Important for a Forex Trader

A common mistake by many new traders is that they think they can make money… fast! While it’s true you can make money in a short amount of time, it doesn't mean you will end up profitable in the long run.

A typical scenario is that a new trader reads a little bit about trading forex, finds a system online that claims to make money quickly, and then jumps right into trading because he feels like he’s got enough of a background to make millions of dollars.

Unfortunately after the “honeymoon” period is over and the excitement settles down, this new trader now realizes that trading isn't as easy as he thought. The system doesn’t seem to be working like it claimed it would and he has no idea why the market is doing what it’s doing.

The most important thing you can invest in as a forex trader is your TIME! Every single trading day is a learning experience and if you stop learning, then you will never become a truly successful trader.

Take into account how much time it will take you to learn the basics. Then consider how much time it will take in your daily routine to read charts, news reports, record your trades, and be in the markets.

For someone who can dedicate a “full-time” job mentality to forex trading, then this is no problem. However, if you're like most people, you may have a job, school work, tuba lessons, World of Warcraft dailies, so you cannot exactly dedicate your entire day to trading.This doesn't mean that you can’t trade, but it should give you some realistic expectations when it comes to determining your trading style. You probably can’t be a scalper or day trader, but maybe longer term trades will work better for your schedule.

Each day requires your time to analyze the market. Because news makes the market move, it’s important to consider the economic developments going on around the world and to make it part of your daily routine.

• Forex Market Developments – Look at what the “talk of the town” is in the forex world. See what the analysts are buzzing about and how the currencies reacted.
• News Releases – Know what news reports are coming out each day and how they affect the markets. The more important the news report, the more movement you can expect to see in its currency. Make sure you check out Forex Calendar
• Market Prices of Other Commodities – The price of oil or U.S. Treasury yields can affect the way currencies move so it’s important to find out why these things are rising or falling and keep that in mind when trading currencies. 
• Current Events – Check out many news websites and get to know what is happening across the globe. Events such as major elections, military conflicts, and political scandals can all affect currency movements or global risk sentiment. 

Finally, after going through your daily economic analysis, you have to look at the charts. Charts will give you insights into key support and resistance levels, trends, and possible price points in which to enter the market.

Forex broker

 About Forex broker?

Your broker will offer a trading platform with a certain time frame (the time frame will depend on the country where broker operates). When focusing on market hours, you should ignore the time frame on your platform (in most cases it'll be irrelevant), and instead use the universal clock (EST/EDT) or the Market Hours Monitor to identify trading sessions.

Forex trading hours & trading time:-

New York opens at 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST (EDT)

Tokyo opens at 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST (EDT)

Sydney opens at 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST (EDT)

London opens at 3:00 am to 12:00 noon EST (EDT)

There are hours when two sessions overlap:

New York and London: between 8:00 am — 12:00 noon EST (EDT)

Sydney and Tokyo: between 7:00 pm — 2:00 am EST (EDT)

London and Tokyo: between 3:00 am — 4:00am EST (EDT)

For example, trading EUR/USD, GBP/USD currency pairs would give good results between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon EST when two markets for those currencies are active.At those overlapping trading hours you'll find the highest volume of trades and therefore more chances to win in the foreign currency exchange market.

Chart Analysis in Currency Trading

Importance of chart analysis in currency trading:-
Basically, there are two major types of analyzing methods in predicting price or movement of currency in the forex market, i.e. Fundamental analysis and Technical analysis / chart analysis. Fundamental analysis involves the studies of the economic conditions of the country, for example the balance of trade, current account, GDP, unemployment rates and inflation index, government monetary and fiscal policies, interest rates, even social and political forces. Some investors rely on their analyses on these economic indicators, news and announcements to set their trading strategies.
Whilst we must admit that all these financial and non-financial factors are the actual reasons behind most the long term currency fluctuations, in other word is the reasons or causes about the movements, when it comes to short-term day to day trading, the role of technical analysis becomes much more important (and what is actually the reason does not really matter). In technical analysis, traders make forecast of price movements or future market directions by studying various types of charts of past market actions, the purpose of technical analysis is to identify a trend in its early stage so as to trade in the direction of that trend. Technical analysis is a very powerful method of forecasting, as the analyst is not influenced by prevailing market sentiment and he can make a more objective judgment of which way and how far the price is likely to move in the future.
Since forex market is the largest financial market in the world and is also highly leveraged, even minor price movements can have a dramatic effect on your trading performance, so traders need some effective plans and methods to set precise entry and exit points and this is also another very important aspect in technical analysis. By using certain technical indicators (e.g. moving averages or Ichimoku) and calculation techniques (e.g. Fibonacci percentage of retracements and projections) when formulating his/her trading strategies, one can identify more objective levels for setting entry, exit and stop-loss prices, which fundamental analysis is not capable of in providing such levels.
In short, technical analysis is not only an effective method in price-forecasting process helping traders to predict future market directions, it is also an indispensable analysis technique in order to find clear and precise timing and level of entry and exit in day to day trading, therefore, chart analysis or technical analysis
is a very valuable principle in formulating trading strategies.

Theory of chaos

“The organisation of the Universe demands that matters abandon itself to the games of chance.”
  H. Reeves - Atoms of Science
The theory of chaos is not a theory to help you make investment decisions, its usefulness lies in the greater understanding it gives us of the trading environment and how we should cope with it.

1. It shows us how human psychology influences price movement, why trends occur, and how they can end up being understood in terms of probability. The herd mentality is fully explained in our Special Situations Report available from the office. Human psychology has remained constant over time, and it is this fact that helps us predict the probability of price movement via technical analysis.

2. It disproves Random Walk theory; although market movements may appear random, under statistical tests they are not.

3. If it disproves that the markets are random, it also shows why the quest for the “Holy Grail” computerised or mechanical trading system is doomed to failure. It also confronts those disciples of such analysts as Gann and Elliott who believe the Universe is ruled by law.

4. It helps us to operate in an unstructured environment by giving us a greater understanding of it. The best you can do is understand the original conditions that give rise to probable future events, and act accordingly. This may sound disheartening, it is not. By understanding chaos, you will be able to keep the odds firmly in your favour. If you can do that, you will end up making a lot of money from your trading, year in year out.

Trading Hours

The Market Hours
The trading begins once the markets are officially open in Tokyo, Japan at 7:00 PM Sunday, New York time.Afterwards, at 9:00 PM EST, Singapore and Hong Kong opens followed by the European markets in Frankfurt at 2:00 AM and in London at 3:00 AM.
When the clock reaches 4:00 AM, the European markets are in the hot spot and Asia just concluded its trading day.Around 8:00 AM on Monday, the US markets opens in New York while Europe is slowly going down. Australia will take the lead around 5:00 PM and when it is 7:00 PM again, Tokyo is ready to reopen.

Daily or Position Trader, their strengths and weaknesses

Day-trading, which was once the exclusive domain of the floor trader, is now fair game for all speculators. Inspired in part by large intraday price swings, instant availability of quotes, affordable high powered computers and competitive commissions, the new wave of day-trading methods and systems has attracted thousands of traders in recent years. The undeniable thrill of trading within the time span of one day is, however, a double-edged sword: one that can hurt as well as heal. To be successful, a day-trader must have the discipline of a machine, the instincts of a fox, the emotions of a rock, the skills of a surgeon and the patience of a saint. (And a little luck wouldn’t hurt either.) The day trader works more with the emotions along with the fundamental analysis.

Definition
Very active currency trader who holds positions for a very short time and makes several trades each day. Day traders are individuals who are trying to make a career out of buying and selling stocks very quickly, often making dozens of trades in a single day and generally closing all positions at the end of each day. Day trading can be costly, since the commissions and the bid/ask spread add up when there are so many transactions.

Position Trader looks for occasional significant moves that may unfold quickly or over time. It patiently waits for ideal trade setups to occur during minor and major trend reversals in certain sectors, indexes or entire broad markets. Determination of these potential setups is derived from technical indicators, chart patterns, point and figure charts and fundamental news events. Once a move shows sign of development, hourly and intraday charts are monitored for optimum entry.

Definition
Currency trader who, unlike most traders, takes a long-term, buy and hold approach. In currency trading, «long-term» refers to holding until the delivery date is close, usually 5-7 months.
Basically, a position trade approach is to enter the markets only during times of key reversal probability in order to capture large moves as they gradually or quickly unfold. It is designed for traders who favor a gradual, buy and hold approach when ideal trade conditions exist for high-odds success.

Important dates in the Forex History

Early 20th Century
Only in the 20th century paper money start regular circulation. This happened by force of legislation, the efforts of central banks to manage money supplies, and government control of gold supplies.
Within a country, this fiat money is as good as any other form. Internationally, it is not. International trade has always demanded a money standard accepted everywhere.
Gold and silver provided such a standard for centuries. An official Gold Standard regulated the value of money for about a century, prior to the start of World War I in 1914.

1929
The dollar has been perceived as more of a has-been, due to the Stock Market Crash and the subsequent Great Depression.

1930
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) was established in Basel, Switzerland. Its goals were to oversee the financial efforts of the newly independent countries, along with providing monetary relief to countries with temporary balance of payments difficulties.

1931
The Great Depression, combined with the suspension of Gold Standard, created a serious diminution in foreign exchange dealings.
World War II
Before World War II, currencies around the world were quoted against the British Pound. World War II crashed the Pound. The only country unscarred by the war was the US. The US dollar became the prominent currency of the entire world.

1944
The United National Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire discussed the financial future of the post-war world. The major Western Industrialized nations agreed to a «pegging» of the US Dollar, which in turn was pegged at $35.00 to the troy ounce of gold. The future was designed to be stable, in part due to the tight governmental controls on currency values. The US dollar became the world’s reserve currency.

1957
The European Economic Community was established.
© 1st Forex Trading Academy 2004 9
Introduction

1967
At the IMF meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were created. SDRs are international reserve assets created and allocated by the IMF to supplement the existing reserve assets.

1971
The Smithsonian Agreement, reached in Washington, D.C., had a transitional role to the free floating markets. The ranges of currencies fluctuations relative to the US dollar were increased from 1 percent to 4.5 percent band. The range of currencies fluctuating against each other was increased up to 9 percent. As a parallel, the European Economic Community tried to move away from the US dollar block toward the Deutsche Mark block, by designing its own European Monetary System.
In the summer of 1971, President Nixon took the United States off the gold standard, and floating exchange rates began to materialize.

1972
West Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg developed the European Joint Float. Member currencies were allowed to fluctuate within 2.25 percent band (the snake), against each other and 4.5 percent band (the tunnel) against the USD.

1973
The Smithsonian Institution Agreement and the European Joint Float systems collapsed under heavy market pressures. Following the second major devaluation in the US dollar, the fixed-rate mechanism was totally discarded by the US Government and replaced by The Floating Rate.

1978
The International Monetary Fund officially mandated free currency floating.

1979
The European Monetary System was established.

1999
January 1st, 1999, the Euro makes its official appearance within the countries members of the European Union.

2002
January 1st, 2002, the Euro becomes the only currency and replaces all other twelve national currencies within the European Union and Monetary Market: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.

Successful traders

Successful investors may use different systems or approaches to the market, have different educational backgrounds and be of various ages. However, they would have the following beliefs that enable them to reap profits from the markets:1. Self-confidence. This comes from both knowledge of the markets and self-knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses. They effectively believe that they will make profits in advance. They believe the game has been won before they begin. If you are not self-confident in your own ability, it is unlikely you will ever become a successful trader.2. Money itself is not important; this allows them to emotionally detach themselves from trading.3. Losing money can and will occur, and is acceptable to these investors.4. Profits will occur over a period of time and these can be run to a significantly larger size than their losing trades.5. These investors love and enjoy what they are doing, and therefore have no problem devoting regular time to trading.6. Open-mindedness and adaptability. Successful traders remain open-minded and receptive to new ideas when it is necessary. They find it easy to adapt and change and they are not concerned with admitting when they are wrong.A well thought out and logical trading method, combines with the above beliefs, will give any trader an edge in the quest for profits.

Gann Tools

Gann Tools

W.D. Gann (1878-1955) developed a number of unique methods of price chart analysis. He paid the most attention to geometrical angles reflecting the interrelation between the time and the price. Gann believed that certain geometrical figures and angles have specific features to be used for forecasting price dynamics.

Gann considered that there was an ideal ratio between time and price if the price grew or fell at an angle of forty-five degrees to the time axis. This angle is designated as "1х1" and corresponds with unit price increase for each unit time interval.

Running Market