Descending Triangles -Short Trading Strategy

By Jeff Cartridge

Descending triangles have been very popular with traders on the short side and are not so often traded when it breaks in the upward direction. A descending triangle is defined by two lines, one on the lower boundary of the price movement which is horizontal and one on the upper side which slopes down.

Descending Triangles, Surprise On The Upside

Descending triangles are one of the most predictable patterns that are available to trade short. With 57% of the patterns breaking down descending triangles can deliver good returns when they do. The average gain is 0.92% in 9 days with about half of the breakouts (45%) being profitable. These results are good but selecting the right conditions can make trading descending triangles very attractive.

Specific Setups to Improve Profitability

A break to the downside works better in a falling market or sector environment. By using filters that require the market to be in a consolidation or an up trend you can improve the results. The sector should also be in a down trend for the best results. Strangely a sector that is in a down trend at the beginning of the pattern produces better results than a sector in a down trend when the breakout occurs.

Breakouts can occur anywhere along the length of the descending triangle pattern. Another key to picking successful short breakouts from descending triangles is to look for a turning point up from the lower boundary that fails to reach the upper boundary and then falls away.

If the volume supports the breakout the results are better. Supportive volume means the volume on the way down is higher than the volume on the way up.

Descending Triangles, Profitable When the Markets Is Not

You can improve your trading results by using a series of simple filters that have been outlined here. This select group of descending triangles delivers an average profit of 2.55% in 10 days and is profitable on 48% of the trades. Overall this makes descending triangles extremely attractive to trade.

Statistics for this article have been provided by Patterns Trader after analyzing over 60,000 chart patterns on the Australian market from 2000 - 2008. - 23218

About the Author:

Jeff Cartridge is a private trader and created the website LearnCFDs.com A Simple Timeless Method for Huge Gains

Slippage In Forex Trading

By Ahmad Hassam

Currency prices tend to move very fast during such highly volatile market conditions. The risk of slippage is usually very high when trading the news. Slippage occurs when the price you intend to enter or exit the market is different from your actual transacted price.

Placing stop loss or market entry orders under fast moving market conditions do not guarantee anything. These orders do get filled but mostly at different prices than you had intended. Slippage is the biggest problem when the market moves fast. There is no way you can avoid it. Some of it is genuine. During times when too many orders are placed by the traders, most forex brokers cannot offset these orders in the interbank market due to the small amounts involved. They have to take the opposite positions themselves. This gives them the chance to take the excuse of slippage.

Sometimes, these entry orders may even get filled past your stop loss or profit target. This means that you would be left with immediate net loss. Many market makers will wait till after the big move is over. Then they will fill your entry order.

Many brokers will fill your stop loss or take profit before filling your entry order with wide slippage. It is a trick that many forex brokers use in order to make profit by filling your position with a negative spread.

Lets take an example. Suppose you have placed your long entry stop for EUR/USD at 1.2564. Your profit limit is 1.2594. The forex broker may first fill your take profit at 1.2594 and then fill your long entry stop at 1.2604 with a 40 pips slippage.

You were confident that you would make a winning trade. If the orders had been filled at the prices you wanted, your trade would have resulted in a profit. But now you have a net realized loss. If the trade goes against you, the forex broker may fill your stop loss order first and then fill your entry order with slippage after that so as to widen their profits. With slippage you cannot predict anything what the broker will do with you.

Now imagine you had placed your stop loss at 1.2544 and your long entry stop at 1.2564. Your forex broker could first fill your stop loss at 1.2544 and then fill your long entry stop at 1.2594 with a slippage of 30 pips. You now have a net loss of 50 pips due to slippage instead of planned 20 pips loss. You could never imagine that you would end up with a loss of 50 pips.

The more you stand to lose and the more the forex broker stands to make a profit, the larger the slippage you experience. You should know as an individual trader that during news when the market moves fast, your orders will be kept pending till you get stopped out or your profit limit is reached. Some forex brokers add slippage to any of your orders to increase their profits.

Many traders readily accept the risk of slippage as one of the realities of trading the news. However, they should know that slippage can eat up a huge chunk of profits and in the end affect their overall profit/loss. You can overcome the problem of slippage through the use of stop-limit entry order. More on it in the next article! - 23218

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Know These Forex Broker Games. Learn Forex Trading!

Investing In China - Options To Think About

By Mike Swanson

China is a rapidly expanding economy that has weathered the current economic recession reasonably well. Options for investing in China are numerous but as a foreigner the markets and the culture are likely to be completely unknown. So where to start to find stocks to invest in?

The government will not allow a national company to be bought out by foreign investors and setting up your own company can be difficult. Instead joint-venture operations with a Chinese company are the only way to access the enormous market. But these deals are not without their own risks as a number of overseas investors found out last year with a baby formula tainting scandal that brought down a number of large investors.

Another option is to invest directly in Chinese companies. With a growing level of consumerism and the largest domestic population in the world opportunities for growth abound. Areas that are seeing enormous growth are wireless telecoms and construction. While this is an investment area you need to keep in mind there are a number of restrictions on foreigners purchasing Chinese shares.

Private Equity Funds focusing on various Chinese sectors are another popular and less risky way to get into the Chinese markets. However firms still have problems getting the right information out of their Chinese based partners to fully understand what is happening on a daily basis and strategically. For this reason many private equity firms actually actively avoid Chinese investments.

Property Investments are another growth area. In the two big cities of Beijing and Shanghai there are less opportunities as the market is crowded with players. However outside the main centers there is much growth able to be capitalized on.

However you decide to invest in China it must be remembered it is not an entirely free market. While growth and consumer demand are increasing the level of power the Chinese government has not disappeared. - 23218

About the Author:

For more on China and investing in emerging markets click here to receive our China stocks report.

Forex Exchange and Wall Street - A Short Version

By Dominiqe Wood

Approximately 25 percent of large companies that are exposed to foreign currency fluctuations don't do anything to hedge their risk. Larger companies however do hedge in the currency markets.

Any large international company stationed in the U.S. can be adversely affected by a strong dollar. Strong foreign earned revenues can be negatively impacted by currency fluctuations. Information within the pages of a Wall Street Journal subscription will reveal this data.

It has been estimated that 5-10% of the activity on the Forex market is done because of business hedging and government involvement. Governments and businesses need to convert one currency into another to buy and sell goods and services. The other 90-95% is pure speculation.

High profile players love the Forex market since they don't get locked out due to 24 hour trading. The huge liquidity allows for easy inexpensive entry and exit points.

Forex activity is heaviest in New York from Wall Street between the hours of 8 AM to 5 PM and account for about fifteen percent of all trades. Tokyo accounts for about 10% of trades and is most active 7 PM to 3 AM EST.

Making money on Forex is a matter of predicting price and using an effective exit strategy. Many systems exist that allow speculators to capture profits as certain conditions develop.

Day traders move in and out of trades several times a day capturing a portion of the profit. Large Wall Street companies employ thousands of professional traders that take advantage of daily fluctuations.

The Wall Street Journal offers newswires and Market Watch services from Dow Jones online. You'll find complete currency data and comprehensive viewpoints to consider. Timely currency news is available to subscribers of the Wall Street Journal. - 23218

About the Author:

Acquiring timely financial information that you can trust and bet on is foremost on the minds of traders. Get the Barrons subscription or buy Wall Street Journal subscription now. Barrons, Investors Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal have led the way for unbiased reporting and analysis. Your subscription gets you miles ahead of the crowd.

Did You Know The Russia Economy Is Growing

By Mike Swanson

The current economic situation that faces the world is one of the worst in history. Some people think that this could even be on a bigger scale than the Great Depression to the harm of stock market beginners. While this is not clear at present, this doesn't really matter when you consider the reality of people struggling to put food on their table. Despite these conditions, there is one country that has surprised many and that is that the Russia economy is growing.

The year of 1989 marked the fall of the Berlin Wall and for many this was the first peak that they got inside of Russia. Up to then they were largely unaware of the country's history and culture and it seemed as if a whole new market had opened up.

This change meant that the country was suddenly thrown into the international economy and at first it must be said that it did not do too well at all. While this was of course a failing for the country itself, it was also a poor reflection on the western economists that had provided advice to the Russian government. Hindsight suggested that Russia should have taken the same path as China.

While it is too late to change this now, it would seem that the Russian economy has bounced back and it is one of the few in the world at the moment that is actually growing. A lot of this is put down to the mineral wealth of the county and the fact that it is also focused on diversifying its economy.

It is always best to ensure that you do not rely only on one economic activity and this is the main reason for the government's actions.

If they continue to get this right, then it should come as little surprise that the Russia economy is growing even at a time like this. - 23218

About the Author:

For more on investing in emerging markets go to the Bric nations report.