Tuesday, October 6, 2009

An Introduction To A Forex Training On Fundamental Analysis

By Bart Icles

Managing risks is one of the most important things that forex traders should learn. Most forex training programs include risk management in their discussions, and managing risks can involve either fundamental or technical analysis. A fundamental analysis refers to the dynamic evaluation of specific plans, unpredictable behaviors, and unanticipated events that affect the economy of a certain individual, business, organization or country. A fundamental analysis mainly focuses on social, political, and economic forces that drive the trends of the supply of and demand for currencies.

A forex training program on fundamental analysis will help you understand the different factors that fundamentalists pay attention to. These factors can include bank policies, government policies, overall economic trends, natural disasters, and social stability. A fundamental analysis can help much in developing mid-term to long-term investment decisions. Forex investors and traders must take note though that fundamental analysis will not help much in day trading because a fundamental analysis mainly evaluates major economic, social, and political forces.

Fundamental analyses involve different kinds of evaluations of macroeconomic factors. A fundamentalist makes use of different economic indicators of a certain country to predict a sensible valuation of the currency of that country. These economic indicators typically include GDP growth rates, interest rates, retail sales, and unemployment rates. A fundamental analysis can also involve an assessment of consumer price index, industrial production reports, and manufacturing production.

Newcomers to the foreign exchange market typically ask why there is a need for fundamental analysis. Fundamental analyses have been developed out of the fact that the economic condition of a certain country directly affects the performance of its currency in the foreign exchange world. This also makes it important for forex investors and traders to keep an eye on financial calendars released by different countries and private sectors. However, traders and investors must understand that macroeconomic factors are not the only drivers of the performance of specific currencies - the valuation of currencies is also affected by many other things like technical factors, and third party reports.

A good forex training program will show you how you can use fundamental analysis while trading. It will show you how to use economic calendars including when and where to get copies of them. It will also give you tips on how you can keep yourself informed of the economic indicators that are getting much of the market's attention. Most importantly, it will help you understand the importance of knowing market expectations for data and whether or not expectations have been met. - 23309

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What Option Traders Don't Tell Their Wives

By Morris Puma

Recently, I had an important chat with a stock-option manager who is still seeking for the mysterious formula to yielding dependable returns with option investing each month. He mentioned some things which were so obvious to me and brought up many past memories.

One thing that stood out was when he said "Non-directional option trading doesn't mean we can make money in any direction. It means that we make money if the underlying doesn't move in any direction. In other words, it's still a directional trade, sideways." This is correct, and most people advertise that it's easy to make money with options because we can make money on any direction. This is true in some respects and not true in others.

Those of you trading Iron Condors know what I am talking about; especially if you are trading the Condors that most courses and books teach. If you are trading this strategy in 2009, you probably aren't making anything. The reason being that the Iron Condor is just as directional as most option trades only that its direction is sideways. For some, it's just as hard to predict a sideways move as it is up or down.

I have had many calls over the years from people losing huge chunks of their accounts trading credit spreads and condors. They all say the same thing... "I was doing great for several months, and then all the sudden I lost nearly my whole account in one day." I have heard this story over and over again.

This is the reason why I don't push the popular Iron Condors, Bear Calls or Bull Puts. If you are a couple days from expiration, and the RUT is really near the sold strike, then at that moment you are in a very risky position. I'll remind you that this is the same risky method that many other investors are using to manage this option spread. Shortly all of your friends will be hearing the same story, but you won't be sharing this news with your wife! You smile at the moment, but you won't be if it happens to your trading portfolio. Another sad thing about this investng style is that the fear level is so astronomical that it really hurts your personal life. It makes it tough to sleep or even just relax each day.

Well, we've addressed this aggressive trading style at San Jose Options Mentoring. We've redesigned Condors and Credit Spreads. Our technique gives the underlying more room for the price fluctuation, giving us breathing room in our trading as well as in our lives. We find the less adjustments we have to make, then the more we bring home at the end of the month.

Constructing safe trades to begin with is a priority and will improve anyone's trading skills and returns, but another strategy that we've been working hard on lately is locking in profits. We have techniques to lock in profits on nearly all the trades that we do. It's one of the best things you can possibly learn as an investor.

There's yet another technique we've developed that I'd like to mention before we go. Every trader has some trades that don't work out right? Well we obviously do too, but in our case, we usually end up with a Bonus Trade which gives us a chance to make back our loss with very little or no risk at all. It's these little details to trading that make all the difference at the end of the year.

So, finally I'd like to say that whether we have a winner or a loser, we have some excellent adjustment tricks that will be sure to greatly improve your personal trading skills. - 23309

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The Many Uses of Gold

By Will Paul

Gold has a diversity of special properties that make it the most useful of all the minerals mined today. This is because gold conducts electricity and does not tarnish. Gold is very easy to work with and can be drawn into wire. Gold can also be hammered into thin sheets and can be mixed with different metals. The wonderful color of gold leaves a special impression on most people.

Gold has a long history. When the "New World" was first explored by the Spanish, they met the native South Americans for the first time. Even though they both lived entirely different lives and spoke different languages they had one thing in common; that was gold. Most societies hold gold in the highest esteem and have always used it to make the most important objects. Today we continue to use gold for objects including wedding rings, jewelry, Oscars, Grammy's and money.

The first use of gold was over 6000 years ago and was used for ornamental objects. Gold is found in its pure state and very easy to work with. Jewelry tops the list for the primary use of gold in the United States. Most of the gold found today is newly mined or recycled and about 78% of gold consumed today in used to manufacture jewelry. Throughout history gold has always been used as a form of medium for bartering or used as money. The gold used for financial backing for currency was usually in the form of gold bars and was also known as gold bullion. The gold bars helped to keep manufacturing costs to a minimum and was also convenient for handling and to store. Many governments and individuals hold investments of gold in the form of bullion.

Gold is used in the industrial field by manufacturers of electronics. Most electronics use very low voltages and currents and can be easily interrupted by corrosion or tarnish at the contact points. Since gold is a highly efficient conductor that can easily carry these low currents without corroding it is used in many things. Gold is used in connectors, switch and relay contacts, soldered joints and connection strips.

Gold can be found in many different areas and places in a desktop and laptop computer. Gold works well for computers because allows for rapid and accurate transmission of digital information. It is better than any other metal for this purpose. Edge connectors used to mount microprocessors and memory chips onto the motherboard are made of gold. The gold in these components are generally electroplated onto other metals and have small amounts of cobalt or nickel in them to increase durability.

Gold is a very versatile and has played an important part in history and is still as valuable today. It takes a lot of natural resources to mine for gold. The high demand for gold makes the cost of gold rise. This could be to your advantage if you have some gold pieces of jewelry that you no longer wear. You can recycle your precious metals for money and also be helping the environment. - 23309

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Forex Exchange Trend Is Your Friend

By Chris Green

Most forex exchange traders by now should know what the "trend" is. The old saying "The Trend Is Your Friend" is not just a simple rhyme, but an excellent tip for a trader if used properly. Finding the trend in the currency pair you are trading is usually a good place to start. It can give you an idea on where the market is turning. Not all of the time it is best to just follow the trend, but it is a good starting point for giving you an idea of the market direction.

In some cases in forex exchange trading, it can be a little difficult figuring out when a good time to follow the trend is and when to take your own intuition on the trade. There are many different world events that can affect your currency values and put a change of direction into the market. A great way to keep up with this is to read current local and global news every day. Being aware of events going on around the world can have a positive influence on your trading intuition.

When working in forex exchange, it is an important aspect to constantly be absorbing information about the market and effecting market news. Not just a short time frame before your making your trades. Preparing for hours, or even days of information and market conditions is usually the best tactic. If you have gone behind a day or two on up to date market conditions and world wide events, chances are your trading skills are also a day or two behind. Most new traders don't realize this and wonder why they are not a successful trader.

As a forex exchange trader, if you constantly are saturating yourself with information about the market, you will find trades to come easier to you. This is because in your mind you are connecting all the information without realizing it completely. It will almost become a second nature. This is where the every day successful traders have an edge over the average trader. They spend most of their spare time absorbing information about the markets and world events.

Starting out following the forex exchange trend is a good starting point, but in order to take your skills beyond that to achieve the ultimate result you need to allow yourself to become slightly consumed be the forex market. Doing this can make you a master trader, second guessing yourself can be a bad move, know your nature. You are either good at something or not, but the only way to find out is to practice. Don't be a failing statistic or and average trader, take your trading to the next level. - 23309

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Forex Tutorial: Automated Forex Trading Software

By Bart Icles

Many forex tutorials will help you learn almost everything that you would need to successfully participate in forex trading. However, how does the idea of participating in forex trading with a partner who is logical, smart, and ever vigilant for money-making trades? How would you like to partner with someone who executes trades almost instantly whenever an opportunity comes up and then immediately posts profits to your account? Would you be interested in having a partner who is not swayed by emotions? Having this kind of partner would make a forex tutorial a thing of the past but the truth is, there are forex tutorials that are meant to help investors work with automated forex trading software.

Automated forex trading software has all the aforementioned qualities and many investors are starting to make use of this helpful tool. There are many different kinds of automated forex trading software and they are all available commercially. These computer programs are designed to scan the forex market for advantageous currency trade, without the presence of a live trader. This is possible through the use of some pre-set parameters that a certain user has programmed into the system. An automated forex trading computer program usually comes complete with a forex tutorial to help investors understand how to best use the trading software to their advantage.

Both beginners and seasoned traders can benefit from the use of automated forex trading software in developing trading decisions. These automated forex trading computer programs come in a good range of levels of sophistication and prices that any forex investor will definitely find an automated forex trading software that would best fit his needs.

These automated forex trading computer programs often come with instructional manuals so that users can have a better grasp of how to navigate through the software. Some of these programs can even allow a user to access to different tools like a forex trading guide, forex tutorial, forex trading tips, and many others. There are also those that offer free trial periods so users can test the software before they make a decision to purchase it.

Using automated forex trading software sure appears to be an attractive option but foreign exchange traders and investors must keep in mind that these computer programs are not 100% foolproof. They cannot guarantee successful trades 100% of the time. Therefore, it is still important for forex traders to invest on their forex education to continuously keep themselves informed. Going through a forex tutorial every now and then can help. - 23309

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