me start this post off by saying that for those that don't know, I'm an Aussie. Many many years ago (10 to be precise) I remember a friend bought a whole lot of USD (I think they were travellers cheques that he bought) when the aussie dollar was trading at ...

Current FOREX Data?

I've just found something that is a bit of a worry with Meta Trader... Upon logging in I've just been presented with daily data that is CLEARLY wrong, compare it to the charts in this post which I wrote just a little while ago (not more than 2 hours). Also ...

Heiken Ashi Chart

Since I've managed to get Metatrader running on Linux I've been experimenting a bit with chart displays.One method of charting which I read about a little while back though haven't until now really had the opportunity to look at it in any great depth is Heiken Ashi, it makes trend ...

A lot of activity in the USA

I've been sitting on some positions that I opened this morning that I was anticipating would gain by the USD losing more ground to the euro, all day (I'm in Aus) it's been pretty ordinary and I've lost a little bit. As soon as the US woke up on this ...

Becoming Disciplined

I'm going to attempt to have another go at this FOREX trading stuff, though I'm going to try to only open a position when I can see a high probability. Some things that I am going to attempt are: Trading with the trend Waiting for confirmation of reversals Basically I ...

Linux Charting Application

I've mentioned metatrader before, I've been a bit unhappy that I've had to run windows in order to use the great technical analysis indicators and all the other goodies in it, well I've just worked out how to run metatrader 4 in Linux.I use Ubuntu and it runs ok with ...

I really should also look at fundamentals

With my dismal showing as can be witnessed in my prevous post, I've figured out what I did wrong, I should have at least read a little bit about what was happening in the world of fundamentals rather than just looking at RSI and trying to guess... There was some ...

Always Wrong

How on earth am I ever going to make a good FOREX trader????This screenshot should tell all.

Automated Trading Systems

I think that an automated trading system is the holy grail for lazy people such as me. I've dabbled with the automated trading in meta trader before with some success until I got onto doing other more useful stuff.For those of you that are interested in it yet have no ...

Dabbling in the Stock Market

Sorry I've been a little quiet the last few days, I've had a quite a bit of work on and so haven't been able to waste quite so much time playing with currency trading.I've also been spending a little bit of time looking at trading the stock market by playing ...

Trading Currency Crosses

I found an interesting article by Boris Schlossberg about trading the currency crosses, apparently 90% of traders don't trade them, though there are some very nice profits to be made by trading them.Prior to reading it I had no idea what a currency cross was, though after reading it I ...

What is the trick with long term trading

I've decided that I need to work out how I can be more successful with my inter day trading.I have no trouble picking the trends on intraday trades and can make at least a few pips on each trade, though I need to spend all the time right there looking ...

DAMN I SUCK

I'm beginning to realise that I seriously suck at this forex trading stuff.After picking some absolute rippers of trades and making some serious profit very quickly I completely messed it up and went backwards like you wouldn't believe. So badly that I'm too ashamed to make it public how I ...

What a quick way to lose money!

With my success the other day in using the RSI and CCI to correctly pick a good time to open a position I managed to get my unrealised profits up to $5000 (that's with 20:1 leverage), I went to negative within a matter of hours, mainly due to having taken ...

FOREX Idiot

I laughed when I checked my log files today, someone from Malaysia found me searching for exactly what I am!A FOREX Idiot!

Absolutely Amazing, it really really works!!!

I opened a trade on the AUD/JPY last night when I finished writing my RSI article based on the info that I had from RSI. It worked well overnight and so this morning I opened 11 more trades across a whole lot of currencies, a few hours later my profitable ...

New Research: Relative Strength Index

Just a quick post to announce that I've just published some new research I've done on the Relative Strength Index into the technical analysis section.It's actually pretty useful so I'd recommend you check it out, I'm going to be trying to use it as much as possible in the future ...

Do these actually make sense to the rest of the world?

Let me start this post by stating that I am a beginner, and I'm well and truly aware that I don't know a lot. Hopefully given enough time that can change :-D Forex Project posted about some charts (click here to see some more great pieces of line art) on ...

Are stocks a better idea than currencies?

In my research for the info I'm going to write about RSI (Relative Strength Index), I've been reading around a quite a bit. I came across a site called barchart.com which is a pretty useful site if you are trading in stocks.It has a really cool feature which I wish ...

Yipeee

I'm amazed, after going away on honeymoon for a couple of weeks I have come back and opened some trades, I'm up by over 130 pips! almost enough to make back the stupid losses that I made a little while back :D Here's a daily chart showing my current position ...

Lack of Updates

I'd like to start this post off by apologising for the complete lack of updates for the last couple of weeks. I got married and had a nice honeymoon so I've been a little pre-occupied. Once I've caught up on everything that has happened I'll be sure to find something ...

I'm going to close it early

I've mentioned my long term strategy experiment that I've setup on the USD/SGD and that I've been frustrated waiting for it to become profitable. Well I'm sick of waiting for it and I'm going to close it next time the price spikes to a position where I will have made ...

Big Stupid Mistake

When a trend is getting towards the end, do not make a big trade.I got a little impatient with my account deficit and thought I'd try trading a million in the hope that I would make big bank from it... I thought I had found a great downtrend with the ...

The most profitable currency pairs

Rich from over at forexproject.com has written a post detailing which currency pairs have been most profitable for him. I find his results quite interesting because I think (I haven't actually looked at the numbers) by far the */JPY currency pairs have been most profitable for me as well.Seeing that ...

New Research / Technical Analysis Article

I was lazy and didn't get around to doing the EMA (Exponential Moving Average) because well it's basically the same as the WMA with slight differences, though not enough for me to notice. So instead I moved on to a completely different indicator and a very nice one it is. ...

New Design

I had some time to kill the other day on a different computer so I spent it playing very short term idiot trader (I actually didn't do too badly). since this site is getting a few visitors nowadays I thought that I should also knock up a design that would ...

How long should I wait?

I'm getting a bit impatient with my long term USD/SGD long position and I'm starting to think about closing them next time there is a small wave which makes it profitable.I have also been a little stupid and opened another long position during one of the troughs, however that position ...

Will my long term strategy work?

I opened a position a few days ago on the USD/SGD as I was anticipating a breakout, thus far it hasn't happened though I'm still holding on as I think the signs are still showing that it should breakout sometime soon and I might actually be on it from the ...

Developing an Automated FOREX Trading System

The last couple of days I've been playing with Metatrader4 and experimenting with creating expert advisors, I've been trialing them on historical data and believe it or not, I actually managed to run profitable simulations!!! sometimes heheIt seems that creating a system which runs profitably across all the currencies and ...

Candlestick Charts, Should they have gaps in data?

After I learnt how to read them, I quickly became a fan of candlestick charts. When I can set them to my preferred red and green, candlestick charts provide me with a very quick and easy way to read what is happening.While I've been evaluating metatrader 4 I've been experiencing ...

The best trading platform?

Since I became interested in trading FOREX I've been trying out various trading platforms (is that the correct term??). I've found that there is 2 types of client, one is a Java client which can run on any computer that has the Java Virtual Machine installed, the other is a ...

Dan Zanger, how to make a LOT of money

I was told about this guy called Dan Zanger a while back, if you want some inspiration about how much money can be made through trading... then this guys stuff is the stuff to make you get inspired.Formerly a pool contractor, over several years he honed his trading strategies until ...

What is the best amount of leverage?

I wrote the other day about how mini accounts were better because you got more leverage.Well today I discovered the forums on Oanda and read a great article outlining why high leverage is a BAD thing. Well worth a read before putting real money on the line.I guess I should ...

Trends are wonderful

When I think about technical analysis, I think of it as being extremely complex, full of algorithms and secret knowledge that makes those in the know almost spookily good at predicting things. While I'm 100% certain that some people are excellent technicians, I think that the next best thing for ...

The Dodgy Side of FOREX

Most industries that can be extremely profitable though need a reasonable level of knowledge prior to becoming successful tend to have similar sides to their industries. When you are learning about FOREX you will undoubtedly come across many claims of easy methods to make a fortune, live in the caribbean ...

Mini FOREX trading accounts versus full FOREX trading accounts

During the weekend I was having a look at the differences between mini FOREX trading accounts and comparing them to the full trading accounts.One thing which I haven't been able to figure out is why anyone (I'm excluding the non beginners since I'm nowhere near being anywhere near them in ...

The psychology of learning FOREX

You know, after I did some reading of the moving averages theory, and earlier the bollinger bands theory, I just couldn't wait to start trading so that I could put my new found knowledge to work. Sadly, again I wasn't disciplined and I'm copping a hiding! I'm becoming a bit ...

New Research Posted - Weighted Moving Average

I've researched the Weighted Moving Average today (what better to do on a sunday morning? thankfully I'm off to a photography exhibition this afternoon).I'm far more impressed with the WMA than I was with the SMA, the SMA was so incredibly slow at detecting a change in trends, so much ...

Technical Analysis Studies

A while back I mentioned that I thought it was great that the FOREX markets close for the weekend, well I have to say it also frustrates me a bit :( I'm sure it's great for the sanity of traders that they can have 2 days off without needing to ...

Definately a fluke

My good luck yesterday was definately a fluke, every trade I've made since closing my profitable ones has been a loser (well almost, had a couple that were only just profitable).At present I'm down over 80 pips with 3 trades... it seems I'm going long at the top of the ...

Going short wasn't a good idea

This is a follow on to my previous post where I was all happy about having made some big gains. After I saw that the shortish term trend had swung downwards I thought I'd open up a short position and it wasn't a good idea (at least not where I opened ...

I think I did it correctly

I mentioned that I was on a nice uptrend last night, well this morning I closed my positions after the gbp/jpy dipped below the level of support I had drawn, waiting for it to get down near the level of support line cost me a bit, though overall I'm very ...

Learning from my mistakes

So now that I've got some trades that are doing well for me, and have had some dodgy ones that only lost me money I think I can honestly say that the only time that I (speaking as a beginner in FOREX) should ever take a position is when there ...

Could it be possible?

I'm starting to wonder if maybe I've worked out how to be a little more succesful... yes I know counting my chickens waaaay too early, though this afternoon I've made some trades that have actually done what I was expecting. At present I'm up about 40 pips, which while nothing ...

A frustrating day of FOREX trading

I had a frustrating day of FOREX trading today, after learning about how to properly use Bollinger Bands yesterday and then spotting where I had missed out on opportunities today I was trying too hard to find something to make a winning trade on.The problem from what I can tell ...

Patience Patience Patience

I'm starting (rather slowly) to realise that patience is the key to being profitable in trading, wait for a high probability trade and then make almost certain money. Last night I managed to buy into an uptrend and made a nice profit, then this morning I blew it all fairly ...

How to use Bollinger Bands

When I originally was studying what bollinger bands were all about I read something about how they showed the relative strength of the currency or something along those lines (I'm pretty sure I have the incorrect terminology). Basically the idea behind what I read was that you go short when ...

Losing more than Winning

Since I changed my strategy to only work on the currencies which have a very small pip spread I've started having more winners, my only issue at present is that I still don't have enough discipline to hold off from making trades for the sake of doing something. Therefore I'm ...

Why do I forget so easily???

It seems that I write a post on my blog and then less than 24 hours later I just completely forget all about it. Case in point: Yesterday I wrote that I need to THINK before making a trade, this morning I woke up and straight away I jumped into ...

Making it easier as a beginner

After I wrote my previous post I made some changes to my setup which should hopefully help me make more profitable trades:I removed all currencies with a spread greater than 3 pips. What this should do is make it safer for me to make a trade and if it goes ...

Think before trading

I REALLY need to get into the habit of THINKING before making a trade. It seems that all that is happening to me nowadays is I'm making a quite a few trades of which some are profitable though most of them are profitable for a short while then become major ...

I'm a fool

I don't know why I do it though I seem to have a major problem when I make a trade and then it swings the wrong way and so I make more trades expecting it to swing the way I was originally anticipating, today I went short on the EUR/USD ...

Stop/Loss Risk Management Strategy

After the market opened this morning I placed a trade correctly anticipating that the market was going to climb, however I messed up and set the stop/loss order too close and it was caught before the prices could rise to where they would have been profitable!So I decided that I ...

FOREX Trading Hours

I've been trying to determine exactly when trading starts and stops on weekends, and it seems that there aren't any sites that can tell me for certain, the best I've been able to find is that it closes around 4pm EST on friday arvo and starts again at 6.30pm on ...

Micro Mini FOREX Accounts

I've just been having a look at some FOREX brokers and I found Interbank FX, one thing that they have which I think is great is a Micro Mini Account. Basically a very risk free way to trade real money, each pip is worth approx 10 cents. Obviously it'll be ...

Easy Come, Easy Go

It's so incredibly easy to make money in FOREX, though it's just as easy to lose it all and more :(I saw a breakdown mid occurence on the same USD/JPY shortly after I wrote my previous post, and so I went long where I thought it would bounce back and ...

Back to Profitable FOREX Trades

So after my very dismal trading recently I'm proud to say that I finally made a good trade!I was watching the USD/JPY and noticed it spiking so I went short (in plain english, I predicted that the USD was being sold for too much and was going to crash back ...

I have a long way to go

I'm a little bit worried about my future as a trader on the FOREX markets.It seems that I'm an expert at choosing the incorrect time to make a trade. During christmas I mentioned my incredible ability to buy at preciscely the wrong time and he said that he's had it ...

My FOREX Mistakes

So I've been playing with a demo account for a little while now and the last few days I've been going backwards at an incredible rate!I seem to have had the amazing ability to buy a currency just before it drops like crazy :(So after I initially lost a large ...

Areas of Support, Areas of Resistance and Fibonacci

Whenever you get into something new there are always many new terms and concepts to get your head around, FOREX appears to be especially so, I'm going to create a FOREX Glossary sometime, though for now I'll just post about some of the terms that I've learnt. I will also ...

Hooray - The FOREX markets shut down for the weekend!

In my regular work you can do it pretty much anytime of the week, so it's a refreshing change to find that the FOREX markets shutdown for the weekend!I'm slowly clawing my way back with my free demo account.

Damn, last time was much easier!

So I jumped back in with a free demo account to see how my brains would work. And I really seem to remember it being much easier last time.I jumped right in and made some buys which very quickly lost me money. I guess that's what you get when you ...

Looking at another beginners FOREX trading experience

I was quite fortunate to come across the forex project website so early in his (is a guy?) trading life to see how other beginners trade. One great feature which is on that site is their trading history . I ran their numbers through the calculator and it seems they're ...

Current Foreign Exchange Rates

Obviously when you decide to take the plunge into the world of foreign exhcange, you need to gather as much data/intelligence as you can. What I have done is to create a little script which every minute checks the current foreign exchange rates.I have yet to fully analyse the data ...

About

My reasons for setting up this website are two-fold: Learn more about FOREX so that I can make some money via trading on the foreign currency exchange markets. Provide a beginner friendly learning resource for others that are new to FOREX. A little bit of background about me and my ...