Swing Trading For Beginners

The swing trader is not looking to turn a profit in a day. He will hold a stock anywhere from three days to three or four weeks.

This trading technique is most suitable for people who do not have the time to dedicate to sitting in front of a computer to monitor the markets when they are open. Many traders who are novices find swing trading to be the style that they are best suited for.

Swing traders tend to pick stocks that are traded on the big three exchanges which are the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ. The reason that they stick with stocks traded on these markets is because they are the most actively traded markets so these stocks have the greatest chance of going very high or low in a given day. This means that the swing traders wont have to hold onto stocks too long before making a profit.

Swing traders prefer to trade when the market is not in full bull market or in full bear market. Swing traders are poised to make the most profits when the market is relatively static. The swing traders will make money with short-term movements in the market.

As a swing trader, you will not make a lot of money with one trade. The profits will be aggregated from making multiple trades over a period of time. Swing traders will only buy and sell once the stock has reached its baseline, so that they could make their trade at the best possible moment to get the most bang for their buck.

A swing trader will attempt to earn a 10-15% gain on his investment, which makes it a viable strategy for beginners, but would also have enough profit potential to interest intermediate traders too. To make the most gains, swing traders try to sell their stocks as close to the upper or lower margins without jeopardizing their chance at missing the large gains. If a swing trader waits too long he runs the risk of the market turning around and hell wind up losing money instead of gaining.

With practice, a swing trader can learn to read the market indicators and avoid this from happening often.

The great thing about swing trading is that beginners find out pretty quickly whether their decisions to buy or sell have paid off, which can be an enormous incentive to continue. Swing trading isnt as quick as day trading to see a return on your investment, but it also doesnt require the attention to market conditions and details that is necessary for day trading to be successful.

In addition, swing trading is also a lot less stressful than day trading. Day traders often find themselves stressing over all of the stock trades they have to make in a day and hope that they have made the correct decision.

How Does Day Trading Work?

Day Trading is the name given to buying and selling stocks and shares (and forex) during a trading day. The trades (or positions) are usually opened and closed within the same trading day, sometimes even in minutes. The aim, as in all stock market trading, is to sell for a higher price than you bought. You have to bear in mind that there will be a spread (the difference between the buy price (the Ask) and the sell price (the Bid). This varies depending on which broker you trade with.

So, for example, if you have a stock that has a 1 cent per point (or Tick) and the share price is quoted as 50 cents, this is called the Mid price and is what you'll see in the morning newspapers. If there is a four point spread, the Ask would be 52 cents and the Bid would be 48 cents. The spread is used as the brokers commission and to pay other fees. So in the example above, if you bought at the Ask of 52, you would have to make up the spread before you break even, so the Bid price would have to reach 53 before you would be in profit.

Spreads vary between brokers and markets. You might find a 4 point spread on NASDAQ but a 10 point spread on S & P, so ideally you need to shop around to see who is giving the best deal for you. There are plenty of brokers on the Internet, and quite a few financial spread betting firms who will gladly and easily open an account for you. Most will let you open a virtual account so that you can paper trade until you get used to it and there is a very good Day Trading Simulator available free on the Internet. But remember this : Day Trading is in reality a form of gambling, so only use what you can afford to lose and get yourself a plan.

Commodity Trading Involves High Risk With High Reward

Commodity trading is the buying and selling of contracts of items that we use everyday. It is the trading of primary or raw products. Some of the items traded in the commodities market include such common, everyday items as: soy beans, cotton, orange juice, cocoa, sugar, wheat, corn, barley, pork bellies, milk, feedstuffs, fruits, vegetables, other grains, other beans, hay, other livestock, meats, poultry, and eggs. Energy items that are traded on the commodity markets include oil, natural gas, electricity, and gasoline. The commodity speculators in the energy market were blamed for the recent price increase in the cost of gasoline at the pump.

Buying and selling commodities is very similar to buying stocks and bonds on the stock market but with much more risk. Since it is much more volatile, commodity trading is very speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and is designed only for sophisticated investors who are able to bear the loss of more than their entire investment. It is not for the investor with a weak stomach! However, commodity trading is a battle between return and risk. Because of the leverage involved, you can achieve a higher rate of return than from most other forms of investment, but at a higher risk.

Commodities trade on different markets than typical stocks. For example, most people are familiar with NASDAQ or NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) for trading stocks and bonds. But commodities are traded on the world market. A few of these places are the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) (these two exchanges trade much of the grain and agricultural commodities), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (for livestock and meat), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for energy, and the London Metal Exchange for precious metals like gold and silver.

Since it is so risky and speculative, many investors shy away from investing in commodities. However, it can be a very lucrative way to make money if you have the stomach for its wild ups and downs.

Investing 101 - Invest in Forex Currency Trading Now!

If you are just beginning to learn your way around the foreign exchange market, you must still be out researching for anything that says "Investing 101" so you can settle on a stable ground as you feel your way through the business.

A simple scenario to explain how currency value fluctuates is through a tourist. This tourist who may have US dollars in his pocket and is on a business trip in Europe, will have to convert his dollars to the Euro if he would be there for some time. Shopping around would be easier for him as well as doing any transactions that involve money. When he returns to the US, he will have to exchange his Euros for dollars again so he can use whatever amount he has left from his trip.

Professional traders on the other hand, buy and sell currencies on a high level. Some are transacting in terms of hundreds and thousands of dollars. The great thing about forex is you need not have so much capital to start up. What's more, you can get onboard now through the Internet, when before, only the large banks and companies dominate the forex market.

Now for an Investing 101 tip, you should be disciplined enough when you start with your forex endeavors. This behavior could easily spell out one's success at the forex. Discipline entails hard work in researching and planning so that you can get yourself prepared for the up and downtrends in foreign exchange. Discipline also asks for one's ability to continue investing and refining his strategies even after a loss.

Investing 101 tip number 2 is to become more patient and persistent. An investor's persistent attitude toward success is essentially the trait that will take him to huge profits at the right time and with proper planning. The follow-through on the plans and strategies that have been put up would result positively if the investor, who is willing to take risks, is also willing to push through the odds.

Probably one of the better items in Investing 101 is to learn to accept losses. No trading system, strategy, or method is 100% fail-proof. Losses are bound to happen every now and then because that is part of the natural cycle of foreign exchange trading. Those who have been successful in forex have learned to lose and stand up from their mistakes. They adjust their strategies and they move on with better plans and keener goals to hit the jackpot.

Another surefire tip in the Investing 101 list is the conscious effort to use stops. In the forex market, stops are used to refer to an allowance or a distance from the price entered, in case the market moves away from the expected result. Stops prevent the investor from losing too much by eating up excessive amounts from the capital. When one is too stiff and strong headed about his speculations and continues to risk without putting on the stops, he is bound to lose so much money.

More importantly, Investing 101 recommends a log. Investors should religiously keep track of their moves and how the currencies are performing at any given time so they can do some trending charts that can be used as tools for trading much more successfully.

What Are the Different Ways of Investing Money With Currency Trading?

When looking to gain some profit in the foreign exchange market, one should get himself armed with the different ways of investing money with currency trading. There are a lot of ways to move around the ever-liquid forex market and here are some of them:

Practice makes perfect too, in forex

Like the athletes or performers who exert much effort in practicing to perfect their crafts, a forex investor should also start learning his way through by practicing actual trading at a minimum level first. There are online forex systems now that can help in making a beginners become more familiar with the forex business first before actually diving. These forex trading systems employ demo accounts that users can use temporarily so they can simulate how they are going to earn or lose at the forex.

Be aware of market conditions and world economies

When you get yourself involved in the foreign exchange business and you are keen in know all the different ways of investing money with currency trading, you should regularly and consistently be updated about business in your country and the whole world. The figures and trends that happen in actual can dictate any significant changes in the values of currencies.

Know the strategies and use them to the best of your ability. When you have set a plan, stick to it and just adjust it here and there as the market condition changes. As there are different ways of investing money, there are also a lot of strategies involved. These strategies are the carry, momentum, and value trade.

Carry is the strategy to sell currencies with low interest rates and buy currencies with high rates. Momentum is mindful of the direction or trend of the current market. Value strategy is used depending on an investor's speculation of the currencies' values. Which strategy to choose is entirely up to the user's discretion.

The different ways of investing money are somewhat dependent on the person's emotional quotient towards risks. Forex is a very risky business and one that results very huge losses as a consequence. If one is keen at investing and considering that risks are part of it all, then he can become successful at the forex if he would be able to manage his money and emotions very well.

Stick to your chosen currency pairs. That is the key to becoming successful at forex. Instead of watching and carefully studying so many pairs of currencies, just zoom in to 1 or 2 and exert efforts to know more about these currencies' movements and trending. One of the different ways of investing money with currency trading is to invest on the tried and tested currencies.

Plan very well based on a lot of research work. This could help you as you try on the different ways of investing money with currency trading. Use charts to establish the trends of the currencies you are watching. Subscribe to online updates on the minute-by-minute data and statistics that can help you trade currencies.

Online Investing - Invest in Foreign Currency Now!

The Foreign Exchange, simply known as Forex, market is reportedly the biggest and most liquid market of all financial markets the world over. Banks, governments, multinational corporations, currency speculators, central banks, individual traders, and all other financial markets and institutions trade in the Forex market, also referred to as the currency market because foreign currencies are what's traded in this kind of market. These days, more and more people are choosing online investing as opposed to the traditional type of investing method, and this article will tell you why.

The Forex market is said to be unique because of many characteristics, including its trading volumes, extreme liquidity, long trading hours, geographical diversity and dispersion, the variety of factors that affect exchange rates or the value of a particular currency, the vast number and variety of traders, the relatively low margins of profit compared to other markets that have fixed income, and the use of leverage. Reports have announced that equities have been, for many investors, the road to wealth. Selecting the currency market is the best decision you can make, considering all the traits mentioned above and the fact that the Forex market offers unparalleled thrill and excitement among all other equity markets. By engaging in online investing, you can benefit from the advantages that foreign currency trading poses.

Online investing, as the name implies, pertains to the kind of investing that is done through the Internet. As an investor, you don't have to leave the comforts of your home or the office to join in any trading activity. All you need is a reliable Internet connection and you're ready to take on the world. You can participate in foreign currency trading any time and anywhere you want. Most people who trade in the Forex market opt to trade online primarily because it's convenient and hassle-free.

Another thing that investors consider an advantage in online investing is the efficiency in trading and managing their portfolios online. To avail of this benefit, however, you must devote a certain amount of education and research. As an investor, you must learn the secrets of the trade in order to know where your money's going. You can find several websites that offer new investors basic information and the latest in financial tools.

One tool you can use to ensure that your investment in foreign currency trading pays off is an automated trading bot, which is a robot designed to do the trading for human investors who like to enjoy their free time and not spend all of their hours monitoring the charts and deciding on entry and exit points.

Online investing is creating quite a buzz in the Internet. With the rising cost of living these days, it's not hard to understand why people continue to look for other jobs apart from the one they already have just to make ends meet. By investing in foreign currency online, you don't have to worry about spending too much time and effort and you're sure to earn the money you need.

Day Trading - What's it Really All About? Choices That Lead to Stellar Success and Unlimited Wealth

There's an old Buddhist saying, As within, So without.

You may think its all about the charts, the fundamentals, your system and the unprecedented world economy, but haven't there been times when you sensed there was something more to it?

Me too. Being tuned in to all that is what separates the super traders from the guys who are second mortgaging their home hoping to make a come back.

Aside from the obvious, not putting too great a percentage of your overall nugget in any one trade, how does one keep the emotional element out of decision-making? Is this emotional element the same thing as your gut feeling? It's easy to confuse the two and it's well worth learning to discern the difference.

Keeping notes is critical, but not just about the numbers. Taking time to notice your own patterns is invaluable in the long run if there is to be a long run.

Over-confidence can be just as deadly as under-confidence. And playing when you really don't have the juice to, but feel like you need to can also have its consequences,

There really aren't a lot of women out there trading, not relatively, so for a long time I thought it was only because I had focused on my inner work for so long that I was naturally using my trades as way of flushing out my deeper issues---resistance to having more than enough or the compulsion to keep trading when I had already done well enough for the time being.

But then I attended one of those weekend workshops with the best of the best. And on the very first day my trading coach said, the market is mirror---a stark mirror.

That, to me, was worth the price of admission!

Day Trading Advice From Tiger Woods

What advice could Tiger Woods possibly have for you as a trader? What could he possibly know about hitting a bid or getting out of a bad trade? When has Tiger ever felt the pressure to pay the bills with his next trade?

I would hope it is safe to assume that anyone reading this is savvy enough to know who Tiger Woods is. He is the worlds #1 golfer by a mile and he is projected by Forbes to become the first billionaire athlete by 2010.

If you ever hope to be successful, and hopefully enormously successful you absolutely positively need to take the advice I am about to give you. Study successful people. Not just successful traders. It doesn't matter if it is a grand master at chess, a violinist, a professional athlete, a dancer or a cook or a single mom raising 6 kids.

I am not talking about learning what they do; I am talking about listen to what they say about how they got there, what kind of effort it takes to get there, and what it takes to stay as one of the best. I am sure you want to succeed as a trader. I am sure you want to earn more money than you ever thought possible. I am sure you "want" it. Well I am here to tell you that wanting it is not enough, sorry to throw cold water on your face but it's the truth.

You need a burning desire. How do you know if you have burning desire? Are you willing to get a part time job while you are learning to pay your bills? Do you go to the office every day early and stay late every day to ask questions of those who are succeeding? Do you faithfully keep a journal every day?

When you were a kid did you practice because you wanted to or because you had to? Winners never have to be told to try a little harder next time. Winners never have to be asked to stay late to practice.

Do you go to the bookstore in your spare time or do you watch 6 hours of TV? Let me tell you a universal truth, how you spend your spare time is how you will spend your future.

One of the best places to read about success on a daily basis is Investor Business Daily, the "leaders and success" page in the front section. I have a shoe box full of these articles that I go back to once in a while to get re energized.

So what does all this have to do with Tiger Woods? In case you aren't a golf fan, last week he won the US OPEN (one of the 4 major events in golf) with a torn ACL ligament in his knees and two stress fractures in his other leg.

Although that was impressive, that's not the point I wanted to make. I was watching the interviews with him on the Golf Channel after the match and here is the quote that struck me. "I basically spend the entire tournament trying to minimize mistakes until a few good opportunities present themselves." To the casual observer this probably didn't mean that much, to me, well I almost fell off my chair.

Tiger Woods just explained how to be a successful trader. Tiger Woods says the secret to his success is minimizing mistakes. Spend your day following your plan, and a few trades will end up presenting an opportunity for a better score (profits). In the mean time as the day unfolds just minimize mistakes and stay in the game. Pay attention to those who are successful, if you are aware you will get clues.

One last quote to leave you with, one of my favorites. It was to Maria Callas, the most renowned opera singer of the 1950's. A young aspiring singer walked up to her and said "I would give my life to be as good as you." Callas casually looked at her and responded "I already have." Think about it that is pretty profound.

3 Most Common Mistakes Traders Make

Now if you have been trading for a few months, you will realize that there are very few things that you need to do right to make money.

On the other hand, there are a lot of things or habits you have to avoid if you intend to make consistent profits.

Here are the 3 most common mistakes or bad habits new traders pick up which ultimately lead to their failure.

1) No proper thought out trading plan

Many traders will insist that they have a trading plan all thought up nicely already. Also these same traders will say that they are also in touch with market forces. But the bottom line shows the results! Regardless of what you may say or feel, the truth will e shown in your profit/loss statement. Do you make consistent profits, if you don't make profits then there is something wrong. Usually it means that there is a small but crucial portion that may have been overlooked by the trader. Correct that and watch your profits soar!

2) Lack of discipline

I say this a hundred times, I will say it a thousand times more! Discipline is the most important thing that a trader needs. You don't need a fancy degree, or insider information or knowledge of the newest technical indicator. What a trader needs to succeed is nothing more than then ability to discipline his/her mind and actions. When I say discipline, I mean physical, mental, and emotional discipline. This discipline can be acquired in a variety of ways. We will cover that in another article, but remember traders who do not have the discipline to follow their plan, do not have the discipline to follow their money management rules always end up giving their hard earned money away to the people who have discipline. If you want to succeed in any sort of trading, discipline is a very big must have.

3) Poorly set money management rules

Gunning for the top dollar is all well and good. The thing about looking up at the sky when you walk is that you might miss the hole in front of your feet. That is what usually kills the new trader. The greed level becomes too high and the want for instant gratification blinds all rational thought. Sounds too far-fetched? Ask yourself when you last traded and there was the opportunities for more profit did you ignore all your pre-set money management rules and went for the kill? We if you are like 90% of the traders in the market then you most likely did. This forms a bad habit, regardless of whether you made or lost money. It is worse if you made, as the fleeting success will build on the false promise that betraying your own rules is a good thing. In the long term there will be more failed trades than successful ones. Each time you take a gamble and plunge in, you will only end up poorer.

In conclusion, the above-mentioned 3 points are highly common mistakes or habits that are form when the trader is relatively young. If the trader can safely keep away from these 3 mistakes then you as a trader can highly increase your profits and make trading a way of living.

The Fundamentals of Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis helps to determine the prices of the stock. It is also known as stock valuation method. But remember that it is not necessary that the price determine by fundamental analysis is always right. It helps to determine the prices of a company (in a market). It helps to determine whether the company is running in loss or it is earning profits. It includes the financial and non - financial information of the company. It help you to decide whether to invest or not in a particular company. It gives an idea whether a particular company is running in loss or it is running in profits. It gives a brief idea about a particular company.

Fundamentalists' general strategies

Fundamental analysis help fundamentalist to move towards intrinsic value of a company. If the current value is lower that intrinsic value the investor would buy the stock, if the current value is higher than intrinsic value the investor would not buy that particular stock. Before investing in the particular company the fundamentalist would examine the past and the present history of that company. That would give you an idea whether to invest or not in a particular company

Fundamental analysis expression

One should have an idea about fundamental analysis before starting. The following are the some important analysis expression that one should keep in mind

1. Earning per share

You should try to find how much profit does the company allocate to its outstanding share? The amount is calculated by dividing net profit with the number of outstanding share.

2. Price/ Eps ratio

It is also known as "earning multiple". Price is divided by the profits earned on each share. It helps to get information about companies past profit and it also provides the information regarding the company's next year profits. It would give you an idea that how much profit does the company gives to its investors.

3. Dividend

Dividend is the amount of profit that the company gives to its investors. Some part of the profit is reivestved in the business while the remaining profit is distributed among the investors of that particular company.

Before investing in any company investors should keep all this points in mind.

The Key to Trading Profits

When you trade do you want to make money for yourself or would you like to give money away to others? Does it seem a strange question asked? Honestly this is no strange question, because this is the question I ask myself each and every time I enter into a trade.

Why would I go to such extremes (I even have it written on a large board in-front of the area that I do my trading)

This is to remind me of the key to trading profits. Yes, both you and I have in our possession the key to all trading profits. Just what this key is you may ask, well I tell you now, it is your mind. More precisely it is how you use your mind to think.

A lot of literature have been written on the power of thoughts, so I will not delve deep into this subject. Suffice to say, you and I have the power to change our bottom line, by changing the way we think. When you change the way you think you will change the way you behave.

Wouldn't you agree that trading is nothing more that making an educated guess that investment either goes up or down? But then how do professional traders make money so consistently day in and day out. Why can't you emulate the same success?

The reason lies in the way you think. It is that simple! Do you get emotional and angry and resentful when you lose money? Do you feel that you have been cheated and hurt by the trade that should have made you money but turned against you? Do you want to recoup your loses each time you lose in a trade? If you answered yes to any of the above, do not fret because you are just like the rest of the traders in the world.

The successful trader can curb these impulses, use that energy and research and then enter a new based on a pre-planned strategy! These traders leave all frustrations and all negative energy outside of their mind when they trade.

You hold the key to your trading success in your mind; can you change the way you think? Yes you can because if there is one thing you have full control of in your life that is your mind. So harness the power of your mind and make the difference shown in your profits.

Why New Traders Fail

There is a lot of hype in the online world that lures many from all walks of life to try their hand at trading. Only a few succeed to make any money, most almost 95% fail and lose their account. There are a couple of simple reason why this happens. In this article we will list them out, and hopefully the young trader can avoid such mistakes.

1. Too eager for profits. This is the number one killer I believe. Why I say this is because many young traders succumb to the greed that is the curse of us humans. We want to make quick profits and in that want we take risks that we would normally not take. In fact we do the craziest things and actually believe that it becomes something that would "just for us" We create a fantasy world and live there!

2. Not enough learning. This is really the 2nd biggest killer. Now you might e screaming out loud saying you have read and bought every book every written on trading. So why aren't you making a killing? Knowledge and learning are different matters. Learning is taking that knowledge and applying it to each and every action you do. If you have the knowledge but take no action on it, then it is same as the trader who has none.

3. No proper trading plan. Now a trading plan is not a jumbled collection of wants. A proper trading plan lists out each and every action you will take at each juncture of the trade. It must clearly spell out, what your profit objectives are, what is your risk level, your stop loss, when to enter, how to exit the trade. And to top things off it must be so simple that a 5 year old could do it! Sounds like a tall order? Not really, read my free ebook to find out how you can do all that.

4. Discipline. Most traders would say that their discipline is really there, but sometimes things happen in the trade and you know...stuff happens...I get that so often it starts to become funny. These are excuses, and if you have been telling yourself that it is time to stop and take stock. Manage your mind and you will be able to manage your trading. That will lead to profits coming in consistently.

Do not wonder why the above mentioned sounds so common sense. You have been given pointers, the only thing that separates the old you and the new profitable new you, is the action you will take now. Choose wisely and take responsibility for your choice.

Why You Have to Use Technical Analysis to Make Profits

Technical analysis or more commonly known as TA is actually nothing more than probability studies used in mathematics.

In all types of trading, we as traders are concerned about the occurrence of certain events. Plainly said, we want to buy low sell high. Which means that we will look for that : "edge" which will give to us the ability to consistently make profits in our trading.

TA are a group of studies to help maintain and create that edge. Of course it is not the whole pie, but TA is a very large portion of that pie!

Some of the more common forms of TA are (1) averages (moving, exponential, simple). They can be used for a variety of strategies as well as help the trader spot entry and exit positions. Most commonly they are used for trend studies.

Price points, or pivot points, bollinger bands and fibonacci. These basically tell you about the support and resistance levels of the investment.

There is a lot of TA that you can use, and using TA correctly can make your trading a lot easier.

When you trade, focus on using TA that complement each other and help you spot entry and exit positions.

This will ensure that your trade has a good edge to capitalize on market movement. There are times that TA cannot help you, but I can say then you are most likely using the wrong indicator.

For short-term traders, or long term traders, using TA as part of your trading strategy can help you ascertain the type of trade you wish to enter. Of course that also means that you will have to use fundamental studies to qualify your trades, but TA will help you make buy/sell decisions.

TA have become the staple for many traders these days, so use it wisely to your advantage.

Why Money Management is So Important to Professional Traders

Not only is technique and analysis of data important to the success of a professional trader, but also the way they manage their money. Proper money management is crucial, because it can minimize losses and allow for the highest possibility of profit. By keeping spending and losses within set boundaries, a trader will always be able to stay ahead of the game and make a fine living.

Professional traders need to understand their market so that they can prepare a budget regarding trade spending. Money management means that the amount risked is dependent on factors such as trend or market strength (whether bull or bear). The safer a trade is, the more money is allocated to this portfolio. High risk trades receive the lowest investment amount, but if successful they also bring the highest net returns which once again adds to profits and not losses.

Another reason why money management is so important to professional traders is that it can keep most of the profits made safe and in their pockets. This is done by taking only small percentages of each profit and re-investing them based on the risk factor. Once a certain loss has been achieve, the professional traders then pull out and don't risk losing their returns over a bad trade. Diversifying trade deals, that is trading a wide array of things, also provides the greatest opportunity to make a gain.

Professional day traders need to manage their money especially carefully. This is because they need to minimize losses on a daily basis and have to keep constant eye over the trends throughout the day.

Day Trading - Good Or Bad?

Day Trading is seen by many people as a way to get out of the daily grind of having to get out of bed to go to a job and to make good money at the same time, which is most people's goal. But while there are a lot of advantages to day trading, there can also be pitfalls that you need to avoid.

The good stuff : You can work when you want, you have no boss on your case, you can dress how you like, take breaks when you like, take time off when you like, spend more time with your family and friends, you don't need to get yourself to work, you just fall out of bed and you're there. You have time to do what you want when YOU want to do it and, if you get it right, you can make a stack of money!

The bad stuff : You have to discipline yourself to do the job properly and not take silly risks, you have to learn when to get out of a trade (not necessarily right at the top), and if you're losing you need to know when to cut, because if you get this wrong, you could lose everything.

You must only use money that you can afford to lose. Day trading is just another form of gambling, but if you work at getting it right, the rewards can be fantastic. You can find a lot of help and information on the Internet, and while some isn't very good, a lot is excellent. There is also software available to help you to trade more safely and even free software that allows you to simulate trading. You would be wise to try this first before you invest your hard earned cash.

Auto Forex Trade - The Way to Make Money in Your Sleep

If you want to auto trade forex first you need to understand exactly what it is. Essentially it involves using a computer program to select trades for you. There are obvious advantages to getting a computer to do the hard work for you. The main one being the processing power of PCs today means they can analyze vastly more data than you ever could and as a result can help to quickly find positive trades.

How can forex trading be automated?

As with most types of trading these days it is possible to design and write computer programs that will implement a trading strategy and automatically select and execute trades on your behalf. To private individual investors this is a relatively new concept however this has been happening amongst the large corporate and investment banks for a few years now.

The advent of high powered PCs and especially the internet has meant that it is now possible to select and execute trades with split second accuracy. This allows the trader to exploit small discrepancies between prices around the globe and take small profits from a large number of trades. The best thing about trading this way is that it enables you to set and forget. This means you simply set up the program and let it get on with it which means you can even make money from trading forex while you sleep!

How can you auto trade forex?

These days it is relatively easy to get started. The price of forex trading software has fallen drastically in the last couple of years and there are now several systems on the market. This has meant these systems are now very affordable to individuals and are no longer only feasible for large corporate investors.

It is best to select one that offers a full money back guarantee which means you can effectively try it out before you buy.

Day Trading Stock Picks - The Best Way to Start Trading the Penny Stock Market

I know that many people are interested in receiving day trading stock picks. Many people just don't have the time needed to learn the complexities of the stock market. Or sometimes people would rather spend their time doing something they love rather than watching charts all day. But what happens if you are a total newbie to the stock market or in most cases you don't have that much money to invest in?

The single biggest obstacle for new traders is money. It's real easy to have a huge, diversified portfolio if you're already making a six-figure income. But what if you're like most of the public and have only a couple thousand dollars to invest in the market? Are you just stuck buying 10 shares of Wal-Mart and 15 shares of Microsoft? Nope! Try trading penny stocks.

Every single month, there are penny stocks that come from nowhere to explode onto the scene. The tricky part is that it takes some time to scan through the penny stock market to see which stocks have the best chance of exploding. It's an awfully big pool of stocks.

Luckily for all of us, two developers have created software that can automatically scan the penny stock market to see if there are any potential gold mines out there. They have an excellent newsletter where they offer day trading stock picks. They only make recommendations when there is a high percentage of upward movement. At it's peak, It is estimated that if somebody invested $5000 in the stocks that were recommended in the newsletter, that would have grown into $380,000 dollars over a month span.

Where Can I Find Good Penny Stocks to Invest In?

I had always been impressed with the tales I had heard about amateur investors somehow being able to pick the right stocks to invest in and grow their portfolios. In fact I was sick of hearing about friends picking killer stocks that rose 20% or 30% overnight making them huge amounts of profit.

This was a real problem for me until I discovered that their success was not really about their due diligence, any special research techniques or even the newspapers they were reading. What I did to turn my investing around was to use an automated stock picking software service to do the hard work for me.

I want to reveal this invaluable service to you right now. If you are looking to make some healthy returns from stocks then this could be the most informative article you read because the information I am about to disclose has the power to dramatically improve you wealth.

I used to spend hours and hours each week pouring over the financial press and the Internet researching potential stocks to invest in. I was using a combination of fundamental analysis (looking at the companys profits and balance sheet) and technical analysis (looking at price movement trends) and felt I was fairly competent with both despite my lack of results. Occasionally I would pick a winning stock however I would also pick bad ones and I never managed to significantly grow my portfolio of stocks.

What I found really difficult was when I did buy in to a good stock I did not know when to sell. I often found myself sitting on a 10% gain only to see it eroded away over the next few weeks. In a similar vain I was unsure when to buy in to a stock I thought offered value. All too often I would 'miss the boat' and spend my time working out how much money I would have made had I bought the stock.

I was introduced to the service by a close friend that worked in one of the large investment banks. He told me that for some years now the big banks have been using computers to select their trades. The benefit being the huge computational power they offer. He showed me the service and more importantly the profit and loss on his trading account. My trading has gone from strength to strength since that moment.

Now I use a automated stock picking service all of the hard work is done for me. I receive a weekly newsletter with my picks in. I then do some high level research to get some more background on the companies then simply invest when the suggested buy price is reached and sell at the proposed sell price. By doing this and spending just 2 hours per week on my trading I make roughly $5,000 per month more than I did when I was spending 15 hours per week researching the market by myself.

How to Get Rich From Trading Commodities

Investing money and investing successfully is often over complicated by people. One of the main deterrents and stumbling blocks facing individual investors is the over analysis of their trading formula.

The devil IS in the detail

Often when individuals invest they tend to get bogged down in over analysis of detailed data surrounding potential investments. When this happens it is often the case that your judgment of the overall position becomes clouded. The worst thing about this problems is very rarely do you notice that it is happening.

Some of the most successful investors out there stick by a very simple rule which is to keep it simple. Stick to the basics and only invest in things you understand and can explain. By doing this you will be amazed how easy and successful your investing will become.

How to keep it simple and make good investment decisions

The easiest approach is to look for long term trends. It is easy to notice that commodities such as oil gas and agricultural produce have been rising in prices for some time. In fact at a time when stock equities are on a downward trend commodities are still booming. Much of the reason for their rising value is because production is limited or finite. In addition the booming economies of China and India mean that demand is growing more and more.

Such is the worlds consumption of commodities that it looks increasingly likely that their prices are set to continue to rise. We have now burnt over half of the worlds oil reserves and continue to consume more and more each year. The demand for bio fuel made from crops has soared in recent years thanks to governments committing to use them as part of the fight against greenhouse gases.

5 Swing Trading Tips For the Successful Swing Trader

Swing trading is a style of investing in which you try to exploit the natural oscillations of stocks. Often stocks travel within a specific range of prices over a period of time, allowing you to profit from these periodical ups and downs. Swing trades are usually held for a few days to a few weeks so it's much easier than day trading but doesn't require you to forget about the money you invested for years live positional investments.

Swing trading can be a profitable business but it can also be a tricky one, so make sure that you follow the tips I provide in this article:

1. Don't be a day trader in disguise - A lot of people simply call themselves swing traders but practice day trading. If you're monitoring the markets constantly or going in and out of trades all the time, you're setting yourself up for a fall.

2. Set your exit levels properly and stick to them - Swing trading requires discipline. When you enter a trade, set your stop loss and take profit levels. These aren't up to any modification due to hunches unless the market data changes sufficiently to justify it. You need to work with your initial settings to avoid turning this into a job.

3. Follow a strategy - The best swing trading tip I can give you is to not follow tips but a sound strategy. You need to have a system down so you can trade efficiently as well as profitably. There are a number of strategies. Find one or more which work (even if you need to take a course to learn them) and simply apply them again and again.

4. Be emotionless - This is the culmination of the previous 3 tips. To be a successful swing trader you must act without emotions. Emotional mistakes are the worst things a trader can suffer. You must follow your logical strategy and eradicate worries and feelings as they will lead to mistakes.

5. A mentor - Finding a mentor which can teach you the ins and outs of swing trading techniques is a marvelous thing to have. A good mentor can save you a lot of time, money, and frustration. He or she can also cut down your learning curve massively so you're making more money faster.

3 Key Concepts For Successful Trading

There are three things that a share trader needs to understand if he is going to make money on a consistent basis in the market. These are the concepts of prosperity, survival and mentoring.

The concept of prosperity is a mindset. You will not prosper if you have a poverty mindset. You need to believe that you have the right to prosper. You need to believe that you have the right to be a winner. You need to understand the principles of money management from a prosperity mindset and not from a poverty mindset. This may sound strange to you, but it is crucial to being a successful trader.

The reason it is necessary for you as a trader to have a prosperity mindset is unless you know how to handle large sums of money you will find yourself making decisions which will cause you to lose more money than necessary. A prosperity mindset will prevent you from entering into a losing spiral that causes you to lose everything you have made. You might think that this does not happen, but when people go from being just an average player to becoming very wealthy, not being able to function from a prosperity mindset often becomes their downfall.

One person I knew went from being broke to a multi-millionaire in just a couple of years. However, his new found wealth got the better of him and he started making decisions from a poverty mindset rather than a prosperity mindset and was not able to break out of his downward spiral back to poverty.

The idea of survival may not seem worth taking on board, because you want to prosper not just survive. Yet if you cannot survive when things are tough, there is no way you are going to prosper. If fact, one young man told me that he did not need to learn how to survive, he just wanted to know how to prosper. In the good times, things just came easy for him. But when things got too difficult, he could not cope with the effort that was required in learning how to survive. It just seemed so futile to working so hard just to keep his head above the water, when beforehand he was accumulating wealth without doing anything really. When you are in a bull market and shares are going up, you will congratulate yourself of your excellent trading simply because you were buying shares and they were going up in value, just like the rest of the market. The difficulty is when the high tide goes out. If you haven't learnt how to survive at low tide in a bear market, you are not going to be trading very long. The same applies if you have not learnt to trade in a choppy sidewards market.

If you have learnt how to survive in bear markets and markets trading sidewards, then you will be able to prosper. Learning how to survive is the key to being a winner. One of the problems many novice private traders face is not knowing how to survive in the markets during the tough times. This can be rectified by either doing an apprenticeship or finding a mentor, which is effectively the same as doing the apprenticeship.

When people do apprenticeships, they have a mentor. Apprentices are usually assigned to a tradesman or a master, which is the same as a mentor. The apprentice's mentor not only demonstrates how to do the job but also can cover up any mistakes made. This luxury is not afforded to you as a private trader, even if you have a mentor. However, having a mentor to guide you and show you how to make money on the markets, so you can survive the tough times, and help you keep the right mindset during the heady times, will ensure that you become a successful trader.

Losing? How to Figure Out Where You Are Going Wrong

One of the most common questions asked by struggling traders is "where am I going wrong?". There can often appear to be such a mind boggling array of variables in trading, that it seems impossible to unravel the primary issues.

When you strip away your emotions on the subject and look at your situation with cold hard analysis, there are really only two main variables:

1. Are you using a profitable trading system?

In other words is your trading method giving you entry and exit signals which if executed correctly lead to profit, in the balance of trades. Do you know your trading system's expectancy?

You would be amazed at how many traders can't answer this question. For many traders in their first few years of trading, the market has such an aura of mystery about it, and there are so many details in terms of charting, order entry, brokers etc. that they forget to ask the most obvious of questions. Don't be one of these traders! Don't be willing to go out and risk your hard earned money on hope. You wouldn't drive your car somewhere unless you had a reasonable certainty that it was going to get you where you wanted to go. You wouldn't eat food unless you were reasonably certain that it wouldn't make you sick. So why trade without knowing what to expect from your trading system?

If you want to gamble, surely it would be more fun to go and bet on a sports game? Despite what some may say, serious trading is not gambling. The profitable trader knows exactly what to expect from his system over time. He won't be able to tell you if his next trade will be profitable, but over a week or month he should be able to tell you with reasonable accuracy his trading system's expectancy.

So test your system, either using the back testing functionality of your charting package, or by paper trading it over an extended period. Knowing the expectancy of your trading system is your foundation, without it you have NOTHING! Really, NOTHING! Without knowing your trading method's expectancy you are building a house on sand.

This first step is really a gate keeper. If your trading method is not profitable there is no point in going any further.

2. Execution

Once you know for certain that your trading method has is (or has the expectancy to be) profitable, the only other variable is executing it correctly. Yes, you may be saying "duh!", that's really obvious. But when you boil your trading down to these two simple variables - when you know what to expect from your system - then you can place 100% undivided focus on mastering your ability to execute your trading system.

The mistake that many traders make is focusing on the wrong thing. Your job isn't being the trading system! Its not to decide which trades look promising. That's the job of your system or method. You should have a set of rules which tell you this, which you follow. Unless you are incredibly experienced or have psychic powers, don't do discretionary trading. Don't get lost in price movement and make up the rules as you go along.

Your job, your only job, is to sit patiently and wait for your system or method to indicate that its time to enter - and then with great focus, you execute the trade as planned, and you get out again either at the predetermined profit targets, or when your stop loss gets triggered.

I know this seems really basic, but remember that 99% of traders fail because they either don't have a profitable system, or because even with a profitable system they don't follow it. Taking trades not indicated by the system, second guessing the system and not taking trades given, hesitating and getting in late, anticipating and getting in early - these are all commonplace. They all boil down to a lack of faith in the system, and not having a burning focus on accurate execution.

Where does mindset fit in here? Focus on staying focused - on execution. Make it a meditation. The more you develop the ability to step back from price movement and watch the market dispassionately - waiting for a signal to trade, the easier it will be to master your emotions. The easier it will be to witness the fluctuations of your emotions without getting sucked in to them - and allowing them to throw you off your game.

Tips For Day Trading

There are good number of people who want to make a killing in the stock market, and there are several people who want to make day trading their source of regular earnings. but day trading is the most risky when you simply enter without having sufficient knowledge or experience . In order to make new day traders a better informed, some tips are being given , so that they may just make profits only from the day trading. Here goes the tips.

Day Trading Tips

If you are doing day trading, always remember the following tips

1.You must know about the company, you wish to trade its shares.

2.Go after only the liquid stocks.

3.Risk as little as possible in the beginning.

4.Trade stocks of profitable companies.

5.Start small, and then do big from the profits only.

6.Consider risk vs reward ratio.

7.Trade with funds you can afford to lose.

8. Plan out your stop losses carefully.

The three important rules of a successful trader

1. He is unemotional.

2. He is hardworking.

3. He is disciplined

Plan a Trade

Before you start your day trading, you must prepare a plan for the trade.

A check list is given below for such planning.

1. What is the entry point on this trade?

2. How much you will pay to gain a position?

3. What price you will sell at?

4. How many shares you can afford to buy?

5. At what price, you will exit to pull out profits?

6. At what price, you will exit to minimise loss?

7. Where will you put your stop loss?

Where to Take Free Online Forex Trading Courses

Profiting from free online forex trading courses is easy when you know where to take them. These training sessions are free and the only thing you are asked for in return is a little conviction on your part. With your conviction you can achieve success much like how forex trading greats have. These free training will surely take you a step forward towards gaining your fortune.

Your fortune is really what's important here. You should have all the information necessary for making and maintaining your fortune. It is really just good sense on your part if you gather all the information needed for you to make correct decisions that concern your finances.

When life changing decisions are involved, you need to be constantly informed. Preparation will truly get you far. Similar to how generals choose to do battle, you need constant and correct reconnaissance to mobilize your troops and resources. You need this information to profit in the battlefield of the market. The calculated risks you take should always lean toward you making a profit. There is no point in taking unnecessary misinformed risks.

After you take free online forex trading courses you no longer have to make stupid risks with your finances. You already know the theory behind the workings of currency dealing. You are taught all this with no charge to you. Taking this courses will only take away from you your time which is actually a pretty good investment since you can then convert this time into profit you get dealing in FX.

You are probably thinking what you gain exactly when you take these lessons. What you gain is a good chance of getting the fortune you deserve. These trainings only have your success in mind.

The available free online forex trading courses bestow upon you the essentials of the FX which you will require in correctly making your decision in the currency market. The sensible advices they impart have already made many their fortune. Why not let them guide you to yours?

The things you will learn taking these courses will build in you confidence you will use when buying and selling currency. This is inevitable as you will already have enough knowledge on the whole trading scene. Confidence in yourself is the next logical progression.

Head on over to the following site if you want exclusive detail on where to take free online forex trading courses and learn how to trade forex successfully.

3 Day Trading Tips You Can Use Today

Easy money can be earned the first hour of the day if you are ready; keep it simple to earn consistent money. Sometimes in this internet age it can be very easy to have information overload. When you have too much to choose from it can feel like you have all the tools in the box but no idea how to use them.

These tips are a few of the key ingredients of our trading plan.

#1 Share size comes last! Too many traders initiate trades with the same share size all the time no matter the volatility of the stock or the market conditions. Your first consideration should be how much I am willing to risk per trade; this is a specific dollar amount. Next decision is the stop loss based on charts or any other criteria you use. Be sure to allow the stock to sufficient room to breathe, never place your stop at the exact number. When you know risk amount and stop loss parameters, then you allocate shares.

#2 Be prepared for the open. You must have a prepared plan before the market open. You must know which stocks you plan to trade long and which ones short. It amazes me how many traders I mentor that basically "wing it" the first 45 minutes. On top of that which of the stocks in your morning list are the cream of the crop?

If you have a list of 10 stocks which are trading in sync with the market? Are any of them consolidating the last few days that would setup an easy breakout trade? Those are the ones you can't miss. Order flow is easiest to read in the morning and you should get solid follow through. Take advantage of it by being ready. Our traders have the first 60 minutes mapped out for them; it is just a matter of reading the order flow letting the market play itself out.

#3 Have an idea but not an opinion for the day. What is the difference? If you have an opinion you will only see what you want to happen, or to put it more bluntly you will only see one side of the market. The side you want, the side that validates your brilliant analysis. When this happens you will be caught off guard if it doesn't unfold the way "you knew it would." That translates into bigger losing trades.

If you have an idea you have a bunch of "if-then" scenarios mapped out in your head for both your stocks and for the market. You have a game plan for what "should happen" but you will trade what actually does happen. I know this sounds insanely obvious but I can tell you most plans go out the window as soon as the bell rings. Remember having a plan and following it is how you repeat success.

One last point, on any given day you may have 4 stocks to short and 6 stocks to go long. It may be common for 8 out of the 10 to not act according to plan. That is fine let those trades go, you only need those two to play out to make a great living.

Six Golden Rules to Keep Away From SCAM HYIPs

I list here some of the most important criteria for recognition that an online high yield investment opportunity is real and secured. I called them gold rules because I select them from tens of signals from hyips according to our long experience.

I. The most important factor to determine that a HYIP is a true opportunity is its payment record. Normally a program which has paid for more than 1 year surely involves high yield investment ventures.

II. Usually a high yield investment program has a profit payment of 15%-100% monthly. Rates more than these are rare and can be considered as scam.

III. Quality of a site is another important factor. Notice that a real online high yield investing program spend a good money for its site to look attractive and professional. Also an SSL certificate especially from well known companies may be considerable.

IV. Real and best HYIPs usually backed up by stocks, FOREX, NASDAQ, precious metals and objects, high-tech inventions, offshore investing banks, gold (e-gold investment opportunities) or in general any valuable object positive price fluctuation. Therefore, finding any reference to such activities on a site can be a signal to make us to conclude that business may involves a real and true high yield investment (HYIP) program.

V. For to be assure that a hyip is not scam check its contact, ip, whois, physical address and direct phone number. Better than this is a verified registration number or VAT for an investment company to prove it is genuine.

VI. If a hyip company lacks all or many of above characters keep away from it.

Mental Toughness

If you want to be a winning trader, you have to learn to handle extreme levels of stress. The markets are often chaotic and unpredictable; they are, no doubt, stressful. You mind has limited resources; when you feel stressed, a great proportion of your resources are devoted to managing the stress. You tend to have little energy left with which to focus on trading. It's a lot like "cramming" for an examination in school. It takes twice as long to learn material when you cram. Why? It's because you are more stressed when you are trying to learn under duress.

When you're struggling to cope with the wildness of the markets, you are similarly trying to perform under duress, and under less than ideal circumstances. As you push yourself to the limit, you use up mental and emotional energy. As you use up resources, there is little mental and emotional energy left for trading smoothly, easily, and with retaining your poise. You are more prone to panic, and may ride an emotional roller coaster as you face winning and losing trades. You may even begin to panic and behave irrationally. It's essential for survival to be able to cope with the ever-increasing demands of the markets.

Research has proven that, if you can learn adequate ways to cope with stressful situations, events that usually produce stress need not necessarily produce the stress response. You can develop "mental toughness." The mentally tough person can endure high levels of stressful events, yet not feel stressed out. Coping with stress is similar to weight lifting. If you lift more than your body can physically handle, you can damage muscle tissue. But, if you never push yourself to the limit, you'll never develop additional strength. Just as you build up muscles gradually, you gradually build up your ability to handle stress.

The key is to learn how to handle greater levels of stress, but also to find time to recover. When it comes to the markets, for example, it's tempting to trade all day, then work late into the night back testing and trying out new trading strategies. However, working tirelessly at such a pace is bound to wear you out eventually. It is very important to rest and recover. That doesn't mean shrinking back from the markets, but learning to deal with the pressures of the markets at a gradual, realistic pace.

By pushing yourself to greater levels of challenge, but at the same time resting and recovering, you can build up mental toughness in the same way that a weight lifter can handle greater and greater physical loads.

There are some basic steps that a person can take to prepare for stress and become adjusted to it. First, as I've stated many times, it is essential to get as much rest and relaxation as possible. People who do not get the proper amount of sleep have limited psychological resources to cope with daily stressful events. Getting extra rest is important. This may mean taking planned naps during the day to rejuvenate. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you'll be "missing out" on a trading opportunity by taking a break. Look at it this way: how much are you going to make if you are too tired and wiped out to focus on the market action and trade easily? The proper amount of rest can increase your ability to cope with stress.

Second, it is also important to exercise and eat correctly. Emotions are physiological responses. The more energy the body has to cope with stress, the more "tough" the body can be when extreme levels of stress are encountered. Regular exercise helps the body and mind release pent-up stressful emotions. By making sure you allow your stressful emotions to dissipate, your body and mind will recuperate and be ready to deal with extreme levels of stress.

Day Trading - 5 Things You Should Consider Before You Day Trade

So, you want to become a day trader? That's great. It surely has to one of the most satisfying, rewarding and time efficient ways to earn a living. I say earn a living, however, once you've learned to become proficient, earning is hardly the word you'll feel like using. You may even feel rather like you're cheating sometimes. Why would this be? Because you need only spend a fraction of your time making the money you'd otherwise have to really work for.

1. First and foremost, you need to properly educate yourself. There's a splendid range of tutorial material to devour and keep you occupied. But, I don't think you'll find it a chore - really. A bit difficult to get you head round to start with, but then it become irresistible. Remember, I'm only talking learning at the moment.

2. You need to learn how to train your mind. Don't get caught up in emotional trading because it'll put you off forever, and it honestly doesn't have to be like that. It's all part of the education, the psychological side. Don't worry; tools are plentiful to get you in the right frame of mind to become a successful day trader.

3. You can start to trade with as little as $200, but the more you can deposit in your account, the better, $2000 is ideal.

4. I think it's far easier to trade online, rather than in the traditional manner, by using a broker. Nowadays, day trading platforms are so good and user friendly. You also have a splendid range of charting software, for both technical analysis with charts, and fundamentals, looking at company information.

5. Never, ever go trading with money you cannot afford to lose. Your account has to be what I call playtime money. I don't mean to downplay it but it's important. Never use anymore than 5% of you capital on any trade either. That's critical too.

The biggest error people make when they start to trade is to rush in where angels fear to tread. I cannot over emphasise the importance of using you head, not your heart. If you can stick to the guidelines above, you can carve out a fruitful hobby, or even replacement career for yourself.

Bollinger Bands As a Trade Decision Tool

The Bollinger bands are used to display stock price volatility on a chart. They are made up of three bands: the middle band, which is a simple moving average (SMA), the upper band, which is the SMA plus the standard deviation (times 2) and the lower band, which is the SMA minus the standard deviation (times 2). For more info on moving averages, please take a look at the moving averages post.

Standard deviation is, as its name implies, a measure of how much sample values differ from the average. For each period (day on a daily chart), the deviation is obtained by subtracting the simple moving average (SMA) from the price. If you take the sum of the squared deviations divided by the number of periods and then the square root of that number, you obtain the standard deviation. Standard deviation indicates volatility, that is, how much the price varies from its average. The more it varies, the more volatile the stock is (more possible returns but also more risk). The less it varies, the less volatile the stock is (less risk but also less possible returns).

The Bollinger bands give an immediate idea of how volatile the stock is. The wider the bands are, the more volatile the stock is. Inversely, the narrower the bands, the less volatile the stock is.

The Bollinger bands can also be used as a trade decision tool. If the price walks up/down the band (the prices are touching or slightly breaking the upper band in an uptrend or the lower band in a downtrend), the Bollinger bands are giving a continuation signal. When the price moves away from the band it is walking up/down, it is signal the trend is running out of steam. A buy signal can be upcoming when the price forms a double bottom into the low zone (between the middle and lower bands) and the second low doesn't break the lower band. The signal is confirmed when the price breaks the middle band to the upside. Similarly, a double top in the high zone (between the middle and the upper bands) indicates a signal to sell when the price dips below the middle band. When the bands contract (squeeze), a breakout is imminent but you usually don't know in which direction the stock is gonna go unless a price pattern is also present. A contraction of the bands may lead to a spectacular uptrend or downtrend.

Learning to Make Confident Day Trading Decisions

Can you make a persuasive argument for your trades?

A good portion of my mentoring is assessing whether or not a trader is improving at making good decisions. You would think that the first thing I would look at is a traders P&L. I can understand why someone may expect that to be my top priority but as a veteran trader I can tell you that P&L alone does not always tell the story.

This article was inspired by two incidents that occurred this week. One particular day last week was a very busy trading day. If you know anything about myself and Erik we will be the first ones to tell anyone within shouting distance if it is a tough day to trade or if volume is very light to do nothing or at the very least cut down your share size.

Well on this day it was a very good day to trade. We had a trader who was new to the office listening to me throughout the morning telling everyone to get busy. It was one of those days to "belly up to the bar" and get involved. It was a morning to make some good money. After lunch Erik called him into the back and told him you can't be passive on a day like today, you have to sit on the edge of your seat and trade like you expect to make money.

What was his response? He sent an email after the close telling us he wanted to trade from home. Why would he do this, we were mentoring him and promising to help him improve? Believe it or not this is not the first time we have experienced this. He didn't want anyone to critique his trading. Now mind you this is NOT an experienced trader who is earning a consistent living and he is trading OUR money. His first day trading from home I reviewed his trades for the day and his decisions were horrible.

I emailed him and asked him to send me his journal for the day so I can see what his thought process was for the days trades. It is 10 days later and I still have not heard from him. He can't back up his decisions. He can't make an argument. If you aren't willing to learn, you will never improve.

The other situation happens when I bring new traders into the back room for small group mentoring. We mentor everyone on the trading floor and online but a trader can make themselves disappear by being quiet. When I bring them into "the SHED" I force them to talk me through all of their possible trades they want to make.

When you are in The Shed, there is nowhere to hide. You must make a case to me like you are on trial. I force you to get good at making good decisions. It amazes me how often Erik and I hear "I was hoping, I don't know why, I wasn't paying attention to that, I didn't see that support."

Picture in your mind the next day you are trading. Visualize yourself in a room full of 100 traders. Now picture that you are required call out every trade you are considering to the whole room for judgment. How many of your current decisions would you call out proudly and loudly!?

Use this visualization technique to improve your decision making ability and I will guarantee your P&L will become very consistent.

Take my advice, don't hide behind your monitor and try to figure it out on your own.....ask a question!

Investing 101 - How to Profit Through Commodities Trading

Investing 101: "Stagflation"-Wall Street's flavor of the week-is a market environment comprised of anemic GDP growth and persistently high inflation, especially from food and energy. How does one invest in this climate? Not surprisingly, through commodities trading.

In the current market, certain sectors are cashing in on the record prices of oil futures by playing a role in the ever-intensifying quest for new oils sources. Similarly, anyone fully-invested in agriculture stocks is well-positioned to profit from soaring food prices.

Monsanto (MON), for example, is in the agricultural seeds business. This company is a ring-leader when it comes to finding innovative ways for farmers to increase their productivity. Grain demand is at an all time high, and MON is ahead of the game as it plans and cashes in on future agricultural needs.

Similarly, Syngenta (SYT) produces seeds and chemicals used by farmers to expand crop harvests. Both SYT and MON are seeing tremendous sales and earnings growth due to rising commodities prices and are great stocks to buy if you're a commodities trader.

But food demand isn't the only factor pushing these stocks' prices higher. The race is on: Companies-and the nations that harbor them-are competing for the largest slice of the energy pie. Alternative energy stocks are hot investments as more investors see "green." But what's really driving up the prices of agriculture stocks is the brewing of biofuels, which places a strain on grain products.

It's estimated that one third of U.S. corn crops are committed to ethanol production as a means to offset oil dependency. Ethanol is in huge demand all over the world, which means corn farmers have their work cut out for them. According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farmers use about 137 pounds of nitrogen fertilizer per acre. As these corn growers look to expand their acreage, they require exorbitant amounts of fertilizer- which they have to buy from somewhere!

Companies like Mosaic (MOS), Potash (POT) and Agrium (AGU) are experiencing unprecedented growth and margin expansion thanks to the demand for their fertilizer products. These three stocks are a great way to profit from rising food prices-and commodities trading in general.

It's important to remember that the commodities bubble isn't going to pop any time soon. The fact is, we've witnessed a major spike in worldwide demand for both food and energy. Even if people drive less and buy more fuel-efficient cars, crude oil supplies are waning. There's no quick-fix solution to high oil prices. It doesn't matter how much we've changed our behavior as of late-the changes haven't been drastic enough to make a significant difference.

Another lesson in Investing 101: As long as demand continues to grow and supply, at best, flat lines, this type of market behavior will persist. The way to profit from this stagflationary environment is through commodities trading. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it.

Make Easy Money - With Minimal Effort

In this article I am going to share how I make money relatively easily with very little effort. Like most people I am keen on building an additional income on top of my regular job. At first my aim was to build a second income to help save towards my retirement however more recently this income has allowed me to cut back the hours I work during the day as well as help fund some treats for my family and I, the most recent of which was a holiday to Southern Italy!

For a few years I dabbled in the stock market trading here and there, mainly on tips from friends and occasionally from rumors I had heard on the internet or sometimes on my own instinct. As with most individual traders I both made and lost money on my trades but I kept encountering the same problem. What I found tricky was simply the huge amounts of options open to me. I found I was often unsure where to start looking for stocks to invest in and unsure how to pick the good companies from the bad.

During a conversation with a good friend of mine he let me in on a secret that until recently he had faced these problems. He had subscribed to a newsletter that was put together by a computer software program that was created by an ex Goldman Sachs employee. (Goldman Sachs are arguably the most successful investment bank ever). What this newsletter gives him (and now me!) is a short list of stocks that are deemed as great investments. Not only are these stocks selected from a database of thousands but along with them you are also told at what price to buy and sell them.

This seems to good to be true right? Well I've been using it for about 6 months now and not every stock selected is a winner. However I have found that the majority of the stock selections perform as predicted. What i tend to do is apply my own judgment to the selections to further filter out the best ones that should make me a profit. For the last 4 months I have averaged just under $2,000 per month. Based on this I am soon going to be increasing the amount I invest each month to hopefully achieve even bigger profits.

Why this newsletter is so good.

Well there are 3 things that attracted me to this service:

1. The recommendation from my friend


2. There is only a small one off fee. This gets you a lifetime subscription to the weekly newsletter.


3. There is a full money back guarantee meaning if you are not happy with the subscription you can get a full refund at any time.

Nasdaq Penny Stocks and Micro-Caps - What You Need to Know

When an investor is wanting to involve themselves in the stock market, they need to understand that companies are not just born, they are made. They have to work their way to the top just like every other company has. Investors sometimes think that investing in Nasdaq Penny Stocks, will find them the next big fortune maker but this is not the way to think.

Nasdaq Penny Stocks and Micro-cap stocks are stocks used on the Nasdaq that are interchangeable. The Nasdaq Penny Stocks are stocks that are considered to be five dollars or less, some think they are three dollars or less, and others classify them as under a dollar. There are some that even classify them as not being on the major market sheet.

The main thing that any investor needs to know about the Nasdaq Penny Stocks or the Micro-cap stocks is that these stocks are much riskier then the regular stocks. There are four major issues that an investor must think about when buying these Nasdaq Penny Stocks and Micro-cap stocks.

The first is the lack of information to the public. This mainly pertains to the Micro-cap stocks and not the Nasdaq Penny Stocks because these stocks are usually found on the pink sheets where the companies do not have to file with the SEC so they don't have to publicly give out the information about their company.

The next is there are no minimum standards. If the Nasdaq Penny Stocks cannot hold their own on the major market exchange, then they have to move to one of the other exchanges. On these exchanges, there is no minimum standard requirements in order to stay on the exchange.

The next is lack of history. This also applies to the Micro-cap stocks and not mainly to the Nasdaq Penny Stocks. The Micro-cap stocks are usually from companies that are fairly new or are companies that are approaching bankruptcy and do not have a good history of strength.

And the last issue is liquidity. If the Nasdaq Penny Stocks do not have much liquidity, then the stock may not be able to be sold. Liquidity refers to the volume that the Nasdaq Penny Stocks have or the amount of activity and money flow that the stock has. Source: Buypennystocksinc dot com.

The Forex API Trading Advantage

Ever wonder why institutional traders - forex dealers, hedge funds, money managers, treasuries, and corporations - don't trade the foreign exchange market via the dealer's resident platform?

Imagine for a moment that you are the coach of a football team and that the rules require you to signal the opposing coach every time your team is going to throw a forward pass. Is that a rule you could live with?

Would it surprise you to discover that a similar rule applies when you trade the forex using a dealer's resident platform? Well, it does.

As it stands today, when you trade with forex dealers via their resident trading platforms, you have no choice but to provide advanced notice of your intentions and this occurs every time a limit order is created or a submitted market order is accompanied by a standing stop loss or take profit order. The mere presence of these visible follow on orders on your dealer's server makes it easier for the dealer to trade against your position and/or collective/cumulative orders of others.

An API (Application Programming Interface) driven trading platform denies the dealer the advantage of having access to your exist strategy. Orders executed do not reside on the dealer's platform. They remain on your computer until the specified market price has been reached at which time they are forwarded to the dealer for execution.

In the final analysis, the advantage is obvious. API trading levels the playing field.

Institutional traders trade against the dealer's API using internally developed and costly proprietary platforms. Retail traders are well advised to either develop their own application to trade directly with their dealer or find a forex API trading platform they can use without incurring the extraordinary time and expense.

How to Ensure You Minimize Risk and Preserve Capital

The first and foremost thing you must think about when trading is to protect your capital and do whatever you can to ensure your risk is minimised to the utmost. If you can think in this frame of mind, rather than one of making money, you stand every chance of being a successful trader.

You have to educate yourself to become at ease with the aforementioned and that it should be your first consideration before you open a position. This may not be natural to you, but learn it you must. It really could save you a lot of worry and anxiety. Many including myself have been on the other end, and it's no fun I promise you.

What you will learn is that if you can preserve you capital, you will always have a trading budget for tomorrow. It certainly reaps the rewards to walk away from a position or trade that is too much of a risk

Spend a little time carefully weighing up that ratio of risk over reward, so that when you trade you plan - and you should have a plan - the ratio is comfortable for you. It's a good and crucial habit to form and will help you enormously to become a successful trader.

It is far better to let bad ten positions pass you by instead of taking a chance of allowing them to cause you grief. It's better to make one good trade than ten poor ones. For every trade you pass up on there will always be at least one other one just around the corner, always.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of searching for every opportunity at every moment to reduce the risk of you budget. Please do not misunderstand me; far from trying or seeming to be putting you off, I just want to promote your safe trading. You're here to make money but not by taking unnecessary risks.

Use Chart Patterns to Sky Rocket Your Profits

How to use Chart Patterns to trade

Many people don't know that the charts that we stare at day after day actually follow a series of patterns. These patterns are like a book that can be read if you actually know how. The stories that the patterns tell us can at times foretell the future, in essence, if you understand what the chart patterns are trying to tell you, you will be able to know how the market will move.

There are many chart patterns, depending on your chart setup you could have candle stick patterns and get involved with things like "shooting stars" or "hang man" if you use line charts you will be exposed to a different set of fancy names and interpretations of how to read and use this knowledge.

While it is all well and good to be able to actually find out about the fancy names and see the chart patterns emerge, I think you will be more interested in knowing how to utilize this knowledge to better your trading profits.

One chart pattern setup is called asymmetrical triangle. It basically tells you that the market is starting to narrow. This means to you that buying and selling pressures are starting to equal. With this knowledge, add on some technical indicators to see if there will be a chance of a break out soon. Now I had cases when the indicators showed up blank but the charts were screaming at me. At that point in time, what would you do?

My honest suggestion would be to sit and wait. It is always better to have cash in your pocket, than taking a risk in the market that you are not at least 70% sure you might make money. So when you use chart patterns, always include in at least one technical indicator and also please base your trading on a general knowledge of the fundamentals of the currency's economy.

Chart patterns can help you increase the odds of a successful trade as they essentially give us traders a head up on how the market might move. Although there will be other factors to consider, chart patterns are still a solid basic that traders looking to make consistent profits must learn.

Market Club - A Review of MarketClub

Their has been a lot of talk about Marketclub system. They have been written about in both Kiplingers and Barrons magazines.

Marketclub has many videos promoting their product. Of course showing profitable trades. But the refreshing thing I saw in their videos was their willingness to admit they get it wrong sometimes as well.

I watched many tutorials of trades they were doing live and was quite impressed with the results.

Once I got my membership access to MarketClub I noticed that there is a LOT of information. It can almost be overwhelming. But the site is pretty well laid out to navigate easily. I was spending a good deal of time in the help section which was packed with videos to see how exactly to trade and some recent examples.

The trade triangles system that Marketclub uses is really kind of cool. It takes the emotion out of trading which I have struggled with in the past. By following the GREEN UP arrows for buy signals and RED DOWN arrows for sell signals, it takes the guess work out of trading.

You will have losses but I have found when the losses occur they are pretty small and pretty quick. Which was really interesting to me, I was doing some research on forex signals with the Marketclub trade triangles and found that when I had losses they were usually within a day or two of my entry. However the majority of my winning trades lasted for over a week. And the REALLY good ones longer than that.

They say that you will never miss a MAJOR move in the markets. And based on what I have seen with Marketclub I believe it. When the markets aren't trending you will have to deal with some losses and small winners. However they really do limit the losses with this system and is pretty impressive.

It isn't a day trading system. However, if swing trading is what you are looking for (trades lasting few days-few weeks) then market club may be worth checking out.

Overall I would highly recommend Marketclub. They do offer a 30 day trial as well.

Day Trading? The Only Four Order Types You Really Need

My broker's trading platform lists 22 distinct and combination order types that are available to me, including exotic things I have never looked into understanding, but all of that is just an unnecessary invitation to complicate what is a very simple process. If you are an active day trader, there are only four order types that you really need.

As a day trader, you can only be in one of three states: long, short, or flat. All of your attention should be devoted to deciding what state you want to be in, and the mechanics of how to get there should be as straight forward as possible.

The only four order types you really need for day trading are market orders, limit orders, stop orders and stop-limit orders. You can ponder what all those other order types (reserve, limit+TTO, market+trailing stop, . . .) are good for when you are out of the market counting your profits. Here are the basic four and when to use them:

Market Order -- The only time you should use a market is order is when you see your position going straight to hell in front of you and you need to get out right now at any price. When you place a market order, your broker's computer will liquidate your position at the first fillable price, which can sometimes be far worse than what you expected. If you manage the other three order types effectively, you will rarely need to liquidate a position with a market order. You should never enter a position with a market order.

Limit Order -- You should use limit orders to enter positions at a price better than your signal trigger point in cases where your research shows that such a tactic is more profitable than a stop order entry, and you should use limit orders to exit profitable positions at pre-determined exit points. The danger in limit orders is that you will miss a significant number of trades in some markets, and that in some trades the market will trade very near, but not all the way to, your profit target and then fade back to your original entry point, or worse, before you decide to cancel the limit order and get out with a market order.

Stop Order -- You should use a stop order to enter or exit positions if the market trades beyond your given trigger price. You should ALWAYS place a stop order to liquidate a position as soon as you enter the position, so if the market moves against you far enough to trade at the your previously selected "trade over" point, you will get out without further thought or action on your part. The only time you don't want to use a stop order for entries or stop-loss protection is if you are trading a market with such a wide bid/ask spread that you are almost guaranteed unacceptable slippage if you use a pure stop (also called a "stop market" order, because the order becomes a market order as soon as the market trades at your stop price). In that case, you will want to use a . . .

Stop-limit order -- This order acts like a stop order when the market trades at your price, except that it places a limit on the amount of slippage you can incur on the resulting fill. This is a useful order to use for position entries in a high-slippage market. The danger in using it is that you will often be unable to establish a position because the market runs through the limit after the stop too quickly for your order to fill and then never comes back to fill it. You will have to analyze the market you are in to see if the potential loss of a trade due to not filling the limit is more expensive than the inevitable slippage with pure stop orders. Sometimes it is better to swallow the slippage in exchange for always getting the position, while in some markets it is better to miss an entry here and there in order to keep slippage low.

These four order types will cover almost any situation you will encounter while day trading, and using them to the exclusion of all of the more complex alternatives will keep your trading mechanics simple so you can focus on picking good trades and executing them well.

The Stock Market's Best-Kept Inside Secret - The E-Mini

I received an interesting magazine (or, maybe better described as a catalog) in the mail the other morning entitled "Home Business Connection". It was apparently sent to me because my name is on some mailing list. Beautifully designed and bearing a price tag of $5.95 per copy, I was tempted to open and read what it was all about. It is mostly full-page ads of 'home business' ideas...one after another, covering every possibility from the proverbial stuffing envelopes to much more sophisticated endeavors. Of course, each was headlined with bold declarations of being the "world's greatest home business" with promises of getting fabulously rich quick "absolutely guaranteed"! As I read through some of the ads (many were actually feature articles about certain types of home businesses), I couldn't help but compare all of them to my 'home business'.

Most were of the conventional type: find a product (usually made by someone else) then set up a way to promote, advertise and market it. Most were centered mainly on MLM or the Internet as the way to get fabulously rich. None bothered though, to explain how difficult it is to build and keep a good MLM downline, or, to get traffic to a web site. Made me wonder if those ads were directed to people who've never been 'round the block' at all, those whom it would be easy to put stars in their eyes with a little talk about making fabulous money in very short order? But, it is a good collection of home business ideas ...for anyone to peruse.

My home business is so simple I still have difficulty sometimes believing it myself. I sit down at my home computer each morning, turn on my e-mini trading charts and start watching for a good trade signal. What? You've never heard of an "E-mini"? Well, don't feel bad; I hadn't either ....until early 2002, even though I had been an active trader of stock options for over twenty years by that time. You see.... the 'e-mini' was introduced into the stock market when the Internet and personal computer were really coming into their own...back in 1997, as a trading instrument that average folks could afford to learn to trade, and take active roles in the stock market.

Most folks don't know much about trading; they think you just invest in stocks. That's all that the mutual funds and stock brokers have ever talked about (in their TV commercials and all of their advertising), but, in reality, those guys are not investors themselves...they are traders. But, they convince the rest of us that the smart thing for the public to do is turn all of our 'retirement dreams' over to them and let them manage our 'investments' for us...because they are the "professionals". Meanwhile, they are trading everyday...with their clients' money, but the account managers and the mutual fund company pockets all of the profits. Their clients (in those mutual funds) only get a mutual scr*****!

Oh, the typical mutual fund does realize [on average] about 10-15% appreciation growth of each portfolio per year, but the stock market [itself] -on its own, has historically done that, even through all of the Wars, Great Depression and even with 9-11 thrown in! Makes you wonder if brokers and mutual fund managers are, in reality, worth anything at all!

Anyway, back to the home business I found in trading E-mini's: I trade a couple of hours each morning, making 3 or 4 trades on my computer and put as my daily average goal about $500 dollars into my pocket. I never get greedy and try to stretch it....even though many days the market easily would let me. Just a nice little daily cash flow generator...that lets me grind out $500 a day, $10 grand a month and $125,000 a year. Not bad, eh? It really is that simple. The market is always there for me...every morning. I don't care whether it is going up (bullish) or down (bearish), I can make money either direction. (Something else those brokers and mutual fund managers will never tell you, or explain to you!) They'll just tell you to bring them as much money as you can and be prepared to invest with them for the long haul. 'Hold...and Hope' - that's the best the mutual fund investor has going for him or her.

If you've been thinking about or looking for a little home business idea that can generate a little extra cash flow for yourself, you'll enjoy checking out trading "E-mini's". You're invited to visit my web site where I provide 2-3 hours (a 'road map' for you) of free information on how you can get started trading e-mini's.

Don't bother to call up a mutual fund manager and ask him or her about it, though. They'll just laugh at you.

10 Tips For Preparing For a Profitable Trading Day

Every great athlete, musician and professional where the stakes are high, knows that warm up and preparation can make a big difference to performance. Here are 10 tips -trading advice for preparing for your best trading day.

Mental Prep

1. Harness the power of intention

As you become more and more focused as a trader and as you learn to clear your emotions the power of your intention will become stronger and stronger. Begin the day by setting the intention that you will be successful, that you will be profitable, and that you will be safe. If possible visualize it, or feel that it will happen.

If any feelings or thoughts come up contrary to that intention (e.g. I lost yesterday perhaps I'll lose today) go straight to the next point and clear that thought/feeling.

2. Clear limiting thoughts and emotions

Did anything happen yesterday or on previous trading days that is bothering you? Anything happening in your personal life that may be affecting your state of mind? Any recurring thoughts or feelings that come up during the trading day?

Read my blog post about emotional clearing - learn Core Transformation and clear that crapola out. And for any of you hardcore guys out there that are thinking this might be a bit touchy feely, I suggest you look at this in purely financial terms. Learning these techniques will help you get the success you want. And nobody needs to know!

3. Brain power

Make sure that you have exercised and eaten properly so that your mind is clear and fresh. Have the right snacks at hand so that you can keep your blood sugar balanced, so that you mind stays fresh and optimally focused.

Timing

4. Know when you are going to trade

You may say "How do I know when I am going to trade ahead of time?". In response I'd say, "if your trading system doesn't tell you when you are going to be trading ahead of time, then you are missing out on a huge advantage". As you'll see from the various blog posts I've written on cycle trading, I am convinced that time is as important a factor in determining entries as price. This is why I use a combination of cycles and harmonics in addition to regular technical analysis to determine entries.

Adopting this trading methodology was the single biggest contributing factor for me in becoming a consistently profitable trader, because I can calmly prepare for the times that I am going to trade and I can relax my focus during the times when I know I should be on the sidelines.

Practical Details

5. Are there any economic numbers being released today?

Know exactly what time they are and watch out if you are trading around these times as there may be some dramatic fluctuations in price movement. Unless your strategy specifically includes trading these numbers, many traders prefer to sit on the sidelines until the numbers shake themselves out.

6. Any significant business or world news today that may affect the markets?

Days when companies release earnings or when there are other significant events, make the market jumpy. You need to be forewarned so that you can decide either to sit out, or to be extra vigilant.

7. What happened in the markets overnight?

Same idea as point 4.

Discipline

8. Review your discipline commitments

If you are someone that has problem over-trading or pulling the trigger, or if you have challenges following your system, make a list of discipline commitments. List out those things that you commit to in terms trading discipline. e.g. I will only take trades on signals that my system gives me. Go through them before the trading day begins and refresh your resolution.

I had a lot of trouble with over trading in the early days. As I got absorbed in the market action it was like becoming hypnotized, my discipline went out the window. I actually had to set an alarm clock to go off and every 30 mins I would re-read my discipline commitments to force myself to snap out of it, and refocus on following my trading rules.

9. Review you trades from yesterday and your trading journal

Reviewing you trades from yesterday is a great way to refine your skills and learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. If you had a day where you were able to execute your trades flawlessly based on your system (whether or not they ended up being profitable) you can consolidate the confidence that brings. If you had a day that left an emotional mark because of losses or mistakes you can go back to point 2 and clear them.

If you found that you were unable to execute your trades effectively its another opportunity to revisit your trading rules, your discipline commitments, and refresh your intention that today you will trade your system.

Opening

10. Give thanks

Give thanks to your self, and to whatever power of the universe that you respect for the opportunity to trade - which is nothing more than an opportunity to master yourself.

The state of gratitude is a great inner state to approach the day. It buoys your optimism and invites to you the circumstances for success.

As the French say "Bon courage" - and have a safe and profitable day!