Students Of Success

Why is it that very few traders succeed in the Forex trading environment while the grand majority of traders fail to achieve success? Although there is no hard answer to this question, there are a few things that will put you one step ahead and will definitely put the odds in your favor.

The main purpose of this article is to guide you through some important aspects of Forex trading. But in a different way, instead of telling you what to do or the best way to do it, it will tell you what to avoid. Sometimes it is better to identify the main drawbacks on a discipline and then isolate them so we have the best results at a certain level of development.

The search for the Holy Grail
Many traders spend years and years trying to find the Holy Grail of trading. That magic indicator or set of indicators, only known by a few traders, that will make them rich in a short period of time.
Fact: Well, there is no magic indicator, nor a set of indicators that will make anyone rich in a short period of time. The main reason of this is because market changes, every single moment is unique. Every Forex trading system will fail from time to time. Our work here is to find a Forex trading system that fits our personality as traders, otherwise the trader will find it hard to follow it.

Looking for Easy Money
Unfortunately most traders are attracted to the Forex market for this reason. Mainly because of the publicity showing or rather trying to show how easy is to trade and make money in the Forex market.
Fact: Yes, it is very easy to trade, anyone can do it. It is as hard as one click. But the second part of it isn’t that easy. Making money or achieving consistent profitable results is hard. It requires lots of education, patience, discipline, commitment, and this list could go to infinite. In a few words, it is possible to have consistent profitable results, but definitely it is not easy.

Looking for Excitement
Some other traders are attracted to the Forex market or any other financial market because they think it is exciting to be a trader.
Fact: Yes, it is very exciting to trade the Forex market. But if this is the main reason you are still trading the Forex market, sooner or later you will discover the most expensive adventure you have ever known. Do some thinking on it.

Not Using Money Management.
Most traders forget about this important aspect of trading. They think they shouldn’t be using money management until they achieve consistent profitable results. They totally forget about the risk side of trading.
Fact: Money management allows your profits to increase geometrically, but also limits your risk on every single trade. Money management tells you how much to risk on each trade. Using money management is a must if you want to achieve your trading goals. By using money management you make sure you are going to be able to trade tomorrow, the next week, month and the following years.

Not Being Psychology Tuned
This is one of the most underestimated subjects when it comes to trading. One of the main principles of financial markets is that the price of each instrument is based on the perception of each individual participant “the crowd.” In other words the price of each instrument is determined by the fear, greed, ego and hope of all traders.
Fact: Being aware of all psychological issues that affect the decisions made by traders will definitely put the odds in your favor.

Lack of Education
Education is the base of knowledge on every discipline. As lawyers and doctors require several years of college until they get their degree, Forex traders also require long years of study. It is better to have someone experienced to guide you through your trading, since some information could take you in the wrong path.
Fact: The market teaches us invaluable lessons on every single trade made. The process of education for a Forex trader could take for ever. That’s right, we never stop learning. We should be humble about the markets and our knowledge; otherwise the market will prove us wrong.

These are some of the most important barriers every trader faces when trying to trade successfully.

Trading successfully the Forex markets is no easy task, it requires a lot of hard work to do it right, but with the right education, you will put yourself closer to your trading goals.

Raul Lopez is a full time Forex trader and founder of www.straightforex.com a high quality Forex training and Forex trading course provider.

Believe it or not, there are ways to convert taxable income
into non-taxable income, without any fear of an IRS audit.

Here’s one of my favorites. It’s been part of our
tax code for over 30 years, yet many still don’t take
advantage of it.

What am I talking about?

The IRA — Individual Retirement Account.

Now, before you say, “Oh, I know all about that one; what’s
so great about an IRA?”, give me 10 minutes to explain 3 new
benefits to the IRA rules that you may not realize.

BENEFIT #1: How To Avoid Tax Rather Than Postpone Tax

First, did you know that there are now 2 kinds of IRA’s
available?

The so-called Traditional IRA is the one that first came
out way back in the 1970’s.

But there’s a newer version of the IRA that’s only a few
years old — it’s called the Roth IRA. And the difference
between these 2 IRA’s is huge.

Traditional IRA contributions are tax-deductible, resulting
in immediate tax savings. The growth of those contributions
is also tax-sheltered while the funds remain in the account.

But eventually all tax-deductible Traditional IRA
contributions, as well as the growth of those contributions,
will be subject to income tax when the money is withdrawn
from the account.

In other words, Traditional IRA’s offer the opportunity to
temporarily postpone taxes.

In contrast, the Roth IRA offers the opportunity to
permanently avoid taxes. With a Roth IRA, you don’t take
a deduction for your contributions; instead, you make
a contribution with “after-tax” dollars.

Whatever you put in not only grows tax-free, but can
also be withdrawn tax-free.

Here’s an example to illustrate:

If you invest $2,000 per year for 20 years into a Roth IRA,
you will have invested a total of $40,000. Now if that Roth
IRA earns an average of 10% per year, that $40,000 will
grow into $126,005.

Now comes the fun part: Assuming the IRA has existed for at
least 5 years and you are at least 59 ½ years old, you can
withdraw the entire $126,005 tax free.

In contrast, if this money had been invested in a
Traditional IRA, the entire $126,005 would be subject to
income tax as it is withdrawn.

The $86,005 of growth is magically converted from taxable
income to non-taxable income. Assuming you are in the 15%
federal tax bracket, that’s a savings of $12,901. Add any
state income tax, and you could save over $15,000 in
taxes.

BENEFIT #2: Take An Extra 3 ½ Months To Fund Your IRA

The deadline for contributing to your IRA is April 15 of the
year AFTER the year for which the contribution made.

So for Year 2005, you have until April 15, 2006
to put money into your IRA.

If you’ve already invested the maximum (more about that in a
moment) by December 31, 2005, then you’re done. No more
money can go into the IRA for 2005.

But if you haven’t maxed out your IRA, you have until
April 15 to do so.

Which brings me to . . .

BENEFIT #3: The Maximum Contribution Amounts Have Increased

For many years, the most you could put into an IRA was
$2,000. Now, the maximum is $4,000 (assuming you have at
least that much earned income from wages or self-employment
income).

And if you are over 49, you can put in another $500,
bringing the total maximum to $4,500.

A married couple, both age 50 or older, can put a whopping
$9,000 per year into a IRA. Not too shabby, eh?

One final note about these Roth IRA rules: For married
people, you can only contribute the maximum of $4,000 or
$4,500 if your combined income is less than $150,000.

If you are single or head of household, you can contribute
the maximum if your income is less than $95,000.

For most middle-class folks looking for a perfectly legal
way to permanently avoid tax (rather then merely temporarily
postpone tax), the Roth IRA fits the bill.

Now comes the hard part — how to actually implement this
tax avoidance strategy.

“We’d like to save as much as we can for our golden years.
But $9,000 a year? It’s hard to put aside that kind of
money. We need every dollar we make just to pay the bills.”

If that’s your situation, I’m not going to get up on my
“what-do-you-mean-you-can’t-save-any-money-for-retirement”
soapbox and start preaching at you.

I will say this: You’ve got to start somewhere, and you’ve
got to start saving something, don’t you?

People who have a problem saving for retirement usually have
a budgeting problem. For an excellent resource on
budgeting, I highly recommend the Budget Stretcher web site:

http://www.homemoneyhelp.com.

This site offers a free budget system complete with simple
forms and worksheets to help you figure out how to put some
money aside for a Roth IRA or other savings plan.

Take advantage of this resource and get started today.

Wayne M. Davies is author of 3 tax-slashing eBooks for small
business owners and the self-employed. For a free copy of
Wayne’s 25-page report, “How To Instantly Double Your
Deductions” visit http://www.YouSaveOnTaxes.com

A good rule of thumb for either a mini-account or standard forex account, is to limit your margin usage for each trade to 5% - 10% of your usable margin.

As an example, if your usable margin is $5000, to trade safely, limit your margin usage for each trade to a maximum of $250. This means trading only 1 full lot for each trade. This is assuming that you are trading in a CMS Universal account with 400:1 margin. Your use of margin is increased with a smaller ratio, as most other brokerages only offer a smaller ratio, normally 200:1 or even 100:1.

As your account grows and your usable margin grows, you can increase your margin usage and trade bigger mini or full lot sizes. If you lose money and your account shrinks, drop your margin usage back down to smaller sizes. You need to learn to keep your eye on your usable margin, especially if you’ve suffered some losses.

Protect your usable Margin by not having more than 2 open hedged or unhedged position at any one time. Your usable margin & equity will get eaten up by un-hedged open positions that go bad in the wrong direction…this is a really good reason why you want to use stops, and if
you hedge, hedge tightly.

IMPORTANT: Don’t just keep putting on positions because you think it’s a good opportunity. First sell a position and book some usable margin before you put on another position.

NOTE: Hedging does not use up more margin! Use it to protect your equity & usable margin, esp. in an emergency situation!

If you break the hedging rules, and your positions go against you and you aren’t properly hedged with stop losses, you’ll quickly see your usable margin degrade.

If it degrades enough so that your usable margin goes into the negative, you’ll get a margin call. This means that the operators will automatically start selling some of your lots in your oldest losing positions in order to beef up your usable margin. This makes your unrealized loss become a realized loss…and the money is gone from your account.

If you lose too much useable margin, they won’t even let you trade in your account, the message they’ll give you when you try to put on a new trade is, ‘Account in Untradeable Condition’.

If this happens, you might have an open position that needs to be hedged immediately or you might need to sell an old position. Or you might need to deposit more money into your account. Then you can start trading smaller lots to win back some usable margin.

You can lose your entire account balance if you’re not careful. One other good thing about forex trading is that you will never lose more money than is in your account, you won’t have to sell your house if you get a margin call! Stick to the rules above and this won’t happen to you. You’ll make more money than you thought possible and without the stress of loss.

Cynthia Macy is co-author of ‘The Day Trade Forex System: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide To Online Currency Trading’.

http://www.daytrade-forex.com
http://www.successtrading2000.com
http://www.professionalforextradingonline.info

If you read our “currency trading big profits for the week ahead” from Sunday and took the trades you will now be sitting on huge profits for the week.

Are we gurus or knew what was going to happen of course not! The lesson is in timing moves with a sensible strategy that anyone can use.

Lets look at how you could use the tools we used to pile up huge gains.

The Importance of entry

We all know this is the key how do you get in with the best risk reward with your currency trading?

The answer is the Bollinger band and simple support and resistance the bands give you targets and support areas to focus on.

Now for the hard bit, timing your entry!

Timing the entry

Many traders like to predict the market and get in early this is a mistake.

You should always wait for strength if you want to go long or weakness if you want to go short.

This is where the stochastic indicator is so effective. As a short term momentum indicator it is un rivalled and trading bullish and bearish divergence is extremely effective.

The result

We focused on 5 trades (while we gave advice on the yen we decided to stand aside although the advice was correct) but the other 4 we took and piled up huge gains for the week.

Focus on the long term

Our view last week was to get in to our trades focusing on the long term dollar downtrend.

We had a good dollar correction to the upside that was obviously running out of steam and acted accordingly and got some great profits.

Keep it simple!

Many traders will say or currency trading last week was simple strategy, we will take that as a compliment that’s what trading should be!

The more complicated your strategy is the more likely it is to fail. There is no correlation between a complicated strategy and profits in fact the reverse is true, the simpler the strategy the more robust it is in the face of brutal market conditions.

When trading currencies keep in mind the following:

1. Focus on the long term trend

This is the way to make huge gains forget small moves the odds are not on your side and profit potential is not there to cover your inevitable losses.

2. Look at charts for areas of support & resistance

Then use Bollinger bands and stochastics to define and implement your entry points and stop levels.

3. Hold on to the trends

Its always tempting to bank and snatch profits, but if you have confidence in your trading and the trend is in your favour hold on – keep in mind currency trends last many months or years and you need them to make big profits.

Is it really that simple? We think so. We were right last week on all our trades, ( and we did even better in energies check out our reports ) of course we could have been wrong, but our entries were timed well and had close stops for risk control.

Try the above for yourself and see if the tools and tips above can help you make bigger profits from your currency trading!

As you enter the world of Forex you will immediately feel the basic need all Forex traders have: A method or technique to forecast the market behavior with the highest possible accuracy.

There are a number of methods and techniques that traders have researched through the years with this goal in mind. These techniques are based on different indicators and approaches to trading, and each one has had its own successes and positive outcomes when applied to specific market conditions, but there is no doubt that among the most successful of these techniques you will find Elliot Waves as one of the best concepts and methods you can learn.

Ralph Nelson Elliot observed that the markets have strong trends that seem to follow a repetitive pattern in all the different time frames you can trade and after analyzing a great number of charts he discovered in the late 1920’s that the markets move in a repetitive manner far away from a totally chaotic behavior.

He divided market movements into trends, corrections and sideways movements. With these distinctions being made he then assigned a wave terminology to these periodic movements; he called the trend movement an Impulsive Wave and a correction a Corrective Wave.

In order to have the formation of an impulsive wave we need five constituent waves “inside” this wave. This will be three waves in the direction of the trend and two corrections against the trend.

But considering the fractal nature of the waves found by Elliot, then each of the smaller impulsive waves will have itself other five waves “inside”.

In the case of the corrective waves they will be formed by other three smaller waves. Two in the direction of the correction and one in the direction of the trend.

Considering the repetitive nature of Elliot Waves you can make a pretty accurate forecast of what the markets will do next, with the huge advantage this represents in your daily encounters with the currency markets.

Adrian Pablo is a freelance writer with articles published in a number of places. Get a free report on Fibonacci Trading and learn more about the world of trading, visit ==>http://www.1-forex.com

I received an email this week with a question (below) which caused me to think about the wisdom of pursuing trading as a career. Regardless of your trading time span, the skills and concerns of active short-term trading are relevant to all market particpipants.

Question: “There are a lot of people who say that day trading is for “fools” and that it is very difficult to make a living from Day Trading. What are your opinions?”

Trading is like most business: it requires commitment and perseverance. It is never easy to make money, but people who have mastered a skill make it appear easy. The really successful pit traders that I have known made trading look very easy, tantalisingly easy; but they all had many years of experience behind them. For every successful trader there has probably been a few hundred who have tried and failed.

I think people fail at any business if they approach it without an appreciation and understanding of what is required for success. The majority of traders fail because they have no such appreciation and they have unrealistic expectations of themselves. Any trader who starts with the expectation of becoming an instant success is setting himself up for failure. No one would decide to become a golf pro and assume that they could just pick up a bag of clubs and start winning tournaments. Yet novice traders do this all the time.

Just to start with the understanding that trading is a skill that is developed over time, through experience, puts a novice trader way ahead of the competition.

There are 2 core skills in trading, first the ability to anticipate the market (read the market) and second, having the discipline to execute your plan. To learn to read the market you may as well use a trading simulator and only start to trade when you have demonstrated to yourself that you can anticipate the market. Discipline, though, has to be developed and tested in the real world. Discipline is really the crux of the matter and it is here that most traders fall down. Their failure is mainly due to the fact that they are not really aware of its importance. Just starting out as a trader with the intention of developing your discipline puts you way ahead of the average trader. If you can trade with discipline (i.e. stick to your own rules and limits) you are 95% there!

So I would say that for the average aspiring trader, trading is a fool’s game; but for those of us who approach the business as a business, with a clear understanding of the unique challenges that trading offers, it is a rewarding and fulfilling career.

Malcolm Robinson
LIFFE Pit Trader & Electronic Trader
InstinctiveTrader.com

Every state has statutes and mechanisms in place that deal with disposal of tangible assets whether the deceased had a will or not. Families might fight over who gets the house, the cars, the stocks and the cash, but there is generally no question about where such property is located.

On the other hand, many of the questions surrounding intangible digital assets are just beginning to be asked, much less answered. Estate planning in the information age raises a whole new set of issues that just didn’t exist even as few as ten years ago.

When a person dies, for example, who inherits the computer files, the web pages, blogs and emails? More complicated yet, how are online bank accounts, stock holdings that exist entirely in digital media, or the rights to an exclusively online business to be handled? The proliferation of online businesses and the world’s propensity for doing paperless business means that digital holdings very often have considerable monetary value. What if nobody knows your passwords or your various usernames? Do your digital assets just disappear into the ether? Can your online business be seized and sold to pay your creditors?

The dynamic nature of Internet transactions makes their inclusion in a will eminently impractical. User names and passwords change, new businesses are created, new stocks are e-traded, and new email accounts come into being. Changing a will, or adding a codicil, every time your online dealings change is not at all feasible.

Even though the law governing digital assets is unclear, largely because it hasn’t yet been written, there are ways to protect those assets and make sure your heirs are able to locate and use them.

First, keep a master list of all your online dealings, complete with urls, user names and passwords. The list should include items like domain names, where they are registered, and when they need to be renewed to keep the business name and Internet location. Put this particular information on paper, update it every time something new is added or something old deleted, and keep it in a safe place with your other important business papers, preferably in a safety container.

Make sure your attorney or your estate executor is aware of the list, even if you don’t want it opened until after your death. Instruct your executor or attorney as to when the list is to become available to your heirs – for example in the case of serious illness in the event that someone needs to take care of online business transactions in your stead. Such instructions may or may not be legally binding, but chances are your instructions will be followed, as a matter of moral obligation.

If you have a prosperous online business, online bank accounts, e-trade accounts, or other valuable digital assets, those need to be figured into your estate planning. Otherwise, your heirs may be stuck with a messy situation and many unexpected expenses, or even legal challenges to deal with – problems that your estate planning was initially designed to protect against.

About Ronald E. Hudkins;
Ronald Hudkins is a retired U.S. Army Military Police member that was assigned as a staff researcher. He has coordinated with military and criminal investigators, set on court marshals and worked closely with the Staff Judge Advocate Generals Office (JAG). He has a keen sense of legal matters - their interpretation, initiatives and guidelines. For imperative financial planning needs he suggests his book “Asset Protection and Estate Planning for All Ages.” Additionally, he offers a Free Newsletter at his web site: http://www.AssetProtectNow.com

Long Term

Long term traders will work from end of day data and look to hold trades for a few weeks up to many months. Usually trend trading.

Advantages

No need to watch the markets intraday.

Fewer transactions means lower commission costs.

Cost of equipment and data is minimal.

Disadvantages

Large equity swings on single positions with large stops.

Usually only 1 or 2 exceptional trades a year so patience is essential.

Bigger capitalization required to ride longer term swings.

Frequent losing months.

Short Term

Working from intraday data and looking to hold for a day up to a week. Usually swing trading.

Advantages

More opportunities for trades.

Less chance of losing months.

Less reliance on one or two trades a year to make money.

Disadvantages

Transaction costs will be higher.

Intraday data adds to costs.

Overnight risk becomes a factor.

Day Trading

Working from intraday data the day trader will attempt to take small profits from intraday swings. All positions will be exited at the market close.

Advantages

Many trading opportunities in a day.

Much lower chance of losing months.

No overnight risk.

Reduced margin requirements due to no overnight risk.

Disadvantages

Transaction costs will be high.

Psychologically more difficult due to frequency of trading.

Profits are limited by needing to exit at the end of the day.

Data costs are high as real time data is essential.

Tim Wreford runs Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides a free day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.

The European Union (EU) constitution was dealt a double blow, first by a French “no” vote on 29-May and then by a follow on “no” from the Netherlands on 01-Jun. To add insult to injury, one low level Italian diplomat quickly called for a referendum in Italy to decide if a return to the lira was warranted. Additionally, Prime Minister Tony Blair, who took over leadership of the EU on 01-Jul, indefinitely postponed the British referendum on the EU constitution.

This news along with plenty of speculation about the repercussions dominated the international headlines for much of the month of June. Not surprisingly, all the hubbub about the EU had a direct impact on the FX market. The euro fell to a new seven month low following the French referendum, reaching a low of 1.2371 and the “single currency” has been under pressure ever since. Probes below the 1.2000 level were seen ahead of 30-Jun, suggesting additional near term downside potential toward 1.1756 and beyond.

Since the inception of the euro in 1999 central banks, especially those in Asia and the Middle East were seen diversifying out of dollars into the euro. They were not only looking to scale back their substantial dollar holdings in the face of a declining market, but they also sought the higher returns available in the eurozone. However, returns on eurozone deposits slipped below those in the United States in December and the FED’s string of rate hikes bodes well for those differentials to further widen. Combine the better returns in the US and a generally more favorable dollar outlook with the specter of continued political turmoil within the EU and it seems there is little incentive to hold euros at this point.

Truth be told, the EU was facing some rather significant hurdles long before the double “noes” derailed confidence. Many of these hurdles are associated with expansion. Discontent on the part of established club members with the admission of central European countries in May-04 and general hostilities about the proposed admittance of Turkey played significant roles in the recent referendums. In addition, diverging economic performance, productivity growth, inflation and fiscal performance among member nations are all fodder for further turmoil.

Worthy of particular note is the broad based economic malaise in Italy. Italian consumer product manufacturers are losing their battle with Asia and consequently the trade balance is moving into the red. Unemployment is up, as is the budget deficit. Being part of the euro, and therefore having a relatively high exchange rate, essentially thwarts any effort to compete with Asia on price. Without its own currency, Italy is unable to devalue out of its non-competitive position. Hence, the aforementioned comments by Italian Minister Maroni. Countries such as Portugal and Greece are also in rather dismal economic health. The budget deficit of the former has already reached 7% of GDP.

Many have noted that the EU constitution may be dead, but it’s not buried yet. I’m not so sure that I would agree as approval of all 25 member counties is needed for ratification. The initial thought was that any dissent was likely to come from newer or smaller EU countries and that a little economic arm twisting by the likes of France and the Netherlands might encourage them to reconsider. Unquestionably the long standing skepticism of the Brits was going to be an issue. However, rejection of the constitution by two of the founding members of the EU certainly throws a wrench in the works.

I don’t believe that we need to worry about the European Monetary Union (EMU) breaking up any time soon. In other words, the euro will continue to be actively traded on the global spot market. A Reuters poll early in June suggested there is only a 5% chance of an EMU collapse within the next 15 years. However, around the same time the German weekly magazine Stern reported that the failure of the EMU was discussed at a meeting attended by German Finance Minister Hans Eichel and Bundesbank President Axel Weber. Having said that, I don’t think there is any question that there is a greater risk premium attached to the euro than there was a month ago.

In the months ahead, look for continued political wrangling within the EU. Further bad news is likely to be forthcoming, which should help keep the euro under pressure, creating trading opportunities not only against the dollar, but in the cross rates as well.

Peter Grant is VP of Operations for CFS Capital Management (http://www.cfscap.com), an alternative investment firm in Lakewood, Colorado. This article is an excerpt from our monthly newsletter ‘The Alternative’ which can be read online at http://www.cfscap.com/news.htm. Emails may be sent to pgrant@cfscap.com

The word to be when trying to restore credit is “vigilant,”
because this can be a daunting task, but repairing credit can be
accomplished by the average consumer. If a copy of the credit
report has been procured, then it is time to go to work, first
ensure that all personal information contain in the report is
accurate and up-to-date. A consumer can lose very valuable
credit points by the information contained on the credit
application and what is contained on the credit file not
matching. Most consumer reporting agencies will have a form that
allows to update the information contained in the personal
section of the credit report, if this form is not present,
create one with the incorrect information above the correct
information and instructions on what is suppose to be contained
in the report.

The next phase will be to correct or delete accounts that are
not yours, or contain outdated entries that should have been
removed from the file based on the laws contained in the Fair
Credit Reporting Act. The types of entries that can be deleted
are most revolving and fixed accounts that have been closed due
to non-payment with a date of activity of seven years ago, and
bankruptcies after ten years, and the majority of court related
rulings can also be removed after seven years. Disputed accounts
have to be investigated, and it is the responsibility of the
credit grantor to proved that the account belongs to the person
disputing it.

Using the disputing process of the law is a way to ensure that
the consumer reporting agency is reporting correct and
up-to-date information on the consumer, but also under this same
law it is illegal to dispute information that is accurate and
correct. The good news is that accounts that have been paid off
and are in good standing can stay on your credit report
indefinitely, and this can work to your to your benefit because
it allows the reporting agency to report only good credit once
the credit file has been restored and maintained. If you need
professional help to restore your credit rating visit Millennium
Credit Service at their website
http://www.millennium-credit.com.