4x Currency Trading: Forex Money Management Basics

By Phil Jarvie

Trading 4x is not as easy or as hard as most people think. It's just different. Novice and experienced traders often make the same mistakes over and over again. Emotional investing, God complexes, or just plain gambling. So, the most important rule number 1 with 4x trading:

Rule 1 of Forex Money Management is Do Not Lose Money! Forget the holy grail of profits, just protect yourself from losing money.

There is no such thing as a forex robot, super computer or the Albert Einstein of 4x trading. We cannot catch every market high to sell, nor every market low to buy. We WILL miss 4x trading opportunities. Get over it! But opportunity cost is not the same as money cost. If I miss a trade through caution or being asleep in bed, that is not the same as getting on a 4x trade and losing on it.

Forex Money Management comes down to a simple rule of never risking more than 2% on a trade.

The first rule of Forex Money Management is to be used, not abused. Let me run you through a typical day for me in a volatile forex trading market. I have my $10,000 4x trading account. I am only allowed 4 pips for my stop losses because I am going to be trading with 5 lots. 5 lots is $50 per pip, and with only being allowed to risk $200, I must not lose more than 4 pips.

I'm sure you think I am crazy, but hear me out. Open up your forex platform software of choice - metatrader is fine. You want H1 hourly chart for EURUSD on the 19th of August, 2009. Note the huge rise of the Euro from 1.4111 to 1.4265 in 3 hours - all of which happened after bad USA economic data and a billion dollar trader from the Middle East put his weight behind the Euro at the same time.

To get on board a long position by following the news is what would have happened for many smart 4x traders. But I was lucky enough to already be on long from a few hours earlier when I picked up the trade on a dip at 1.4080. It was a wild day. Was I lucky or stupid to be ridding 5 lots with a 4 pip stop loss while I went shopping?

To me, the market looked ripe for a rise in the Euro. And my trading signals were confirming this. And so that I was free to go shopping with the girlfriend, I entered 2 pending orders for 5 lots, each hedging the other. That is, 5 lots buy limit at 1.4080 was matched equally by 5 lots of pending sell short order at 1.4080. If the market dipped to pick up these orders, then whatever happened, each would balance the other trade.

As it turned out, the market did dip down to 1.4069 and I was in for both buy and sell orders cancelling themselves out. When I got home the sell stop order was in profit, and my buy was at a loss. But the net effect to my account was only the 0.9 pips spread. I waited for an hour, the Euro rebounded, I closed my sell trade at break even and let the buy trade continue. Joy oh joy it then went seriously into the money a few hours later on the USA's bad news.

After an exciting few hours at the screen I watched that long position go crazy into profits, and so I switched it to a 20 pips trailing stop, which it did do at 1.4245. That was a tidy, ultra low risk, $8,250 profit on the day. 82.5% profit on a $10,000 trading account while I went shopping. The first rule about forex money management was never broken. I was never at risk of losing 2% of my account.

First rule of Forex money Management: Don't Lose Money. Never risk more than 2% of your capital. Hedging. - 23218

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie is a professional forex trader expert in 4x trading, 4 software and using 4x hedging for forex money management and may wish to visit his website to consider his reviews on trade foreign currency

A Forex Tutorial On How The Forex Market Works

By Bart Icles

Learning the basics of the foreign exchange market is part of any forex tutorial. And part of learning the basics is learning more about how the foreign exchange market works. We may all know that a certain type of forex market exists in any place wherein one currency is traded for another. You can say that the foreign exchange or currency market works as an international market for different kinds of currencies. Through forex trading, investors from different parts of the globe are able to exchange currencies.

Practically, the forex market works through the exchange of currencies. This currency exchange makes the forex market unique because investors are able to buy and sell money all in the same time. Currency trades are done in pairs wherein one currency is paired with another. Some of the most common currency pairs include USD/CHF or the US dollar and Swiss franc, EUR/JPY or the euro and Japanese yen, and CAD/USD or the Canadian dollar and US dollar. Presently, the forex market is the largest trading market in the world, where in more than one trillion trades are done each day. Turnover rates in the foreign exchange market are almost thirty times larger than the total volume of equity or stock trades in the United States.

In spite of its large volume and popularity, the public remains to be relatively unfamiliar with the foreign exchange market. The currency market was made open to the public only in 1998, when large inter-bank units were broken down into smaller pieces and offered to the public.

Before 1998, the foreign exchange market was only meant for big players like banks, large currency dealers, and multinational corporations. These days, the currency market is no longer limited to large-sized businesses that have strong financial backgrounds - even individual traders are allowed to participate in foreign currency trades. Nevertheless, large international banks still remain to be the major traders in the foreign exchange market. These large banks are said to be in control of almost 70% of the trades in the forex market.

If you are looking into joining the unpredictable yet rewarding world of currency trading, it would help a lot to spend time in learning the ins and outs of forex trading. You can start with a simple forex tutorial on market basics so you can have an idea of how the market works. The amount of time you spend on learning more about the currency market and the quality of forex education you receive can pretty much determine your future success or failure in the forex world. - 23218

About the Author:

A forex tutorial starts with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Learning with a forex trading tutorial takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.

Currency Market Trading: Forex Currency Trading - What Is The Difference?

By Phil Jarvie

Many variations on the terms exist, including 4x trading, fx currency trading, forex currency trading, currency market trading, fx exchange and the list goes on and on. The main point is that it is all about buying and selling international currency, and the forex currency market is where the price is constantly being set in real time with each country being paired with another.

But many people do get confused by these different terms, and I guess that's because we all grew up with the Internet as being the biggest mega-trend in society in the last 10-15 years. With the Internet came the stock market's day traders dealing in shares, options and banks. All the brokerage houses had to adapt to the new World of online day trading because investors could now place their own trades - brokers were reduced to advice only.

With the Internet and very smart and fast software programs, currency market trading was finally liberated from the monopolies held by large banks, brokerage firms and International trading corporations. The Internet brought forex currency trading potential to the masses. But in fact most investors focused only on stock market trading shares, options and warrants.

I find it interesting and ironic that so many people have not yet discovered forex currency trading and yet they know the stock market so well. After all, the forex currency market turns over more cash in one week when the entire USA economy struggles to do a similar amount in the entire year.

And it is not just the size of the total currency market trading that takes place that is impressive; it is more that it is so huge that it is beyond the ability of any Government to control it fully. There is no central regulation of currency market trading. Sure the USA Government can make laws for brokers and traders in the USA, but when bad laws are passed people simply trade from an International broker - often just an overseas branch of their existing USA broker.

Forex currency trading is so huge that big business and the criminal element cannot manipulate it as they often and easily do with the stock market. There are no corporate raiders or takeovers in forex, no corporate lawyers leading stock market proxy fights. Currency market trading is simply the constant process of matching one currencies value against another currency in real time.

Let's assume a Middle Eastern Prince enters the market with 5 Billion Euros which he backs the Euro against the dollar. Yes, such a heavy-weight move may push up the value of the Euro by about 1 cent or a bit more over about 3 hours. But his timing had better be on the back of some bad news coming out of the USA, because the currency market trading volumes are so large that the 5 billion Euros could just as easily become 4 billion in that same 3 hours. Forex currency trading is so large that 5 billion Euro is nothing really considering the 2,500 billion euros traded each and every day, 5 days a week.

Given that big business and Governments are powerless to control or corrupt the forex currency trading market, what chance does the little guy or gal have? Every chance and the same chance as the large player does, simple as that. The only difference you will find is the points spread that bigger and smaller forex traders pay. I pay 0.9 pips anyway, so I am not concerned about that at all. My main concern is that currency market trading is a level playing field that cannot be rigged - and it cannot. So, that leaves the very smart 4x trading software like metatrader and forex robots we all have available, and the best of proven forex strategies we all have the ability to learn. We all have the power to work to a successful money management plan.

By all means visit my free website where I go into a lot of detail about currency market trading, the many forex robots and expert advisors available, and also what forex strategy can do for your forex currency trading. - 23218

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie writes extensively on 4x trading related matters and is an experienced forex trader. Feel free to visit his free website for details on forex robots, expert advisers, 4x trading, 4x trading software and 4x trading, forex currency trading, fx exchange and currency market trading articles.

What Is Your Investing Knowledge

By Jens Jackson

Investing is not easy as anyone that has been around for awhile will tell you. You put your own hard earned money on the line and when you get it wrong, it hurts. You need other traders to share with you their investing knowledge. It is very expensive to learn the hard way all the lessons that you need to learn. You can find an online investing message forum or blog. There is a lot of free information that would cost you money elsewhere but that is free on the Internet. You need to hook up with the right people to learn how to make money investing in stocks.

Teaming up with other investors over the Internet is awesome power. You can learn a ton of free investing advice by simply networking with other stock traders over a financial blog or message forum. Yes you will meet traders you do not like but more than half of the traders you meet will be eager to show you the ropes and give you a helping hand for just a little bit of praise from you. Using the World Wide Web to connect with other investors is an awesome power. If two heads are better than one, then what are thousands of heads connected over the Internet worth: priceless. I have learned a ton of free methods at becoming a better, more profitable trader over stock investing blogs and websites.

With that in mind, also remember that there are rules for any online investment forum or blog. Different websites will usually have their rules and regulations up for viewing for any individual interested in applying, which would do you good to look at as well. Also, it is worth checking out a club's reputation: more reputable clubs may have more experienced people you can rely on, and more people to ask information from overall. This is also important when you consider that some investment clubs, especially those that charge admission fees, entrance fees or anything similar, may have a chance of simply being elaborate scams, designed to rob you of your hard earned money. It is a good idea to cross-check by looking through other message boards, reading other forum threads and generally browsing the Internet for information about the club you intend to join before doing so. Trust me on this: you will be more comfortable with your club of choice in the long run.

My personal favorite is to join stock trading blogs that require no account whatsoever to read and learn from the materials posted. In the end, what website, message forum, or blog you decide to read is up to you but just make sure you do it because the learning curve to becoming a successful and profitable trader is a lot shorter when you have other stock traders to help you.

Keep an eye on the type of stocks a message forum, club, or blog is telling you to buy. Is there a pattern of the stock picks always being small caps? If there is, watch out. Small cap stocks move on very little buying activity. These are the easiest stocks to push higher. Make sure you are not the target of a pump and dump snow job involving small cap stocks. - 23218

About the Author:

Written by Jens Jackson. Do not pay for any stock investing materials until you see Lance Jepsen's excellent free stock blog at investing

Trading Decreased Volatility Breakout (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Aging Trend: This is the third stage of the trend and is the period of consolidation as the trend comes to maturity. As the momentum of the trend exhausts itself, volatility tends to decrease at this stage of the trend. This is the period where lot of profit taking will take place.

Both the bulls and the bears are hesitant to make daring moves at this stage of the trend. Experienced traders now know that the trend has aged and it is the best time to get out of the trend. They try to get out of their trades at this stage of the trend by closing their positions. This satisfies the appetites of inexperienced traders as they consolidate their positions by taking on the positions abandoned by the experienced traders.

This is the period of consolidation and the prices tend to stay calm during this period. Currency prices have moved by a large amount in the previous period of high volatility. The trend takes a short break and the volatility is low during this stage of the trend.

End of Trend: This is the time when the prevailing trend ends and reverses itself after some new information is revealed about a currency that changes the mass opinion. This results in the rapid adjustment of prices within a short time as the market players tend to absorb the information.

Many stops will get triggered during this stage of the trend. Especially if they have been caught on the wrong side of the market, traders become desperate to get out of their positions. Most know that the trend has come to an end. The best way to preserve their profits is to get out of the trend as early as possible. Experienced traders had already gotten out of the trend during the aging stage of the trend. Most of the traders who are trying to get out now are inexperienced traders.

The trend now reverses itself. There is a sharp follow through of the prices in the reversed direction during this stage of the trend. Now you understand and know that within a trend, currency prices can experience decreased volatility followed by increased volatility which is again followed by decreased and increased volatility as the crowd psychology keeps on changing.

Decreased volatility can be found during trending or ranging phases. Traders with open positions during this low period of volatility are the most vulnerable to unanticipated news.

During this time gains can be made from the unsuspecting players and this is known as the Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy. Deceased volatility provides an excellent opportunity to traders to prepare and profit from an imminent change from low to high volatility.

There are several technical indicators that can help you visualize the volatility in the currency prices. The success of this strategy lies in measuring the volatility of the forex market correctly.

You can use triangle patterns as one of the best indicators of decreasing price volatility in the currency price charts. Combine the triangle patterns with technical indicators to confirm or deny decreasing price volatility. Two of the most useful indicators that can help you measure the volatility of the currency prices are: 1) Moving Averages and 2) Bollinger Bands.

Through identifying the triangle formations, you can take advantage of the decreasing price volatility in the forex market. All triangles show decreasing price volatility in the forex market. When a particular type of triangle has been identified by the trader, a high probability trade may be in sight. - 23218

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Get Netpicks Forex Signals Free. Learn Forex Trading!