News Straddling Strategy (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

Major short term currency moves are almost always preceded by changes in fundamental views influenced by the news. Traders around the world make a living by processing and translating information into money. The forex market is extremely sensitive to the flow of news related to it.

We live in the information age. It is an era where information can be an extremely powerful strategic asset. Information equals money especially to a trader. Shutting yourself off to the news can be suicidal. Timely information is vital to an individual or a corporation.

The speed of the news dissemination is very important to traders. If you receive the news after some delay, it is almost of no use to you. Others have already taken advantage of it. Traders especially the day traders require the latest up to the second news updates. Latest news facilitates their trading decisions which have to be made at the lightening speed. A 15 minutes delay in receiving the news can mean losing the trade.

Many opt for instant online news services such as the Dow Jones Newswires, Bloomberg and Reuters which display the latest financial and economic news on their computer monitors.

News is important to forex trading. Each new piece of information can potentially alter the traders perception of the current or future situation relating to the outlook of certain currency pairs.

Socio-political events that are happening around the world like in Middle East and North Korea also tend to affect the forex market in major ways. News that is of great importance to forex traders is generally related to a countrys economic, monetary and political situations.

It is expected that other traders see and interpret the same news in a similar fashion and adopt the same directional bias. A traders action is based on the expectation that there will be follow through in prices. These traders will be preparing to cover their existing positions or initiate new positions based on this news. It is all based on your perceptions. Sometimes you can wrong too! Market may not react the way that you had anticipated.

News is a very important catalyst of short term price movements because of the expected impact it has on other market players. This is in a way an anticipatory reaction on the part of the trader as he or she assumes that the other traders will be affected by the news as well.

If the news happens to be bullish for the USD, traders who reacts the fastest will be the first to buy USD followed soon by other traders. Other traders may be slower. They maybe were waiting for some technical criteria to be met before they jump on the bandwagon.

When they get hold of the delayed news in the morning newspapers or from their brokers, there will be many who will join in the frenzy at a later stage. This progressive entry of the US Dollar bulls over time is what sustains the upward move of USD against another currency.

Almost the reverse will happen on the surprise bearish US Dollar news. Traders who get the news first will start selling US Dollar instantly on the assumption that when other traders will hear the news, they will also start selling. A downtrend develops. Other traders join soon. The downtrend becomes strong. Forex market is constantly in the throws of news driven volatility. - 23309

About the Author:

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

How To Buy Stocks

By Mike Swanson

It's a no brainer that there is money to be made investing in stocks. But then it is just as likely you can lose money. The key is to pick stocks that will perform as you want. There are three terms that you may not have heard of and why they are important to you.

DEAD CAT BOUNCE: This is the temporary recovery of a stock price during a general downward trend. Often it is caused by rumor or market talk ups. People believe the stock has reached its lowest price and begin buying. The dead cat bounce effect means the price will drop again and they are likely to lose money.

What does it mean for me for stock trading? Because no one can predict when a decline will reverse don't rush in. But it may provide you a window to make trading gains while the stock is in this pattern.

A BELLWETHER STOCK: This is a predictive stock, one that usually indicates where the market is going to head.

What does this mean for me? These types of stocks may not be attractive purchases in their own right; there may be little chance of growth realization. But they are stocks to watch when predicting where the market will go next. The biggest investors in these stocks tend to be the big institutional investors.

THE JANUARY EFFECT: It has been recognized that at the beginning of a new calendar year prices tend to increase across the month of January. There can be many reasons for this but often the big two are taxes and investor psychology.

Why is this important? It has been shown in investigations that the January effect is real. However in recent years it has become more difficult to take advantage of. So it may be useful to watch for, but it is unlikely to be a reliable way to make money. - 23309

About the Author:

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