Living Life Abundantly

October is the month in which the most infamous crashes historically took place. The party starts in December and continues in the early part of January with some hangover effect. So what is the January Effect?

New Year is the end of a year and the beginning of a new year. This is what makes the January Effect so special. There is usually a rally in the stocks in the first few days of January. There are various reasons behind the rally. Most of the people are trying to pay their taxes at that time of the year. The companies are trying to show a good performance at the end of the year by cleaning their balance sheets. The January Effect can be quite a rally but much depends on the strength of the economy, how good December was and is there any catalyst to move the markets. There is usually a significant rally in the early part of January that actually sets the tone for the rest of the month and sometimes for the rest of the year. New Year is party time. People are in exuberant mood. Everyone wants to forget the past year and start the coming year with high hopes and good expectations. This is what is so special about the January Effect. So what is this January Effect? January Effect actually starts in the mid December and tends to favor small stocks. The most profitable period as measured statistically has been found to start from December 31st and end around February 28th with an average rate of return of 6.6% on smaller stocks.

Now January Effect may happen or may not happen but the turn of the month that is the last day of the month and first five days of the next month form a very good seasonal pattern. Now, you must know this fact that the January Effect is not guaranteed every year. The best example is the year 2007 when the market became bearish and didnt start to look to bottom out until March 2008.

If you buy stocks at the last day of the month and hold them for the first five days for the next month, chances are you are going to make some profit. This can be a good swing trading strategy. At the end of the fifth day you move your money back into the money market funds. Turn of the month is a very good seasonal pattern that actually holds up more often than not.

You can do the same on the holidays. Move your money in on the day before the holiday and sell it on the day after the holiday. This system works because the pension funds tend to put new money to work during the holidays and the overall tendency of the market to rise improves.

People start to feel happy when the holidays approach and buy stocks before they run off to celebrate Christmas, the fourth of July, the Labor Day and so on. After the party the reality sets in the stocks are usually sold off. The holidays and those times when people traditionally take vacations often lead to higher prices. Fewer traders lead to lower trading volume which in turn tends to exaggerate price moves.

Thats because these days fall within the most bullish time period of the year, winter! The three days before the New Year Eve and the first three days trading days after the New Year are your best holiday bet for making money.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try This 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signal Service! Know These Candlestick Patterns! Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

categories: forex,stocks,trading,finance,investing,business,currency trading,wealth,retirement,real estate,ecommerce,home business,mutual funds,money

If it was easy to be a billionaire then everyone would be one right? Many investors have learned how to take a very small investment and turn it into a large fortune. Wealth is just a numbers gain, if you can double or triple your money using the right investments and do this time and time again then you will soon be on your road to the billionaire club. Yes that is right the elite did not get there by being dumb, they are very intelligent and know how to make their money work for them.

Many investors are taking advantage of penny stock newsletters, they provide investors with the edge they need to make the right investment decisions. Investors no longer have to search the internet for the right company, going through profit reports and business news. When you subscribe to a good newsletter the best penny stocks are simply emailed to you for FREE.

Many consumers want to invest but do not have the money to invest there entire life savings. Penny Stocks or micro cap stocks are great choices for those who fall into that category. Many folks have become very wealthy starting with as little as $50.00. You have the opportunity to grow your money very fast in a short period of time. Billionaires on the Forbes list do the same thing to create their wealth, they made it grow fast!

SmartPennyStock.Com is a great company that has one of the best newsletters around. There membership is in the thousands and every day it is growing by an alarming rate. The main reason being is there ability to call huge winners, something most folks can not do these days. The market continues to go up and down, it finally hit 10,000 a few weeks ago but it did not stay there. If you want to make profits you need folks who know what penny stocks to watch.

Whether you are a experienced investor or just getting started with the market, stock newsletters will help you make informed decisions. Everyone needs to work harder to achieve financial independence, with the economy the way it is folks are losing jobs everyday. Spend some time and learn more about penny stocks, you could be very glad you did!

searching for the best penny stocks? Sign up for the FREE newsletter at SmartPennyStock.Com and learn more about penny stocks.

categories: penny stocks,microcap stocks,otcbb stocks,stocks,investing,business,finance,health,money,trading,blogs

Markets tend to react to the outside events. Markets react to the seasons. Markets react to holidays. Markets react to political crisis. Markets are what the people are thinking. The day before the Presidents day is the worst day and the day after the Easter is the worst day after. However, you should keep in mind that a lot of other factors also come into play and you have a lot of room for error. The next best holiday bets are the Labor Day and the Memorial Day because they fall before the first day of trading in September and June respectively.

The best time of the year to own stocks is the Santa Claus rally which for all practical purposes is the 17 day stretch from December 21 to January 7. This is the best time of the year. Most of the folks usually feel fairly good about themselves around this time of the year.

There is a low trading volume which tends to exaggerate the trend. If the economy is not doing good and is slowing down, FED tends to lower interest rates during holidays in order to go into the new year with less of a worry. However, when you are dealing with seasonality, you should keep these facts in your mind:

1) The market is not longer static. Money has no borders now. With one mouse click money is transferred from one locality to another. The seasonal effect may get interrupted by other events. More and more people have real time access to information and larger amounts of capital than at any time in the past.

2) Institutional investors like mutual funds, hedge funds and insurance companies have become important players in the markets. So in case of an event free environment, seasonal tendencies may hold up fairly well. At the end of the year, institutional investors want to make their results look as good as possible to their shareholders and tend to buy the stocks and so on.

3) The days of long term investing or what you call buy and hold are dead! Frequent market crashes have taught the investing public that investing for the long term is fairly risky. So there is more short term trading going on. These are the times for day traders and swing traders. With fewer people willing to hold stocks for longer periods, it is very difficult to predict seasonality.

4) A lot will be written about the recent stock market crash. What were the actual causes of the recent stock market crash? Why so many big banks went belly up in matter of days. What was so special that made this liquidity problem contagious with banks all over the world? The recent market crash was the result of CMO and Default Swaps bringing down the banks and Insurance companies in ways that had not been anticipated or foreseen by the analysts. Many had assumed that derivate securities are safe. Infact they have highly unpredictable tendencies. Derivates and outside the market trading activities can result in highly unpredictable patterns.

Many things are changing. The world is always changing. There is a change in demographics also taking place. With the aging of the population, the overall trend will be towards more income producing investments. So with everyone talking about the seasonal tendencies in the market, it reliability becomes less diminished.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try This 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signal Service! Know These Candlestick Patterns! Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

categories: forex,stocks,currency trading,investing,finance,business,trading,wealth,retirement,ecommerce,home business,mutual funds,money,credit

Trading financial contracts and instruments such as stocks, funds, futures and options are now much easier with the latest technology advances around automation and analysis. Traders and investors can engage in options trading through the internet with discount commission schedules using advanced trading systems. There are now a variety of online brokers offering options trading services including NobleTrading, OptionsXpress and Scottrade.

Consideration when selecting an online broker for options trading takes proper analysis and research to meet your specific trading requirements. Some of the items you will need to consider are highlighted in this article.

1.Products Available Online options brokers vary in their option trading offerings. Some have restrictions which prohibit some traders to trade options on some financial instruments like stock options, futures options and currency options. Select an online broker that allows you to perform traders for your choice of options contracts.

2.Account Type A few online brokers offer single accounts to trade options, stocks and other financial contracts and instruments. Others will allow you to open multiple accounts to perform your trades. Select a brokerage which meets your specific trading requirements.

3.Commission and Charges Each online broker offers a different commission plan. Some require minimum amounts per transaction along with additional charges. The amounts vary and can be as low as $7 per instrument with additional fees of $1 to $2 per traded contract. Some online options trading brokers have hidden fees that are apparent when you first begin trading. They can include fees associated with minimum account balance requirements, account maintenance and wavy charges.

4.Access to Markets Make sure the online broker you select matches your trading style. Many option traders need delayed market access while day traders require real-time, direct, level 2 market access. Not all brokers allow trading for exchanges like ISE, AMEX, PHS, PSE, and CBOE.

5.Trading Software To be successful you need a robust trading platform which is web based and directly accessible. The online broker should provide charting software and analysis tools to help with your trading decisions. It is important to engage an online broker offer these types of platforms who also include training programs in order to properly use their tools.

6.Options Trading Strategies Options traders use a variety of trading strategies from simple call and put processes to multi-legged complex options trading strategies. Make sure your brokerage firm supports you in your options trading strategies.

7.Order Types Find out which market and limit orders your online broker supports. This is important when engaging in complex options trading strategies. Equally important is the software trading platform they offer because you need one that lends itself well to quick decisions.

To locate an online broker to meet your trading requirements begin searching the internet. Make sure you do a thorough analysis of each online brokerage before making a final decision. Finding the right online broker can give you the ability to become a successful trader and increase your overall financial portfolio.

If you want to learn more about option trading, feel free to visit our website.

A professional currency trader may be confident that the US Dollar is indicating overall weakness and the Euro is indicating overall strength for the coming six months after performing the fundamental analysis on both economies.

The next step for the position trader would be to open a long position in EUR/USD pair. This simultaneously provides the position trader with long Euro position and a short US Dollar position.

Going long on Euro and at the same time short on US Dollar, this combined trading position fulfills your fundamental outlook as the position trader on both the currencies. The long term directional bias has been formed by you as the position trader on the basis of fundamental analysis.

So position trading depends on using fundamental analysis in identifying a profitable position in the currency market. But you still need technical analysis to determine your entry and exit in the market. You will have to use technical analysis in setting up the actual trade. Pinpointing the best time for the trade entry as well as setting risk managed control strategies is best accomplished by using technical analysis.

As all currencies are traded in pairs unlike the stock market or for that matter other financial markets, this concept of strength/weakness fits extremely well with the forex markets. The position trading uses fundamental analysis in pairing strength with weakness.

Position trading with the strength/weakness model is the most logical fundamental method for approaching long term forex trading. Trading forex requires a directional commitment on two currencies for each trade, so position trading is ideal for forex trading.

You only invest in stocks that go up and down but two stocks can never be paired together in stock trading. You can buy different stocks to diversify your portfolio but can never pair two individual stocks the way you can pair two currencies in forex trading. Buying one currency because it looks like it will become stronger while simultaneously selling another currency because it looks like it will become weaker is a better way to trade as compared to stocks and other financial markets.

Your first step as a position trader should be to do fundamental research and analysis on all major currency pairs. Analyze the Central Bank policy statements, economic growth factors of these countries, global economic news etc to identify the currency with the strongest positive future prospects and the currency with the strongest negative future prospects at a given point in time.

You will have to study all the major currencies like US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc and the Japanese Yen. Suppose you identify GBP and USD as the strongest loser currencies by performing fundamental analysis while EUR and CHF as the strongest gainer currencies in the foreseeable future. Possible currency pairs for position trading could be long EUR/USD, long CHF/USD, short GBP/EUR and short GBP/CHF.

Price action is never ever linear. It is always up and down with minor trends superimposed on major trends. You can enter the trades with the help of technical analysis and hold them as long as they move in the correct direction disregarding minor corrective swings and market noise.

Position trading maybe the most difficult method of approaching forex trading for the beginners! It requires a great deal of patience and faith in ones own analysis to weather the inevitable swings against the trading position. But if done properly it can be one of the most effective methods of extracting long term profits from the forex markets.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try Strignano’s Forex Signals free. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System!

categories: forex,stocks,mutual funds,trading,business,finance,investing,wealth,retirement,futures,options,day trading,credit,debt

All forex traders are looking to increase their profits by learning savvy investment strategies used by successful traders. If you are looking to maximize your return in the forex market and make it a successful business, you must first invest in the knowledge and experience of others. This means you have to learn the fundamentals and advanced trading strategies too.

Some investors use a variety of software programs to assist them in the investment process. These programs help them by tracking market trends and signals in real time. If you are contemplating using these types of programs or bots as they are known, take time to research software programs that have gained wide acceptance amongst investors.

The trend in using automatic bots to check the pulse of the market is one of the fastest growing trends in the industry. These programs make it easy for even novices to enter trades and profit with returns for each dollar invested. These programs make interpreting stop loses and targeted gains much more predictable.

Many new investors will tell you that these programs are instrumental in helping them with signals and key indicators. They are not only automatic trading bots, but a big benefit to using them is that it frees up your time in manually watching the trading signals. Software programs are great tools and therefore should be considered as a key component to your success.

Even though thee are many entry and exit trading strategies that could be used in conjunction for software bots, these software programs should never be the sole basis of your strategy. It is vitally important that you gain some real world experience in doing trades so you can learn what trading is all about. This will help you in the long run.

One of the best things you can do to become a successful trader is to learn the different trading strategies. This knowledge will help you immensely. As an example, if you are the type of trader that likes to control the limitations of a trader, then the stop loss strategy will be your training path to success.

As an example, many traders use the leverage based strategy. This type of strategy gives you access to more money to make trades above the amount you initially invested. The amount you can use is normally determined by your broker and is subject to specific terms. See a currency exchange broker to get more information.

You can succeed in forex trading. All it takes is a commitment to learn the basics and access to a demo account. There a several places to learn the basics of currency investing including several course I recommend on my website. The education you learn during the initial start-up phase of investing will determine how successful you will be.

Discover more information relating to system forex and stay informed today.

categories: forex,money,stocks,invest,currency,markets,course,business,broker,family,computer

I’ve been investing for a long time, and more recently I’ve had some great success in the world of stock options. While they’re risky, they can also be an extremely rewarding means of making money if they’re handled right.

If you’re new to the trading world, or even experienced but find yourself struggling, I’d like to give you a few pieces of advice that I think will help you out in your quest to become a great trader. Follow these tips and you’ll be in better shape when it comes to trading options.

You may or may not be aware of the fact that options lose value over time. This is known as time decay, and it basically means that the longer it is until an options contract expires, the higher of a price it will sell at relative to nearer contracts at the same strike price.

Let’s say you buy a contract for December while we’re in the month of April. The stock price is at $13, and the strike price on the contract is $16. Clearly, there’s a higher percentage chance that this stock will break $16 between now and December than there is between now and May. As a result, contracts with an expiration date that’s further out will sell at a higher price.

Additionally, the concept of protecting your investment on an option trade is a really important one. Too many people throw all of their eggs into one basket, not accounting for the possibility of the opposite of what they expect.

A patient and wise investor will generally do this for the protection and the piece of mind.

Had they hedged by giving up just a few dollars, they would have kept 90% of what they lost.

By adhering to these tips, I’m sure of the fact that you’ll be well ahead of the typical novice.

For more writing by this author, visit his blog about cheap worldwide travel insurance reviews deals and single trip holiday insurance ideas policies.

categories: options,stocks,daytrading,finance,investing,money,business,advice,education,reference,free

Foreign exchange trading or forex option trading involves buying and selling of various currencies from around the world through the foreign exchange market. Currencies prices change on a daily basis and is driven by the global market. These varying rates are based on everything from global news and politics, changing industries and economies, agriculture and varying other global market conditions. All these factors need to be considered and understood when moving forward with this type of trading.

Experienced traders and investors watch for currency prices falling in one market. When there are falling prices with one currency another is usually increasing in value. This is where many traders engaging in forex option trading practices will gain their most profits and expand their portfolios. It can be an area where you can lose money if you do not understand the intricacies of this type of trading.

Foreign exchange options or forex option trading are similar to traditional stock market options. They are essentially financial contracts or instruments where a buyer or owner has the right to exchange one world currency for another world currency from a prearranged agreement. The prearranged agreement consists of an exchange rate, known as a strike price, that will be paid by the owner at a previously agreed upon date or time period. This does not necessarily mean the buyer is obligated to make this exchange but it does allow the trader that choice when the prearranged time period arrives.

Trading on the foreign exchange in this manner provides traders and investors to hold forex options to purchase a currency at a fixed exchange rate but when that date arrives if it does not meet initial expectations of the buyer they are under no obligation to make that purchase. If the conditions are profitable for the trader then they can sell the currency they are holding to the market and reap the benefits and the profits from this form of option trading. The traders and investors do have to pay their brokers up-front for this privilege but it is well worth the extra investment to have this type of option.

The up-front premium in which has to be paid by the options owner to the broker provides traders and investors some security with engaging in forex option trading. The broker retains this premium regardless of whether the trader or investor exercises their right to sell the options contract or instrument. If the contract expires and the foreign exchange rate on the currency is less than the initial strike price agreed upon, the options contract or instrument is then worthless.

Forex option trading is gaining in popularity because of the higher and quicker return rates as opposed to those returns from the traditional stock market. Foreign currency traders and investors develop strategies that will be most profitable in the near term and deal less with the routine market fluctuations which occur on the stock markets around the world. This type of trading is also considered daily transactions in large volumes, which makes it extremely important for novice investors and traders to consult with an experienced brokerage before attempting these types of trades.

If you want to learn more about option trading, feel free to visit our website.

A growing trend on the market is currency options trading. This is one of the forex methods within the stock market where traders exchange one foreign currency for another, preferably making the transaction when one currency is trading for a higher amount than the other. This type of forex trading is gaining in popularity as the currencies around the world continue to shift with the overall global economy.

However, currency options trading require a clear understanding around foreign currencies, economic and world trends and the stock market. This type of forex training is not for a novice trader and should be left to experts in the field. If you want to engage in foreign exchange trading then make sure you have a strong mentor or broker who can help you with the details of this type of market trading.

The foreign exchange market is the largest market in the world. Currency options trading and foreign exchange training has gained in popularity in Europe and the United States over the last decade. New strategies, methods and techniques have been developed to assist traders when engaging in the foreign exchange market. These new strategies have been able to increase trader and investor portfolios as their knowledge and experience in this area increase.

Currency options trading had proven to be a viable method for producing financial gains through trading on the foreign market. Over the last few years it has quickly grown to be one of the preferred methods for traders and investors around the world. The technique applied to this type of trading can also be used when people approach conventional market trading options and allows them to better leverage their investments.

There are many types of market trading techniques available to traders and investors in today’s market. Most of these methods require experienced traders and brokers to truly understand and take advantage of capital gains and expand their portfolios. Although anyone can perform options trading it would be wise to seek expert advice prior to your getting involved with currency options trading. Learn from the experienced and those who are actually benefiting from this type of forex trading until you feel confident to move forward with your own investment strategies.

Currency options trading are very similar to the way you approach stock options trading on the market. Trading currency options you basically work in a contract situation that provides you with a means to purchase a world currency at a designated exchange rate within a specific time period sometime in the future. The most important aspect is that this contract does not commit you to buy that currency at that time, so you can decide not to purchase the currency if the price you anticipated did not transpire. However this type of arrange does come at a cost whereby you would pay your broker a premium that will allow you to make these types of trading choices if they arise. This type of trading lets you hedge your investments during unpredictable market trends.

If you want to learn more about option trading, feel free to visit our website.

Traders and investors need to formulate strategies which will allow them to be profitable under any type of market condition when option trading. No matter how the market fluctuates, whether the stocks go up or down, experienced traders need to find the right method to sustain success and create revenue growth. Millionaires are made through option trading on a daily basis there are also others who are not as fortunate. So it is vital to understand the nuances associated with market conditions and how to optimize those conditions in your favor.

It is possible to be successful when option trading on the market, whether the stocks are fluctuating up and down, or even staying stationary. The traders and investors with an understanding of the market and the various nuances associated with it are the ones that become successful and make millions. Some of the strategies these successful traders and investors utilize include strategies for when the markets are up and others for when the market is down.

Option trading strategies for when the markets are up include Buy Call Option, Sell Naked Put Option, and Bull Call Spread. Buy Call Option is where you could purchase the same number of equal stocks for a fraction of the price using call options and profit when the stock goes up. If the stock crashes then you will lose the small amount you put towards buying the option versus the entire amount you would have use to buy the stock. Sell Naked Put Option is used instead of buying call options means you can sell short put options by pocketing the entire amount you made on selling the put options if the stock goes up. Bull Call Spread is when you buy call options at the money and sell short out of the money call options within the same month. This strategy means you make money when the stock rises or stays the same.

When the markets go down the best strategies to use for option trading is Buy Put Option, Sell Naked Call Option or Bear Put Spread. The Buy Put Option instead of shorting stocks and risking a margin call you buy a put option. Buying a put option is the same as buying call options but you profit when the stock goes down rather than up. Sell Naked Call Option means instead of buying put options you sell short call options and make the entire amount from selling the put options if the stock goes down. Bear Put Spread is when you buy put options at the money and sell short out of the money put options within the same month. This strategy provides profits when the stock falls or stays the same.

Other strategies that can be used for option trading whether the market goes up or down include Straddle and Strangle. Straddle is when you buy a call option and a put option at the same strike point for the same stock option. This lets you profit no matter what direction the market is moving. Strangle is similar but buys out of the money call option and put option instead of at the money in order to reduce the cost of the position.

When the market is steady or moving sideways then some of the best strategies to use for option trading include Covered Call and Short Straddle. Covered Call works if you have a stock that is moving sideways you could collect rental out of it by selling the call option each month and profit the entire amount of the sale if the stock continues moving sideways. Short Straddle means you would buy call options and put options similar to Straddle but you would sell short to create an option position which profits when the stock continues to move sideways.

If you want to learn more about option trading, feel free to visit our website.

If you are an experienced trader or investor then you have probably used option trading rolling strategies. To put it simply it is a strategy where you would move your strike point to a new strike point within the same month as your original transaction. The term rolling essentially means moving.

In options trading the movement happens when you move from one strike price or point to another strike price or point. This can be accomplished when you move points vertically or horizontally. Moving points vertically means you will be making this transaction within the same month as your original strike point. Moving points horizontally means you will make a request that this transaction takes place within a different month from your original transaction.

Traders and investors understand that in order for them to maximize their returns they need to use the covered call strategy each month consecutively over a long period of time. This option trading strategy requires the investor or trader to move or roll the strike point when the option expires. The term rolling is derived from this type of trading strategy. On the other hand, traders and investors need to make sure their strategy provides them with a means to stop or avoid rolling when it is not in their best interest to continue.

If a trader or investor decides not to roll the strike point then they are allowing their investment to increase or appreciate. This is not a normal strategy to use with option trading but it can be a transaction utilized if the market conditions warrant this type of option trading. In this case when the option is exercised and the share is turned into capital, it could be called away.

In option trading when an option is expiring, the trader or investor can perform one of two types of transactions. They can execute a short option, which refers to being ‘out of the money’ or ‘in the money’. If the option is ‘out of the money’ then it is essentially worthless. In this case the trader or investor will sell the next month’s call after letting the option expire. If the option is ‘in the money’ then the trader or investor needs to sell the next month’s call after buying the short option back in order to keep the stock. Even thought that type of trade is actually two trades, buying and selling, it is considered one trade. This is also known as a spread. To roll out your covered call or buy-write you need to utilize this type of spread so you can buy back the short option and keep your stock.

To maintain your covered call strategy traders would sell their second month option short. The remaining positions are long stock and short calls that traders and investors then buy back at the beginning of each month with no choice on front month options. There are choices to sell near term or with a farther expiration date for the next month option using this type of option trading strategy. However, rolling options can be complicated and best left to experienced traders and investors to avoid unnecessary investment risks.

If you want to learn more about option trading, feel free to visit our website.

Have you ever received the dreaded forex margin call? But contrary to the popular opinion that a margin call represents that worst case scenario for the currency trader, this is far from the truth. The risk that is assumed when trading aggressively the currency markets often results in receiving a margin call. The worst case could be far worse.

A margin call is in fact a safeguard to protect a trader from losing 100% or even more of the money in the trading account. To owe additional funds to the broker is actually the worse case scenario. This uncomfortable position is largely avoided because of the existence of the margin call.

You will receive an actual call from your stock broker to add more funds to your margin account when equity is running low in your stock trading account. Unlike the world of stock trading, a margin call is not actually a physical call from your broker in forex trading.

In forex trading when the trader no longer has enough equity in the trading account to keep the open positions viable, the trading platform software automatically closes out all the open positions and immediately realizes all losses at the prevailing market rates.

There are good reasons for automated margin calls in forex trading, although this may seem a bit cold hearted. Prices can move extremely fast in forex markets and because of the high leverage used, every price move is magnified.

Therefore, when the traders equity runs low, the trading account can become depleted very quickly with not enough time to call for more funds. As a safeguard measure, the forex margin call closes all open positions to help ensure that the trader does not lose the entire account or worse.

So exactly when is a margin call triggered? This depends exactly on the number and the size of the lots being traded, the leverage chosen and the equity in the account. For example, you have $1500 in your trading account. You use a leverage of 100:1 to trade in standard lots of $100,000.

You want to trade one lot of EUR/USD. Since your account is in US Dollars, you need to convert it into Euros. Suppose the EUR/USD exchange rate is 1.3465. So you need $1346 to trade standard lot Euros 100,000 of EUR/USD. This is because Euros 1000 are needed to control Euros 100,000.

Suppose you are very new and dont know about stop losses, you start trading without putting stop losses in place. Your trading account has $1500. The margin required to keep the trade open is $1346. Each pip is exactly equal to $10 in this case.

You will receive a margin call when your equity drops below $1346 and your open position will be automatically closed at this point. That means once you lose the excess equity in your account above the margin required to trade a standard lot that is $1500-$1346= $154. This is equal to 15.4 pips loss (assuming no spread).

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try 1500 Pips a day Forex Signals. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System!

categories: forex,stocks,mutual funds,trading,finance,investing,business,wealth,retirement,futures,options,ecommerce,credit,debt

Before the coming of Euro, it was necessary to hold large amounts of every individual European currency. As a result the currency reserves tended towards US Dollar. In 1990s, 65% of the global reserves were in US Dollar.

However, with the introduction of Euro, foreign reserve assets are shifting in favor of Euro. As EU becomes one of the major trading partners for most countries around the world, this trend is expected to continue.

The European Central Bank: The European Central Bank (ECB) is the governing body that determines the monetary policy for the EMU countries. The Executive Board of ECB comprises the president, the vice president and four other members. These individuals along with the governors of the member national banks comprise the Governing Council. The Executive Board implements the policies made by the Governing Council.

The policy meetings are biweekly. Although ECB meets biweekly and has the power to change the monetary policy in any of these meeting, it is only expected to do so where an official press conference is scheduled afterwards. New monetary policy decisions are usually taken by a majority vote. The president has the deciding vote in the event of a tie. These policy meeting are very important to watch for professional currency traders as most of the decisions announced in these meetings impact the Euro.

ECB heavily depends on the individual central banks in the implementation of its policies. ECB has a strict mandate based on inflation and deficit. ECB tries to keep the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) below 2% and M3 (money supply) annual growth below 4.5%. So, the EMUs primary objective is price stability and growth.

The ECB and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) are independent institutions from both national governments and other EU institutions. This operational independence is granted to them as per Article 108 of the Maastricht Treaty.

There are many factors that have to be taken into consideration while setting the targets for inflation and growth. There was EMU criteria that were used as a precondition for any EU member state joining the EMU. How ECB achieves its policy targets of price stability and growth? The primary tools the ECB uses to control monetary policy are the Open Market Operations. ECB has at is disposal four categories of open market operations that it can use to manage interest rates, control liquidity and signal monetary policy stance.

Bulk of refinancing for the financial sector is done through these main refinancing operations. These refinancing operations are conducted weekly with a maturity of two weeks. These operations are regular liquidity providing reverse transactions.

Longer term refinancing operations are liquidity providing reverse transactions with a monthly frequency and a maturity of three months. Fine tuning operations are executed on an ad hoc basis with the aim of both managing the liquidity situation in the market and steering interest rates.

ECB uses structural operations to adjust the structural position of the Eurosystem vis–vis the financial sector. It involves the issuance of debt certificates, reverse transactions and outright transactions. The ECB minimum bid rate is the key policy target for the ECB. It is the level of borrowing that ECB offers to the central banks of its member states.

ECB is not constrained from intervening in the forex markets if it believes that inflation is of concern. Therefore, ECB does not usually have the exchange rate target but can factor in exchange rates in its policy deliberations as exchange rate impacts price stability.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try Strignano’s Forex Signals free. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System!

categories: forex,stocks,mutual funds,trading,business,finance,investing,wealth,retirement,futures,options,day trading,credit,debt

The first step is to identify the type of trade into which we will enter. It all depends on your trading strategies. What matters most to a trader or an investor is how to create a positive cash flow.

Is it a day trade? Is it a swing trade or is it a long term positions trade? Once we acknowledge what our goals and objective are than we can narrow our expectations.

Suppose I am a day trader. My expectations are for X amount of a given range. I will expect that if I miss 20% of the bottom and 20% of the top then I can expect to capture 60% of the average daily range. I will generally be able to identify what the average range for the day is.

First I will have to structure my computer and charts to a format that is conducive to day trading. So how do I start? How many pips you want to make in a specific time frame like eight to six bars from entry? 30 pips or 40 pips!

Use the 15 minute time frame for the dominant trend if you trade Euro, Yen or Pound, then for day trading. Use the 5 minute time frame to exit a position in day trading. Use the 5 minute time frame as a shorter time frame trigger to go with the 15 minute signal.

How do you make your entry and exit decisions in day trading. First look at the 15 minutes chart than take a look at the 5 minutes chart to make your trading decision. The key to remember is when the 15 minute time period is in the buy mode, take the 5 minute buy signals. Similarly when the 15 minute time period is in sell mode, take the 5 minute sell signals.

If you are in a trade based on the 15 minute and the 5 minute time periods, these are the time frames you need to monitor for that specific trade. However as a day trader you can watch the 60 minute time period.

Keep in mind your profit targets and where you are in the range. Keeping an eye on the 60 minute time period will help you identify the current trend and a potential change in the trend if a moving average crossover occurs.

If the Euro is already down 50 pips when a sell signal is triggered, the odds are that your profit potential is in the range of suppose 30 pips or less if the average true range (ATR) is 80 pips based on the past 14 trading days. How do you calculate these things?

You will have to subscribe to a good forex charting service. Free forex charts do not go into very fine details that you need to look into when making your trading decisions. Using good forex charting software will help you automatically calculate all the daily, weekly, monthly pivot points as well as the daily range, support and resistance, S-1, R-1 and other stuff.

You should learn how to calculate pivot points. Using pivot points in day trading can give you an edge. For day trading use the 60 minute time period for calculating the monthly pivot points, 15 minutes time frame for calculating the weekly pivot points and the 5 minute time frame for calculating the daily pivot points.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try Strignano’s Forex Signals free. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System!

categories: forex,stocks,mutual funds,trading,investing,business,finance,wealth,retirement,futures,options,day trading,credit,debt