The Foreign Exchange market is a fast moving, fast changing environment wherein people can be wildly successful today and then lose it all the next day. It will all depend upon the way you deal with your investments and your trades. You would have to act fast and accurate as one false step can lead to disaster. Because of this extreme volatility it is best to be educated first about what the Foreign Exchange market is all about and some tips and secrets about it before investing.

One of my mentors, Jason Alan Jankovsky, says to Plan The Trade, Then Trade Your Plan. He teaches me his methodology, philosophy and approach to trading and I thank him very much. I truly believe without a proper approach and plan in place that you will be doomed to follow the millions of failed Forex traders out there (They fail for a reason, keep reading…)

Quality education and training is crucial before entering the world of Foreign Exchange. Also, Forex education is not only for the beginner, it is a continuous education that you will have to do as long as you trade because in order to become successful in trading you have to be properly trained and educated in technical, fundamental and automated trading.

Starting to trade in the Forex market is similar to starting up a new business, if you do not know the rules and the proper preparation before starting then chances are you will fail. Let me give you another example as to why a Forex Education is important. How many of these things would you try without any training?

• Sailing
• Flying an airplane
• Doing surgery on a patient
• Fighting for your country

No? You wouldn’t try any of those things and more without training? Then why would you try Forex without an education on proper preparation and methodology? You wouldn’t which is my exact point, find yourself a good Forex Training program. As in life, surround yourself with quality people to education you in Forex and you will increase your chances of success in this market. Make sure to do your due diligence because there are a lot of scams or training programs that will waste your time and money out there.

Matt Marrow is a Forex writer and trader. He is happy to be writing here on Ezine Articles in order to help prospective Forex newbies and veterans navigate these hostile Forex waters. One of his favorite sites that he personally authored is http://www.forexbrotherhood.net and he has a daily blog at http://www.forexfun.net

The Forex market can lure the novice Forex trader into trading scenarios that appear very attractive at first glance but turn very quickly into a losing trade.

Many a Forex trader will relate to this experience:

• Price has been in a consolidation channel for one or two hours.
• You place an entry order to get taken in at the top or bottom of the channel.
• Within a few minutes your trade is in and within a few minutes more you are looking at a loss of -10 pips, then -15 pips, and then your stop gets taken out.
• Price hardly moved for hours but as soon as you got into a trade you were taken out within minutes for a loss leaving you bewildered and muttering, “What happened?”

In the early stages of gaining trading experience, it is good for the novice Forex trader to go by a checklist every time before entering a trade until certain habits become ingrained.

Just having a procedure in place that has to be executed before pulling the trigger on a trade can prevent the Forex trader from quickly entering a trade just because there are some sudden movements on the screen and the trader is worried about missing an opportunity.

Yes, disciplining oneself to take time and go through a checklist first may mean missing some good opportunities occasionally. On the other hand, it will prevent having losing trades frequently.

For a very cautious approach to trading the newer Forex trader can use this Failsafe Checklist to determine whether the potential trade setup is likely to be high probability or low probability.

FailSafe Checklist

Avoid Going Long If:

• There is negative divergence on MACD on the 4 hour, 1 hour, or 15 minute chart.
• MACD on the 4 hour or 1 hour chart is pointing down.
• Price is well above the Central Pivot Point for the day in a Sell Area. (For a free pivot point calculator go here: www.vitalstop.com/Forex/pivot-point-calculator-download.html)
• Price is below the 200 EMA (Exponential Moving Average) on the 4 hour and 1 hour chart but above the 200 EMA on the 15 minute chart. (With this setup on the 3 times frames price is bucking the overall trend and can turn against you at any time.)
• Price is above a Fibonacci 50, 62, or 79 retracement (calculated from the last high and low)
• Your stop is not below multiple layers of support such as a significant previous high or low, pivot point, or Fibonacci level.

Avoid Going Short If:

• There is positive divergence on MACD on the 4 hour, 1 hour, or 15 minute chart.
• MACD on the 4 hour or 1 hour chart is pointing up.
• Price is well below the Central Pivot Point for the day in a Buy Area.
• Price is above the 200 EMA on the 4 hour and 1 hour chart but below the 200 EMA on the 15 minute chart.
• Price is below a Fibonacci 50, 62, or 79 retracement (calculated from the last high and low)
• Your stop is not above multiple layers of resistance such as a significant previous high or low, pivot point, or Fibonacci level.

The Most Important Lesson Of All

Implementing this Failsafe Checklist strategy may reduce the number of trades the Forex trader participates in. However, here an important lesson is learned - patience! Waiting for a high probability setup can make many demands on a Forex trader’s mental resources and emotional strength.

This is probably the most important lesson the new Forex trader will have to learn. Using a Failsafe Checklist like the one above can make the Forex trader slow down, engage in thorough analysis using the technical indicators available, and really start to make progress as a trader.

Why not print off the Failsafe Checklist and keep it beside the computer for consultation before pulling the trigger on any trade?

For additional tips on using the MACD indicator for safe trading click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-strategy-MACD-save-anxiety.htm

The powerful 200 EMA strategy - easy for developing traders:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/200EMA-forex-strategy.htm

For a free pivot point calculator, Fibonacci calculator and the best free economic calendars click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

By its very nature trading in the Forex markets demands that you have access to broadband and that you run a real time program. The many hundreds of thousands of traders who use automated systems have their PCs switched on, connected to broadband and have their software up and running so that it can trade successfully.

Real Time Forex happens in the present and it is in the present that you trade. You cannot trade in the past and you cannot trade in the future. You trade now. As you read this the Forex markets are humming away with pips being added and pips being subtracted.

Automated robotic trading can help you enormously. You can set your parameters to come into effect when a certain event happens e.g. your robot will only begin trading when say the U.S. dollar rises three pips. Then your robot comes alive and does his tricks in real time. You may have programmed him to exit a trade after making 5 pips and your robot does that. He goes asleep again until you reprogram him.

Since the Forex markets are open 24/5 all the time is real time Forex trading time.

Great opportunities can occur at any time but the best time to trade is probably when the U.S. begins to wake up about 7.00 a.m. (Eastern U.S. time) right through until about 12.00 p.m. (Eastern time) when California has packed it in for the day. The reason that this is probably the best time is because the U.S. dollar is the maker and shaker in every region of the world. It is the biggest trading currency because of the sheer volume of U.S. dollars in circulation.

If you choose to trade personally in the real time Forex be aware that you will have to put in long hours and suffer what that entails - stress, fatigue and lack of focus which can lead to mistakes. But you could do like I do and use the services of an excellent robot who doesn’t suffer from any of those weaknesses.

Here’s my advice if you are a beginner - buy automated Forex trading software, learn everything you can from their support teams, practice with paper trading and start with small money when you put your toe in the water. Do those things in that order and you will soon be earning $7,000 plus weekly.

If you want to make a killing online then look no farther http://www.forexaut.info

Richard Tyrell is a professional Forex trader who makes in excess of $7,000 per week. See http://www.forexaut.info for more.

Starting to trade the Foreign Exchange Markets (Forex) can be a tempting enticement to contemplate when wishing to improve your financial position and fortunately there are many exceptional Forex online courses today that can help you accomplish this task. Education is the first step the majority of us take in which ever field we enter and continuous learning is the stepping stone to long term accomplishments in that discipline. The exact same principle can be applied to Forex trading. Actually, it is highly essential for the novice trader to have appropriate knowledge about the intricacies of the foreign exchange markets in order to avoid major economic disasters. The potential of the Forex market is tremendous with fortunes being made every day by individual traders. Unfortunately, the risk factor related to large funds disappearing quickly also exists. Lack of knowledge about how, when and where the system works could certainly make you one of the ninety five per cent of people that begin Forex trading that are NEVER able to make money.

There are hundreds, if not thousands of Forex trading courses that claim they can make your entry into this lucrative field smooth and hassle-free with good financial results. There are so many means available to learn the concepts of foreign exchange trading and its various angles that you will be overwhelmed with information when attempting to appraise them. The majority are based on one of or a combination of the following training methods; a selection of online trading books, an online one on one training class, an online seminar or a series of seminars, an online video program or an online trading tutorial. Online trading courses have specific advantages over other forms of media. First, the online courses are updated continuously as the market changes. Second, they are delivered to you in a timely fashion, in other words, when you are ready to learn they are ready to teach you. Finally, you can have access to the Forex training courses immediately.

Most of the Forex trading courses begin with the fundamentals of currency trading, its various terminologies, definitions etc., in order to prepare you for the more advanced topics. In the next stage of the programs they will begin discussing specific Forex trading strategies, Forex trading signals and where to find them and how they are interpreted, Forex day trading for profit and so many more advanced concepts that they to numerous to even attempt to mention.

Learning to profitably trade the Forex markets has never been as easy as it is today. There are so many outstanding training programs that your biggest problem won’t be finding them, but it will be evaluating each course and determining which is offering the best value for your hard earned money.

William R. Alheim, Jr., CPA, MA - for reviews of the TOP 10 Forex Trading Courses visit http://www.tradingforexreviews.com/

I’m here to give you the top forex trader advice that I use everyday when I do my trades. These are tips to help the trader become better and more efficient at making trades.

When should I trade?

You should trade during peak hours. This is the time when most people trade, so there is the highest volume. I know when it comes to business, people usually suggest to not follow the crowd, but I’ll explain in this case. There is such a high volume of trades, the currencies really do follow market forces or “the invisible hand”. During the lower volume times (off peak hours) big banks and firms with a lot of money can make trades that affect the direction of the market. The last thing you want to do is trade at this time because they can make a currency go up or down, which is very unstable for you.

I don’t seem to be making much on my profitable trades, and I seem to lose more when I make bad trades. Why?

Well, skill could very well be the problem. Assuming you’re a good trader, than you probably have poor margins to make profits. Basically your broker needs to be paid for trades, and they take a cut, which is the difference between bid and ask prices. As you know, the broker is going to get paid no matter what, so your losses are often worse and your profits are often small. All you need to do is make larger trades that are for more money. This reduces the percentage taken by the broker and you should notice that your profits will be more and losses should be less(as a percentage).

What do I do when I make a bad trade?

Just cut your losses. This is probably one of the most simple rules you could take in, but most people have a hard time with it. Just sell it and move on.

This is my top forex trader advice and I hope this makes you into a great trader.

I’m currently giving a 7 day free forex training course. Newbies and experienced are all welcome. If you’re interested in participating, check out the Casual Forex Trader.

Fibonacci can be a very valuable addition to the tools in your Forex strategy, even if you are a reasonably new trader. Experiment with the guidelines below and learn to do the Fibonacci two-step. The level of success with this tool is quite amazing.

Fibonacci levels indicate more often than not how far price is going to go before it stalls and pulls back. It also provides a number of levels where price can pull back or retrace before moving on in the direction of the trend.

The Levels

The 4 most common retracement levels are (figures rounded off):

1. 38%
2. 50%
3. 62%
4. 79%

The two most common extension levels are:

1. 1.27%
2. 1.62%

Using the Fibonacci tool that comes with most charting packages, simply drag the tool from the most recent swing high/low to the previous swing/high or low and take special note of the 50% retracement level.

The Two-Step Strategy

In a nutshell, the Fibonacci Two-Step means you set an entry order to be pulled in if and when price touches the Fib50% retracement level, and you set your target at the Fib1.27% extension level.

However, for these trades to be high probability with minimal risk a couple quick calculations are necessary.

What is your stop value? 25-30 pips? If it’s more can your equity cover it if you lose the trade? For many traders 25-30 pips is a reasonable stop.

So before entering the trade, measure the distance between the Fib50% retracement level, your possible entry point, and the Fib79% retracement or even the 100% level. If it is more than 25-30 pips, pass on the trade. The risk is too great. If price pulls back further than the Fib50% level even all the way back to the last swing high/low, you will be in trouble.

However, if the Fib79% or 100% level are within 25-30 pips of your entry at Fib50%, you have a possible trade.

Now calculate how many pips from Fib50% to the extension at Fib127% - this will be your profit ratio. Supposing your stop is set at 25 pips, perhaps somewhere between the Fib79% retracement level and the swing point, and your target at the Fib127% extension is 36 pips, that’s a good risk/reward ratio! You are risking 25 pips to get 36.

It is often advisable to set your target 3 or 4 pips above the Fib127% level as sometimes price doesn’t quite make it before it pulls back.

Use this strategy in line with your other indicators and trade in the direction of the trend for minimal risk.

The Secret Of The Two-Step Strategy

Why is this strategy so successful? Because it’s not too ambitious.

Price will often pull back to the Fib50% level and no further. It will often go to the Fib127 and no further. So using these two levels puts one on middle ground with a higher chance of getting taken into the trade with the target successfully met.

So if you are looking to improve your Forex strategy, remember the Fibonacci Two-Step - In at Fib50 - Out at Fib127 - and dance all the way to the bank.

For an illustrated example of the Fibonacci Two-Step click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/two-step.html

For a free Fibonacci calculator plus a pivot point calculator and the best free economic calendars click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

For a free candle & chart pattern recognition reference tool click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Candle-Chart-Patterns

The popularity of futures trading has increased with the introduction of the smaller emini futures contracts the past few years since the smaller contract allows for smaller margin requirements, with $5000 or less in trading capital often being the only requirement. Popular contracts like the S & P 500 and the NASDAQ emini futures contracts have been around for sometime and with the introduction of the DOW emini futures contract, futures trading popularity has grown even more.

Trading the emini contract does require knowledge in chart interpretation, support and resistance levels and knowledge of pivot points. However, Japanese candlestick charts are by far one of the most important tools that can be utilized by an emini futures trader. Tracing their history back to the 18th century, candlestick charts have been used by traders and investors to predict pricing in everything from rice commodities to equities. Patterns that form on a candlestick charts can often foretell which way prices will move, giving the savvy emini trader an opportunity to capitalize on the move before it happens.

Powerful reversal formations can tell a trader when a strong up or down move is nearing exhaustion, offering them the opportunity to make profitable trades on the previous strong move as well as profiting on the reversal in the other direction. Japanese candlestick charts also make it easy to determine where support and resistance areas may be located. Emini futures often hesitate in these areas and take a breather after a strong move, either retreating or pushing further in the same direction. Areas of support and resistance are often excellent entry points for emini traders to either execute a new trade or exit a trade.

Emini charting utilizing Japanese candlestick charts in conjunction with other indicators such as Bollinger bands, help to increase the possibilities of determining price direction. Many emini traders use differing time periods in their emini charting, some often using a one minute chart while others may only use a fifteen minute time period for each candlestick. Specific time periods are chosen on the preference of the individual emini trader and how it applies to their preferred trading system.

Emini charting with Japanese candlesticks is probably the most popular since they are easy to read and they reveal with each candlestick four different elements within each candlestick: Opening, high, low and closing. These four elements in each candle combined with two or more previous candles can reveal information that can help an emini trader determine whether to hold an existing position, exit a trade or enter a trade.

Learning to recognize candlestick patterns is not difficult and can be learned with some study at memorizing the formation and what each formation possibly indicates. Incorporating candlesticks into a emini charting and trading system can help enhance the possibility of realizing more winning trades.

Japanese candlestick charting when combined with other indicators can be a powerful tool for emini traders if the time is set aside to learn the different formations and what they indicate. Please visit http://www.candlestickcharting.info to learn more about Japanese candlestick and emini charting.

The arena of trading is a fantastic one in itself. It has to be the largest business on the planet. Thousands upon thousands of eyes are glued to the screens around the world, waiting to buy or sell at any given moment.

As I have said before, I like to use analogies when it comes to trading successfully. This is due to the feedback I have gotten from students and traders, who have said they ‘got it.’ Here goes.

Trading breakouts and crossovers are like arriving to a party late. Allow me to explain.

In my single days, I had a buddy I would go out with occasionally. Today, such a person would be called a ‘wingman.’ However, we would often clash, because he would insist on arriving a parties early. I came from the school where there was such thing as being “fashionably late,” so this was different. This changed when he told me his reasoning.

By getting to the party early, there was usually little, if any, fee to get in. Free parking was usually easier to find, whereas later, Valet parking was the only option. Upon entering, food was prevalent, and most importantly, he had the ability to find a strategic seat to see and be seen. Because of this, he always appeared comfortable, and at ease. He did extremely well, for he was always chatting and holding court.

I use this analogy because trading breakouts and crossovers are like arriving to a party late.

Most traders have been taught to trade breakouts and crossovers exclusively, going with ‘the momentum.’ But what does this say? It says that at the price turnaround, the trader did not have the ability to read this and climb on board. The movement started a long time ago. Trading breakouts is arriving ‘late,’ and does not offer the best risk vs. reward, an essential component to successful trading. This can be avoided if and only if a trader develops core skills in reading bar charts in the manner a musician reads musical notes.

Each and every bar on the chart has a meaning. Not just a definition, but a meaning. A meaning in terms of supply and demand.

When we learned to read words, we first learned the meaning of each letter. When one learned to play chess, each chess piece had a meaning. So is it in reading charts. Sadly, most traders have not learned this vital skill set. Learn this and trading becomes exciting.

Eleazar Heracleopolis, http://www.www.nextbartrading.com is a veteran futures trader, writer and teacher of how to determine the imbalances of supply and demand using Price Spread Volume (PSV) Analysis.

So many potentially good traders can easily be put off from the outset, because they failed to follow three main rules when they started out. Losing money is result, and the most common problem is ignorance, or at least lack of proper knowledge.

It’s not essentially their fault, because there’s so much available to temp people into trading quickly and easily. Not that it need to be difficult, but you have to follow the rules. Wander from them at your peril, but stick to them and you should find yourself enjoying trading either as a hobby, or full time, if that’s your desire.

Here are 3 essential things you must grasp before you can trade profitably:

1. Your Stop Loss order is crucial. It is the closest thing you have to an insurance policy that ensures your account is not wiped out. And lose money you will. There’s nothing that can be guaranteed in trading the stock market except that you will take hits. But employ a stop loss order and you can rest easy that your losses are kept to a minimum and that you have traded well.

2. Over trading. I think you’d be very unwise to place any more than 5 percent of you trading budget on any trade. Don’t open more than one position when you start either, and look for those trades with more gentle personalities. The FTSE 250 is a good place to look for such trades because they have movement but without the volatility of say, the Forex market. Unfortunately my introduction to trading was by virtue of the commodities market - it all but wiped me out.

3. Emotion will play a huge part in trying to wipe out you account too. It gallops in under two guises - greed and fear. It is crucial you harness and control them and you do this by taking the time to learn a good trading system that you’re comfortable with. It’s about learning a trading plan and then sticking to it until you’re more experienced. I won’t say confident because that could trip you up in the form of greed. Keep greed and fear far behind you, where they belong.

By getting to grips with these three important points, you will better equip yourself for a far better trading experience. Every good trader will tell you to that you focus should be to cut your losses and let your profits run.

How would you like to discover more about the techniques successful traders use to make profitable trades?

Download them free here: Day Trading Course

Ian Jackson is an authority on Day Trading information, learning the hard way - and now he reveals how you can learn the business too, without all the growing pains.

With financial markets in turmoil, press is full of speculation regarding US dollar and Euro. A lot of coverage is given to unprecedented commodities boom, especially record prices for oil and grains. Precious and industrial metals also draw a lot of attention. Credit and debt markets have been on front pages for a couple of years now. Let’s not forget about stock markets, which, both in US and globally, are experiencing wild swings with seemingly no end in sight.

With so much going on, it’s no wonder that some very large moves in currencies have escaped attention, or at least wide coverage. British Pound, for one, has not been mentioned as often as it deserves. Same goes to Swiss Franc, and by extension, the cross of these two currencies, GBP-CHF.

Despite being one of speculator’s favorite financial vehicle, this pair seems to be living in a shadow of it’s cousin, GBP-JPY, which gets far more coverage from Forex analysts. This fact is likely due to much more vaunted stature of Japanese Yen, while Swiss Franc is so much correlated to Euro, that has been loosing trading volume to other currencies, most notably both Australian and Canadian Dollars. By some accounts, even Swedish Krone has reached comparable trading volume about a year ago.

That is when Franc started to regain some of its past luster as a safe heaven during times of uncertainty and financial turmoil. Swiss central bank started to bust interest rates and CHF staged a very impressive rally, lasting better part of a year. Combined with bearish news coming from Great Brittan, GBP-CHF has seen the most severe sell off amongst CHF crosses.

Between July 2007 and March 2008 this pair fell from 2.5000 to 1.9375. That is a staggering 5600+ pips, a huge move by any standard. In fact, it has been first time in over 10 years, and only the second time ever, that this cross fell under 2.0000, a very important psychological level. As it is often the case in such furious moves, the price rebounded sharply from the March low to about 2.0960 and has since settled into a sideways movement.

This “settled price action” is a relative term and true only in light of past few month. Comparing to other currency pairs, daily moves are still large. Average True Range still shows a reading well over 200, and 300+ pips days are the norm. Just last Thursday daily range was over 420 pips. Certainly this kind of volatility demands respect and creates trading opportunities.

Extreme price fluctuations might make it unsuitable for some traders. Also, trading GBP-CHF on short time frames, might be an expensive proposition. The spread, cost of trading, is still relatively wide. Even though over last few years spreads narrowed down, they are still minimum of 6 pips, with 8-10 pips being the norm. In frequent trading, even the larger profit potential might not offset these costs.

Trading longer time frames might be a better proposition for most traders. The recent low of 1.9375 seems to be a major low, which is likely hold for the the rest of this year. As a matter of fact, patterns on long term charts, weekly and monthly, indicate this to be a multi year low. Long term up trend is expected for the rest of the year with a target of 2.1600-2.1800 over next few months. After that next target would be 2.3000 or perhaps even 2.3500, maybe a year later.

This kind of long term expectations should be reviewed and adjusted every few months. As of this writing, the price is around 2.0470, providing us with a substantial long term trading opportunity. Due to large volatility of this pair, one shouldn’t use high leverage as there are almost sure to be severe pullbacks over time. While not suitable for everybody, GBP-CHF is certainly an exciting cross, worth of a closer look.

Mike P. Kulej is a Chief Forex Strategist for Spectrum Forex LLC. He specializes in mechanical trading systems as explained on http://www.spectrumforex.com Spectrum Forex LLC offers numerous services to individual traders. With questions and comments e-mail him at kulej@spectrumforex.com